ROYAL'S CHILD

by Sharon Sala

  Maddie clutched the door and her seat belt with an intensity he'd never seen. Her fear was palpable, but he already knew it was not for herself.

  About half a mile from the house, she started to cry again. Royal groaned. Even if they survived this hell, would his daughter ever be the same?

  "Hurry, Daddy, hurry. The lady says hurry."

  He cursed. Because something was happening that he still couldn't see.

  He came over the hill in the air, landing a few yards away with a thump, and gave Maddie a frantic look.

  "Are you all right, baby?"

  Maddie was staring at the glove box as if it was a television screen. Her eyes were wide and fixed and brimming with tears.

  "She's running now, Daddy. She's running."

  Royal jerked and looked out the windshield. He groaned. My God, Maddie was right! It was Angel, coming uphill toward him at an all-out stretch. Her hair was flying behind her, and her arms were pumping frantically with every step. But it was the look on her face and the man behind her that stopped his heart. He didn't know how and he didn't understand why, but Maddie had been right. They had needed to go home.

  "Hold on, Maddie. I see her now. Everything's going to be all right."

  He mashed the accelerator to the floor. There was a closed gate and less than a hundred yards between them when he came to a sliding halt. If he'd been alone, he would have crashed through the gate without hesitation. But he'd already put his daughter through hell. The possibility of putting her in physical danger wasn't something he could consider.

  He unbuckled her seat belt and pulled her to the floor.

  "Look at me, Maddie," he yelled.

  She looked, her eyes wide with shock and fear.

  "You get on the floor and cover your head and don't get up no matter what you hear. Understand me?"

  "I promise," she said.

  Royal got out of the truck and reached behind the seat for the rifle he'd stashed. He vaulted the gate without bothering to open it, then started running.

  * * *

  When Angel saw them coming over the rise, it had been all she could do to keep moving. But the man was too close and she was too set on living to take the chance. Her legs felt like rubber, and it was hard to take the next step. Her lungs burned. She needed a breath. Keep moving. Keep moving. The words became a chant that kept her going.

  She could hear the man shouting and screaming, and she wondered how he had the breath to do all that and still run. Adrenaline, she reckoned. She could do with a burst of it.

  Royal was out of the truck. She saw him jumping the gate and running. She needed to stop. She needed a breath. She heard a grunt of rage as the man reached for her. Her T-shirt tightened around her throat. With a last burst of energy, she sprinted away, giving herself some space. But it didn't last long. She was at the end of her run. He would catch her, after all.

  Royal could see it clearly. The man called Wilson was almost upon her. There was no way he could get to her in time. And there was no way he could take a clean shot without hitting her. In the time it took him to take a breath, he'd come to a stop and was waving his gun.

  "Down!" he shouted, motioning for Angel to drop. "Get down now!"

  She lurched forward, sailing out and down like a swimmer about to belly-flop. Royal watched it happening as he lifted his gun to his cheek. The rifle stock was warm against his face. The smell of gun oil and clover was in his nose as he lined up the cross hairs on the telescopic sight.

  Angel was almost on the ground, her face contorted in a grimace in preparation for, the pain of the fall. Her hair was flying behind her like a widow's veil, long and black. Then she was down. He saw the displacement of dust as she hit, then the face of her killer as it suddenly appeared in his site. The trigger was smooth against his finger. He squeezed off a shot.

  * * *

  Tommy Boy never saw it coming. One minute the woman was almost in his grasp, the next thing he knew she was on the ground and his brain was coming undone. Just before the lights went out, he thought he saw a quick flash of blue. Like the blue from that damned Chevy truck. The thought died as quickly as Tommy Boy Watson.

  * * *

  Angel was crying and couldn't stop. Royal rolled her over and lifted her off of the ground and into his arms. He kept kissing her face and wiping her tears and shaking so hard he thought they both might fall.

  "Oh, my God, oh, my God," Angel kept saying. "I thought I would die. I thought I would die."

  Royal held her. There was nothing he could say to take away the shock. Only time would heal her wounds. All he could do was apologize over and over for leaving her alone with the man.

  "I didn't know," he kept saying. "I swear I didn't know. I thought it was the man Roman hired to keep you safe." He buried his face in her hair. "Instead I nearly got you killed."

  "But you came," Angel cried. "You still came."

  It was then Royal remembered his daughter, who was still lying on the floor of his truck. It was because of her that Angel was still alive.

  He cupped Angel's face. "It was Maddie. She made me come back."

  Angel shook her head. "I don't understand."

  "Neither do I," Royal said. "But she said the lady told her to come back. She said we needed to get home. All the way here she was crying and begging me to hurry."

  Angel was stunned. "Oh, Royal, she saved my life, didn't she?"

  It was still difficult for him to say it. "I wouldn't have come back if she hadn't begged me so hard."

  She realized Maddie was nowhere in sight.

  "Where is she?" she asked.

  "On the floor in the truck." He put his arms around her. "Come on, sweetheart, let's go get our girl."

  A few minutes later, they were on their way to the house, leaving what was left of Tommy Boy Watson for Deaton to clean up. Angel was sitting close to Royal's side and holding Maddie in her lap with the little girl's face pressed against her neck. They didn't want her to see the man sprawled on the ground or the grass beneath him turning red from his blood. It was enough that she would know her daddy had used a gun that day to save an angel's life.

  As they turned the corner by the bunkhouse, they saw Roman coming down the driveway in a cloud of dust. He skidded to a halt a few seconds ahead of Royal.

  Royal glanced at Maddie, then Angel.

  "Wait here a minute, will you?"

  She nodded. There were things that needed to be said that a little girl didn't need to hear.

  Maddie clung to Angel as if she'd never let go.

  "It's over, baby," she said softly.

  Maddie nodded.

  Angel could see the two brothers, heads together and deep in conversation. She watched as Royal pointed toward the hill above the barn, then saw Roman jerk as if he'd been punched and turn to look at her. Their gazes met and held. Then he headed for his car with Royal right behind them.

  She watched them taking turns on the phone, then saw the look on Royal's face when he headed her way. There was such a sense of completion within her, as if every loose end in her life had finally been tied and clipped.

  Royal opened the door. "Come here, punkin," he said softly, lifting Maddie out of Angel's arms, then transferred her into Roman's.

  Roman headed toward the house, holding her close and whispering sweet little nothings near her ear, trying to coax a smile from his girl.

  Royal reached for Angel, taking care not to hurt her any more than she'd already been hurt. But the need to hold her was overwhelming. He'd come close … too close to losing her.

  "Can you make it?" he asked, letting her pull herself out of the cab.

  Angel slid free and into his arms.

  "You know what, Royal Justice?"

  "No, what?" he said softly, cradling her close.

  "It feels good to be home."

  * * *

  Epilogue

  « ^

  "I need to build a bigger closet," Royal muttered, as he pulled things off shelves and toss
ed old clothes aside to make room for Angel's things.

  Angel grinned. They'd been married for all of a week, and he was determined her clothes should hang next to his, even if there wasn't room, even if the closet across the hall was nearly empty.

  "I'm sure it will be fine," she said, and knelt beside a box he'd taken from the shelf.

  She opened it, expecting something ordinary like maybe a hundred socks with holes or ties he didn't like. She found pictures instead. More than a dozen. All sizes. Some framed. Some in old cardboard folders.

  "What are these?" she asked, lifting one out.

  She turned it over. An odd shaft of pain came and went in her heart as she realized this must be Susan. Maddie's mother. Royal's wife. Then she reminded herself, that she was his wife now. But there was little joy in the knowledge that this pretty young woman with the smiling face and big belly had to die before that could happen.

  "It's Susan, isn't it?"

  Royal turned, then dropped the handful of shirts he'd been holding and knelt beside her.

  "Wow," he said softly. "I'd forgotten these were even here." He rubbed the dust off one, grinning as he tilted it to the light. "She was eight and a half months pregnant here. See that dress? It was green. She was so sick of that dress—she called it a tent—swore she'd never wear green again." He stared at the image. "Seems like all that happened to another me … in another life. Do you know what I mean?"

  Angel nodded. When Royal handed the picture to her, she laid it aside and watched as he resumed what he was doing. A long minute passed. Finally, curiosity got the best of her.

  "I never thought of it before, but you don't have any pictures of her anywhere, do you?"

  Royal leaned against the bureau. "They used to be everywhere," he said. "But after she died…" He shrugged. "I missed her so much, but there was Maddie. I couldn't grieve and raise our child. One day I just put them away. After a while I forget they were there."

  Angel frowned. "Has Maddie seen these?"

  A strange look crossed his face. "Well, hell. I don't know." He looked embarrassed. "That sounds awful, doesn't it?"

  Angel shrugged. "Has she ever asked about her, like what she looked like?"

  Royal shook his head. "Hardly ever. Maybe because she's still so little. Maybe because she's never known what it's like to live with a woman." Then he added, "Until you."

  Angel smiled, but she set another picture aside as well. "Maybe we'll keep these out … just in case," she offered.

  Royal pulled her to her feet and into his arms. "I knew there was a reason I loved you," he said softly, and proceeded to kiss her senseless.

  As Royal was considering the wisdom of locking the door and taking Angel to bed, Maddie burst into the room with Flea Bit under her arm.

  "Daddy, can I take the meat scraps from dinner to Dumpling and the babies?"

  After the part Dumpling had played in Angel's escape, Royal was all for buying the cat ground sirloin and serving it up on a platter.

  "Yes, but don't stay long. As soon as we get this closet cleaned, we're going to the mall."

  "Yeah!" Maddie shrieked.

  Disturbed by the noise, Flea Bit wiggled to be put down.

  Maddie started to give chase and stumbled. Angel caught her before she could fall. "Are you okay, honey?"

  Maddie nodded, watching intently as Angel began moving the box on which she had stumbled.

  "What's in there?" she asked.

  Royal rolled his eyes. "You know what curiosity did to the cat," he muttered.

  "Considering the fact that Flea Bit is about her best friend, I don't think that's a good analogy to use on her," Angel said.

  Royal grinned. "Right. What was I thinking?"

  Maddie dropped to her knees and peered into the box. Angel watched, curious as to what her reaction might be. But neither she or Royal was prepared for what came.

  Maddie rocked on her heels, her eyes alight with joy as she held a picture aloft.

  "Look!" she cried, waving it in the air. "Look at this, Daddy, it's her! It's her!"

  Angel knew what was coming before Maddie got it said. She started to shake.

  "What is it?" Royal asked, and took the picture out of Maddie's hand.

  Even now, after all the years that had gone by and the love he felt for Angel, he felt sorrow that his first love had died so soon. It was Susan, taken on the day of their wedding, just before they'd left for their honeymoon. He remembered the way she'd smelled, like gardenias. And the silken feel of that dress she was wearing, as blue as the bluebonnets she'd had in her bouquet.

  "It's her!" Maddie cried, and tugged at his hand until he gave her the picture. "It's the lady who sits on my bed."

  Royal sat down because standing was suddenly impossible. Maddie's words were ringing in his ears, but they didn't make sense.

  "I told you she was real," Maddie cried as she crawled in his lap. "Now do you believe me?"

  Royal was shaken to the core. He kept looking at Maddie and then at Angel, remembering what Maddie claimed the lady had said. Sending them an angel. That was it. She was sending them an angel.

  Angel sat on the bed beside him. "It all makes an odd sort of sense now, doesn't it?"

  He stared at the picture until the face began to blur. Then he looked at Maddie—at the expectation on her face. He had to clear his throat before he could speak.

  "Yes, baby. I believe you."

  "Yeah!" she shrieked, and bounced off his lap, going in search of the cat who'd slipped away.

  Angel waited, accepting the fact that somewhere within this revelation was a miracle. For reasons she would never understand, she'd been led to this place, to these people, to this home. Not only had she been sheltered here, she'd been saved by an angel of her own.

  Royal was shaking as he set the picture aside and pulled Angel into his lap.

  "Tell me I'm not crazy," he begged, then rolled over, taking her with him onto the bed.

  "You're not crazy," she said softly, and held him close, cradling his head upon her breasts.

  Outside their window, they could hear Maddie scolding as she dug poor Flea Bit out from under a bush. A few feet away, a faucet dripped steadily, monotonously. The scent of dust was faint but unmistakable. Remnants of a past that had been disturbed. Royal sighed. She felt his body relaxing, heard his breathing shift as he drifted off to sleep.

  Angel closed her eyes not to sleep, just to rest. With Maddie afoot, sleep was never an option. Quiet descended, followed by a peace unlike any she'd ever known.

  It came then, faint, like a memory too old to retain but there just the same. Familiar, and yet hard to explain.

  It was the scent of gardenias.

  In that moment, Angel knew. She wouldn't look. Couldn't look, although she felt no fear. The communication was instant. Tears started to roll down her face and still she wouldn't look. There was no need. She'd heard in her heart all she needed to know.

  "I hear you," she whispered. "Yes, I'll keep them both safe, just as you kept me."

  And then the feeling was gone, and Angel knew that what had been left of Susan Justice would never come again. Not because she'd been replaced, but because there was no longer a need.

  * * * * *