He met her eyes. She watched him with a bright, damp gaze.
Rachel spoke first, vibrating with indignation. “I’ve known Honey my entire life. I have two lovely children who love Honey as much as I do. I couldn’t ask for a better friend. Calling her a tart was wicked.”
Perhaps sensing her mother’s tension, Beth, in Rachel’s arms, fussed. Travis took her and held her against his chest. She settled.
“I own the diner in town,” Vy said. “Honey’s one of the best people I know and a damned smart businesswoman.”
“I’m a reporter for the town’s newspaper. I worked in television in New York City,” Nadine said. “You might think we’re all country bumpkins here, but we’re smart. We know good people. Honey is good.”
“Yeah, count me in. I love Honey, too.” That last was Max with a belligerent tone. “We also know bad people.” She looked down her nose at Ada, because Ada was looking over Max’s masculine attire with disdain. Cole almost laughed outright. Max gave as good as she got.
Each woman moved to stand beside Honey.
Vy spoke up again, outlining how Honey gave so much of herself during every weather crisis. “This might look like an ordinary bar, but it’s also a town meeting place when people are in need. Honey never says no. Just look at how much she has done for Cole and those children since he arrived home.”
She glanced between Cole and Honey. “It isn’t because there is a romantic relationship. It’s because they are friends. Honey would do anything for a friend.”
Cal Frazer interjected, “Remember two summers ago when we had the tornado warning? Myself and all of my customers ran over and hid out in Honey’s cellar. So did the other shop owners and clients, because Honey’s was large enough to fit us all in.”
Jamie and Clint Enright stepped forward to stand in front of Ada. Jamie said, “I don’t know why you’d call Honey a tart. I’ve been trying to get her to go out with me for seven years, ever since Daniel died. She doesn’t date anyone. I know. I’ve been watching.”
Cole appreciated Jamie’s input, but that seemed creepy. Something must have shown on Cole’s face, because Jamie rushed on, “I don’t mean in a stalking sense, Sheriff. I just really want to know what her type is if it’s not me.”
Honey shook her head slightly at Cole, conveying that she didn’t find Jamie’s behavior creepy. Cole figured it really was purely curiosity on Jamie’s part.
“Even if she did or does date a lot, why wouldn’t that be her business and not yours?” Clint asked, standing as close to Ada as Jamie did. “Or anybody’s. This isn’t the ’50s, y’know. Women don’t have to be ashamed of being sexual creatures.”
Vy hooted. A smattering of applause followed. Cole had a new and suddenly deeper respect for Clint.
“Jamie, Clint, step back a bit, okay?” Cole asked. They retreated to a pair of bar stools. “The point here today is not to gang up on my parents. It’s to educate them. Frank? Ada? You’ve underestimated and maligned a truly beautiful person. You had no right to.”
His sweeping arm included everyone in the room. “These are good, good people. The best I’ve ever met. I’m honored to work for them as their sheriff. Despite their busy lives, especially on a sunny day when many of them should be out attending to their ranch chores, they dropped everything to come into town to defend a friend.”
Cole’s dad had the grace to look sheepish. Ada, on the other hand, looked more entrenched in her position.
He didn’t know why she had to fight so hard, why she needed to win every battle.
Cole turned to everyone and said, “From the bottom of my heart, thank you for doing this for Honey. I know you need to get back to your—”
Michael Moreno interrupted him midsentence. “Hold up, Sheriff.”
Cole noted the use of Sheriff instead of his name, certain that it signified Michael sending a message to his parents about respect. Gratitude flooded Cole.
He nodded for Michael to continue.
“We’ve covered how wonderful our own Honey Armstrong is...and how wrong her portrayal by these people was.” Another note—Michael hadn’t called them Cole’s parents. “We need to establish how worthy you are.”
Michael looked around the room. “Let me start. I’ve lived here the whole of my forty years. In that time I’ve seen some great sheriffs running law enforcement in this county. Even so, I’ve never known one as good as Cole Payette.”
A swell of vocal agreement followed that.
Again, Jamie and Clint stepped forward.
“Cole’s a decent guy,” Jamie said. “He takes care of this town real well.”
“He’s tough when he needs to be and shows leniency when it’s called for. He’s got a streak of common sense a mile wide.”
Talk about miles. A chasm opened up inside Cole at least that wide. He wasn’t used to taking praise.
Jamie and Clint might be rough around the edges, which Ada would be sure to note, but they had hearts of gold.
Honor, gratefulness, celebration welled up within Cole, and he fought the hint of moisture gathering in his eyes.
No way would he show vulnerability in front of his parents, not even the good kind.
Pride swelled, not in himself, but in this town and its people. When he’d come here fourteen years ago, he’d chosen well.
Or gotten lucky.
He couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
Ada stood, not quite steady on her feet.
For a moment, Cole felt sorry for her. Maybe this was too much, too many people. Maybe his mother felt bullied.
That hadn’t been his intention. He’d simply wanted to defend Honey and to give back to her after all she’d done for him in the past four days.
She should have never had to take a speck of grief from Cole’s parents, and he wanted it to stop.
Ada opened her mouth to speak. “Don’t expect me to apologize to that woman. Keeping those children upstairs in an apartment above a bar is wrong. I don’t care how good you people believe she is, or how good you think your sheriff is, but nothing here compares to what I can offer my grandchildren.”
Cole’s heart sank. He shouldn’t have expected an apology. He shouldn’t have expected anything.
Once again, Michael Moreno spoke up. “With all due respect, ma’am, I can see that you have money, but there isn’t enough money in the world to replace tenderness and affection and love. You might think you’re doing the right thing by those children, but you’re dead wrong.”
Ada stared daggers at Michael. Michael, about as solid a man as Cole had ever come across, stared right back, but not with anger or hatred. It might be pity or maybe even compassion, because that was the way Michael was built.
“When you take Cole to court for custody of those two little ones, I’ll be there to support him.” Michael crossed his arms over his solid chest. “I’ll testify on his behalf if he’ll let me.”
The room filled with a groundswell of voices raised in agreement. It seemed they would all do the same.
Cole couldn’t speak or he really would crack in front of Ada.
Honey spoke up. “If anyone wants to stay around for coffee, I’ll put on a few pots. Otherwise, we’re going to take the children out to view real estate.”
The townspeople hugged Honey and shook Cole’s hand, picked up their cowboy hats and filed out.
The room settled into an uncomfortable, tense silence with Honey and Cole near the door and his parents at the table in the middle of the room.
“I don’t know what you hoped to accomplish by that vulgar public display, but you failed.”
Cole faced his mother. “If you can’t figure out what that was all about, there’s no hope for you. Leave.”
They stood to go. When his father drew abreast of Cole, he opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it and followed h
is wife out of the door, disappointing Cole.
He didn’t doubt his father had been moved by the impromptu town meeting. Too bad he still didn’t have the backbone to buck his wife’s will.
His mother said, “See you in court.”
His father closed the door behind them.
Nothing had changed. They still planned to wage war.
Chapter Ten
Cole went back to his apartment to change out of his uniform for viewing the house.
In jeans and a white T-shirt, he returned to Honey’s apartment.
This whole business of living with children was still so new that he didn’t know what was needed.
Doubts assailed him.
What if he bought the house only to find it wasn’t suitable?
Julia arrived at Honey’s apartment to take them to the house, shooting a speculative look between the two of them, despite the folded bedclothes on the sofa.
Cole wanted the children to see the house before he committed to it, so he told Julia they would meet over there.
They drove over in his truck, Honey with them. It took all of three minutes.
A two-story solid-brick home with three bedrooms, the house stood on a large treed lot on a side street off Main. A broad, deep veranda ran along the front of the house, an inviting spot on a hot summer evening, no doubt.
Honey seemed out of sorts, even with the children.
Used to her sunny ways, he wondered if he and the children had worn her out.
* * *
HONEY COULDN’T NAME what was wrong with her.
She wasn’t usually in a bad mood.
It wasn’t the children. She loved having them around. For so many years, since her mother’s death, she’d lived in that big old apartment alone, never once unhappy, only occasionally feeling a lack in her life.
She and Daniel had never lived together.
Now she dreaded the emptiness after the children left. This house would be perfect for them. Of course Cole would buy it.
How could he not?
As early as this weekend, these rooms could ring with Evan’s shouts and Cole’s heavy tread, while Honey’s apartment would suddenly be bereft and empty in a way it had never been before.
Their footsteps echoed from the high ceilings of vacant rooms. This house needed a family.
Other than needing a good cleaning, some small repairs and new appliances, it was perfect.
Evan ran from one end of the long hallway to the other shouting, “Look at me!”
He took off his shoes and skated across the floor in his socks, an ice dancer without skates. “Look what I can do.”
“Let’s go upstairs,” Cole said. “Take a look at the bedrooms.”
Three good-size bedrooms and a bathroom bracketed the long hallway.
The children could have their own rooms. The one room that ran across the front of the house would hold Cole’s king-size bed easily.
She could see them all living here happily.
And that was when it hit her.
Like a ton of bricks, the thought came unbidden. I don’t want them to leave me. I would keep them forever.
Madeline skipped and hummed from room to room. Evan skated on the old hardwood floors upstairs. The floors creaked beneath their feet.
Cole asked her opinion of the house and the yard. He discussed his furniture needs.
When Cole and the children moved in here, her apartment would be changed forever. Honey would never be able to see it in the same light again.
These children had happened to her, and their presence could never be undone.
She could already feel loneliness settling in.
For a woman who treasured independence, and who filled spare moments with activity, she understood with bleak conviction that there was not enough activity on the earth to make up for losing these children.
And be honest, Honey. For losing Cole.
Shocked, she stood at a window and stared at the overgrown yard below, desperate to hide her burgeoning feelings from Cole.
Where had they come from?
From spending so much time with him, helping him through an emotional trial. From recognizing everything that was good and wonderful about Cole. His decency. His love for the children. His conviction that he was doing the right thing in taking on his wealthy parents. His courage in having broken free of their control.
As well, there was his body. For the first time in a long time, her body ached to satisfy unused muscles. She wanted sex. She wanted it with Cole.
She would love to start with a hug.
Just one hug.
Turning away from the window, she put on a bright, fixed smile so he wouldn’t see what she was feeling.
If he knew, he might withdraw from her. She would miss seeing him and Evan and Madeline.
He was smart, she’d learned, and intuitive.
As well, she’d gone down this road with a lawman before and the grief when he’d been killed had been tremendous. It had taken her a long time to get over it. She couldn’t take the chance of going through that again. She wasn’t strong enough.
That brought up a thought...what was Cole’s plan for the children if anything should happen to him?
She should discuss it with him. Or maybe not. He’d come to her for help. She’d given it. Soon he and the children would live here on their own, without her. What he did next was none of her business.
Strolling through the rooms, she planned her strategy for survival in this brave new world when she felt anything but brave.
Honey, who barely knew what the word insecurity meant, didn’t know how to go ahead into the future.
She’d never known a moment of self-pity, not even when her mother—and then Daniel—had died and left her alone. But now she wanted to cry.
She wanted the children. She wanted Cole.
And they were leaving her.
“The house is good. Sound.” Cole led the way downstairs. “Let’s check out the yard.”
Outside, the grass grew far too high. Remnants of a kitchen garden had long ago lost the fight to a hostile weed takeover.
Evan ran ahead, whacking at the grass with a stick that at one time must have been a plant stake.
“It isn’t too far from the sheriff’s office,” Cole said.
“Not too far,” Honey managed to respond.
Cole held Madeline’s hand but picked her up where the grass grew too tall for her. “If I get an emergency call, it won’t take long for someone to come out to watch the children while I head off to work.”
Honey murmured her agreement, unable to speak in case he heard her desperate unhappiness.
Cole, Evan and Madeline had to start their new lives together soon. It made perfect sense.
Still, Honey brooded. She had never been a brooder. She had become, just this moment while walking this land behind the sturdy house with a newfound family, a world-class brooder.
“Can I buy this week and be in by the weekend?” Cole asked Julia. “By Sunday?”
“I’m sure that can be arranged. The Ashers are motivated sellers.”
She quoted him a figure and Cole nodded.
It would suit them. Honey had no doubt of that.
She wondered if he could afford the house.
He must have read her mind. “I haven’t had much to spend my money on over the years. I’ve got a decent down payment. Plus, Sandy and Dennis had good life insurance policies. We won’t be wealthy like my parents, but we’ll be fine.”
Turning to walk back to the house, she studied the white clapboard siding and pictured herself in the window on the second floor looking out over new-mown grass and a kitchen vegetable garden and a flower bed planted purely for frivolous pleasure, and maybe wildflowers scattered for Madeline, with a wee
ping willow in the distance and yellow wheat fields beyond that.
Her bed, with all its lace, would look amazing in one of those upstairs bedrooms with the dark, creaky old hardwood floor.
But she wouldn’t be here...and neither would her bed.
“This place will work out for us,” Cole rumbled beside her.
Yes, it would all work out for Cole and the children, Honey thought glumly.
But not for me.
* * *
THE HOUSE NEEDED to be cleaned, so Cole decided they would impose on Honey for a couple of nights more and move into the house on Sunday.
He called Julia to confirm that she had managed to hire people to scour the house on Friday and Saturday.
A bunch of teenagers were hired to clear the grounds and get rid of anything Cole might not want his children exposed to. He wouldn’t be surprised to learn kids had been hanging out in the backyard. There could be liquor bottles or broken glass hidden in the long grass.
He’d never caught anyone there, but it was best to make sure.
In the diner, Lester Voile said he would bring his riding mower out and mow the property free of charge.
“God, no,” Cole said. “I’ll pay you for your time and your gas.”
“You done enough for this town, Sheriff,” Lester countered.
“I was only doing my job.”
“Nope. You go above and beyond. All the time. Through every snowstorm. You’re one of the good ones, Sheriff Payette. I won’t take a cent from you.”
Cole accepted graciously. “I’ll hire a couple of young guys to rake up the grass after it’s mowed.”
“Yep. Good idea. It’s long.” Lester chewed on a generous mouthful of jalapeño mac and cheese. After swallowing, he said, “I have an attic full of old furniture. You need anything?”
“I’d like to look, if you don’t mind.”
“Don’t mind at all. Would be nice to see some of it being used.”
Michael Moreno, Travis Read, Zach Brandt and Jamie and Clint Enright all agreed to help him move his furniture in on Sunday. Every one of them owned a pickup truck, as did Cole, so he wouldn’t have to rent a moving van.
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