A Treasure for the Trooper

by Liz Isaacson

  He honestly didn’t care much about her past—only about what kind of person she was now. He’d learned some lessons like that growing up, and he’d had to figure out how to let go of the past in order to move forward when Amelia died.

  After parking behind his cruiser, he killed the engine to go inside, but Dawn said, “I’m not going to stay, if that’s okay.”

  “Oh, sure.” He fired up the engine again and left it running for her while he climbed out. She met him near the corner of the hood and placed one hand on his chest.

  “Thank you, McDermott.”

  “For what?” He liked her so much, from those perfectly sky-blue eyes to her honeyed hair to her charming spirit.

  “For being you.” She smiled up at him, and while McDermott had wondered if he would ever be worthy enough for Dawn Fuller, he felt like he was. In that single moment, with her looking at him with that edge of desire in her eyes, he was good enough for her.

  “See you Friday?” she asked.

  If he could stand not driving over to the police department tonight and pressing her into the filing cabinets in his office as he kissed her, then definitely he’d see her Friday. “Sure,” he said, his voice only mildly strained, thankfully.

  She tipped up on her toes again, kissing him one final time before ducking into her car and backing out of the driveway. McDermott watched her go, sure he’d just imagined the last hour of his life.

  But when he entered the kitchen and Nana Reba took one look at him and asked, “What’s wrong with you, McDermott? You’re flushed,” he knew it had been no dream.

  He spent the next day at his desk, catching up on paperwork from June. He generally loathed days spent inside, but with the heat reaching record temperatures already, he decided it wasn’t that big of a deal.

  Near lunchtime, he texted Dawn to see if she wanted to meet him at Ruby’s Roost for a quick sandwich, but two seconds later, her brother walked in and sat in the only chair across from McDermott’s desk.

  “Kyler.” McDermott laughed and stood up to give his old friend a quick embrace. “What brings you by?”

  Kyler had grown his hair out over the past couple of years and it nearly reached his shoulders now. He grinned at McDermott and said, “So I guess my sister finally said yes to one of your invites.”

  McDermott wished he wore his trooper hat so he could duck his head and hide the emotions streaming through his whole body—and surely onto his face too. “She did.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Five or six weeks.”

  “Five or six weeks?” Kyler’s words indicated he was upset, but his expression said he wasn’t. “And I have to hear about it at the family dinner?”

  The paperwork forgotten, McDermott leaned forward. “What did she say?”

  “Oh, she was whispering to Wren and Berlin about something, and I happened to overhear.”

  “And what did you overhear?”

  “She said she was dating someone and it had suddenly gotten serious.”

  McDermott’s face exploded into a grin.

  “So what does that mean?” Kyler asked.

  “How did you know it was me?”

  “Well, since I know you’re interested in her, I sat right down and butted into their conversation.” His blue eyes were more the color of dark wash blue jeans, and they sparkled like he knew exactly what McDermott had done at the strawberry fields last night.

  “She said it was you.”

  “It’s me,” McDermott said, leaning back. “And you’re okay with that, right? I mean, I know she’s your sister, but it’s not like we’re sixteen.”

  “Which would be totally weird,” Kyler said. “Because if you were sixteen, she’d be ten.”

  McDermott shook his head. “You know what I mean.”

  “I don’t think anyone has a problem with it,” Kyler said.

  “Did she say anything else?” He felt like a teenager, needing his best friend to spy on the girl he liked. “Never mind. I’m an adult.”

  But Kyler had heard something, and he cocked his head. “What are you worried about?”

  McDermott didn’t want to say. But he couldn’t get his voice to say “Nothing,” either.

  “Come on,” Kyler said. “Let’s go get that grilled cheese you like at Ruby’s.” He stood, and since McDermott hadn’t heard from Dawn and he did need to eat, he went with Kyler.

  They walked across the street and through the park to Ruby’s, where there was hardly a table to be found. With two seats available at the counter, they ordered their meals, and Kyler said, “It’s Taya, right?”

  “It’s Taya,” McDermott said.

  “She was so young when Amelia died,” Kyler said. “I think she’ll be okay with Dawn.”

  McDermott looked at Kyler as confusion raced through him. “I’m not worried about how Taya will react to Dawn. I’m worried about Dawn being ready to handle Taya.”

  Kyler nearly spit out his soda, and when he looked at McDermott, the surprise was evident in his wide eyes. “You don’t think Dawn will be a good mom?”

  “I’m sure she would be,” McDermott said. “If she wanted to be a mom at all.” His mood darkened, even when his cheesy, Texas-toast sandwich was placed in front of him with a mountain of French fries on the side.

  “She wants to go slow,” McDermott said. “So maybe it won’t last.” In his mind, though, he saw him and Dawn welcoming more children into their family for years to come. If she ever found that out, their relationship would be in trouble. He’d promised her slow, and he was going to honor that.

  “She seemed pretty committed,” Kyler said. “She was quizzing Wren about how she knew she was ready to be a mom.”

  McDermott bit into his sandwich so he wouldn’t have to talk. He didn’t want to know what Dawn had been talking about with her sisters. She’d told him she hadn’t been to the family party in several months, but Kyler didn’t act like it was abnormal for her to show up last night.

  Thankfully, Kyler seemed to sense that McDermott didn’t want to talk about his love life anymore. They ate in silence, and then he threw a twenty dollar bill on the counter. “On me, bro.”

  “Thanks, bro,” McDermott said with a laugh.

  “Yeah, I’m thinking of cutting the hair.”

  “I would agree with that decision.” McDermott didn’t really care what Kyler did with his hair, other than that it was a symbol that he hadn’t gotten over Katie yet. And it had been years since his almost-fiancée had skipped town with nothing more than a note on his front door.

  “Catch you later,” Kyler said, once they’d made it back to the police station.

  Friday night finally came, and McDermott knelt in front of Taya to help her with her sandals. “So we’re meetin’ Miss Dawn there,” he said, slipping the strap through the buckle. He looked up at his daughter. “I’m dating her, Tay. She’s my girlfriend.” He watched her for any reaction, but Taya just blinked at him. “Do you know what that means?”

  “Like, you like her, and she likes you, and you hold hands.” She spoke in her innocent, high-pitched voice, and McDermott smiled.

  “Right. We’ll probably hold hands tonight.”

  “And you kiss her.” Taya made a face, then she stared right into his eyes. “Daddy, do you kiss her?”

  Nana Reba appeared in the doorway, and McDermott’s face heated. He focused on Taya’s other shoe as he said, “Yeah, Tay. I kiss her sometimes.”

  “Gross,” Taya said.

  “You like Miss Dawn, right?” he asked, glancing at his grandmother. She wore a knowing smile on her face, with only love streaming from her expression.

  “I like her, yeah,” Taya said.

  McDermott sat back on his heels. “All right then. Let’s go see some fireworks.”

  “You said we could get a corndog first.”

  “It won’t be dark for hours,” he said. “We have plenty of time for all kinds of things.”

  “For the Ferris
wheel?” Taya skipped to the front door, her red, white, and blue dress billowing as she went.

  He groaned. “I hate the Ferris wheel.”

  Taya didn’t seem to hear him at all as she opened the door and left. He sighed and turned back to Nana. “Don’t say anything,” he said as he pocketed his wallet and keys.

  “So this one’s serious.”

  McDermott grinned at her and swept a kiss across her aged cheek. “Super serious, Nana. I like her.”

  “You deserve a second chance, honey.”

  “It’s early still,” he said. “See you later.”

  He grabbed his trooper hat as he followed his daughter out the front door, hoping that tonight would be a Fourth of July worth remembering.

  Chapter Eight

  Dawn wasn’t sure where she parked or how she made it up to the third floor in the hospital. All she knew was she now stood at the counter with a sign that said Maternity behind it. “Wren Fuller?” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “Curtis. Wren Curtis.”

  The nurse looked down at a planner in front of her. “Room 3491.”

  Dawn palmed her way through the plastic door and turned right, according to the sign. “3491, 3491,” she muttered. Of course it had to be the room in the very corner.

  She paused outside the door and calmed herself again. The whole family had probably crammed themselves in this tiny room, and no one would notice her anyway. She knocked as she entered, and she found the room dark except for the sliver of light from the window and the flashing light from the television in the corner.

  “Hey,” Tate said as he rose from the chair in the corner. He bounced their newborn as he bent toward his wife. “Wren, Dawn’s here.”

  Wren, lying in the bed, opened her eyes, a smile coming almost immediately. “Hey.”

  Dawn crossed the small room, surprised no one else was here. “How are you?” she asked her sister. She looked terrible, even in the dim light, with dark circles under her eyes and a weariness in her expression that only hours of sleep could erase.

  “Good.” She returned Dawn’s quick squeeze. “Tate’s got the baby.”

  He came around the end of the bed to let Dawn see the infant. “You want to meet one of your aunts? This is Aunt Dawn.” He cooed at the baby in a very un-police-like fashion, and Dawn marveled at the change in the tough military man who’d scared her the first time she’d met him.

  “What did you name her?” Dawn asked.

  “Henrietta, after Tate’s mom,” Wren said. “We’re going to call her Etta.”

  “Etta.” Dawn said the name with reverence, and she swept her fingers across the baby’s bald head. “No hair.” She grinned at Wren and then Tate.

  “You want to hold her?” Tate offered the baby to her, and Dawn balked completely.

  She backed up a step. “Uh, no, I’m good.”

  Tate looked at her with questions in his eyes, but Wren saved her by saying, “I’ll take her, sweetheart.” She pushed herself higher in bed and extended her arms for her daughter.

  Dawn’s heart felt like someone had ripped it from her body and thrown it in a blender. Somehow it kept beating, but it was irregular and so, so loud. Wren handled the baby with ease, like she’d had years of practice, and Etta gave a little groan that made her and Tate grin like they’d just achieved world peace, right there in a hospital room in Brush Creek.

  She saw the love and adoration for their daughter, felt it permeate the whole room. Dawn had spent several evenings with McDermott and Taya, and while she liked the little girl, it was nowhere near the level of love both Tate and Wren exuded.

  Tears gathered in her eyes at the realization. They’d had fun at the fireworks. They’d gone horseback riding again, and the more Dawn did it, the more she liked it. She’d gone with them when they’d taken their dogs to the park.

  The three of them got along great. Dawn appreciated that McDermott didn’t push her to go faster, but he seemed content with the speed at which they were getting to know one another. Maybe he was being cautious because he’d been down this path before. Or maybe he could sense her hesitancy.

  No matter what, standing in that hospital room, she knew she was nowhere ready to be a mother. Which was a real problem, because if she took things much farther with McDermott, she’d be a mom on Day One. At least Wren and Tate had been married for a couple of years already. Dawn wouldn’t get a buffer at all.

  She started for the door, not even stopping when Wren said, “You’re going?”

  Out in the hall, she pressed her back into the wall and tried to breathe. Calm down, she told herself. You’re not his wife.

  But somewhere in the back of her mind, the word yet screamed at her, only fueling her panic. She needed to get out of this hospital, especially this ward, where there were so many new moms and their babies.

  When her phone rang later, she sat on a bench in the park, looking at the lake. She had no idea how she’d gotten there, or what time it was, or how long she’d been there.

  The call was from McDermott, and she considered ignoring it. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d missed one of his calls. She had a life too. But something told her to answer, and she’d learned to listen to those impressions.

  “Hello?” she answered as if she didn’t know who was on the other end of the line.

  “Hey,” he said, his voice different than ever before. “Where are you?”

  She looked around. “Oxbow Park.”

  “I need help,” he said. “Nana Reba just called in a panic, and I couldn’t quite get the whole story out of her. Something’s wrong with Taya, and I need you to go over there and see what’s going on.”

  She’d never heard him say so much, so quickly.

  “Sure,” she said, standing.

  “Great. I’m stuck in Vernal, and I can’t get there.”

  “I’ll take care of it.” She hung up and crossed the street to find her car in the hospital parking lot, which took several long minutes. When she pulled up to McDermott’s house, Nana Reba came flying out the front door.

  “Thank goodness you’re here. I think she broke her leg.”

  Dawn froze to the sidewalk, sure Nana Reba was wrong. “Broke her leg?”

  “Come on, come on!” Nana Reba waved at her frantically.

  “Did you call the ambulance?” Dawn followed her inside, where McDermott’s white-haired daughter lay on the couch, seemingly asleep. “Is she unconscious?”

  “She was fine.” Nana Reba rushed around the couch and knelt in front of Taya. Dawn thought she’d be calling the ambulance for both of them if Nana Reba didn’t slow down. And what would she tell McDermott then?

  She pulled out her phone and dialed 9-1-1. She watched Taya’s chest rise and fall as the operator said, “State your emergency.”

  “I’m with Taya Boyd,” she said, her voice surprisingly even. “She’s six years old, and she’s unconscious. Her great-grandmother thinks she may have a broken leg. We need an ambulance.” Dawn didn’t trust herself to carry the little girl to the car, and she knew McDermott could afford the transportation fee.

  “Taya.” Nana Reba had tears streaming down her face, and Dawn went around the couch to comfort her too.

  “An ambulance is on the way. Tell me what happened.”

  “She was playing with the dogs in the backyard, and I heard a scream.” The older woman sniffled, and Dawn patted her shoulder. “I went to see what was wrong, and she couldn’t walk. Thelma wouldn’t leave her side.”

  Even now, the golden retriever sat right next to Taya’s head.

  “Did she say what happened?”

  “She couldn’t stop crying. I call-called McDermott, but—”

  “He called me,” Dawn said. “He’s in Vernal today, Nana.” She didn’t know how to fill the silence between them, and only Nana Reba’s soft crying provided the background.

  “Emergency services,” a man called, and Dawn rushed to open the screen door for him.

  “Ed, come
in.” She pointed to the couch. “We think she broke her leg. Nana Reba said she was playing in the backyard when she screamed. She was crying and she couldn’t get her to calm down. McDermott called me.” She wrung her hands, unsure of what to do for anyone.

  Ed and his partner Max checked out Taya, and then turned their attention to Nana Reba. In the end, everyone except Dawn was loaded into the ambulance and taken to the hospital.

  So she found herself back at the one place that had triggered her panic for the second time that day. She sat in the emergency waiting room, and Nana Reba joined her only a few minutes later.

  “I’m okay,” she said. “My blood pressure was elevated for a few minutes.”

  Dawn didn’t know what to do, so she just reached over and took the elderly woman’s hand in hers.

  “Have you called McDermott?” she asked.

  Dawn startled. She’d been so far inside her head she hadn’t thought to keep those lines of communication open. “No. I’ll text him now.” She found texting him much easier when he was working, as he could rarely answer his phone on the job.

  She let him know they were at the hospital, waiting to find out the news on Taya. Might be a broken leg, she tapped out before sending the message. I thought for a minute there, Nana Reba would go down too. They checked her out, and she’s okay now that she’s calmed down. We’re in the waiting room together.

  She gripped her phone, her frustration and worries swirling together into an intolerable tornado of emotions. She couldn’t handle stress like this. And she needed to go to work in less than an hour.

  She’d known she wasn’t ready to be a mother last year, and not that much had changed in the last twelve months—at least not in that regard. She felt miles away from where she’d been when she’d woken up in McDermott’s spare bedroom, but in much different ways than he and Taya needed at the moment.

  I’m on my way. McDermott’s message made relief run through Dawn. He would come. He would take care of things. He knew what to do and what to say, and she found that as attractive as it was upsetting.

  He deserved someone so much better than her. Someone with at least equal skills and equal emotional strength to offer. Dawn simply couldn’t give him—or his daughter—what he needed.