by Linda Warren
Forcing the memory away, he saw his daughter’s face. His daughter. When he thought those words, life felt surreal. He had a daughter, and now he’d get the chance to know her.
Glancing at the clock he said, “Damn.” He wanted to leave this place where all he could do was think. It was driving him crazy.
“Do I hear cursing?” Levi asked as he and Carson walked in. Levi placed a carryall on the bed.
“You’re damn right. I’m ready to get out of here.” He unzipped the bag and pulled out khaki shorts.
“Did your boys get scorched in the fire, too?” Levi asked.
Ethan paused over a button, frowning. “No, my boys didn’t get scorched. They were well protected.”
Carson pushed back his Stetson. “Why would you ask a question like that?”
“Did you see all those pretty nurses out there?” Levi thumbed over his shoulder. “After all he’s been through, I thought it would be a just reward if one of them rubbed ointment onto his balls or other sensitive areas.”
Carson laughed and Ethan stared at his friend. Levi had a dry wit, but it was unlike him to be so outspoken and crude.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“He’s punch drunk—” Carson replied “—from investigating the robbery along with his other cases. He hasn’t had much sleep.”
“Oh, well, if it will make you feel better, a pretty nurse shaved my beard off with an electric razor this morning.” He rubbed his smooth jaw. “And she did rub ointment over it.”
“Now we’re talking.”
Ethan searched for a T-shirt in the bag. “So the lieutenant’s letting you investigate the case?” Ethan tugged the shirt over his head.
“Hell, no. I’m doing it undercover and finding squat. Devon and Rudy both had cell phones and we’ve checked out everyone they called. No one they contacted is involved. They were just looking for a place to hide. The third person has hidden his or her tracks very well. We can’t find a trace, and most of the money has been recovered. We’re trying to figure out what a third person’s involvement would be besides money. And to really get your juices flowing Beecher has been ordered to focus on the evidence he has. The higher-ups are pressuring the lieutenant to take Ross off the case because he’s too closely involved. He’s bucking that.”
“More procedure bullshit.”
“Yep.”
“Those hoods talked about a boss. I didn’t make that up.”
“Why do you think I’m busting my ass on this?”
Ethan reached for the Crocs in his bag. “Let’s go. The quicker we start comparing notes the quicker we can figure this out.”
Levi shook his head. “Sorry. No can do. You’re going home.” He glanced at Carson. “That’s why I brought extra muscle, in case you had other ideas.”
“Of course I’m going home. I have to see my kid. But then...”
Levi sighed. “No but then. You’re on paid leave until otherwise notified. Lieutenant’s orders.”
“Like hell.”
“I brought a rope just in case we need it,” Carson quipped.
“Funny.” Ethan picked up the bag. “Let’s go.”
Within minutes they were on the road headed home. They talked more about the robbery case, but Levi soon fell asleep in the backseat. Carson caught Ethan up on what was going on in Willow Creek, which was pretty much nothing. Rarely did anything happen in the small town, except the double murders that had happened years ago. Carson’s brother had been shot by his girlfriend’s father. Lamar Brooks was killed later that night. People said Asa Corbett avenged his son’s death, but it was never proven. As the constable, Carson did his best to keep Willow Creek crime-free.
Of the three friends, Carson was the go-by-the-book lawman. Ethan admired his friend’s integrity and his dedication to the law. Ethan and Levi had the same dedication, but they were lacking the wait-and-see tactic. Even when they were rowdy boys, Carson was always the one reining them in.
Carson’s life had sorely been tested. His wife had died after giving birth to their daughter. He became a single parent with two kids to raise. Last year his father, Asa, the man who owned most of Willow Creek, had a stroke and was now in a wheelchair. Dealing with the old reprobate took all of Carson’s patience.
“Are you still in pain?” Carson asked as they crossed the cattle guard to the James property.
“Mostly discomfort.”
“I guess you know your story and photo has been in every newspaper and on every newscast in the country.”
“Yeah. A couple of reporters tried to get into my room. Security was very alert. Hopefully, the excitement has died down.”
“Don’t count on it.”
Carson drove into the yard of the brick house his dad had built for his mom. Her dream house. A double detached garage was to the right. His truck was parked inside.
“Hot damn. My truck beat me home.”
“Levi and I brought it back. Thought you might need it.”
“You bet.”
“Your dad has your wallet, keys and cell phone.”
“Thanks.” He turned his head, taking in the familiar scene. Barn, sheds and cow pens stood to the far right. Cows milled around a water trough. Others stood beneath a huge oak to get out of the hot August sun. Horses lazed in a pasture on the right side of the barn, where an old John Deere tractor was parked in front. Home. A part of small-town America. No matter where he went in the world, he was always happy to return here.
When Carson stopped the truck, Levi woke up and crawled from the backseat. Ethan got out, too, and grabbed the carryall.
From the inside of the house they could hear Kelsey screeching, “He’s home. He’s home!”
Levi slid into the passenger’s seat. “Someone’s excited. I’ll talk to you later—and I mean later.”
He waved as his friends drove away. Opening the gate on the chain-link fence that enclosed the house and yard, he stopped short. Kelsey stood on the porch, his dad behind her. Long hair flowed down her back. It was brown—not black and purple. Gone were the black jeans and T-shirt. She wore denim shorts and a white tank top with a peace sign on it. What had happened while he’d been gone?
She tentatively shifted from one leg to the other as if she wasn’t sure what to do. He did what any father would do. He dropped the carryall and held out his arms. Clearing the step with one long jump, she practically flew to him. He held his child for the first time and he didn’t want to let go. Anger bubbled inside him that he’d been kept away from her for so long.
“Come inside,” Walt called. “You’re supposed to stay out of the sun for a while.”
Arm in arm they walked inside. He hugged his dad and Kelsey ran back for his bag. Back in the living room, she spun around, flipping back her hair.
“What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful,” he replied. “You’re beautiful.”
“Grandpa paid for it and now I have to do the dishes, the laundry, clean the house and help with the cooking.”
“Wait a minute.” Walt was quick to object. “Don’t make me out to be the big bad wolf. It was your idea.”
“I know, Grandpa.” She gave him a quick hug.
This was as surreal as it could get. When he’d left Friday night for a stakeout, his dad was in the kitchen muttering that the aliens had landed. Kelsey was mumbling about a crazy old man and had locked herself in her room. He’d planned to get back early to defuse the situation. But, obviously, it had defused on its own.
“Daddy, I have your room all ready.” He followed her to his room as she talked. “We bought really soft sheets so they wouldn’t irritate your skin. I put the Chillow pads on the bed in case you want to lie down.” She pointed to his dresser. “Your breathing machine is there with the medication, and there’s oint
ment, too, if you need it. I’m making sandwiches for lunch and we have Blue Bell ice cream. Tonight I’m making spaghetti. I used to make it for my grandma and her sister all the time. I can get you anything you want. You don’t have to get up or anything. I...”
He held up a hand. “Whoa. Take a breath.”
“Yeah. Your head is about to explode,” his dad told her.
“It is not. I’m just excited.”
“We know.” Walt grinned.
“I’d like a glass of iced tea,” he said, just to give her something to do. But if she thought she was going to wait on him, they’d have to have a talk. He planned to go back to work in a couple of days. He couldn’t rest until the robbery case was solved.
Kelsey dashed out the door.
“Lordy. Lordy.” His dad shook his head.
“I take it a lot has happened since I’ve been gone.”
“You wouldn’t believe. I’ll fill you in later.” He patted Ethan’s shoulder. “Glad to have you home, son, and glad you’ve lost that tomato color.”
“Me, too. Now I’m just getting browner.” They followed Kelsey into the kitchen. She had a glass of iced tea on the table with a napkin.
“You want tea, Grandpa?”
“Nah. I’m going to feed the cows.”
As Walt went out the back door, Ethan sat down and pulled another chair close to his. “Have a seat. We need to talk.”
“Okay.” Kelsey plopped into the chair.
He leaned forward. “You didn’t have to change the color of your hair to please me. I’m your dad and I will love you whether your hair is black, blue, green or whatever.”
“But you like it, don’t you?” Her voice wavered a little.
“Yes.”
“Good.” She let out a long breath. “I got tired of it the other way and people looked at me funny.”
“And that bothered you?”
“Sometimes. Grandpa really didn’t like it.”
“Grandpa has an older mind-set.”
“But he’s cool. Maybe grouchy, but still cool.”
“When I left for work on Friday night you thought he was a crazy old man. What happened to change your mind?”
“Well.” She twisted her fingers together. “You went missing and Grandpa was upset and I tried not to care. I came into the kitchen to ask if he’d heard anything and I said hey and he lost it. He said—” she dropped her voice to sound like her grandfather “—‘You will not call me Hey. My name is Grandpa, Pa, Pop or whatever you’re comfortable with, but you will not call me Hey.’”
“What did you say to that?” He tried not to smile but feared he was failing.
“I said, ‘You will not call me alien. My name is Kelsey or Kel and that’s what you will call me.’ He apologized for saying that and we made a deal to be more respectful.”
“I’m glad.”
“Then I got my...you know...period and I was scared.”
His mouth fell open and he quickly closed it. Tough-ass cops weren’t supposed to be surprised or shocked. They’d seen just about everything, but for the first time in a long time he didn’t know what to do or say. He went with what was in his heart.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
“That’s okay. Grandpa handled it.”
Grandpa handled it. That was like saying Grandpa found a cure for cancer. It didn’t fit. He was almost positive his dad knew nothing about young girl’s menstrual cycles. Nor did he.
“But you knew what to do?”
She shifted nervously in the chair. “Sheryl said it would happen and we had classes on it in school, but I didn’t pay much attention. I thought I’d be older before it happened. Stupid, huh?”
“Maybe a little.” It irked him that Sheryl hadn’t talked to Kelsey about this. That was a mother’s job. Now it was his. “How did Grandpa handle it?”
“I was scared and crying and he wanted to know what was wrong. He kept on until I told him. We went to Walmart and got some stuff I needed and Grandpa almost got slapped by a woman.”
On and on she talked, the light in her eyes blinding as she talked about everything she and Grandpa had done. “When the lady told him what it would cost to strip my hair, he said, ‘Are you Shih Tzuing me?’ She thought he was nuts. Dad, we have to do something about the crazy words he uses. I’ve heard curse words before. Please tell him it’s okay to use them.”
“I’ll think about it.” He didn’t want his daughter hit with a barrage of obscenities every day and his dad was doing very well with his made-up words. The fun part for Walt was it irritated the hell out of Henry. Besides, they had more pressing matters to discuss.
He reached for her hand. “There’s a Dr. Morrow who does a lot of work for the department on abuse cases. She’s a pediatrician. I’ll make you an appointment for a checkup and she can explain what’s going on with your body.”
She frowned. “Pediatrician? That’s a baby doctor.”
“A pediatrician sees kids up to eighteen years of age.”
“Oh. Will you go with me?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t let you go alone.” Evidently Kelsey had been pretty much on her own since the day she was born. Thank God she’d had her grandmother in her life. At least she’d had someone. He would make sure he would always be there for her. “Do you have any questions? I’ll try my best to answer them.”
Her hand squeezed his. “I can get pregnant now, right?”
His heart stopped on a dime and he strove to be nonchalant and fatherly without breaking into sweat. “Yes.”
“My friend’s sister was fifteen and got pregnant. Her whole family freaked out.”
“That’s definitely a freaking-out moment.” He paused for a second, trying to push the next words through his throat. “Have you and your mom had the sex talk?”
“Oh, no. That’s gross.” She covered her face in embarrassment.
“But you know about it?”
“Yeah. We had it in school when we had the class about our cycles. It was gross. I’m never letting a boy touch me.”
He hoped she held on to that thought until she was about thirty, but he knew that time would come faster than he wanted.
“I’ll remind you of that,” he said with a smile. “Dr. Morrow will go into detail and don’t be afraid to ask her anything.”
“Okay. Oh, oh.” She jumped up. “I have something to show you.” She ran to her room and came back with a tattered photo album. “I saw the photo on your nightstand and thought you might like to see this. My grandma made it. It has my baby pictures and my school pictures. She told me never to lose it and I haven’t. I have more in a box. She died before we could make another album.”
Time flew as he devoured the photos of his daughter from the day she was born until she was about nine. There were very few after that. Evidently, unlike her mother, Sheryl wasn’t into taking pictures.
There was one thing painfully missing in all of them. Him. He wasn’t there. He could blame Sheryl until the sky turned black, but it took two to create Kelsey and two to mess up her life. To the day he died, he would regret walking away so easily and not demanding a DNA test, not doing anything. As a young man, freedom was all he’d wanted. Freedom from a woman he didn’t know. Freedom from the enormous responsibility.
He would pay for it now in unimaginable and painful ways as he watched his daughter grow into a woman. He would never have the memories of the years she’d grown into a feisty little girl. There was no way to get those years back, and they would weigh heavily on his heart forever.
She followed him around the rest of the day, talking and talking. He never knew she was a talker. Around him she was usually sullen and quiet. But now he had a feeling he was seeing the real Kelsey. But he knew once something didn’t go her way the attitude
would return. That was okay. He could deal with it now. They’d bonded in the most unusual way.
After supper, she fell asleep on the sofa. He woke her up to take a bath. She went like a dutiful daughter. In ten minutes she was back in shorty pajamas. She kissed his dad’s cheek.
“Night, Grandpa.”
“Night, child.”
She hugged Ethan around the waist. He was standing because his back was aching a little, but no one needed to know that. “I’m glad you’re home, Daddy.”
“So this feels like home now?” When Sheryl had finally arrived with her, Kelsey had said she wasn’t living in this dump.
“Yeah.” She flashed a big smile and ran to her room.
“What do you think, Dad?”
Walt paused in flipping the TV channels. “I think we got a keeper.”
“Yep. She’s something.” He squeezed his dad’s shoulder. “Thanks for taking care of her while I was gone.”
“That what grandpas do.”
“Mmm.”
“And you owe me a wad of money. I’m keeping a tab.”
“Tell me what I owe and I’ll write you a check.”
“Aw, I’m watching TV. I’ll tell you later.”
Which meant his dad would never tell him. “I’m going to work at my computer for a while.”
“You haven’t lay down all day. Don’t you think you should rest?”
“I will. I just want to check on the progress of the murder cases Ross and I were working.”
“That can’t wait until tomorrow?”
“Night, Dad.”
His dad was worried about his health, but he was fine. His hot back said otherwise. It would only take a few minutes and then he’d lie down.
He signed on to the police database. There was no progress on the cases. Out of curiosity, he switched to the robbery. Nothing new. But he noticed information about Abby. Without a second thought he jotted down her cell number and her address, as well as her father’s. What was he doing? He didn’t need the information.
He turned off the computer and paced the floor. He couldn’t call her. Everything he’d told her, he’d meant. That brought up another question. Why was he sneaking her number off the police database?
