“That’s what I was hoping to hear.” They walked down the stairs as local people climbed out of their cars. People from all over the area stopped by, wondering what was going on and pledging their support.
The phone rang continually.
More folks came by, unannounced.
And through it all, Rainey stood sentinel by Piper’s side, determination marking her jaw. A part of Piper wondered how Rainey would feel once she heard the price offered for the farm. Would her cut of seven figures make her reconsider her position?
Piper hoped not, but promised cash was seductive when you were low on funds, and Piper was pretty sure Rainey was broke.
At least Chas and Colin hadn’t gotten to her yet, but Piper knew her brothers well. They would.
Chapter Thirteen
“Harrison. My office.”
When the shift commander spoke, smart guys listened. Zach followed the captain into his office and shut the door. “Yes, sir?”
The captain nodded to a chair.
Zach sat.
The captain slid a document across his desk.
Zach picked it up, read the recommendation, and grinned. “I appreciate this, sir. Very much.”
“Your work is commendable.” The captain dipped his gaze to the paper clutched in Zach’s hand. “This is two years overdue, but we were caught in budget constraints for a while. With more area to cover, we need more competent investigators. Congratulations, Zach.”
He stood.
So did Zach.
This promotion was something he’d hoped for. Planned for. The raise in pay was nothing to take lightly, but the compliment from his commanders and the possibility to then move into a sergeant’s position spoke volumes.
He was on an upward climb, just as he’d anticipated. It may have taken longer than he thought, but he’d been tapped, finally.
It felt great.
The first thing he did when the shift commander released him was call Piper. He knew she’d be busy, but he needed to share his great news.
A promotion.
Fewer nights, most likely.
The idea of being home at night made him smile. Being home at night with a certain farmer?
Better yet.
Would she answer the phone? Was she tied up with people coming to aid her cause? He hated not knowing what was going on, but when she answered in her typical style, nothing else mattered. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
He laughed. “Kind of. But I had to call you. I just got promoted.”
“Zach!” Her voice tipped up, delighted. “That’s wonderful news! I’m so happy for you, this is what you wanted. What you’ve been working for! Congratulations!”
She sounded as happy as he felt and that made him happier, if such a thing was possible. “I can’t talk because we’re rolling, but I had to call and tell you first thing.”
“You called me first?”
This time he laughed. “Yes. Next call is my father.”
“Oh, Zach.”
“Gotta run.”
“I’m so proud of you.”
Pride shimmered in her voice, and he’d forgotten how nice it felt to have someone be proud of him. His goals. His accomplishments. “Thanks, Piper.”
She sighed, the tiny sound making him long to hold her. Dream of a future together. “You’re welcome.”
* * *
“I’d like to work in the dairy store,” Rainey announced as the adults helped themselves to Chinese food that evening. “Noreen can’t handle a full-time position. Jen and Ada are leaving for college in twelve days and I’m here. If Marly is willing to keep her hours as they are, why don’t I cover the dairy store in exchange for room and board?”
“This is a good idea, no?” Berto gazed straight at Piper as if hoping she’d agree.
Lucia hummed softly, her face concerned.
Intent, Marty ate lo mein while watching the conversation unfold. Julia and the kids had taken their plates to the picnic tables outside, so the adults could speak freely after a busy day of networking with half the town.
Piper shook her head. “Um, no. First of all, you’re family, and the idea of family paying room and board to be a productive member of a working farm is ludicrous. Second, you need a paycheck like the rest of us. The dairy is self-supporting, so while we can’t float you benefits yet, we can pay you ten dollars an hour. If you love running the dairy and can take over as manager at some time, we’ll figure out a different pay scale.”
“Piper, I didn’t mean to—”
“Third...” Piper shushed Rainey’s argument with a pointed look. “I have spent the last year asking God for help. I’ve begged, cajoled, berated and whined, and all the while I thought I was asking for more money in the bank. Fewer bills. Rain in the fields.”
The group nodded collectively.
Piper pointed around the room. “What I got was Marty. And now you. That right there is the answer to prayer as far as I’m concerned. Lucia and I were just trying to figure out how to run the store once Ada and Jen go back to school, manage the girls, help out with their school projects, run the farm...” She raised her glass higher. “To us. And to the continued success of McKinney Farm. I’m grateful that each of you is here and on our side because we know we have a fight on our hands.”
“Hear, hear!” Berto smiled and raised his coffee mug.
Lucia’s face softened in approval.
Julia poked her head in the door. “I’m taking these guys home to bed. They’re zonked. The twins are insisting on five more minutes of swinging.”
“Of course they are.” Rainey went outside to gather the girls once their five minutes were up.
“I’ll help, Julia.” Marty tossed his paper plate into the recycling bag and turned toward Piper. “You keep the faith over here. You’ve got lots of folks on your side, so don’t get down over this whole thing.”
“I won’t,” she promised, then gave him a spontaneous hug. “Thank you. For everything.”
“You’ve got it backward, Piper. It’s me who should be thanking you. Letting me work here. Giving me a chance. That’s the best therapy I could ask for.”
“Glad to help.” Piper made a face to Julia as Marty strode toward his grandsons, whistling. “You get what a godsend he’s been to us, right? What a treasure? His help, his strength, his expertise. Your father’s amazing.”
“Tri-Central Dairy was a well-run enterprise,” Julia agreed. “He learned from the best and applied it daily.”
“Tri-Central?” The name of one of the most renowned New York dairy farms stopped Piper in her tracks. “Marty owned Tri-Central?”
“Yes.”
Piper stared after the tall man walking away from them. “He’s like the dairy king of New York State. The mastermind of three milkings a day, rapid pasturing, and the integrated computer program that charts each cow’s daily production.”
“Neat, huh? He set a lot of protocol with his innovations.”
“Not neat,” Piper corrected her. “Mind-boggling. Intimidating. Possibly earth-shattering.”
Julia laughed, but shook her head. “Dad would feel bad if he thought he made you nervous.”
Making Marty feel bad was the last thing she wanted, but knowing he’d owned one of the most productive and successful farming enterprises in the Northeast knocked her heart out of rhythm.
Did he consider her inept?
Memories of ag school videos about Tri-Central filled her brain. Marty was the guy authors cited when illustrating success.
She was the kind of farmer they ignored as inconsequential.
What must he think of their antiquated methods? Their penny-pinching ways? The trail of debt she’d worked so hard to pay down?
“See
you tomorrow.” Julia waved a hand as she followed her father and the boys. “We did well today, Piper.”
They had.
They’d witnessed an outpouring of support. Some offered time, some pledged money, many offered both. Of the dozens she’d talked with today, no one wanted to see Palmeteer succeed in his quest to change their town this radically.
And they all promised to show up to Thursday’s meeting.
By the time Rainey and Lucia got the girls to bed, Piper had the kitchen straightened up. A cool breeze pulled her outside, a respite from the hot days. Lucia followed. Then Rainey. Berto blamed his early milking hour and had gone to bed.
Piper should do the same, but she wanted a little down time, letting the cooler breeze wash over her. “This feels wonderful.”
“Yes.”
“Si.” Lucia smiled at both young women. “And it is nice to be with you both. At last.”
Rainey’s face said it might not be as nice as her mother supposed. “I have to talk to you. To both of you. And I’m not sure how to say all this, but you need to know everything before you offer me a job and a home.”
Lucia’s chin tightened. Her gaze shadowed. But her firm nod said she knew this was coming. “There is nothing you need to hide from us. Ever, my daughter.”
Piper couldn’t be quite as sure, but she nodded agreement.
“I broke my parole years ago.”
Lucia frowned. “You didn’t. I was here, the whole time.”
Piper didn’t believe it, either. “When? I don’t remember you doing a thing wrong.”
Rainey made a face. Her long fingers gripped the table’s edge. “First let me say this—I never held up that convenience store.”
Piper shifted, uncomfortable, because while most people proclaimed their innocence, the majority of convicted felons were guilty. Regardless of what they said.
Lucia showed no such hesitation. “I knew this.”
“Thank you, Mama, but I was in the car. I didn’t know what was going down because I’d been drinking.” She made a face of self-disgust, then faced them both again. “When I realized what they’d done, I took the fall because Chloe was pregnant. I was a year younger and I’d heard what happens in women’s prisons and I thought I’d get juvie time. That way I could save her baby from being born in prison.”
“But you were charged as an adult,” Lucia exclaimed. “Why did you not explain yourself then?”
“I thought I was saving a friend. A baby. I thought if I did the eighteen months, then Chloe would be able to have her baby and he or she would have a chance to be normal.”
“And?”
“She didn’t continue the pregnancy,” Rainey told them. Her face went grim. “She sent me fake pictures of a little boy she called Brian. She led me along the entire time so that I would keep her secret. And others helped, pretending she was doing well with her baby on the West Coast. That I had done a brave and noble thing.”
“Oh, Larraina.” Lucia gripped her daughter’s hands. “You put your heart and trust in the wrong people, my child.”
“I know that now. I didn’t know that then. So I went to prison and...” Her face paled. Memories made her shoulders shudder. “I dealt with all the terrible things prison had to offer. But I survived, determined to be a good person once I got out.”
“And you were.” Piper leaned forward. “What happened?”
“I found out what Chloe had done. What my supposed friends had done. And I went out drinking. You were gone.” She looked at Lucia. “Aunt Ana was sick and you went to Mexico to see her one last time.”
“Ana Rosa. Yes.”
“And you.” She recentered her gaze on Piper. “You were crazy busy because your father had died and you were trying to run the farm on your own and go to school.”
Piper remembered well. “It was a rough time, all right.”
“I met an old classmate the night I found out about Chloe’s deception. We drank too much. We spent the night together. My anger and disappointment was no excuse for my actions, I know that now, but it produced my two wonderful daughters, and I thank God for them. But Hunter saw me that night.”
Piper’s heart seized.
“He was there, with a girl.”
At a bar with a girl while he was dating Piper. She bit back a pang of disappointment. Young. Stupid. Naive. Much as Rainey had been.
“I didn’t know this for a long time, but later, after the twins were born, I saw him as I went to a therapy session at the mental health clinic in Clearwater. He was meeting with bad people. It was almost dark, midwinter, and there was no place to park so I had to circle the block slowly, looking for a spot. He saw me. And he knew I saw him, even though they were just stepping out of a crack joint, into the shadows. He threatened to go to the police and my parole officer. He said he used his cell phone to make a video of me, drinking two years before. My parole did not allow drinking and he knew he could send me back to jail. And he reminded me of the ugly things that happen to girls in jail. And how he would then marry Piper and be a guardian to my girls.”
Piper sucked a breath. Lucia blessed herself as tears slipped down her brown, weathered cheeks.
“I ran. I knew the girls would be safe with you two, and I couldn’t go back to prison. But I couldn’t let Hunter go free. I couldn’t let you marry him or let him near my girls, so I called the police department and gave them a tip. Then the state police. And then the district attorney’s office. There was no way of knowing who was honest and who was not, but I knew one of them would take it seriously.”
“And then you ran.”
She nodded, ashamed. “I hid for three long years, not daring to show my face. Praying the girls were safe and that you would not hate me for leaving. And praying I would not be found and sent back to prison for breaking parole.”
“But you’ve come back,” Piper said softly. “Because?”
“I will no longer live in fear,” Rainey explained. “I won’t let evil make my choices for me. I will face what needs to be faced as an adult. As a mother my children will look up to one day. I came back because I need to reclaim my life. God has forgiven my iniquities. He has washed me clean. But I must face what is coming to me.”
“Oh, Rainey.”
“Why must you?” her mother asked, distraught. “It is over now. It is in the past. Why must we bring it up now?”
“Because you raised me to do the right thing, always,” she told her mother. “And with the birth of my girls I have done so, except for this. Now I must make amends and do as the courts instruct me to do. I am just sorry for all the stupid things I’ve done.”
Lucia waved that off. “Many are stupid when young. Time gives us wisdom, wisdom you’ve found. Do you have to do this thing? Confess one night of drinking?”
“I must.” Rainey raised a gentle hand to her mother’s weathered skin. “You know this. We all know this.” She directed her gaze to include Piper. “If they send me back to jail, I must ask you to watch over Dorrie and Sonya for whatever time I am gone. But then I will come back and take my place as your daughter―” she faced her mother “―and your sister―” she turned toward Piper “―if you will have me.”
She’d sacrificed eighteen months for a lying, cheating friend.
She’d been lied to, humiliated and suffered indignities of prison life.
She’d tried to put things right and fell short for one night. One foolish, wretched night, out of hundreds? Thousands?
Should anyone go back to prison for drinking one night?
Piper’s heart rose up to choke her.
Rainey was a convicted felon who’d broken parole.
Zach was a newly promoted investigator.
How would that look to his boss? His commanders? How would they see this whole thing playing ou
t? A police investigator taking up with a woman who had a relationship with a crooked cop...and now housing a parole-breaking felon.
How could she do this to him? How could she fix this, make it right?
She couldn’t. But she couldn’t cast Rainey out, either, because she saw the truth she’d missed years ago. Rainey’s sacrificial spirit pushed her to take the blame for something she didn’t do, and then suffer the consequences. Piper had doubted then, ready to believe the worst. And Rainey suffered.
Rainey didn’t deserve to endure any more.
And she couldn’t justify dragging Zach down, churning in the muck surrounding her.
So be it. They’d made bad choices while young, but that stopped here and now. She could save Zach by cutting him loose. Setting him free.
He’d still be a neighbor.
But at least he wouldn’t be tainted by the smudge of lawlessness that surrounded her family.
Rainey had come home. The truth could set her free but also lock her up. No matter what, Piper and Lucia would be there for her because they were family, joined not by blood but love.
Heartsick, she stood, rounded the table and hugged Rainey. “I will help you in any way I can, but you have to promise us to never run again. If you must come clean, you will tell the whole truth, including Chloe’s deception.”
“But that’s over now. Revealing that cannot help anything.”
“We don’t know that,” Piper argued. “But I know one thing—we women will stick together from now on. And that’s a promise.”
She went inside, holding back tears until she climbed into bed.
Rainey’s sacrifice had gone unrewarded.
She’d suffered.
Her words showed a side of her Piper hadn’t seen before, but they also dictated the actions Piper had to take.
A new investigator couldn’t afford to have his reputation sullied. She had to make sure that didn’t happen. Shunning him would break her heart, but she had no other choice. Not if she truly loved him.
She’d realized that when he’d helped her bring a sweet red calf into the world, unharmed. She loved the big guy, heart and soul.
Falling for the Lawman Page 16
