by Linda Warren
“Is that what this is all about? You think you can manipulate me into moving back to Dallas?”
Chase hung his head.
“We can’t go back. There’s nothing left for us there. I couldn’t find a job, which means I have to find work here, and you’re not making it easy for us. I’ll have to use some of the money I saved to get you out of here.”
Chase’s eyes grew round. “You mean the sheriff is thinking of keeping me in here?”
“Yes. Stealing is against the law. I thought my straight-A student son would know that.”
“Mom, I didn’t hurt anybody.”
She was aghast at his attitude. “Is that how you look at it? Well, you did hurt someone. You hurt Bob, the owner of Rowdy’s. That’s how he makes his living, selling beer, and when you stole from him, it cut into his profits.”
“I just want to go home to Dallas and my old school in August. I’m a good football player and no one is going to notice me here in this small town. I won’t get recruited and I won’t get to play in the NFL. That’s been my goal my whole life and now it’s all ruined. How could you bring us here?”
She took a deep breath, trying to think of words that would get through to him. “Young guys with a record don’t get recruited, either.”
“What?”
“I told you stealing is a crime and it will go on your record if I can’t get it removed.”
“Mom, you have to do something.”
“You know, Chase, you’re seventeen years old and it’s time you started acting like it instead of a spoiled little boy.”
“If you get me out of here, I promise to do better. I just...”
“I know. You don’t like it here. But in life you don’t get everything you like. Right now, my main concern is putting food in our mouths and a roof over our heads. That’s what’s important, Chase. We have to move out of Phoenix’s house because of your disruptive behavior. And I wanted to be there for my sister.”
“They don’t like me.”
“Have you given them a chance? Instead of being moody, you could offer to help every now and then. And you could play with Jake.”
Chase frowned. “He’s a baby.”
“So? It’s called helping out and being glad someone took us in.” She got to her feet. “I have to sort this mess out.” She looked at him with his hunched shoulders and that frown etched on his face. It seemed to be permanent. “You know who else would be disappointed to see you in this cell?”
He buried his face in his hands. “Nana,” he mumbled.
“Yes, think about that.” Maribel walked to the steel bars and a deputy opened it for her. With more enthusiasm than she was feeling she went straight to the sheriff’s office. Elias was still sitting in the chair and she ignored him as best as she could.
“What do I have to do to get my son out of jail?”
The sheriff leaned back in his chair. “Miss McCray, I’m not inclined to do that.”
She curled one hand into a fist. “Why not? I didn’t see the other boys in there so you must have let them go. Why is my boy different?”
“When we caught them, your boy ran. The others didn’t.”
What! She tried not to let the shock show on her face but she feared she’d failed. She was at a loss at what to do, but she couldn’t leave her son in jail. There had to be a way.
She bit her lip. “Don’t you usually set bail?”
The sheriff leaned forward. “Usually. Ralph, the bail bondsman, is next door but he’s asleep at home at this hour and I don’t feel obligated to call him. I think a night in jail might help your son realize how serious his actions were.”
“Please.” Begging was not in her nature, but at this point she had no other choice.
“Okay.” He opened a drawer and pulled out a ledger. “I can set bail. I do that a lot, small town and all, and that keeps Ralph from trudging up here in the middle of the night.”
“Thank you.”
“A thousand dollars should guarantee that he doesn’t run and that he’ll be at the hearing on Monday. And it should cover everything they’ve stolen.”
A ball of fear wedged inside her chest. “I can’t afford that. Can’t you just release him into my custody? I’ll make sure he stays in line and I won’t let him have the car anymore.”
“Normally I would do that, but you see, I don’t know you or your son. I could release him into your care and in no time you could be out of state and the other two boys would take the fall for the crime.”
“I wouldn’t do that. My sister is here and I wouldn’t leave her, either.”
“I’m sorry, Miss McCray, but that’s the deal. Your boy has an attitude and a sarcastic mouth. He needs to learn a lesson and he needs to learn it now. That’s just my advice to you.”
He wasn’t going to relent. There was no way she could leave her son in jail. Yes, he deserved it. But she was a mother and a mother always fought for her kid, no matter what. Which meant she would have to do something now she’d sworn she would never do.
There was a saying about paying the piper. She had never quite understood what that meant, but suddenly she did. She would now have to pay for everything that had happened in the last seventeen years and she would have to pay with her pride.
She sucked air into her tight chest and turned to Elias. “Can I see you outside for a minute?” Without waiting for an answer, she walked confidently toward the receptionist’s desk. Behind her she could hear:
“Was she talking to me?” Elias asked.
“I think she was,” the sheriff replied.
She paused long enough to make sure Elias was following her. She went through the door and the warm June breeze kissed the heat of her cheeks. A faint hum of traffic from the interstate broke the early morning silence. Fading moonlight and the ancient streetlights provided illumination. She walked toward one of the old live oak trees that shaded the courthouse, and sat on the bench beneath it.
Words rolled around in her head again and she desperately searched for the right ones to start the conversation. It wouldn’t be easy, but nothing in life for her had been.
Elias sat beside her and she wanted to move away. He was too close for her comfort zone. In high school, they were always looking at each other, but they both knew that’s all they could do. With their feuding families, there was no way they could ever go out on a date or even socialize. That’s just the way it was. But she had always thought he was the most handsome guy in school. Tall and lanky with an attitude that bespoke confidence, he had a daredevil approach to life that had been exciting for a young girl.
Nothing was said for a few seconds. “You wanted to talk, so talk,” he said. “But before you start, I just want you to know I’m not loaning you any money.”
“Elias, I need help, and I’ll pay you back.”
“Do you have a job?”
She forced herself not to fidget. “No, not yet, but I will soon.”
“I’m not in the habit of loaning people money, especially if they don’t have a job. And for the record, Wyatt was right. Your kid needs to learn a lesson.”
“You don’t even know my kid.”
“I think I do. I’m the one who tackled him when he ran off.”
“You did what?”
“He ran, Maribel, from the law, and they will stick him good for that.”
She turned on the seat to face him, not caring how close she was. “You can’t let that happen. His whole future is ahead of him. He made a mistake because he’s upset about the move from Dallas. You see, he’s a good football player and he wants to play in the NFL. He thinks all his dreams have been ruined because he won’t be playing for a big school. Instead, he’ll be playing here in Horseshoe. He’s mad and that’s my fault. I shouldn’t have uprooted him.”
&
nbsp; “So the stealing thing was his stupid attempt to get you to move back to Dallas?”
“Yes.”
He rested his forearms on his knees and clasped his hands. “I don’t understand why you’re telling me this or asking me for money. You have family here and I should be the last person you’d ask since you wouldn’t even speak to me earlier at Rowdy’s, just like in high school.”
“Things had to be that way in high school.”
He rubbed his hands together. “I know.”
“I can’t ask my family. None of them have tried to make contact since I’ve been home and I can’t ask Phoenix and Rosie. They have their own problems right now and I don’t want to cause them any extra worry.”
“But why me?”
She kept talking because she didn’t want to answer that question and with luck she wouldn’t have to. “I have an interview with Gladys at the diner and I feel sure she’s going to hire me.”
“For minimum wage?”
“Yes, but it’s a start.”
“What did you do in Dallas?”
“At first, waitress. Then after I got my high school diploma, I attended a junior college and took restaurant management courses. That enabled me to get a better job and I worked my way up the ladder to being a manager of an upscale restaurant. I can start over again and I can pay you so much each week.”
“I could be married, Maribel. Have you ever thought of that? My wife wouldn’t like me throwing my money away, and investing in your kid is like throwing money away.”
“You’re not married,” she stated with confidence.
“How do you know that?”
“Because no one would marry you.”
“Really? Is that the way you talk to a man you’re asking for money from?”
“You’re wild and crazy, Elias, and everyone knows it. There’s not a woman in this town who could tame you.”
“You got that right.”
“Remember that time you brought beer to school and Bubba and another boy got drunk and you tried to jump off the roof as a superhero? Someone told the principal and he came out and told you to get off the roof. You jumped and fell right on him.”
“My shirt wasn’t a very good cape.”
“See, young guys do crazy things and that’s what Chase is doing now. I just need your help to get him out of this so he won’t have a record. Please, Elias.” Begging was getting easier, especially when it concerned her son.
He rested against the back of the bench and stretched out his long legs. “Give me a good reason I should loan you money.”
“I’ll pay you back. Why do I have to give you a reason? Just call it—”
He wagged a finger in her face. “Don’t call it a friend thing because we were never friends.”
“Why do you have to be so...?”
“Crazy?”
“Yes. Why can’t you just help me? Do something good for a change.”
“Give me a reason, Maribel. A very good reason to part with my money.”
They were going around in circles and she was growing weary. He wanted a reason and she could give him a good one, but it would take a slice of her pride just like she’d known in the sheriff’s office. She would have to say the words out loud for the first time in her life. She would have to say them to Elias. There was no other way.
Her stomach cramped tight. “You want a reason? I’ll give you one.”
“Let’s hear it.”
The words stuck in her throat. She swallowed, trying to force them out. But they were trapped in the mind of that seventeen-year-old girl who had run instead of facing the gossip and the rumors and a man she barely knew. Life had come full circle and she had to say the words she should’ve said years ago.
“You’re...his father.”
Chapter Three
Elias laughed so hard it startled the pigeons roosting on the top of the courthouse. “Wow, Maribel, you had to reach deep for that one.”
“It’s true.”
He shook his head. “No way am I that kid’s father. You’re not going to pull that on me.”
“Are you losing your memory, Elias?”
“No, my memory is fine, thank you.”
“Then you’ll remember that evening in February when I had a flat tire and you stopped to help me. It was drizzling rain and it started to sleet and you suggested we get in your truck until it let up. Remember that?”
Every day of my life since.
He shifted uncomfortably on the bench. “One time, Maribel, and we used a condom. So you can stop right now.”
“Condoms don’t work all the time.”
Elias remembered when his brother Phoenix had received the news that he was the father of a two-year-old boy. Phoenix had been surprised because he’d said they’d used a condom, but Jake was very much alive and Phoenix’s. No, no, no, she wasn’t going to pull this on him. No way was that kid his. He would know, wouldn’t he? The doubts circled like buzzards and they began to peck at his brain. He didn’t like that. He was happy with his life and he didn’t need all this drama. She was a McCray and she was yanking his chain. That had to be the explanation. She just wanted him to pay the fine.
“That was in early February and you didn’t leave town until late April. You obviously slept with someone else in the intervening time.”
“Have you really looked at Chase?”
“What?”
“Go look at him, Elias, and come back and tell me he’s not your son. And I won’t say another word.”
She was playing him like a pro but he wasn’t falling for it. “There’s no need for me to look at him.”
“Are you scared?”
“No. He’s not my kid.”
“Then go look at him. If he’s not yours, what are you afraid of?”
He got to his feet, knowing there was only one way to make her stop with all the nonsense. “Okay, and this will be the end of it.”
“Yes.”
As he walked back into the sheriff’s office, the air held a faint moistness from the early morning dew. Where had the night gone? He should be crawling out of bed, getting ready with his brothers for another day of baling and hauling hay. Yet, here he was, stuck in a nightmare.
He and Maribel had always liked each other and that night in February, sitting in his truck, things had gotten out of control. And not just him. They both had experienced something they didn’t want to talk about or admit out loud, so they didn’t. Afterward, they’d decided they would never see or talk to each other again. It was mutual. It was over. And now... There was just no way.
Wyatt noticed him walking toward the cells. “Elias, what are you doing?”
“Just give me a minute.”
“I’m ready to go home and I don’t have time to deal with all this nonsense.”
“Just a minute, Wyatt.”
Elias stopped in front of the cell and Chase jumped up from the cot. “What do you want?”
Elias stared at the kid, the dark hair, the dark eyes and the lean, lanky frame. He took a couple steps backward as the truth hit him like a sucker punch, almost bringing him to his knees. It was like looking in a mirror when he was that age. All that arrogance, all that anger and all that resentment was him back then. It took the strong hand of his father to turn him around and even then Elias had fought him all the way. He saw all that in the eyes of the kid staring back at him. Oh, man!
For some reason he pulled out his phone and took a step toward the cell. He stuck his arm through the bars and snapped a picture of Chase’s face.
“What are you doing? You can’t take a picture of me. That has to be illegal and you need my permission.”
“Give it a rest, kid.”
Wyatt grabbed Elias’s arm and
pulled him away. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not sure, but you better stick around because I’m going back outside and I just might kill Maribel McCray.”
“Elias...”
Elias hit the door at full speed and didn’t even pause when Wyatt called again. He went straight to Maribel with fire in his belly. “I could strangle the life right out of you and I still might. How could you keep something like that from me? And don’t say it was because I’m a Rebel. That’s not gonna wash.”
“I tried,” came out low, but he heard it.
“How? And when?”
“I was sick in the mornings and my dad figured out I was pregnant. He demanded to know who the father was. I wouldn’t tell him. If I had, he would have killed you. He took out his belt and beat me with it, insisting that I tell him. When he realized I wasn’t going to, he told me to get out of the house and to never come back. He called me a slut.”
Some of the anger eased from Elias as he started to see the past from her point of view. His parents had never hit them and he couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for a young girl to be hit time and time again.
“I got in my truck and drove away. I paid for the truck myself from working at the bakery so he couldn’t take that away from me. I didn’t know where to go or what to do, but as I was leaving my mom shoved three hundred dollars in my hand and told me to go to Mrs. Peabody’s.”
Elias sat on the bench beside her as she continued to talk. “As I was driving away, I thought I wasn’t the only one who had created this baby and you needed to know you were going to be a father. I went to Rebel Ranch to find you.”
Elias sat up straight. “You went to the ranch?”
“Yes. Your grandfather answered the door and when he saw me he called for your mother. The moment she saw me she demanded to know what I wanted. I told her I wanted to see Elias and she told me I wasn’t seeing her son.” Maribel wiped at her face.
Was she crying? Oh, no. He couldn’t stand it when women cried. He just held his breath and waited for more because he knew there was no way his mother would have turned away a Rebel grandchild.