by Heidi Hormel
“I have breakfast ready for you. You’ll eat, then sleep,” Faye said, surprising Pepper by the firmness of her voice.
“Yes, ma’am. But I’ve got phone calls to make.”
“Food, then you can call. That cousin of yours was definitely born under a troubled sign.”
“Trouble sign,” EllaJayne agreed and patted AJ’s face. His eyes closed for a brief moment as he pulled her tighter to him.
* * *
PEPPER HAD MADE herself stay out in the garden for an hour. When she’d finally come in, AJ looked even worse—dark circles under his eyes and his face gray-white instead of the usual healthy tan. Faye had already told her that he’d eaten nothing, but drunk a full pot of coffee and been on the phone non-stop.
“What’s up?” she asked casually when she came into the kitchen.
“This is how it is,” he started, staring hard at his inky cup of coffee. “EllaJayne’s mama has two good legs to stand on for what she and Nevin are saying, according to my attorney from back home. He helped me come up with the agreement, which isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, apparently. Guess he wasn’t much of an attorney.” He took a slug of coffee. “He told me to not fight her about custody until I pay her off, then get the papers signed, sealed and delivered.”
“You can’t turn that little girl over to a woman who’d...sell her,” Pepper said, keeping her voice low. Faye had EllaJayne in the living room, playing with the plastic ranch kit AJ had brought with him.
“No choice. This is short-term pain for long-term gain.”
“This is a child we’re talking about.”
“I know that.” He stood abruptly, the chair skittering away. Butch moved quickly, aware as Pepper was that AJ was volatile, and could lose it at any second. She wasn’t afraid of him. She was afraid for him.
“Let me call Lavonda’s brother-in-law. He’s an Arizona attorney. We’re in Arizona. Or what about Chief Rudy? He’d send your cousin and that woman—” she couldn’t believe how angry she was at AJ’s ex “—scurrying back under their rock.”
“If I get the law involved, it might not just be my custody that we’d lose.”
We? What did he mean? “What more can there be than custody? The money?”
AJ rubbed again at his nape.
“What else is there?” she whispered to him.
He pulled away and kept his back to her, like he couldn’t face her.
“The shyster attorney Nevin got for Suzy says if I don’t hand over Baby Girl—” his voice wavered just enough that she could hear his heart breaking “—they’ll...have me arrested for kidnapping. They’re saying I didn’t have custody, so I had no right to take her from Kentucky.”
“He’s your cousin... She didn’t want—”
He turned to her and his storm-gray eyes were flat and dark. She wanted to pull him back into her arms.
“I’ll get this place on the market. Bobby Ames will take care of that. I’ll go back to Kentucky and fight it there, but I have to let them take EllaJayne.”
“You can’t.”
“I’ll get her back. I’ll be right there. I’ll move in with Suzy.”
“What?”
“It’s simple. I’ll go with my baby’s mama until I can get the money. That’s all they want. The money.”
“AJ, we can fight this.”
“There is no we.”
“But you just said—” she stopped herself. They’d knocked boots, but they hadn’t made any promises. They certainly hadn’t said the L word. Words don’t matter much when the heart’s involved, Daddy Gene’s voice echoed in her head. She couldn’t let AJ walk away like this. “Of course there’s a we. We’ve been living together and caring for your daughter. You’ve been helping me make the Angel Crossing Community Garden a reality. We’ve been sharing a bed.”
“We shared a bed once, and I was stuck here until the estate settled.”
“You could have stayed with Danny. You could have done a hundred other things.”
“This was easy,” he said. His mouth had pulled into a grim line. “I’m leaving. I was always leaving. I don’t know what kind of fantasy life you’ve built for us. I was never staying.”
“Maybe that was true before—”
“I slept with you? You were here. I’m a man. That’s all it was.”
“Go. Go now.” Her voice barely pushed past the knot of pain in her throat. How could she not have seen that he didn’t care, that it was all about the sex? She was a grown woman, not a girl. Dear Lord, this hurt.
“That’s what I’ve been saying.”
Finally, he walked away, his cowboy stroll less confident, more hesitant. She didn’t care if he’d hurt himself again. Why would she care?
“You’re not taking that baby with you,” she shouted after him. He didn’t stop. She watched him walk away from her and understood that today was officially the worst day of her life.
* * *
“YOU’RE JUST GOING to let your ass of a cousin take your kid and your ranch?” Danny asked AJ while they sipped beer at his apartment.
“I’m regrouping.” AJ really wished he could get drunk. Wasn’t happening, though, because just a sip of beer was trying to crawl back up his throat.
“That’s what it looks like. Your daughter is out at Santa Faye Ranch. You’re here and your slimy cousin is staying at the motor court.”
AJ slammed down the beer bottle. Didn’t anyone in Angel Crossing understand? None of this was what he wanted to do. It was this or put the final nail into Pepper’s life. He’d inherited her ranch, and now his cousin was threatening her career. He’d refused to say anything to her earlier. He couldn’t add that to her burdens. He’d take care of it by going back to Kentucky, paying the money and getting all this straightened out. Then he’d stay far away from Arizona because he’d guess after all this, Pepper would never want to see him again. He got up from his chair and paced around the small apartment.
Danny squinted at AJ as he sipped his own beer. “Finally got your mad on. Thought you were going to spend the whole night moping.”
“I’m not moping.”
“Coulda fooled me.”
“I gave Nevin two days to produce the paperwork. Then I’m going back home to fight it out there. Pepper and her job will be safe.” AJ shut up. He’d not meant to say anything about Pepper.
“What about her job?” Danny’s blue eyes were cold and fierce.
“Well, hell.” AJ picked up the beer again to have something to do with his hands.
“Tell me now. Or I’m getting the chief involved. I’ll tell him that your cousin threatened Pepper, which it sounds like he did?”
“He’s making noise that he and Suzy will tell the authorities Pepper knew that I had my daughter illegally and she didn’t report it to the authorities. It could mean her losing her license to practice medicine.”
“Shit, man,” Danny said. “Why didn’t you tell me? I will call Rudy and have him go out and arrest that piss-ant.”
“I’m taking care of it by going back to Kentucky and selling the ranch, then no one will need to deal with me again.”
“Not the way it works in Angel Crossing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your cousin threatened not only your daughter but also Pepper. I’ve already told you that’s not allowed.”
“What are you talking about? This is my problem.”
“This is Angel Crossing.”
“I know where I am.”
“Sit down and let me tell you what’s going to happen. What’s already happening.” Danny pointed to the hard wooden kitchen chair. AJ dropped into it, suddenly exhausted.
“Everyone knows it’s BS what your cousin is saying about ‘kidnapping’ your daughter, then ‘abandonin
g’ her. You know how family is. Well, maybe you don’t, but in a family, you can say anything about your siblings or your crazy great-aunt. The minute someone not family says a word, you close ranks and are ready to kick butt and take names.”
“What does that have to do with Angel Crossing? They want me to kick Nevin’s ass?”
“Maybe. What I meant was that Angel Crossing might say things about Faye and Pepper but they’re family. No one else can say things about them.”
“Makes no sense.”
Danny held up his beer bottle in salute. “Welcome to town, son.”
AJ sort of followed what Danny was saying, but it didn’t matter. He feared Nevin might actually have the law on his side.
Danny tried again, “I see you’re still confused. Bobby Ames was working on the attorneys in Kentucky before he went to his Stuff and Display Conference. Chief Rudy’s already talking to the law. Claudette at the clinic is making calls and sending emails. Apparently, the twins at Jim’s refused to serve Nevin, said that he was ‘visibly intoxicated’ when he walked into the bar.”
“Was he?”
“Nah. They were just messing with him because he messed with Faye and Pepper.”
“It’s my problem. My daughter. My ex.”
“You’ve been adopted. Gene vouched for you even before he died. Leaving you the ranch means that you’re a stand-up cowboy. Pillar-of-the-community kind of guy. Who’da thought it, huh? Considering us, back in the day.”
“Jeez. This is crazy. I can’t stay. Nevin isn’t smart but he’s clever. He’s not kidding that he’ll try to get Pepper’s license revoked. It’ll be better for her if I go back to Kentucky. Nevin will follow me. I don’t even need to be here to sell the ranch. I can do all of that remotely.”
“What about your daughter?”
“I’m doing this for her as much as for Pepper.” Right now, she was with the Bourne family, including Butch—her favorite people. AJ had made his way onto her list, but taking her back to Kentucky... He didn’t have a choice if the papers said what Nevin insisted they did. He’d do what the order said. Breaking the law and him getting thrown in jail wouldn’t protect Baby Girl. He was fighting for her no matter what Danny or anyone else thought. And what did Pepper think? He was a coward? That really hurt. He took a slug of beer. Everything had been so easy before he’d met his daughter. He wouldn’t change it, though. Life without her...he couldn’t imagine it. Then he’d met Pepper and everything— “Sheep tails,” he said out loud.
“What finally made it through that thick skull? That I’m right?”
He wasn’t sure he could say it. His tongue had gone numb as the truth smacked him between the eyes, ringing his bell as hard as Twister II, the high-money bull of the 2010 season. “I love Pepper,” he said thickly, his tongue too big for his mouth.
“Of course you do, you idiot. Everyone knows that. That’s the real reason they like you.”
* * *
“CLAUDETTE, WHO’S NEXT?” Pepper asked, hoping for a long, complicated case with a crotchety old cowboy. She wanted a distraction and someone to vent her annoyance on, no matter if that was unfair.
“You’re next, missy,” her assistant said. “We’ve organized an intervention.”
“Very funny. I know I’ve been hitting the Fiddle Faddle pretty hard, but I don’t think I’ve gotten to intervention level.”
“We’re done with appointments for today and Devil’s Food reserved us the meeting room. Lavonda wanted to call it the war room. Faye said no.”
Pepper froze. What exactly was going on? She’d assumed Claudette had been speaking figuratively. “Faye? Lavonda?”
“Yes. Grammy Marie, too. EllaJayne is going to be hanging with Chief Rudy. He’s hankering for grandkids, so he wants a dry run. We’re out of here.” Claudette shooed Pepper down the sidewalk and into Devil’s Food.
As Pepper walked through the diner, she got looks of sympathy and a couple of encouraging nods. Danny waved to her from his stool. “He’s not here,” he told her. “I’m working on it, though.”
What did that mean? Pepper tried to stop her momentum. Claudette gave her a poke. Pepper jumped forward through the door to a small side room with one large table, which was used as a meeting room.
Faye drifted out of her seat and enveloped Pepper. The patchouli and baby powder scent comforted her for a moment. Then Pepper looked at the filled chairs and the determined looks on all the women’s faces. It really was an intervention.
“Sit,” her mother said as she directed Pepper to the head of the long table. “We need to re-align your—”
“It’s an intervention. We decided,” Grammy Marie said.
Lavonda with her sleek hair and large dark eyes stood and immediately commanded the room. “Whatever we call it doesn’t matter. What matters is saving that precious little girl and getting Pepper her—”
“Her destiny,” Faye said.
Lavonda just smiled. “Again, the labels are less important than the actions, and we’ve got a lot of actions to organize. Danny said AJ will get his paperwork from Nevin tomorrow, which doesn’t give us much time to straighten everything out, including making sure that Kentucky yahoo doesn’t get your license taken away.”
“What?” Pepper breathed.
“Now, don’t get mad at AJ,” Grammy Marie said. “Nevin threatened to go to the authorities about you to get your license pulled.”
“Why didn’t he say anything to me? Nevin couldn’t do that—” Pepper stopped, knowing Nevin might have been able to get her in trouble. But could she think about AJ’s silence?
Faye said, “Gene was the same way. He’d think I was too delicate to face the ugly parts of life. But I wasn’t. We’re not.” She smiled at her daughter.
“Of course she’s not,” Lavonda said. “Danny told us and I added that to the list of items that Spence, my lawyer brother-in-law, and the chief needed to address. Nevin had some hopped-up charge that you should have reported EllaJayne as kidnapped. Danny’s getting a copy of the document so we have all the details. Spence said he’d check it out. We’d have asked Bobby Ames, but he’s at a taxidermy conference in Oregon. But I called him and he said Spence would have been his choice if we’d asked him.”
Pepper wasn’t certain exactly what was going on. AJ had been protecting her even as he planned to leave her and take his daughter with him. She needed to stay focused on what was important: AJ getting custody of his daughter. Knowing he needed the money for that had made her less hurt that Daddy Gene had left the ranch to him. It had all worked out for the best.
“I see you thinking through this,” Faye said. “Don’t use your brain. Use your heart. You’re so good at that. That’s why you work at the clinic and why you’re starting the gardens. You’ve got such a huge heart.” Faye’s voice had a tender edge to it.
“I’m just confused what we’re doing here,” Pepper said. “If it’s to help EllaJayne and you need me to sign something for the attorney, Lavonda, just let me know. Otherwise—”
“Later. We may need that signature,” Lavonda said. “But that’s not what this is about.”
Pepper looked at the women. Some were patients and all were friends.
Grammy Marie stared right at Pepper and said, “You’re in love with EllaJayne, because who wouldn’t be, but more importantly, you’re in love with AJ.”
“I don’t think so,” Pepper said but with the words hanging in the air, her answer wasn’t as sure as she would have liked.
“Grammy Marie, we decided that wasn’t what we were doing today,” Lavonda said patiently.
“She’s right,” Faye said. “Marie’s right, I mean. It’s as obvious as the nose on my face. Pepper has to come to that conclusion on her own. We shouldn’t be pushing her.”
The room erupted, the women talking over each
other in their enthusiasm. The passionate faces around the table made Pepper warm and fuzzy inside, just like when she got a hug from a patient. Not like her and AJ. That was volcano and silk. She certainly wanted him. So what? She wanted a lot of things in life that she couldn’t have. Plus, she had more than enough with her patients and the garden project. Then she remembered her and AJ together. It wasn’t just burning up the sheets that came to mind. She also felt in her heart the nights they spent in the garden together with Butch and EllaJayne, even the meals with Faye.
“Lordy be,” Pepper said. The room got silent.
“She figured it out,” Faye said. “Good girl. I knew you could do it on your own. I told them.”
“AJ’s made it clear he’s moving along, and I’m not leaving Angel Crossing. This is my home.”
“Of course you’re not leaving Angel Crossing or Santa Faye Ranch,” her mother said.
“We can’t stay at the ranch and AJ...that’s clear, too. I’m in infatuation.”
“No. You’re not, plus it can work,” Lavonda said. “My sister did a long-distance thing. And look at Jones and me. He wasn’t going to stay in Arizona, but here we are. The good thing about life is that it changes.”
Grammy Marie chimed in, “Love conquers all.”
Faye fluttered over to Pepper and took her hands while the room quieted again. “You know what to do. That’s one of your gifts. You can see clearly the path that you need to take, even if it’s tough. You do it with compassion and caring, but you always know. So what do you know about AJ? That you love him. He loves you. He has to clear up his past and you’ll help him with that. What else do you need to know?”
“How exactly this can work? And how exactly I can be sure that AJ cares for me? Or even that I really care for him?”
“That’s easy, sweetie. You love him because he loves your dog, my Beauties, his daughter and Santa Faye Ranch. Of course he loves you. Why else would a cowboy take up farming and herding walking yarn balls?”
Chapter Sixteen
“What did you want, Danny?” AJ asked as he walked into his friend’s office. He stopped when he saw Pepper sitting there. His breath got gummed up in his throat. He reached out his hand before he could stop himself but let it drop without touching her. Didn’t matter if he loved her. His life was crap right now and he couldn’t drag her into that. “Pepper,” he said, nodding to her and pulling off his hat. He didn’t take the chair next to her. He’d be too close.
