Finding Home

by Lois Greiman

  “Jesus!” he hissed.

  Ty drew in a sharp breath. “Did my …” His eyes were tormented as he lifted his gaze to hers. “It was my mom, wasn’t it?”

  “Your mom?” Brad snorted, shook his head. “Christ, Cass, I knew when we met that you didn’t come from the best family. Knew you were kind of a hillbilly. But I thought you had come to see reason. I thought you were lucid.” He swung a palm in a wild half circle, as if encompassing everything. “Sane. You knew how to conduct yourself in social situations. You were learning to become a decent doctor’s wife. Then you come back here and get involved with your damned backwater—”

  “Hey,” Colt said, keeping his tone level. “Let’s not get all riled up.”

  “Riled up!” Bradley snorted a laugh. Dragging a cell phone from his pocket, he jabbed a single button. “And now you’ve got some ragtag cowboy come riding to your rescue like some damn—” He paused, jerked his attention to the phone.

  “Yeah, Clark, Cass got herself in trouble again.”

  There was a murmur from the end of the line.

  “Cassandra, my fiancée. Can you guys protect my interests or not?”

  He glared at Colt before shifting his attention back to Casie.

  “Yeah. Physical evidence that should be documented. Okay. I’ll get her there,” he said and clicked the phone shut.

  “What’s going on?” Casie kept herself very still, kept her voice very quiet. As it turned out, all kinds of hell could break loose when she got riled up.

  “Come on,” Bradley said. “We’re going home.”

  “What are you talking about?” Casie shifted her gaze to Tyler. “I can’t leave now.”

  “That’s the only thing you can do. We’re going straight to the attorney’s to get photos of your face. We’ll file a complaint before the other party does.”

  She remained silent a second, thinking. “If she files, what will happen?” she asked.

  Brad deepened his glare. “I don’t know and I don’t care, because you’re not coming back here. We’re selling this godforsaken piece of land and making a decent life in—”

  “No, we’re not,” she said. Her voice was extremely low, barely audible even to herself.

  Bradley stared at her for a second, then snorted and shook his head. “Cass,” His patient tone was back. “Look at you. Look what’s happened. Chaos. Deprivation.” He chuckled, swept his hand toward her. “Battle scars. Remember how it was living with your parents?”

  She stared at him. “Yeah, I do,” she said.

  “Is that what you want?”

  “At least they were living.” Her voice was very small, but there was a tiny flicker of something in her chest, something warm that seemed to be igniting a fire.

  Bradley lowered his brows. “You’re not thinking,” he said. “I’m not going to let you throw away what we have.”

  “This isn’t your choice, Brad.” She drew a deep breath and straightened. Everything hurt, but she ignored the aches. “I’m sorry, but I’m taking my life back.”

  He stared at her a second and then he laughed. “Are you?” he asked. “Are you really? Well, then …” He dropped his phone into the pocket of his Dockers. “That’s fine. That’ll give you time to visit the kid in juvie.”

  Beside her, Emily sucked in a breath

  “What are you talking about?” Casie’s words were little more than a raspy breath of air.

  “I’m talking about grand theft auto. I’m talking about him physically attacking an innocent young woman. I’m—”

  “He didn’t attack me.”

  “Not you. The girl. The one in the hospital. Remember her?” Brad stabbed a finger toward nothing in particular. “Because I’ll guarantee you, her father’s going to remember the hospital bills when this gets to court.”

  Casie shook her head. “Ty didn’t do that. He would never do something like that.”

  “Jesus Christ!” Brad rolled his eyes. “You’re so naïve. I suppose you’re going to deny that he took our truck, too.”

  “Our …” She breathed a laugh, then shook her head, trying to clear it of this ridiculous scene, but it wouldn’t go away. “It was probably his quick thinking that saved her life.”

  “His quick … Are you kidding me? Does he look quick to you? Geez, Cass, he’s a court order waiting to happen. He’s a f—” He stopped himself. Emily’s fingers felt like talons against Casie’s arm. “I’m a doctor, Cassandra. You think I haven’t seen this type of thing before. Believe me, we’re just lucky he didn’t kill her.”

  “That’s crazy.” Casie breathed the words.

  “Admit it!” Brad ordered, turning on Ty with a snarl. “You hit her, didn’t you? What did you have? A baseball bat? A—”

  “I didn’t,” Ty said, jolting back, expression broken. “The colt got scared and—”

  “You lying piece of—”

  “Hey!” Colt said, and lurching between the two, faced Bradley. “How about you and me step outside and talk this over nice and reasonable. Just the two of us.”

  Brad looked down at him, raised his brows, and laughed out loud. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Not so much.”

  “Listen, I’m a brown belt, buddy.”

  “Yeah?” A muscle jumped in Colt’s jaw. “Well, that’s good, cuz I’m pissed … buddy.”

  Brad stared at him a second, then threw his arms wide. “Great. Let’s see what we can do now that your arm is all fixed up, shall we?”

  “Brad!” Casie said, panic roaring in. “Don’t do this.”

  “You think I want to?” he asked and turned abruptly toward her. “I’m a doctor, for God’s sake. But I’m not going to just sit back and watch you throw your life away on some juvenile delinquent and a half-ass cowboy.”

  “I’m not throwing my life away on anything.”

  “Come with me,” he said suddenly and stepped toward her. “Be my wife. The wife of a doctor. I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll even make sure nothing happens to the kid.”

  She frowned, a thousand thoughts jangling for attention.

  “I love you,” Brad said, voice soft, hands gentle, as he reached for hers. “I know I’ve been a little distracted lately, but that’s just because I’m trying to build something great. Something for us. A life fit for a princess.”

  She opened her mouth, but he continued.

  “Remember that night at the theater? You promised you’d stay with me forever. That you’d love me for all time. Was that just a lie?”

  “No. Of course not.” She scowled and put her hand to her forehead, trying to think. “You’re a wonderful man, Bradley.”

  He smiled a little. “We’ll be the couple that has everything, Cass. The couple that other people envy if you’ll just—”

  “I’m pregnant,” Emily said.

  The words crackled through the kitchen like a bolt of lightning. The silence that followed was almost as deafening.

  “What?” Casie said. They were inches apart, but worlds separated them.

  “Em!” Ty rasped.

  “Emily.” Casie turned fully toward her. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m sorry.” The girl’s voice was very small, her eyes glassy.

  “Are you sure?” Casie asked.

  Emily swallowed. “Positive.”

  “Well, are you—” Confusion rumbled through Casie’s brain. “Are you feeling—Here …” She hurried forward, gait a little hobbled, to pull out a kitchen chair. “Sit down. Are you feeling okay right—”

  “No!” Brad snarled, then stopped himself and started again. “Don’t tell me you’d give up what we have for that little …” He took a deep breath. “Listen, Cass, this has nothing to do with you. With us … We don’t even know if she’s telling the truth.”

  Casie turned toward him in silent awe. “What? Why would she lie?”

  “I don’t know!” He flung a hand sideways as if unable to explain the intricacies of the universe. “Why
would you get in a fistfight, like some low-class—” He stopped himself again. “Think about it, Cass. This is just one more reason for you to come back to Saint Paul with me. You have a job there. A steady income. You can send some money back here if you like. Help support the kid. Get—”

  “The baby’s his,” Emily added and nodded toward Bradley.

  CHAPTER 32

  “What?” Casie breathed, but Brad was already turning toward Emily. His brows had drawn down tight.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he snarled, but Emily remained exactly as she was.

  “The baby’s yours,” she whispered, then turned toward Casie, eyes swimming with tears. “I’m sorry.”

  Casie stood absolutely still. It was the world that kept revolving, the world that was spinning out of the control she’d tried so hard to maintain. She shook her head, trying to think, trying to find her way through the minefield. She laughed a little. The noise sounded maniacal in the silent room. “It couldn’t be Brad’s,” she said. “You just met him a few days ago. And … and … even if you are pregnant, you couldn’t possibly know yet. Not—”

  “We met in Minneapolis,” Emily said. A fat tear bulged over the edge of her lower lid, caught on her lashes for an instant, then slid down her cheek. She swiped it away with the back of her hand. “There was a … a convention there.”

  “She’s lying.” Brad hissed the denial.

  Casie shook her head. A thousand uncertainties swarmed in, jostling for space. “No … you couldn’t have …”

  “A pharmaceutical convention,” Emily said. “Downtown at the Hyatt.”

  “Are you going to listen to this pack of lies?” Brad rasped. There was outrage in his voice, pride in his stance, but there was something in his eyes that looked like guilt, something starkly reminiscent of other times.

  “When?” Casie asked and turned numbly back toward Emily.

  The girl’s eyes were unblinking, her gaze as steady as a falcon’s. “Two months ago.” Her lips twitched. “In March.”

  Casie nodded once. She felt strangely out of body, out of sync, but she turned back toward her fiancé. “When did you go to that convention?” she asked.

  “This is insane!” Brad shook his head as if unable to believe his ears. “Are you going to—”

  “The one you told me about,” she said. “The one you hurried back from Dad’s funeral for.”

  He snorted, speared Emily with his gaze. “I never met her before in my life.”

  “I had only been working at the hotel for a couple weeks,” she said.

  “Two months ago,” Casie said, trying to think, to reason, to make sense of a world gone mad.

  Emily winced. “He was having drinks with his friends.”

  “See what this place has done to you, Cass?” Bradley asked, red face twisted. “You don’t even know what to believe anymore.”

  “What friends?” Casie asked. She kept her attention riveted on Emily, lest she break down completely.

  The girl shook her head. “One was short. Dark. Curly hair.”

  “Ray,” Casie said. The name sounded as if it came from someone else.

  “The other one was taller. He wore one of those …” Her voice broke for a second. “One of those ID bracelets.”

  “Bruce has asthma.”

  “I didn’t get their names. I was just … I was so … I’m not a slut. Really, I’m not. But he was a doctor. Mature, you know?” She shot her gaze to Brad, kept it there for a fraction of an instant before dragging it away. “And a good tipper, and I didn’t know you then, Case. I didn’t know you were such a great person. I didn’t know I was going to—”

  Casie laughed. “This is crazy. You’re not making any sense. You’re a friend of Ty’s. That’s why you came here. You couldn’t have—”

  “I met Ty at an Al-Anon meeting. We clicked right off cuz his family’s psycho and mine …” She inhaled heavily. “I came here to meet the fiancée of my kid’s dad. I came here to meet you. Maybe I hoped to break you up. I don’t know. I … I just know I’m sorry.” Her face cracked. “I’m so sorry,” she said, and turning, escaped up the stairs.

  The room was as silent as death.

  Casie shifted her bewildered gaze to Bradley.

  “She’s lying,” he said.

  His voice seemed to come from the end of a long tunnel. “So you never cheated on me?”

  He shook his head. “No. I swear, Cass. I never—”

  She raised a brow at him. It cracked the crusting blood on her face, but the pain was almost welcome, almost a relief. At least she understood that kind of agony.

  “Except for once with … well, that once you know about,” he said.

  The memories sifted back in. The betrayal, the uncertainty, the final conclusion that it had been her fault. That if she’d just been better, tried harder, he wouldn’t have strayed. She drew a deep breath, calmed herself. The world seemed oddly shifted, strangely out of whack. “Just that once, then?”

  Color infused his face. “Do you really want to drag this all out in the open again? Is that what you want? To air your dirty laundry here in front of everyone?”

  She should be embarrassed, of course. But instead, she felt strangely peaceful suddenly. Her mind was surprisingly clear. “I think I do,” she said.

  “Fine! Fine then,” he snapped. “Let’s talk about what a limp rag you are in the sack.”

  Embarrassment should turn to mortification anytime now. She waited a beat. Nothing. “Okay,” she said.

  “You think I want that? You think any man wants that?”

  She smiled, amused despite herself. Hell, thrilled despite herself. “I’m not sure.”

  “Well, I don’t. That’s why I turned to other women.”

  “Women?” she asked.

  “I—”

  “Get out, Brad,” she said. Her voice was perfectly calm, perfectly modulated.

  “Listen, we’re engaged to be married. You made a verbal agreement to marry me. That means I’m entitled to—” he began, but Colt interrupted him.

  “Walk away, Hooper,” he said. “Walk away while you still can.”

  Bradley turned on him with a snarl, fists clenched. “Listen, you goddamned cow kicker. You don’t have anything to say about this. If you know what’s good for you—”

  But in that second Colt struck him square in the face. Brad staggered backward, hand covering his nose. Blood spurted from between his fingers like water from a spigot. He fell against the kitchen wall and righted himself with difficulty.

  “That’s really all I wanted to say,” Colt said, flexing his hand. “But if you’d like to discuss it further, we can talk outside.”

  Brad stared at him, eyes flaming, but finally he straightened. Blood as red as bell peppers was streaming from his nose. “You’ll hear from my attorneys,” he snarled and staggered out the door.

  CHAPTER 33

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Casie said as Colt opened the passenger door for her. He’d parked his truck next to Ol’ Puke beside the barn. She felt silly and conspicuous sitting there like a bruised peach. True, every muscle in her body ached, her face looked like it had had a run-in with a bad-tempered bull, and she was distinctly embarrassed by her behavior of the last few days. But it had made good sense to file a report at the sheriff’s office, after which Colt had insisted that she have a checkup at the clinic. They had insisted on keeping her overnight for observation. “I can make it to the house under my own steam. I’m just a little sore.”

  X-rays had shown that nothing was broken, but Colt shook his head. Slipping his hands beneath her legs and behind her back, he lifted her against his chest.

  “You think I want to carry you? My arm’s barely healed. I think I broke my knuckles on your fiancé’s fat nose. And do you know the kind of damage a bucking horse can do to your back?”

  “Why did you park so far from the house then? Put me down,” she said. Jack’s silver eyes danced as he reared up to touc
h his wet nose to her arm.

  “God knows I’d like to,” Colt said and sighed dramatically as he shifted her more firmly against the heat of his chest. “But what if you faint or something?”

  “Faint?” Her face felt warm, her head dizzy. Maybe fainting wasn’t a completely ridiculous notion.

  “It’d just get the kids all riled up again.”

  “What are you talking—” she began, but at that moment the barn door opened and Ty stepped into the sunlight. His split lip had turned a shocking shade of eggplant that matched her left cheek.

  The boy gazed at them with solemn eyes, focusing on her face with painful intensity and no small amount of guilt.

  Casie searched her brain for some way to ease his mind, but the pain in his expression left her speechless. Not so with Colt.

  “Oh, don’t look so hangdog,” he said. “She’s fine. I’m just carrying her cuz she’s too lazy to walk.”

  “I’m not …” Casie began, but Colt ignored her as he turned, muscles shifting easily against her body.

  “Come on up to the house,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at the boy, who followed behind. “You get them ewes fed?”

  “Sure.” Ty caught up in a second, shifting his eyes from her to him. Casie tried a smile. It increased the pain in her face exponentially and only made Ty’s expression more worried.

  “Mom fix up Sissy’s room for you?” Colt asked.

  Ty’s brows shifted low over storm-cloud eyes. “It’s pink.”

  Colt laughed. “Yeah. Sissy always was a girlie girl. Not like Head Case here, who eats barbwire for breakfast.

  “Holy hell!” he said, shifting her weight slightly. “You’re damn heavy for such a scrawny little thing.”

  Casie ignored him as well as she could, which wasn’t all that well since he was cradling her against his chest like a bouquet of roses. “What room?” she asked.

  “Good thing you didn’t stay more than one night eating that irresistible hospital food. You would have been too heavy to carry.”

  “What room?” she repeated.

  “Guess I’m going to be staying with the Dickensons for a while,” Ty said.