Natural Born Lawman

by Sherryl Woods

  “Where are we going?” she asked as Justin half dragged her from the station.

  “To see Janet. I’ve already called. She’ll meet us at her office.”

  “I thought she’d retired.”

  “There’s retired and then there’s Janet’s version of retired. She’s giving it lip service for Grandpa Harlan’s sake, but, believe me, she can’t wait to find a case she can get her teeth into.”

  He grinned. “That’s why she never quite got around to putting her office on the market, much less moving out her desk and files and law books. Personally, I think she sneaks into town and hides out there after telling Grandpa Harlan she’s gone shopping, but I can’t prove it. I’ve never caught her there. Then, again, I’ve never seen her carrying a lot of packages to her car, either.”

  “I don’t want to be responsible for the two of them fussing with each other,” Patsy said, still reluctant.

  “Oh, Grandpa may bluster some, but he knows deep down that Janet loves being a lawyer too much ever to walk away from it entirely. At least he’s gotten her to slow down, and he thoroughly enjoys letting her think she’s putting something over on him.”

  Patsy sighed enviously. “They have a wonderful marriage, don’t they?”

  “The best. It’s set a great example for the rest of us. As I understand it, my grandmother Mary adored my grandfather. She was the epitome of the traditional wife. She devoted herself to him, almost to the exclusion of their sons. When she died in a riding accident, Grandpa was devastated.”

  He chuckled. “Then, thanks to Jenny stealing his car, he met Janet.”

  Patsy stared at him, flabbergasted. “Jenny stole his car?”

  “Oh, yeah. She was fourteen at the time. She crashed it into a tree.”

  “I’ll bet that got his relationship with her mother off to a rocky start.”

  “You could say that. Janet was definitely not the kind of woman Grandpa was used to. For one thing she didn’t bow to his every whim. I was pretty little when they met, but the stories are legendary about their courtship. Best of all, the sparks are still there. You can feel it whenever they’re in the same room.”

  He met her gaze. “Just like us,” he added softly.

  Patsy had always wanted to believe that a relationship like that was possible. Her own parents had been married for years, but it was as much habit as love that kept them together. There was none of the warmth and tenderness she had witnessed between Janet and Harlan Adams. Theirs was the kind of relationship she’d always dreamed of, the kind she could almost imagine having with Justin if things were different. Maybe someday, though, as soon as this mess was straightened out once and for all.

  They reached Janet’s office and paused on the sidewalk out front.

  “You ready?” Justin asked, tucking a finger under her chin to tilt her face up so he could study it.

  Thinking of Will’s view of the street, she backed away, ignoring the flash of hurt in Justin’s eyes. “I don’t have any choice, do I?”

  “Not unless you’re willing to go back to Oklahoma with him and go through the same thing all over again.”

  “Never,” she said adamantly.

  “Then let’s do it.” He held open the door.

  Inside, Janet rose to greet them. She gave Justin a kiss on the cheek, then enfolded Patsy in a hug.

  “Justin’s filled me in on the basics. It’s going to be okay,” she promised, her expression radiating a quiet serenity.

  And for the first time in months, Patsy actually felt as if it might be.

  Before Patsy realized what was happening, Janet was ushering a protesting Justin out the door.

  “He can stay,” she said, responding to the indignation on his face.

  “No,” Janet countered. “It will be best if we have this conversation in private.”

  “But—” Justin began, only to be cut off again.

  “Go,” Janet said. “You’ve done your part by bringing her here. Now, go away and have a cup of coffee or something.”

  Justin’s gaze sought Patsy’s. “You’re okay with this?”

  Patsy nodded. “Thanks to you, I’m in good hands.”

  “Well, of course. That’s not the issue.”

  Janet smiled tolerantly. “Justin, go,” she commanded softly.

  He bent and brushed a kiss across Patsy’s forehead. “I’ll be at the office if you need me.”

  After he’d gone, Janet turned a thoughtful look on Patsy. “He’s very protective of you, isn’t he?”

  “That’s just his nature. It’s probably why he became a cop.”

  “Sweetie, I don’t think this has anything to do with his job. Whether he knows it or not, he’s falling in love with you.”

  Patsy stared at her in shocked disbelief. “You’re wrong. I mean, I know he cares about me and Billy, but love? No, it can’t be.”

  “Why not? Because you don’t love him?”

  “I never said that.”

  Janet grinned. “Good, then we won’t be starting out with any lies and half-truths between us.”

  Patsy studied her intently. “You tricked me, didn’t you?”

  “I suppose. I just wanted to be sure where things stood. I don’t want Justin to be hurt. He has a tender heart.” She shuffled some papers on her desk and got out a pen. “Now, tell me about you and Will Longhorn. From the beginning.”

  An hour later Patsy was still talking. She told Janet every single thing she could recall about their relationship, from the moment she’d gone to work in Will’s office until she had run away and sought refuge for herself and her son in Los Piños.

  Janet rarely interrupted and then only to ask very pointed questions about something Patsy had said. When Patsy was finished, she regarded Janet evenly. “It’s not a very pretty story, is it?”

  “I’ve heard worse. How much of this does Justin know?”

  “All of it.” She hesitated, then said, “There is one more thing you should probably know. Will saw me with Justin earlier. He’s threatened to drag him into it.”

  To her surprise, Janet chuckled.

  “That will certainly make his day,” she said. “He’s already spoiling for a fight with this man. Heaven help Will Longhorn if he gives Justin an excuse.”

  “Justin can’t be involved,” Patsy said fiercely. “He’s already paid a price for keeping silent rather than reporting me to the Oklahoma authorities. I know he struggled with his conscience every day over that.”

  “Justin knew you were wanted for kidnapping your son?” Janet asked, clearly surprised.

  Patsy nodded. “It put him in a terrible position.”

  “Did you ask him to keep silent?”

  “No, of course not. I didn’t even realize how much he knew until yesterday. That’s when he admitted that both he and Tate knew all about Will’s claim. I guess Tate had buried the paperwork.”

  “Well, well, well,” Janet murmured. “I’ve always known that Tate Owens was a good man, but to tell you the truth I’ve wondered when Justin would get the perspective he needs to do that job right.”

  Patsy was startled by the implied criticism. She rushed to Justin’s defense. “Justin is an excellent lawman. You have to know that. He believes so fiercely in right and wrong.”

  “Exactly,” Janet said. “Up until now it’s been black-and-white with him. You’re either obeying the law or you’re breaking it, in spirit or in deed. Apparently he’s finally discovered that there are some actual gray areas in life. It will make him a better policeman. Maybe he’ll even find a way to forgive the man who hurt Sharon Lynn and killed Kyle.”

  “Has Sharon Lynn been able to do that?”

  Janet looked deeply troubled by the question. “I’m not sure she ever thinks of him at all. She’s still blaming herself.”

  “I was afraid of that. Do you think she needs to see a psychologist?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I think,” Janet responded. “Sharon Lynn has to want to move on and right now s
he’s too consumed with guilt to think about the future.”

  “Is she better physically?”

  “She’s getting stronger every day. She needs to start getting up and getting out.”

  Patsy gave that some thought. “I have an idea.”

  Janet’s expression brightened. “Tell me.”

  “I know she’d been thinking about buying Dolan’s. What if she were to think that Doc was about to leave and the rest of us were going to be out of jobs. She loves that place. Would she be able to bear the thought of it closing down?”

  Janet pondered the idea, then nodded slowly. “It just might work. Particularly if you were the one to tell her, maybe lay it on really thick about how important the job is to you, especially now with the custody fight and your very expensive lawyer.” She added the last with a grin.

  “How expensive?” Patsy asked. “Are you really going to help me? Do we have a case?”

  “Don’t worry about my fee. We’ll work something out. I’m grateful to have a case that my husband can’t possibly disapprove of my taking. As for winning it, there’s something you need to understand about me. I have never accepted losing as a possibility. That doesn’t mean I haven’t lost a time or two, but I always fight to win.”

  “But the system—”

  “The system requires a fair fight. With all due modesty, with me on your side, the fight will be more than fair. I know how to handle the Will Longhorns of the world.” She met Patsy’s gaze evenly. “Tell me this, what are you most afraid of?”

  “That Will will try to take the baby, insist on him being raised by the tribe. Isn’t that what’s happening with babies who are part Native American?”

  “They won’t take the baby from its natural mother. I promise. And given what you’ve told me about your husband, I doubt he’ll fight the divorce or even whatever custody arrangements we want, not if he wants to run for political office,” she said grimly. “He won’t want all the details of his abuse made public.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. Even if he tries to claim that the charges are false, he’ll never be able to wash away all the mud on his reputation,” Janet said with confidence. “If he’s smart and his advisers truly believe in him, they’ll convince him to settle this quietly and with as little publicity as possible. From everything you’ve said about him, I doubt Will Longhorn will be vindictive enough to throw away everything he’s ever wanted just to get even with you.”

  For the first time since she’d fled, Patsy began to hope that she could finally stop running. Relief coursed through her. “Will I have to go back to Oklahoma?”

  “No. We’ll file the divorce papers right here. I’ll have him served before he even gets out of jail.” She came around the side of her desk and clasped Patsy’s icy hands. “You and Billy will be fine, and you will be together. Trust me.”

  “He’ll be furious when he gets the papers.” She thought of his temper. “What if he comes to the house?”

  “I’ll ask for a restraining order.”

  Relieved, Patsy was ready to grasp at the option and then she thought of Billy. He wanted so badly to see his daddy. Could she keep them apart? Or did she owe it to Billy to let him maintain some sort of relationship with his father, however carefully guarded?

  Finally she voiced her concerns out loud. “Billy’s been asking to see his father. With Will right here, what should I do?”

  Janet considered the question for some time. “We can work it out, if it’s what you want. It might be for the best, prove how reasonable we intend to be.”

  “Not alone, though,” Patsy said hurriedly. “I don’t want Will alone with him. He might take him and run.”

  “A supervised visit, then. I think I know of a sheriff’s deputy who’d be happy to hang out with the two of them or all three of you, if that’s what you’d prefer.”

  “Yes,” Patsy said at once, thinking of the likely need for a buffer between the two men. Will was going to resent Justin’s right to be there, and Justin was clearly itching for an excuse to slug him. “I’d better be there.”

  “Then when Will’s released, we’ll arrange for him to come to the house to see his son.”

  “Thank you,” Patsy said. “For everything.”

  “No need. I’m doing this as much for Justin as I am for you. You’re good for him.”

  “I’ve brought him nothing but trouble.”

  “No,” Janet corrected. “You’ve opened up his heart.”

  Chapter Twelve

  When Patsy emerged from Janet’s office into the bright sunlight, she couldn’t help comparing it to emerging from the darkness of the nightmare Will had put her through these past few years. At last, though, the future was bright again. The debt she owed to the Adamses was enormous, beginning way back with Sharon Lynn.

  Instead of heading directly to Justin’s office, she went to Dolan’s and found the elderly pharmacist filling prescriptions as methodically as ever, evidently unconcerned about the mess in the front of the store.

  “Doc, I’m truly sorry about all of this. I’ll pay for fixing it.”

  He peered at her over his reading glasses. “You didn’t do it, did you?”

  “Well, no, but—”

  “Then I’m not laying the blame on you. It’ll get fixed up. The glass cutter’s already been here. Justin saw to it.”

  “But I should be the one—”

  He grinned. “You’re wasting your time arguing with me, young lady. If you disagree with the plan, you’ll have to talk to Justin.”

  Patsy sighed. He was doing it again. He was fixing things for her. On the one hand, she was grateful. On the other, it was a reminder of too many years of weakness and dependence on other people.

  “I’ll speak to him,” she said grimly.

  The older man grinned. “Let me know how it turns out. It’s been my experience that once an Adams makes up his mind, there’s not much use in fighting him.”

  “We’ll just see about that,” Patsy retorted. “Before I go to see Justin, there’s something else I want to discuss with you.” She explained her idea for lighting a fire under Sharon Lynn and hopefully jolting her out of her depression. She didn’t mention that the plot was helping her to keep her own mind off whatever was going on with Will down at the sheriff’s office.

  “Are you sure you’re not an Adams?” he asked when she’d finished. “You’re sneaky just like they are.”

  “You disapprove?”

  “No, indeed. Not if it’ll get the job done. I’ll go along with anything that’ll get that pretty little gal out of her bed and back among the living. I’ve just been putting off my retirement until she made up her mind whether she wanted to take this place off my hands.”

  Impulsively Patsy hugged him. “Thank you. Since the lunch counter’s already covered, I’m going out to White Pines now, if you don’t mind.”

  “Go. Be sure to let me know how it turns out.”

  “If I go about this right, you won’t need me to tell you. Sharon Lynn will be busting down the door before the afternoon’s over with.”

  “Lordy, I hope not,” he said with mock horror. “One busted door in a day is about all an old man can cope with.”

  “You know perfectly well what I mean.”

  “Yes, I do. Now, get along with you.”

  When she arrived at the ranch, she went straight up to Sharon Lynn’s room in the main house. She found her friend still in bed, still gazing blankly at the ceiling.

  “Hey, sweetie, how’re you feeling?” she asked, pulling a chair up beside the bed.

  Sharon Lynn cast a distracted look her way, then gazed off in the distance again.

  “I have some news,” she said, deliberately injecting a somber note into her voice.

  The statement drew no response.

  “It’s about Dolan’s.”

  There was a flicker of interest in Sharon Lynn’s eyes, but nothing more.

  “The Doc told me today that he intend
s to close it down.”

  Sharon Lynn blinked rapidly at that, then turned slowly to face Patsy. “He’s closing it?”

  “Well, you know he’s been thinking of retiring for some time. You told me that yourself. I guess he’s decided it’s time.”

  Sharon Lynn frowned. “But he knew I was thinking about buying it.”

  “I guess he figured since the accident and all, you wouldn’t be interested, and he didn’t want to wait around until another buyer showed up. I guess he’s anxious to move on down to the Gulf Coast and go fishing.”

  The news clearly agitated her friend. Sharon Lynn began to fiddle with the pretty flowered comforter that was drawn up to her chin.

  “This couldn’t have come at a worse time,” Patsy said sorrowfully.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I guess you haven’t heard. My husband, Will, he showed up in town today and bashed down the door at Dolan’s.” Her shudder at the memory was only slightly exaggerated for Sharon Lynn’s benefit. “Maybe that was the final straw for Doc. I don’t know. Anyway, Will’s in jail, and Janet’s about to file divorce and custody papers. It’s going to be expensive, and I’m out of a job again.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that. Janet won’t take your money anyway.”

  “Of course she will. I’m not accepting charity. It’s important to me to prove I can stand on my own two feet. I’m sure you can understand that. Dolan’s has always represented a certain amount of independence to you, too, hasn’t it?”

  “Yes, I suppose it has. I’ve never thought about it that way before. I just knew I liked working there. It gave me my own identity away from the family’s ranching. Plus I was following in my mother’s footsteps. She and Daddy did most of their courting in that place while she ran the lunch counter.”

  “There, you see?” Patsy said brightly. “I knew you’d understand.” Then she sighed heavily. “Of course, I can probably find another job in another town.”

  Sharon Lynn appeared genuinely shocked by the suggestion. “And leave Justin? You would do that to him?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t want to, but—”