Operation Ginger Avenger

by Heather Rainier

  “Shit,” Adam whispered.

  Charity snickered and patted his shoulder. “With any luck, the event could get rained out and cancelled. I was thinking of something equally diabolical for my guys, so relax.”

  It was clear Tank and Troy weren’t the only ones stretching out of their comfort zones. At least he was off the hook for the relay race. He could just imagine the injuries Justin, Val, and Ransome would fake to get out of dressing up for the race. Charity was fiendishly creative, and there was no telling what theme she’d come up with for her team.

  Tank had been observing Grace since her earlier bout of irritation and wasn’t surprised to notice that Jack, Ethan, and Adam had been giving her the eagle eye throughout the discussion, as well. It was finally Jack who said, “If we’re pretty much done here, I’d like to address the elephant in the room.”

  “Excuse me?” Charity took the spoon that Grace had been absentmindedly twirling around on the island, and Jack held up a hand when she glowered at him. “To which elephant are you referring?”

  “I’m sure the big oaf didn’t mean it that way,” Grace said as she tried and failed to turn in her seat. She grimaced and put a hand to her rib.

  Jack took her other hand and placed it against his chest. “That was probably not the best way to bring the subject up, darlin’, but you know I didn’t mean it as an insult. You’re more beautiful every day—”

  “Keep talking,” Adam growled from beside him, watching Grace as though she was a time bomb.

  “And we love you for the sacrifice you’re making to bring this baby into the world.” He placed his palm over the squirming bulge of her abdomen and smiled. Clearing his throat, he added, “Nothing is more important to me than you, and I hope you know that.”

  “I do,” Grace said, gently taking the spoon from Charity’s hand. “Sis is just hormonal and acting out on my behalf. I think I know what you’re going to say but go ahead.”

  “Gentlemen, ladies, Grace has been pushing herself too hard. Not just with the benefit but also with her writing, working with the kids, growing our baby, and all the BS that comes with being with the three of us. Emma says she could have a couple weeks to go, but given her last two pregnancies and rapid deliveries, she could have this baby anytime. And she’s not fully recovered yet from having had the flu. Charity and Veronica, you’ve been great, but you both have jobs and take care of families, too. Since I’m kinda doubtin’ that Grace is going to be on scene for them, what are your plans for the actual fundraiser events?”

  Veronica slid a piece of paper out of a folder and across to him with a big grin on her face. “You and I had the same thing on our minds, Jack.”

  “What’s this?” he asked as he reached for it and took out his reading glasses.

  “Volunteers. We know how determined Grace can get in her planning, but we don’t want her pushing herself into early labor. I’ve already talked to them, and they all signed up to not only help but to actually take over her duties. Charity already is running the drag race. I’m volunteering to handle the bachelor auction, and Juliana Peterson wants to help. She’ll be our emcee for the event, and Chris is going to be our auctioneer for that event and also for the live auction.”

  “Live auction?”

  Veronica giggled. “Might as well, since we have an experienced auctioneer with a big mouth and powerful lungs—what? I’m not saying anything Chris wouldn’t say himself and you know it. And he’ll make it fun for everyone, too.”

  Grace nodded. “She has a point. And as long as someone else handles the footwork and set up, and can get me a list, I can type that sucker up and get it into a press release.”

  “We can use that radio station interview as a platform for asking for donations to the auction,” Charity added. “Good call, Veronica.”

  Veronica went on to list the other scheduled events and then looked at Grace. “And you are still vital to all of it. You’ll be serving as the marketing spokeswoman with the radio station and the media, where we know you won’t overdo it.”

  “With my watch dogs keeping a close eye on me, I’m sure.”

  “Damn straight,” Adam murmured with a chuckle. “I’ve been wondering how we were going to broach that subject myself.”

  “My gosh, am I that touchy?”

  “Hell no. Just determined to cram as much as you can into every day before the baby comes. She was up until two last night, working on the baby’s room,” Adam added, nodding his head and eyeing her like “you’re gonna get it now.”

  “Tattletale,” she replied with a glower.

  “Graaace,” Charity said. “We talked about this.”

  “I was just folding and putting away clothes and organizing...”

  “And putting sheets on the bed and hanging the curtains.” Ethan added, with a “you’re gonna get it” look of his own.

  “So we’re agreed?” Veronica said.

  “Agreed!” everyone replied before Grace could get a word out

  “Fine. I just don’t like feeling as though I’ve pushed work off on other people.”

  “The work of carrying my niece to full term is more important, sis,” Charity said.

  Veronica waved her paper. “We’ll have plenty of help for everything, and you’ll be wonderful dealing with all the marketing and media crap.”

  When they’d finished brainstorming and nailed down the particulars, Jessica threw her paper plate in the trash and went around the island to him and tugged at his sleeve. “It’s time to get Bella into bed, and I know you have to get up early.”

  “Ready to go when you are, baby.” Tank caressed her cheek, happy she and Bella had agreed to ride over to the Divine Creek Ranch with him and Troy. Her blush was warm beneath his fingers when he heard Veronica softly whisper, “aww.” Jessica was slow in leaving his side and slipped into the living room where Bella, Rose Marie, and Grant, the Warner’s youngest, were being supervised by Ethan’s younger sister, Erin, who had come for a visit.

  Around the corner, he grinned when he heard Bella softly chirp, “Mama,” before launching into babble punctuated with a sleepy yawn. He caught Troy’s smile and the faraway look in his eyes as he listened to the light hum of their conversation. What would it be like to have Bella grin at him and say, “Daddy!” while reaching for him? Imagining how happily he’d respond, he recalled her question the day he’d taken her for a ride on the lawn tractor.

  She’d been clapping her hands and singing “Wheels on the Bus,” and then she’d suddenly looked up at him and asked, “Are you my daddy?”

  “No, honey, but I wish I was.”

  “I wish you wuz, too.” Her little brow had furrowed up as if she was in deep thought, and then she added, “You wanna be my daddy?”

  Tank had chuckled and replied, “I’d like that, sweetheart, but that’s up to your mom.”

  His cheeks had gotten so hot he was sure they’d glowed, but Bella hadn’t even noticed. She’d just kept clapping her hands and said, “You’d be a sweet daddy! Did you know I like pizza?”

  “Oh yeah?” Nice segue, kid.

  “Yeah,” she’d said with a big nod and then had started naming the cows grazing along the fence line. She’d perched in his lap while he turned a corner, dark curls blowing in the breeze, holding on to his forearm with one hand and his shirtsleeve with the other, telling him about other random stuff.

  Due to circumstances out of Jessica’s control, he’d been there for Bella’s entry into the world, along with Troy. Jessica had needed help and protection from her former captor when Trevor Dornan had found his way into the labor and delivery department of the Divine Memorial Hospital, but he would’ve had to go through Tank and Troy in order to get to her. Tank would’ve done anything to protect them, both of his girls, even if it’d meant killing that sick bastard. He was proud to stand up for her, and for her little daughter, and he wanted to be there for them, good times and bad.

  * * * *

  Troy glanced at Jessica, sitting b
eside him in the front seat of the truck while Tank rode in back beside Bella in her car seat. “You okay, Jess?”

  She’d been staring absently out the window since they’d left Grace’s house. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just ready to be back to feeling one hundred percent again,” she replied, her tone apologetic.

  “You went back to work too soon.” There was no question in his mind about it. Doctor Emma had recommended rest for at least ten days from the outset of her illness. She’d stayed home for seven.

  “If I don’t work, I can’t earn a living, and it wasn’t fair to Dr. Hoffman to be gone longer. I can’t afford to presume on his good nature.”

  Troy grunted, convinced that her fellow optometrist had a crush on her, but he didn’t say as much. Between her lush beauty and the air of fragility that was a part of her personality, he couldn’t blame any man for being attracted to her. Being sexy and sparking his protective instincts had worked to draw him to her. It was the same for Tank.

  From the back seat, he heard Tank say, “Kid, we gotta teach you some decent songs. What else do you know besides Bieber? I ain’t singing that song with you.”

  Bella chirped, “Mah-chad-aree-ah-moo?”

  “Huh?” Tank replied in a dumbfounded tone that made both Troy and Jessica laugh, and Jessica said, “Sing it for him, Bella, and I bet he’ll recognize it.”

  Bella took a deep breath, and in a dramatic bellow, she held forth. “Mah-chad-aree-ah-moo! Lully at a sunner day! Mah-chad-aree-ah-moo! Dintin’ at the Milky Ray!” She took another deep breath. “Birdie diddle one of eye-adore! You the little durl mah heart beats fo…how I whoosh you-er-mine!”

  It finally dawned on him what she was singing as Jessica giggled silently beside him. Evidently Tank caught on, too, as he joined her for the next verse of “Ma Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder.

  Aside to Jessica, he whispered, “Girl’s got taste in the classics.”

  Jessica nodded, her smile wide. “I’m raising her right. Gotta counteract the pop culture you’re teaching her. I used to sing that to her, along with other songs, when she was an infant while she was nursing and also when I gave her a bath.”

  Bella broke off mid-note and said, “Do you know Jerra-biyah?”

  “Who?” Tank asked in a teasing tone.

  “Jerra-biyah! He was a bullfrog!”

  “Oh!” Troy said from behind the wheel. “Three Dog Night!”

  “I don’t know that tree-doggie-night! But you know Jerra-biyah, we sing it. Jerra-biyah was a bullfrog!”

  They sang along with her through the second chorus until he noticed that Jessica was no longer singing. She was beaming, but the dim illumination from the occasional streetlight reflected the tear stains on her cheeks. She sniffled.

  Not wanting to attract Bella’s notice, he reached over and squeezed her hand. “You okay?”

  Swallowing her tears, she finally nodded. “This…” He waited silently, sensing she also had Tank’s attention, but he, too, waited for what she had to say. After clearing her throat, she chuckled and said, “This is what…happy…feels like. It’s been so long. Sorry, it just hit me all of a sudden.”

  He squeezed her hand, and his heart did a double thump in his chest. He’d once had a near-miss while flying a rescue mission in Afghanistan. They’d had moments to land on a roof to evac a group of American humanitarian workers that had gotten on the wrong side of an angry mob too close to an extremist stronghold. He’d leaned forward to help one of the civilians into the helicopter, while Tank sat ready at the stick to get them the hell out of there, when a bullet had whizzed so close to his head it had taken a tiny chunk of flesh out of his ear. It’d stung like a motherfucker, but he’d never felt so alive as when they got the hell off that roof and out of range of enemy fire.

  As he sat next to Jessica, his heart gave the same sort of powerful lurch, reminding him it was more than just doing its involuntary duty. It was letting him know he was alive and present for her “moment.” She deserved happy moments every single day, but she gave thanks for it as if it was a rarity.

  “I’m glad we were here to share it with you.”

  He glanced at her and caught her looking right at him, her smile so wide, cheeks slightly flushed. Her dark eyes tilted up slightly at the corners, and her smile was so big they were slightly narrowed by the expression. He’d never seen her smile with her eyes like that, and it made him feel brave. “Jess, I was wondering…”

  “Yeah?” she replied softly as Bella kept on belting out her song.

  “How would you like to…I don’t know…maybe…” His Adam’s apple bobbed and seized up, and he cleared his throat. Way to be brave, man. You can take enemy fire without batting an eye, but asking a girl out makes you nervous?

  “Ask me, Troy.”

  Troy blinked at Jessica, and she lifted her brows, silently encouraging him with a nod.

  “Would you like to—”

  The backlighting on her phone screen flared to life in the dark truck cab, drawing her attention to where it sat in her lap. A shrill ringtone announced an incoming call, but all she did was stare at it. He had to keep his attention on the winding road or risk driving into a ditch, but he looked over again when the ringtone continued. Tank released his seatbelt and slid forward between their seats and said, “Honey? You okay?”

  “Mama! Answer the phone! It’s ringin’!”

  “Jess?” Troy whispered as he stroked her hand, which had gone cold. Her eyes were rounded and vacant, staring at the Caller ID on screen. He squeezed her hand, and she startled, pulling away from both of them.

  She pushed the button on the side of the phone to silence the ringer, put it in her purse, zipped it shut, and dropped it on the floorboard. Her hand was limp under his when he reached for her again. She said, “I need to get home. I need to get us home.”

  “Who was that, Jessica?” Tank asked.

  “Who was it, Mama?” Bella parroted as Troy pulled into the main entry at the Rockin’ C Ranch and keyed in their security code for the gate to open. At the main house, the security camera monitor would let Chance and Clayton know who was arriving, the same as at their house. The Carlisles took security seriously.

  The muffled sound of her phone ringing from the bottom of her purse made her curse under her breath as she jerked the purse up from the floorboard, swaying in her seat as he took the first curve on the driveway. Her nerves made her hands clumsy, and as the ringtone continued, she whimpered. He cast a quick glance at Tank to help her.

  Tank’s large hand reached between them. “Give it to me, sweetheart.”

  She hefted the whole purse into his hand and covered her ears, leaning against the door. Her dark hair fell forward, hiding her face from his view. The zipper on the handbag sounded, and then the ringer became clearer before cutting off abruptly.

  “Hello.” Tank’s terse tone cut through the cab, and Jessica flinched as she stared out the window. Her gaze was haunted. “Hello. No, who is this? Wrong number my ass. Who is this?” Tank grunted in frustration. “They hung up. It was a man.”

  Jessica looked back at him but then glanced at Bella and didn’t say anything as they made the short drive to Jessica’s cabin near the creek.

  Tank murmured softly to Bella as he unbuckled her car seat and eased her out. Troy said, “Stay there.” He went around to the passenger door and helped her down as Tank joined them, diaper bag and her purse slung over his shoulder, shielding Bella with his wide shoulders as they ushered Jessica to the door.

  Once inside, Tank shifted Bella to Jessica’s outstretched arms and said, “Sorry about the language, Jess.”

  “It’s okay,” she replied as she held her daughter close. “I’m going to get her in the bath.”

  Troy nodded as she walked out, still looking shell-shocked. Tank still had her purse, as well as the diaper bag, and he held out the phone, with the screen lit, for him to see, his eyebrows knit with worry.

  The contact name read Never Answer This Caller, and t
he number had an East Texas area code. “She must’ve had a good reason to not want to answer this contact.”

  Tank tilted his chin at the phone. “I’d bet my savings that’s somehow connected with her case.”

  They sat on the couch listening to her chat softly with Bella while she bathed her and then later when she crooned to her while she rocked her and put her to bed. She was a tenderhearted woman, and she didn’t deserve to still be suffering from that trauma.

  Jessica came down the hallway from the rear of the house and found them in the living room. She perched on the ottoman between their outstretched legs. “I thought y’all would’ve gone home by now,” she murmured, her accented syllables telling them how tired she was.

  She glanced down at the smartphone sitting on the couch between them but didn’t reach for it. Tilting her chin at the phone, she shifted so that she was sitting on her hands and said, “That was Trevor Dornan’s brother, Brian, calling earlier. The first time he contacted me I didn’t know who it was until he identified himself. I-I freaked and hung up on him. I’ve got nothing to say to that man, and he has no rights to me or Bella. I marked the contact ‘Do Not Answer’ so that I’d know when he was calling but I didn’t need to pick up. It’s been a while since the last time.”

  “Has he threatened you before?” Troy asked, recalling the man’s furtive manner in the courtroom at Trevor Dornan’s second hearing after his escape from state custody. They’d never been able to pin Brian Dornan with any charges that stuck. Friends had backed up his alibi for the night Trevor had taken his truck to use in his planned abduction of Jessica and attempted abduction of Grace Warner. Brian had sworn under oath that the keys to that vehicle were kept above the visor and everyone who knew him knew this. His friends had been interviewed separately and had backed up his story. Both Dornan brothers had been raised by their father and had obviously had a rather hard, backwoods upbringing, not that Troy would’ve held that fact against the man. You couldn’t help where you came from, only how you turned out. Trevor had turned out rotten to the core. But in the end, a guy couldn’t be held in a jail cell just for looking squirrely and suspicious, so Brian had gone free.