Linda Lael Miller Montana Creeds Series Volume 1: Montana Creeds: LoganMontana Creeds: DylanMontana Creeds: Tyler

by Linda Lael Miller

  “What was in that Bloody Mary?” Tyler asked, almost casually. He even folded his arms, like he was in no big hurry to get out of there. “The hospital must have told you by now.”

  Roy sighed. Shrugged. “Nobody tells me nothin’,” he said. “Ask Jim. He might know.”

  “I’ll do that,” Tyler said, turning to leave.

  “Wait a second,” Roy called after him. “You going to put in a good word for me, with the prosecutor?”

  Tyler saw no reason to hold out false hope. “Actually,” he answered, opening the door that led into Jim’s office, “no.”

  Jim was waiting when Tyler entered his office, leaving behind a crimson-faced Roy, like he knew what was coming.

  “What was in the drink Doreen gave Roy?” Tyler asked bluntly.

  Jim looked relieved. “That stuff they give kids when they need to throw up,” he said.

  “And the man Davie told you about, the boyfriend who bit the dust at the supper table? Did you follow up on that?”

  Jim flushed a little, under his bronze skin. “I’m still waiting for the coroner’s report,” he said. “I did talk to local law enforcement, though, and they said this Marty character had a history of health problems.”

  “And you didn’t bother to mention all this?”

  Jim’s jawline tightened. “Hell, Tyler,” he growled, when he’d unclamped his back teeth. “I just got the call about Roy’s lab work an hour ago. I barely glanced at it. Same with the other thing. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m up to my Native American ass in problems here.”

  Tyler relented a little, focused on what mattered. Doreen hadn’t intended to kill Roy, only to slow him down so she could make a getaway. And Davie hadn’t been part of any scheme—Roy would have been quick to implicate him if he had.

  Tyler headed toward the main doors.

  “Where are you going in such a hurry?” Jim asked, worried now.

  Tyler didn’t take the time to answer.

  There were some things he wanted to follow up on.

  Now.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  LILY HAD CALMED DOWN by the time she got back to the condo. She’d even stopped by her favorite organic food store on the way, bought the makings for her specialty—a casserole Tess had waggishly dubbed “tofu surprise.”

  Her dad and Tess weren’t back from the movies yet, and she had the place to herself. She considered calling Tyler, but not for phone sex. She just needed to hear his voice.

  In the end, though, she decided to start supper instead.

  If she accomplished nothing else that day, she’d convince her father and daughter that healthy food could be delicious. She needed to get them back on track—last night’s celebration meal had consisted of cheesy pizza.

  The casserole was in the oven when the rain started. Lily hadn’t noticed that the skies were cloudy either on her way to Eloise’s or on the way back, but now a clap of thunder shook the whole complex. The storm must have been brewing for a while.

  She switched on the gas fireplace and was on the verge of worrying when the movie-goers returned, laughing, their clothes and hair soaked by the downpour.

  Lily sent them both off to change into dry things and started setting the table.

  Tess was unusually tired and, after picking at her tofu surprise for a while, she actually volunteered to go to bed.

  “Is she all right?” Lily asked her father, once they were alone.

  Hal squeezed Lily’s hand, smiled a little. His hair was still damp from the shower he’d taken after being caught in the rain. “She’s homesick for Stillwater Springs, and convinced Eleanor is going to dig through to the Great Wall before she can get back.”

  Lily smiled. She’d give Tess a few minutes to settle in, then go in and say good-night. Make sure her little girl wasn’t coming down with something. “I’m pretty homesick myself,” she admitted.

  “Missing Tyler?” Hal asked, smiling.

  “Oh, yeah,” Lily confessed.

  “How did the visit with Eloise go?” He’d probably been waiting all afternoon to present that question, and with Tess in her room, the coast was clear.

  Lily glanced in that direction anyway, in case her daughter had doubled back to listen in. “It was a disaster,” she admitted, as another roar of thunder shook the building. She left her chair, went to the hallway to make sure Tess wasn’t hiding there, just out of sight. But she was in her room, with the TV—a gift from Eloise, given over Lily’s objections the previous Christmas—blaring. Still, Lily was careful to keep her voice down when she returned to the table. “She threatened to take Tess away from me.”

  “And?”

  “And I told her to go to hell.”

  “Good girl,” Hal said. “That’s how it ended?”

  Lily sighed, pushed her plate away. Hal had eaten even less of his tofu surprise than Tess had, and Lily herself had only managed a few bites. So the healthy-food gambit was a bust. “Pretty much,” she replied wearily. “Eloise backed down a little, once she realized just how far over the line she was. I said she could visit Tess anytime she wanted—in Stillwater Springs.”

  “That’s fair and reasonable, Lily,” Hal assured her gently, probably reading her expression again. “You do know, don’t you, that no judge in the country would take a perfectly happy, well-adjusted child like Tess away from her mother?”

  Lily nodded. “I admit I was a little paranoid at first, but I’m over that.” It was time to change the subject—where Eloise was concerned, she was on emotional overload—so she looked down at Hal’s plate. It was then that she realized she’d been had. “Did you and Tess eat before you came home from the movies?” she demanded, but she couldn’t help smiling a little.

  Hal lifted his right hand like a man swearing an oath in a court of law. “No,” he said. Then he lowered his hand, and his eyes twinkled. “But we did consume more than our share of popcorn. As God is my witness, we skipped the butter, and the stuff is high in fiber—”

  Lily laughed, but her throat felt thick and suddenly she started to cry. Tyler was so far away, she’d had that fight with Eloise and rain sheeted the windows, making it seem as if the normal world beyond had simply vanished.

  “Oh, honey,” Hal whispered, when he saw the tears in her eyes. He took her hand, squeezed it. “You’re tired. Why don’t you go in and jammy up?”

  Lily’s throat closed.

  She got up, started to clear the table, just to be busy.

  Hal stopped her. “I’ll do this,” he said. “Go look in on Tess.”

  Lily gave in, set down the plates and silverware she’d gathered. She felt spent, used up, and she needed a few minutes with her daughter. “Don’t throw out the tofu surprise,” she said, as she turned to leave. “We can have it for lunch tomorrow.”

  Hal laughed. “I wouldn’t think of doing that,” he lied.

  Lily wiped her eyes, kissed his cheek and hurried to Tess’s door. Knocked lightly.

  “Come in, Mom,” Tess called. The TV went silent.

  Catching a glimpse of the remote, hastily and only partially hidden under the bedspread, Lily decided to forgo the speech Tess was probably expecting—no TV without permission, that was the rule—when she saw the child’s forlorn expression.

  Immediately, she sat down on the edge of Tess’s bed, touched her forehead in that time-honored way of mothers everywhere, was relieved to find no indication of a fever.

  “What’s the matter, honey?” she asked.

  “Nana’s mad at us,” Tess said sadly.

  “She’s only mad at me,” Lily replied gently. “Because we’re moving to Stillwater Springs and it will be harder for her to see you.”

  “Is she going to steal me?”

  Lily’s heart splintered. “No,” she said, gathering the frightened child into her arms and holding her tightly. Obviously, despite Lily’s efforts, Tess had overheard something, somewhere along the line—or simply jumped to a conclusion. “Nobody’s going to steal you
, baby. Ever.”

  “Nana said I should come to live with her,” Tess said, her face buried in Lily’s shoulder. She was trembling. “So I wouldn’t have to grow up in a trailer!”

  “You’re staying with me,” Lily said, and a new and much deeper sadness filled her as she finally faced facts. Tess had been through a lot of changes lately, and although she loved living in Stillwater Springs, she surely wasn’t ready for yet another move, for a stepfather. And, Lily realized, she hadn’t even told Tess about Davie, who’d be living with them, as well. “You’re staying with Grampa and me.”

  Tess pulled back far enough to look up at Lily, her small face serious and a little pale. “What about Tyler?” she asked. “What about the wedding and the baby and—”

  There were times when Lily wished her daughter were a little less perceptive, and this was one of them.

  She cupped a hand under Tess’s chin. “Things have been happening too fast lately,” she said softly. “We need to slow down a little.”

  Tess’s eyes filled with tears. “You’re going to divorce Tyler before we even marry him,” she murmured, crestfallen.

  “No,” Lily said, crying herself now. “No, sweetheart. I love Tyler. I still want us to marry him. And I still want a baby. But wouldn’t it be fun to plan a real wedding? Pick out dresses and decide what flowers we’d like and—”

  “No!” Tess broke in.

  “No?” Lily echoed, drying her eyes.

  “I like Tyler. I want him to be my daddy.”

  Lily’s tired heart turned over in her chest. “Baby, there’s more to it than that. I know you like Tyler, and I know you want a daddy, but—”

  “This is Nana’s fault!” Tess accused, burrowing down in her covers and trying to cover her head—a tactic Lily gently prevented. “She made you change your mind!”

  “I haven’t changed my mind, Tess. I just think—”

  “You have changed your mind,” Tess insisted. She could be stubborn, but she came by it honestly, there was no denying that. “You’re just trying to make me think you haven’t!”

  “Hush,” Lily said, as the door opened behind her.

  “Is everything all right in here?” Hal asked.

  “No!” Tess blurted.

  “Yes,” Lily replied, at exactly the same moment.

  “Get your stories straight,” Hal said.

  “Mom isn’t going to marry Tyler,” Tess announced, “because Nana made her scared.”

  Lily sighed. “Tess, that simply isn’t true.”

  Tess was immovable. “Yes, it is!”

  “Out of the mouths of babes,” Hal commented.

  Lily turned to him. “Don’t help,” she warned.

  He held up both hands, palms out, in a gesture of benign surrender, and backed out of the room.

  “I hate Nana,” Tess spouted.

  Lily held back the automatic, “No, you don’t” that rose to the tip of her tongue. The whole conversation was going nowhere fast, and any response she made would only escalate hostilities.

  “Good night,” she said instead, kissing her daughter’s forehead.

  “I want to go home,” Tess said.

  Lily went to the door, blew Tess a second kiss. “Me, too,” she said. “Me, too.”

  And then she stepped out into the hall and closed the door softly but firmly behind her.

  She didn’t want to deal with her dad at the moment.

  She didn’t want to deal with anything.

  So she went straight to her bathroom, started a bath running, poured half a bottle of bubbly stuff in and stripped.

  High overhead, the thunder rolled and boomed, fit to split the planet into fragments.

  It wasn’t often, Lily thought philosophically, sinking to her chin in hot water and scented suds, that the weather exactly suited her mood, but that night, it did.

  *

  DAVIE PROUDLY SHOWED the cotton ball, stuck to the inside of his forearm with a Band-Aid, to Kristy, as soon as he and Tyler arrived at the party that night. “We had blood tests this afternoon,” he said. “Both of us.”

  Kristy’s eyes shone as she smiled at Tyler. “Well, well, well,” she said. “How long till you know?”

  Tyler felt pretty pleased himself, though he’d long since tossed his own cotton-ball-and-Band-Aid combo. “A week,” he answered. “Maybe two.”

  The Victorian house was crowded with folks gathered to wish the Books well on their retirement and much-anticipated cruise to Alaska. Dylan wended his way through, Bonnie riding on his right hip, to greet the newcomers.

  “Where’s the dog?” he asked. “Did I forget to mention that he was invited, too?”

  Kristy chuckled, shook her head and walked away.

  “He’s over at the Holiday Inn,” Davie hastened to explain. “We had to sneak him in, so I hope he doesn’t start barking or something.”

  “You could stay here,” Dylan pointed out, addressing Tyler, not Davie.

  Bonnie squirmed in Dylan’s arms, wanting to go to the boy and check out the spider ghost on his neck.

  Tyler didn’t miss the careful way Davie held her. She might have been a doll, made of thin glass.

  “Bug!” she said, touching the spider.

  Davie laughed. “Can you say ‘cootie’?”

  “Cootie!” Bonnie repeated, in gleeful triumph. Then she scrambled back to Dylan. “Cootie!”

  Tyler gave Davie a look.

  Davie laughed again and vanished into the crowd, probably looking for Josh and Alec. Tyler watched him go, found Dylan watching him when he turned back to his brother.

  “He’s yours,” Dylan said, grinning.

  “I hope so,” Tyler said. “I sure as hell hope so.”

  *

  JIM HUNTINGHORSE’S DEPUTY admitted Doreen to the holding area at the sheriff’s office, but not without reluctance. Clearly, without Jim there, he didn’t like doing it, but Doreen had always been a persuasive type.

  “How’d you find out?” Roy asked dismally.

  “That you tried to kill my kid with a semi?” Doreen retorted furiously, well aware of the nervous deputy hovering in the doorway to the office. Did he think she was going to try to spring the prisoner or something? “About the first thing I did when I left here was buy me a computer. It’s all over the Internet, Roy. What the hell were you thinking, anyhow?”

  Roy looked shame-faced, and hopeful. “I wasn’t thinking, Doreen,” he said. “You broke my heart, and I guess it got the best of me for a little while.” He paused, his eyes going watery. “You come back here to bail me out?”

  “No,” Doreen said, “I didn’t come back to bail your sorry ass out. And spare me that bullshit about your broken heart, Roy, because as far as I know, you ain’t got a heart.”

  Her grammar always went to hell when she was around Roy’s kind of people. Once she got away from that place for good, made a fresh start, she’d work on that. Maybe take some night courses.

  “Then why?” Roy whined. He swallowed hard. “You’ve got all that money—You could go anywhere—”

  “I came back because I didn’t say goodbye to Davie,” Doreen answered, not that she owed Roy any explanations. She’d only set foot in that shit-hole jail—God knew, the hoosegow brought back bad memories—to see for herself that the bastard was behind bars, where he belonged.

  No, her return to Stillwater Springs was all about squaring things away with her son—and with Jim Huntinghorse. She didn’t want anybody, least of all Davie, believing she’d meant to kill Roy Fifer, however much he needed killing.

  Roy got up off his cot, waddled over and gripped the bars in both hands. “You gotta get me out of here. Granny doesn’t have the money to post bail or hire lawyers.”

  “I don’t have to do anything but die and pay taxes,” Doreen countered. “And why would I want to spend a cent on you, anyhow?”

  “Because I love you, Doreen.”

  That made her laugh out loud.

  “Don’t make me puke,”
she said.

  And then she sailed right out of there, past the worried deputy, out into the office and straight for the door.

  “You tell Jim Huntinghorse,” she told the deputy in parting, “that I’m staying over at the Holiday Inn. Room 322.”

  With that, Doreen bolted.

  Jails, she thought, shuddering. They flat-out gave her the heebie-jeebies—no two ways about it.

  *

  THE PARTY RAN LATE, and it was the next morning before Tyler knew Doreen was back. She was sitting in the coffee shop, big as life, when he and Davie came in for the free breakfast, part of which the kid intended to smuggle back to their adjoining rooms, so he could share it with Kit Carson.

  “Mom?” Davie said, stopping so quickly that Tyler, walking behind, nearly collided with him.

  Doreen smiled and set aside the tattered copy of People she’d been reading. “Hello, Davie-boy,” she said, in a perfectly ordinary tone of voice. Then, with a nod, “Tyler.”

  Tyler didn’t know whether to stay or go. He’d expected this, on some level, but he was surprised, too.

  “Join me?” Doreen asked. They had the place to themselves, at least.

  That was something.

  Davie sat down eagerly. Tyler held back.

  “I want you to hear this, too,” Doreen said, beckoning.

  Since he was afraid Doreen might make a run for it, taking the kid with her, Tyler gave in. Joined the trio.

  He’d been starved when he woke up.

  Now, he couldn’t have eaten for anything.

  “We got blood tests,” Davie told Doreen, showing her the cotton ball and Band-Aid. “Pretty soon, we’ll know if Tyler’s really my dad.”

  Doreen took Davie’s hand, squeezed it. “Tyler’s really your dad,” she said softly. She raised her eyes to Tyler’s face, smiled mistily. “And that makes you one lucky kid.”

  Tyler wanted to believe her—wanted to take the bait, hook, line and sinker. But he’d aged a little since his return to Stillwater Springs, and he was a little wiser. So he held back, didn’t speak, didn’t let what he was feeling show in his face.

  He hoped.

  “You know that for sure?” Davie asked. He was no fool, either. At thirteen, he understood the powerful motivation that settlement was to Doreen. “How?”