Blue Chow Christmas

by Rachelle Ayala

  The three dogs immediately started sniffing each other in greeting.

  “I found them yesterday,” Cait said. “It was raining so hard and they were soaked to the bone.”

  “That’s how I found my dog, too,” the brunette said, reaching out to shake hands. “I’m Linx Colson, by the way, and this is Cedar.”

  “Lynx? Like the wildcat?”

  “Minx with an ‘L.’ According to my dad, my mom’s a minx. Since I take after her, I’m a little minx, or Linx.”

  “Well, my name’s not that interesting, Cait Hart.” Cait shook Linx’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you and your dog. Is Cedar a chow also?”

  “Not quite,” Linx said. “We don’t know what she is. Some say she’s a chow-collie mix, and others think she’s a red Akita.”

  “She’s a pretty dog.”

  Cedar had a reddish brown overcoat, but her chest was crested with white. One paw was whiter than the other, and her face was more white than red, giving her a clown faced vibe.

  “She’s my baby.” Linx chuckled, rubbing Cedar’s fur. “Do you live around these parts?”

  “My family has a cabin up the hill. There’s no cell service up there, so we came to town to see if we could find the owners.”

  Linx flung her wavy brown hair back from her eyes and leaned over to pet Sierra and Melia. “Are you two the sweeties who ran away from the pound?”

  Sierra and Melia licked Linx’s hand and wagged their tails, clearly liking her.

  “We think they belong to Senator Thornton,” Cait said. “What did you mean when you asked if they ran away from the pound?”

  “If they are who you think they are, then the senator sent his wife’s dogs to the pound after she died.” Linx’s eyes narrowed. “I work for a rescue shelter and was on my way to the pound to save the dogs, when they went missing.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “A week or so. Their time was running out, and someone from the pound contacted us. We didn’t have space earlier, or we would have taken them. They were next on the chopping block, and either they ran away, or someone at the pound let them go.”

  “Wow, that was a narrow escape,” Cait said. She ran her hand through Sierra’s luxurious mane. “Are you saying the senator didn’t want these dogs?”

  “Exactly. I wouldn’t send these two back if I were you.”

  “Oh, no!” Cait’s pulse leaped, and adrenaline shot through her heart. “My husband’s back at the diner looking up the senator. He could have contacted him already.”

  “We better stop him.” Linx said.

  “Let me call him,” Cait tapped Brian’s contact on her phone. It rang and rang then rolled to voice mail. “He’s not answering.”

  Cait dragged the dogs across the street, heading toward the diner. Linx and her dog streaked next to them.

  Brian was still staring at the laptop, typing away.

  “We can’t contact the senator,” Cait said, breathless. “He put these dogs in the pound.”

  “They were at a kill shelter,” Linx said. “They were on their last day before they ran away.”

  “Right, so you better not have contacted him.” Cait tapped her husband.

  “Don’t worry,” Brian said, still staring at the screen. “I have a better plan. I found Glen and told him I have the dogs. He’s running away from military school and coming to live with us.”

  “Wait a second,” Cait said as her heart chilled. “How old is this Glen?”

  “Twelve.”

  “Twelve? And you’re encouraging him to run away from school?” Cait put her hands on her hips, unable to believe her husband’s lack of common sense.

  “I’m not encouraging him. He hates it there, and he’s running away on his own. He wants to live with us.”

  “But how does he even know us?” Cait’s jaw dropped wide and her head bobbed with confusion.

  “He’s TrickyGlen the Thief in Realm of Rogues.” Brian’s eyes sparkled and he made fast gestures with his hands, as if casting magic spells or controlling a joystick.

  “Realm of Rogues?” Cait repeated, blinking and feeling faint. “But if he’s twelve, you shouldn’t be talking to him.”

  “Don’t worry,” Brian said. “He registered himself as twenty-one in the virtual world.”

  “I’ve heard about the senator’s kid,” Linx said. “He’s got a screw loose, and his father sent him away after his mother died.”

  “That’s a horrible thing to do to a child.” Cait clapped her hand over her mouth. “Poor kid.”

  “It’s horrible, I agree,” Linx continued. “But rumor has it no one could handle him other than his mother. He’s autistic or something strange, and he embarrasses his father at all his political functions.”

  “His father should get him special teachers rather than sending him away.” Cait grew more alarmed the more she heard. “What would military school do for him?”

  “Nothing. They probably punish him all the time. We hate the senator around here,” Linx said. “He doesn’t care about the farmers and ranchers, and all he does is take money from big businesses.”

  “Okay, well, all that aside,” Cait exclaimed. “He sounds like a horrible parent.”

  “He is,” Brian said. “That’s why it’s time for me to take Glen back.”

  “Take Glen back? What are you talking about?” Cait grabbed Brian by the arm.

  Brian shrugged from her grasp. “Glen is my son. If the senator doesn’t want him, I do.”

  “Your son?” Cait and Linx both shouted at the same time, drawing attention from the other patrons sitting outside the diner.

  “Alana said I couldn’t tell anyone.” Brian screwed his brows down into a frown. “But Alana’s dead, and I don’t have to do what she says.”

  “But … Are you making this up? Is this one of your fantasies?” Cait knew she was grasping at straws as she sank onto a nearby chair.

  “Can’t you see the resemblance?” Brian pushed the laptop in front of her, showing her a picture of the senator with his family.

  The pieces clicked into place. Red hair. The crush Brian had on Mrs. Thornton. The obsession with playing video games. The bequest of the antique fire engine.

  Black dots swam in Cait’s field of vision, and she saw two Brian’s, an old one and a young one, two black dogs. And then nothing.

  Chapter Fourteen

  This can’t be happening. This is not happening. This is a dream. A nightmare. This isn’t real.

  Cait swatted at the dogs licking her face and the hands helping her to sit up. Somehow, she’d fallen off the chair at the diner.

  “I’m okay. Please, let me go. I’m fine. Thanks,” she reassured the people gathered around.

  Brian picked her up and held her, his eyes full of concern. “We have to check your head. You hit your head.”

  “I’m sure it’s just a bump. We need to get home, right now.” Cait gritted her teeth and gave Brian a direct order.

  They’d drawn too much attention in this small town, and with the way gossip got around, it would only be a matter of time before word got back to the senator that Brian was claiming to be Glen’s father.

  “Okay, I’ll take you to the cabin, but we don’t have internet there.” Brian stroked her hair and felt for a bump.

  “We need to leave, now,” Cait said. She peeled Brian’s hands off her and grabbed the leashes.

  “I can help,” Linx said. “Do you want to go to my place to rest? I have internet.”

  “That’s awfully nice of you, but Brian and I need to be alone.” Cait could be firm when she wanted, and right now, the most important thing was to leave the town behind.

  Maybe people thought Brian was a raving lunatic, maybe not. But she had to get them out of here before the news media caught the story. Without looking left or right, Cait marched to their car and put the dogs in the back.

  Brian gathered his laptop and paid the bill. He still wore a maniacal glaze on his face, and the peop
le gathered around stepped aside to let him pass through.

  Linx followed them to the car. “At least let me know how to get in touch with you.”

  “I’m sorry, but we do have to leave,” Cait answered. She wasn’t used to small towns and people’s nosiness. Who knew why Linx was so eager to insert herself into their lives?

  “Okay, you know where to find me. I’m at the Mountain Dogs Rescue Center.” She gave Cait’s arm a squeeze. “Ask for Linx Colson.”

  Cait thanked Linx and waved goodbye to her as Brian started the car and backed out of the parking spot. She didn’t dare look back, because they’d attracted a small crowd.

  “We have to find a way to help Glen,” Brian said. “I know where the military academy is.”

  “That doesn’t mean you should go there. Do you have any idea how much trouble you just got us in?”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Brian said.

  “You told everyone you’re Glen’s father. Are you sure that’s the truth?” Cait pinned Brian with her most focused glare.

  “It is.”

  “I’ve been married to you all these years and you never said a word?”

  “I couldn’t, because Alana made me promise. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

  “Well, it’s kind of a big thing, don’t you think?” Cait put her head in her hands. She was still dizzy and the winding road didn’t help.

  “It is,” Brian admitted. “I’m sorry.”

  Cait’s head reeled at the magnitude of what Brian had blurted out. If Glen was truly Brian’s son, then he had to have fathered him when he was seventeen, which made him a minor and Mrs. Thornton a child molester.

  If Brian was mentally disabled with autism or Asperger’s syndrome, it made her crime even more heinous. She’d taken advantage of him and used him for her own pleasure.

  A creepy shudder vibrated through Cait. She, too, had taken advantage of Brian by marrying him. There he was, recently orphaned with an expensive house north of Golden Gate Park, needing a wife.

  And she’d convinced him she was the one for him when he could have chosen any other woman, or maybe he misunderstood the will and didn’t have to marry anyone.

  “I feel like throwing up,” Cait moaned as her stomach tossed and turned. Her head still spun, and hot flashes burned through her chest.

  Silently, Brian pulled the car to the next turnout.

  Cait got out and ran to the guardrails. A black SUV swerved into the turnout, almost hitting her, before the driver decided to pull back onto the road.

  He gave her a long, hard stare and drove off slowly.

  What’s that all about?

  “We have to go back to San Francisco,” Brian said to Cait when they got to the cabin. “I need to consult a lawyer.”

  He’d screwed everything up. Cait was mad at him for not telling her about Glen, and he was sure she’d want a divorce. She never wanted children, and she sure wouldn’t want one who was already twelve.

  “Hold your horses.” Cait put both hands on his upper arms and turned him to face her. “We have to talk, and we’re not going to stop until you’ve told me everything.”

  He glanced at his watch. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Start at the beginning. What exactly happened with you and Mrs. Thornton?” She steered him into the living room and sat with him on the couch.

  Brian bristled at her demanding tone, but if he didn’t talk, she would never stop pestering him. “She helped me with my social skills.”

  “And? What else?”

  “No one else understood me. No one liked me and everyone laughed at me.” Brian hung his head and leaned over with his elbows on his knees.

  “I like you, and I want to understand you.” Cait rubbed warmth into his bicep.

  “But it’s too late. You don’t want kids. You won’t want Glen. He’s all I have.”

  “I don’t even know Glen. You dropped him in my lap an hour ago. Tell me how it all started. You and Mrs. Thornton.”

  “She showed me how to act normal and pretend I know what people are talking about. She played roles with me and coached me in the debate team. She didn’t think I was a nobody.”

  “That’s all well and good, but did you sleep with her?” Cait’s face was red and she shook his arm.

  “I did.”

  “How old is Glen again? How old were you?”

  “Glen’s twelve.”

  “That means he was born when you just turned eighteen, but nine months before then, you were seventeen.”

  “It started when I was sixteen. On October 14, 2002.” He’d always had a good memory and remembered dates. “It was Columbus Day and I had a debate to prepare for.”

  “She’s a child molester.” Cait dragged her hands over his arms, shaking him. “Did you tell your parents?”

  “Uhm, no. She told me not to tell anyone, because I was special.”

  “This is so wrong, Brian. You have to tell someone. The senator. Did he know? She should have been hauled off to jail.”

  “She’s already dead,” Brian said, turning away from Cait. “All I want now is to get my son back.”

  “How do you know he’s your son? Just because you slept with her doesn’t mean Glen is yours.”

  “That’s exactly what she said.” Brian’s voice exploded from his lips. “She said I should forget about everything and that I’d better not tell anyone as long as she lived. She told me to go to firefighting school.”

  “And you went, after she urged you.” Cait followed him as he paced around the coffee table.

  “Only after my parents died. They were on their way to check out the school after I said I wasn’t going.” He leaned against the fireplace, as the familiar ache pierced his heart. “She made an appointment and I was supposed to drive up there, but I didn’t want to go.”

  “Are you saying your parents went in your place?”

  “Yes, they did.”

  Cait drew in a gasp and clapped her hand over her mouth.

  Brian’s gaze met her wide eyes. “It was my fault they died.”

  “You don’t know that.” She shrank from him, backing herself toward the door. Swallowing hard, she pointed at him. “What happened next? Why did you ask me to marry you?”

  “You needed me, Cait.”

  “I did?” Two spots of red infused her otherwise pale cheeks.

  “You did, and you thought I didn’t know.”

  “Know what?” Her voice grew sharper. “What did you know?”

  “Something you didn’t want your family to know.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cait puffed herself up and came at him. “I married you to do you a favor because of your parents’ will. You didn’t want to lose the house.”

  “Right.” He didn’t want to argue with her. She thought she’d had him fooled, but people always thought he was dumb. Just because he was quiet didn’t mean he was slow. He happened to have a photographic memory, and he remembered details, like times and dates, and things found in wastebaskets, or in her case, things that should have been there, but were not.

  “Right,” she repeated. “So, now we have a problem on our hands. You think Glen’s your son, but you don’t know it. You announced it to the entire diner in Colson’s Corner, and word is sure to get back to Senator Thornton that we have his dogs and that you want Glen to come and live with us. Have I left anything out?”

  “I contacted Glen on Twitter and he wants me to help him get away from school.”

  “You have to delete your Twitter account immediately.” Cait grabbed her car keys. “The FBI could be on your tail right now. Conspiring to kidnap a senator’s son. How can I get it through your head that he’s a kid and you’re an adult?”

  “I know that,” Brian grumbled. “I’m not an idiot.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. “I know you’re not, but you need help.”

  “That’s why I need to talk to a lawyer. Let’s go back to San
Francisco and figure out what to do.”

  “What about them?” Cait pointed to the two dogs lying by the fireplace. “Mom’s allergic to dogs, and I can’t take them to our house.”

  “Oh, right, then can you stay here while I go back?” Brian remembered that he should give her a kiss on the cheek when asking for a favor.

  He kissed her cheek and gave her a hug, and she hugged him back.

  “Sure, but you have to promise me you won’t talk to Glen on social media. Do everything your lawyer says, and don’t try to reach out to him, or you’ll be in big trouble.”

  “Promise.” Brian took the keys to the Subaru Outback.

  “Wait, take my car,” Cait said, handing him the keys to her Toyota. “If I have to schlep the dogs around, I need the larger car.”

  “Okay.” He gave her another kiss for good measure, and she seemed to enjoy it. “You’re the best. Maybe Linx will watch the dogs for us, and you can come with me.”

  “Yeah, that means I have to go into town and find her at the shelter,” Cait said. “You take care of yourself, okay? And no doing anything crazy.”

  “I promise, I won’t.” Brian gave her his scout’s honor salute. “I’m glad you understand me.”

  “I try.” She flashed him a smile, but the two lines between her eyebrows didn’t disappear.

  She had a secret, and he knew what it was, but she didn’t know he knew.

  Just like Alana, who thought he’d never figure out Glen was his son.

  Brian pulled the locket out of his pocket and smiled. He had proof, and he was going to take care of his son no matter who stood in his way.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cait loaded the dogs into the Subaru while Brian shut off the propane tanks and took out the trash. It was too bad their little getaway had come to an end.

  She needed to get back to her family. Brian had problems bigger than she could solve. On the outside, he was an efficient firefighter. He followed orders, drove the fire truck, and got along with all the men.

  He was a decent husband to her and treated her like a good friend. It was what they’d agreed to—a friendship, a partnership, sharing a bed and having marital relations, but neither she nor he had ever declared loving or romantic feelings.