“Amazing.” Ann stepped off the porch and walked toward her…sister. Her mind nearly balked at the unfamiliar connection. “You’re Jodie Sutherland?”
“That’s what my folks called me—most of the time.” Her voice held a cautious note.
“We were looking for you.”
“I gathered as much. My neighbor said we were dead ringers for each other. She wasn’t kidding.”
“No one at the apartment complex admitted they knew you.”
“They were afraid I was in trouble.”
Ann took a deep breath. “You are.”
The stranger looked like she was about to bolt. “Look, we might look alike but I don’t owe you—”
“You wrote two bad checks and I got blamed for them. It cost me my job, the county is suing me for welfare fraud, and this whole mess might cost my husband the baby he wants to adopt.”
Ann’s mirror image looked up at Reed, who was standing on the porch behind her. “At least you’ve got good taste, honey. That man is one hunky cowboy.”
A fierce surge of possessiveness swept through Ann. “He’s my cowboy,” she hissed only loud enough for the woman to hear.
Jodie Sutherland tipped back her head. The laugh that escaped her throat was full and round, inviting others to join in the joke. “Honey, I don’t want your man. I’ve got plenty of troubles all on my own.”
Reed said, “Why don’t you invite her in, Ann? You two ought to have a lot to talk about.”
Her expression closing down, Jodie shot a glance into her car, a vintage compact with a fair share of dings and scratches. “I’ve got my boy with me.”
“Bring him, too,” Reed offered. “Unless he’d rather take a little ride on my horse. Fiero could use some exercise. A couple of trips around the corral wouldn’t hurt.” He walked down the steps to stand beside Ann.
“Can I, Mom? Can I?” the child in the car pleaded.
Ann’s heart responded to the child’s excitement. Given the poverty in which he’d apparently been raised, he’d probably had few chances to even see a ranch, much less ride a horse.
“Reed is very good with children,” she assured Jodie. “He’ll take good care of the boy.”
“His name is Harley.” She opened the car door. “He’s six.”
A slender, blond youngster with his hair cut in a Dutch bob sprang from the car. “I’m almost seven, Mom.”
“That’s right, sweet cakes, only six months to go.” She smiled in a thoroughly maternal way as she cupped the back of her son’s head. “Now you listen to what the man says, you hear? Try not to get into too much trouble.”
“I’ll be good, Mom.” He dashed to Reed’s side and looked up expectantly. “Have you really got a horse, mister?”
“Sure do, kid. A whole bunch of white—faced, ugly steers, too. This is a working cattle ranch.”
“Wow! I used to live on a farm but we didn’t have no horse.”
Ann met and matched Jodie’s smile as Reed strolled toward the barn, the boy skipping beside him and the dog trotting along. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Sure, if it isn’t too much trouble.”
Ann thought a pot of coffee would be a worthwhile exchange in order to have her growing curiosity satisfied.
REED GAVE THE WOMEN plenty of time to get acquainted, letting the kid ride Fiero bareback while he led the horse around the corral. He figured if Ann and her newly discovered sister came to blows, one of them would scream loud enough for him to come running. Mostly he assumed they’d dance around each other for a while and then get down to woman talk. Ann would probably know Jodie’s entire life history within sixty minutes, and vice versa. He’d get an earful later.
Then they could get down to the business of clearing Ann’s name.
After a few laps of the corral, he got Harley off the horse and had him stand safely outside the fence to feed Fiero a carrot or two.
“Come on, short stuff,” he called to the boy when he thought enough time had passed for the women to have shared their entire biographies. “Let’s go see if my wife and your mom have had their fill of gabbing yet.”
He grinned at Reed. “She don’t ever get tired of talking.”
“Seems to me most women are like that.” Though Ann, he’d noticed, didn’t run off at the mouth like some he’d met. She could handle silence, even seemed to enjoy it from time to time. He liked that in a woman. One of the best things about living on a ranch was the quiet that seeped into your bones. He wouldn’t want a woman around who talked all the time. Ann was easy on a man’s nerves.
Hell on his libido, though, particularly knowing she wasn’t going to stay long. She was already talking about an annulment. God, that hurt. Theirs would be the world’s shortest marriage on record.
And that’s exactly the deal he’d made—signed, sealed and very nearly delivered since Jodie Sutherland had showed up. When the truth was known, the damn caseworker would approve Bets’s adoption and Ann would be outta here. Tough luck for ol’ Reed if he wanted things different.
Which he didn’t, he told himself as he opened the back door to the house. With a ranch to run and Bets to take care of, he had plenty on his plate. Anybody could see he wasn’t the marrying kindnot for the long haul, anyway.
As he expected, the women were in the kitchen.
Though they looked alike there were differences, too. Instead of being studiously mellow like Ann, her sister had flirty eyes that sparkled with amusement even when faced with near disaster, he suspected. She dressed differently, too. Her look announced high fashion was way down on her priority list. With her, casual worked. She wore a loosely fitting tunic top with a beaded necklace and a long broomstick skirt that nearly reached her ankles. Good—looking but lacking Ann’s classic touch.
Reed had a fondness for classy.
“Hey, Mom.” Harley shot past Reed into the kitchen. “I rode the horse all by myself, and I got to feed him carrots and stuff! He’s got really funny lips and big teeth.”
She pulled her son to her for a hug. “I hope you thanked Mr. Drummond for letting you ride his horse.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure. Thanks, mister,” he said belatedly.
Ann reached out for Reed almost as if she wanted to give him a hug, too. Her cheeks glowed with excitement, and she had Bets in her lap, jiggling her gently.
“You won’t believe how much Jodie and I are alike,” Ann said effusively. “She loves root beer instead of Coke and clam linguine is her favorite pasta. I haven’t made that for you yet, have I?”
“That’s okay. I’m more a steak—and—potatoes type.”
“She knew she was adopted. Her parents told her. But they didn’t say anything about there being two of us.”
“Thinking there was another one like me probably would have given my folks a cardiac,” Jodie said with a laugh. “I wasn’t exactly the perfect child.”
“Neither was I.” Ann closed her hand around Reed’s, squeezing slightly as if reminding him her one fling on the wild side had left her wounded, too.
Unused to displays of affection in front of others, even a simple holding of hands, he slipped free of Ann’s grasp and went to the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee.
“She and Harley have had a really hard time of it since his father died and they moved out of the commune.”
Reed slid Jodie a questioning look. “Commune?”
She shrugged. “Alex and I laughed about being late—blooming flower children. We raised organic vegetables.”
“My dad was the leader of the whole place,” said Harley, “but then he fell off a tractor and bonked his head real hard.”
“That’s tough,” Reed said sympathetically. The coffee was hot and rich, just the way he liked it. He wondered if he’d ever told Ann that’s what he wanted—or if she had simply sensed his preferences.
“Anyway,” Ann said, “Jodie applied for welfare when she decided to live on the outside after the commune went broke, but there were delays. She
had trouble getting a job. One thing led to another.”
“Honestly, I don’t make it a practice to write bad checks. Things just got, well, a little tight there for a while.”
“I’ve told Jodie we’ll cover the bad checks she wrote and get Marvin Hutch to handle her case. He was pretty sure the storekeeper would drop the charges if he got his money.”
Reed winced at the expense, but it would be worth it to get this mess cleared up. And he vowed he’d somehow come up with the cash himself, not use Ann’s from her mortgaged house.
“I’ll pay you back,” Jodie promised. “I’ve got a job now at a health food store. It isn’t much but at least I’m not on welfare anymore, and we’ve got a decent roof over our heads.”
“That’s why she moved,” Ann told him. “But it’s still only a one—bedroom apartment.” She lifted Bets and put her on her shoulder. Milky drool edged out of the baby’s mouth, and Reed smiled.
“Here, let me take her.” Reed reached for the baby.
“We’re getting by.” Jodie shoved her hair back behind her shoulder and lifted her chin.
Reed suspected the twins shared a common bond of stubbornness. “Maybe we ought to let Fuentes know you’re in the clear,” he suggested to Ann.
“You’re probably—”
Someone banged on the back door. Without waiting for a response, Jason burst into the house.
“Hey, Miz Forrester…I mean Mrs. Drum—” He came to an abrupt halt in the kitchen. His gaze shot from Jodie to Ann and back again. “Way cool! I didn’t know you had a twin.”
Ann smiled at the youngster’s wide—eyed expression and realized with a lurch that she missed seeing her students, however much the adolescents made a concerted effort to drive her crazy. “Neither did I until recently.”
“No fooling?” He shuffled from one foot to the other, obviously not quite sure what to make of the situation.
“You can go clean out Fiero’s stall, if you want,” Reed said.
“Yeah, okay. But that’s not why I come up here—”
“Came,” Ann automatically corrected.
“Right. Came. I mean, I came to work but there’s something else, too. Something important.”
Standing, Ann took Jason by the shoulder. “What is it? Are you in trouble? Is it something about your mother? Your foster home?”
“Naw. Nothing like that.” He gave her a devilish grin not unlike Reed’s patented rogue smile.
By the time Jason was fifteen he’d be a ladykiller, Ann thought with a silent groan. “Then what?”
“There’s gonna be a demonstration at school tomorrow.”
“Demonstration?” she echoed.
“Yeah, you know, like a strike. The kids are gonna skip class and picket. So are some of the teachers. I got their names on a petition, see?” He pulled a wad of papers from his back pocket. “That stupid school board ain’t gonna know what hit ‘em when we get done with ‘em.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“It’s how they fired you, that’s what” All fury and bluster, Jason stuck out his chest and stood a little taller than he ever had before. “It’s not right what they did to you. You haven’t been convicted of nothin’.”
“Anything.”
“And they ought to do innocent until proven guilty, right?”
“Absolutely,” Reed agreed.
“So we’re gonna picket.”
“Jason Hilary!” She cupped his chin, forcing him to look at her. “What happened? Did the substitute give you a homework assignment that was too tough for you to handle?”
“Aw, geez no, Miz Forrester. She doesn’t know squat about math. She even messed up on a square root problem a baby could’ve solved. I want you back, is all. I mean, all us kids do.”
A rush of love nearly undid Ann. She’d been on an emotional roller coaster for weeks. Now a smartalecky adolescent was about to turn her into a blubbering female whose hormones were clearly on the rampage. Dear heaven, of all the youngsters in school it was the bad boys like Jason who tugged at her heart. More than once she’d wanted to hug him, to bring him home and keep him safe.
“So you organized a strike of the kids?” She struggled to keep the quaver of emotion from her voice.
“It wasn’t so hard. Mr. Dunlap, like, has his head in the sand.”
Ann could certainly appreciate that, though she couldn’t approve Jason’s actions. “Well, you’re just going to have to stop the strike. Children belong in—”
“I can’t, Miz Forr—Drummond. If you want it stopped, do it yourself.” Whirling, he marched out of the house the way he’d come in.
“Wait, Jason. I’m sorry—”
“I’d say that young man has a serious crush on you,” Jodie said as the back door slammed.
“He’s at an impressionable age,” Ann conceded. “But a strike? I don’t know what—”
“I think it’s a great idea.” Leaning against the counter with Bets cuddled to his chest, Reed had lulled the baby to sleep. “A strike will embarrass the hell out of the school board.”
“You and Jason are two of a kind,” Ann muttered, secretly pleased these two particular males had stuck up for her against the accusations of others. In Jason’s case, however, he’d left her with a predicament she would have to rectify—first thing tomorrow morning. She couldn’t have her students cutting classes out of a misguided sense of loyalty to her, though she loved them for the thought.
Reed’s lips slid into an easy smile. “Yeah, we’re both suckers for innocent women.”
The warm glow of love that Jason had kindled by being her youthful champion heated considerably under Reed’s intense scrutiny and turned into something far more adult.
“I’m going to put Bets down,” Reed said. “Then I’ll call Hutch to get the ball rolling for charges to be dropped against you and get Jodie off the hook. Then I’ll talk to that fool social worker.”
Things didn’t work out the way Reed had hoped. Marvin Hutch was gone for the day and Clarisa Fipp was “in the field” and wouldn’t be in the office until the following morning.
Frustrated, he left terse messages for both of them.
ANN’S ALREADY NERVOUS stomach jumped, and she groaned when she discovered a near—riot going on at the school the next morning.
Kids were milling in looping circles in front of the entrance, waving an assortment of hand—lettered Unfair to Mrs. Drummond picket signs while the school band blared a discordant rendition of a Sousa march. Meanwhile, a photographer from the Mar del Oro Press Enterprise snapped pictures for the next edition of the MOPE.
As Reed helped her out of the truck, a wildly cheering throng including parents and very nearly all of the school faculty greeted her. Her heart swelled with affection for every one of them.
“Looks like Jason really started something,” Reed said under his breath. “Nothing like a rebel with a cause.”
“Three cheers for Mrs. Drummond!” the students shouted
“Hip, hip, hooray!” came the echo.
Ann winced as the camera flash went off in her face.
As difficult as it was to retain her composure, she searched the crowd for Jason to help her bring this demonstration to a halt. When she spotted him, he shot her a youthful, self—satisfied grin. It was all she could do not to laugh.
If nothing else, it appeared Jason had discovered his innate leadership abilities and put them to work—however inappropriately.
Mr. Dunlap came running out from the administration building. “You have to stop the children, Ms. Forr—Drummond. They’re refusing to go to class. And my phone’s been ringing off the hook since I stepped in my office this morning.” Red—faced, he tried to catch his breath. “The parents are upset and the school board has rescinded their previous order. You really must control—” His eyes widened and his mouth hung open as Jodie Sutherland joined Ann on the sidewalk. “Wh—who’s she?” he stammered.
“Mr. Dunlap, I’d like you to meet m
y twin sister, Jodie Sutherland, who is no more of a hardened criminal than I am.”
Apparently someone had called the cops because the police chief’s cruiser roared up to the front of the school, lights flashing.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have come,” Jodie said, taking a step back.
“It’ll be all right,” Ann assured her, hoping that was the truth. Being falsely judged once herself, she could understand her twin’s caution. She’d been pleased when Jodie had agreed to meet her here this morning. They were scheduled to go from here to meet Marvin Hutch at the police station to clear up both the bad checks and Ann’s arrest. But she hadn’t expected Johnny Fuentes to show up at the school.
Shoving his nightstick into a belt loop, he ignored the jostling students and strolled in Ann’s direction. The chanting youngsters enthusiastically increased their volume by several decibels.
“My boy’s in the car. If that cop arrests me—”
“He’ll have five hundred rioting students on his hands and a fair number of adults. Trust me. Everything’s going to be fine.”
Reed ambled up to join them, his rugged cowboy image not damaged in the least by the baby he carried in a blue denim sling. He thumbed his Stetson up on his forehead and grinned at the chaotic scene.
“Looks like you’re running for Congress or something,” he said.
Johnny halted a few feet from Ann. Amusement sparking in his dark eyes, he glanced from her to Jodie. A smile curled his lips. “Looks like you were right, Ann. What we’ve got here is a case of mistaken identity. Either that or I’m developing a bad case of double vision in my old age.”
“My twin, Jodie Sutherland,” Ann provided. “Our attorney is going to work things out. After we’re through here, we’re meeting him at the station.”
“Chief, you have to do something about these students,” Mr. Dunlap pleaded. The circle of youngsters pressed in more closely around them. The sound of their chants was deafening.
“With this many kids, I’ll have to call for backup,” Johnny said easily. “Might take them a while to get here.”
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