Last Chance Family

by Hope Ramsay

  The cop picked Rainbow up and threw her over his shoulder—a move that was pretty much standard practice when Rainbow was behaving this way. Mike didn’t blame him for doing that. It wasn’t unkind. It was merely expedient.

  But then Rainbow did the unthinkable. She bit the cop hard, right on his ass.

  It was wrong to take any satisfaction from the kid’s violent behavior. Rainbow needed to learn how to control herself. But he couldn’t help it. A small part of him—the street kid he’d once been—admired Rainbow’s grit.

  CHAPTER

  16

  Tim’s cell phone rang just as he walked through the front door of the parish house after Sunday services. It was Andrea. His heart lifted. “Hey, Andrea.”

  “Tim. I’m sorry to call you on a Sunday like this. I know this is your busy day, but there’s an emergency.”

  “What?”

  “Your brother has been arrested. And the officer in charge took emergency custody of Rainbow, which is allowed under South Carolina law. Unless we get Mike to specify in writing that you should take charge of Rainbow, she’s going to go into foster care. So you need to get down to the municipal building right away.”

  Tim’s heart started hammering in his chest. Mike was arrested? He couldn’t believe it. And hearing this news made him wonder if he’d been too gullible. “How do you know this?”

  “I get called in on these cases to make an assessment as to whether the child has been abused. Rainbow is with me right at the moment. I have to tell you that the policeman started out insisting that Rainbow be sent to juvenile detention. Which is ridiculous for a child her age. But she apparently bit the officer.”

  “She bit him?”

  “Yes, she bit him on the backside.” Andrea sounded as if she were trying not to be amused.

  “You know,” Tim said, “violence like that is not amusing.”

  “No, it’s not. But in this case, if you ask me, the officer had it coming. In my judgment, he could have handled things a little differently. In any case, Mike has been arrested, so you need to get down here.”

  “Arrested? For what?”

  “I gather he broke into a house down at the country club. I don’t know all the details, only that he’s being held at the county municipal building.”

  “Why would he break into a house down at the country club? He just needed to ask for keys to Martha’s house.”

  “He didn’t break into Martha’s house, Tim. He broke into Frances Polk’s house, and Frances is pressing charges.”

  “Frances Polk?”

  “Tim, I know you’re new in town, but Frances is married to Ryan Polk, who runs the First National Bank. When Frances has a hissy fit, everyone in the government pays attention, right down to the Last Chance police department. So Mike’s in big trouble. You need to get down here before someone does something stupid and throws Rainbow into a foster home. I’m trying to get the sheriff’s department to let me talk to Mike. He needs to specify in writing that you are Rainbow’s temporary guardian. But I need you here to take custody of her.”

  “But I’m not—”

  “I know you don’t think you’re ready. But you are. You’re a good person, Timothy Lake. You may be still trying to process the fact that you have an extended family, but please ask yourself: Would you rather they put Rainbow in a home with complete strangers or let her stay with you? Didn’t you say last week that you regretted the fact that you didn’t offer Mike and Rainbow a place in the parish house?”

  Tim’s heart came right up into his throat, and his body flushed. He couldn’t breathe. He started to reach for his rescue inhaler.

  “Tim, are you still there?”

  “Yes, I’m here. What on earth was Mike thinking, breaking into Frances Polk’s house?”

  “I have no idea. But that’s beside the point.”

  Was it? Mike had been raised without religion, without a moral code, without a father figure. The fact that he got himself into trouble shouldn’t be so shocking. And yet it was.

  “All right,” Tim said through his suddenly tight throat. “I’ll be there just as soon as I can.”

  Charlene’s phone rang as she was finishing up at George Nelson’s farm. She didn’t recognize the caller ID, but it was a local area code.

  An emergency, probably. She pressed the talk button. “Dr. Polk.”

  “Hey, Doc, it’s Sheriff Rhodes. I’ve got a little situation down here at the county building and I thought maybe you could help.”

  “Uh, Sheriff, if you have an animal situation, you should call animal control.”

  “It’s not an animal situation. I need to ask you a question. Did you give Michael C. Taggart permission to use your family’s river house?”

  “Yes. I gave him the keys yesterday.”

  The sheriff, who was normally a cool and collected guy, used a swear word.

  “Uh-oh. Sheriff, please don’t tell me someone hassled him out there.”

  “I’m afraid it’s worse. Your momma called the Last Chance Police Department when she found a strange car in the drive and clothes in one of the bedrooms. I guess she went a little nuts when she realized it was Mr. Taggart and his little girl.”

  “Nuts?”

  “Well, ma’am, Meryl, the dispatcher on duty, said your momma pitched a fit. Meryl didn’t know what to do with her so she patched her in with Royal Sherman, the new deputy chief in Last Chance. And I reckon he decided this represented his big opportunity to show the folks that they could count on him. Unfortunately, Royal doesn’t really know how things work in a small town. I’m afraid he treated the situation like we were in downtown Atlanta or something. I’m afraid he arrested Mr. Taggart for trespassing and resisting arrest.”

  “Oh, my goodness, where was Rainbow when this happened?”

  “Right there. She’s with Dr. Newsome right now, and I gather some attempt is being made to name Reverend Lake as a temporary custodian. I’m on my way down there, and I hope to have this straightened out. It would be helpful if you could get your momma to call me and let me know this was one big misunderstanding.”

  “Isn’t my word good enough, Sheriff?”

  “I reckon. But you know how she can be.”

  “My mother can go to hell. You can’t hold Mike. He had permission from me to use the house. I gave him my key. I can’t believe this.”

  Fury coursed through every atom in her body. Mother hadn’t wanted Charlene to keep Derrick’s baby. And now she wanted to make Rainbow pay just because Charlene had grown attached to her.

  Mother’s cruelty was breathtaking.

  Sheriff Rhodes sighed audibly. “Look, Charlene, I’m on my way down to the office. I’ll get this straightened out. But for everyone’s sake, it would be helpful if your momma would apologize.”

  “She won’t.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “You need to let Mike go. Now.”

  She didn’t wait for Sheriff Rhodes’s response. She hung up on him and stood in George Nelson’s barn taking deep breaths as she calmed herself.

  She knew exactly why Stone Rhodes wanted Mother’s apology. He had to stand for election every four years, so it only made sense that he didn’t want to get crosswise with one of the wealthiest and most politically connected families in Allenberg. But even so, the sheriff had no case against Mike. And he knew it.

  Charlene left the farm and drove straight to the river. Mike’s car was still in the drive, but Mother’s sedan was nowhere in sight. So Charlene drove to her parents’ house in town.

  She purposely wore her boots and neglected to wipe her feet as she hurried into the family room, where she found Daddy watching a baseball game and Mother sitting beside him drinking a glass of wine.

  They looked as if nothing untoward had occurred in their lives this Sunday afternoon.

  She strode across the room and turned off the television.

  “Charlene Ellen Polk, you know better than to—”

  “Shut up, Mother.�
�� She put both fists on her hips.

  “You need to pick up the phone and call Sheriff Rhodes. He’s waiting on you. You need to tell him that Mike Taggart had permission to use the river house. And, so help me, if you take after Sheriff Rhodes for doing the right thing, I will be so disappointed in you.”

  “I will do no such thing. Mike Taggart and that half-breed child didn’t have my permission to use the house. And do not ever come into this house and order me around, is that clear?” Mother said, elevating her chin.

  “Mother, that house belongs to the Polk family. That means that we all share it. You, me, Aunt Charlotte, and Uncle Rob. I have a key, and I gave it to Mike and told him to make himself at home. So he had permission. You should have checked with other members of the family before calling the police. You could have asked him. And if you wanted, you could have asked him politely to leave. You didn’t have to get him arrested. Do you have any idea how this must have affected Rainbow?”

  “I know precisely how it affected her. I was there. I saw it all. She turned into a demon child. You should have seen the way she bit Deputy Chief Sherman. Why would we want a person like that to use our river house?”

  “I’m sure the policeman scared Rainbow. She probably felt as if the cop were taking away the only solid thing in her life. You should have seen the way she reacted last night when Mike injured his head. She depends on him. I think she’s come to love him. Honestly, Mother, I would have screamed and kicked and bit, too.”

  “You most certainly would not have done any such thing. We raised you better than that. And besides, that man isn’t worth much. He’s white trash. He’s a gambler.” This comment came from her father.

  “He’s a day trader, Daddy, and I think there’s little difference between what your bank does and what he does. So you can get off your high horse.”

  “You will not raise your voice to me, young lady.” By his suddenly red cheeks, Daddy looked as if he might work himself into a fit. But this time, Charlene didn’t give a rat’s behind.

  “Mother, you will call Sheriff Rhodes right now.”

  “I will not.”

  “All right then, don’t expect me to ever darken your door again.”

  She turned and walked away.

  “Charlene, you come back here.”

  She turned around. “No, I’m never coming back here. I’m tired of your bigotry. I’m tired of your hypocrisy. I’m tired of the constant guilt I feel for all the things you talked me into doing. I’m tired of both of you telling me I’m a fine upstanding person in the community when I know I’m not. You’re mean and cruel, and I hate you both.”

  She broke down in tears as she hurried back to her truck. She had just behaved like an out-of-control teenager. She didn’t hate her parents. If she hated them, it would be easy to walk away from them. But this wasn’t easy. Her parents were ripping her apart.

  She climbed back into the truck and headed toward the Allenberg County Center and the county lock-up. On the way, she gave a call to Aunt Millie, who could be counted upon to restore peace in the Polk family whenever the yelling started.

  “Hey, darlin’, I’ve been expecting your call,” Aunt Millie said as she came on the line.

  “You have?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I heard what happened to Mike from Ruby Rhodes, who heard it from the sheriff. Ruby called about half an hour ago, and I hope you don’t mind, but I gave Thelma Hanks a call and Eugene is already on his way down to the municipal building. Frances is wrong on this. There is no way I’m going to stand by and let her prejudice cost that man custody of his niece. I’m so glad to hear that you intend to go down there and tell everyone what really happened.”

  “Aunt Millie, I love you. Thank you so much.”

  “I love you too, darlin’. You get that boy out of jail. Let me take care of Frances.”

  They put him in an orange jumpsuit and held him in an empty holding cell with a stainless-steel toilet in the corner. He had not been interrogated. He had not been given a chance to make a phone call. They had read him his rights and fingerprinted him. He had demanded a lawyer, but so far no one had shown up at the jailhouse door.

  He had also begged and pleaded with the arresting officer to call Charlene, but the guy had no interest in listening, especially after Rainbow had bitten his ass.

  Mike didn’t know where they had taken Rainbow. He only knew that the arresting officer called for backup because Rainbow had been so out of control.

  He worried that they might take her away from him. He worried that they might put her in some awful juvenile detention center, although rationally he had to assume that they didn’t have juvenile detention for five-year-olds.

  But rationality had flown out the window, replaced by a frantic, over-the-top fury that made him shake.

  A man should not have his kid taken away like that.

  So he screamed to let out the rage. And got little reaction for the first thirty minutes of his rant, until the door to the outer office opened. A big guy wearing a tan uniform with the words Allenberg County Sheriff’s Department on the sleeve patch came striding down the hall.

  Mike wanted to pop this guy in the mouth, and he pretty much told him so in a stream of profanity-laced verbal abuse. The guy stood there impassively.

  Talk about poker faces. After Mike had pretty much used up his lexicon of filthy words, the man’s mouth twitched. “Feel better now?” he asked.

  Mike still wanted to pop him one.

  “You could have saved your breath, Mr. Taggart,” the guy said, “because I’m here to apologize.” He pulled a big key ring from his belt and unlocked the cell door.

  “You’re letting me go?”

  “I’ve heard from Charlene Polk. And, for the record, it was not my department that arrested you. It was the Last Chance police department, and Chief Easley is very embarrassed. Royal Sherman is new on the force, and I think he doesn’t quite get our laid-back method of policing. I’m sorry you were detained at all.”

  “Was Deputy Chief Sherman the guy who scared the crap out of my niece?”

  The big cop nodded. “I figure he’s gotten what he deserves. Everyone’s amused by the bite on his butt. And I think this incident has taught him something important about community.”

  “Where is my niece now?”

  “Come with me.”

  The sheriff turned on his heel and headed down the hall. Mike followed him through the same squad room where he’d been booked and fingerprinted and then out into the main lobby of the county government building, where Timmy and Dr. Newsome waited with Rainbow.

  Someone had gotten the kid some clothes, because the last time he’d seen her she’d been wearing her Strawberry Shortcake bathing suit. Now she wore a pair of pink shorts and a frilly little top—the kind of clothes Rainbow hated. But in Mike’s opinion, she looked like heaven itself.

  “Hey, kiddo,” he said.

  Rainbow dropped the doctor’s hand and ran toward him. He fell to his knees and she came right into his arms.

  He buried his nose into the corner of her neck, hiding the tears that suddenly sprang to his eyes. There weren’t that many, but they might as well have been a deluge, because they swept away the walls he’d built around his heart. He’d been piling up those bricks and stones for years and years, from the moment Colin Lake had walked out of his life to the time Mike had walked out of Angie’s life. Those walls were protection against the pain of rejection and abuse, against the sure knowledge that love was unreliable. Love hurt.

  But he couldn’t fool himself any longer. He loved Rainbow. He didn’t exactly know when it had started, but he loved her with every fiber of his being. The last two hours had been an agony for him. He squeezed her tight and renewed his vow to make sure nothing ever scared her again.

  Then he picked her up and she straddled his hip, her arms still around his neck in a death grip. “Uh, I guess I need to thank you guys for being here for her,” Mike said.

  Andrea gave
him a wide-eyed look. “Not just for her, Mike, but for you, too.”

  He shifted his gaze to Timmy and had another emotional shock. Tears glittered in his eyes. “Mike, for goodness’ sake, the next time you want to go swimming, call me. I’ve got the keys to Martha’s house.”

  “It’s Sunday, and I assumed—”

  “Don’t ever assume I don’t have time for y’all. I know I may have conveyed that impression the last few days. But the truth is the truth. You’re family. And I had a good time yesterday, and I would have loved to join you this afternoon to give Rainbow a second swimming lesson.” Timmy crossed the distance and gave both of them a quick hug.

  You’re family. Holy crap, Tim had accepted the truth. But to him family meant way more than a label. And that blew Mike’s mind. He’d never known a real family. Up until right this minute, his family had only ever given him deep, deep pain.

  It didn’t have to be that way, did it?

  But before he could fully process that thought, Charlene came striding through the front doors, followed by a middle-aged man with a bad comb-over and equally unfashionable shorts and polo shirt.

  “Mike, don’t sign anything,” she said. “This here is Eugene Hanks, and he’s one of the best family lawyers in Allenberg County. He will—”

  “It’s okay, Charlene,” the sheriff said. “Mike is free to go, and Rainbow is still in his custody, as you can clearly see. Hey, Eugene.”

  “I thought you needed Mother to call you and—”

  “Nope. My momma set me straight, and y’all know how Ruby can be. So, I reckon I’ll have to take my chances next election. I hope y’all remember this when voting day comes around.”

  Eugene Hanks nodded. “You got my vote, Stone. And since I don’t appear to be needed, I think I’ll get on home and get back to trimming the boxwoods and finishing off the rest of Thelma’s honey-do list.” The lawyer made a quick about-face and headed back out the doors.

  “I hope y’all have a much better day from here forward,” the sheriff said. “Now I need to get going, because I’ve got my own honey-do list waiting back home.” The sheriff strolled back through the door to the squad room.