“Steven, I know you’re having a hard time right now, but things will get better. I’m here for you. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. I hope you’ll come down to eat with us.”
Her son didn’t say anything. Sadie left, remembering that image of the Lord in the meadow. So often it was what got her through those tough, lonely times when she was raising her twins with no support and little money.
When she reentered the kitchen, the sight of Ethan at the stove stirring her spaghetti sauce caused flutters in her stomach. Such a domestic picture. She was tired of being alone—being both mother and father to her kids. Right now, she had a son angry with her and not talking and a daughter who wanted to get to know her deadbeat father.
Ethan glanced at Sadie. A slow smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. By the time his dimple appeared, his cinnamon brown eyes warmed on her, melting her anxiety the more she looked at him. She moved further into the room.
“I put the spaghetti in the boiling water and the bread into the oven like you told me.” He took a deep whiff of the sauce. “This smells delicious. Is Steven coming down?”
“I don’t know. Probably not. I’m at a loss what to do with him. We had problems before Harris came to town, but now they’re a lot worse.”
“Maybe he’s upset about Harris suddenly reappearing in your life. You said he doesn’t want to have anything to do with his father.”
“Whereas Ashley is hounding me to invite her father to dinner and is mad that I’m having you here instead.”
He set the wooden spoon on the counter and turned toward her. “I’m sorry. You should have said something to me. I can leave.” His eyes brightened. “And maybe send me home with a helping of this spaghetti.”
“No, you’re staying. Ashley has to learn I’m not having Harris over for dinner. I don’t want to have anything to do with him. What you said about Steven might be what’s bothering him. He’s always been the man around the house, my protector. I’ve been so wrapped up with everything happening at school, I haven’t addressed it with him.”
“Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the obvious.”
“Do you really think that may be Steven’s problem? Then why did he take the cough syrup?”
“Could be a cry for help.”
“Maybe I can get him to talk to me about taking the cough syrup if I approach him about his father’s return.”
“What does your son like to do?”
Sadie went to the cabinet and removed the dishes to set the table for four. She hoped both her children came down. “Steven loves basketball, and the way he’s growing he might have the height for it.”
“I noticed you have a hoop attached to your garage. I haven’t gotten to play like I used to, but possibly Steven and I could shoot baskets some time. Would that be okay with you?”
“I’d love it. Cord sometimes does. Steven enjoys it or at least he did. Lately he hasn’t been doing anything but moping in his room.” Sadie finished putting the silverware by the plates. “After I went to school today—”
“Thanks again for finding Lexie’s water bottle. We’re running the latent prints on it as well as testing the little water left inside.”
“Good,” Sadie said with a nod. “I want answers.”
“Lexie told me there was about fourth of a bottle left, but when you gave it to me there was only a few drops.”
“Someone emptied it?”
“Since the lid was still on it, yes, someone must have.”
“I know Lexie didn’t put the bottle in the trashcan outside my room. Someone else did and believe me, my students in class don’t pick up each other’s trash and throw it away.”
“I’m sorry. I interrupted you. What did you do after you went to school?”
Sadie opened the oven and a rush of heat flushed her face as she took out the French bread with garlic butter. While she put it in a basket, she continued. “I met with Colleen Stover today. She thinks we have a chance to stop Harris from being in my children’s lives. After all, he didn’t support them for thirteen years and only saw them once. Just long enough for me to tell him I didn’t have any money he could borrow.”
Sadie looked at Ethan who stared at the doorway behind her. She swung around to discover Ashley standing there. Fury grooved her daughter’s forehead and darkened her eyes.
“You really are going to try and stop Dad from seeing us—me.” Ashley thumped her chest, the sound resonating through the kitchen. “He’s my father. I have a right to see him. Why are you doing this? Because Grandpa won’t have anything to do with you? That isn’t a reason to deny me seeing my father.” She whirled around and stormed down the hall and up the stairs.
A few seconds later, a door slamming shook the house. Sadie winced. “My timing could definitely improve. I don’t know if I should leave her alone to calm down some before going to talk to her or go right now.”
“If she’s not calm enough, she won’t hear what you have to say. Sometimes waiting is a good thing.”
“Are you sure you aren’t a parent?”
“Yes, I’m sure. But I’m world worn. I’ve seen and dealt with a lot of situations with children and their parents, often during tense times.” He quirked a grin. “Also, that’s what my mom used to do all the time, and it worked with Beth and me.”
“Let’s eat before my masterpiece becomes overcooked.” Sadie dished the spaghetti and sauce into bowls, brought the garden salad from the refrigerator, and put all the food on the table along with a pitcher of sweetened iced tea and the bread.
Ethan came around to help her into her chair, which threw her. She hadn’t dated much since Harris, and Harris certainly never pulled her seat out for her. “Thank you.”
“What can I say? My mama taught me manners.”
As he took the chair next to her, the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs alerted her to the possibly her daughter would leave out the front door. She started to get up to go after her when her son appeared in the entrance.
Steven sat, his mouth not technically set in a frown but close. “I smelled the bread and realized I’m hungry.”
“I’m glad you came down. Steven, you know Mr. Stone. He and your uncle were best friends for years while they were growing up.”
“Your mom was telling me you like to play basketball. Cord and I were on the basketball team in high school, but what we loved to do was play a pickup game. I hear you’re good. If I got a few guys together, would you like to play some with us? You and my cousin who is fifteen probably can dribble circles around us old men.”
That last sentence coaxed a brief smile from Steven. “Yeah, Uncle Cord has mentioned doing something like that, but he never has.”
“I hate to say it, but your uncle is not the most organized man. He tends to forget things like that. Once he had me waiting at the court for half an hour, then he comes moseying up as though he were early for our one-on-one.”
“Why did you stay around? I’d have left.” Steven reached for the basket of bread.
“I was practicing to beat the pants off Cord, and I did that day.”
Steven chuckled and dug into the spaghetti.
The sound of her son’s laughter lifted Sadie and gave her hope things would work out between Steven and her. He was at least having dinner with her and Ethan. “Let’s say a prayer so we can eat.”
She clasped Steven’s hand then Ethan’s. Bowing her head, she said, “Heavenly Father, thank You for being here for us. Please protect our children and help Ethan and Cord find out what’s going on in Summerton. Bless this food. Amen.”
Halfway through the meal, most of the conversation between Ethan and Steven about sports, Sadie stood. They stopped and looked at her. “Keep talking. I’m going to see if I can get Ashley to come down for dinner.”
“You lasted longer than I thought you would,” Ethan said with a wink.
“What does that mean?” Sadie clasped the back of the padded chair.
�
��I thought you’d leave to see Ashley before we sat down.”
Sadie hurried up the stairs to Ashley’s bedroom, knocked then when she didn’t say, “come in,” Sadie opened the door. To find her daughter was gone.
While Cord and Ethan stood watching Sadie, she paced from one end of the living room to the other. “You two need to do something. Ashley is gone. I’ve checked the whole house. We had a fight right before we were to eat. I went to her favorite place she goes to when she’s mad. She wasn’t there. I called her friends. They don’t know where she is.”
Cord, dressed in casual jeans and a light blue shirt, hooked his thumbs in his brown belt that boasted a big silver buckle. “I’ve alerted my officers. They all know what Ashley looks like. They’ll find her.”
“So where do we go look for her? I can’t sit here and wait.” Sadie rubbed her thumb into her palm.
Ethan glanced at Cord then said, “But that might be the best place for you. You’ve done what you can. Let Cord and his men search Summerton. She probably has a new place she goes to.”
Sadie stopped and snapped her fingers. “What if Harris took her? I wouldn’t put it past him to.” She snatched up her purse and started for the door.
“Where are you going?” Ethan fell in step with her.
“To see Harris.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“Fine. I could use your help, Ethan.” Because if Ashley was with Harris, no telling what she would do. Sadie glanced at her brother. “Can you stay with Steven or take him with you?”
“Don’t worry about him,” Cord said.
“We’ll call you one way or another after I check with Harris.” The word we flowed so easily from her. The feeling she wouldn’t be alone when she confronted her ex-husband soothed her anger a little. She was almost positive he had something to do with Ashley being gone. Her life had been uneventful until he’d come to town. Actually, not much that was eventful happened before he came. Had he brought trouble to Summerton?
“If we find her, I’ll let you know. I’ll go by all her favorite places to hang out, then go by her friends’ houses.” Cord stepped out onto the porch with Sadie and Ethan.
“I’ll drive.” Ethan withdrew his keys and strode toward his SUV.
“A wise decision. I’d probably crash.” Fear and fury rampaged through her. What if Ashley wasn’t at Harris’s place? What if she ran away? What if . . . She had to stop that train of thought.
Lord, I need You. Help.
“Where does he live?” Ethan pulled away from the curb.
“The Sagebrush Apartments on Tenth Street.”
“Not too bad.”
“Yeah, I know. Whenever I knew him, he always had money problems. So where is his money coming from now?”
“You said he was a private detective.”
“So he says. I don’t believe anything he tells me. I learned the hard way not to.”
Ethan stopped at a red light, looking over at her. “People do change when given a good enough reason.”
“In all your years working as a law enforcement officer, how many people who operated in the gray areas changed?”
“Are you saying Harris is a criminal?”
“When we were married, I had my suspicions where his money came from, but I had no evidence of it.”
“I’ll check around or has Cord already done so?”
“I didn’t ask him. Whether Harris is or was doesn’t change what he did years ago. But if you find out he is, it’ll help my case against giving him visitation rights to see the kids. Today my lawyer asked me to document everything between Harris and me.”
When her cell phone blared she quickly answered it, hoping it was news of Ashley. “Sadie here.”
“Ashley arrived at my apartment five minutes ago.”
When she heard her ex-husband’s voice, Sadie sat forward, her grip on the cell so tight she thought she could crush it. “I’m almost at your place. Both of you stay put. I can’t believe you did this to me.” The volume of her voice rose with each word she spoke in the last sentence. Now that she knew Ashley was all right, anger took hold and shook her to her core. She clicked off before she totally lost it.
“Ashley is with Harris?”
“Yes. I told you he was behind her leaving. This will prove to the courts he’s an unfit father. Somehow, my thirteen-year-old daughter went four miles to his apartment. How? What if something had happened to her en route? It’s getting late.”
“I know you may not want to hear this, but you need to calm down. If you go in with both guns blazing, you’ll only make the situation worse with Ashley. You’ll push her toward her father. If Ashley is anything like you, she gravitates toward the underdog. You always did.”
She tried to relax the stiffness in her body, but she couldn’t calm her rapid heartbeat or breathing. “I’m locking both my kids in the house and never letting them go anywhere.”
Ethan pulled over to the side of a residential street, a glow from a streetlamp bathing the inside of the SUV. He turned toward her. “I’ve never seen you like this. What exactly did Harris do to you all those years ago?”
“He left me with no word. One moment he was there. The next gone and I didn’t hear from him for forty-eight hours. Then when I did, it was a call to tell me our marriage was over. He couldn’t be the father and husband I wanted. Then he hung up. He didn’t give me a chance to talk to him. Ashley and Steven started crying. They were three months old. I was eighteen and didn’t know what to do. I called my parents. My dad hung up on me.” Tears flowed down her cheeks as all those memories deluged her. The loneliness and helplessness overpowered her again as though it were yesterday. She shivered in spite of the warmth in the car.
Although a console was between them, Ethan put his hand on her shoulder, massaging her taut muscles. “Let it go. This anger toward Harris is harming you. Whether you like it or not, he’s the twins’ father, and it looks like Ashley wants to get to know him. I don’t want you to be the bad guy in all of this.”
She wrenched away from his touch. “I’m her mother. I know best. If you don’t start this car, I’ll get out and walk the rest of the way.”
“Sadie, I’m here to help—”
“Then let’s go. What if he’s taking her away as we speak? He’d do it just to hurt me.”
“Really, do you think that? He called you about Ashley being at his apartment.”
His calm, even tone penetrated her panicky feeling, enticing her to relax, to listen to what Ethan was saying. Again, he placed his hand on her shoulder and kneaded the tightness beneath his fingers. “You don’t know how this went down. Find out first. Later, you’ll appreciate the advice.”
She forced herself to take deep breaths to ease the ache in her chest. “What a time to come back into my life—when it’s falling apart.”
“Actually I don’t think it’s bad timing. You needed someone. I sure don’t mind obliging you on that score. What are friends for? Here, turn and face the window. Let me get your other shoulder. You’re wound tighter than a ball of barbwire.”
“I feel like that, too. Since coming back to Summerton, I’d finally begun to feel my life was falling into a good routine. My dad is even melting toward me, and my mom and I have a good relationship. I needed that. Why did this have to happen?”
“Hey, where is it written our lives would be easy? If you’ve seen it, then that person doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I’ve seen people’s lives at the worst possible moment. It’s very sobering. What’s the Lord telling you?”
“To forgive Harris.”
“Then you know what to do.”
The strength in his hands worked magic on her as though he could melt her tension away—at least for a few moments. “I’ve known for quite a while what God expects of me, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do that. Remember when we found that dog that had been abused by its owner.”
“You were ten and ready to take the man on. Cord and I h
ad to hold you back.”
“I haven’t forgiven that man for what he did to an animal in his care.”
“And what’s it done to you? Has it really made you feel better to hold onto that anger?”
She swiveled around. “Okay. You’ve made your point.”
“Good. Start with the dog owner and work your way up from there. I have a feeling it isn’t only Harris you need to come to terms with.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your dad. Every time you mention him, your voice tightens and you pull yourself up a little. He hurt you, too.”
“Let’s go. I’m as ready as I’m going to be. I just want my daughter back.” She wasn’t going to address her father and his issues—not on top of dealing with Harris. It was too much.
“Think of that when you confront Harris. What you really want is your relationship with Ashley to stay strong.”
“Do you think I’m afraid I’ll lose my daughter to Harris?” The question came out without her really thinking about what she was saying until she proposed it to Ethan.
“I think you need to look deeply within yourself to answer that question.”
Did she? She would have said no when she first saw Harris again, but lately she didn’t know. There were times when both of her children had missed out on not having a father—like when Ashley’s classmates a few years back had “a take your dad to school” afternoon. Or the time when Steven was in scouts, and he had to settle on her helping him with his woodcraft projects. Poor kid. She was out of her element with tools.
As Ethan continued toward Harris’s apartment, Sadie placed a call to Cord to let him know Ashley was at Harris’s place so he could call off the search for her daughter.
When Ethan parked in front of the Sagebrush Apartments, he asked, “Ready?” as she pushed the passenger door open and hopped to the pavement.
When she strode toward the building, she began with an easy pace for about two seconds before she quickened her step. She wouldn’t feel better until she saw Ashley with her own eyes.
On the second floor, Sadie found his apartment number and pounded on the door, which flew open almost immediately. She tried to charge inside, but Harris blocked her path. “Back off. You remember Ethan Stone. He’s a Texas Ranger and here to help me.”
Severed Trust: The Men of the Texas Rangers | Book 4 Page 18