A Cowgirl at Heart

by Christine Lynxwiler

  Elyse felt a sob well up inside her. In spite of the police jargon, she got the message. The man in the yellow truck had been badly beaten. He was breathing, and an ambulance was now on its way.

  She edged closer until she could see around the officer. Nausea welled up inside her, and she felt hot tears slip down her cold cheeks. It was him. And he looked bad. His nose was broken and blood trickled from his lip. His right eye was swollen and purple. “Is there anything we can do?”

  The officer looked back at her and shook his head. He looked again. “Do you know him?”

  She nodded.

  “Is he related to you?”

  She stared at him, uncertain what to say. Life wasn’t as cut and dried as she’d like to believe. Jonathan McCord was her daddy, and she wouldn’t change that for anything in the world. But this bruised and broken man in the yellow truck was definitely related to her. An ambulance siren wailed in the distance. She nodded. “Yes. Yes, he is.”

  “It looks like he suffered a concussion, but his pulse is strong and his breathing doesn’t seem that labored.” Just as he said that, Luis moaned.

  Involuntarily, Elyse stepped closer so she could clearly see his face. In her darkest hours, she’d daydreamed of seeing him suffer. But now that it was real, she hated it.

  His swollen right eye twitched, and his left eye opened. He blinked as if he was having a hard time focusing, but then his one-eyed gaze locked onto her face. “Elyse,” he mumbled.

  She nodded.

  “Be careful—” He winced. “Zeke.”

  She gasped. “Zeke was here? He did this to you?”

  But he was out again. The ambulance siren grew louder, and the policeman looked at her. “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to go down to the station with me.”

  ***

  Andrew paced impatiently in front of the camper. Ever since he’d heard from his dad earlier, he’d wanted to call Elyse and tell her about the conversation, but since she was in a meeting, he hated to. He checked the time on his phone. Where was she?

  He should have gone with her or at least followed her. But she’d assured him that she’d stay alert and watch out for anything suspicious. If she wasn’t here in ten minutes, he was going to look for her. His phone vibrated and lit up in his hand. Elyse. He punched TALK. “Hello?”

  “Andrew?”

  His gut tensed. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s ... Luis. He’s in the hospital.”

  Luis? Andrew had to mentally shift gears. “Is he sick? Are you with him?”

  “No. He’s been beaten. And I’m at the police station downtown.”

  He clenched the phone so hard he was afraid he’d break it. “What’s going on?”

  He listened as she gave him a quick rundown on the night’s events.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I’m waiting for Jack to get here so I can fill him in. But right now I need a favor.”

  “I’ll be right there.” With his free hand, he pulled his keys from his jeans pocket.

  “Wait.” Her voice softened. “I’d love for you to be here with me. But I was really hoping that you’d let the dogs out for a minute then go to the hospital and check on Luis.”

  He fought to keep the frustration out of his tone. “Elyse, I don’t want you there alone. Let me come to the station; then when you’re done, we’ll go to the hospital together.”

  She hesitated. “The thing is ... I’m not ready to see him yet. But I also hate to think of him being there with no one to care what happens.” She lowered her voice. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

  Andrew walked slowly to his truck, sure he was losing this argument but not ready to give it up. “What about you being out alone? If Zeke beat up Luis, it has to be because he thought Luis was standing between you and him. Now he’s not anymore.”

  “Andrew, I’m at a police station. There are men in uniform milling all around. I’m fine. Besides, I’m going to call Mama and Daddy.”

  “And tell them about Luis?”

  “Yes. I should have been honest with them in the first place. They’re not wimps. They’ve never given me any reason to think I couldn’t trust them with the whole truth. I hid behind the thought that I was protecting them.”

  He stopped with his hand on the truck door. Her words pierced him. But his circumstances were different. He really was protecting her by not telling her about his past. If she’d known, she’d never have been able to get past her suspicions enough to let him help her. Was that a matter of his not trusting her with the truth? He hoped not.

  “Anyway, some of my family will come down here if I need them to.” She laughed softly. “And probably even if I don’t.”

  Andrew blew out his breath and climbed into the truck. She was right. Her family would be there for her. “I’ll stop by and let the dogs out on my way to the hospital.”

  “Call me after you see him, okay?”

  “Will do.” He wanted to say something else, but he didn’t know what. Something to let her know how important she was to him. “Take care.” That was inadequate, but it would have to do.

  “You, too.”

  ***

  It was hard to quit being a coward overnight. While the phone was ringing, Elyse flip-flopped about which one she hoped would answer.

  “Hello.” Her daddy’s deep voice always made her smile.

  “Hey, Daddy, it’s Elyse.”

  “You sound funny. Everything okay?”

  Tears burned her eyes again, and she nodded then kind of laughed when she realized he couldn’t see her. “Mostly.” She reconfigured the words several times in her mind before she finally spit them out. “I’m fine and I’m not in any trouble with the law, but I’m at the police station downtown.”

  He echoed her words, and she heard her mama pick up on the extension. “Honey, what happened?”

  “Zeke apparently was outside Coffee Central tonight and...”

  Her mother gasped.

  “Did they catch him?”

  She just wanted to calm the concern in her daddy’s voice, but she knew what she had to say next would only upset them both more. “No, they didn’t. But I’m pretty sure he beat a man up.”

  “A man? What man?”

  “I should have told you this a couple of weeks ago, and I’m sorry, but there was a little yellow truck lurking around at the end of the lane several nights in a row. The night of the storm, Andrew tackled the man who was driving it.”

  “Andrew tackled him here? And Zeke beat the same man up at Coffee Central?” Her mom sounded near hysteria, something Elyse had heard only once before in her voice—the night Cami died.

  Shame mixed with tears trickled down her face. “Yes.”

  “Do you know who he is?” her dad asked.

  “I just got a glimpse of him that night of the storm, but I recognized him.”

  “Who was it?” Her dad was obviously impatient with her hesitant answers.

  “My biological father.”

  Another gasp. Her mom, she thought. Then silence.

  She started to tremble. What if they were upset that she’d allowed her past to drag itself into their family life?

  “Is he okay?” her mama asked quietly.

  “I think so.”

  “Why are you at the police station?” Daddy just sounded concerned about her and nothing else.

  “I’m waiting to answer some questions for Jack. About Zeke. And about Luis.”

  “I’ll be right there, honey,” her dad assured her quietly. “Just sit tight.”

  Jack Westwood came in the door, and the desk sergeant pointed to her. He waved and walked toward her.

  “Okay, Daddy. Jack’s here. I’ll see you in a few minutes. And ... I’m really sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about anything.” Mama’s voice sounded so much calmer than it had.

  Elyse said good-bye and flipped her phone shut then turned to Jack. “Let me just say up front that I’m sorry for not telling y
ou sooner. I didn’t want the world to know that besides the fact that Zeke is apparently out to get me, my biological father, Luis Reynolds, who was in prison with Zeke, is also stalking me.” She was getting better at this.

  Jack’s eyebrows raised. “Whoa. Slow down. So the man who was beaten is your father?”

  “Was my father. Until I was eight. He went to prison for armed robbery and wounding a cop. Or technically until I was ten and the McCords adopted me. Either way he was my father.”

  He put his hand on her elbow. “Let’s go sit down. Are you okay? You seem a little wired up.”

  “Stress.”

  He nodded. “Let’s just de-stress for a second and start at the beginning.” He pulled a pen and a tiny black notebook from his pocket.

  For the next fifteen minutes, he picked her brain and made notes.

  Just as they finished, her daddy walked in the door. His shoulders seemed broader than she remembered. He filled the doorway.

  She ran into his arms, taking comfort in the familiar smell of soap and Old Spice on his flannel shirt. “Thank you for coming.”

  “Like you could have kept me away.” He looked around. “Speaking of that, where’s your self-appointed protector?”

  “Andrew?” She blushed. “He’s at the hospital. I asked him to check on Luis.”

  He nodded. “Good.” He turned to Jack. “Are you done with her?”

  Jack nodded. “We’ve really turned up the heat on Zeke. We already had an APB out on him, but we’ve made catching him our top priority in Shady Grove and the outlying areas right now. I think we’ll have him by morning.”

  As they walked out of the police station, Elyse motioned to the parking lot. “If you want to follow me home, that’ll be great.”

  Her dad cleared his throat. “Actually, Luke came to take your Jeep home.” Luke, leaning against her Jeep with his Carhartt jacket pulled tight around him, waggled his fingers. “I thought you might be too tired to drive.”

  “Thanks.” She tossed her keys to her brother and climbed into her dad’s truck. There would be other days to prove her independence. Tonight was a time for leaning her head back against the seat and trying to relax.

  She opened her eyes and sat up when her dad slid under the steering wheel. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about Luis. It was just so weird seeing him again.”

  “I can imagine.” He pulled out onto the highway behind Luke. “We completely understand.”

  “Really?” She tilted her head. “Because I don’t even know if I can explain all the reasons I didn’t want you to know. Partly because I had a crazy idea you might feel threatened by the fact that my biological father had shown up. But tonight when you walked into the police station, I realized that you know that you’re my daddy and always will be. And no one can take that away from us.”

  He chuckled. “You’re absolutely right. And you’re also really, really tired. Do you remember the second Christmas you spent with us?”

  She glanced over at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Cami talked you and Crystal into staying up all night so you’d be the first ones to get to the presents. Y’all were so tired that Cami and Crys were asleep by lunch. But you—our quiet, shy little girl—were wide-eyed and babbling about everything under the sun. We all sat and watched in amazement. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you do that again until now.”

  She chuckled weakly. “I guess I lose my self-consciousness once I reach a certain point of tiredness.”

  He nodded. “Your mama will be sorry she missed it. She still mentions occasionally about how much you talked that Christmas.” He glanced at her. “Speaking of your mama, she wants to fix breakfast for you in the morning. We need to talk to you.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  He shook his head. “No. You get some rest tonight, honey, and try not to worry about things.”

  She laid her head against the seat again and closed her eyes. She could feel the bumpiness of the gravel road as they neared home. When the truck turned into her lane, she opened her eyes. “Thanks for driving me home.”

  “You’re welcome.” He pulled up in front of her house. Luke had already parked the Jeep and gotten out. Truck lights turned down the lane, and she squinted. Andrew, back from the hospital.

  Her dad touched her shoulder. “Why don’t you stay out here and talk to him while we go through your house and make sure everything’s okay?”

  She nodded. “Thanks. Just tell the dogs I’ll be in soon.”

  “We’ll tell them you found someone you liked better than them,” Luke drawled.

  She wrinkled her nose at her brother. “Go ahead. They won’t believe you.”

  Her daddy laughed. “Nice to see some things never change. Lucas, leave your sister alone, and let’s go make sure there’s nobody in her house that isn’t four-footed.”

  They walked up to the front door and let themselves in, just as Andrew pulled up beside her and opened his truck door.

  She smiled at him. “Hey.” He looked tired. She ran her hand through her hair. No telling what she looked like.

  “Hey,” he said, still sitting in the truck, his eyes never leaving her face. “Luis is going to be okay.”

  “Oh good.” Her smile widened. It was so good to see him.

  He climbed down and covered the distance between them in two broad steps. She didn’t protest when he took her in his arms. For a few moments, she let everything fall away—Zeke, Luis, her parents, her shyness. All of it. She was right where she belonged.

  She drew back slightly and looked up at him. “Thank you.”

  The moonlight danced shadows across his face, but she could see his crooked smile. “I missed you.”

  “Me, too.” She felt her cheeks burn.

  “You. I missed you.” She knew what he meant. Tonight seemed like it had been an eternity long.

  He stared into her eyes then bent his head until he was almost touching her lips. She didn’t move, but in the depths of his eyes, she saw something unreadable. A little chill ran up her spine.

  “Unless something changes drastically, I have nothing to offer you except this minute,” he murmured.

  She didn’t understand exactly what he meant, but she believed him. And right now she didn’t care. “Okay,” she whispered, almost touching his lips.

  Apparently he took her answer for what it was, because he kissed her fully and completely with no hesitation. And for the first time in her life she didn’t feel ashamed of where she’d come from. Everything in her past, including the bad, had played a part in bringing her to this point. To this kiss. To this man. To this love? The thought shook her to the core, but she didn’t pull away.

  CHAPTER 23

  Andrew stepped back suddenly and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry.”

  “You’re sorry?” She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold. That wasn’t what she’d wanted to hear after the most magical moment of her life.

  “I had no right to do that.”

  A flash of irritation ignited her exhaustion, and she blurted out how she felt. “Last time I checked, I said ‘okay,’ so I guess that gave you the right.”

  “Yeah, but...” Andrew’s words drifted off as the front door of Elyse’s house opened and her brother and dad walked out.

  “Thanks for going to check on Luis.” Elyse was suddenly too exhausted to even think. “Good night.” She turned and marched away without saying another word. Let him be sorry by himself.

  “All clear?” she asked as she met her dad and Luke on the walkway.

  “All clear.” Luke slugged her shoulder gently.

  Daddy gave her a one-arm hug. “What did Andrew say?”

  “Uh...” She stammered for a second then realized he was asking about Luis. “Oh. He said he’s going to be okay.”

  “Good. See you at breakfast tomorrow.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  As days went, this had been one of the longest of her life. May
be tomorrow would be better.

  ***

  Andrew slapped at his alarm and climbed out of bed, glad morning was here. It wasn’t as if he’d had much sleep after the disaster last night with Elyse. He started the coffee brewing and peeked out the camper window at her house. Her Jeep was home, so she wasn’t gone anywhere.