The Reluctant Cowgirl

by Christine Lynxwiler

  Still smiling, Jeremy brought his attention back to the show. The kids and their song reminded him of the Von Trapp family from The Sound of Music. Except there were twice as many children. His heart squeezed. The little one on the end looked a little like Beka when she smiled.

  When the song was over, everyone clapped, including Mrs. Westwood and Mrs. Donovan, along with a few other women who were now standing on the porch, most of them holding covered dishes of some kind.

  The children bowed and curtsied, which almost caused a girl in braids to drop her bass guitar, but she recovered in time to start another song. He tensed. What if there was a phone tip but they were waiting for the music to be over before they told him?

  Crystal leaned toward him as if she were straightening his collar. “If there’s anything, they’ll come tell you immediately.”

  He relaxed. She was right.

  When the third song ended and the applause was over, Claire Mitchum directed all the performers back into the vans.

  Jeremy stood and pulled Crystal to her feet. Still holding hands, they walked over to where the children were loading their instruments.

  “Y’all did a great job.” Crystal’s smile lit up her face. Jeremy could tell she was genuinely happy they’d come.

  And truthfully, he was, too. “Thanks for taking my mind off things for a bit.”

  The little girl he’d noticed earlier tugged on his shirt.

  He looked down at her and smiled. “Yes?”

  “When your Beka comes home, can she come play with me?”

  His breath caught in his throat. “I bet she’d love that.”

  A woman he assumed was her mother put her hand on the girl’s head. “We’ll check back with Mr. Buchanan about that when Beka gets home, okay, Hannah?”

  Hannah nodded and skipped off to the van.

  “Did you call the whole flower club?” he heard Mrs. Donovan say to Mrs. Westwood as he and Crystal walked back up on the porch.

  “Just to let them know why we wouldn’t be having cake for the meeting. How was I supposed to know that Eleanor would beat us over here with her banana nut bread?”

  “Or that everyone else would follow our lead?” Mrs. Donovan muttered.

  Crystal glanced at him. Apparently reading the panic on his face, she sprang into action. “Thank you all so much for coming.” She took command of the porch like it was a stage. “I know our hearts all ache for Jeremy today, and it was so sweet of y’all to come out and offer him your support.” Still holding his hand, she gently maneuvered Jeremy toward the house door. “He’s needed inside right now, but I’ll get someone to help me take the dishes into the kitchen and...” He saw her eyes light on Luke as he came up the steps. Jeremy could hear Crystal’s sigh of relief, but she covered it well. “Luke, if I get a notebook from inside, would you mind writing down everyone who is here and what they brought?”

  Luke looked a little confused. “You want me to take names?” Jeremy heard him ask before he stepped inside and shut the door.

  Elyse looked up from the phone when he walked in. She shook her head.

  “Thank you for calling.” She hung up. “Another well-wisher.”

  “We’re running five to one, well-wishers,” Rachel grumbled beside her. “And the tips aren’t even logical. People are just desperate to help.”

  Jeremy glanced at Jack. “Not anything worth checking out so far?”

  Jack shook his head. “Sorry, man.”

  Crystal walked in carrying two cakes and saved him from having to lie and say it was okay.

  She bustled into the kitchen and came back out with a notebook and a pen. On the way out the door, she brushed Jeremy’s shoulder with her hand. “It’s still a couple of hours until noon. No giving up.”

  He nodded, but he could hardly stand to look at Elyse and Rachel or Jack and the other deputy. He knew they couldn’t help it, but the pity in their eyes made him feel like he was going to suffocate. Especially when the phone didn’t ring as Crystal made trip after trip into the kitchen with food.

  Twenty minutes later, Crystal came in with a casserole. She looked around at the gloomy bunch. “This is the last of the food. So far. It looks like one more car is coming up the lane.” She disappeared into the kitchen for a second then hurried back out the front door.

  Jeremy brushed his hand over his face and sank down on the couch. He dreaded going into the kitchen. Bringing food was kind, but in a way it reminded him of funerals and wakes. He shuddered.

  The front door opened again, and he glanced up to see Crystal standing there, her face white.

  He jumped to his feet. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She looked over at Jack as if trying to communicate something without Jeremy seeing her.

  His heart pounding, Jeremy sprang to his feet and looked at the deputy and back to Crystal. “No secrets in this room. Tell me what’s going on. Did something come over the deputy’s radio?”

  Crystal shook her head, her eyes wide. “There’s a woman out here who says she’s from Memphis and has information about Beka. But she’ll only talk to you.”

  He darted for the door, but a hand clasped around each of his arms. “Whoa there, Jeremy. Let’s slow down a minute.” Jack’s manner was easy, but his hands were like iron bands. “Think of all the crazies that have called in,” he said, next to Jeremy’s ear. “You can’t just go out there and believe everything she says.”

  Jeremy stopped struggling and studied Crystal’s face. “Does she look like a crazy?”

  Crystal shook her head. “She’s really young. Maybe early twenties. And she just looks scared. For some reason I think Luke trusts her.”

  Jack let go of Jeremy. “We’ll go together, okay?”

  Jeremy nodded.

  Jack glanced back over his shoulder and motioned for the other deputy to follow.

  Outside on the porch, Luke had laid his notebook on the table and was sitting beside a crying girl on the double rocker, talking softly to her. He looked up when they came out.

  The girl looked up, too, her hazel eyes wide and frightened. “Please don’t freak out. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Even though his heart was pounding like a sledgehammer, Jeremy squatted down next to her as if she were a skittish calf. He even held his hand out toward her. “It’s going to be okay. What’s going on?”

  She swiped her eyes with the unbuttoned cuff of a denim shirt. “You’re so nice. Lindsey told me that you were terrible.”

  Hearing Lindsey’s name rocked his balance, but he quickly reminded himself that they’d announced her name on TV. “How do you know Lindsey?”

  The girl acted like he hadn’t spoken and he realized that he’d learn more if he just let her talk. Harder to do than it sounded. “She said that you lost custody of Beka”—another knife, but again he knew his daughter’s name was public knowledge, too—“but that you were so abusive they still had to hide from you.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “So when Lindsey didn’t come back, I didn’t know what to do ... She stayed gone a month once before.” She pushed her hair back from her wet cheeks. “Working out of the country, she said. And sometimes she couldn’t be in touch.” She shrugged and, clasping her shirt cuffs, rubbed both eyes with her knuckles. “But then this morning, Beka saw you on TV and she was so excited.”

  Jeremy pushed to his feet. “You know Beka? Where’s Beka? Where’s my daughter?” He reached to grab the girl by the shoulders.

  Jack stepped closer and put a warning hand on his arm.

  The girl unfurled her fist and pointed.

  CHAPTER 20

  The deputies and Jeremy whipped their heads around to look at a small newer-model economy car parked in the driveway.

  Jeremy heard the girl’s voice behind them. “She fell asleep on the way over here. My roommate’s with her.”

  He leaped the porch railing and bolted across the driveway, mindlessly praying as he ran, his boots barely touching the gravel.

  �
��Jeremy, wait,” he heard Jack call, then more words, but Jeremy wasn’t listening.

  The brunet in the front shrank back against the seat as Jeremy skidded to a halt just before he connected with the hood. Her eyes were wide in a pale face.

  But his gaze quickly went past her to the blond head in the backseat. He stepped around to the side, and through the window he could see that the little girl was asleep on the opposite side of the backseat in a “big girl” booster seat, very similar to the dust-covered one he had in his garage. Her blond hair hid her face, but everything about her looked like his Beka.

  He opened the door softly, his pulse pounding in his ears. His hand trembled as he reached over and gently brushed her hair back. Joy filled his heart so full he thought it might burst. A choking noise came from his throat as he tried to keep from yelling her name and thanking God at the top of his lungs. He slid in beside her and put his arm around her.

  She stirred and her eyes popped open. He stared into those familiar pools of blue for a split second before she reacted. “Daddy? Daddy!” she squealed and wriggled against the seat belt.

  He fumbled with the seat belt and finally she was in his arms. Out of the car, he clutched her to him and buried his face in her silky hair, breathing in the baby shampoo scent. With both hands, she pushed his face back and kissed him on the nose. He laughed and kissed her on the cheek. He ran his hands over her arms and little legs, not as pudgy as he remembered, but longer and stronger. He touched her feet.

  “Do you like my pink toenails?” Her smile was shy.

  “I love them, Little Bit.”

  “Amanda did them. And she let me wear my sandals today, even though it’s not May yet, so you could see them.”

  For the first time, Jeremy remembered the girl who had been crying on the porch. He glanced toward the porch. There she was, now talking earnestly to Jack, with Luke still sitting beside her. The other deputy had apparently gotten the roommate out of the car and was questioning her over by the deputy’s car. Jeremy’s eyes went back to the porch.

  Crystal stood on the bottom step, watching him and Beka. He waved to her, feeling as giddy as a kid at Christmas.

  “Want to call Grandma and Grandpa?” he asked Beka.

  “Yes.” She ran her soft little hand over his razor stubble and turned his face toward her in a way she’d done a thousand times before. In a way he’d been afraid she’d never do again. “Are they at home?”

  He nodded and put his finger to his lips. “Shh ... let’s surprise them.”

  Her eyes twinkled.

  His dad answered the phone brusquely. “Did you hear anything?”

  “Y’all need to come down here right now.”

  “Is it something bad?” The fear in his dad’s voice made him regret not blurting out the news immediately.

  “No, it’s something fantastic.” He heard the click in his ear before he could say another word.

  He smiled at Beka. “I think they’re on their way.”

  She wriggled in his arms, and he let her down but held onto her hand.

  “Who’s that?” Beka whispered as they walked toward the porch. “She’s pretty.”

  “I call her Sleeping Beauty,” Jeremy joked when he knew Crystal could hear him. “But you can call her Miss Crystal.”

  Crystal squatted down and stuck her hand out, tears wet on her cheeks. “Pleased to meet you, Beka.”

  “Pleased to meet you, too.” Beka touched Crystal’s hair. “Are you really Sleeping Beauty?”

  Crystal cut her gaze at Jeremy, but he could tell she was too happy to even pretend to be mad at him. “Not really. But I did fall asleep on the porch once.”

  “This porch?” Beka looked at the porch. “Hey. Why is Amanda crying?” Before Jeremy could stop her, she broke free of his grasp and ran over to the girl, who wasn’t actually crying anymore but had red swollen eyes. “Amanda, what’s wrong?”

  Jeremy followed her, unable to let her get out of touching distance.

  Amanda smiled at Beka. “Are you happy to see your daddy?”

  Beka bounced on the balls of her feet as she nodded. “Um-hm. I am.” She touched Amanda’s arm. “Can I go home with him?”

  Amanda nodded. “Yes, honey. I think that’s what you should do.” “Will you come, too?”

  Amanda shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She looked over at Jeremy. “Maybe when things are all worked out, Michelle and I can come visit you sometime.”

  “When you don’t have classes?” Beka said.

  “Right.”

  Beka glanced around. “I want a drink.”

  “Please,” Amanda said then glanced up at Jeremy, and a sheepish expression crossed her face. “Sorry. Habit.”

  “Please, may I have a drink?” Beka said, her sweet smile never faltering.

  Jeremy ruffled her hair.

  “How about lemonade?” Crystal asked.

  Beka nodded and Crystal disappeared into the house.

  Jeremy heard the roar of a truck motor and glanced toward the lane. His dad’s truck careened into the driveway. Before he killed the motor, the passenger door flung open and his mom jumped out.

  Jeremy looked down at Beka, half-expecting her to be shy, but he watched the realization of who it was dawn on her face. “Grandma!” She ran down the steps and into the arms of her grandmother.

  Jeremy stood on the porch steps and smiled as his dad came running up behind them and swooped them both up into his arms. His heart overflowing with thankfulness, Jeremy rushed forward and added his own arms to the four-way embrace.

  “You’re squishing me,” Beka’s thin little voice protested.

  He laughed and stepped back a little.

  Just enough not to squish.

  But still close enough to touch.

  Crystal stepped off the porch, a cup in her hand.

  His gaze met hers over Beka’s head. Suddenly he knew what it would take to make this circle complete. The question was ... did she know it, too?

  ***

  When the front door opened, Crystal looked up from where she was helping Elyse and Rachel pack up the phones and fold the table.

  Luke stood in the doorway with an odd look on his face. “I’m going to fix Amanda and Michelle a plate,” he said.

  She nodded. In a totally uncharacteristic move, her brooding brother had stayed right with Beka’s babysitter ever since she’d shown up on the porch earlier. He reminded her of a German shepherd protecting a child.

  He turned and motioned. The two girls stepped inside. They looked straight ahead and followed Luke to the kitchen.

  Elyse, Rachel, and Crystal exchanged looks. “It doesn’t look like they’re charging her with anything,” Rachel murmured.

  Crystal glanced out the window where Beka was on the porch swing between her grandparents, enjoying her lemonade.

  The door opened again. “Crystal? Could you come here for a minute?” Jeremy’s face looked so young. From the second he’d seen Beka, the years had just seemed to fall away from his face and his stature.