Mail Order Mystery: A Brides of Beckham Book (Chance City Series Book One)

by Robin Deeter

  Chapter 15

  Leigh had given the same sort of advice to Daphne about confronting Brock as she had Cy. A few days after Cy had decided to keep working, Brock had one heck of day. He was working on paperwork when Daphne came through the office door. She marched right over to his desk, an intense expression on her face.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  Brock gave her a startled look. “Why? What’s wrong?”

  Daphne said, “I need to speak to you in private.”

  Brock glanced at Ellie, but she was conveniently busy with her own work. “Uh, ok. We can go in the kitchen, I guess.”

  “Fine.” She turned and strode quickly into the small room.

  Brock followed at a slightly slower pace, wondering what was going on. Ellie watched them go, smiling to beat the band.

  “Shut the door,” Daphne said when he’d joined her.

  “Ok. What’s going on?”

  Now that she was alone with him, it seemed like he filled up the space with his wide shoulders and chest. She longed to run her fingers through his blond hair, and she felt like she could drown in his cobalt blue eyes. He was waiting for her to speak, but she suddenly couldn’t utter a sound. She bit her lip, and Brock’s eyes followed the movement before meeting her gaze again.

  “What is it?” he demanded, a perplexed frown on his handsome face.

  “Why do you hate me so much?” she asked.

  Brock was taken aback. “Hate you? I don’t hate you.”

  “But you hate what I am. You hate my Comanche blood and so I’m not good enough for you,” Daphne said, hating the tears that burned behind her eyes. “You won’t have anything to do with me because of my Indian heritage.”

  Brock opened his mouth, but he didn’t know how to explain it to her.

  Daphne grew angry and did something she’d wanted to do for a long time. She grabbed Brock’s shirt lapels, yanked him down to her level, and kissed him. He was too shocked to resist at first, but then he tried to pull loose from her. Daphne wasn’t letting him get off that lightly, though. She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him harder, pressing herself against his chest.

  Brock’s resistance melted as her pliant lips parted a little. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and he couldn’t deny his attraction to her. He slid his fingers into her soft, short hair and slanted his mouth across hers, demanding access. Daphne willingly gave it to him, reveling in being in his arms. She played with the hair at the nape of his neck, and he groaned.

  The outside kitchen door opened and all heck broke loose.

  “Get away from my sister!” Cy shouted when he saw them locked in an embrace.

  Brock and Daphne broke guiltily apart and Cy advanced on Brock, fury in his dark eyes.

  “You can irritate the crap out of me all you want, but I’ll be danged if I’m going to let you use my sister and then throw her away when you’re done with her!”

  Daphne said, “It wasn’t like that, Cy!”

  “Sure it wasn’t,” Cy said.

  Brock said, “No, it wasn’t. I’m not using her for anything.”

  Cy snorted. “It sure as heck looked like it to me.”

  “Well, you’re wrong, Inspector,” Brock said with a sneer. “She kissed me, for your information, not that it’s any of your business.”

  “She’s my sister, so that makes it very much my business,” Cy said.

  “Cy, stop!” Daphne said.

  “Oh, I’ll stop all right. When I’ve beaten him into a blood pulp, then I’ll stop,” Cy said.

  Brock shoved Cy. “Is that right? I’d like to see you try that.”

  Cy’s fist shot out, catching Brock in the mouth. Brock staggered back a little, but then came at Cy with a quick one-two punch, squarely landing a fist in Cy’s midsection. Daphne backed into a corner, her hand over her mouth.

  The two men continued going at each other, landing blows and inflicting as much pain as they could on their opponent. Brock caught sight of Daphne’s stricken face and concern for her overrode his rage. She was trapped in a very small room with two big men fighting in it. What if she got hurt?

  Holding up a hand, he said, “Stop. Just stop, Cy. Good God, what’s the matter with us? She’s scared to death.”

  Daphne shook, but it wasn’t from fear for her own safety. It was from fear that one of them would kill the other.

  Cy lowered his fists and unclenched his hands. Fear filled Daphne’s eyes, and her chest rose and fell rapidly as she stood with her arms balled by her sides.

  “Are you ok?” he asked, going to her.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she said. “For your information, Cy, I’m a grown woman and I don’t need you speaking on my behalf or making decisions for me. If I want to see Brock, I will.”

  Cy said, “But—”

  Daphne cut him off, looking at Brock. “And if you’re too stupid to let go of your racist ideas over something that happened when you were a child and that my family had nothing to do with, you’re a very stupid man. I’m a good woman, and there are men who would enjoy my company, Comanche blood and all. I won’t wait around forever, Brock. I’m at a point in my life when I want to get married and start a family.” She squared her shoulders. “Now, if you two will excuse me, I have things to do. I’ll leave you to your idiot fighting.”

  Daphne pushed between them, leaving the kitchen. She bid good day to Ellie and went on her way.

  “Let’s get a few things straight, Cy. I’m not gonna take your crap. I expect to be treated with decency and respect. I’ll do the same in return. All our fighting sure hasn’t been helping get Catherine’s murder solved, and since it looks like you’re going to be here permanently, we can’t be going at each other all the time.” Brock held out a hand. “For the sake of the department and for Chance City, what do you say we call a truce?”

  Cy looked suspiciously at Brock, but the deputy’s eyes held only sincerity. It irritated him, but Brock was right. His wife had also been right that a good fist fight between him and Brock would improve their relationship.

  “What about my sister?” Cy asked. “Now that you know how she feels about you, what are you gonna do about it?”

  Brock’s brow furrowed. Was he willing to have to see Cy outside of work if he started seeing Daphne? Could he get past his hatred of anything Comanche to court the woman who drew him like no other?

  “I’d like to think about that for a bit. I don’t want to ever do something to hurt Daphne, so it’s best that I take a little time,” Brock said.

  Cy respected Brock for being honest and considerate of Daphne. He shook Brock’s hand. “Truce.”

  “What’s goin’ on here?” Rob asked from behind Brock.

  Cy said, “Nothing. We just came to an understanding.”

  Rob grunted. “Well, how about you come to an understanding about getting back to work? Don’t you have a murder to solve?”

  Brock barely resisted rolling his eyes before turning around to face Rob. “Actually, I wanted to show Cy something. Come here.”

  Cy followed Brock over to his desk, sitting down by it. His jaw hurt and he was pretty sure he was going to have a black eye, but he didn’t give into the pain as Brock started filling him in on a theory he had about what Catherine’s killer had been looking for.

  Rob hid a smile at seeing the two of them actually working together. Then he gave Ellie a wink before he went into his office.

  * * *

  That night at supper, Daphne was withdrawn, as was Cy. Leigh knew what had happened at the sheriff’s office that day, but she didn’t bring it up. She always tried to stay out of things where the siblings were concerned. However, she would talk to Cy about it later.

  Johnny saved the others from having to converse much by prattling on about what all he and Leigh had accomplished that day.

  “I think we have just about all of the fences reinforced, and we’re ready for the hay shipment tomorrow,” he said. “I want to work on that porch
floor tomorrow since we’re getting caught up.”

  Cy smiled. “Who are you and what did you do with my cousin?”

  Johnny laughed. “I’m the same guy. I just finished that project.”

  “Your project looks great,” Cy said. “It’s really eye-catching. Did you get any orders yet?”

  Johnny nodded. “One. Cotton said I can keep working up there until we get a wood shop built.”

  Daphne said, “I think Cotton likes your company.”

  “I like his, too. He’s a lot of fun,” Johnny said. He chewed thoughtfully for a few moments. “I think it’s good that we’re getting all of this work done now before you and Leigh have babies, Cy. Once she gets—”

  Daphne said, “Johnny, that’s none of your business and it’s not very polite to discuss it.”

  Johnny colored a little and looked down at his plate. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend anyone. I just thought they must be excited about the idea. That’s all.”

  Cy smiled. He couldn’t say that his mind hadn’t been thinking about having kids. He’d wondered what they would look like and how many they’d end up having. Cy tried to catch Leigh’s eyes, but she gazed steadily down at her plate, appearing to concentrate on her food.

  Cy said, “Oh, I’m sure we’ll get around to it. They’ll come along when they’re supposed to.”

  Leigh’s smile was tight and she didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. She made no comment either way on the subject, which Cy found very odd.

  As soon as the meal was over, Leigh excused herself, saying that she needed to see to the evening milking. When Johnny would have followed to help her, Cy said that he’d go instead.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked as they entered the barn.

  Leigh shook her head. “Nothing.”

  Cy put his arms around her. “Don’t lie to me, Leigh. You know that I see right through it. Why are you upset?”

  Leigh’s pulse rose and she dreaded to tell Cy what was bothering her.

  “You can tell me anything, Leigh,” he said. “I’m your husband.”

  Cy felt a rush of pride every time he said it.

  “There won’t be any children for us, Cy. I’m barren. After Walt and I never conceived, I went to the doctor and he said that it was unlikely that I’d ever have children. He said that there must be something wrong inside, but that there was nothing to do for it.”

  Shock reverberated through Cy and he took a step back from Leigh. “But you said that you were open to having kids. Why would you say that if you couldn’t have them? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I am open to having them. I want children, Cy, I just can’t have them,” Leigh said.

  Cy’s jaw clenched. “You lied to me, Leigh. By omission, but you were dishonest all the same. Were you so desperate to get away from Pete that you would lie to whatever man offered you marriage?”

  Leigh shook her head. “No, Cy. It wasn’t like that. You didn’t really seem to want kids. At first, this was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, but it’s become much more than that to me. I’ve fallen in love with you, Cy. I never thought that would happen to me again, but it has.”

  For a few brief moments, Cy’s heart swelled with happiness, but then it deflated again. Her statement should have brought him joy, but instead it caused pain. “You sure have a funny way of showing me that you love me, Leigh. How long were you going to keep this to yourself?”

  Leigh wanted to go to him, but the stony expression on his face said that it would be a mistake if she did. “I was actually hoping that I would get pregnant by spring. I’d hate to think so, but maybe I couldn’t get pregnant because there was something wrong with Walt. If I wasn’t pregnant by April, I was going to tell you then.”

  Cy steeled his heart to the fear in Leigh’s eyes. “This is September. You were going to wait for six months before mentioning this to me?”

  “Cy, please try to understand,” Leigh said, moving towards him. “This isn’t an easy thing for a woman to talk about. A woman’s worth is measured by how good a wife and mother she is and a woman who can’t have children is sometimes looked down on. And sometimes husbands get angry because their wife can’t conceive.”

  “Do I strike you as the kind of man who would act like that with you? Have I been unkind to you in any way since we met?” he asked.

  The hurt in his eyes, caused guilt to constrict Leigh’s breathing. “No, you’ve never been unkind, Cy. Just the opposite.”

  “Then why couldn’t you be honest with me?” he asked. “I don’t understand.”

  “Because I was holding out hope that I would get pregnant,” Leigh said. “Then I wouldn’t have had to tell you at all.”

  His expression changed from hurt to cynical. “Or maybe you never planned to tell me at all. Or maybe you don’t really want to have kids. That would interfere with your work around here. You’ve always wanted to run a ranch without interference and getting pregnant would slow you down, wouldn’t it?”

  Leigh felt like he’d slapped her. “How can you think that I would be that devious? How would I prevent myself from getting pregnant?” Somehow she held her tears in check. “You have no idea how bad I’ve always wanted kids and what a failure I feel like because I can’t! Do you know what it’s like to have your body fight you about something you want so bad? Never mind. You think what you want to think. I thought you trusted me.”

  Cy said, “And I thought I could trust you.”

  They stood staring at each other for long moments. Then Leigh gathered herself, her temper rising.

  “I got milking to do,” she said.

  Angrily, she grabbed a pail and stomped off, leaving Cy fuming by the barn door.

  Chapter 16

  A week later, Cy sat in his office with Pudge on his lap. He tried to concentrate on some new information that had come to light in Catherine Branson’s murder, but his mind kept drifting to his wife. They weren’t talking, and he left right away for work every morning, not eating breakfast with his family because he didn’t want to fight in front of Daphne and Johnny.

  It cut him to know she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him about not being able to have children. She should have told him before they’d married. He hadn’t said anything to anyone, but he’d begun hoping it wouldn’t be too long until Leigh conceived. Kids had never been a priority for him, but neither had getting married.

  That had all changed when he’d met Leigh. Yes, she was the perfect solution to his dilemma, but she was also perfect for him in so many ways. How could he trust her now? What else was she hiding?

  Shaking off those thoughts, he pondered the information gleaned from one of the servants by Hector. He’d cozied up to one of the maids, and he’d overheard her talking to one of the other maids about Loren and how she’d seen pictures of Alvin McDermott, one of the town council members, and some woman who wasn’t his wife.

  Hector was going to work on finding these pictures. Was Loren blackmailing McDermott? It was a good possibility. If he was, it was likely that Catherine had interrupted McDermott or someone working for him as they looked for the pictures.

  Pudge jumped down off his lap, running out the open office door, and the other two dogs let out friendly woofs. He recognized Rob’s voice as he greeted the dogs, and then he strode into Cy’s office, sitting down in the other chair.

  “So are you gonna tell me what’s eatin’ you?” Rob asked, crossing his bony legs.

  Cy just looked at him.

  Rob cocked his head a little. “Okay, I’ll talk then. When a man who’s been in a fairly good mood ever since he got married, and then suddenly gets all surly again, it usually means that there’s trouble in paradise. Do you love her?”

  Cy grimaced.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Rob said. “I don’t understand what it is with you. Why can’t you just talk like normal people? You have a big enough mouth when you’re ticked off. Are you this quiet with Leigh?”

  Cy sighed and looked awa
y.

  “Ok, you’re not. So you talk to your wife. That’s a good thing. Take it from me, nothing kills a marriage quicker than not talking. Us men don’t think we need to talk, but we do. Women are smarter because they talk more. They know that it’s best to get stuff off our chest. Lynnette has taught me that over the years. God bless that woman. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

  Cy passed a hand over his face. “She can’t have kids.”

  Rob’s eyebrows rose. “I’m sorry to hear that. Are you sure?”

  “She saw a doctor back in Beckham who told her she’s barren.”

  “Well, that’s a hard blow,” Rob said.

  “She didn’t tell me this until about a week ago. I had no idea.”

  Understanding dawned on Rob. “Oh. I see. And now you feel like she lied to you.”

  “Yeah, I do. She should have told me in her letter. She just used me to get out of her bad living situation,” Cy said.

  Rob shifted in his chair a little. “Seems like that’s the pot calling the kettle black.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “Well, what if it was your man parts that didn’t work? You needed her to run your ranch. Would you have told her in a letter? Would you have told her before you got married?” Rob asked.

  “The facts are the facts, Rob. My man parts work just fine and so do her woman parts. All except that one, I guess,” Cy said.

  “You know for a creative investigator you sure are dumb. Put yourself in her place. Okay, say all of your man parts worked except the one that could create babies. Wouldn’t you be embarrassed? Men are supposed to make their wives pregnant. What if you couldn’t for whatever reason? Would you have told her before you were married? A complete stranger?”

  Raking a hand through his hair, Cy said, “That’s a stupid argument. Yes, I would have told her before we got married.”

  Rob said, “But you would have still had your home if she rejected you and went back home. Leigh had nothing. She couldn’t go back. Maybe she used you in a way, but Leigh’s not malicious, Cy. Besides, anyone can see that she loves you.”