A Texas Family

by Linda Warren

  “I was going to tell him tonight, but I could see he’s in no mood to listen. I will tell him in the morning, though. I’m in a mood to tell him a lot of things.”

  Aunt Fran took a gulp of wine. “We may need a lot of this tomorrow.” She got to her feet. “I better check on Asa, though I’d just as soon slap him.”

  Carson nodded. “I’m going out for a while.”

  “Okay.”

  Carson pulled another bottle of wine out of the cabinet. Now if he could talk a pretty lady into sharing it with him, it might ease some of the pain inside him.

  * * *

  “YOU WENT TO see Asa?” Hilary was astounded.

  “I had to face him,” Jena replied. “But it didn’t do any good. He’s a pathetic old man without a heart.”

  “I don’t want to upset you, but for him to remain silent he must have done something horrible and doesn’t want the world to know what a monster he really is.”

  “I’ve already thought of that. He probably smothered my baby before it could take a good breath.” A pain ripped through her, and she had to stop for a moment. “After seeing Asa, I’d made up my mind to leave, but Carson talked me into staying until he had a chance to talk to Asa.”

  “You can’t go,” Hil declared, sinking into a kitchen chair and pouting as if she was six years old. “We’re still working on the house, and I don’t have a job, and you were supposed to go with me to take Mama to the doctor. Now you’re just going to leave us again?”

  Guilt scraped across her heart. She hugged her sister. “Hil, I have a job in Dallas, and I will eventually go back there. Maybe you and Mama can come with me. I’ll get you a job in the law firm.”

  “In Mama’s state of mind, she couldn’t handle the move, and I’d feel out of place. I’m not a big-city girl.” Hil wiped away an errant tear. “It was nice to have you home.” She swatted at another tear. “I’m being a big baby.”

  “But I love you anyway, and I’ll make sure you and Mama are taken care of. Besides—” she waved at the poster board Hil had on the wall “—look at all the work you have to do tomorrow.” On the board Hil had listed pies, cakes and cookies she had to make and for whom. “I’m sure Mabel will be asking you to come back, but in my opinion not unless she’s willing to pay you at least twenty bucks an hour.”

  Hil frowned. “Are you insane? Mabel will never pay me that.”

  “Learn to negotiate, li’l sis. They can’t run that café without you.”

  Jena’s cell buzzed and she went to get her purse, which she’d left in the living room. Her mother was sitting quietly in her chair, watching TV, but Jena wondered if she was really seeing it. Grabbing the phone, she went into the bedroom and clicked it on. It was Carson.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “No, but I’m bracing myself to accept the inevitable.”

  “Are you busy?”

  “Not really. Why?”

  “I just had an exhausting talk with my dad and an enlightening one with my aunt. I need a sympathetic ear.”

  Jena’s heart raced. “Did he...?”

  “No, that’s why I’m restless. I’ll be at the picnic spot where we took the kids. I’ll leave the gate open if you want to join me.”

  “Where are the kids?”

  “They’re with Ethan’s family at a Rangers’ baseball game. They won’t be back until tomorrow. It’s just me.”

  “I don’t know. Hil’s stressed-out and...”

  “I’ll be here if you want to spend some time together.”

  “I’ll think about it.” As she clicked off she knew this was a big decision. Time together meant sex and the start of a different kind of relationship. With all their complications, she wasn’t sure she was ready for that. But in other ways she was more ready than she’d ever been in her life.

  The invitation was as tempting as one of her mother’s buttermilk biscuits. There was no resisting or quibbling. She wanted it and she had to admit she felt the same way about Carson. She wanted him. Not just for one night but forever. So she must be insane, as Hilary had suggested. Was she willing to settle for one night?

  She slipped the phone into her purse and went into the living room. Hil was flipping channels for their mother. Someone knocked at the door and Jena answered it. It was the young girl from the café. Sally or something.

  “Hi,” the girl said. “Is Hilary here?”

  “Hey, Sal, come on in!” Hil shouted.

  The two sat at the kitchen table, their heads close together, gossiping. Jena’s mind was on one thing, and before she could stop herself, she called, “I’m going out for a while.”

  “Okay,” Hilary answered, but Jena knew her concentration was on Sally and the café.

  Jena didn’t analyze what she was doing. It wouldn’t have helped. The gate was open just like he’d said. She followed the road until her headlights found his truck parked near the creek. He was sitting on a quilt, enjoying the beautiful starlit evening.

  Crickets serenaded her as she walked over and sat facing him.

  “You came,” he said, his voice sounding husky in the silky night.

  “Mmm.” She pulled up her knees. “What happened with your dad?” Her rattled nerves magnified her senses.

  “I tried to talk to him, but it didn’t work. He’s so damn stubborn, even Aunt Fran is upset with him. He wouldn’t say a thing about your visit. He kept changing the subject, and I just got frustrated.” He lifted a wine bottle she hadn’t noticed in the dark. “How about a drink?” He poured wine into two Solo cups and handed her one.

  She stared into her cup, swirling the wine. “I don’t drink. When we have parties at the law firm, I just sip it.”

  “Why?”

  “Since my dad was an alcoholic, I was afraid to drink in case I couldn’t stop.”

  “One glass is not going to make you an alcoholic. Trust me, but if it makes you uncomfortable, don’t.”

  She sipped the rich-tasting wine and relaxed.

  “I’m so sorry for what my father has done to you. I can’t say that enough.” And then he went on to tell her about his mother, and she could hear the hurt in his voice.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Let’s not talk about it and enjoy the beautiful evening.”

  After a bit more wine her head became fuzzy and her body warm.

  “Are you still planning on leaving?” he asked.

  “Yes. I have a good job in Dallas.”

  “Have you thought of staying?”

  The crickets seemed to stop chirping; the breeze stilled as the wine mingled with the thoughts in her head, urging her to ignore everything but him. “I can’t. There’s too much heartache here. I could never live in Willow Creek again, but I have found something wonderful here—you.”

  “We seem to have a connection.”

  “Oh.” The night swayed, and she handed him the empty cup. “I feel woozy.” She lay back on the quilt. “Look at the moonlit sky. It’s gorgeous.”

  He lay beside her. “Just the two of us in this vast universe.”

  “It feels like it,” she breathed, very aware of his strong, lean body next to her.

  He propped up on one elbow and looked down at her. “Every time I see you, I want to touch you.”

  Against every sane thought in her head, she took his hand and brought it to her face. “Touch me.”

  He stroked the warmth of her cheek. “I didn’t invite you here to...”

  She kissed his fingers one by one.

  A longing sigh escaped him. “Maybe I did.” He pulled her on top of him and took her lips in raw hungry need. He tasted of wine, warmth and sex, if that had a taste. It was more of a sinful sensation that obliterated eve
rything but the need to be satisfied.

  “Jena,” he whispered between drugging kisses. “I want this to be more than a...”

  “Shh.” Her hand unbuttoned his shirt and caressed his bared chest. As she stroked his firm skin, she knew there was no turning back.

  He groaned. “Jena, are you sure?”

  She leaned back and whipped her top over her head. “I’m not sure about anything but the way I feel about you.”

  “Me, neither.”

  “We don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring, but tonight I’d just like to forget and go with everything I’m feeling. And then I might have the strength to face tomorrow.”

  He unsnapped her bra, and then they were in a frenzy of helping each other remove their clothes. She giggled and felt young as she tugged on his boots. Then they were skin on skin, heart on heart, and their lips were locked in a sensual feast of discovery.

  Her curves fitted perfectly into the hard angles of his. Unashamedly, she tempted and teased his body with her fingertips until she knew every part of him. In turn, he worshiped her body with his lips and hands until her breasts were hard and her body moist for him.

  Everything seemed natural and right, and when he rolled her onto her back she was eager to experience something she never had: sex with a man she loved. As he entered her, the pain she thought would happen didn’t. He was gentle and easy, coaxing every nuance of response from her. It was a coupling of two hearts and two souls who needed each other. The rocking tempo sent them soaring to the heavens. At least it felt that way to her as her body shuddered in delightful spasms.

  Carson soon moaned his release into her heated neck, and they lay that way a long time. Eventually he cradled her in his arms, and they lay in the glow of the moon, satisfied, content for now. In this cocoon of darkness they were happy. The real world waited in the light of day. But they were both prepared for whatever came next.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CARSON WOKE UP feeling young and happy. He hadn’t felt that way in a very long time. Last night had exceeded his wildest imagination. Jena had been shy and tentative at first, but once she loosened up he couldn’t have asked for a better lover. This morning he had no regrets. He just wanted to see her, hold her, touch her and just be with her. He had all the symptoms of a man in love.

  He stopped on the way to the shower. He hadn’t said the words last night, but neither had she. Under the circumstances, maybe it was best if they didn’t. But he couldn’t make himself believe that. He needed to say them. He quickly showered and dressed and ran downstairs. The house seemed so quiet without the kids.

  “Aunt Fran,” he called, walking into the kitchen. “Is Pa up?”

  “No.” She handed him a cup of coffee. “He was going on and on about the kids last night, so I gave him a sleeping pill to calm him down. He won’t be up for a while.”

  “I needed to talk to him this morning.”

  “I’m sorry. There’s just so much I can deal with.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him later. He probably won’t be in a receptive mood until the kids are home.”

  “What time are they coming?”

  “I talked to Ethan last night and he said around one.” He placed his cup on the table. “I have something I need to do this morning.”

  “Don’t you want some breakfast?”

  “No, thanks.”

  This would give him time to see Jena. He wanted her to know last night wasn’t a one-night stand for him. As he drove toward Willow Creek, he tried to picture Beth’s face, but he saw only Jena’s.

  He still loved Beth, but in a different way. She was his past; Jena was his future. Through all the roadblocks and complications he believed there was a future for them. They just had to fight for it.

  A little after eight he drove into Jena’s driveway. A light was on, so he knew someone was up. The yellow house with the mowed yard and flowers didn’t look like the Brookses’ house. This was a difference Jena had made.

  He could hear voices through the screen door.

  “It won’t take long,” Hilary was saying. “While Mama’s sheets are washing let’s flip her mattress. That indentation has to be uncomfortable.”

  “Okay,” Jena replied. “We’ll stand it up and then turn it.”

  He knocked on the door, figuring he could help them. Jena came running in shorts, barefoot. His heart leaped in excitement at the sight of her fresh, shining face.

  Unlatching the door, she smiled. “Good morning.”

  “Mornin’.” He stole a quick kiss and then another. “I had to see you.”

  “I miss you,” she whispered, and all he wanted to do was take her here on the front porch in broad daylight.

  He held up his hands. “It’s hard not to touch.”

  She took his hand. “I’ll put those to good use. We need some muscle to flip a mattress.”

  Mrs. Brooks sat in a chair in the living room, and she looked at him blankly. “What’s he doing here?”

  “It’s okay, Mama,” Jena told her. “Everything’s fine.”

  Carson hadn’t seen Jena’s mother in years. She rarely got out. She’d aged. He wondered if she was even fifty, but she looked eighty. That night nine years ago had affected so many people.

  “I brought reinforcements,” Jena told Hilary.

  “Ah, muscle. That’s what we need.”

  “I’ll stand it up and then flip it,” he said.

  “So easy,” Jena teased.

  He grabbed the mattress and set it on the floor. A tense silence followed as they stared at the object on the box springs.

  “What...what’s that doing there?” Hilary choked out.

  Carson leaned the mattress against the dresser. “Don’t touch it,” he said and squatted to get a closer look. “It’s a single-barrel shotgun. A very old one.”

  “How did it get there?” Jena asked, her eyes wide with shock.

  “I put it there,” Mrs. Brooks said from the doorway.

  Hilary ran to her mother. “Mama, don’t say things like that.”

  “It’s true.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Hilary insisted. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  Carson got to his feet. “Mrs. Brooks, did you put the shotgun here?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “Right after I shot Lamar.”

  “Mama, don’t say that.” Hilary took her arm to lead her out of the room, but Mrs. Brooks wouldn’t move.

  “The sheriff came and told me Lamar had killed Jared Corbett and asked where Lamar was. I told him I didn’t know, but I knew one thing—Lamar had hurt my girls for the last time. I stood by for years and watched him beat them because I was weak. Weak!” she yelled in a deranged voice. Jena hurried to her, but Mrs. Brooks pushed her away. “After my girls went to bed, I got my Mama’s shotgun out of the closet and put a shell in it just like she taught me. Then I waited on the back stoop for Lamar. When he got out of his truck early that morning, I stood and fired. I went back into the house and put the gun under the mattress. You girls never woke up. Later, I called the sheriff and said someone had shot my husband.” She turned and went back to her chair in the living room. Hilary followed her.

  His eyes met Jena’s, and all her hurt and pain was vivid. “Please don’t arrest my mother,” she begged. “She talks out of her head.”

  “It’s the last piece of the puzzle and it fits.”

  “Carson, no, please.”

  He took her in his arms. “I’m not going to arrest her. I don’t know what good that would do.”

  “Jena!” Hilary screamed.

  They ran into the living room.

  “She’s not responding,” Hilary wailed. “Something’s wrong.”

  Carson reached for a pulse in her neck. “It�
��s very weak. I’m calling for an ambulance.”

  Hilary stayed with Mrs. Brooks while Jena grabbed shoes for her and Hilary and her purse. Carson hurriedly put the mattress back on the bed so the paramedics wouldn’t see the gun. As he did that, he knew he was committing a crime. But he’d decided the Brooks family had suffered enough.

  The ambulance arrived, and the paramedics quickly checked Mrs. Brooks and then loaded her into the ambulance. Hilary and Jena went with her.

  Jena glanced back, her dark eyes sad. “Carson.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”

  The ambulance roared away. Carson went to his car for plastic gloves, and then he locked the front door of the house. He found a hammer and a screwdriver in the utility room along with a trash bag. Retrieving the gun from the mattress, he began to take it apart. Screws that were stubborn he broke loose with the hammer. Soon he had it in pieces in the bag.

  He took the bag to his car and drove to the Bar C. Stopping at the barn, he got out a shovel. With that in hand, he threw the shovel and bag in the back of his Polaris Ranger ATV. He drove to a brushy, wooded area far from the house and dug two deep holes and dumped parts of the gun into each.

  As a constable, he was sworn to uphold the law, but today he’d broken it for the woman he loved. He would do anything to protect her.

  * * *

  JENA AND HILARY SAT, hands clasped together, in the waiting area of an Austin hospital.

  “She’s going to be okay?” Hilary said more to herself than to Jena. It was like a mantra she seemed to need to keep repeating. Hilary’s hand gripped hers. “Do...do you think she really did it?”

  Bile rose up in Jena’s throat, and it took her a moment to speak. “Yes. It’s the reason for her mental decline. She couldn’t deal with what she’d done.”

  “I wish I had just let the damn bed alone,” Hil muttered.

  “We would have found it eventually.”

  “But Carson wouldn’t have been there. Is he going to arrest her?”

  “No,” she replied with confidence. She trusted Carson not to hurt her family, and, like he’d said, it would serve no purpose other than to create more gossip.