Before either adult could respond, both kids took off for Andy’s bedroom again. Floyd turned to Sue Ann and looked into her eyes for a long moment before he said, “Kids!”
* * *
Floyd had wanted to answer Penny’s question badly, but Sue Ann had raced into the kitchen saying she had to finish supper so they could all eat.
He leaned on the doorway between the living room and the kitchen and watched as Sue Ann and Wanda put the finishing touches on the meal. He realized he could just stand there and watch Sue Ann move around the kitchen all night.
She moved so gracefully for a woman as tall as she was. Then he remembered that she had done some modeling for a while when she first went to Springfield. Then she’d married that jerk Ray and he’d put a stop to all that.
Floyd suddenly wondered if she regretted quitting modeling. He’d have to remember to ask her sometime. Of course, he’d better make sure she was in just the right mood before he did.
When she finally looked over at him she only said, “Could you call the kids, Floyd? It’s time to eat.”
As they were all sitting around the table, Floyd couldn’t help but notice that Penny and Andy kept whispering to each other. He wondered what those two were up to. That made him also wonder if Penny was being a good influence on Andy or not. It seemed like she was but he wasn’t sure especially right now. He sure did hope so though.
When everyone was finished eating, Penny looked at Andy who said, “Go on.”
Penny turned to Floyd then and said, “You didn’t answer my question.”
He tried to act like he didn’t know what she was talking about by giving her a puzzled look but she wouldn’t let him get away with it.
“You know what I mean. Are you two going to get married or not?”
Floyd looked at Sue Ann who suddenly found something on her plate rather interesting. Well, it sure didn’t look like he was going to get any help from her on this one.
He took a deep breath and plunged right in. “Well, Penny, Sue Ann and I like each other a lot and we’re still trying to see where this thing between us is going but we don’t want to rush into anything you know.”
Now, that sure sounded intelligent. He sounded like he didn’t know his own mind. He sure hoped Penny would drop the subject now but he took one look at her face and knew she was far from finished.
Penny looked at Sue Ann this time and said, “Are you going to marry my dad or not? Andy and I want to know because I think it’d be great to have a little brother and he thinks it’d be great to have a big sister too.”
Floyd breathed a small sigh of relief. Now Sue Ann was in the hot seat right along with him. That’s what he thought at least. That was until Sue Ann looked at him with those big beautiful blue eyes and they were pleading with him to answer Penny. Well, hadn’t he already answered the girl?
He looked at Penny and then back at Sue Ann. Since she was looking at him, everyone else around the table was also staring or even glaring at him too.
He opened his mouth but nothing came out.
A loud harrumph came from Sue Ann’s mother. Then she slapped her hand on the table and said, “For goodness sake, Floyd, why don’t you go ahead and ask the girl. Everyone knows you want to and we also know what she’ll say.”
The kids giggling brought him out of the shock that Wanda’s words had put him into. He focused on Sue Ann and was stunned to see anticipation on her face too.
What was going on around here? Was he being setup? Were they all trying to get him to do something he didn’t really want to do?
No! Suddenly it all became clear to him what must have appeared clear to everyone else in the room. Sue Ann loved him. He could see it in her eyes now. And he loved her too. So why shouldn’t they get married?
The next question was when should he ask her. One look around the table and he knew that everyone else was expecting him to do it right now. Now? A guy just didn’t ask a woman to marry him with an audience, did he?
Then he thought about just who was in that audience. Her mother. Her son. His daughter. He could only see acceptance on every face in the room. Sue Ann too? Yes! That was exactly what he saw on her face.
He cleared his throat and tried to talk but nothing would come out again. He took a sip of water and tried again.
“Sue Ann, I love you and probably have for a long time. I’ve just been too stubborn to admit it even to myself.” He thought for a moment. “And you can thank Jo for starting me to thinking about it last fall.”
He took another sip of water and could see that everyone was waiting anxiously for him to continue. Okay, he would.
“And I think you love me too.” She nodded her head with a big beautiful smile on her face. That was all the encouragement he needed. “Will you marry me, Sue Ann?”
She jumped into his lap. He couldn’t help but think that it was a good thing he’d pulled his chair out from the table once he’d started all that thinking and talking.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and said, “Yes I’ll marry you Floyd Ray McCracken. Even if you are the most stubborn, thick-headed man I’ve ever known.”
Everyone was laughing and shouting at once and the kids were jumping up and down calling each other brother and sister.
Then all of a sudden everyone in the room was staring at him again. Now what? What did he do now?
Sue Ann finally giggled and said, “Sometimes I think you’re just a little too thick-headed Floyd. Everyone is waiting for you to kiss me. That’s what you’re supposed to do when a woman says she’ll marry you.”
Now this he could understand. He pulled her head toward his and kissed her long and hard. Everyone began clapping and cheering all over again. This time he didn’t mind though. He was rather occupied at the moment.
When he finally, reluctantly broke the kiss, Sue Ann jumped out of his lap and ran from the room calling out over her shoulder, “I’ve got to call Jo Jo.”
After that, he could hear her excited voice as she talked to Jo. He looked around the table at the other three. Penny and Andy chose that moment to jump up and run out, probably to his room.
When he looked at Wanda, there were tears running down her cheeks. Oh man. Now what?
She saw the concern on his face and shook her head. “No Floyd, these are happy tears. You don’t know how long I’ve prayed that Sue Ann would find a good man, especially after that disaster with Ray.”
He was still processing that when his cell phone rang. It was Gil. Talk about a circus, this was sure turning into one and fast.
“Congratulations, Floyd, I thought you’d never get around to figuring out that you two were meant for each other.”
Floyd snorted. “Well, if everyone else knew it so long before I did, why didn’t someone tell me?”
Gil laughed and said, “You know that Jo told you six months ago.”
Yeah, he had to admit that Jo had been pushing the two of them together for quite a while.
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning Floyd was still reeling from the momentous events of the evening before at Sue Ann’s house. Was he actually going to get married . . . again? He shook his head to clear it. He knew it wasn’t the least bit fair to even think about comparing Sue Ann to Darcy. Sue Ann was a mature Christian woman. Darcy had been a very young and immature girl. That should be enough said on that subject.
Penny appeared in his doorway wearing the same grin she’d had on her face since last night. He guessed he didn’t have to wonder what she felt about the whole situation. After all, hadn’t it been her idea that he propose? Hers and Andy’s that is.
That made him think of how drastically his life had changed in the short time he’d known about Penny and she’d come to live with him. Wow! Even though he’d only known that little girl such a short time, she’d changed not only his whole life but him. He had to admit that he’d grown to love her a lot.
His thoughts were interrupted by the telephone. It was dispatch.
>
“Sheriff, Deputy Owens has been attacked out behind Mrs. Perkins barn. She called in about a prowler and he went to investigate.”
“Is he okay?”
“Probably. Seems that he was hit on the head so he may have a concussion.”
“I’m on my way.”
On his way out the door, he called out to Crystal and Penny that he was leaving.
All the way out to the old Perkins farm, Floyd couldn’t help but think that somehow Hennesey was behind this. But why? What could he gain by attacking one of Floyd’s deputies? Well, he didn’t have time to finish those thoughts. He was there and one of his deputies was hurt.
He pulled into the barn lot where there were already half a dozen of his deputies just as the paramedics were loading Owens into their ambulance.
He ran over and stopped them for a minute. He looked down at his newest and youngest deputy and said, “How are you Son?”
Owens grinned back up at Floyd. “I’m okay Sheriff. I just got hit on the head when I went around behind the barn. Good thing I got a thick head.”
With that, Floyd stepped aside and allowed them to load Owens into the ambulance.
He walked over to where Hal and a couple of other deputies were standing next to Owens’ patrol vehicle. As he arrived, Hal leaned into the driver’s side and came out with a frown on his face.
He saw Floyd then and said, “Floyd, the keys aren’t in it.”
One of the paramedics was just closing the door on the ambulance when Floyd called out to her. “Hey, ask him if he has his keys. We need them to take his car in.”
When the paramedic called out, “In the car,” it only took a few seconds for the significance of that simple phrase to sink in
Floyd turned to Hal. “Leave one deputy here to clean up. Everybody else run code as fast as you can back to the station. If I’m right, Hennesey has Owens’ fob and he can open both the gate and the outside door.”
No one questioned that conclusion as they all jumped into their vehicles and followed Floyd back to the station.
Floyd was in a trance. He was cold all over. He now knew that this had to have been a decoy, a way for Hennesey to get into an almost empty station to get Penny. Lord how he hoped and prayed he was wrong.
That made him begin to beseech God to protect Penny and not let it be what he was afraid it would be when he got back there.
His worst nightmare was realized when dispatch came over the radio with, “Code Red. All units return to the station immediately. Repeat Code Red.”
Floyd’s stomach fell through his car seat. There was only one thing that could mean. He got on the radio and requested a perimeter patrol around the station while he raced in through the gate into the compound behind the station.
When he ran through the empty squad room on his way to his office, he could hear Crystal crying hysterically.
He entered her office to find one of the secretaries from the front office leaning over Crystal who was sitting in her desk chair. She had her arms around Crystal who was still sobbing almost out of control.
He looked at the secretary and she said, “It was Hennesey. He came in waving a gun and took off with your daughter.
Floyd almost fell down but felt strong hands suddenly gripping both elbows from behind and guiding him to a chair.
When he turned around, Hal said, “I’ll get everybody out looking for her and alert all other agencies, Floyd.” Then he ran from the room toward dispatch leaving a stunned Floyd sitting there wondering what he could do to find his daughter before Hennesey did something to hurt her.
Slowly, as if still in a trance, Floyd left the office and climbed into his Tahoe. He couldn’t just sit at the office, he had to get out there and somehow find Penny . . . his daughter.
Over the next few minutes, he received several phone calls. First was the sergeant in charge of the small state highway patrol detachment that had an office in Crowleyville pledging that he’d get all of his troopers out on the road looking for Penny. Then he even received a call from the chief of police in Springfield offering to send some of his detectives over to help.
The last call was the one he had dreaded. It was from the Special Agent in Charge of the Springfield office of the FBI.
Floyd had always hated dealing with any federal agency especially the FBI. They always came in and took over everything making everyone else take a back seat for the duration of the investigation. This was his daughter! He was not going to be pushed aside this time. He was going to stay in charge no matter what.
James Norton began with, “Sheriff, I’m truly sorry to hear that it was your daughter who was kidnapped. I want you to know that we will do everything in our power to find that little girl.”
Floyd was about to tell him where he could go with his help but then had second thoughts. They did need everyone they could get their hands on to help find Penny before that maniac did something to her. And he had to admit that the FBI did deal with this sort of thing almost on a daily basis. He needed their help whether he liked it or not.
“Okay SAC Norton, you can send in your people and they can setup at my office but I will not be left out of anything. Is that clear?”
Norton paused a moment before responding. “Sheriff, I can’t say I know how you feel but I have been personally involved in over a hundred kidnapping investigations over the twenty years I’ve been with the bureau. I’ll just ask you one question then we’ll go on.”
“Okay shoot.”
“Do you want us to treat you as the head of a cooperating agency or as the father of the victim?”
Floyd didn’t have to think about that. He fired back quickly with, “Both. I will be involved in every aspect of this case or you will be cut out of it. Do I make myself clear SAC Norton?”
Floyd knew he’d gone too far but he didn’t care. This case was not a normal case. It was his daughter out there with a murderer.
After a long pause, Norton finally responded. “Okay, Sheriff, we’ll do it your way. And because of the urgency of the situation I will be coming over there personally. In fact, I’m going out the door right now. I should be there within the hour.
* * *
Sue Ann felt like she was floating on air Wednesday morning as she moved around the shop. She was going to marry Floyd McCracken. Imagine that? And she was going to hug and kiss Penny the next time she saw her. If it hadn’t been for Penny prodding Floyd, who knows when he would have ever gotten around to asking her to marry him.
She’d been doing a lot of thinking this morning and she had come to the conclusion that she couldn’t remember when she’d actually started loving Floyd. It was all kind of fuzzy in her mind.
From the first time she had met him, when she was six years old, she’d looked up to him and even had a little girl crush on him. Only Jo had known that and also that she’d cried when Floyd went off to the army when she was only thirteen. Then she’d cried again, when he came back four years later with a wife.
From then on, it really grew dim in her mind because she went to Springfield as soon as she graduated from high school while Floyd was still married to Darcy.
When she thought back to Ray’s whirlwind pursuit of her, she knew she’d been on the rebound and Ray had just been in the right place at the right time.
Of course, by the time Darcy left Floyd, Sue Ann was already married to Ray. She wouldn’t even think about that right now. She didn’t want anything to spoil her good mood.
She snapped out of her daydream when she realized that Florence was asking her a question. She thought for a moment about how much she genuinely cared for Gil’s mother and his Aunt Eunice too. And now they were here helping her and Jo with the coffee shop, what a treat.
She looked at Florence and said, “I’m sorry, I must have been daydreaming. What did you say?”
Florence giggled and said, “I’m sure I can guess who you were daydreaming about.”
She giggled more then said, “Well, it looks like Eunic
e is getting the hang of those fancy coffee machines but I don’t think I ever will. I guess you’re stuck with me in the kitchen and dining area.”
Sue Ann and Florence began working together to wait on all the customers who came in for breakfast. As she was approaching a table to take their order, she overheard what one of the men was saying to the other.
“I heard it was the sheriff’s daughter.”
Sue Ann rushed up the rest of the way and shouted out. “What about the sheriff’s daughter?”
The man turned to her in surprise and said, “Haven’t you heard all the sirens going all over town for the last couple of hours? They’re saying that the sheriff’s daughter has been kidnapped.”
Sue Ann had to lean against the table behind her or she surely would have fallen to the floor in a dead faint. She never fainted. Penny? No, it couldn’t be.
Just then, a man from another table said, “I even saw some Springfield cop cars driving around town.”
That was it. She was out of here. She ran to the counter where Jo was making something and said, “Jo they’re saying that Penny’s been kidnapped. I’ve got to go to Floyd.”
Jo’s eyes widened and she cried out, “Oh no.” She sat back on her chair. “Sure you go ahead. And let us know what’s going on as soon as you can. Okay?”
With that, Sue Ann flew out of the shop to her car. She made record time driving the two miles over to the sheriff’s office. She didn’t care if some deputy tried to pull her over for speeding, they would just have to follow her right into Floyd’s office if they wanted to try to give her a ticket. Besides they all had better things to do right now anyway.
When she raced through the front door into the reception area, Bev was at her counter and took one look at Sue Ann then pointed at the door, which was already buzzing.
Sue Ann ran as fast as she could down the hallway toward Crystal’s office. When she got there, Crystal wasn’t there and it looked like a whole group of men in dark suits had not only taken over Crystal’s office but the conference room next door.
A Better Solution (Crowley County Series Book 2) Page 18