Heart of a Hero (New Beginnings Book 4)

by Margaret Daley

  David strode to the sink and washed his hands. “I don’t want to set a bad example for your children.”

  “Never. I don’t think you can do anything wrong in my son’s eyes, or for that matter my daughter’s.” Kelli set the bread on the table, then removed the pitcher of tea from the refrigerator.

  Do anything wrong? If only that were true. Then maybe he wouldn’t be haunted by his memories.

  “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come to Cimarron City when you did. Max was floundering after his father’s death. He laughs and smiles now. That’s because of your presence in his life.”

  But was helping his sister enough to atone for his past? He wished it was, but the emptiness he felt was spreading like a slow, festering disease bent on destroying him. “He’s a good kid. He would have worked it out.”

  Kelli’s mouth firmed into a stern look. “Don’t sell yourself short. At least I don’t have to worry about Max. Now if only I could say that about my daughter.”

  “Abbey was daddy’s little girl. It’s been only a year. Give her time.” David settled his hands on his sister’s shoulders, kneading the tension beneath his palms.

  “She’ll probably need at least five or six more years until she outgrows being a teenager. That’s definitely part of the problem.”

  “Sit. I’ll pour the tea.” David took the pitcher and moved around the table filling each glass. “I’m proud of you, Kelli. You’ve done such a good job with what life has dealt you.” Myself, I’m not so sure about.

  “I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t fall apart when Max and Abbey depend on me.”

  David pictured another mother struggling to raise an uncooperative child. Lisa Morgan had been fierce when she’d confronted him earlier. It reminded him of a she bear protecting her cub. A lot like his sister when it came to her children. “You’ve got two amazing kids. Thirteen is a tough age, but Abbey will make it through.”

  “Well, while we’re handing out compliments, you’ve been a great surrogate dad.”

  Which is the closest I’ll come to having children. There was no way he would father a child in the world he lived. He set the pitcher on the table near him and sat as his niece and nephew charged into the room.

  Abbey stopped in the middle of the kitchen, her hand going to her waist. “Mom, tell Max to be quiet. He thinks he knows everything. He’s just a baby.”

  “No, I’m not!” His nephew squared off with his sister, his arms taut at his sides.

  The “I want to hit you” look on Max’s face immediately reminded David again of what had happened at the gym earlier with Andy Morgan. The thought of the scene when he’d followed the boys outside tightened his gut. A warning sign he’d learned to listen to. His niece went to the same school. Maybe he could find out what was really going on through Abbey because he didn’t think the story that Andy gave his mother at the gym was the truth.

  “Max. Abbey. Sit now.” Kelli sent both of them a pointed look that brooked no argument.

  After his sister said grace, which David went through the motions of participating in because of the children, Max snatched up the serving spoon and filled most of his plate with the lasagna. He ignored his sister to his right and instead gave the utensil to his mother. Abbey glared at her brother.

  Before another skirmish erupted in the kitchen, David tore off a piece of the warm bread and then passed it to Abbey. Its aroma made his mouth water. “I started coaching this week. Today was my second practice. I think the team has a good chance of having a winning season. Maybe you know some of the boys playing on the team.” He rattled off the names of several of them, ending with, “And our best players are Joey Blackburn and Andy Morgan. Do you know any of them?”

  “The sixth graders?” Abbey wrinkled her forehead and nose as though the very thought of her associating with someone in the grade below hers was ridiculous.

  “Any of them. The team has twelve-and thirteen-year-olds. Anything you tell me might help me when I’m working with them.” David forked some of the tasty dish and brought it to his mouth.

  “Well, Pierce is a dork, Michael is okay, and Joey is a juvenile delinquent. What else do you want to know?”

  David swallowed the mouthful of lasagna. “Why do you say Joey is a juvenile delinquent?”

  “Because he’ll do anything to make money. He’s always scheming. He was in my grade and was held back two years ago. He hates school and makes sure everyone knows it, especially the teachers he has.”

  “Do you know Andy Morgan? He shows a lot of promise as a basketball player.”

  “Not much.” Abbey shrugged. “We don’t have any classes together. He’s a sixth grader.”

  As though that was a disease. Ah, to be young and naive again. David took a bite of his still-warm bread and chewed it slowly. He hadn’t learned too much more than he already knew from watching the boys the day before and today at practice. Except that Joey might be up to no good. Which made him wonder why was he on the basketball team? What did he have to gain, especially financially? And what was really going on with Andy and Joey?

  He hadn’t wanted his job as a police officer to interfere with coaching, but he would have to keep an eye on Joey and Andy. He knew from experience that their ages meant nothing when it came to committing a crime.

  Chapter Two

  On the floor, watching the twelve players going through a shooting exercise, David detected Lisa Morgan slipping into the gym. He glanced at his watch. She was early, but that didn’t surprise him after what happened the day before. Good, she wasn’t taking any chances there would be a repeat of yesterday’s fight. He was relieved to see one parent who was conscientious because the tension between Joey and Andy was palpable.

  Blowing the whistle, he signaled for the boys to circle around him. “I have an announcement to make. Some of you wanted to know where Coach Parson was. He’s sick and will be out for a couple of weeks. He should be back by the first game. I assured him we would be ready to play the Spartans. What do you all say?”

  A group cheer answered his question.

  “I told him he had nothing to worry about. Are you gonna make a liar out of me?”

  “No, Coach,” the twelve boys shouted in unison.

  “Okay, five laps around the gym before you leave, and I’ll see you tomorrow at the same time.”

  As the players set out in a jog, David strode toward Lisa. She greeted him with a smile, making brief eye contact before her attention returned to the boys running in a tight group. David slid onto the bleachers next to her and followed the teammates completing their laps.

  “Did you find out anything else last night from Andy?” he asked while his gaze took in her son slowing his pace slightly, so he was at the back of the pack. David tensed when Joey threw a glance over his shoulder at Andy.

  “Yes, this is because my son is a good student. Apparently, Joey didn’t like the fact that Andy made a perfect score on a test yesterday.”

  “Ah, so it wasn’t the fact Andy stepped on Joey’s foot accidentally in practice?”

  She sent him a quick look. “It probably was both things.”

  Yeah, right. He didn’t think it was either of those reasons. The practice today had only confirmed that in his mind. “I’m not so sure it is.”

  Lisa tensed. “Do all cops think everyone is lying?”

  The accusation threw him off balance for a minute—not because he hadn’t heard similar ones in the past, but because he hadn’t expected it in this circumstance. “Truthfully we have to be wary of everyone. It helps keep us and others alive.”

  “That’s sad.”

  Again, a surprise. “Sad?”

  “It’s just such a cynical outlook on life. You always think the worse of someone.”

  In his career he’d been disappointed more than once at something a person had kept hidden from him. Now he didn’t expect the whole truth from others. “I call it a realistic outlook, one that has kept me alive. People hav
e things to hide. I think your son’s hiding something.”

  She frowned. The boys finished their laps. Jerking to her feet, she started toward her son, paused and turned back. “I hope you can leave your job at the door when you come here to coach.”

  He rose slowly, suddenly tired. “I can never totally leave my job, as you say, at the door. I knew of one cop who didn’t have his gun with him when he was off duty and ended up killed in a store robbery gone bad. Our job is 24/7.”

  She walked back the few feet that separated them. “My son is a good kid.”

  As the day before, her fierce attitude in Andy’s defense surfaced quickly. He again saw some similarities between his sister and Lisa. Is that why I want to help her? “I never said he wasn’t. But Andy doesn’t want to tell you what’s really going on between him and Joey. I would be asking myself why. That usually means something you don’t want to hear, something not good.”

  The intensity in David’s voice snaked about her, riveting her to the spot, holding her trapped. “I’m not sure he’s hiding anything.” Andy doesn’t lie to me. But then, in the past few months, he’s changed. Doubt nibbled at her confidence.

  “But what if he is? Can you afford not to pursue it?”

  She straightened her shoulders and tilted up her chin. “I’ll keep an eye on him. Now if you’ll excuse me, we have somewhere we need to go.” She might have to spend some time around the new coach because Andy had told her last night he wanted to stay on the team, but that didn’t mean she had to be the man’s friend. They came from different worlds—their perspective on life polar opposites.

  Andy raced toward her with his backpack. “Ready. I told Peter I would help him with the horses.”

  “You like to ride?” David removed the chain with the whistle on it from around his neck.

  Her son’s face lit up. “Yes. I do every week.” He looked down at his backpack. “I forgot my shoes. Be right back in a sec, then we need to get going.”

  “What stable?” Running his hand through his short black hair, David watched Andy run back across the gym to where the boys left their belongings while they practiced.

  “It’s not a riding stable. We help out at Stone’s Refuge. There are horses for the children who are in foster care at the refuge. Peter Stone has a large barn with a lot of animals that have been abandoned. His collection keeps growing. He’s thinking of building another barn strictly for the horses.”

  “My sister has told me a little about Stone’s Refuge. There are five cottages with children in the state’s custody? I think she said they recently expanded to include one cottage devoted to working with the more challenging teens with anger and addiction issues.”

  “Yes. They usually have around forty children at the refuge with seven at present in the Seven Steps to Healing Program in the fifth cottage. Does your sister volunteer there?” Lisa glimpsed a teammate—thankfully not one of the four who’d ganged up on Andy yesterday—saying something to him. He frowned and shook his head.

  “I don’t know if she has much time other than her family and the shelter.”

  “Shelter? Which one?”

  “McKinney’s Women Shelter.”

  “Who’s your sister?” Lisa turned slightly to get a better view across the gym while Andy continued talking with the boy.

  “Kelli McKinney.”

  “I know her. A good friend got me involved…” Joey came out of the boys’ locker room and approached Andy and the other teammate.

  “Is something going on?” David pivoted to look across the gym at the kids who still lingered. “I’ll take care of this.” He started forward.

  * * *

  “Don’t! Lisa grabbed David’s arm and halted his progress.

  He stared at her with such potency that words fled her mind.

  The warmth beneath her palm emphasized she still clasped him. She immediately dropped her hand and stepped back. “I promised my son I would let him take care of the problem as long as he thought he could.”

  “But—”

  “Besides, Joey doesn’t have the other three boys with him. He probably won’t do anything without them.”

  David glanced at her, one eyebrow raised. “What do you base that on?”

  “A bully usually feels stronger when he has someone there to back him up.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I was bullied in middle school and high school by a girl who always had her clique there to back her up.”

  Why in the world had she shared something so personal about her life? But the truth was she hadn’t thought of those girls in a long time, had determinedly refused to let them rule her life anymore. She’d been a young, impressionable teenager—before her life had totally fallen apart. But that was in the past.

  Maybe the reason she’d let down her guard temporarily was because he’d revealed he was Kelli’s brother. She and Kelli were friends. Lisa volunteered once a week at the shelter. She recalled Kelli talking about her brother moving to Cimarron City a few months ago and even mentioned him by his first name, but David was a common name. She had two Davids working for her at the restaurant.

  The battle-ready tension that a few seconds ago had poured off David faded to an interested alertness. He hung back next to her and followed the exchange between Joey and Andy. David’s nearness sharpened her awareness of him. For a few seconds a connection zipped between them as they both watched the unfolding conversation of the two boys.

  Andy’s frown evolved into a scowl. He stepped away from Joey, but the bully moved to block him. Anxiety whipped down her length. She’d asked David not to interfere, but it was all she could do to stand here and do nothing. She slanted a look at the man next to her. A somber expression etched his features in stone.

  When Andy glared and skirted around Joey, heading back across the gym, Lisa blew out a breath. “It’s not easy respecting his wishes.”

  David faced her. “Sometimes you have to step in whether they want it or not. Don’t hesitate if your gut tells you to.”

  Her glance strayed to his left hand. No wedding ring. That didn’t really mean he hadn’t been married at one time. “Do you have children?”

  “No, just a niece and nephew, but as a cop I’ve seen a lot of things most haven’t.”

  “Thanks for the advice. I’ll take that under consideration.”

  He chuckled. “You don’t sound too convinced.”

  “I’ll work on that.” When Andy moved toward the exit, Lisa hurried to catch up with him.

  “What were you talking to Coach about?” her son asked in the lobby.

  “You, of course.”

  Andy stopped right outside the gym. “Mom, I told you I could take care of it. I saw him talking to Joey before practice. Joey wasn’t too happy about that.”

  “Is that what you and Joey were talking about?”

  “No one likes to be called out by the coach.” Andy spun on his heel and strode to the car in the parking lot.

  Lisa followed him, turned the key in the ignition and pulled out into the light stream of traffic. “Andy, you really didn’t answer my—”

  “Mom, I’m fine. Can we please talk about something else?” He crossed his arms and stared out the side window.

  “Okay. What do you think of Coach Russell?”

  “He’s a cop. What’s there to say?”

  “He had nothing to do with what happened four years ago. Besides, that officer was only doing his job, following up on the report from the hospital.”

  “Yeah, right. I told them you didn’t hurt me. They didn’t believe me.”

  She’d desperately needed help, and the state taking her son away from her had been the best thing that had happened to her. She’d gotten the assistance she’d needed. It had shaken the very foundation of her life and caused her to finally kick her drug habit. But like an alcoholic, she had to be constantly on the alert so that she would never slip back into old patterns. Thankfully the Lord was with her every st
ep of the way, and she had a strong network of friends—two things she didn’t have four years ago.

  “I know I asked you last night, but I’m asking you again. Do you want to continue playing on the basketball team?”

  His head turned away, Andy didn’t answer for a long moment. “Yes. I love basketball. Joey is in most of my classes. Not being on the team won’t help that situation.”

  “What will?”

  “I’m sure you’re right, and he’ll get the point and move on,” Andy said, but there was no conviction in his voice.

  She hoped that would be the case, but she would be keeping an eye on Joey and his friends, just as David had cautioned her to do. When it came to Andy, she would do anything to protect him. At practice she was positive her son would be safe because of David, but what about all the other times? She never wanted to let Andy down again. She had once and nearly lost him for good.

  When her car neared the front of the barn, Andy sat forward. “Mom, Roman’s here. I hope nothing’s wrong with one of the animals. “

  “Maybe he stopped here first to see Peter before going home.” Her son’s agitation mounted. He would know Roman’s patterns at the refuge because her son adored the man and wanted to be a veterinarian just like him when he grew up. When he’d been off for the summer, Andy had even interned with Roman once a week at his practice.

  “Mom, he lives at one of the cottages. He only brings his van to the barn when he needs something from the back.”

  The last time an animal had died at the refuge Andy hadn’t taken it well. She’d heard him crying in his room, but when she’d gone in to console him, he’d swiped away all evidence and pretended everything was okay. It hadn’t been because for days he’d been so withdrawn that she’d decided to have a child psychologist, a good friend’s husband, talk to him. She prayed it wasn’t something serious.

  The second Lisa turned off her Chevy, Andy leaped from the car and raced toward the barn. When Lisa entered a minute later, her fear something was wrong was confirmed. Her son had planted himself in the entrance into one of the stalls, worry imprinted on his face.