Severed Trust: The Men of the Texas Rangers | Book 4

by Margaret Daley

  Harris nodded toward Ethan, then said to Sadie, “Ashley is upset about what she overheard tonight. She doesn’t want us to fight over her.”

  “Good. I don’t either. Leave us alone, and I won’t pursue taking you to court.”

  “I don’t have a problem with going to court and letting a judge decide. I’m just telling you what Ashley feels, before you barge inside and demand she leave. I think you need to listen to her first.”

  Sadie set her fists on her waist. “Who are you to tell me what to do? You lost that right thirteen years ago.”

  “It doesn’t erase the fact I’m their father, and I’m trying to pay you child support now.”

  “Thirteen years too late.” She started to shove past Harris when she felt Ethan’s light touch at the small of her back. She hadn’t been ready to have this conversation with Ashley or Harris. But she was here, and she needed to get through it somehow. “Fine. I’ll behave,” she said between clenched teeth.

  When she entered his place, Sadie wasn’t prepared for what she saw—an apartment with personal touches. She never imagined Harris would have books out on his coffee table. He’d hated to read in high school. Nor the photos of his family—even one of Ashley, her most recent school picture. The biggest surprise was there was no TV in the living room. He’d used to watch it from the moment he came home from work to when he went to bed—usually while drinking beer. It had been the center of his home life while they’d been married.

  Ashley sat in a lounge chair, her chin practically resting on her chest.

  “Ashley?” Sadie said in a quiet voice, afraid to say too much more. The surprise of seeing Harris’s home was still reeling through her.

  Her daughter didn’t glance up.

  “Ashley, we need to go home.”

  That was when she lifted her head. A look Sadie was hard-pressed to describe—maybe like the one her daughter had when she’d brought a baby bird home for her to nurse back to health—reflected a deep sadness. “Dad was telling me how you two met, what happened when he left.”

  “I bet he was.” Sadie tossed a narrowed gaze at Harris.

  “No, you don’t get it, Mom. He put the blame for the divorce totally on him.”

  “Please have a seat, Sadie. Ethan. I was just now explaining why she can’t come over here without your knowledge. No matter how much I want to see her, that’s wrong.”

  Am I hearing him right? What kind of game is he playing? Sadie pivoted toward Harris. “What have you done?”

  “I don’t want there to be an ugly fight over Steven and Ashley. I just want to be part of their lives from time to time—if they want it. I respect how Steven feels right now. I don’t blame him. Give me a chance to prove I’m different from the boy you used to know. Give me a chance to have at least a relationship with my daughter.”

  Sadie opened her mouth to say no, but Ashley’s words cut through the silence. “Mom, I didn’t want him to call you. He insisted.”

  Yeah, only because he knew I would check to see if you were here. After years of not trusting Harris, she couldn’t do it now. Until Ashley and Steven were born, he used to charm her into almost anything. Then he changed after their birth; she changed, too. Her priorities shifted.

  “I’ve talked with Jeffrey, and he says I have a good chance for at least visitation rights. I don’t want to fight about this in court, especially if Ashley would like to see me. Can’t we work this out?”

  “Mom?”

  Ashley’s pleading expression solidified Sadie’s stomach into a rock. Somehow in a short time he’d turned her daughter against her. Behind her she felt Ethan’s support through the light touch of his hands on her upper arms. She drew strength from his presence. He said she wasn’t alone in this, and she wasn’t—not like when Harris had walked out on their marriage.

  “It’s your call, Sadie. I’m willing to take it slow and one step at a time. I’m not going anywhere this time.” Harris leaned forward and clasped his hands, his gaze glued to her.

  A scream of frustration welled up in her, but she couldn’t release it. No matter how much she wanted to. “All I can say is that I’ll talk with my lawyer and decide the best way to go for my children.”

  Relief washed over Ashley’s face. “Thanks, Mom. I know you’ll do what’s right.”

  Sadie crossed her arms over her chest. “This doesn’t get you off, young lady, for leaving the house at night without telling me where you were going. That’s unacceptable. We’re going home. Now.”

  Ashley glanced at Harris.

  “She’s right. Parents worry if they don’t know where their children are.” Harris rose.

  Oh, he’s good. How in the world does he know what parents feel? Sadie’s fingernails dug into her upper arms in stark contrast to Ethan’s gentle touch only inches from her fingers.

  As they headed toward the door, Ethan took her hand. That simple gesture meant so much to her. A physical connection that underscored he was there for her.

  Ashley turned before leaving and said, “Dad, I’ll talk to you tomorrow at church.”

  Harris smiled at her daughter. “See you then.”

  Sadie bit into her lower lip to keep from laughing hysterically or shrieking at the top of her lungs. She wasn’t sure which one. Church? Since when had Harris started going to church? He’d teased her about attending when she went as a teenager to the point she’d stopped going after they’d run away together.

  When Sadie settled in Ethan’s SUV, she wanted to have it out with Ashley right then and there, but knew in the end it would only make things worse. She needed to cool down before they talked about what Ashley did tonight and its consequences.

  Silence dominated the ride to her house, and the second Ethan parked his car, Ashley opened the door and hurried to the porch.

  “Do you want me to come in?” Ethan asked in the darkness.

  From the sound of his question Sadie knew he would and stay as long as she needed him, but it had been a long day for both of them. All she wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep for twenty-four hours. “This past week has been rough on our families with what has happened in Summerton. How’s Lexie holding up?”

  “Okay. She’s understandably upset, but also worried.”

  “That someone will try something again?”

  “Maybe, but I don’t think that’s it. I think she’s worried about Kelly even after all that girl has done to her.”

  “If she stays home, I’ll do what I can as far as her English class or any of the other ones. Have you got any results on the water bottle?”

  “Probably not until Monday. If there are two sets of latent prints on the bottle, I can rule out Lexie’s, but I probably won’t know who the other prints belong to unless they’re Kelly’s, Luke’s, or someone in the system.”

  “How did you get Luke’s?”

  “From the paper you gave me and the one he gave me when I interviewed him.”

  “Most of the other kids’ fingerprints in Jared’s group aren’t in any system?”

  “No, and the ones I want probably wouldn’t agree to be fingerprinted. The only reason I think Kelly did is she wanted to prove she didn’t lie about being at the warehouse. At this time I can’t get a warrant for them, so we may not know much other than someone else touched the bottle. But we’ll know if the water was tampered with.”

  “But not in time for the meeting with Mr. Howard.”

  “Beth is calling him to meet with him after school Monday rather than before. I should know by then.”

  She pushed her door open. “I’d better go. Thanks for everything.”

  As she rounded the front of the car, Ethan climbed down from the driver’s seat. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

  Suddenly, Sadie felt thrust back to when she’d been dating in high school and a boy would do that at the end of a date. Often it led to a kiss. Heat from a blush scored her cheeks. When she’d had a crush on Ethan, she’d dreamed of him kissing her, but with five years bet
ween them back then it had been a hopeless dream. But his kiss the other night took over her thoughts as she made her way to her house. Sizzling. Full of promise.

  On the front porch, she turned to say goodnight, only to find he was nearer than she realized. Only a foot away. She could touch him. She could close the distance between them with a small step. But awkwardness held her rooted where she was.

  He smiled. The security lamp nearby cocooned them in a circle of light.

  Trapped by the intensity in his eyes, she forgot to breathe for a long moment until her body protested. Her chest rose with a deep inhalation. Her throat swelled with needs she hadn’t realized she had. For years, she’d been determined to make it on her own. Not to depend on a soul. But tonight, she’d liked having Ethan go with her to confront Harris. Although he said little, she sensed his support the whole time.

  “I guess we should say goodnight,” she finally said in a raspy voice as though she wasn’t used to talking.

  “Probably.”

  “Yeah.” But she didn’t. Couldn’t. Transfixed by him, she could have stayed on the porch all night.

  Kiss me, screamed through her mind.

  “Goodnight.” He rotated toward the steps. “See you tomorrow at church.”

  No, don’t go yet. She took a pace toward him.

  He stopped and swung back toward her, grasping her upper arms and dragging her against him.

  11

  Ethan’s hands cradled her face as he dipped down and brushed his lips across hers. Sadie wrapped her arms around him, wanting him closer. As he deepened the kiss, she surrendered to him and poured all her pent-up emotions into it. She needed to feel cherished, feminine. And Ethan did that.

  When he pulled back, still only inches from her, his gaze glittered as it moved over her features, slowly, as if savoring the sight of each one. His shallow breathing matched hers.

  Words escaped her mind. All she could do was stare at him staring at her.

  He grinned. “We need to do this again.”

  “Kissing or dinner?”

  His eyes twinkled. “How about both?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  She stood on tiptoes and settled her mouth on his, clasping his shoulders to keep herself upright. The touch of his lips siphoned all her willpower, all her strength. She was like a piece of clay, ready for him to sculpt. His arms wound around her and pressed her against him as he trailed whispery kisses across her cheek and nipped her earlobe. She melted even more into him.

  “I’d better leave, or I won’t want to.”

  “Yes. You better,” she managed to say through the haze of her spinning emotions. “My kids will wonder if I decided to run away.”

  He clasped her arms and placed her a foot from him then backed away. “I’ll call you about dinner. This time, my treat.”

  “Sounds good. See you tomorrow.”

  As he walked toward his car, he glanced back and waved at her. She sighed. She’d dated so rarely through the years, she wondered if she’d done the right thing by kissing him back. Stopping halfway to his SUV, he swung around, strode to the porch and planted a hard, brief kiss before leaving again. Without a word. But he took her heart with him.

  He started his engine, but didn’t pull away from the curb. Then she realized he was waiting for her to go into her house. She did and heard his car drive away.

  She headed for the kitchen to clean up the dishes, hoping Steven had done them after Cord dropped him off. But as usual, the plates and pans were stacked in the sink. She laughed. Now this was her reality.

  She didn’t care. Kissing Ethan was a wonderful way to end an evening that had been difficult at best. For a while, she was going to forget about Harris and focus on Ethan. So different from her ex-husband, and even as a young girl she’d known that when she pined for Ethan as a thirteen-year-old.

  While she rinsed off the silverware, loud voices from above disturbed her peace. She dried her hands and rushed up the stairs to the second floor, listening to Ashley and Steven in the hallway, yelling at each other.

  “Why can’t you give him a chance?” Ashley screamed at her brother.

  “He doesn’t deserve it. I’ve been doing his job just fine.”

  “What job? You’re a kid,” Ashley retorted. “An immature one at that. What stupid kid drinks cough syrup?”

  Before Sadie could get to the end of the hall, Steven shoved his sister and shouted, “I hate you,” then stomped off, slamming into his room.

  Ashley caught herself before falling, saw Sadie, and stormed into her room, the door banging close.

  Yes, this was her reality, especially of late.

  A ringing sound pierced through Mary Lou’s cloudy mind. Over and over. She twisted around in bed to bat at the annoyance. Finally, it stopped, but then a voice blared into the silence.

  “Mrs. Winston, this is Summerton High School. We’re calling because Kelly didn’t show up at school, and no one called in about her being gone. We need you to call to let us know about Kelly’s absence.”

  The words echoed through Mary Lou’s mind. One by one, finally their meaning registered with her. She fumbled for the phone on the bedside table.

  What day is it? Monday? Must be if the school is calling.

  She struggled to sit up and looked at the clock. 10:20. As the lady was leaving the school number, Mary Lou snatched up the receiver. “This is Mrs. Winston.”

  “Oh, good. Is Kelly sick today?”

  Is she? No telling with what has been going on lately. She hadn’t seen her since yesterday afternoon when she stomped up to her room, all upset by a phone call.

  “She isn’t feeling well. This has been a rough ten days.”

  “I understand. I’ll mark down that she’s ill. Don’t forget to call in tomorrow if she stays home another day.”

  “Yes,” Mary Lou mumbled and hung up, then sat on the side of the bed, staring at the floor.

  I need to do something. What?

  Mary Lou fell back on the bed and curled up her legs. Maybe a little more sleep would . . .

  As Sadie left her classroom for lunch, her cell phone vibrated on silence. Seeing that it was Ethan, she stepped back into her room and answered it. “Hi, how are you doing?” she asked, leaning back against the wall by the door. Memories of yesterday at church with Ethan sitting by her and her children flickered in and out of her mind, goose bumps rising on her arms.

  “Doing okay. I wanted you to know what I found out about the water bottle. I wouldn’t have it without you dumpster diving.”

  “I’ll have you know it wasn’t a dumpster, just a large trashcan. I already heard one of my students talking about it. Zoe Sanders wanted to know what was so interesting in the trash that I would dump it out on the floor.”

  “Did you tell her?”

  “No way. I told her to sit down, that class was starting. Were there more than Lexie’s fingerprints on it?”

  “Yes, one clear set other than Lexie’s. I checked with Lexie to see if anyone touched her bottle beside herself. As far as she knew, no one else did unless they did it without her knowledge. Also, the tranquilizers were given to her through her water. Since her bottle is blue, she didn’t see the liquid content so I think someone took the bottle and poured crushed-up pills into her water.”

  “What I don’t understand is why someone would deliberately do it.”

  “She may have made someone mad. I would say Kelly except the other latent prints we found weren’t hers, but we don’t have anything to match them against in our database.”

  “So they aren’t Luke’s?”

  “No. I checked that right away. There were a few smudged ones so that could be someone besides Lexie or whoever else held the bottle.”

  “A third person? So you can’t totally rule Luke or Kelly out?”

  “No, although Lexie is positive it isn’t Kelly who drugged her.”

  Sadie’s gaze fixed on Lexie’s usual desk, and flashes of Friday brought her panic
back to the surface. “First the rumors, then the spiked water bottle. I think it’s a good thing to keep Lexie home for a while.”

  “I agree and so does Beth. I’ll stop by your room at the end of the day and let you know how our meeting with Mr. Howard goes.”

  “I’m certainly going to talk with the other teachers about what’s going on with prescription drugs. Maybe we can do some things as a school. If nothing else, I’m going to be more alert to what’s going on in the hallway and my classroom.” She remembered the incident on Friday involving Kalvin and the kid with the hoodie. She thought about saying something to Ethan about it, but she really had no idea what the two boys exchanged. Although she hated hanging up, she still needed to eat lunch. “I’ve got to go. See you then.”

  As she left her classroom for the second time, Luke and some boy she didn’t know were talking near her door. After the chat with Ethan and what had happened, she wondered if either one overheard any of her conversation. She stared at them, and they both turned and walked away. Who was that kid with Luke? She’d look at a yearbook and see if she could find him. She didn’t like the fact they were outside her room. Although her door was partially closed, it was cracked open enough they could have been eavesdropping.

  She shook her head. I shouldn’t have to suspect everyone around me. But I do. Which students were abusing prescription drugs and not thinking anything was wrong because they were prescribed for people to use?

  In the cafeteria, she kept an eye on the kids as she moved through to the teacher’s lunchroom. What in the world was the attraction to taking a bunch of unknown prescription drugs? Even with her son, all she got from him was that he didn’t know why he did it. She hoped the counselor he was seeing would get something more out of him.

  After she grabbed some food, she sat at a table with Cynthia Proctor, Robin David, and Jack Hughes, another English teacher down the hall from her. Right after she sat down, Maxwell Howard took the chair across from her.