by Becky McGraw
“We’ll never know now, will we? Since you killed her…” she spat waspishly, then stood up and stiffened her spine. “Come here Deanna,” she ordered and held out a gnarly hand to Dixie.
Instead of going to the scary woman, Dixie came up to Katie’s side and wrapped her arms around her hips, looking at the woman like she was Cruella Deville or something. She slightly resembled her with her white hair with the dark streak at the front. Katie hugged Dixie to her side, and just gave the woman the evil eye.
“Get away from that woman, Deanna, and come here and give grandmother a hug,” she ordered again in a louder voice. Dixie just hugged Katie tighter and buried her face in Katie’s leg. Katie smoothed a hand soothingly over her hair, hoping it helped calm her down. She knew Dixie had to be freaking out, she’d never even met this woman before.
Tommy dropped Katie’s hand and took a step so he was in front of her facing the woman. His hands were fisted at his sides and his shoulders tense as he told her, “You’re not welcome here, Edith, if you can’t show some respect for my family, and that includes my fiancé…her name is Katie and I suggest you call her that,” he said in a dangerous tone.
Katie couldn’t see the woman, but she damned well heard her gasp when he called her his fiancé. It wasn’t true, but she’d be damned if she was going to tell the bitch that…especially if it upset her. She needed to be upset, because that’s what she was doing to her grandkid. Dixie was trembling, she was so upset, and it pissed Katie off.
“You are not marrying that woman, if you want to keep your daughter. I will fight you with everything I have to keep that from happening,” she told him fiercely, then added with a waggle of her bony finger, “You had your chance at happiness and you killed her…you made that decision, and now you’re gonna have to make another…your daughter, or that woman…”
The coolly elegant, but spiteful, woman stomped down the steps and said over her shoulder, with intent dripping from her voice, “Let’s go, George, I need to contact my attorney,” then she pointed her finger at Katie and told Tommy, “If you don’t get her off this property and out of my grandchild’s life, I’ll sue you for custody, and Deanna will be living with me,” she threatened.
He cocked his head and glared at her malevolently, then grated, “Give it your best shot, lady…I’m a good father and you are not going to blackmail me with your threats anymore, I’m tired of it. You haven’t been in Dixie’s life for ten years, by your own choice, and that’s not going to change now, unless you change your attitude. She doesn’t even know who the hell you are. Now, get yourself and your brood off my property, and don’t come back here again.”
With a harrumph, the woman turned and stalked to the Cadillac then got inside and waited for the two silent men with her to get in as well.
When Katie saw their tail lights heading down the driveway, she sucked in a sharp breath and said, “Wow…” then she knelt down and pulled Dixie into her arms and hugged her tight. “It’s gonna be okay, darlin’…don’t worry about that woman. Your daddy and I won’t let her hurt you.” Dixie sobbed then buried her face in Katie’s neck and cried.
“Damned right we’re not. That old hag has bit off more than she can chew now…” Tommy said angrily and Katie looked up and saw fear in his hazel eyes, but determination too. “I need to call my dad in Florida, maybe he knows a good family law attorney,” he told her then walked up the steps and into the house.
Wow, Katie didn’t know his dad was in Florida, hell she hadn’t even known the man was still alive…they’d never talked about it. It showed her just how little she knew about Tommy Tucker. Even though she loved him, she didn’t know diddly squat about him.
Dixie’s sobs quieted, and Katie gave her a squeeze, then pulled back and wiped her tears with her thumb, before she put a kiss on her splotchy cheek. “Let’s go get a snack and talk. You need to tell me how much fun you had at Susie’s house, and what ya’ll did,” Katie told her with a soft smile.
As a distraction, it worked, because Dixie’s face lit up and she gave her a watery smile, then said, “Okay,” and took the hand that Katie offered her.
They walked inside, and she didn’t see Tommy anywhere. She assumed he must be in his office on the phone. She and Dixie walked into the kitchen, and she stopped when she saw Cookie leaning against the counter with her arms folded under her massive bosom, and a smug nasty smile on her wrinkled face. “Have a nice visit with the Prestons?” she asked Katie sarcastically and glanced down at Dixie.
Blood rushed to Katie’s face as clarity dawned inside her mind. Cookie had called them, she’d probably been spying on Tommy for years, and the Prestons were only doing this now, because of his relationship with her. Hot scorching anger boiled her blood, and Katie sucked in a breath, then looked down at Dixie who was staring up at her. “Dixie, honey, go get your daddy,” she told her, then said, “He’s probably in his office…tell him it’s important.”
Dixie nodded and ducked under her arm then ran across the living room. “I hope you have a good insurance policy woman, because I’m gonna kick your ass,” she told her in a low threatening voice, then took a step toward her. “What you’ve done is unbelievable, horrible…you are a sick, mean old hag, just like Mrs. Preston.”
Cookie shrank back and edged down the counter a little, then said, “Mrs. Preston is a grieving mother, and she has every right to blame Tommy Tucker for her daughter’s death. He has no right to be seeing anyone else and disrespecting Maggie’s memory, corrupting her daughter,” she spat meanly, her eyes glittering with malice.
Katie took another step toward the ugly old woman and got in her face, “I hope you burn in hell bitch, for what you’ve done to him. Just because you and that hag want to wallow in misery, doesn’t mean you get to force him to do that too.”
“He deserves misery…he doesn’t deserve to still be alive after what he did to Maggie,” she said, then shoved Katie, and tried to move around her. Katie’s hand arced without her permission and landed solidly on the side of the old woman’s face, jerking her head back and stinging Katie’s palm. The old woman gasped then her hands flew up too fast for Katie to catch them, and closed around her throat then Cookie squeezed tightly, cutting off her air.
Katie clutched at Cookie’s hands and dug her nails into the woman’s wrists, but she wasn’t letting go. Black spots formed in front of her eyes, and she tried in vain to draw in a breath. She dropped her hands from the woman’s wrists the swung wildly at her head with a fist. She connected with Cookie’s ear and the woman’s hand fell from her throat, and her head bounced off of the side of the refrigerator, then she slid to the floor.
“Katie!” she heard Tommy yell then heard his boots running across the hardwood floor of the living room. He slid around the breakfast bar then ran to her and grabbed her up in his arms, rocking her gently and kissing her hair. In a breathless voice, he asked, “Are you okay, baby? What happened?” then he looked down at the dazed Cookie who was on the floor holding the side of her head.
Pulling away from him, Katie pointed a finger at Cooke and told him, “That bitch is the one who called the Prestons…she’s been spying on you for years, Tommy. She is the root of your problems.”
“Mr. Tucker, that woman is crazy…I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Cookie whined, looking up at him pitifully.
“And you’re as sly as a fox, you mean old bitch,” Katie spat, then looked at Tommy. “When Dixie and I came inside, she asked how I enjoyed my visit with the Prestons. Then she said that Mrs. Preston has every right to despise you, because you killed her daughter, and she was a grieving mother. How the hell else would they have known that you and I are…”
“Living in sin?” Cookie supplied snottily then shoved up to her feet.
Katie’s throat was throbbing and raw, and she reached up to rub it, and Tommy’s eyes followed her action. His face turned dark purple, then he demanded, “Who did that to you, darlin’?”
“She choked me�
�” Katie told him then shot Cookie a dark look.
“She slapped me,” Cooke rebutted then folded her arms again.
Tommy took a step forward then growled like a feral animal, before he leaned down and shouted in Cookie’s face, “You have fifteen minutes to get your fucking ass out of my house and off my property, after that I’m calling the police and having you arrested!”
“You’re making a mistake…Mrs. Preston is going to take that child out of this house, and there’s not a damned thing you can do to stop her,” she told him in a trembling voice.
His back stiffened like he was restraining himself from strangling the woman, and he ground out, “Get out!” then stepped back and pointed to the front door. “I’ll box your crap up and ship it to you. Leave now!”
“I don’t have a car,” she said and her face flushed.
“You better hope those ugly ass shoes are comfortable then,” he grated and grabbed her arm, before he dragged her to the door and opened it, then shoved her onto the porch. “Don’t you ever come around my family again, or I’ll put your ass under the jailhouse.”
“You don’t scare me…Mrs. Preston has more money than God, and I’ve been loyal to her…and Maggie. Which is more than I can say for you,” she spat then turned and stomped down the steps. Katie walked up beside Tommy and watched Cookie walk across the yard then start down the driveway.
Tommy stepped back and she did too, then he slammed the door and shoved a hand through his hair, “Good riddance,” he said then pulled Katie into his arms. “Are you really okay, baby? I think you should go lie down and I’ll fix us some dinner.”
“I’m fine, really…I’m just glad she’s gone. I knew there was something up with her…it just clicked what that was after that scene in the yard, and her question in the kitchen when I came in.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about her, or them, any more. I’ll handle it,” he said in a deeply determined voice.
Two weeks later, when Katie walked in from giving Dixie a riding lesson at the barn, and found Tommy pacing in front of the big stone fireplace in the living room, with a piece of paper clutched in his fist, Katie knew they were in deep trouble. The wild look in his eyes and his flushed face, said it all. When she’d left to go to the barn, Tommy had been happily working on something in his office.
Anxiety seized her as she walked up to him, and he didn’t stop pacing or say anything to her. Tension and rage poured off of him in waves. Softly, she asked him, “What’s wrong, Tommy?”
Tommy looked up at her and his eyebrows raised, as if he just noticed that she was there. He stopped pacing, then his throat worked a few times, before he slowly stuck his hand out to her and unclenched his fist. The paper floated on the air to the floor between them.
Holding his gaze, Katie bent down and picked up the paper, then smoothed out the wrinkles. Dropping her eyes to read it, every word she read felt like a nail being driven into her heart. It was an emergency custody order signed by a judge in Moore County, giving Edith Preston temporary managing conservatorship, sole custody basically, of Deanna Tucker, until the hearing for permanent conservatorship in two months.
Katie couldn’t force words past the lump of fear that lodged in her throat, and tears burned behind her eyes, as she handed it back to him. “How could she have gotten a judge to agree to this?” Katie finally said in a hoarse whisper.
“That woman has every judge in that county in her pocket. Her daddy was an old oil baron and she’s got more money than you can imagine. People are scared of her, and the influence she has in Moore County. She’s the Queen of Dumas, Texas,” he said with a snort.
“We’ve got to talk to your attorney, fast,” Katie said frantically.
“I’ve talked to him,” he told her in a choked voice.
Fear punched Katie in the gut and she clutched her stomach to fight off the nausea swirling there when she asked, “What did he say?”
“He asked for a change of venue, and the judge refused because it’s within a reasonable distance, which wasn’t the point and the judge knows it. My attorney said there’s nothing we can do right now, because the suit was filed in that county, and the order was issued in that county. He gave him reasons Dixie needed to stay here with me, but was told that the order was going to stand, until the hearing, and nothing he did was going to change his mind.”
“That has to be illegal, this is not what’s best for Dixie, her school and friends are here, she doesn’t even know who that woman is!” she said fiercely and started pacing with her fists clenched at her sides. “You need a better lawyer,” she told him.
“I can’t afford a better attorney right now, I bought extra stock for the cutter herd I wanted to start, and I’m kind of cash poor right now,” he admitted and swallowed hard.
“So sell them…” she suggested then looked around the huge house he lived in. “Or get a mortgage on the property and house.”
“I can’t do that…the house and property are still in my daddy’s name…he has it tied up in a family corporation to reduce inheritance taxes. I’m the heir, but he’s alive, so he controls it. I just own the stock…and I’d lose a fortune if I sell the mares now, since they’re bred.”
Katie saw his desperation and despair and wanted to fix things, to help him get out of this mess, so she offered impulsively, “I’ll sell my property and give you a loan. I still have about fifty grand from my winnings in the Charity Rodeo, and a hundred or so left in my savings too…I can loan that to you.”
“Hell no—that property is yours, and I’m not taking your money, sugar,” he said and hugged her. “Thank you for the offer, though.”
Tommy dropped his chin to his chest in defeat and told her, “There’s nothing we can do about it, Dixie is going to have to go and stay with that wretched old woman, until we can sort this out.”
Katie saw his shoulders were shaking and he moved a hand up to cover his face. Her heart shifted violently in her chest and she walked over and put her arms around his waist and hugged him, then said softly, “I’m so sorry, Tommy…this is my fault. I’m so sorry.”
He took a deep shuddering breath then grabbed her shoulders and set her away from him, to look down at her angrily. “This is not your fault, Katie—where the fuck did you get that from?”
“I’m going to call Edith Preston and apologize for getting involved with you, I’ll tell her I trapped you into it, then I’m going back to Bowie. She’ll drop it and then you can get your ducks in a row to sucker punch her when you’re ready. I can’t let you lose Dixie, because of me,” she said in a trembling voice, then added, “You need time to work things out, and that’s what I’m going to buy you.”
“You are not fucking leaving me,” he said in a strangled voice. “I’m not letting you leave me,” he wailed then pulled her to him and hugged her so tight she could barely breathe. “That bitch is not going to win…I’m not giving you up, baby.”
Katie pushed away from him and looked up into his terrified eyes, and then took his hands in hers. “Dixie needs you, Tommy, she doesn’t need to be in another county with that wicked witch,” she told him, her lips trembling over the words, then finished, “This isn’t about winning or losing, it’s about what’s best for your daughter…”
“You’re what’s best for my daughter, she loves you…I love you,” he said desperately, then grabbed her shoulders. “She’s been a different little girl, since you’ve been around. I haven’t had to go to school once so far because she’s been in trouble. Do you know what a miracle that is?” he told her with wonder in his voice.
She gave him a wobbly smile then assured him, “I love her too, Tommy…I don’t want to leave, but I have to…for her. She’ll still do fine without me here, if you keep her on her routine.”
His breathing became shallow and his eyes were shiny, then he dropped to his knees in front of her, hugged her hips, and begged, “Don’t leave me, Katie…” then finished in a gravelly whisper, “Please…we’ll wo
rk it out.”
She dropped down in front of him and took his face in her hands and kissed him gently, with tears pooling in her eyes she said in a soft whisper, “Please don’t do this to me…my heart is already bleeding, sugar.”