by Jill Sanders
Serving Pride
Serving Pride
Robert Brogan was destined to be sheriff in the small town of Pride, Oregon. He moved to Pride when he was eight after his mother’s mysterious disappearance. Always following the rules and sticking up for the weak, he had only one thing in mind after graduation—tracking down his mother. But after almost ten years of looking with no luck, he makes his way back to his hometown. When tragedy strikes, he’s given the opportunity of a lifetime. Being sheriff in the small town of Pride gives him the chance to pursue the girl he just can’t keep his mind off.
Amelia Blake can never forget the boy that saved her from certain danger ten years ago. When she comes home after her father’s death, she only plans on a short visit, but her mother’s failing health and her feelings for Robert persuade her to move back home. When sparks fly, she can’t help finding herself falling fast for the new sheriff in town.
SERVING PRIDE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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ISBN:
Copyright © 2013 Jill Sanders
Edited by Erica Ellis http://www.ericaellisfreelance.com
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Serving Pride
Jill Sanders
Other Titles by Jill Sanders
Finding Pride – Book one in the Pride Series
Discovering Pride – Book two in the Pride Series
Returning Pride – Book three in the Pride Series
Lasting Pride – Book four in the Pride Series
Secret Seduction – Book one in the Secret Series
Secret Pleasures – Book two in the Secret Series
Coming Soon by Jill Sanders
Secret Guardian – Book three in the Secret Series
Secret Passion – Book four in the Secret Series
Cowgirls Ride Harder – Book one in the Cowgirls Series
Cowgirls Ride Faster – Book two in the Cowgirls Series
Cowgirls Ride Longer – Book three in the Cowgirls Series
Red Hot Christmas – A Christmas Love Story
Dedication
To my editor…
I can’t thank you enough,
for making my books read as
well as they do in my head.
Chapter One
Little Robert listened to his mom crying in the next room. He knew that he couldn’t go in there yet. He had to wait until Roy left before he could go see how bad the damage was from the fight. Chances were Roy would either pass out drunk within fifteen minutes or he’d grab his keys and leave, heading down to the local bar to get even more wasted.
It was a hell of a way to spend his eighth birthday. He had enjoyed the party earlier; all of his friends had attended and he’d gotten loads of cool presents. But shortly after the last guest had left, Roy had started drinking. It had taken less than an hour for his mother to do or say something that had caused the fight. Robert knew it wasn’t her fault.
He could remember a time when his mother had been pretty and strong. Back when his real father, Robert Sr., had been alive, she’d smiled and laughed a lot. But when he was six, his dad had died in a car accident and his mother stopped living.
She hadn’t started dating until just last year, and the first person she’d picked was Roy. She’d met him at the bar where she worked six nights a week. At first Roy had smiled and brought presents for them. Shortly after he moved in to their small two-bedroom apartment, the fights began. Robert didn’t know why his mother kept him around, why she allowed him to still live there. There really wasn’t anything the man was good for. After all, shortly before he’d moved in, he’d lost his job at the steel mill.
Robert didn’t like him not only because of this, but also because the man called him Robby, which he couldn’t stand. He always used a tone, like he was making fun of him or that he had a secret joke somehow tied up in his nickname. But his mother acted like she loved him, and so Robert had tolerated him.
Plus, Roy had promised them both that he’d find a new job and take care of them. But then he’d started drinking. Robert even thought that he was using drugs, though he couldn’t really tell. He never took drugs in front of him, but Robert had listened carefully to the police officer who had talked to his class when his school had a drug awareness week. The man had spoken about saying no to drugs, but hadn’t really talked about how to tell if someone else was on drugs.
After the officer’s planned speech was done, Robert had walked up to him and asked him how to tell if someone else was on drugs. The man had looked at him funny, and then he sat down and talked to him, giving Robert a few things he should look out for. He asked Robert if he was okay and tried to get him to tell him who Robert thought was on drugs. But Robert didn’t want to get Roy, or worse, his mother, in any trouble, so he’d just told the man that there were some kids that bugged him on his walk home.
He’d enjoyed talking to the officer and had eyed the man’s gun like it was candy. He knew guns were dangerous and needed to be handled by professionals, but man, he really wanted to see how much it weighed and feel how it felt in his hands. Maybe someday he’d get to hold a real gun and even fire it.
Now he listened to Roy leave, then waited a few more minutes before he crawled out of his bed with his Spider-man comforter and sheets. As he tip-toed down the short hall, he listened for the front door, just in case Roy decided to come back. If he did, Robert would make a bolt for his room. Roy had never hit him, probably because if he ever laid a hand on him, his mama will the man. She’d said so on many occasions.
“Mama?” He pushed the door opened and looked into the dark room. He could just make out his mother on the bed in the dark room.
“Go back to bed, honey.” He heard her sniffle and she quickly rolled over, putting her back to him.
He walked over to the other side of the bed and looked at her. “Mama, are you okay? Should I call the police?”
“No, honey. We just had a fight. Roy’s just stressed that he hasn’t found a job yet.”
“Mama, did he hit you?” Robert had been asleep for the first part of the fight. All the sugar and running around during his party had worn him out. He’d actually gone to bed an hour earlier than normal.
“No, baby. He just yelled.” His mother sat up and turned on the light. Robert saw that her eyes were swollen red from crying. She still had on the dress that she’d worn for his party. It was her happy dress, as Robert liked to think of it. The pale yellow reminded him of better times with his father, for some reason.
She patted the mattress next to her and he climbed up next to her on the bed. When she wrapped her arm around him, he felt comforted. He loved the way his mother smelled, as fresh as a field of daisies. That’s what his father had always said, and Robert had always agreed with him.
“I’m sorry to wake you. Did you have fun today?”
Being the eight-year-old boy that he was, he fell for the change of subject his mother provided and proceeded to talk for a few minutes about his party and all the cool presents he’d gotten that day. He fell asleep again, there in her arms, and she carried him back to his room and sung to him as she laid him back in his Spider-man bed.
The next morning when he woke, she was gone. There was no note, no goodbyes, nothing. Roy had come back and had fallen asleep on the couch, face down. When Robert tried to wake him, he’d just turned over and put the pillow over his head.
Robert thought that maybe his mom had gone to the store, so he got ready for school. He made his own lunch and grabbed a few slices of bread and some cheese for breakfast. Roy didn’t move, even though Robert was being very loud in the kitchen.
When he left to walk for school, his mother still wasn’t there. Leaving the apartment complex, he saw by his mother’s car still parked in the parking lot, and for a second, he wanted to run back in the apartment to see if maybe she had just been hiding from him. She couldn’t have gone anywhere without her car. He thought that maybe she’d taken Roy’s truck, but when he looked, he saw that it was parked out back behind the apartments.
It took him twice as long as usual to walk to school that day, because he was so occupied by his thoughts. When he finally did make it to class, he was fifteen minutes late and received his third tardy that year.
Walking home with a note that needed to be signed, he stepped in to find Roy still on the couch face down. He’d forgotten to check and see if his mother’s car was there, but he knew instantly that she wasn’t home. She was supposed to work until midnight that night since she’d taken off the day before for his birthday party.
Walking into his room, he dumped his bag on his bed and got to work on his homework. He had an agreement with his mom. If he kept his grades above C’s he would get to play Xbox after dinner. Since his mother was at work, he could eat dinner as early as he wanted, which meant more time playing games.
That whole evening, Roy didn’t move. He’d walked by him several times to make sure he was still breathing and was slightly disappointed when he heard the man snoring.
The next morning, he rushed into his mom’s room to find it empty. Roy was no longer on the couch. When he got home from school, neither of them were there. Since it was Friday, he called for pizza delivery and paid out of the money his mom hid for him. He spent the weekend playing video games and eating junk food.
When he went into school on Monday, he still hadn’t heard from either his mom or Roy. Instead of going to his class, he’d walked into the principal’s office and sat out by the receptionist. He told the older woman he needed to speak with Mr. Kent, man to man, before classes.
Finally, a few minutes later, Mr. Kent walked out and nodded to him to follow him into his office.
“Well, Mr. Brogan, what can I help you with today?”
Robert sat in the large leather chair and looked across at the principal.
“Well sir, I think something happened to my mom and Roy.”
Instantly the man’s face showed concern. “What do you mean?”
“I haven’t seen my mom since last week and Roy took off, too. It’s not like my mom to leave this long. Her work called and left a message, saying she was fired. Roy, well, Roy doesn’t work and his truck has been gone for a few days.”
“Who’s been watching you?”
“No one, sir. I’ve been on my own since the day after my birthday.” Robert hadn’t realized tears were escaping his eyes and when a fat drop landed on his hand, he jumped and looked down at it like it had fallen from out of nowhere.
Mr. Kent picked up his phone, “Mary, can you call Child Protective Services, please. Tell them it’s an emergency.”
Robert can’t really remember what took place in the days that followed, but less than a week later, he was on a plane to someplace called Oregon. He was going to live with his great-aunt by the ocean. He’d never seen the ocean and the excitement almost won out over the fear.
When they told him that they thought his mother had abandoned him, he screamed and kicked until they finally agreed that maybe something had happened to her. They hadn’t found Roy or his mother’s car or Roy’s truck. Since he’d never known Roy’s last name, something young kids don’t think of remembering, and since the man wasn’t on the lease, they didn’t even know where to start looking.
Stepping off the plane, the first thing he noticed was that it was cold. New Mexico was always warm. Then he saw snow on the ground and his fear turned into excitement.
There was an older woman sitting in a wheel chair with a handmade sign that had his name on it in bright red and blue letters. Red and blue were his favorite colors. He saw this as a good sign.
Walking up to her, he dropped the hand of the stewardess who’d accompanied him on his flight. “I’m Robert Brogan. Are you my aunt Daisy?”
She leaned over and smiled at him. “Yes, sir, I am. I’d recognize you anywhere. You look just like your daddy.”
The drive from the Portland airport to the town of Pride seemed to take forever. He didn’t quite know what to say to his aunt. He found her car totally fascinating, though. He found her car totally fascinating She had it fitted with special controls so she could use her hands to work the gas and brake pedals. At first he’d been afraid of how she was going to get in the car. He’d wanted to ask if she needed any help, but she’d quickly hopped into her seat like she was a professional. What took her the longest was getting her wheelchair folded up and put in the seat behind her. He could have helped, but he was afraid he’d upset her.
“Well, Robert, I don’t know what they told you, but I was your father’s aunt. We were very close when he was younger, but when he moved down south, I guess we lost track of each other. I hadn’t heard any news about him until he passed away.” She looked over at him as she drove. “I hope you don’t mind cats. I have a few of them. They make me feel better. I bet you’re dying to ask me what happened to my legs, huh?”
He nodded his head in agreement and she laughed. She looked younger when she laughed and he couldn’t help but smile back at her.
“Well, a while back, I had a stroke, and since then, my legs just won’t follow what my brain tells them to do. Don’t worry, the rest of me seems to be working just fine and since the doctor started giving me some new medicine, I’ve never felt better.” She smiled at him again.
“Let’s see, you’re in the second grade?”
He nodded his head in agreement, again.
“Good, I think I’ve gotten everything set up for you to start school next week. I hope it’s okay that I decided to let you have the rest of this week off. I don’t think you’ll miss that much. Besides, we’ll have fun getting to know each other.”
“I’m just staying here until my mom comes back.” He wanted to shout it. He’d told the CPS worker over and over again that he wanted to stay at home. He was sure that his mom was going to come home and if he wasn’t there, he was worried she would think that something bad had happened to him.
“It’s okay, honey, we’ll wait for her together. I’m sure she’ll come back for you. You can just stay with me until she does. Will that be okay?”
This was the first person who’d actually believed him about his mother. Hearing her words made him finally believe that his mother wasn’t coming back, that she couldn’t come back for him, and he had a sinking feeling he knew why.
Chapter Two
Ten years later
Robert left the school for the last time. Graduation was tonight and he couldn’t wait to leave Pride tomorrow. He’d lived here ten long years, waiting for someone he knew would never return. It was time for him to leave and see the world. Maybe he’d head south to try and pick up his mother’s trail. Or better yet, Roy’s trail. The man must be out there somewhere.
Walking out, he spotted two jocks, Kevin and Ricky. They had their backs to him and he knew they were up to no good. He could hear the laughing and name calling from across the parking lot. Without thinking about it, he started walking towards them. He’d grown bigger and taller than the two football quarterbacks two years ago and had, on more occasions than he could remember, stepped in to save some poor kid from their wrath.
“Hey, why don’
t you guys go pick on someone….”