An Unexpected Rescue (Oak Springs Series Book 1)

by Sherri McDuffie

  Kelly turned to see D.C. standing on the stairs. She slid to her knees then opened her arms and smiled. “Hi, D.C. I’ve missed you, too.”

  He cleared the last two steps in a leap and threw his arms around her neck. “I’m glad you’re home.”

  “Me, too. What do you say? Shall we join the others in the living room?” When he nodded, she took his hand, and they went to the sofa.

  Win had Sydney lying across his legs. Derik was beside him, a supportive hand behind the baby. They were making faces and silly noises. Her arms were waving in the air, and she gurgled back at them.

  “She won’t smile at me. How come?” Win said. “How do you make her smile?”

  Kelly sat on the other side of the boy and lifted D.C. into her lap. “She’ll smile when she wants to. Just talk to her.” She tickled the baby under her chin. When the only response she got was a squeal and more waving of the arms, Derik tried to tickle her tummy. She blew a bubble, and drool ran from the corner of her mouth.

  “Can I try?” D.C. suddenly asked. Derik and Kelly’s eyes met.

  “Sure you can, sweetheart. She’s your sister, too. Go ahead and try,” Kelly said.

  D.C. leaned forward and touched Sydney’s cheek. She grasped his finger and stuffed it in her mouth. “Gross, she’s slobbering on me. Yuk,” he cried. Sydney pulled the finger out of her mouth but held it tight. Her face erupted into a toothless grin. “She smiled. Look, Daddy, did you see? She smiled at me. See Win, she’s smiling at me.” D.C. grinned back at his sister.

  “How about that,” Derik said. The more D.C. talked, the more animated and active Sydney became. “Talk to her again, D.C. She likes your voice.”

  D.C. began to talk to the baby, who watched his face closely. She smiled again, and he laughed. Suddenly, she squealed and kicked then laughed out loud.

  Kelly looked at Derik, then at the boys. “Did you hear that? She laughed, a real laugh. D.C., she laughed at you.” She squeezed his shoulders and kissed his cheek. “She likes you,” she whispered in his ear.

  D.C. grinned and began talking to the baby again.

  The family sat on the sofa playing with Sydney until Kelly led the boys upstairs for their baths. Derik remained downstairs cuddling his daughter until it was story time.

  After the boys were dressed for bed, they snuggled against Kelly while she read. When she finished the first book, Win handed her a second one. “Daddy doesn’t make the funny voices like you do,” he said. “The books are more fun when you read them.” Derik smiled and rolled his eyes.

  After the last story, they tucked the boys in, put Sydney in her crib, then stepped into the hallway.

  Derik pulled Kelly against him and kissed her. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you,” he said before nibbling her earlobe.

  “Show me.”

  He led her inside their bedroom and pressed her against the door before she could catch her breath. His mouth teased her with a flurry of kisses. He held her head between his hands as his lips trailed across her face.

  Kelly raised her arms to his neck. Her kisses were as desperate as his. His hands went to her waist, pulling her even closer. They slid under her blouse, caressed her ribs, and kept going. She pulled the shirt out of his jeans. Her hands touched his warm skin and moved up his body. When she began to rub her palm over the coarse hair on his chest, he groaned against her neck.

  Snaps opened, buttons popped, zippers lowered, and clothes were tossed. Derik took her, there, against the door, arms and legs entwined. When the release came, he called out her name in a sob. He leaned his forehead against hers and waited until he caught his breath. She wrapped her legs around his waist tighter as he carried her to their bed. He lowered her down, then laid by her side.

  “This had to be the longest week of my life. Nothing felt right with you gone. I know Mikki needed you, but I’ve missed you every minute, and so have the boys.”

  Kelly sighed and ran her hands over his arms and chest. She scraped her nails across his skin, which caused him to growl again and kiss her. He rolled to his back and pulled her next to him. She snuggled her head on his arm. Her fingers traced designs on his skin. “I’ve missed you, too. More than I can say.”

  “Show me.”

  Chapter 39

  The courtroom was large with an intricately carved dome ceiling. Four narrow stained glass windows filled one wall. Two wooden tables faced the raised judge’s bench. Jarrod Dinson sat beside his lawyer at one; the prosecuting attorney sat at the other. The air was quiet, except for the hum of the ceiling fans hanging down the center of the room and the occasional shuffle of people in the oak benches behind the bar.

  Mikki stepped off the witness stand and returned to her seat next to Kelly.

  “Mr. Hatcher, you may call your next witness,” said Judge Gaston.

  The prosecuting attorney stood and said, “The state calls Derik Conner Stone to the stand.”

  Kelly and Derik sat on the end of the front row. She squeezed his hand when a uniformed bailiff opened a side door and D.C. walked in. “He looks so tiny,” she said.

  “Yeah, but he looks brave,” Derik said.

  The boy’s head tilted back as he took in the size of the room and ornate design. He followed the officer, gripping his Spider-Man action figure to his side.

  “Stand right there,” the officer said.

  D.C. stopped next to the large wooden witness chair. He glanced toward his parents and smiled and waved. Kelly smiled and covered her quivering chin with her fingers. Derik nodded and gave his son a thumbs-up and a wink.

  The court reporter rose and faced the child. “Raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

  The room grew quiet. D.C. stood in silence with his hand in the air, blinking his big brown eyes.

  The bailiff cleared his throat and leaned toward him. “You need to answer her. Just say yes.”

  D.C. leaned forward and shook his head. “I can’t. My daddy said we aren’t ever supposed to swear. He said people who swear don’t sound very smart.”

  Kelly and Derik laughed along with the rest of the audience. Sheriff Foster chuckled from the seat behind them. The judge rapped his gavel against the sound block. He looked at D.C. and smiled. “Young man, do you promise to tell the truth today and answer the questions the best way you can?”

  “Yes sir, my daddy said lying is bad, too. We have to tell the truth or we get in big trouble.” He stretched to the side to look around the court reporter still standing in front of him. “Isn’t that right, Daddy?”

  Derik nodded and smiled at his son.

  Laughter from the spectators caused the judge to bang his gavel again while trying to hide his own smile. “Have a seat.”

  D.C. placed his knees in the chair and pulled himself up to look over the judge’s bench.

  “Oh no, what is he doing?” Kelly whispered to Derik.

  “Knowing D.C., there’s no telling.”

  “You need to sit down in the chair.” The gray-haired man said to the boy.

  “Are you the judge?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can I see your dress?”

  More laughter brought a scowl to the judge’s face. “It’s not a dress. It’s a robe.”

  D.C. pulled himself higher and peered farther over the judge’s bench. “Why? Are you wearing your pajamas?”

  Derik crossed his arms over his chest and hid a smile behind his hand. Kelly coughed to cover her laugh.

  Judge Gaston rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “No, I don’t have on my pajamas. It’s not that type of robe. Now, please sit down and answer the questions this man is going to ask you.”

  D.C. plopped on his bottom and began to swing his legs. H
e waved at Kelly and Derik again then turned his attention to the prosecuting attorney who was approaching the witness stand.

  “For the record, can you tell us your name?” Mr. Hatcher asked.

  “D.C. Stone.”

  “D.C. are your initials. What do they stand for?”

  “Derik Conner. My daddy and I have the same first name, so they call me D.C. Daddy only calls me Derik Conner when I’m in really big trouble.”

  “Okay, D.C., I want to talk to you about the night when you, your family, and Kelly went bowling. The night something happened to Kelly. Do you remember the night I’m talking about?”

  “Yeah, that’s when that bad man hurt her.” He pointed at Jarrod.

  “Objection!” Dinson’s lawyer shouted.

  “Sustained,” the judge answered.

  “Instead of saying bad man, can you say Mr. Dinson?”

  “Okay.”

  “Tell us what happened that night,” Mr. Hatcher said.

  “We were bowling, and Win, he’s my little brother, and Daddy were teasing us because they were winning.” He looked up at Judge Gaston and said, “But they weren’t being mean, it was just fun teasing.” When the judge nodded, D.C. turned back to Mr. Hatcher. “So me and Kelly went to get drinks. We were standing in line, and that man came up and grabbed Kelly’s arm and told her to go outside.” He pointed to Jarrod again as he talked.

  “Let the record show that the witness indicated the defendant, Jarrod Dinson,” the judge said.

  Mr. Hatcher continued. “Did he say why he wanted her to go outside?”

  “He said they had grown-up stuff to talk about.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “I ran and told my daddy.”

  “And what did he do?”

  “Daddy took Win and me to the front desk and told us to stay with Ray, he’s one of Daddy’s friends, and he’s the manager of the bowling alley.”

  “What happened next?”

  “Ray let us put the shoes in order. We had to put all the ones together and then all the twos and—”

  “Okay I mean what did your father do?”

  “He ran outside.”

  “Did you hear or see anything once your father left the building?”

  “Yeah, a sheriff came in and asked me what happened. I told him, then he left, and me and Win worked on the shoes some more until Daddy came back and said we were going home.” He smiled and looked at the judge once again. “When we got in the truck, Kelly said I was her hero because the bad, I mean Mr. Dinson, would’ve hurt her if—”

  “Objection!” the defense attorney shouted.

  Jarrod Dinson laughed out loud.

  “Sustained.” The judge glared at the defense table then looked at D.C. and said, “Just answer the questions.”

  “That’s all I have at this time, Your Honor,” Mr. Hatcher said.

  Judge Gaston nodded toward the defense table. “Your turn, Mr. Bergren.”

  The short, heavyset man next to Jarrod stood and walked toward D.C., tapping his glasses in the palm of his hand. “Young man, had you ever seen Mr. Dinson before that night at the bowling alley?”

  “No, sir.”

  “So the only reason you thought he was a bad man was because Kelly and your father told you he was bad, isn’t that right?”

  D.C. looked at his father then back at Mr. Bergren. “I guess.”

  “So when my client, Mr. Dinson, invited Kelly outside you may have thought he was grabbing her arm. Perhaps he was really being a gentleman. Couldn’t he have been taking her arm so she didn’t stumble or trip? Isn’t it possible that Mr. Dinson was actually being nice to Kelly and you just thought he was being mean?”

  “Yeah, that’s right, I was going to show her just how nice I could be,” Dinson mumbled from his seat. He looked over his shoulder at Kelly and puckered his lips.

  Kelly gasped. Derik put his arm around her shoulders and fixed Jarrod with an icy stare.

  Judge Gaston rapped his gavel and looked at the defense table. “Mr. Dinson, control yourself or I will have you gagged.” He then turned to D.C. and said, “Go ahead and answer the question, son.”

  “No, sir, I’m sure. He really was being mean.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because he was hurting her. He wasn’t being nice.”

  “How do you know he was hurting her?”

  “Because her face looked like this.” D.C. scrunched his face as though he were in pain. “And he was being mean to us.”

  The court reporter glanced at the boy then at the judge who shrugged and said, “Let the record show the witness grimaced.”

  “What do you mean when you say ‘he was being mean to us’? Did Mr. Dinson hurt you?”

  “He called me a brat and told me to get lost. That’s not nice.”

  A soft chuckle drifted across the courtroom. Jarrod laughed. Mr. Bergren threw his hands in the air and returned to the defense table. “That’s all at this time, Your Honor.”

  Judge Gaston pounded his gavel. “Court is adjourned for lunch. Everyone be back at one o’clock.” He looked at D.C. and said, “Thank you, young man. You may step down now.”

  D.C. squirmed out of the chair until he could reach the floor. When he stepped off the stand, he smiled and ran to Kelly and Derik. They each took one of his hands and started toward the door. He looked back at Jarrod. The man was glaring at the family while the bailiff secured handcuffs around his wrists. D.C. stuck out his tongue then left the courtroom, skipping between his parents.

  Chapter 40

  Mikki, Derik, and Kelly sat in the diner booth, studying the menu and sipping their drinks. Sheriff Foster stepped to their table and said, “Hello, everyone. Where’s the little guy?”

  Derik shook Foster’s hand and said, “Jack took him to school after his testimony. There’s no reason for him to hang around the courthouse all day.”

  “I was going to tell him what an outstanding job he did on the stand. I’ve seen a lot of adults buckle under less pressure. You should be proud. He’s quite a young man.”

  “Yeah, we thought he did a great job, too. He’s pretty tough. Would you care to join us? We’re just grabbing a bite before we go back.”

  “If you don’t mind, sure.” He slid into the seat next to Mikki.

  “Do you remember, Mikki? She was Kelly’s bridesmaid at the wedding.”

  Foster smiled and said, “Yes, I believe we danced a song or two that day. Good to see you again, Mikki. You did pretty well on the stand this morning, too.”

  “Thank you, Sheriff. I was so nervous I was afraid everyone could hear my knees knocking together. I don’t know how you looked so calm when you testified.”

  “I didn’t have anything to be nervous about. I just told the facts and answered the questions. My part was pretty easy. I just read from the police reports, same as Deputy Tripp when he told about the pursuit. And I remember at the wedding asking you to call me Pete.”

  “Okay, Pete.”

  The four ordered and spent the rest of the time chatting about anything that didn’t involve Jarrod Dinson or the trial. Once the meal was over, they headed to Kelly’s car. Sherriff Foster followed and positioned himself next to Mikki. He lowered his voice and asked, “Are you in town long?”

  “I came for the trial. I’ll probably be here a couple of days.”

  “Good,” he said before a passerby stopped to ask him a question.

  Derik was the first one called when court reconvened. He sat on the witness stand, clasping his hands in his lap. Mr. Hatcher stood in front of the bench.

  “Mr. Stone, when did you first hear of Jarrod Dinson?”

  “The day Kelly came home with her face black and blue after he beat he
r.”

  “Objection!” shouted Mr. Bergren.

  “Overruled,” said Judge Gaston.

  “But your honor.”

  “Overruled, Mr. Bergren. We’ve already heard testimony and seen the photographs of Mrs. Stone’s face.” Judge Gaston rubbed his chest. “The chili dog I had for lunch isn’t sitting well. Don’t push your luck.” He slapped down the gavel. “Continue, Mr. Hatcher.”

  When Hatcher finished his questions, the defense attorney approached the stand and began pacing with his hands behind his back.

  “Mr. Stone, how well do you know the defendant, Mr. Dinson?”

  “I don’t know him.”

  “You don’t know Jarrod Dinson, the gentleman sitting at that table right there?” the defense attorney said, pointing behind him.

  “We’ve never been introduced. I know who he is, but I don’t know him.”

  “Have you ever had any contact with him? Any type of interaction?”

  “Yes.”

  “Please tell the court about that.”

  “I hit him.”

  “You hit him? Did my client strike, or attempt to strike you first?”

  “No. He had—”

  “Please, just answer my questions, Mr. Stone. The two of you had never met, but the first time you came in contact with Mr. Dinson, you hit him. Did he strike you back?”

  “No.”

  “No? Why not?”

  “He was handcuffed. But—”

  “Let me get this straight. The very first time you met my client you assaulted him, while he was restrained and defenseless.”

  Derik clenched his fist and leaned forward. “The one who was defenseless was Kelly when the scum bag was beating—”

  “Your honor, I move to strike the last statement. The witness is being uncooperative.”