The Deputy Gets Her Man

by Stella Bagwell

  Rising from the bed, he jerked on a pair of white boxer shorts. “Oh, my God, Rosa! Maybe Dale still has the hots for you. Maybe you should make a trip up to Gallop just to make sure all of that is over between you two!”

  He was angry now, but then so was she. Angry that he’d shattered her peace of mind. That he was making her sound like a scared little girl. Because, deep down, she was a scared little girl. “You’re being crude now.”

  “And you’re being totally unreasonable!” he muttered. Then, with a heavy sigh, he walked up behind her and placed his hands upon her shoulders.

  As he drew her back against him, she wanted to turn and bury her face against his chest. She wanted to confess how terrified she was to say the words, Yes, I’ll marry you.

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  Tears burned her eyes. “I shouldn’t have said that about DeeDee, either. I know I’m being unreasonable, Ty. But I’m afraid. When I agreed to marry Dale that’s when everything fell apart. I don’t want that to happen to us. So many things about your family are unsettled.”

  “Unsettled is putting it mildly, Rosa. They’re fractured.”

  Daring to face him, she turned in his arms and lifted her gaze to his. “You say you’re going to bring your mother to live with you on the Pine Ridge Ranch for a while. What do you think will happen if you do?”

  “Is that what’s bothering you? You don’t like the idea of having a meddling mother-in-law around?”

  “No! I’m sure I’d grow to love Edie as much as you do. I’m talking about your father. He doesn’t sound like a man to simply turn his possessions over without a fight. What if he showed up on your ranch? He could cause all sorts of trouble for you—for us! How would you handle it?”

  A look of sudden dawning came over his face. “Okay. I get it now. You’re afraid. Afraid that I’ll be like Dale. Too weak to handle the situation. Too pathetic to protect the woman I love.” Disappointment filled his eyes. “I may not wear a pistol on my hip like you, Rosa. But I’m not a coward. If that’s what you think of me, then it’s probably best you don’t say yes to marrying me now.”

  She felt sick inside. The more she’d tried to explain herself, the more her doubts had hurt him. “I’m sorry, Ty. The problem isn’t you. It’s me. I just need time.”

  “Time for what? Time to decide if I’m man enough for you?” He moved away from her and found his jeans where he’d tossed them on the floor. “Maybe you’re the one who should have gone to visit DeeDee. She could’ve given you all the answers you needed.”

  She watched him jerk on the jeans and fasten the buttons. “Ty, that isn’t fair!”

  “Rosa, didn’t anyone ever tell you that the only fair in this world is the kind with Ferris wheels and livestock shows?”

  She was trying to figure out how she might answer his question when he threw on his shirt and stalked toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “Out. And don’t bother waiting up for me. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

  “If walking out is your way of handling problems then I’m not so sure we have any kind of future together!” she flung the words at him.

  He shut the door behind him and Rosalinda sank into the armchair and waited for the tears in her eyes and the ache in her chest to go away.

  * * *

  Nearly a week later, Rosalinda had just finished having a cup of coffee with Hank and another deputy and was leaving the Blue Mesa when she heard the light tap of trotting footsteps approach her from behind.

  Turning, she was completely surprised to see Daisy Martell. The young woman had missed the self-defense classes last night, and Rosalinda had feared something bad might have happened.

  “Deputy Lightfoot, I drove by here in hopes I might see you.” Her gaze swept over the badge pinned to Rosalinda’s uniform and the weapon strapped to her hip. “Are you working right now?”

  “I went off duty a while ago,” Rosalinda told her. “Do you need my help? Or if you’d like to talk we can go in the restaurant and have something to drink.”

  Shaking her head, she said, “I won’t keep you that long. I only wanted to let you know that I won’t be coming to class anymore. And I wanted to thank you for all that you’ve done for me.”

  Rosalinda studied the young woman’s heart-shaped face. There was no sign of trauma. In fact, since they’d been standing here on the sidewalk she’d not once glanced around in fear.

  “I don’t understand, Daisy. I thought you wanted to complete the whole session of classes. Has something happened?”

  Daisy suddenly smiled. “I took your advice, Deputy Lightfoot. I reached out for help and someone is here now to take me far away to another state. We’ll be leaving tonight. And I wanted to find you and say goodbye. And thanks.”

  Rosalinda was more than surprised. She would’ve made bets that Daisy was going to stay in that no-win situation until it self-destructed. The fact that Daisy was getting out and moving on was like spotting a rainbow after a terrible storm.

  “I’m so happy for you, Daisy. But I haven’t done anything to deserve your thanks. You did it all yourself.”

  The young woman shook her head. “You don’t understand, Deputy Lightfoot. Just seeing a woman like you being so brave and capable inspires a woman like me. And when you talked about finding the courage to make a change, I realized I had to do that. Or I would never be happy or have much of a life at all.”

  A lump of emotions thickened Rosalinda’s throat. This was the reason she’d chosen to be a deputy. To help people turn their life around for the better. “I wish you all the luck in the world, Daisy.”

  She stepped forward and gave Rosalinda a brief hug. “Thank you, Deputy Lightfoot. And if you don’t mind, I’ll send you a letter or card or something from time to time. Just to let you know how I’m doing.”

  “I’d like that very much.” She looked past Daisy’s shoulder. “Are you sure everything is okay right now? You need protection as you leave or anything?”

  “No. It’s all okay. Goodbye.” She turned and hurried away, but halfway down the sidewalk, she paused and waved.

  Rosalinda waved back, then watched her disappear into the darkness before she finally walked to her truck and climbed in.

  Inside the cab, Rosalinda jabbed the key into the ignition, but she didn’t start the engine. Instead, she sat staring out the windshield at the dimly lit sidewalk, the wooden steps that led up a grassy slope to the Blue Mesa and the planked deck where Tyler had first kissed her.

  Only five weeks had passed since then, yet it felt like a lifetime. So much had happened to change her. She’d fallen deeply and irrevocably in love. But the joy of that had been fleeting. Now her heart was a broken mess, and she didn’t know what to do to repair the damage she’d caused back in Austin. Not that she’d been entirely at fault for their argument, she thought. Tyler hadn’t exactly been Mr. Understanding.

  That night they’d argued, he had not returned to their suite until hours later. She’d not asked him where he’d been and he’d purposely avoided any explanations. Yet even though his anger had cooled, he’d been little more than a distant stranger and they’d spent the rest of the night on separate sides of the bed.

  The next morning after a stilted attempt at breakfast, they’d visited his mother one last time before catching a plane back to Lincoln County. It wasn’t until they’d landed in Ruidoso and she’d attempted to tell him goodbye that he’d decided to bring up the subject of his marriage proposal. But by then, Rosalinda was so hurt and angry she’d told him that she didn’t want to talk to him about anything and had walked off, leaving him standing in the waiting area.

  Now, six days later, he’d not tried to contact her. And she wasn’t really expecting him to. Tyler was a proud man an
d she supposed she’d crushed his pride. But she’d not done it intentionally. She’d only been trying to explain herself. Her feelings. And in doing so, it had come out sounding wrong and ridiculous. Now he probably didn’t care if he ever saw or heard from her again.

  Her eyes suddenly blurred with tears, and she wiped furiously at them before hurriedly fumbling with the key to start the engine. Yet before she could back the truck onto the street, Daisy’s words were whispering through her head.

  When you talked about finding the courage to make a change, I realized I had to do that. Or I would never be happy.

  Dear God, it was about time she took her own advice, Rosalinda thought. She had to find the courage to trust Tyler completely. To trust that he would not only love her, but would stand up for her, protect her and stand strong when problems rained down on them. Not run out on her the way he had that night in Austin.

  Quickly, she pulled back into the next empty parking spot and dug out her cell phone. Her hands shook as she scrolled through her contact numbers until she reached Tyler’s. Somehow she had to convince him that she wasn’t a sniveling coward. That she was brave enough to love him and be his wife.

  * * *

  Meanwhile, on the Pine Ridge Ranch, Tyler was going through the motions of eating supper when Gib started gathering up the dishes of food from the kitchen table.

  “Did I tell you I was finished eating?” Tyler barked at him.

  “You didn’t have to. You haven’t eaten a bite in the past ten minutes. No use in letting this stuff spoil. I didn’t cook it for that.”

  Tyler tossed down his fork and the utensil clattered loudly against his plate. “You make me so damned mad. I don’t know why I put up with you.”

  “Probably because you know that no one else can stand to be around you. And then you’d have to cook for yourself,” Gib snapped back at him. “It’s no wonder Rosa hasn’t been around. You’re acting like a sulking teenager.”

  “Don’t bring her name up. I don’t want to hear it.”

  Not bothering to look over at Tyler, Gib raked a dish of goulash into a storage container and snapped on the lid. “That’s too bad, ’cause I’m gonna keep bringin’ it up. You love the woman. You know you do. Whatever happened between you two in Austin can be fixed.”

  “I never told you that anything happened between us,” Tyler countered sharply.

  “Hah! Just like you needed to. You left happy, you come back miserable and Rosa hasn’t been seen or heard from. I don’t have to be Perry Mason to figure it out.”

  “Well, Perry, did you ever stop to think that seeing the Pickens family again might be the cause of my misery, as you put it?”

  “Don’t try to squirm around the issue. The Pickens family has made you miserable for the past ten years. This is something else.” Gib turned away from the refrigerator and pointed a knowing finger at Tyler. “As far as I’m concerned, you should be showering Rosa with flowers and diamonds and everything else you can think of. She deserves it for having the guts to face your family.”

  “Then why doesn’t she have the guts to marry me?” Tyler burst out before he could stop the words.

  Gib’s brows shot up as he slowly walked over to where Tyler still sat at the table. “Did you say marry? You asked her to marry you?”

  Tyler nodded glumly. Then, dropping his head in his hands, he said, “Gib, you understand what I went through with DeeDee. There was no pleasing her. And God knows I tried. And then when she married Trent—I felt like a failure as a man. I never thought I’d want to be a husband again. Not to any woman. But Rosa—” Lifting his head, he squared his shoulders. “Well, it turns out that I’m not man enough for her, either.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? She adores you.”

  Tyler shook his head. “That’s not enough. She wants me to be some sort of gallant knight capable of slaying any dragon that tries to harm her.”

  Sinking into the seat opposite Tyler’s, Gib asked, “Is that such a bad thing? Think about it, Ty. Rosa is clearly a strong, brave woman. Hell, she faces situations on a daily basis that would make me run and hide. But still, she’s a woman. And a woman wants to know that her man will fight for her come hell or high water. That’s all she wants.”

  What if he showed up on your ranch? He could cause all sorts of trouble for you—for us! How would you handle it?

  The words that Rosalinda had flung at him back in Austin now whirled with Gib’s. And suddenly everything was making sense. Rosalinda had been terrorized during her engagement to Dale. Worse than that, she’d very nearly been killed. That night in Austin when she’d been trying to explain her feelings, Tyler should have understood that deep down all Rosalinda wanted was a promise, a future with him that wouldn’t crumble. And that was truly what he wanted from her, too.

  “I’ve been acting like an ass, Gib. I’ll admit it.”

  “Don’t bother telling me what I already know. It’s Rosa that needs to hear from you.”

  Rising to his feet, Gib patted him on the shoulder. “Use the phone in here. I’ll get out and give you some privacy.”

  The cook had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when the phone rang.

  Tyler said, “You’d better see who that is first.”

  Gib picked up the receiver from the wall phone. “Pine Ridge Ranch,” he answered; then after a brief pause, he turned his back to Tyler. “Yeah, he’s here. No. That’ll be good. Real good. Okay. Bye.”

  “What was that all about?” Tyler asked as Gib hung up the telephone. “If that was that damned Walt Wilson you should have told him that I already sold the horse. ’Cause I wouldn’t sell him a pile of manure. He ought to be arrested for animal abuse anyway. And I—”

  “It wasn’t Wilson, Ty. It was Rosa. She’s coming out to see you.”

  Stunned, Tyler slowly rose to his feet. “That was Rosa? What did she want? What did she say?”

  “She was making sure that you were going to be home. I assured her you would be. That’s all.” Whistling a merry tune, Gib began to gather up the remaining dishes on the table. “You go change out of those dirty clothes. And I’ll make a nice dessert tray and take it to the living room.”

  Tyler rolled his eyes. “After the mess I made of things it’ll take more than a dessert tray for me to sweeten Rosa up. But I should start calling you cupid anyway.”

  “You can call me cupid when Rosa changes her name to Rosalinda Pickens.”

  Could that ever really happen? Tyler asked himself as he hurried to his bedroom and the shower. He’d behaved badly in Austin and his conduct hadn’t improved since they’d returned home. For nearly a week now he’d been nursing his crushed pride and, he was ashamed to admit, behaving like his father. When, instead, he should’ve been thinking of some way to prove his worthiness to the woman he loved. Now she was probably coming to tell him that everything between them was over.

  But he couldn’t accept that. Not ever. Rosa was his life. She and the family they could build together was all that he hoped for, all that mattered to him.

  * * *

  Forty minutes later, Rosa came to a stop in front of the Pine Ridge Ranch house. A light illuminated the long portico and before she could reach the steps, she saw Tyler open the door and step out to meet her.

  Apparently, he had been watching for her, and her heart began to race. Was he going to tell her to turn around and leave before she even had a chance to get in the house?

  “Hello, Rosa.”

  His deep, rich voice was like melting chocolate sliding across her tongue. Oh, how she’d missed it. Missed him. And suddenly she was thinking back to when she was waitressing at the Brown Bear Cantina so long ago. Her heart had been broken and she’d believed she’d never be able to trust anyone again. But somehow she’d found the courage to become a law officer. And then she�
�d met Tyler. Falling in love with him had opened her eyes and taught her so much about herself. She was a survivor and she could be anything and everything she wanted to be, including a wife and mother.

  “Am I still welcome here?”

  He moved over to the edge of the porch, reaching to help her up the steps. Tears flooded her eyes as she placed her fingers around his.

  “Oh, Ty.”

  The two tiny words were all she could say, and then suddenly he was pulling her up the steps and into his arms.

  “Rosa. Rosa.” Burying his face against the side of hair, he clutched her tightly to him. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been a bastard. I should’ve never walked out that night at the hotel.”

  “No. You shouldn’t have,” she agreed, her voice choked with emotion. “I don’t want a man that runs from me! I want one that runs to me. It’s been six days, Ty, and I’ve not heard a word from you, much less seen you.”

  “I’ve not exactly heard from you, either,” he countered. “When you wouldn’t talk to me at the airport, I didn’t know what to think.”

  Easing her head back, her gaze met his. “I’m not the only one who can get angry, and I had some thinking to do, Ty. We need to talk—about a lot of things.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” he said, then curled his arm around her waist and urged her toward the front door. “Come on. Gib has fixed us a tray of desserts. We’ll talk first, then eat.”

  “We’re going to talk before we do anything,” she promised flatly.

  The two of them were crossing the foyer when Rosalinda’s cell phone began to ring. She paused to dig it out of her pocket.

  “I’m going to turn off the sound—oh, no,” she said suddenly as she noticed the call was coming from Undersheriff Donovan.

  “Is something wrong?” Tyler asked quickly.

  “Must be. It’s Brady.”

  She answered it quickly and immediately her jaw dropped. “Missing? Yes, I understand. I’m here on the Pine Ridge Ranch. My weapon is in the truck. I’ll leave right now. Right. Okay. Yes, he might be able to help.”