After setting a steaming cup of coffee in front of the sheriff along with a slice of chocolate cream pie, Cadence stood next to Trey. When she moved her hand close to his, he grabbed it and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
“What can you tell us? What happened? What’s going to happen to Cass?” Trey asked, firing questions at his friend.
“It looks like Micki simply drank herself to death. The autopsy report should be finished in a few days, but I don’t think there will be any surprises. As to what is going to happen, I’m not sure. Micki was in the foster system from the time she was just a toddler. Her boyfriend wasn’t any better. We’ve got a lead on a woman who may turn out to be Micki’s sister, but nothing definite yet. That brings us to another problem.”
The sheriff looked toward the living room and Trey nodded his head that it was okay to keep talking.
“I need to take Cass and leave her in foster care. She’ll be processed into the system and they’ll try to place her in a good home. I really hate to see her end up being shuffled from one place to another, especially at the holidays, but not too many of them have openings and none of them are willing to do long-term care.”
“What if a home became available that wanted her indefinitely?” Trey asked.
“That would be wonderful, but I can’t leave her just anywhere. A caseworker will be heading out tomorrow to pick her up and get her settled somewhere.” The sheriff took a bite of his pie and nodded appreciatively at Cadence.
“If this home was to be approved for foster care, then would it be an option for Cass to stay here?” Cadence asked.
“Sure, but the problem is that this house and the adults in it aren’t certified, licensed, or even approved for foster care.”
“What can we do to fix that in the next twenty-four hours?” Trey stared intently at the sheriff.
The man glanced up from his pie. “Are you serious?”
“Haven’t ever been more serious in my life,” Trey said, sending a quick glance to Cadence. She nodded her head in agreement. “We want to keep Cass here, at least through the holidays.”
“One or all of you could apply to be foster parents. You could have a caseworker come visit, go through the certification process, and fill out all the required paperwork. Usually takes a month or two, depending on how things go.”
“So we could keep Cass while we’re getting certified?” Cadence asked, hopeful of what his answer would be.
“I don’t think it works like that. Certification first, child second,” the sheriff said, finishing his pie and coffee. “That was excellent pie, by the way.”
“Thank you,” Cadence said, offering the sheriff a beaming smile. “Do you have children, sheriff?”
“Nope. Not married, yet.” He eyed Cadence with interest before noticing Trey’s glare. “Just haven’t found the right lady.”
“Despite that, I’m sure you can see the need to give Cass some stability. Trey and I have spent a considerable amount of time with her recently and she knows us well. Wouldn’t it be better for the child to stay in an environment where she feels safe and secure, where the people genuinely care for her, where she can flourish and grow under their loving support? Wouldn’t that be better than carting her off to a strange home where she’s just one more mouth to feed and one more little body to look after? I know not all homes are like that, but tell me the truth, is there a foster home you can think of that isn’t already full this time of year?”
“No. They are all full. And yes, it would be better for her to stay here, but you are going to have to convince DHS of that.”
Trey leaned across the counter and grinned at his friend. “Who better to convince them than our very own sheriff? You could put in a good word for us. Shoot, you could even give a personal reference. You’ve known me since we were old enough to walk. Come on. What do you say? Help make a little girl’s Christmas merry.”
Releasing an exasperated sigh, the sheriff shook his head in defeat. “Fine. I will call DHS, talk to the caseworker, ask her to speed up the certification process and recommend she leave the child here. That’s the best I can do. Now, if it would be okay with the two of you, I need to ask Cass a few questions. You can sit with her. I basically need a statement from her, and to find out if she can remember when Micki died.”
“Let’s go sit in the front room,” Trey said, holding Cadence’s hand as they walked into the room.
Cass looked up when they walked into the room and ran over to Trey. He picked her up and sat down in the recliner then smiled warmly at the little girl.
“Cass, my friend has come to ask you a few questions about your mommy. He’s a nice man and is trying to help, so you just tell him what you remember, okay?”
“Okay.” Cass leaned against Trey’s chest and wiggled her feet where they dangled over his leg. The sheriff joined Trent on the couch while Cadence sat in the big rocking chair.
The sheriff asked a few questions, wrote down Cass’s comments, smiling at her and trying to be encouraging. It didn’t take long to figure out that Micki had yelled at her the morning before she died. Cass watched TV, went to the café, ate the “scraps” Viv sent home, watched more TV, tried to wake up Micki then tucked herself into bed. She tried again to wake up Micki the next morning, but got no response. She watched more TV before deciding her mommy needed to wake up. Trying several times to get Micki up with no response, she grew frightened and ran across the road to get help.
After closing his notebook, the sheriff walked over to where Cass sat on Trey’s lap and hunkered down so he was face to face with her.
“Thanks, Cass, for sharing what you remember with me. It’s a big help.” He handed her a bright pink lollipop, nodded to Trey and Cadence, then walked out with Trent.
Cass quietly sucked on her treat. Finally, she looked up at Trey and patted his cheek. “Who’s going to take care of me?” Her big blue eyes started to fill with tears.
“Don’t you worry about any of that, honey,” Trey said. “You just leave it up to me and Cady.”
“Okay,” Cass said, with the trust of a small child. Despite her upbringing, Trey found it unbelievable how innocent and sweet the little girl seemed. She certainly knew how to tug on his heartstrings, though, especially when she fell asleep in his arms with the lollipop still in her mouth.
“She must be completely exhausted.” Cadence carefully pulled the candy from Cass’s mouth. “Just put her here on the couch for a nap. She’ll be fine for few minutes.”
Lightly covering the little girl with a blanket, Cadence turned off the TV, then she and Trey returned to the kitchen. They decided to make the guest room across the hall from Cadence little-girl friendly and moved out any family heirlooms or things they’d hate to see accidentally broken. Cadence got out the quilt she had been saving for Cass and put it on the bed along with the pillow sham she’d made for her. She also pulled out some of the clothes she’d purchased for the little girl for Christmas and laid them on the bed.
While she finished getting the bedroom ready for Cass, Trey searched online to see if he could find information about becoming a foster parent and gathered some helpful details. Trent joined them as they sat down at the table to go over the process when the phone rang.
Trent jumped up to grab it on the second ring.
“Triple T, this is Trent.”
“Trent? It's Travis. Happy Holidays!”
“Trav! I can hardly hear you. When are you coming home?”
“I … won’t… be … home… Christmas.”
Travis sounded like he was shouting through a windstorm.
“What?” Trent shouted back.
“Won’t… be … home… Christmas.”
“Aw, man. We were looking forward to having you here. When will you be able to make it home?”
“I’m cuttin’ out… Gotta go.”
Then the line went dead.
“From your yelling, I take it Trav isn’t coming home for Christmas.” Trey looked at his
brother with a frown.
“You got that right,” Trent said with a sigh as he sat down. “I was really looking forward to having him home this year. With the changes around here, it just seems more like old times.”
“Yeah, it does,” Trey said, absently watching Cadence. “It certainly does.”
After they studied the information Trey had found online, Cadence announced her plans to give Cass the best bath she’d ever had.
“I don’t suppose there is a hairdresser in Grass Valley?” Cadence asked.
“No, there isn’t one in town, but there is a barber here on the ranch. Rex trims all of our hair. We could send him in to see what he can do for Cass,” Trey said.
“That would be great,” Cadence said, relieved. She wanted Cass to look her best when the caseworker came tomorrow and she didn’t know if the little girl had ever had her hair properly trimmed. It grew long in some spots, short in others like it had been hacked with a dull butter knife. If it wasn’t so curly, it would have looked like a complete disaster instead of just a lopsided mess. “Do you think he’d cut it tonight. I could have her clean in about thirty minutes.”
Trey nodded his head and Trent started out the door for the bunkhouse.
When Rex tapped on the back door and walked inside half an hour later, Cass sat at the counter, wearing a new pair of flannel pajamas, eating a cookie with a glass of milk.
“Hello, Miss Cass,” Rex said, sitting down at the counter beside her. “Do you remember me from dinner earlier?”
“Yep,” Cass said, swinging her feet where they hung from the barstool. “You ate a piece of chocolate pie and Mr. Henry took away your second piece cause he said Cady made it special for him.”
“My, you have a good memory.” Rex winked at Cadence over Cass’ head. “Are you ready to play beauty parlor?”
“Sure. I haven’t played that game before. Is it like playing spa? That’s the game Cady and I played. She filled the bathtub with lots of pretty bubbles and I got to splash and swirl in the tub and everything.”
“You did?” Rex took a cookie off the plate Cadence passed to him. “That sounds like fun.”
“It was, ‘til Cady made me scrub between my toes and behind my ears and everywhere.”
Rex laughed. “She’s a hard taskmaster.”
“What’s a tackmadder?”
“Someone who helps you keep doing what you are supposed to be doing,” Rex said, trying not to smirk.
“Is she your tackmadder?” Cass asked, staring at Rex with a thoughtful expression on her little face.
“You bet. She keeps all of us in line, including Mr. Trent and Mr. Trey.”
“That’s good,” Cass said, taking another cookie. Cadence thought the child was a bottomless pit with all the food she had stowed away at dinner. She hoped she would eventually be full and realize she didn’t have to worry about going hungry anymore.
“You bet it’s good.” Rex stood and pulled a pair of barber shears and a comb from his pocket.
“Where do you want to do this, Cady? It might make a mess and I sure wouldn’t want to leave hair where it could get in the food.”
Cadence laughed. “Right you are. Let’s take a stool out to the mudroom. I can put down a plastic tablecloth and then drape a sheet around her. That should catch most of the clippings. I can bring in extra light if you need it.”
Rex helped Cadence clear a spot for the stool then went to work. Cadence stood back and watched him clip, comb, and trim. In no time at all, he had Cass’s hair evenly cut. When he made the final snip, Cass looked adorable with a layered bob that just brushed her shoulders and a few curly bangs across her forehead. After removing the sheet, Cadence picked up Cass and held her in front of the small mirror hanging near the hat rack in the mudroom. Looking into the glass, Cass’s eyes grew huge and she reached out a finger to touch the mirror.
“Is that really me?”
“It really is you.”
“But I look like a real little girl with pretty hair and new clothes and everything,” Cass said, bursting into tears as she threw her arms around Cadence’s neck. Tenderly patting her back, Cadence rocked from side to side, whispering soothing words. When Cass quit sobbing, she looked at Rex and held out her arms to him.
“Thank you for making my hair pretty, Mr. Rex,” Cass said, giving him a tight hug around his neck.
Rex was as tough a cowboy as they came, but even he had a problem talking around the lump in his throat.
“You come see me anytime you need a haircut.” He set the child own in the kitchen then he and Cadence made short work of the mess. Rex went back out to the bunkhouse with a handful of cookies as payment for his barbering efforts.
Trent and Trey were both in the office, discussing plans for the next day’s work. Cadence escorted Cass through the office door. Both men looked up and smiled.
“I heard you were playing beauty parlor. Let’s see that new haircut of yours,” Trey said, picking Cass up and setting her on top of the desk.
Cocking her head to one side, Cass studied Trey. “Do you like it?” she asked, her blue eyes shining brightly.
“You bet I do, honey,” Trey said, kissing her cheek. “You look like a princess, and smell like one, too.”
“Cady gave me a bath and let me use some of her fumes. She always smells nice,” Cass said.
“That she does,” Trey said, picking Cass up and tickling her sides.
Later that evening, as Cadence showed Cass her new room and helped her get ready for bed, the little girl couldn’t stop talking about her new clothes and hair and being squeaky clean. Cadence thought she would never settle down when she told her the quilt on the bed was just for her to keep forever.
Cass threw her thin little arms around Cadence’s neck, and squeezed tight.
“Are you magical?” Cass asked, kissing Cadence’s cheek.
“No, I’m not, sweetie-pie.”
“But you do lots of good things and make everything all pretty and nice,” Cass said, rubbing her hand over the top of her quilt. “You must be a fairy.”
“Maybe she’s one of Santa’s helpers,” a warm voice rumbled from the hallway.
Cass and Cadence both turned to see Trey leaning against the doorframe. Cass held out her arms to Trey and he picked her up and swung her around before setting her back on the bed.
“Do you work for Santa?” Cass asked Cadence, her eyes wide with curiosity.
“I guess I do.” Cadence winked at Trey over Cass’s head. She might not work for the North Pole Santa, but she was definitely on the payroll of Grass Valley’s newest jolly old elf.
Trey grinned and gave Cass a kiss on her head.
“Are you ready to go to sleep?” he asked, sitting down on the opposite side of the bed from where Cadence sat.
“I guess,” Cass said, her lip starting to pout. “I’ll wake up tomorrow, won’t I? I don’t want to sleep forever like my mommy and daddy.”
“Oh, honey…” Cadence picked her up and held her close while Trey put a hand on her back. “You will wake up tomorrow and the next day and the next day. I promise.”
“You won’t let anything happen to me?” Cass asked, still sounding frightened.
“No, we won’t,” Trey said softly, reassuringly. What did you say to a five-year-old who had just lost a mother who never cared enough about her to be a real parent? “We promise as long as you are here with us to take very good care of you.”
“Okay,” Cass said.
Once again tucking her under the covers, Cadence kissed her cheek and picked up a storybook.
“So what bedtime tale are you reading tonight?” Trey asked with a smile. He had no idea how to take care of a child, but Cady seemed to know a thing or two about it. He decided to follow her lead.
“Humphrey’s First Christmas,” Cadence said. “It’s the story of one of the camels that carried the wise men to see baby Jesus. Have you ever seen a camel, Cass?”
“Nope, but I bet they aren’t as
nice as Powder,” Cass said, already partial to Trey’s horse.
Trey had led her around the corral for a while before dinner in hopes of keeping her distracted from what had happened to her mother. It worked better than he expected.
“Well, let’s hear this story about the Christmas camel,” Trey said, settling in to watch both the females who had swept in and taken over his heart.
Cadence was only half-way through the story when Cass’s eyes drifted shut and her breath came out in soft little puffs. She looked so sweet nestled into the warm bed, her cheeks rosy, and her hair shining in the glow of the bedside lamp.
Cadence couldn’t keep a tear from running down her cheek as she thought about how the strength and resilience of this delicate little girl. Despite everything that had happened in the past several hours, the only time she had cried since they brought her home was when she’d been overwhelmed with gratitude. How could such a little child offer such a big example of humble dignity?
Watching the lone tear roll down Cadence’s cheek, Trey reached across the bed and brushed it away. Her eyes caught and held his, tugging him into a place of warmth and wanting. Carefully rising from the bed, they turned off the lamp, plugged in a night light and left Cass’s door open just a crack.
Out in the hallway, Trey engulfed Cadence in his embrace, resting his chin on her head. She wrapped her arms around him and absorbed his strength and vitality.
They both wanted to avoid thinking about what the next day would bring. Too much of their happiness rested on what the caseworker would decide.
“How can she be so sweet? So unspoiled by what her life has been?” Cadence whispered through the emotion threatening to choke her.
“I don’t know, Cady. Maybe Micki tried to be a parent more than we think,” he said, rubbing his hands comfortingly across her back. “I’ve never been a big kid person, but that little girl in there marched right into my heart the same way she marched in here with her toilet paper costume. You’d have to be the worst kind of cold-hearted fool to not care for her.”
“What will we do if they take her away? I just can’t bear the thought of what could happen to her.”
The Cowboy's Christmas Plan Page 18
