Crossroads (Chance City Series Book Three)

by Robin Deeter

  When the saddlebags were jam-packed with the things he’d need the most, he hurried from the bunkhouse and quickly secured the bags to his horse. Leigh waddled her way across the drive from the barn, her gait awkward.

  Ray’s mouth quirked up at the cute sight she made. She’d gotten huge, her large, rounded belly making it difficult to bend over or turn over in bed.

  Leigh saw Ray tying the bags on his horse, which only meant one thing: he was leaving.

  She made her way over to him. “Where are you going?”

  “I don’t know.”

  His grim expression told Leigh that something very bad had occurred and that he felt that his only option was to leave.

  “What happened?”

  Ray gave her a tight smile. “I overreached. That’s what happened. I got caught up in a fairytale. One that didn’t have a happy ending.”

  Leigh didn’t ask when he’d be back. She already knew that he wouldn’t be. “You’re breaking a lot of hearts, Ray. Including mine. I’ve gotten pretty fond of you.”

  “Sorry about that and leaving you in the lurch right now.” He waved a hand around at the ranch.

  Leigh’s green eyes met his. “Any chance you’ll reconsider?”

  “No. Tell Johnny I said goodbye and that I thank him for being such a good friend to me. I’ll write when I get settled somewhere,” he said, mounting up. “Take care, Leigh. I’ll tell you congratulations now since I won’t be here when the baby comes.”

  “Thanks. Take care of yourself, Ray. I’m real sorry things didn’t work out,” she said.

  “Me, too, Leigh. Me, too.” Leaning down, he handed Leigh the safe deposit box key. “Will you make sure that Miss Branson gets that?”

  Leigh took it, curiosity in her eyes. “Sure.”

  “Much obliged.”

  He touched the brim of his hat to her and trotted down the lane and out of sight.

  *****

  That very night, Carly showed up at Sundance Ranch. She knew Ray better than anyone now, and she’d been certain that he would leave town. She hated the fact that she’d been right. As Johnny admitted her into the Decker’s kitchen, he tried to smile at her, but failed.

  Carly accepted the chair he held for her, apologizing for interrupting their meal. Quieting her nerves, she looked around at each family member.

  “I’m here to ask a favor of you, a rather large favor that requires deception on your parts, as well as mine.”

  Cy asked, “What kind of deception?”

  “Before I explain that, I first need to tell you that I love Ray with everything within me. He’s unlike any man I’ve ever been involved with and I refuse to live my life without him. I know that he loves me, too, and that he’ll come to realize that we’re meant to be together. At least I hope he will. I’m not ready to give him up without a fight,” she said.

  Johnny said, “But he already left town and we don’t know where he’s going.”

  Carly said, “I know, but he’ll be in contact. I’m sure I’ll be able to track him down.”

  Cy asked, “Why don’t you just go after him now instead of waiting?”

  “Because he’s not ready right now. He’s too angry and closed off. He needs time,” Carly said. “I’m willing to wait until his anger has cooled and he’s willing to hear me out. And there are some things I need to do in the meantime to prove some things to him.”

  “Now, on to the deception. It’s very simple. Can you just say that Ray went to Chicago on business? I don’t want anyone to know that he and I are … separated right now. I’m prepared to return the favor in whatever way you’d like,” she said.

  Cy looked at her ring hand. “How are you gonna explain that?” He tapped the naked ring finger.

  Carly swallowed hard as a wave of sadness washed through her. “I sent it out to be fixed because one of the stays in the setting broke when I snagged it on a dress.”

  Cy smiled at her craftiness. “And what sort of business are we supposed to say he went away on?”

  “To Chicago to see some new baking techniques and do some research on equipment. It’s no secret that he was planning on opening his own bakery, so it’s entirely plausible and it might take some time. Perhaps a month or two,” Carly said. “That should be time enough.”

  Daphne smiled. “You’ve thought of everything, just like Catherine always said you do. I’ll do it. Catherine certainly would have.”

  Carly’s eyes shimmered with sudden tears. “You were her best friend, Daphne. She said that you were the only one of her friends with whom she could be completely honest. I’m glad she had you.”

  Daphne grew misty-eyed. “She was a wonderful person and I miss her every day.”

  “Aw, hell,” Leigh said. “You two just have to bawl, don’t you? I didn’t know her, but I’m sure she was a great gal.” Her eyes swam with tears and she took out her handkerchief to blot them away. “I cry at everything, even happy things.”

  They all laughed at her and Cy put an arm around Leigh. “It’s okay, honey.”

  Leigh sighed and leaned against him. “I’m as big as that barn out there. It’s a wonder I still fit through doorways. But I’m not really complaining. I’m glad that I have the chance to be as big as a house—”

  “Barn,” Johnny said.

  “What?” Leigh asked.

  “You said that you were as big as a barn, not a house.”

  Leigh scowled at his teasing grin before smiling again. “Ow!” She grabbed her ribcage. “Dang it! Settle down in there. That really hurt.”

  Cy put his hand on her belly and leaned closer. “Be kind to your mother,” he said in Comanche. “Or one day she will exact revenge on you in a very embarrassing way.”

  Daphne burst into laughter and Cy grinned at her while the others all looked on in confusion.

  “What did he say?” Leigh asked Daphne.

  Daphne translated, letting the others in on the joke.

  As their laughter subsided, the rest of the Sundance Ranch family also agreed to help Carly with her deception in the name of love. She thanked them heartily and took her leave, letting them get back to their meal. Johnny insisted on walking her out to her buggy.

  “Carly, you know that if he’s let go long enough, he might go back to hustling, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Yes, I know. While that thought absolutely devastates me, I also don’t care in a way. Those women might get his body for a time, but I’ll be the one who’ll win his heart, Johnny.”

  Johnny frowned a little. “You love him that much?”

  “Yes, I do, and I’ll do anything to get him back,” Carly said. “I’ll fight whatever whore or trollop I have to because they can never be to him what I can, what I’ve been. They don’t see the real Ray, but I do. I see the kind, good, decent man he is inside, not the man he shows the rest of the world.

  “I’m not desperate to have him just for myself, but also for his sake. I love him too much to let him lead that kind of life any longer, Johnny, and I’ll do anything to give him the kind of future he deserves.”

  Johnny nodded. “I’ve always said that about him whenever anyone said anything bad about him. Him and I went through a rough patch, but we got through that real quick. You’re right. He’s a good man and I know how much he loves you. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

  Carly kissed his cheek. “Thank you. No wonder you’re Ray’s best friend and I’m glad you’re my friend now, too.”

  Johnny grinned and blushed. “Thanks. Me, too.”

  He helped her into the buggy and waved her goodbye.

  *****

  Two weeks after he’d left Chance City, Ray finished with his last customer of the night and sent her on her way. Then he went downstairs at the Black Anvil to get a drink and maybe strike up a card game. Maybe he could win big that night.

  Oscar, the bartender smiled and poured him a whiskey without being asked. “I don’t know how you do it. What did that make today? Five?”

&nb
sp; “Six,” Ray said.

  “Holy shit. How’s that even possible?”

  Ray laughed because he sounded like Johnny. “Practice. Lots and lots of practice. And believe it or not, not all of them want sex.”

  Oscar snorted. “Sure they don’t.”

  “It’s true. Some of them are virgins who don’t know what to do on their wedding night. Their mothers don’t tell them and if they don’t have girlfriends who’ve been with a man, they don’t have anyone else to ask about it. That’s where I come in.”

  “So how many did you actually sleep with today?”

  “Two. The others just wanted advice. Of course, one did want to just look. You know, so she wasn’t scared to death over what a man’s privates actually look like.”

  “Did you show her?”

  “Yep.”

  Oscar smiled. “What did she think?”

  “She was confused, couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.” Ray downed his drink.

  Oscar guffawed and poured Ray another shot. “What’d you tell her?”

  Ray winked at him. “I showed her what the fuss was about.”

  “I thought you said you only slept with two of them?”

  “That’s right.”

  Oscar frowned. “But you slept with her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Wouldn’t that make it three?”

  Ray grinned. “I didn’t say which two I slept with. She was one of them.”

  “You gotta be the luckiest son of a gun that ever lived. You got women lined up to sleep with you and you make good money off them, too,” Oscar said.

  Downing his other drink, Ray just smiled and walked away from the bar. On the surface, Ray looked like he had the world by a string, but what people didn’t see was the wounded heart that he barely kept beating sometimes. They didn’t know that every time he touched another woman other than Carly, another piece of his soul died.

  Despite the miles that separated them, she was always there with him. The women he slept with were the beneficiaries of his fantasies that he was making love with Carly. If not for that, he wouldn’t have been able to perform, no matter what technique he’d tried. And that’s what hurt him the most: using something so good, so right, to do something so wrong.

  Only his deep devotion to Izzy kept him going, driving him to repay her for everything she’d done for him growing up. Shoving all of the hurt and anger down as deep as he could, Ray sat down at a table to play cards. As he did, he thought about Ollie playing poker and smiled at the memory.

  Conjuring those memories were sometimes the only way he could keep from crying, so he did it often. At night, he invariably dreamt of everyone at home, most of all Carly, and the loneliness ate at him. His smile faded as he picked up his cards and got down to the business of making more money.

  *****

  Rob jumped when the door of the sheriff’s department flew open, banging the wall from the force exerted to open it. It scared him so badly that he almost drew his gun until he saw that the person responsible was Johnny.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

  “Where’s Cy? The Dog House? On patrol? Where?”

  Johnny’s wild-eyed expression made Rob’s heart jump around in his chest. “He’s interviewing some suspects in the back.”

  Johnny ran off before Rob could stop him.

  “You can’t go back there!” Rob hollered, going after him.

  Johnny ran pell-mell through the doorway leading back to the cells and then turning the corner down the corridor on either side of which sat an interrogation room. He banged on one of the doors and Cy opened the one on the opposite side of the hallway.

  “Johnny, what the heck are you doing?”

  “You have to come now. Now!”

  Cy glared at him meaningfully. “I can’t. I’m in the middle of something here.”

  Johnny pushed past him into the room, rushing over to the table at which sat a burly man wearing a scruffy suit. Johnny pounded the table, making the man jerk hard.

  “Confess to whatever you done right now!”

  Cy grabbed his arm. “Get out of here, Johnny!”

  Johnny pulled away from him and banged the table again. “Confess or he’s gonna kill you! I’ve seen him do it before and it ain’t pretty!”

  “Kill me? He’s an officer! He can’t kill me!”

  “Sure he can and he’ll do it, too. Especially right now because his wife is about to have a baby and if you keep lyin’ and keep him from missing his baby being born, he’ll make it as painful as possible. So confess and spare yourself a lot of pain and suffering!” Johnny yelled, pounding the table again. “Ow!” He shook his hand.

  Cy grabbed Johnny by the shirt collar. “Johnny, you’d better not be messin’ around about Leigh being in labor or you’ll be the one I kill instead of him.”

  Johnny shook his head. “I ain’t kiddin’. The baby’s coming. Cotton already got Mrs. Albertson to come. You gotta come home now!”

  Cy shot the suspect a murderous glance as Rob arrived at the room.

  “Sheriff, don’t let him kill me! I’ll tell what I know! Just don’t let him torture and kill me!”

  Rob rubbed his jaw, pretending to consider it. “I don’t know. I don’t want you saying that you did it under duress or something.”

  “No, no. No duress! I did it willingly.”

  Rob nodded. “Okay. Get out of here, Cy, Johnny. I’ll take care of this.”

  Cy asked, “You sure?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Rob said. “Go on.”

  Cy shoved Johnny out of the room and ran through the building and out the front door, Johnny right behind him.

  *****

  Det. Cyrus Decker was a man who was used to being in control. In control of himself, his job, his dogs, and to a certain extent, his family. His profession dictated that he keep his senses open at all times and commit even the tiniest things to memory in order to solve a crime.

  He paid just as much attention in his home life. He knew each family member’s idiosyncrasies, their likes and dislikes, and what was most important to them. He knew that Johnny hated asparagus but loved Brussel sprouts. Daphne enjoyed the scent of rain and actually welcomed bees and wasps who pollinated her flowers.

  Cy was especially attuned to Leigh. He knew her body intimately, but he knew her heart and mind just as well. She couldn’t hide when she was upset or angry from him. He knew her step and could tell just from the way she walked how she might be feeling. Until she’d gotten further along in her pregnancy, he’d known her work routine and what she was most likely doing at any given time of the day.

  Most of the time, he knew what to expect from his family, suspects, or friends. He knew how to handle almost any situation that arose. Even when something unexpected happened, Cy quickly figured out how to deal with it.

  However, he’d never been around pregnant women much, so Leigh’s pregnancy had been a huge learning eye opener for him. Watching his baby grow within Leigh’s body and feeling the baby move had been the most poignant experience in his life.

  Now, as he sat in the parlor of their new house, listening to his wife labor upstairs, the man who was used to always being in control was a wreck. Although he sat quietly, sweat ran down his back and his deep brown eyes reflected his worry and concern.

  When he’d arrived home, running at once to Leigh’s side, he’d helped her by walking with her, making her some tea, and giving her his hand to squeeze whenever a contraction came on. He’d teased her and told her stories to keep her mind occupied. He’d done everything he could possibly think of to aid in the birth of their child, but it was all up to Leigh now, and that was driving him crazy.

  Mrs. Joanne Albertson, was a skilled midwife in the area. Joanne had delivered many a baby over the years and was as experienced as any doctor in bringing babies into the world. This, plus the fact that Daphne was assisting, helped put Cy’s mind at ease somewhat.

  Cotton had been alert
ed that Leigh had gone into labor and he sat with Cy and Johnny in the parlor. He watched Cy’s right leg start bouncing and his heart went out to his nephew. He remembered all too well what it was like to wait anxiously while his children had been born.

  Both times he’d paced around their village, trying to work off his nervous energy. Every time he’d stopped outside their tipi, he’d inwardly cringed when his wife had cried out. Yellow Dawn had given him a son the first time. Little River had been such a happy child, full of laughter and mischief.

  Soft Rain had followed three years later. Her personality had been much more serious than her big brother. Sly reminded Cotton of her. Quiet, yet intelligent and very observant of her surroundings.

  Cotton also remembered how the French trappers had brought influenza to their village. Many of their people had contracted the sickness, unable to fight it off because their immune systems had never come in contact with the disease before.

  His wife and children had been among those who had perished. Little River had been just eight winters old and Soft Rain had just turned five when they’d gone to walk in the next life. Crushing grief had beaten Cotton down, turning him bitter and hard. He’d been an apprentice medicine man at the time, and he’d withdrawn from his training, unable to help others because his altered mental state would have tainted any medicine given to the sick or injured.

  Shortly after the influenza epidemic, the military had come to herd them onto a reservation. Cotton, his parents and siblings, had escaped, fleeing along with a few others to avoid being forced onto the dreaded reservation to face starvation and depression.

  They’d settled outside of Chance City. Their father, Lone Wolf, had insisted that in order to avoid the military, they needed to assimilate. They’d learned English and French from the trappers with whom they’d formed an alliance, so communicating with the townspeople had been easy.

  Lone Wolf had also decreed that they would all take Christian first names and begin wearing white man’s clothing except when they were at home. He’d taken the name of Charles and his first wife’s name had become Charlotte Lone Wolf.