Operation Cowboy Daddy

by Carla Cassidy

  He’d been relieved when he’d thought about Mary that morning. She was not only an old friend to Amy, but also a woman who had given him the impression of great stability and strength on the few times he’d seen her.

  Still, he’d never really noticed the richness of her long black hair in the single braid down her back, or her beautiful doe eyes, or her full lips and high cheekbones.

  She’d been clad in a pair of tight jeans that showcased her long legs and her brown T-shirt had fit perfectly across her breasts and slender waist.

  He was just so glad she’d agreed to take care of the boy. Before he’d thought about Mary, Tony had spent the morning not just worried about what he was going to do, but concerned that he might do something wrong, or not do something at all that Joey needed.

  The first thing he intended to do before he did any shopping was get a quick bite to eat at the Bitterroot Café. His nerves had been so shot that morning he’d barely eaten any breakfast and lunchtime had already come and gone.

  His stomach gurgled in anticipation as he pulled into the café parking lot. He frowned when he saw two familiar pickups also there. The men from the Humes ranch must be having a late lunch, too.

  As far as all the cowboys on the Holiday ranch were concerned, all the men who worked on the neighboring ranch were lowlifes and creeps. One of them was now in jail, looking at plenty of prison time for kidnapping Trisha Cahill, who worked here as a waitress and who was the love of Dusty’s life.

  Tony got out of his truck and walked through the café door. He immediately spied Lloyd Green, Zeke Osmond and Ace Sanders from the Humes place seated in a booth. He headed for an empty stool at the long counter, pleased to see Trisha working that area.

  She greeted him with a huge smile. “A little late for you today, Tony,” she said.

  “I had a few other things to attend to this morning.”

  “Clay and Sawyer were in a little while ago and filled me in on the latest news. Where is the baby now?”

  “Do you know Mary Redwing?” he asked.

  Trisha nodded. “A nice woman. Her grandmother is definitely a pip.”

  “They’re going to take care of the baby until Amy shows back up again...hopefully in the next day or two. How are you and Dusty doing? I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to him the last couple of days. You still like living with that crazy cowboy?”

  She flashed him a bright smile again. “He’s wonderful, we’re wonderful.”

  “When are the wedding bells going to ring?”

  “We’re not having a real wedding. We’re just going to sneak away one of these weekends and get married at city hall. We’re already married in our hearts.”

  “He’s a lucky man, Trisha.”

  “And I’m a lucky woman. And now, what can I get for you?”

  He ordered a hamburger and fries and ate quickly as he mentally tried to make a list of what Mary might need.

  He was almost finished eating when the men from the Humes ranch walked over to him. “Hey, Tony, I heard through the grapevine that you have a little papoose,” Lloyd Green said and then snickered.

  “Are you going to teach him how to hunt with arrows?” Zeke asked.

  “Or maybe how to scalp somebody?” Ace added.

  Tony turned around on the stool to face the men, his blood boiling at their utter disrespect, the vile offensiveness of their words.

  Flashbacks from his painful childhood raced through his head, flashbacks that had made Tony hate the very blood that flowed through his veins.

  All three men balled their hands into fists. It was obvious they were spoiling for a little entertainment in the form of a fight. Tension snapped in the air.

  “Ignore them, Tony,” Trisha said softly, yet urgently.

  He had been taught by the tough Cass Holiday to never start a fight, but she’d also told him never to walk away from one.

  He was just about to get off his stool when the chief of police, Dillon Bowie, entered the café. “Afternoon, gentlemen.” His gray eyes narrowed. “Is there a problem here?”

  “No problem.” Lloyd moved the toothpick in his mouth from one side to the other as he backed away from Tony’s stool. The two younger men followed his example and stepped back.

  “We were just on our way out,” Zeke mumbled. The three hurried out the door.

  “They’re a bunch of jerks,” Trisha exclaimed as Dillon took the stool next to Tony’s.

  The lawman’s eyes bore into Tony’s. “Don’t tell me there’s new bad blood brewing between all of you.”

  “Like Trisha said, they’re just a bunch of jerks,” Tony replied as his blood slowly returned to a more normal temperature. “Anything new on the investigation?”

  Tony didn’t have to say specifically what investigation—there was only one that he was interested in and only one that had been the talk of the town for months.

  Dillon’s eyes darkened. “Nothing new.”

  “Would you tell me if there was something new?” Tony asked.

  Dillon gave him a dry grin. “Probably not.”

  Tony knew that he and every other cowboy on the ranch were suspects in the fifteen-year-old murder case that had rocked not only the people on the Holiday ranch, but also the entire town of Bitterroot.

  “I’ve got to get moving,” Tony said as he stood. “I’ve got things to attend to.”

  “I’m sure I’ll see you later,” Dillon said.

  “’Bye, Tony,” Trisha added.

  Once he was back in his truck, thoughts of the murders filled Tony’s mind. It had been just after Cass’s death in the aftermath of the spring tornado that the skeletons of seven young men had been found buried under an old building that was being torn down.

  The murders had been committed around the time period that Cass had brought in twelve teenagers who had been living on the streets in Oklahoma City to work on her ranch, making all of the men still working there today potential suspects.

  He shoved these thoughts aside as he pulled into the parking lot of the Bitterroot General Store. Inside, a person could buy everything from a fancy evening dress to a part for a lawn mower. He hoped he could find anything that Mary might need to take care of the baby.

  An hour later he finished placing the last item in the bed of his pickup and then headed back to Mary’s house. He knew this was only a temporary arrangement. He had to find Amy. He had to know if the baby was really his, or if she’d lied about who the baby’s daddy was to Mary.

  One of the reasons he’d stopped seeing Amy was because of her lies. He frowned and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. What kind of trouble was she in and when would she reappear?

  He couldn’t believe it had taken him so long to think of Amy’s friend, but the shock of being left with a baby had numbed his brain.

  It was almost four when he pulled back into Mary’s driveway and sat for a moment as he gazed at the house before him. The ranch-style home was on a huge lot with tall cottonwood trees along the back perimeter.

  It exuded a sense of welcoming, with its warm dark beige color and the last of the summer flowers spilling a colorful display into flower beds across the front of the house and in pots on the front porch.

  A sense of fear whipped through him. What if in the hours he’d been gone Mary had changed her mind? He meant nothing to Mary Redwing and she certainly had no reason to take on his troubles.

  If truth be told, he knew very little about her. He knew only that she’d been a kind and caring friend to Amy and that her reputation around town was stellar.

  He got out of his truck and grabbed several of the bags, filled with formula and diapers, and then knocked on the front door.

  Mary opened the door to allow him inside. The air smelled of something cooking and Joey was asleep on a blan
ket in the middle of the living room. There was no sign of Mary’s grandmother.

  Mary gestured for him to follow her into the kitchen, where he placed the plastic bags on the top of the table. “There’s more in the truck,” he said.

  She frowned at him. “You said this was just for a couple of days.”

  “It is,” he assured her. Stress welled up inside him. What if Amy didn’t make contact within the next day or two? Then what was he going to do?

  He shoved these thoughts aside. He couldn’t think about that scenario right now. “I bought a small playpen for him to sleep in and a bouncy chair thingy that Jenna McCain in the general store insisted I needed. I’ll just go grab them and be right back.”

  Once again Mary met him at the door and this time indicated he follow her down a hallway and into what appeared to be a storage room. Plastic shelving rose from floor to ceiling along one side of the room, each shelf holding colorful multishaped baskets, beautiful pottery items and a variety of clothing carefully folded.

  “You can set up the playpen in here.” She pointed to an empty space near the window. “I need to get back to the kitchen. You can come back in there when you’re finished in here.”

  Tony watched as she left the room and disappeared down the hallway. He set the playpen box down on the carpeting and opened it.

  He was just placing the pads around the sides when he sensed somebody nearby. He turned to see Halena standing in the doorway. “Hello again,” he said.

  “Tony Nakni. Are you a good Choctaw warrior?” Her gaze was dark and unfathomable.

  He didn’t know how to answer. He wasn’t a good Choctaw anything. He knew nothing about that part of his DNA. He’d been taught from a young age that his Native American blood was something to be ashamed of.

  Still, he had a feeling that the question was far more important than anything Mary had asked him and that his answer might screw up this whole arrangement.

  “I try to be,” he finally replied.

  Halena stared at him for another long minute. Her piercing gaze seemed to be probing into the very soul he believed he didn’t possess and then she turned and walked away.

  * * *

  “I knew that girl was big trouble from the time she was young,” Halena said as she came into the kitchen. “And I’m not sure that man in there is any better.”

  Mary turned from the stove, where she’d been stirring a big pot of stew. “None of that matters. What’s important right now is the baby.”

  Halena sat at the table. “I know you, my granddaughter. I know your heart and I don’t want you getting involved in somebody else’s problems. Your spirit is very fragile and I don’t want it to be further broken by anyone or anything.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Mary assured her. “And my spirit is just fine.” She opened the oven door and bent down to pull out a dish of thick corn bread.

  Her grandmother was worried about the baby weaving a basket of love in her heart. But Mary wasn’t going to allow that to happen. She would feed and change the little fellow for the few days he’d be here, but there was no way she intended to allow him into her heart. This was just a temporary situation and she couldn’t allow herself to embrace Joey.

  Still, the very heart she wanted to deny accelerated its beats as Tony walked into the kitchen. “The playpen is all set up with sheets and I put the bouncy thingy in the living room. I also bought a few little toys Jenna said would be age-appropriate. They’re also in a bag in the living room.”

  “Thank you, it sounds like you got everything we might need,” Mary replied. “We’re just about to eat. You’ll join us.” She said it as a statement rather than a question. It was still early and as far as she was concerned he was officially on daddy duty for the rest of the evening.

  “Uh...okay,” he replied, appearing immensely uncomfortable. “Can I do anything to help?”

  “Check on your son,” Halena said as she rose from the table. “We’ll take care of the meal.”

  It always made Mary nervous when her grandmother grew too quiet, and it was a silent Halena that helped her set the table and fill water glasses for the evening meal.

  When the food was on the table, Mary went to the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room. Tony sat on the edge of the sofa and stared at the sleeping baby. Bewilderment radiated from him, reminding her that he’d been thrust into this drama as unexpectedly as she had been.

  “Tony,” she said softly. “Dinner is ready.”

  He looked up at her and his eyes quickly shuttered. He followed her into the kitchen and she motioned him into a chair. The pot of stew was the centerpiece and the slabs of corn bread were on the side, along with butter and honey.

  “This all looks and smells delicious,” he said.

  “Mary knows her way around the kitchen,” Halena replied. She pulled the stew closer to her and began to ladle it into her bowl. “And you, Tony Nakni...what do you know about life?”

  He looked at her grandmother in surprise. She’d asked him a question he didn’t seem to know how to answer.

  “Grandmother, behave yourself,” Mary said with a small laugh.

  “I’m old enough that I don’t have to behave myself anymore,” Halena replied. “I’ve earned the right with age to do and say what I want. If I wish to dance naked in a rainstorm, I will. If I decide to wear a winter hat in July, it’s okay. And that’s that.” She looked at Mary and then at Tony, as if daring either one of them to disagree with her.

  “And that’s that,” Mary agreed with amusement.

  Tony’s eyes lightened and his lips twitched, as if he was controlling a smile. He filled his bowl and then slathered a piece of corn bread with butter.

  It was the first hint of a smile she’d seen since he’d arrived here earlier in the day. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see a real smile. She remembered when he’d come to visit with Amy those couple of times and how that expression had lit up his face and created a warmth in her...a warmth she had no right to feel. She still didn’t have that right.

  “Do you have any idea where Amy might be now?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I know she was living in Oklahoma City and I’m hoping she’s still somewhere in that area,” he replied. “She doesn’t have any relatives that she ever mentioned. I know her parents are dead.”

  “They were both addicts,” Mary replied. “When we were young, Amy spent most of her time at my parents’ house. She was like an adopted daughter to my mother and father and then to my grandmother.”

  “She was broken as a child and she’s still broken,” Halena said. “Why would you choose to date a woman with such problems?”

  Mary knew the answer. Amy was beautiful, and when she was clean and sober, she was effervescent and funny and loving. Any man would be drawn to her.

  Tony set down his spoon and met Halena’s gaze. “When I first started dating her, I had no clue about the demons she was fighting. I made it clear to her from the very beginning that I wasn’t looking for marriage and I had no wish for children. She told me she was on the same page as me and we were both just enjoying each other’s company. It was only as the relationship went on that alarm bells began to ring in my head.” He frowned and looked beyond Halena’s shoulder to the window, as if he was reluctant to say anything bad.

  “She started lying to you,” Mary said softly. “And she became unreliable. She didn’t show up where she was supposed to, and when pressed about where she was, she became combative.”

  Tony looked at her in surprise. “Yes, exactly.”

  “I love Amy like a sister, but I know the pattern. I only hope she didn’t use during her pregnancy,” she replied.

  Tony’s eyes widened. “Do you think it’s possible that she did? Maybe I should make an appointment for the baby to see a doctor to ma
ke sure everything is okay.”

  “That might not be a bad idea,” Mary agreed, although during the hours she’d been with Joey she hadn’t seen anything that concerned her.

  “And while I’m at it, I’ll have Dr. Rivers do a paternity test.” Tony’s cheeks flushed with faint color.

  That might not be a bad idea, either, Mary thought, although she didn’t say it aloud. Just because Amy had told her that Tony was the father didn’t necessarily make it true.

  “You make baskets,” he said, as if eager to change the subject.

  “We make traditional items to honor our heritage,” Halena replied.

  “It’s what I do for a living,” Mary said. For the next twenty minutes as they ate, she told him about Mary’s Choctaw Culture Inc., the business that had paid her bills for the last ten years.

  In turn he talked about his life and work on the Holiday ranch and it was obvious by his tone that he loved what he did and had a fierce allegiance to Cassie Peterson—big Cass Holiday’s niece, who now owned the ranch.

  They had just finished eating when Joey cried out from the living room. Tony shot a frantic look at her. It would have been easy for her to take the burden off him and go attend to the little guy, but she met his gaze levelly.

  For now they had to function on the assumption that he was the father, and if that was the case, then Tony needed to step up and take responsibility, no matter whether he’d wanted children or not.

  “Why don’t you go tend to him and I’ll clear the dinner dishes,” she said.

  “And I’m going to write a blog about tornadoes and tin men,” Halena announced as she got up from the table and headed out of the room.

  Tony looked at Mary curiously. “Don’t ask,” she said.

  It was only when he left the kitchen that Mary realized his presence in the house had her just a bit breathless. It was ridiculous how acutely aware of him she had been while they’d eaten.

  He not only had a strong and handsome countenance, but he also had hands that were big and capable, with calluses that proved he was a hard worker.

  Halena’s outlandish comments during the meal had made him laugh out loud twice and his laughter had been deep and rich, and invited anyone around him to join in.