Halfway through the meal, the telephone rang and Maggie went to answer the portable instrument sitting on the end of the cabinet. The caller was her sister-in-law, Victoria. While she assured Aaron’s aunt that her nephew was safe and sound except for a scratch and a bruise, she covertly watched her son and Daniel at the kitchen table. The two of them were talking with easy familiarity as though they were old buddies or even relatives. The notion was unsettling. It wouldn’t do for her son to get close to this man. Not when she planned on making a swift and permanent break with him after tonight.
“That was your aunt Victoria,” Maggie said to Aaron, once she returned to the table. “She was getting ready to come over here to check you out, but I told her you only had a scratch and a bruise.”
Aaron swallowed down a mouthful of potato chips before he said to Daniel, “Aunt Victoria is a doctor. She’s just had a baby. He’s a boy, but he’s too little to play with. He still drinks from a bottle and he wets his pants. Ugh!”
Daniel smiled fondly. “Yes, I’ve met little Samuel.”
Aaron looked at him with surprise, then dawning. “Oh, I forgot. You work with Uncle Jess.”
“That’s right.”
“See, Mom, Daniel has a badge just like Uncle Jess’s.” The boy reached over and nearly touched the shiny, oval emblem pinned to Daniel’s khaki uniform. “It says San Juan County, New Mexico, on it. That’s where we live. And Daniel is the law all over this land.”
“Daniel isn’t the law, he enforces the law,” Maggie corrected him.
Aaron scowled at his mother. “I know that. He can put handcuffs on people and take them to jail.”
And that ability was obviously impressive to a nine-year-old boy, Maggie realized.
“He has a Colt .45, too,” Aaron went on with enthusiasm. “That’s the kind of pistol he likes to carry—just like in the Old West—like Blackjack Ketchum toted. And he was our kin!”
Maggie stared at her son, unwilling to believe the stuff that was rolling out of his mouth. “Aaron! You have no idea what sort of gun Blackjack Ketchum used! And he certainly wasn’t our relative! Where did you hear such a thing?” she demanded.
“Well, Skinny told me about the gun. And the kids at school tell me all the time that Blackjack was my kinfolk. And he might be, Mom. You don’t know,” he argued.
Daniel chuckled, and Maggie lifted a helpless gaze toward the ceiling.
“Eat your sandwich,” she ordered Aaron, then seeing Daniel had finished the food on his plate, Maggie asked, “Would you care for coffee and a piece of pound cake?”
Daniel figured she was more than ready for him to leave, but he was going to deliberately ignore her wishes. After tonight he probably wouldn’t get the opportunity to share this sort of time with her or Aaron. He had to make the most of these moments.
“Sounds good.”
“What about me?” Aaron chimed in. “Can’t I have cake, too?”
“Cake, but no coffee,” Maggie told him as she rose from the table. “And then you’re going straight to bed.”
Aaron’s freckled nose wrinkled up with disappointment. “Aw, heck, I want to talk to Daniel some more.”
“I’m sure Daniel is all talked out by you.”
Daniel glanced over to where Maggie stood at the cabinet, but she had her gaze focused on the long loaf of cake she was slicing.
“Aaron hasn’t talked me out. But I do have to be leaving soon,” he announced.
“How come?” Aaron asked with frank innocence. “Don’t you want to stay and talk to Mom a little more?”
“Aaron!” Maggie sternly warned.
Daniel could hardly keep from flashing a grin at his new little buddy. “I can’t think of anything I’d like to do better. But I have work to finish tonight. Maybe I’ll get to talk to her another time,” he said just as she was placing the plate of cake in front of him.
Pausing at his shoulder, Maggie looked down at him. The warm suggestive signals in his brown eyes seemed to arc straight into her, flooding her limbs with heat and her cheeks with color.
Nervously she wiped her sweaty palms down the front of her thighs. “Uh…do you want cream with your coffee?”
“No. Black is fine.”
She served Aaron his dessert, then went back to her seat and tried to pour all of her attention into the piece of cake in front of her. But she could hardly choke down more than two bites. She wanted—no, she needed for the meal to be over and for Deputy Daniel Redwing to be gone. Otherwise, she would be unable to keep her eyes from straying to his lips and her senses from remembering every reckless second she’d spent in his arms.
Glancing down the table, she noticed Aaron’s eyelids were beginning to droop and the movement of his fork was growing slower and slower. The long, traumatic day was catching up to him, and now he was about to fall asleep right in his plate.
“Aaron, I really think you’re too sleepy to finish your cake. Why don’t you say good-night to Daniel and go to bed,” she gently suggested.
His mother’s voice stirred Aaron from his sleepy stupor and he lay down his fork and climbed out of his chair.
“I guess I’d better,” he reluctantly agreed, then to the surprise of both adults, he went over to Daniel and circled his arms around his neck. “Good night, Daniel. And thanks for not taking me to jail. I promise not to ever run away again.”
Daniel had never had any siblings. Nor had he been around children very much in his life. He hadn’t known it was possible to become attached to one so quickly or to be touched so deeply by such unconditional affection.
Patting the boy’s back, he said, “That’s good. I’m going to hold you to that promise. Good night, Aaron.”
Yawning, the child ended the hug and left the kitchen. Once he was out of sight, something inside Maggie snapped and tears began to stream down her face.
Seeing her swipe at them, Daniel got up from his chair and went around the table to where she sat.
Touching the crown of her hair with his hand, he said quietly, “Maggie. What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice rough with tears. “All of a sudden it struck me. Today I could have lost him. And I couldn’t have lived through that. Not after Hugh. Aaron is a part of him, and he’s all I have now.”
“But you didn’t lose him,” he said, then, easing onto the edge of the chair next to her, he clasped both her hands in his. “I understand today has been hard on you, Maggie. But it’s over. And in the long run, I believe this little episode has taught Aaron a lesson.”
Breathing deeply, she struggled to curb her tears. “I’m not so sure. He’s unhappy with me.”
One corner of Daniel’s lips lifted to a wry smile. “Aaron adores you.”
“Yes. But he wants a father, too. And I…I just can’t give him that. Not now. Not ever,” she whispered fiercely.
Daniel didn’t know what to say. He could hardly admonish her for not wanting to marry again. Not when he’d sworn to avoid the role of husband for as long as he walked this earth. To take on a spouse was like holding a person’s happiness in your hands. The responsibility was just too great. He didn’t want to fall short in some woman’s eyes and then see them fill with tears of misery.
Daniel had watched his father make mistake after mistake with his mother. And too many times during his childhood he’d watched tears of sadness roll down Pelipa Redwing’s face. Daniel could still remember the helpless feeling he’d had as he’d tried to comfort his mother, to love her enough to make up for all of Robert Redwing’s shortcomings. He’d not been able to make his mother happy, and it would be foolish of him to think he could make a wife happy.
After a moment he said, “I think you’re exaggerating the problem with Aaron. He seems like a happy, balanced child to me.”
She leveled a sardonic look on him. “Yeah, so happy that he ran away.”
Wishing in some way that he could absorb her pain, he squeezed her soft hands. “He wasn’t trying to run away from
you. He just wanted to spend the night in the woods. If you ask me, that’s a pretty natural urge for a little boy.”
Dropping her gaze from his face to their entwined hands, she murmured, “You should never have offered to take him camping. He’ll be pestering you about it from now on.”
The tangled curls dancing around her head were a myriad of red shades, Daniel decided, as his eyes slid over the silken mass. Sparks of copper, gold, chestnut and mahogany were spun together to make one brilliant color. It was beautiful, vibrant hair, like a flame beckoning him to touch its warmth.
He pushed his mind to their conversation. “I wasn’t just telling Aaron that to appease him. I really will take him camping.”
“No!”
The one, softly spoken word was out before she could take it back and he stared at her with slightly raised brows.
“Why?”
Her lips twisted and then she glanced away from him. “Because I…I don’t think it would be a good idea.”
“Why? Because I’m an Indian—a Ute?”
Maggie’s head jerked, her gaze collided with his. “No! How could you ask such a thing? You being Ute has nothing to do with it!”
Both his shoulders lifted and fell in a negligible gesture. “I never know with some people. And there has to be some reason you don’t want your son around me.”
Awkward heat filled her cheeks and warmed them to the deep pink of a wild rose. “Oh, I think you know, Daniel.”
He studied her for long moments and after a while she swallowed as though something was choking her. Daniel could have told her she wasn’t the only one with a tight throat. His was knotted with feelings he’d never encountered before, and deep inside him, where no one could see, he was shaking with fear.
Dear God, he was a lawman. He faced dangerous people with guns and knives and every sort of weapon they could get their hands on. But none of them had shaken him the way this woman did.
“Because you think I might use your son to get to you?” he asked bluntly.
Slowly, deliberately, she pulled her hands from his and rose from the chair. Daniel watched her walk over to the sink and stare out the small window above it.
“I don’t think that…exactly,” she eventually answered.
With a rough sigh, Daniel rose from the chair and walked over to stand just behind her. He desperately wanted to put his hands on her arms or shoulders—anywhere, so long as he was touching her.
“What are you thinking?” he quietly prodded.
The nearness of his voice surprised her. She whirled around and braced her hands behind her on the edge of the sink. “I—right now it’s obvious Aaron has a bit of hero worship for you. You’re not only a rough, tough lawman to him, you’re also the hero who saved him from bears and mountain lions and—”
Daniel held up his hand to interrupt her tumble of words. “I haven’t done anything heroic. The only thing I’ve done today is my job.”
Well, almost everything had been his job, Daniel thought wryly. Those kisses he’d shared with Maggie hadn’t exactly been a deputy’s duty.
A worrisome grimace wrinkled her forehead. “Aaron doesn’t see it that way. And if he—spends more time with you—especially doing something special like camping—he’ll—well, he’ll get attached to you.”
Daniel’s features were as smooth and unmoving as stone as he closely studied her. “And that would be bad?”
Her eyes darted away from him to settle on a spot on the tiled floor. “I didn’t say anything about it being bad. It would just be—problematic.”
He told himself it would be foolish to take her words in a personal way, but he could hardly keep from it. To think that she didn’t want him around her child was insulting, even hurtful. Especially after she’d been more than willing for him to search for her son.
“For whom?” Daniel asked softly. “You?”
Irritation puckered her brow as she looked up at him. “No! This is all about Aaron.”
“Is it?”
She heaved out a frustrated breath. “Yes, it is. He’s just a little boy with a great big heart. He would get to liking you, and then he would start to…to love you.”
The last was added in a whisper as though she could hardly bear to repeat the word to him. Which was just as well because Daniel could hardly bear to hear it.
Love. Except for the affection he’d received from his mother, he’d never been loved. Not really. It was silly of this woman to think her son could ever love him.
“I think,” he said after a few silent seconds had passed between them, “that you’re making giant leaps for no reason. We were talking about one night of camping and a day of fishing. Not an emotional attachment for life. But even if we were, why should that bother you? Don’t you want Aaron to get close to people?”
Surprise flickered in her eyes and then she began to stammer, “Daniel…that’s not…what I meant. And I—” She turned her back to him and continued in a strained voice. “Please. I’m very tired. I just don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
She was dismissing him and though he wanted to stay, he knew it was time for him to go, to get back to his own world, far away from this rich widow with the sad blue eyes and sweet, sweet lips.
Tired himself now, he turned and retrieved his hat from where he’d placed it on the floor by his chair. After he’d tugged it down over his forehead, he walked to the door and paused to look at her. Her back was still toward him, the rigid line of her stance sending him a cool, distant message that cut him in a way he didn’t understand.
“All right. I’m going, Maggie. But before I do, I think you should hear something. Maybe you don’t want or need a man in your life, but your boy does. He needs someone he can admire and respect and build a bond with.”
Guilt and pain twisted in her chest like a piece of barbed wire, until finally she whirled around to face him. “Like who?” she flung at him. “You?”
His features stiff, he opened the door. “No. Not me.”
She watched him step through the opening and into the warm night. It wasn’t until the door clicked quietly behind him that something hit her. Something deep and awful and lonely.
Chapter Four
A little more than a week later Maggie was sitting in a room at the Aztec General Hospital, reading the Farmington Daily Times to an elderly man who was recovering from a stroke.
“Looks like our area is still in a drought alert, Mr. Alvarez. Here it says we’re at least twelve inches below normal for the year. Let’s hope there are not any lightning fires anytime soon or we’ll all be in trouble.”
The man nodded that he understood and agreed with what Maggie was saying. She read a bit more about the worrisome drought, then turned to the sports and the baseball standings. She was about to tell Mr. Alvarez that the Colorado Rockies had won last night when her name suddenly came over the hospital intercom.
“Maggie Ketchum, report to the nurses’ station, please.”
As she placed the newspaper to one side, Mr. Alvarez shook his head. The old man never wanted her to leave the room and she couldn’t blame him. The visits he’d had from his family were few and far between.
She touched his hand and smiled gently. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right back. We haven’t gotten to the comic strips yet.”
Maggie hurried out of the room and turned left to head down a wide corridor toward the nurses’ station. As her feet skimmed over the polished tile, she glanced at her wristwatch. It wasn’t quite eleven. Maybe the hospital was running low on help today and they needed her to help serve lunch.
“Hannah, did I hear my name called?” she asked the nurse sitting in a desk chair behind the long L-shaped counter.
The middle-aged woman dressed in colorful scrubs glanced up. “You sure did. You have a telephone call on line three.”
She placed the phone on the counter, punched the button and handed the receiver to Maggie.
Turning her back for a measure of privacy, Maggie s
poke, “Hello, this is Maggie Ketchum.”
“Hello, Maggie. This is Daniel.”
He didn’t have to add the Redwing. She would have recognized his voice anywhere, anytime. And the mere sound of it caused her breath to catch in her throat.
Unwittingly her hand fluttered up to her throat as she said, “Daniel. How are you?”
“I’m doing fine. What about you?”
She closed her eyes as the past few days paraded through her mind. Aaron hadn’t given her a minute’s trouble, but she’d spent most of the time worrying about her son. And thinking about the deputy on the other end of the line.
“Everything has been going okay.” Wariness crept into her voice, even though she was trying to sound as casual and nonchalant as possible. Her mind was spinning, wondering why the man had called her, and at the hospital, of all places.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting your work,” he said, breaking the silent tension between them. “But Jess told me I might catch you at the hospital.”
“Yes. I volunteer three days a week. It gets me off the ranch, and I like helping people.”
“I have no doubt that you enjoy helping people, Maggie.”
His last words were spoken in a gentle tone, as though to imply he knew her intimately. The idea warmed her cheeks and she glanced around to see two young nurses casting her furtive glances.
Clearing her throat, she turned away from their sly glances and said, “Uh, was there something I could do for you, Daniel?”
“Well, actually, I need to talk to you.”
Her stomach fluttered. “I…what are—”
“It’s about Aaron,” he said, interrupting her stumbling words.
“Aaron has been fine,” she quickly replied. “I haven’t had any trouble with him. In fact, he’s been bending over backward to do things he knows will please me. I’ve allowed him to walk back down to the ranch to visit Skinny, and so far he’s returned to the house promptly. I’m thinking that runaway he pulled was his first and his last.”
Redwing's Lady Page 5
