Zeke’s lips twitched as he tipped his cowboy hat at one of Honor’s last hires. The muscular woman with the flawless rich mocha skin was a handful. He’d been called out to the bar on more than one night when the buxom African beauty had chosen to kick the ass of a rowdy customer. Honest to God, he privately thought the woman was part Amazonian and had wondered more than once if she might not be a first cousin to Wonder Woman. He’d debated asking the feisty woman to pull guard duty for Honor more than once over the past few months, but Honor didn’t think it was fair to ask the woman to babysit her on her rare time off. “Miss Verlena,” he addressed the woman. “How’s things?”
Shading her eyes, the black woman batted her long false eyelashes at him. “Do my eyes deceive me or is that our very own lean, luscious Sheriff gracin’ us with his presence tonight?” she drawled dramatically, strutting toward him and Harmony. “I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays, Lawman,” she greeted him, her plump brightly painted red lips pulled up in a wide, welcoming smile. “Where’s you hidin’ my pretty boss lady at, Cowboy?” she asked, looking around for Honor.
“Yeah, where is my baby sister?” Harmony asked curiously. “I’ve got her birthday present in the car if she’s here.”
“Birthday?” Verlena echoed, dropping her hands to her ample hips. “Is my honey chile fixin’ to have a birthday and nobody told me?” she pouted, looking between Zeke and Harmony.
Harmony smiled at their employee. “She wanted us to keep it quiet this year, Vee. You know she’s not been feelin’ real good.”
“That’s true,” Verlena tsked, shaking her head as she nodded. “Anyhooo, where is she? I wanted to show her my new hot pants,” she explained, striking a pose as she modeled the pair of hot pink spandex hot pants. “I found ‘em on sale over in Knoxville. I thought maybe we’d go get her a pair or two. They had a pair of lilac ones that I thought would look slammin’ on that tight little tail of hers. We gotta get our girl out of those khaki skirts she’s always wearin’ round here. Pretty little thang is too damn young to dress like a matron, you know?”
Maybe his idea of letting Verlena watch over Honor hadn’t been such a great thought after all, Zeke thought as Harmony chuckled.
“Honor’s mighty attached to her clothes, Vee,” Harmony laughed, using her friend’s preferred nickname. “Perhaps you should start with something a little less extreme than hot pants. Like maybe a headband.”
“Hmfff,” Vee scoffed. “I guess we all gotta start somewhere,” she sniffed, adjusting the buxom of her black leather bustier. “So, my girl? Where she at, Sheriff?”
“Actually, she’s at home. I left Deputy Hightower and her on the sofa watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta while I ran some errands.”
Harmony and Verlena nodded. “Oooohhhhweeeee! The Lord proved he had a sense of humor with that hunk of a man,” Verlena lamented with a heavy sigh. “That tasty dep-u-ty is sex on a stick and all a girlfriend can do is look and salivate.”
“Why? He’s single,” Zeke noted, frowning his confusion.
“He’s also gay,” Verlena informed him.
“He is not,” Zeke denied. “Where in the world did you get that idea?”
“Uhhhhh, when I asked him out for a night of hot, sexy fun and he said he was, Officer Oblivious” Verlena replied knowingly. “Told me straight up that his flag wouldn’t fly for my country. The man nearly broke my heart.”
“Huh,” Zeke grunted. “I guess that’s why Honor feels so comfortable with him.”
Verlena shrugged. “He’s a fine piece of man candy, that’s all I know. Wish I could convince him to bat for my team is all. Oh, hell no! I gotta go lay the smack down on some asshole now. See ya later, Sheriff,” she said in parting as a customer whistled for service for a second time.
“I’m sorry! Do I look like a dog to you? You do not whistle for me – e-vah!” Zeke heard the woman yell to a man at the end of the counter. Turning his attention to Harmony, Zeke made a face. “That woman is….”
“One heck of a handful,” Harmony supplied with a smile. “But worth every penny we pay her.”
Zeke nodded. “I need a favor. Honor said there was a tub of rocky road in the freezer. Can somebody grab it for me, Harm? She wants it for tomorrow,” Zeke shared with the woman. “Evidently, I’m celebrating her birthday tomorrow with…”
“Movie and Sweats day,” she informed him with a nod. “She told me when I called to check on her earlier. Why don’t you go sit down with the guys? They’ve got a table in the back. Once I get this crowd under control, I’ll go grab it for you,” she said, quickly uncapping a beer for him and sliding it across the counter toward him. “On the house, Zeke. You’re family,” she said when he would have grabbed his wallet from his back pocket. “Go on, now. Jake, Diego, and your brother are here somewhere. I think Abel was back there, too, unless he already left.”
Walking toward the back of the bar, he found his table of friends easily, weaving through the packed place to reach them. Pulling out of a chair when he reached them, he nodded at the chorus of ‘Hey, mans,’ he got from the group.
Lifting his chin at his brother, Zachariah ‘Ice’ Monroe grinned. “What brings you out tonight, man? I haven’t seen you lately.”
“Honestly, movies. I had to hunt up a few of Honor’s favorites for her birthday tomorrow. She wanted to stay in and relax and mentioned wanting to watch a few of her favorite films.”
“That is kind of you, Sheriff,” Diego noted, tipping his half full glass toward Zeke in salute.
“Kind,” Ice repeated with a smirk. “Try whooped, Diego.”
“I would not mind being… how do you say it? Whooped? If I had a decent woman waiting at home, that is,” the foreign man noted easily, shrugging his shoulders.
“My sentiments exactly,” Zeke returned, lifting his longneck to his lips and taking a sip of the bitter ale he preferred.
“Uh oh. Which ones did she make you get?” Abel asked with a shudder. “The last time Patience pulled that movie crap on me, I had to sit through The Notebook, man. That was two hours of my life that I will never earn back.”
“Well, she already had Steel Magnolias and Bride Wars at home, but she got a yen to watch Gone with the Wind and Fried Green Tomatoes. I had to go through about three thousand movies at the superstore, but I finally found them both. Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of Rhett and Scarlett, too. She should be happy.”
Ice’s jaw dropped. “And you did this shit to yourself ON PURPOSE? You do realize you could have told her that you just couldn’t find that shit, right? That flick is like seventeen hours long. Really, boys, check your groins. Are you sure you don’t have vaginas down below? Do a ball check real quick,” he urged, shaking his head at the full table.
“My dick swings just fine, asshole, and unlike you, it sees action on the regular,” Jake growled to Ice. “Besides, Zeke couldn’t lie,” he denied as Abel bobbed his head in agreement.
“Why the hell not? She’s not omniscient, guys. She’s just a woman, for Christ’s sake. She doesn’t know everything,” Ice mocked, clearly unaware of just how clever the McKinnon ladies were.
“Trust us, Honor would know, asshat. The McKinnon sisters always know when we lie to them. It’s like their superpower or something,” Abel added with a grimace. “And trust me, Ice, you do NOT ever want to be caught fibbing to one of the Fearsome Foursome. Educate your brother, Zeke, before he accidently goes and gets himself whacked by Patience and I have to represent my wife in a murder trial. You’ve met my babies. There’s no way I survive raising my kids on my own.”
“Ignore my brother, gentlemen,” Zeke directed with a disgusted look at his sibling. “He still thinks women should be seen and not heard, too.”
“Life would be a hell of a lot easier if it still worked that way,” Ice mumbled into his bottle of beer, hissing as a hand connected with the back of his head. “OUCH!” he yelped, grabbing the back of his head and glaring over his shoulder.
“I hea
rd that, jerk! You and I are gonna have words if that nasty attitude of yours doesn’t change,” Harmony hissed, glaring at him as she reached past his shoulder to hand a paper bag to Zeke. “Honor’s ice cream. Two gallons of Rocky Road. You’re all set,” she informed the sheriff, though her irate gaze remained glued to Ice.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” Zeke said, getting to his feet and brushing a kiss against Harmony’s cheek before sending his cowering brother an indifferent look. “Good luck, man. You’re gonna need it,” he remarked before nodding to the rest of his friends and walking toward the door and whistling a happy tune.
~**~
Watching the final scene of Gone with the Wind fade to black the next afternoon, Zeke watched Honor swipe her crumpled Kleenex against her damp cheeks.
“I don’t know why I cry every time I watch this. The ending never changes,” Honor confided with an embarrassed chuckle. “Rhett always leaves.”
“To be fair, Scarlett forced his hand. A man can only tolerate so much, Kitten, and old Rhett had to choke down more than his fair share of crap. Especially with that whole Ashley situation.”
“I thought a man liked a stubborn woman,” Honor asked, leaning her head back against the couch as Zeke went to change the movie.
“Stubborn, yeah. Sweetheart, I’ll chase you all day long if you’re bein’ your sweet, sassy self and giving me hell, but you wanna go sniffin’ around some weak-ass married man and keep me waiting while YOU are waitin’ for his wife to die…yeah, I’m not gonna give much of a damn about you at the end of the day either.”
Honor smiled sadly. “Good point. Scarlett couldn’t see a good man standing in front of her face, I suppose.” Seeing Zeke raise his eyebrows at her, Honor shook her head and pointed at him, ordering harshly, “Don’t start, Ezekiel. I can see you just fine and am fully aware that you are a good man. Unfortunately for you, I just don’t happen to want ANY man. Ever.”
Sighing, he stared at her. “You know that isn’t true, Kitten. We were making progress for a while. Then, we stopped.”
“Zeke,” she groaned, tossing her spoon into the empty carton of ice cream as she got up to carry it into the kitchen.
Rising back to his feet, he followed her, unwilling to let his question go. Damn it, he wanted answers. Like Rhett, he deserved some explanations and also like Rhett, he was getting damn tired of dancing to Honor’s tune. “Just tell me why, Honor.”
“And here I thought I was going to get through the entire day without having to get upset,” she muttered, shaking her head at him. “For the last time, Zeke, nothing has changed. I don’t know what kind of progress that you thought you and I were making, but it was only in your imagination.”
“I imagined those kisses we shared over your birthday? How about holding you in my arms while we watched television last month? Is that my faulty memory? Did I also dream sleeping in your bed three nights out of the last week, Honor?”
“Stop it!” she yelled. “I didn’t ask for any of that. I might have allowed it to happen, but….it didn’t mean anything, Zeke. Or, maybe I should say that it can’t mean what you WANT it to mean. I’m sorry, but it can’t. It just can’t!” she shouted, running from the room.
A few moments later, he heard her bedroom door slam closed and he hung his head in defeat. It was a constant dance of two steps forward and three steps back with Honor. He’d always known that it was going to be an uphill battle to earn her love.
He had just never anticipated that it would hurt so much.
Part Two
Chapter Eight
April, 2016
Present Day
Zeke’s thoughts crashed back into the then and there as someone dropped a metal tray somewhere outside Honor’s cubicle. The harsh sound echoed down the cavernous hallways and startling the normally unflappable lawman. Gripping the armrests of his chair, his concerned gaze automatically went to Honor’s face. Feeling deflated when she didn’t so much as flinch at the racket outside her door, he sighed. He knew that damn drug – that Seconal, he mentally amended – would take a while to leave her system, but it had been hours already.
He wanted her to wake up and yell at him for hovering over her like an irritating old biddy. Then, he wanted to do some yelling of his own – mainly of the I-don’t-care-if-this-WAS-an-accident-you’re-getting-some-fucking-help variety. It was true, too. If he had to sit on her to make it happen, she would find somebody to talk to and unleash some of these damn demons riding herd on her soul.
Because he couldn’t watch her disappear any longer. He couldn’t sit by and watch as the woman he loved just faded away before him.
Fuck that.
“Zeke?” he heard someone softly call his name as the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee assaulted his dulled senses. Glancing over his shoulder at the doorway, he forced himself to smile at Honor’s nurse, Millie Daniels. Hell, he owed her more than a smile since she was holding a steaming coffee cup in one hand and a thermos in the other. He might just have to overlook her penchant for going ten miles over the speed limit for the next few days.
“Millie, if I wasn’t head over heels for Honor, I think I would have given your husband a run for his money,” Zeke offered, his eyes glued to that fragrant cup of joe she held out to him. “Seriously, how’d you know I was desperate for a hit of caffeine?”
“Sheriff, you’re a cop, and I never met a cop that wasn’t looking for his next cup of coffee and a donut. Now, I might not be able to do much about one of those things, but when Marge brewed a fresh pot out at the nurse’s station, I decided that this was one thing I could help you out with. Besides, the way I hear it, Honor’s gonna be here for a bit. You’re gonna need something to keep you going,” she explained, carefully handing over the hot mug and dropping the silver thermos on the rolling table beside Honor’s hospital bed.
“Yeah, I figured she’d be here a day or two, if not the rest of the week. Your husband mentioned that it would take at least a good twelve to sixteen hours for the effects of that drug to leave her system and that we’ll have to hold on for a while,” Zeke mumbled, taking a sip of the coffee and letting the familiar flavor soothe him.
Millie nodded. “I’m going off duty in the next few minutes, but the girl coming on after me is good and experienced. Cain was already scheduled to be here overnight, but Aubrey is going to stay, too, until at least Honor can wake up and talk to her a bit. Aubrey is good, Zeke, and I’m not just saying that because she’s Mack’s sister. I’ve seen her credentials. If anybody can help Honor out of this dark place that everybody says she’s been hiding in, it’s Bree. Trust her, okay?”
“Millie, it’s not me you’ve got to convince,” Zeke returned quietly, his eyes steady on Honor’s still face. “Honor isn’t too keen on letting people she doesn’t know in on her innermost thoughts and feelings. And when it comes to psychiatrists and therapists, she’s about as open as a sealed vault.”
Millie offered him a look of understanding. “So, to sum up, Honor isn’t gonna be thrilled that she’s gonna be forced to talk to a mental health professional when she wakes up.”
“That might be the understatement of the year,” Zeke informed her dryly. “It’s more likely that she’ll either clam up and refuse to talk or she’ll scream the joint down about how her civil liberties are bein’ violated. Either way, I’m pretty sure she’ll find a way to blame me,” he chuckled, shrugging. “And that’s fine with me… as long as she gets the help she needs.”
“Well, there are a few folks still in the waiting room that will be happy to offer back-up should the need arise,” Millie noted with amusement.
“Is the whole family still setting up camp in the chairs out there?” he asked as he tilted his neck from side to side to work out the kinks that come with sitting too long. He wasn’t getting any younger and these plastic seats were absolute hell on a man’s spine.
“Harmony finally managed to convince Miss Orla and Mr. Jethro to let Slade and Faith take them home for the
night. I think they all had to swear on a stack of Bibles that they would call if anything changed in the slightest, but they finally agreed to go. Diego took that young woman that works for Honor– Sunshine, I think her name was – to get some of Honor’s personal things for when she wakes up. Faith said she was gonna stay home with Annabelle and help Abel with the triplets. Mack and I are gonna take Heaven home with us since my Paisley has been cravin’ a playdate with her anyway. So, I think that leaves Jake, Harmony, Patience, Ice and Maggie holding down the fort in the waiting room for now.”
“Ice and Maggie are together in a confined area?” Zeke murmured with a faint smile. “This won’t end well.”
“Oh, there’s already been a few skirmishes over things like the television remote and the thermostat in the waiting room that involved more than one threat to your brother’s continued safety. I do believe his parentage was questioned by more than one person at a few critical points during the course of the day. Last I heard, Patience believes that you had to have been adopted by the Monroe family and that there’s no way you could actually be related to someone as ornery as Ice. Meanwhile, Maggie contends that your older brother was more than likely abandoned by a wild animal in the woods, and your parents must have wandered across the squalling animal, felt bad for him and took him home.”
Zeke closed his eyes for a moment and prayed for patience. “That’s my brother, making friends wherever he goes,” he grumbled sarcastically. “I’ll talk to him about not provoking the ladies.”
“The hospital staff would probably appreciate it,” Millie replied with a gentle smile and a pat on his hand as an orderly wearing white scrubs appeared in the doorway. “Hey, Jeff. Do you guys finally have my girl here a bed ready upstairs? We’ve been waiting all day for it. I think both my patient and her loved one would like to get settled somewhere a whole lot more comfortable for the night.”
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