The Rancher's Redemption

by Myra Johnson

  Feather duster in hand, Wanda emerged from the other side of a display case. “Wouldn’t interrupt if I were you.”

  Kent pointed with his thumb toward the well-dressed Jennifer Lawrence look-alike. “Who is that?”

  “Her name’s Lauren Hall. She came in looking for Erin after seeing her baskets on the website.”

  “Then why does she look so upset?”

  “Because,” Wanda replied, mouth in a pucker, “she didn’t drive all the way over from Dallas to buy a basket.”

  Kent pivoted to face the shop owner. “You obviously know what’s going on here. So explain.”

  Before Wanda could respond, Erin’s tearful voice carried through the shop. “No! No, I can’t do it. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

  She charged for the door, only to draw up short when she saw Kent. Pausing only long enough to snatch a startled breath, she shook her head and ducked past him.

  “Erin, wait.” He grabbed for her arm but missed. The door banged shut behind her.

  As Kent started after her, Wanda set her hand firmly against the door. “Give her some space. She’s had a shock.”

  Kent tore his gaze from the door to stare first at Wanda, then at the stranger, who apparently was the cause of all this. She now stood a few feet away, her expression as distraught as Erin’s had been.

  Hands balled, Kent took a threatening step toward her. “Who exactly are you, and what did you say to Erin?”

  The woman’s chin shot up. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Distractedly, she dug through her purse until she found a packet of tissues, then edged toward the door.

  Kent blocked her path. “Erin’s a friend of mine, so I’m making it my business. I’m asking again. What’s this all about?”

  A look came over her face that rocketed Kent back to the first time he saw Erin—the undercurrent of panic lurking beneath a mask of bravado.

  He inhaled a calming breath and took a half step back, palms raised. “I mean you no harm, ma’am. I’m just trying to understand what upset Erin so badly.”

  “It’s all right, Lauren,” Wanda said. “Kent here’s real close with Erin. He may be able to help.”

  “Help with what?” What little patience Kent had mustered wouldn’t last long. “One of you, please tell me what’s going on.”

  The blonde dabbed a streak of mascara from beneath her eye. “Maybe you should ask Erin, since this is about her ex-husband.”

  The mention of Erin’s abusive ex shot napalm through Kent’s veins. “What about him? Has he done something?”

  Silently, the woman reached one hand toward the filmy print scarf encircling her neck. Her eyes hardened, and with her gaze firmly fixed on Kent, she loosened the scarf. It fell away from her throat, exposing the greenish-yellow remnants of an ugly bruise.

  Kent’s stomach lurched. He felt like he might throw up. “Dearborn did this to you?”

  “It happened two weeks ago after our engagement party. Because—silly me—I forgot to tell the caterers he despises crab cakes.” She uttered a harsh laugh and held up her ringless left hand. “Needless to say, the engagement is off.”

  Turning away, Kent tried to get his breathing under control. When he faced Lauren Hall again, she’d retied the scarf. “I hate that he’s done this to you,” he said, “but I still don’t get why you’re here. Why would you want to put Erin through this again?”

  “Because I need her help. Her testimony.” Eyes flinty with determination, she stood straighter. “I’m pressing charges, but Payne’s high-priced lawyers will use every trick in the book to get him off. If I can convince Erin to testify, it could keep the trial from devolving into a he said, she said farce—which I guarantee would give Payne the win.”

  While Kent digested this information, Wanda slid a comforting arm around Lauren. “You’re doing the right thing, hon. And I’m sure Erin will come around, once she’s had time to think things through.”

  Kent could only imagine the trauma Lauren Hall’s request had dredged up for Erin. He needed to get to her. He needed to hold and comfort her. He needed her to know he’d do everything humanly possible to protect her from ever being hurt again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Why, God? Why now? Erin could barely see the road through her tears. She’d intended to go straight home, but then drove right past her turnoff. Unfamiliar scenery swept by in a blur, until she made herself pull over long enough to get her bearings and regain a semblance of control. With Avery getting out of school in a couple of hours, Erin didn’t dare risk getting lost on country roads—or worse, spinning out and flipping the car into a ditch.

  Spinning out of control pretty much described her feelings right now. Less than an hour ago, Mrs. Glazer had stopped in to ask if Erin would consult on redecorating her husband’s insurance office—and offered a healthy fee. Afterward, Wanda had once again brought up the subject of a partnership, this time urging Erin to seriously consider the possibility. With her confidence soaring and the future looking brighter every day, the last thing she’d been prepared for was coming face-to-face with the new woman in Payne’s life.

  The initial twinge of jealousy had stunned her, then sickened her, before the feelings instantly evaporated. She was done with Payne Dearborn. If anything, she felt sorry for Lauren Hall.

  But not sorry enough to appear in court to relive ten years of Payne’s increasingly cruel abuse.

  She dropped her forehead against the steering wheel. “Forgive me, Lord. I just can’t do it.”

  From deep inside her purse came the muffled ring of her cell phone. Much as she didn’t feel like talking to anyone, she had to check in case it might be the school calling about Avery.

  Kent’s name flashed across the display, filling her mind with an image of his stricken face as she’d rushed out of Wanda’s. Her voice shook as she answered. “Hi, Kent.”

  “Erin, are you okay?”

  “I’ve just been driving. I had to get away.”

  “Where are you?” Urgency filled Kent’s tone. “Please, you shouldn’t be alone right now.”

  “I don’t know, exactly. A few miles south of town.” She glanced around. “There’s a big iron gate with white stone pillars. I think it’s someone’s ranch.”

  A relieved sigh. “I know the place. Stay put. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  “But—”

  “I mean it, Erin. You’re in no shape to be driving. I’m coming for you.” The line went dead.

  She knew Kent was right. As proud as she’d been about growing more self-reliant, right now it would be welcome reassurance to have his strong shoulders to lean on. Making sure she was well to the side of the road, she shut off the engine and closed her eyes. She didn’t even have the strength to pray.

  Soon the rumble of tires on gravel sounded behind her, and the grill of Kent’s tan pickup filled her rearview mirror. Sitting up straighter, she blotted her cheeks with the damp tissue clutched in her fist.

  Kent appeared at the passenger-side window. She hit the unlock button, and he slid into the seat. “Hey,” he said with a concerned smile.

  “Hey.” She tried to smile back but couldn’t keep her lower lip from trembling.

  “Wanda and that Lauren gal explained what was going on. Guess you kind of got blindsided.”

  “I thought I was done with Payne Dearborn.” A shudder worked its way up her spine. “I never expected...this.”

  Kent didn’t speak for so long that Erin grew uncomfortable. She slid a nervous glance his way and read all kinds of questions behind his narrowed eyes.

  “I’m trying to understand,” he said. “I get why you want to leave the past in the past. But are you saying you never reported what this guy did to you?”

  “I had Avery to think about.” Erin crossed her arms and stared out the windshield. “You weren’t there. You
don’t know how it was.”

  Kent twisted sideways in the seat. Freeing Erin’s right hand, he held it tenderly. “Then tell me.”

  Grief and guilt surged upward through her chest. She choked back a sob. “I don’t know if I can.”

  “Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Calm strength spread from his hand to hers, until at last the words began to flow. “At first, I didn’t realize what was happening, and I certainly wouldn’t have labeled it abuse. Payne was under so much stress at the hospital, so sometimes he drank a little more than usual. And when he got drunk, he’d say things I knew he couldn’t possibly mean.”

  “Say things. Like what?”

  “Words I’d never allow to pass my lips.” Erin winced, recalling the vile names he’d called her, the cruelly cutting remarks that disparaged her. “But by the time he sobered up, it was like he didn’t even remember saying those things. Maybe you won’t believe this, but I really did love him, and I believed he loved me.”

  “Love doesn’t intentionally inflict harm—verbal or physical.”

  Erin nodded. “I know that now.”

  After giving her a few moments to sniff back tears, Kent asked quietly, “How long before he started hitting you?”

  “It was our second wedding anniversary, and I’d just told him I was pregnant.” The memory still felt so raw, slashing Erin’s heart like a hot knife. “I thought he’d be thrilled, but instead he was furious I’d let it happen when he’d just partnered with another doctor in private practice.”

  Kent’s fingers tightened around hers, his anger palpable. “Tell me, Erin. Tell me what he did to you.”

  “It actually wasn’t that bad.” She released a harsh laugh. “At least, I didn’t think so at the time. He just grabbed my arm and twisted. It was over so quickly that I thought it was a fluke. The next morning, when I showed him the bruise, he apologized like crazy and promised it would never happen again.”

  Kent looked away with a snort.

  “He did try, and things were okay for a while.” After all that she’d been through, Erin couldn’t explain why she was defending Payne now. Maybe she needed to believe her nine years with the man hadn’t been utterly irredeemable.

  With Kent’s urging and another handful of tissues, she continued the story. After Payne’s initial outrage, he’d made what seemed a genuine effort to support her during the pregnancy. Over the next few months, he drank less and appeared to truly embrace the idea of becoming a father. After Avery was born, nearly a year went by without one of Payne’s explosions, and Erin got her hopes up that fatherhood had softened him.

  But as the years passed, the peaceful times grew shorter and his abusive eruptions more cruel. He was good at finding ways to hurt her that didn’t show. He’d also mastered how to crush her self-confidence with a perfectly timed barb, then turn around and make her believe he loved her and couldn’t live without her. She’d been on an endless emotional seesaw as she struggled to anticipate his moods while keeping Avery out of the line of fire.

  “What about your parents?” Kent asked. “Didn’t they have a clue what was happening?”

  “My father passed away before I finished high school. Mom died the year before I met Payne. I didn’t have anyone but my brothers. Shaun’s a missionary so he wasn’t even around to know. And I didn’t dare risk what Greg would do if he so much as suspected Payne was hurting me.” Glancing away, Erin gave a rueful sigh. “If I’d trusted him more when I finally found the courage to leave Payne, things might be a lot different now.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I was so ashamed of my stupidity that I couldn’t admit to my family why I really wanted out of my marriage.” With a tired sigh, Erin confessed that today wasn’t the first time she’d met Lauren Hall. The woman was a pharmaceutical rep who often stopped in at Payne’s clinic, and their business relationship eventually led to an affair. Erin had claimed Payne’s infidelity as grounds for the divorce, and Greg had helped her find an attorney.

  “Greg knows now about the abuse, doesn’t he?”

  “He had his suspicions, and I eventually admitted the truth.” Erin twisted the tissue in her lap. “You have to understand. Back then, all I wanted was an end to things, and Payne told me privately that no one would believe me anyway. If I didn’t bring up the abuse in court and agreed to a minimal settlement for child support, he’d let me go and I’d never have to see or hear from him again.”

  “Erin...” Kent’s disappointed frown made her look away.

  “I know what you’re going to say—that my silence enabled Payne to hurt another woman. I will never be able to forgive myself for what Lauren has suffered at Payne’s hands.” Throat aching, lips pressed together, she gazed toward the rocky juniper-covered hills. “But to dredge up my own past, to risk drawing my daughter into the middle of all this? I can’t do it. I just can’t do it.”

  * * *

  Remaining calm and supportive while listening to Erin describe her abusive marriage and the aftermath required every last ounce of Kent’s willpower. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep the lid bolted down on the cauldron of fury boiling through his gut, all of it directed at the source of Erin’s torment. Either Erin deserved an Academy Award for hiding the truth for so long, or her friends and family were all total idiots for not noticing how Payne was hurting her. Serving in Afghanistan, Kent had seen too many men and women in pain. Even when they’d tried to put up a front, the signs were always there. A subtle tightening around the lips and eyes, stiff posture, the avoidance of physical touch.

  And the emotional wounds? Those were sometimes even more obvious. Kent had seen battle-toughened marines so tortured by PTSD that they spent every waking minute on hyperalert. Fear made it crucial to assess every room they entered and maintain a direct line of sight to all doors and windows. Kent himself startled at any sound resembling gunfire or the scream of an incoming mortar. And relationships? Too risky. A sudden flashback could mean inadvertently hurting a loved one—another reason Kent had held himself aloof all these years.

  But he also understood that sometimes even the best of friends pretended not to notice the outward signs of trauma. Whether doubting their suspicions, or unwilling to cause embarrassment, or simply having no clue how to help, people had all kinds of reasons for staying silent. He’d seen it happen among fellow sailors and marines, and he’d experienced it with his own struggles after leaving the service.

  So he couldn’t blame Erin, and he couldn’t blame her friends and family. But, just as his talks with Pastor Terry were helping him come to terms with his own emotional scars, he knew Erin had to face up to what happened or she’d never be free.

  “Erin,” he said, reclaiming her hand, “you are so much stronger than you realize. And so is Avery. Could you really live with yourself if you let Payne off the hook this time?”

  Lips trembling, she shook her head. “I—I don’t know. I have to think.”

  Kent checked his watch. “Avery gets out of school at three fifteen, right? Let me drive you home so you can pull yourself together before you pick her up. I’ll get somebody to bring me back later for my truck.”

  When she agreed, he jogged back to lock the pickup while she moved over to the passenger seat. Returning to Erin’s car, he climbed in behind the wheel and turned the car around to head back toward Juniper Bluff. A few minutes later, he parked in Erin’s driveway.

  “You don’t have to stay with me,” she said as he walked her to the front door.

  Arms resting on her shoulders, he looked her square in the eye and gave her his most compelling smile. “What if I want to?”

  A big wet tear pooled at the corner of her nose. “Thank you.”

  He took the key from her hand and unlocked the door. “Go freshen up. I’ll make you some tea.”

  She didn’t ask where he learned how t
o brew a cup of tea, and he didn’t explain he was just winging it. But tea sounded like something that would help, and he was all about helping Erin get through this.

  An electric kettle sat next to the stove. Kent added water and hit the start button. While the water heated, he remembered seeing a canister of Lady Grey in the cupboard the day he’d repaired her broken shelf. Next to the canister, he found a pretty ceramic mug emblazoned with curly script. All I need is more tea and more Jesus.

  Yep, that sounded like Erin.

  She stepped up next to him as he poured water over a tea bag. “You found my favorite tea and mug.”

  “I’m quite the industrious cowboy, in case you haven’t noticed.” He dunked the tea bag a couple of times. “Didn’t know if you use sugar, though.”

  “I’m a honey girl, actually.” She reached past him for the squeeze bottle sitting in the cupboard and added a dollop to her tea. Tilting her head, she beamed a grateful smile. “If you hadn’t come for me, I don’t know what I would have done.”

  He longed to stroke her freshly washed cheek and kiss away the remnants of her tears. “You’d have found your way back,” he said, meaning more than simply her route home. “But I’m glad I could be there for you.” I always want to be there for you.

  The thought settled deep in Kent’s chest, warming him as surely as the cup of tea soothed and comforted Erin. This talented, brave, beautiful woman had come to mean more to him than he’d ever dreamed possible.

  “Kent, what is it?” Erin looked up at him with worry in her gaze.

  He gave his addled brain a quick shake. “Nothing, just thinking.”

  “I’ve totally ruined your day.” She was about to start crying again. “Kent, I’m so—”

  He shot her a warning glare. Stepping closer, he relieved her of the mug and set it on the table, then cupped her face with both his hands. Looking into her blue eyes shimmering with unshed tears, he could hardly force the words from his throat. “There is nothing you could ever say or do that would ruin my day. You’re like a fresh breeze blowing through my life, and every moment I spend with you brings nothing but the greatest kind of happiness.”