“Charlie said I was wanted,” Kitty said. “What’s going on here?”
With the twin girl still in her arms, Justine got to her feet. “Roy, this is my aunt Kitty. She’s my mother’s sister. She came to live with us before our mother passed away.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Roy said, with a nod toward the older woman. “It seems that your niece found two babies on the porch when she came home from work. You wouldn’t happen to know who they might belong to?”
Kitty’s mouth formed a perfect O as she glanced from one baby to the other. “Land sakes no! You mean they were on the doorstep? Just like in the movies?”
“That’s the way Justine described it.”
Justine turned her eyes on him. “That’s the way it was,” she said crisply.
“Well! What do you think about that?” Kitty asked no one in particular. “I wish Lola and Tom were alive to see this.”
Charlie ventured over to Roy, who’d just slipped the empty bottle from the boy twin’s mouth.
“You have a badge,” Charlie told him.
Roy looked at the boy. He had a stocky build, like his late grandfather Tom. His thick hair was light brown and fell in a straight bang across his forehead. Freckles dotted his broad-bridged nose and dimples dented both cheeks. He was an endearing child, and Roy couldn’t help but somehow feel cheated that Justine had chosen to have some other man’s baby.
“Yes, that’s a badge,” Roy told him.
“You have a gun, too,” Charlie went on, his gaze on the pistol holstered to Roy’s hip.
“That’s right.”
“Are you a policeman?”
“I’m a sheriff.”
Charlie repeated the word. “What does a sheriff do?”
“He tells the other policemen what to do.”
Charlie grinned and plopped down beside Roy on the couch. “So you’re the boss.”
In spite of everything, Roy found himself smiling back at Justine’s son. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“Would you like for me to take the baby now, Mr. Pardee?” Kitty asked him.
“Thank you, ma’am.” He handed the twin over to the older woman, and was instantly struck by the emptiness of his arms.
“He looks like the one you have, Mommy,” Charlie said, pointing at the tiny boy in his aunt’s arms. “Is that his sister?”
“Yes, honey. I expect they are brother and sister,” Justine told him.
“I can’t get over it,” Kitty said as she strolled around the room like a doting grandmother. “Babies left on our ranch! Where do you think they came from?”
“I was hoping that you or Justine’s sisters might have some clues,” Roy told the woman. “Are you certain you don’t know anyone who’s had twins in the past six months? An old friend or distant relative?”
Kitty thought for a moment, then shook her head. “My old friends are too old to have babies, and most of my relatives live here on the Bar M.”
Sighing, Roy glanced at Charlie, who was sidled up to him the way a tomcat would a warm stove. The sight of the trusting child disturbed Roy almost as much as the sight of Justine.
Rising to his feet, he said, “Well, if neither of you can think of anything else, I’m going to get on the phone and find a place to take these babies tonight.”
Roy headed out the door. Justine glanced at Kitty, then quickly placed the twin girl down on the pallet and followed him out on the porch.
Hearing her footsteps, Roy turned, his brows arched with speculation.
“Was there something else you wanted to tell me?” he asked.
Justine met his eyes, moistened her lips, then glanced away. “Just that there’s no need for you to find a place for the babies to stay. We’d be happy to keep them here.”
He didn’t say anything, just kept gazing at her through narrowed eyes.
Justine heaved out a breath, then folded her arms across her breasts. “I love babies, but I wouldn’t go so far to steal a pair of them, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking,” he said roughly.
And she didn’t want to know, Justine thought hotly. “Well, think about this. There’s not exactly a plethora of orphanages around here. As far as I know, there’s not any. You probably know a few foster parents who’d be willing to take the babies in, but I doubt they would be any more capable than four grown women would be.”
His gaze slanted downward from her face, to settle on the bulge of her breasts spilling over her folded arms.
“Don’t forget to point out you’re an experienced mother,” he added sarcastically.
At that moment, Justine was certain she hated this long-legged man with hard blue eyes and an even harder mouth.
“Is there something wrong with being a mother?” she asked him challengingly.
Roy didn’t know why he was behaving so churlishly. Just because seeing Justine again had thrown him off kilter, that didn’t mean he lacked manners.
“No. There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. Then with a tired sigh, he lifted his hat and combed his fingers through his hair.
The sun had set some minutes ago, and the sky over the ranch had turned dusky. The day had been a long one for Roy. He should be looking forward to going home, taking a hot shower and fixing himself a steak for supper. But not even the prospect of those things eased the weariness that had suddenly come over him.
“I suppose it will be all right for the babies to stay here tonight,” he said after a moment. “I’ll have someone from social services come out to get them tomorrow.”
He stepped off the porch. Justine suddenly realized he was going to leave. “You’re not going, are you?”
A faint smile touched his lips, but not his eyes. For one brief moment, Justine felt a sadness she didn’t quite understand. She only knew that a long time ago, Roy had smiled at her. Really smiled. But she would never see that man again.
“There’s not much more I can do here tonight, other than speaking with your sisters. And since they obviously weren’t around when the babies were left, they may not know any more than your aunt. But just in case, I’ll question them later. Until then, if any of you come up with something, let me know.”
He took a step toward a Bronco with the sheriff’s department seal painted on the side. Justine called after him.
“How long do you think it will take you to find out who did this?”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Not long,” he said grimly.
“But you hardly have any evidence to work with.”
“I’ve had less.”
Behind Justine, the door opened and closed. She peered around to see Charlie skipping toward her.
“Mommy, I’m hungry. When are we gonna eat?”
Justine took her son by the shoulders and turned him back toward the door of the house. “Go get a graham cracker. Aunt Kitty and I will fix supper in a few minutes.”
The child went back inside. Justine looked at Roy, and suddenly felt more awkward than she had since he first arrived. Maybe it was because he was leaving and she knew that she’d probably never see him again.
The idea should have relieved her, and it did, to a certain degree. But it also reminded her of how empty, how devastated, she’d felt when she lost him all those years ago. He’d been her first and only lover. Whether she wanted him to be or not, a part of him was still ingrained in her.
“Well, another hungry mouth to feed,” she said, with a faint smile and a shrug. “I guess I’d better get to work.”
Nodding, Roy turned and walked the remaining distance to his Bronco. He needed to get back to work, too. But he could feel her eyes on his back until he heard the door to the house shut
Roy climbed into the vehicle and reached to start the motor. Before he could, his eyes were drawn to the house, and his fingers paused on the ignition keys. Through the living room window, he could see Justine bending down and planting a kiss on the top of her son’s
head. The boy took a bite of cracker, then offered it to his mother. She took a bite, then put her arm around the child and led him away from Roy’s view.
Annoyed with himself for letting his attention stray once again to the family inside the house, Roy muttered a curse and started the engine. It was high time he got home.
Justine was helping her aunt prepare supper when Rose and Chloe returned to the house. Both sisters were instantly captivated by the twins and insisted on feeding them mashed bananas at the supper table.
“Aren’t they the cutest things you’ve ever seen?” Chloe exclaimed as she scooped a spoonful of fruit into the boy’s mouth. “What do you think we should call them?”
Justine glanced anxiously at her aunt then back to her younger sister. “Chloe, we can’t name the babies. Remember what I told you earlier? Someone from social services will be out tomorrow to get them.”
Chloe kissed the top of the boy’s head, whose dark auburn hair just happened to match her own, then glanced adoringly at the girl sitting contentedly on Rose’s lap.
“Oh, Justine, surely we can keep them until the real parents are found. And who knows? They might not be able to get them back. Not after dumping them like they did.”
Justine sighed inwardly. She knew what these two babies probably meant to Chloe. At eighteen, an infection had scarred her reproductive organs and left her barren. Now, at twenty-three and with no chance of ever having a baby of her own, she probably saw the twins as two little angels sent from heaven.
But Justine knew it wasn’t that way, and she didn’t want Chloe or Rose to get attached to the babies, then go through the heartache of giving them up.
“Chloe,” Justine began, “we don’t know who left the children here. And I doubt—”
At twenty-eight, the chestnut-haired Rose was the oldest of the three sisters, and always the quiet one. But at this moment she chose to interrupt, making the other three women look at her with raised brows.
“If Sheriff Pardee allowed them to stay here tonight, perhaps he’ll consider letting them stay until the case is solved.”
“Yes!” Chloe seconded that idea with an eager yelp, then turned pleading eyes on Justine. “Justine, will you call and ask him?”
Justine glanced frantically at her two sisters. “Me ask him! Why me?”
“Well, you knew him from a long time ago,” Chloe pointed out.
“I did?” Justine asked cautiously.
As far as she knew, no one in her family had known that she and Roy were together, as friends or anything more. At the time she became involved with Roy, he’d been dating Marla, his boss’s daughter. But he’d assured Justine the relationship wasn’t serious and he was trying to gradually break away from her without angering Marla or her father. So she’d agreed to keep their dating a secret. Now that secret was buried deep in her heart.
“We all went to the same high school,” Rose reminded her.
“Oh—yes, I guess we did,” Justine admitted with relief. “But he was three grades higher than me, and I never associated with the guy. Besides—”
Chloe butted in. “Justine, men take to you like ducks to water.”
“Oh, please,” Justine groaned. “I haven’t even dated a man in a long time.”
“Well,” Rose said, her pretty face suddenly taking on a hard edge, “I’m sure not a femme fatale, and I’ll not try to be.”
As Justine glanced at her older sister, she realized she wasn’t the only one who’d suffered because of a heartless man. Since her disastrous engagement ended nine years ago, Rose had shunned virtually all men.
“And you know how easily an arrogant man can rile me up,” Chloe added. “Before I could bite my tongue, I’d be telling the sheriff to jump in the lake. Instead of wooing him to our way of thinking.”
It was true Chloe had a feisty temper. She got along with her horses far better than she did with men. Still, it went against everything inside Justine to ask Roy for anything.
“I don’t know why you two are doing this to me,” Justine said wearily.
“Because you’d have a far better chance of persuading the sheriff than Rose or I,” Chloe insisted. “Come on, say you’ll do it. Please!”
If her sisters only knew, Justine thought sickly. What would they think if she told them that Sheriff Pardee was Charlie’s father?
Closing her eyes, Justine pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “We’re already shorthanded here on the ranch. You and Rose work like dogs from sunup to sundown. How are you going to take care of two demanding babies?”
“I’ll manage through the day,” Kitty spoke up. “Charlie is big enough to fetch things for me. Besides, since Tom died, the house seems so quiet and empty. The babies will put a little life back into things around here.”
Justine groaned. Rose smiled and nodded, while Chloe clapped her hands together.
Chloe pressed on. “That’s right. The babies will help take our minds off all the problems we’ve been having lately. And it will be good for Charlie to have other children around.”
Justine let out a long sigh. How could she say no, when the whole family was counting on her? “It could only be temporary,” she pointed out.
“Temporary is a start,” Rose said quietly.
Justine tossed her hands resignedly up in the air. “All right, okay. I’ll call him. But don’t get your hopes up. Sheriff Pardee doesn’t strike me as a warmhearted man.” In fact, Justine didn’t think he had a heart at all, but she couldn’t express that thought to her sisters. Not without raising some eyebrows. As far as they knew, he was just an old acquaintance, not the only man she’d ever loved.
Normally, Justine helped with cleaning the kitchen after the evening meal, but this time, both sisters shooed her out of the room.
“We’ll take care of this mess. You go call the sheriff,” Chloe told her.
Knowing her sisters wouldn’t let her put it off any longer, Justine walked down to her bedroom and shut the door. If she had to talk to Roy, she wanted to do it in private.
As a nurse, Justine had been schooled to remain calm in a crisis. She’d seen people broken and bleeding and dangerously close to death, but she’d forced herself to be collected and focus on her job. Yet just the act of dialling Roy’s number had her hand shaking and her breaths coming in shallow little jerks. It wasn’t right that one man could have so much of an effect on her, she thought with self-disgust. Especially when he’d been out of her life for years now.
It rang four times, and Justine was on the verge of hanging up when he answered.
“Sheriff Pardee.”
“Roy.”
He knew instantly that it was Justine. No other woman had ever said his name quite like she did. He closed his eyes and gripped the receiver.
“Yes.”
“This is Justine.”
“I know.”
Her shaky legs forced her to take a seat on the edge of the bed. “I—I’m calling about the twins.”
“I didn’t think you were calling to ask me for a date,” he said dryly.
Her nostrils flared as she closed her eyes. She wished she could get her hands around his throat! No—she instantly changed her mind. She didn’t want to touch him. Ever! If she did, she didn’t know what she’d do. Kiss him? Claw him? Break down in tears? She wasn’t going to test herself.
“I don’t know how you ever won the sheriff’s election,” she muttered.
To Justine’s amazement, he chuckled. The sound sent little shivers of nerves tumbling through her stomach.
“I won it because the majority of the people in Lincoln County like and trust me.”
Even if you don’t. Justine could hear the unspoken words hovering on the line between them.
Knowing she’d never get anywhere with him if she allowed her temper to get the better of her, she said, “I heard you got ninety percent of the vote. Are you sure you had an opponent?”
“Somebody mentioned there was another guy running f
or the job. I didn’t notice.”
His cockiness had Justine rolling her eyes. “Well, I’m glad to hear you’re so liked and well-thought-of around here,” she said, “because I’m going to…ask a favor of you.”
Roy had been lying back in his leather recliner, but now his boots hit the floor with a loud thud. In his wildest dreams, he’d never expected Justine Murdock to want or need any sort of help from him. He didn’t know whether to tell her to go to hell, or silently thank God. In fact, for years now Roy had never been quite able to decide if he hated Justine or loved her.
“A favor,” he repeated, his voice gone husky. “What kind?”
She drew in a shaky breath. “It’s about the twins. Do you think it might be possible for us…I mean, my sisters and me…to keep them here until…you locate the real parents?”
“Why would you want to do that? I’m sure you and your family have plenty to keep you busy besides two demanding babies.”
“Of course we do. But my sisters are infatuated with the babies, and since…Daddy’s death, well, I think it would be good for all of us to have them around.”
Roy knew that Justine had been very close to her mother and father. She was probably still grieving over Tom’s death. If the babies could help ease the ache, what the hell, he thought. Even though she’d made his life miserable, that didn’t mean he wanted to rub salt in her wounds.
“You don’t have to sell me on the idea, Justine. I know I can trust the twins’ welfare to you and your family.”
She couldn’t believe he’d so readily agreed to her request, and for a moment she didn’t know what to say.
“Justine? Isn’t that what you wanted to hear?”
“I—Uh, yes,” she finally managed to answer. “Is that all we have to do? Is your permission enough to keep them here?”
“Legally, no. I’ll have to get a court order from Judge Richards. But he and I are good friends. He’ll go along with my feelings on the matter.”
“That’s all there is to it?”
“You sound surprised.”
She was. She’d expected Roy to resist everything about the idea. Now, because of who he was and what he was, he was going to make it legally possible for her family to keep the babies. She didn’t know what to think.
The Sheriff's Son Page 3
