His Badge, Her Baby...Their Family?

by Stella Bagwell

  Vince didn’t tell her much at all, she thought glumly. “No. When he’s at home, he doesn’t say much.”

  “Well, I’m certainly glad they wrapped up the Rinehart case this afternoon and nothing else happened to interfere with this evening.”

  “Rinehart case,” Geena repeated blankly. “Was that something special?”

  Clearly surprised, Noelle opened her mouth to say something, then quickly decided against it. “A prize stallion worth a quarter million dollars went missing on a ranch not far from here. Of course Evan and Vince would work just as diligently on a case that involved fifty dollars. But the suspicion that the rancher’s daughter might be implicated really bothered Evan. With four brothers and a sister, he kept imagining how crushed his own father would be if one of his children betrayed him that way.” With a wry smile, she shrugged. “Most of the time he tries to keep his emotions out of a case. But this one—well, he’s happy it’s over.”

  Noelle’s revelation hit Geena hard, and suddenly layers of fog parted before her eyes and she was seeing things for the very first time. And it was not a pretty sight.

  “Vince did mention something about a missing horse to me, but he didn’t attach a name to the case. He doesn’t discuss his work with me that much. Because I—while we were married, I discouraged him—I told him I didn’t want to hear any of it.” She shook her head miserably. “I thought if he didn’t talk about it, he wouldn’t love it so much. He wouldn’t love it more than me. I made so many mistakes back then, Noelle. And now—I can’t go back and erase them or undo them.”

  Noelle reached over and gently touched her shoulder. “Geena, don’t misunderstand. Evan and I are very happy, but that doesn’t mean everything is perfect for us. Sometimes it’s very hard for me to deal with his schedule. When he’s off chasing suspects while I’m trying to doctor sick cattle, tend to my daughter and rebuild downed fence all at the same time, I want to scream. And he’s missed plenty of special occasions. Like the Christmas he was at the hospital, standing at Vince’s bedside praying for his partner to live instead of with me and his family.”

  Praying for Vince to live. Before, Geena had never really dwelled on the dangers of his job. She’d been too selfishly concerned about not getting to spend enough time with her husband instead of thinking about the danger he had to face each time he slipped on his badge and walked out the door.

  “But that was only right,” Noelle went on. “Because Vince is family, too. And no matter how neglected I feel at times, I get over it the minute Evan walks through the door. I take one look at his tired face and I’m reminded of how very much I love him.”

  Reaching over, Geena tried to comfort herself by holding Emma’s tiny foot. “I was eighteen when we got married,” she explained. “At that time I wasn’t grown-up enough to realize that making Vince my whole life wasn’t healthy. But none of that matters now. It’s not like the two of us are trying to get back together.”

  Noelle smiled gently. “Of course you’re not.”

  *

  Much later, as Vince drove the three of them back to his house, he slanted another glance at Geena. He’d expected her to still be excited over the surprise party and all the nice baby gifts she’d received. Instead, she’d hardly spoken more than ten words in the last fifteen miles.

  “Geena, did something happen at the party?” he asked.

  She frowned at him. “Happen? What do you mean? We ate finger sandwiches and chips and had cake and punch for dessert. I opened all sorts of lovely gifts. In fact, I got so many things for Emma I won’t have to buy anything except diapers for a long time. And I met a group of lovely ladies. Evan’s sister, Sassy, was there and so was his sister-in-law Lilly, and another sister-in-law, Ava. Actually, she’s a nurse, too, and is well acquainted with Marcella. One of the women had beautiful red hair—her name was Jessi and she works as a waitress. She and Noelle appeared to be the best of friends. I really liked her, too.”

  “Yeah, Jessi’s worked at the Grubstake Café for a long time.” He took his eyes off the dark highway long enough to glance at her. “So you had a good time?”

  “It was wonderful. I’m still overwhelmed that total strangers wanted to give to me and Emma.”

  “So none of them said anything to hurt your feelings?”

  The frown on her face deepened. “Why, no. What makes you ask such a thing?”

  Shrugging, he wondered why he should concern himself. It wasn’t his problem if Geena was slipping into one of her depressed moods. Yet he didn’t like to think of her being unhappy for any reason.

  “Well, you’ve been rather quiet since we started for home,” he reasoned.

  She sighed. “It’s been a long evening. And meeting everyone—it’s given me a lot to think about.”

  He didn’t say anything to that, and as the truck crested over another hill, the lights of town appeared in the far distance. Like a fool, he realized he didn’t want these quiet moments cocooned with her in the truck cab to end. The thought caused him to ease his foot on the accelerator.

  “While you and Evan were down at the barn, Noelle mentioned the case with the stallion. She said you two wrapped it up today, but she didn’t finish telling me whether the daughter was involved. Was she?”

  The Rinehart case was the last thing he’d expected Geena to bring up, and the fact that she did caused a strange feeling to pass through him.

  “You really want to know?” he asked.

  She squared around in her seat so that she was facing him. “Yes, I do.”

  “Liv Rinehart was involved. But she’s agreed to testify against her boyfriend. So I think she’ll get off lightly for her part in the caper.”

  “Noelle said Evan was bothered about Mr. Rinehart learning his daughter had betrayed him. It would be heartbreaking to discover your own child stole from you,” she said thoughtfully. “Now that I’m a mother I can appreciate that even more.”

  “Well, old man Rinehart isn’t about to forsake Liv. I talked with him this afternoon, while Liv was being booked into jail. He seemed to understand that love sometimes causes people to do crazy things.”

  “Yes, very crazy,” she agreed. “Especially when you think you’re in love, but you’re really not.”

  Was she talking about Liv Rinehart and her misplaced affection, or her own love life? Deciding it would be best not to have her explain that remark, he let it slide.

  After a moment, she asked, “What about the stallion?”

  “A pair of deputies have already recovered him and took him home,” he told her. “He was hidden at an old hunting cabin back in the mountains. Skip, Liv’s boyfriend, had intentions of keeping him there until things quieted down, then taking the horse to Mexico to sell him. The drug cartel would’ve paid top dollar for such a stallion.”

  She said, “I didn’t realize you worked on rural cases. I thought you only worked in the city. Mostly on violent crimes like assault or murder or rape.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t work for the city police, Geena. I’m with the sheriff’s department. We cover the whole county, and we do work violent crimes. But thankfully those don’t occur around here as frequently as theft and assault.”

  Vince could feel her gaze sliding over the side of his face. It made him want to pull over to the shoulder and haul her into his arms.

  “So you’re not facing danger every day? Like confronting a crazy person with a gun or knife, or some other kind of weapon?”

  Vince frowned. “Why are you asking me about this? While we were married, you never worried about me being injured on the job.”

  She sighed. “No. That’s one thing I didn’t dwell on. I think—well, I always pictured you as invincible. You were always so big and strong and confident. It was impossible for me to imagine anyone hurting you. When I learned you’d been critically wounded, I realized how foolish my thinking had been—about a lot of things.”

  Things? Like his job, their marriage or the choice she’d made to blot o
ut her misery with alcohol? No. He wasn’t going to pelt her with those sorts of questions. It was too late. Far too late to wish and wonder how things could have been.

  “Well, anybody can die, Geena. Even me.”

  *

  Close to an hour later, Geena was sitting in the bedroom, nursing and rocking Emma, when Vince walked up behind her left shoulder.

  Her first instinct was to cover her exposed breast with the corner of Emma’s blanket, but then she realized how ridiculous that would appear. Vince had seen her breasts before, along with the rest of her body. There was no point in hiding from him now.

  “I’ve carried in all the gifts and stacked them in the living room,” he said. “There’s more things there than I first thought.”

  “Thank you,” she told him. “I’ll go through it all tomorrow and only unpack the things I need most. The rest I’ll put in an out-of-the-way place until I’m ready to move.”

  He stepped to the side of the chair and gazed down at them. Geena felt very exposed. In more ways than one.

  “And when will that be?” he asked.

  A chill rushed over her. “Hopefully, one day next week. I still have a few things to take care of. The main one being a car and some furniture for the house. Thankfully, the place is small, so I won’t need much.”

  Since Emma had quit nursing and was sound asleep, Geena rose from the rocker and carried her over to the bassinet positioned near the head of the bed. She’d settled the baby and was in the process of pulling her dress up over her breast when she suddenly felt Vince’s hands on her bare shoulders.

  The touch of his warm fingers caused her whole body to pulse with heat, and she closed her eyes as she fought to ignore the pleasure.

  “Geena, like I told you the other night. There’s no need for you to hurry about moving.”

  She squeezed her eyes even tighter and tried to swallow away the aching lump in her throat. “There’s plenty of need. I explained all of that the other night,” she said hoarsely.

  His fingers slid forward until they were resting on her collarbone. Every cell in her body was aching for his hand to move downward until it was cupping her breast, until his thumb was passing over the moist nipple.

  “I’ve been doing some thinking since then, Geena.”

  Her heart thumping heavily, she twisted around and lifted her gaze to his. “About what?”

  “Us. This.”

  She grimaced. “Meaning the fact that we want to get our hands on each other.”

  “You make it sound like a crime,” he muttered.

  His warm brown eyes were focused on her lips, and Geena instinctively passed the tip of her tongue over the dry skin.

  “It is a crime when two people hurt each other.”

  He cupped a hand against her cheek, and Geena’s insides began to melt like a bowl of sugar sitting out in a rainstorm.

  “It doesn’t make sense,” he said gently. “When I look at you I get the past all mixed up with the present. All I see is the beautiful wife I used to have in my arms and my bed. When I touch you, I forget all about the tears, and the fights, and you looking at me through a haze of alcohol, as though you didn’t care whether I ever came home.”

  His words made her ill. Sick with a regret so deep she could feel it all the way to her soul. And yet in so many ways just hearing his honesty was cathartic.

  Resting her palms on the middle of his chest, she said, “I cared, Vince. I still do. But you were right the other night when you said sex wouldn’t fix our problems.”

  “Running away won’t fix them, either.”

  She shook her head while her arms ached to slip around his waist, her mouth longed to plant itself over his. “I’m not running away. I’m moving across town.”

  Bending his head, he rested his forehead against hers, and the nearness shattered her common sense. Before she could stop herself, she was pressing the front of her body to his and splaying her hands against his broad back.

  “Geena,” he whispered. “I don’t understand myself. Or you. Or any of these damned feelings I’ve been having. I don’t know why—but I’ve been asking myself if it might be possible for us to fix things between us.”

  Tears oozed from her eyes. “It’s not possible, Vince.”

  Easing his head back, his gaze delved deeply into hers. “Why? Because of my job?”

  Sighing, she twisted her head so that she couldn’t see the accusing shadows in his eyes. “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

  His thumb and forefinger caught her chin and forced her face back around to his.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that tonight I finally understand how much your job means to you. I realize how wrong it would be if I asked you to be something other than what you are—an important part of the justice system.”

  He looked at her for long moments, as though he was seeing her for the very first time. “You have changed, Geena. More than I ever thought.”

  Groaning with frustration, she pulled away from him and moved to the end of the bed, where she wrapped her fingers tightly around one of the tall foot posts. “Vince, after you left me and Reno behind, it didn’t take long for me to wake up. I had no choice but to pull myself and the remnants of my life back together. The process didn’t happen overnight, and along the way I finally began to see that we were wrong for each other. We still are.”

  He walked over to her. “A few weeks ago, before your accident, I would’ve agreed with you. But now—I’m beginning to think I took the easy way out. I shouldn’t have ever divorced you, Geena. I should’ve fought to make things right between us.”

  Regret sent a crushing pain to the middle of her chest. To hide it, she turned her back to him and covered her face with both hands. After drawing in several long breaths, she said, “I should have handled a lot of things differently, too. But that’s in the past and done with. I have Emma’s happiness to consider now, Vince. I want what’s best for my daughter.”

  “Don’t you think it would be best for her to have a father?”

  Fear such as she’d never experienced before froze her completely motionless. Except for her mind. It jumped into survival mode and began running desperately away from him and the future he was suggesting.

  “Yes, Emma deserves to have a father,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “One that will be there for her whenever she needs him. Not one who’s off trying to solve a crime at any given time of the day or night.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” he said gruffly. “I’m just an unfeeling badge and gun. Emma deserves more than I could give her.”

  Tears were blinding her when she finally managed to turn around and look at him, but by then it didn’t matter. Vince had already walked out.

  And taken the deepest part of her with him.

  Chapter Ten

  A week later, Vince had just finished testifying at an armed robbery trial and was standing on the steps of the courthouse waiting for Evan to pick him up when he suddenly spotted his partner strolling up the sidewalk toward him.

  “That didn’t take long,” he said. “How did it go?”

  “Pretty cut-and-dried. I don’t know why a defense lawyer would waste his time on a habitual criminal like him. As far as that goes, why do we waste our time putting guys like him behind bars when the penal system will just give them a tap on the wrist and release them back into society?”

  Evan frowned. “What the hell is wrong with you? If we didn’t do our job, this place would be lawless. Like back in the mid-1800s, when men killed each other over mining claims and saloon gals.”

  Vince snorted. “Men are still killing each other over saloon gals. Guess the gold and silver mines have become less important than female companionship.”

  The two men descended the steps and headed down the sidewalk to their parked vehicle. While they walked, Evan said with a chuckle, “I’d take Noelle over the richest mine in the world any day.”

  “That’s because she’s priceless,�
�� Vince reasoned. “You’re one lucky guy, Evan. And you’re smart enough to know it.”

  The two men climbed into the SUV and buckled up before Evan replied.

  “Luck has nothing to do with it, partner. Hell, you know how I met Noelle.”

  Evan started the vehicle and merged into the street traffic. Over in the passenger seat, Vince stared moodily out the window. “I’d hate to admit that a little sage grouse flew up and caused my horse to buck me off. You, a cowboy, raised on the biggest ranch in Nevada.”

  Evan laughed in spite of Vince’s dour mood. “I got bucked off all right, and knocked clean out. But the important part of that fiasco was that I woke up with an angel looking down at me. And that’s my point, ole buddy. God moves us around to put us in the right place at the right time to meet the right person. Did you ever think that’s why Geena wrecked her car that night on the outskirts of town?”

  Glowering at his partner, Vince said, “If Geena’s accident was some sort of divine intervention, then it didn’t work. Geena’s moving into a place of her own today.”

  Evan brow lifted with speculation. “Today? Why didn’t you say something? We both worked the robbery case. I would have testified in your place and you could’ve taken off work to help Geena. What with the baby and everything, I’m sure she needs every hand she can get.”

  Sure, she needed help. Just not his, Vince thought glumly. That night after they’d gotten home from the shower, she’d made it damned clear how she felt about him. Oh, Lord, it still made him cringe to think about how close he’d come to telling her he still loved her.

  You might as well have said the words, Vince. You more or less told her you wanted to try marriage with her again. Can’t you get it through your head she doesn’t want a second round with you? Why would she? She’s already had two men dump her. You think she wants to take a chance on being deserted a third time? Dream on.

  Shaking off the bitter voice in his head, he said, “Marcella and a friend of hers are helping Geena. She doesn’t have that much stuff to move, anyway. Everything she’d brought from her place in Oregon was wiped out in the car fire.”