True Love Cowboy

by Jennifer Ryan

  “Yeah, you get the easy gig, playing with her all weekend. I get the hard stuff.”

  Pre-K homework was hard? Getting her up, dressed, fed, and to school on time was hard? Picking her up, feeding her, doing basic skills homework, bathing her, and putting her to bed on time was too much?

  He could rectify that very easily.

  “You and I will discuss that later. What I want to know right now is what happened specifically this morning.”

  Steph frowned and glared at all of them. “Of course, I’m the bad guy.”

  “Our daughter’s hair is a mess. What happened? Why would you do that to her?”

  Steph unfolded her arms and shoved her fisted hands down until her arms were rigid at her sides. “Because she deserved it.”

  “Our four-year-old deserved to have her hair chopped off and to be humiliated in front of her classmates? One of them called her ugly.”

  “Well, she was acting that way this morning.” Steph raked her fingers through her hair and pulled it away from her face. She shifted from one foot to the other, clearly agitated and upset. “Her hair is too long. It’s always a mess.” She pinned him in her gaze. “You’re always on my case about making her hair look nice.”

  “It’s not that hard to brush it and put some of those clip things in to keep it out of her face.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s what you think. It’s like a rat’s nest in the morning when she wakes up. I tried to brush it this morning, but it was all in tangles.”

  “Did you use the detangler spray I left you?”

  Steph narrowed her eyes. “You mean the one your girlfriend gave her?”

  “Yes,” he said snidely. “That one.”

  “I’m so damn tired of hearing about how great Trinity is. It’s constantly Trinity this, and Trinity that. ‘Trinity doesn’t pull my hair. Trinity does it softer,’” she mimicked in a snide tone.

  So that’s what really set Steph off.

  “What the hell is she even doing here? This is between us. Emmy is our daughter.”

  Trinity wasn’t the problem here; Steph’s jealousy was making her act out and it needed to stop.

  “Trinity cares about Emmy. She takes care of her when she’s with us.”

  “Us? So you two are living together now. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

  He had no idea what she meant by that. “What am I doing?”

  “You’re trying to take her from me. You just want to be a happy family with that bitch and my daughter. I won’t let you have full custody.”

  “I want you, her mother, to take care of her properly. That’s all.”

  “I’m a good mother.”

  “You left her alone in the apartment to go party with some guy.”

  Pam interrupted. “If Emmy is being left alone, there are bigger issues we need to discuss. Which should include the statements Emmy has made to her teacher about her mother being mean to her.”

  “She’s lying,” Steph immediately spat out.

  Jon wanted to know just what Emmy had to say to her teacher, but first he wanted to get to the bottom of what happened this morning. “We both know she’s not, Steph. Look at what happened today. She’s so upset, she made herself sick. You’re defensive and agitated, but you won’t say what happened.”

  “She wouldn’t sit still. She kept saying I was pulling too hard and hurting her.”

  “You probably were. So why didn’t you stop?”

  “And let her video call you with less than perfect hair so you can tell me again how I’m not doing what I’m supposed to for her? I’m so tired of you picking at every little thing I do or don’t do for her. All you do is threaten to take her away from me. And now she’s telling me that I’m not good at stuff, that Trinity is such a good cook and does her hair without hurting her, and blah, blah, blah, blah blah.”

  “So this is Trinity’s fault.”

  “She took you. Now she’s trying to take my daughter.” Steph had lost her mind if she thought he still belonged to her in any sort of way.

  So Jon made it clear. “Trinity and I are together. She’s a part of Emmy’s life. She’s good to her. She’d never do what you did to her this morning.”

  Steph tried to rein in her anger, but her frustration came through loud and clear. “There wasn’t time to straighten up her haircut. We were already late. I’ll fix it later tonight.”

  “Trinity and I are taking her to the hairdresser right now. I hope that will repair some of the damage you did to her self-esteem and make her feel good about herself again.”

  Steph waved that away. “If she’d stayed still it wouldn’t have turned out so bad.”

  Jon caught himself before he took a step toward Steph and did or said something he shouldn’t and might not really regret later.

  Steph glared at him. “You can’t take her from school.”

  “I can. I am. She’s too upset to stay.”

  Pam nodded. “I think she’ll feel better coming back to school tomorrow with a new haircut and time to let what’s happened settle in her mind.”

  “She’s supposed to be with me tonight. But, of course, because I had to come down here, I’ll have to work late to make up the time.” She rolled her eyes in exasperation that she’d been put out.

  Jon didn’t give a shit that she’d had to leave work. It was her damn fault. She just didn’t see it.

  “Then it works out, because I’m taking Emmy home with me.”

  Steph fumed.

  He ordered her to do the right thing. “After you go inside and apologize to her for what you did.”

  She gaped at him. “After the way she acted, the things she said.” Steph shook her head. “No. She should apologize to me.”

  “So she’s the only one in the wrong?”

  “Yes. If she’d stayed still and shut up, none of this would have happened.”

  He fought to contain his rage. “You lost your temper and attacked her hair with a pair of scissors.”

  Steph rolled her eyes. “Her hair will grow back.”

  “But will she ever forget what you did to her and how you made her feel today?” Jon wouldn’t forget the devastation in Emmy’s eyes or the way she’d cried like a wounded animal.

  “She’s four. She probably won’t remember any of this.” Steph shrugged it off.

  “So you’re going to leave it to me to fix this between you two.”

  “She’ll get over it. What choice does she have? I’m her mother. She needs to do what I say.”

  He set her straight. “That’s where you’re wrong, Steph. She does have a choice. I’ve already got my lawyer working on it.”

  Steph rushed him and got right in his face. “I’ve done everything you ordered me to do. You can’t take her away from me!”

  Principal Fields inserted his arm between them. “Perhaps this is a discussion you can have when you’ve had time to calm down and you can talk amicably about what is best for Emmy.”

  “I’m her mother. I’m what’s best for her. Not Trinity.” Steph glared hard at him. “I’m calling my father and getting a lawyer to stop you.”

  No surprise. When things got hard for Steph, she ran to Daddy and begged him to fix things for her.

  Jon wondered what her father would say when he heard what Steph had done to Emmy.

  “You’re going to need one because Pam and Principal Fields are required to report suspected abuse and neglect.”

  Steph’s eyes went round when Pam nodded. “You can’t do that. She’s fine.”

  Pam gave Steph a sad but determined look. “We are mandated reporters. If we suspect abuse, a call is required.”

  Steph stormed off, pulling her phone out, likely to call her dad, as she crossed the parking lot.

  Jon stood there, not caring if the principal and Pam stared at him, waiting for him to say or do something. He knew what was coming. He’d held off Emmy’s teacher in California with promises that he’d take care of things with Steph. She’d do be
tter.

  Well, he was tired of covering for Steph. He hated that Emmy was going to have to go through this, but it had to be done if he was going to get the court to side with him instead of Emmy’s mother. More than likely, they’d be lenient and give Steph more chances than she deserved to get things right. And in the process, Emmy would suffer.

  He’d do his best, everything and anything he could to protect her, but if he wanted to win and keep Emmy away from Steph and her abuse in the future, he had to do it the right way.

  Pam broke the tense silence. “I know this has been a difficult morning, Mr. Crawford. We appreciate you coming down to see to Emmy’s needs.”

  “In the future, if Emmy needs one of us to come to her again, call me first.”

  “Of course,” Pam agreed. “We don’t like to insert ourselves in people’s personal lives, but it is clear that Emmy needs some stability in her home life. She’s falling behind in school. She’s got a long way to go and starting off like this . . . arriving late, not doing assignments, acting out in class . . . Well, it will only make things harder in the future.”

  In other words, he needed to turn this around now before it became a hard habit to break.

  “I appreciate how you’ve handled this and that you’ve provided some further insight into what is going on with Emmy on the days her mother has custody of her. If you wouldn’t mind putting together the information about how many times she’s been late to school and picked up late after school so I can provide that to my attorney, I’d appreciate it.”

  “Of course, the school records are for your information to use as you see fit.” Principal Fields led them back up to the office. “They will also be provided to DPHHS.”

  Meaning they would make the call to the authorities now.

  “We appreciate your willingness to work with us to try to make Emmy’s school experience a good one.”

  “I’m trying. And while DPHHS will do their thing, more than likely Steph will get an attorney to make this go away. My hope is that after today she’ll make more effort to have Emmy here on time and to get her after school by five. Please let me know if this pattern continues, so I can address it.” He had a sudden thought. “If Emmy isn’t picked up or something else comes up, can I put my girlfriend’s name down as an emergency contact? She works close by and could get to Emmy much faster than me if I’m not in town.”

  They walked into the office lobby.

  Principal Fields nodded. “Of course we can add her.” He went around the desk to the computer. “I have Emmy’s information here. So we’ll add Trinity. What’s the last name?”

  “McGrath.” Jon gave them her cell phone number as well as the number to her shop. Just in case.

  Principal Fields typed it all in. “There we go. All finished. I’ve also made a note in the file that you are the primary contact, so you will be called first if any issues arise such as this, or if she becomes ill.”

  “Great. That eases my mind.”

  Pam touched his arm. “Why don’t you collect Emmy? I’m sure she’s worried about what we’ve talked about and what happens next.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll have a talk with her.” Because now strangers were going to step in and make decisions for Emmy’s sake even if he didn’t agree with them. Steph had tied his hands today. He couldn’t stop the school from reporting. He couldn’t stop DPHHS from taking Emmy from both of them if that’s what they thought was best.

  He didn’t think it would come to that, but it was his greatest fear.

  He needed to call his lawyer ASAP to get ahead of this, but right now, his daughter needed him.

  He went to the little room off the main lobby and found Emmy sitting on Trinity’s lap facing her. She’d released Trinity from the death grip she had on her when he left.

  “You’re not ugly, sweetheart,” Trinity assured her.

  Emmy stared down at Trinity’s lap and played with the hem of her Almost Homemade tee. “Do you really think they can fix it?”

  “Yes. In fact, I think it would be a great idea for your dad to take a before and after picture. That way you can see how great it looks when it’s all done.”

  Jon pulled out his phone, but hesitated to hold it up when Trinity brushed her hand up Emmy’s arm, pushing her sleeve up to reveal the red marks and bruises on Emmy’s biceps.

  “Turn and look at Daddy so he can take the picture,” Trinity coaxed, but her eyes held his and were filled with concern.

  He understood why when Emmy’s gaze met his and he saw the red mark right under her eye. He hadn’t noticed it before because she’d been crying so hard her whole face had been red.

  Jon zoomed in so the marks on her were clear in the photo.

  Emmy would never know this was why Trinity wanted him to take the picture. He actually took several just to be sure he documented the marks Steph put on her. She had to have grabbed Emmy’s arm really hard to leave imprints of her fingers digging into his daughter’s skinny little arm.

  He had no idea how she’d hurt her eye, so he simply asked. “Hey, sweet girl, what happened to your eye here?” He pointed to the small but distinctive hurt. She’d probably have a little black eye tomorrow.

  “Mama shook me and I banged my face on the table.”

  Trinity’s eyes glassed over.

  He had a hard time finding his voice. “I see. Does it hurt?”

  “Yeah.” She buried her face in Trinity’s chest.

  Trinity hugged her. “We’ll put some ice on it later.” She leaned back and gave Emmy as bright a smile as she could considering the distress she saw in her eyes. “Our appointment is in ten minutes. Let’s get your stuff and head over to the salon.”

  Emmy glanced up at him. “Trinity said I can get my nails painted, too. And a pedi. That means my toes.”

  Grateful didn’t begin to describe how he felt toward Trinity right now. Emmy had been so distraught when he arrived she’d nearly choked him to death, but now she smiled with excitement about getting her nails done. “Sounds like you get the full beauty treatment.”

  “She said it’s her treat. So do I get a candy, too?”

  Trinity’s good heart and generosity always touched him.

  “When we get home, you can have two candies out of the treat jar.” Another thing Trinity had brought over. Because she liked chocolate and so did Emmy. Plus it was a way to reward Emmy for her chores, eating her veggies, and being a good girl.

  “Let’s get going.” Trinity stood with Emmy in her arms.

  Emmy stared at the floor. “Am I in trouble for being bad with Mama?”

  “No. Not one bit. Your mom got angry and did something bad to you. I asked her to apologize. I hope she will because you deserve an apology. But you are not in trouble. Okay?” He brushed his hand over her head.

  “Okay.”

  They walked out of the room.

  Jon took Emmy’s backpack from Pam. “Thank you.”

  “No problem. We’ll see you tomorrow, Emmy. I can’t wait to see your new haircut. I bet it’s going to look really pretty.”

  Pam held his gaze. “Expect a visit from someone today.”

  Jon nodded.

  Emmy managed a small smile for Pam before they walked out of the office and headed for his car.

  Jon put his hand at Trinity’s back and pulled her close to his side. “Thanks for coming with me.”

  “Absolutely. I’m looking forward to my mani-pedi, too.”

  Emmy reached over Trinity’s shoulder and pulled her long ponytail close. “Are you going to get a haircut, too?”

  “Do you think I should?”

  Emmy shook her head. “It’s too pretty to cut.”

  Trinity brushed her nose against Emmy’s. “Yours is going to be way prettier. You’ll see.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jon held up his phone and snapped a photo of Emmy and Trinity holding up their hands to show off their painted nails and Emmy’s new do. He owed Trinity big-time for setting up the appo
intment right away and turning the disastrous chop job into a stylish haircut that actually suited Emmy nicely and would be easier to maintain.

  “Do you love it?” He smiled to let Emmy know he sure did.

  She flipped her hair back with one hand. “It’s so bouncy.”

  The short cut did in fact bounce and swish as Emmy walked with them to the car.

  Her smile delighted him, but the images of Emmy’s hacked hair and the bruises on her arm and darkening under her eye still blazed in his mind and kept his anger roiling in his gut.

  He expected to hear from DPHHS any minute. Nerves and anxiety made his chest tight.

  They all climbed into the car and he pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Steph’s place.

  Trinity glanced over. “I thought you were taking me back to the store.”

  “I will. I just want to do one thing first.”

  Emmy hummed along to the song on the radio and stared out the side window.

  He used her distraction to pull onto a side street and park.

  “Where are we?” Emmy met his gaze in the rearview mirror.

  “I just need to make a quick stop here. Wait with Trinity. I’ll be right back.” He left the keys in the ignition and jumped out. He smiled and waved to Emmy to ease any concern she had about the detour.

  It took him only a couple minutes to walk to the apartment from the back entrance. He knocked on Steph’s door even though he didn’t see her car in her assigned spot. He used his key to enter and found what he didn’t want to see in the living space. Right there next to the dining table, spread all over the floor, was his daughter’s long, dark hair. The pair of sharp scissors sat on the table atop a stack of unopened mail.

  Because of the video calls he had with Emmy every night she stayed with Steph, the place wasn’t that bad. Not spotless, but okay.

  He snapped several photos of Emmy’s discarded hair littering the floor to hand over to his lawyer.

  Just because he was curious, and his kid lived here part-time, he opened the fridge to make sure Steph had enough food. He snapped a photo of the dismal contents. No milk or eggs or cheese. Just a bunch of condiments, an open bottle of wine, two juice boxes, some sad salad greens that didn’t look edible, and half an apple that had been placed face-down on the dirty glass with no protective covering. The whole thing needed a good cleaning. And to be restocked.