by Angel Smits
“I’ll be back. I promise.”
“I don’t think that’s up to you, bud.” DJ looked over Tyler’s head at Emily, the emotions on his face carefully controlled. “Is it?”
She didn’t answer and Wyatt was proud of her. “Don’t take it out on her.” He stepped over to Emily’s side.
“He’s right,” she finally spoke. “It’s up to Warren. It’s his case now. Come on, Tyler.”
Tyler didn’t move. Instead, he reached into the pocket of his jeans, the pocket that was always stuffed to capacity. Wyatt was surprised to see him pull a chain out of his pocket, a locket dangling from the last end. “This was Mama’s.” He looked at it. “I didn’t know how to open it. Ms. Ivers just showed me how. See?” He held out the locket and popped it open like a pro.
DJ stared at his son and then at the locket. “Yeah,” DJ whispered. “I gave it to your mom.”
Wyatt saw two pictures inside the locket. A girl and an old one of DJ. Of the boy he’d been.
“She said she’d come back and gave me this to prove it.” Tyler set the open locket on DJ’s knee. “I’ll be back, too.”
Tyler turned and ran out of the room, shoving his way between Emily and Wyatt, his footsteps loud on the stairs. The screen door smacked before anyone spoke. Oddly enough, it was Emily who went first. “Someone from the court will contact you.”
“Where are you taking him?” Wyatt asked. DJ remained ominously silent.
“My place.” She turned and descended the stairs.
Wyatt stood at the top, watching her go. “I’ll call you.”
She halted at the bottom. “Don’t.” She looked over her shoulder at him. He thought for an instant that she was going to say something. She didn’t. She adjusted the load in her arms then followed Tyler out the door.
The second slam of the screen door sounded too final.
Wyatt caught up to Emily just as she closed her car trunk. “What do you mean, don’t?” he yelled.
“I...” Instead of talking, Emily stalked around the car and yanked opened the door.
Before she could climb in and close it, Wyatt grabbed the frame’s edge and saw her wince. He immediately felt guilty, hearing the social worker’s words in his head. Easily startled. Withdrawal.
Damn it.
He didn’t want to cause her to have an anxiety attack, but he refused to pussyfoot around anymore. She’d been hurt in the past, but if she didn’t know by now that he wouldn’t do that to her, when would she?
Their whole future rested on her trusting him. “This whole situation is not about you and me. We are separate from DJ and Tyler.”
“Really? You could have fooled me.” She whirled on him. “We met because of Tyler. The visits were all for Tyler.” Her voice cracked. “The only time we connect is when I need you. Thank you for all your assistance, Mr. Hawkins. I’m perfectly fine now. You’ve fixed everything.” She threw her hands up in the air in defeat.
Turning, Emily climbed into the car and slammed the door. Somewhere in the midst of everything, Tyler had settled himself in the car. Emily breathed a sigh of relief at that. If she’d had to get out and help him, she might have lost it and given in.
Her eyes burned, and she blinked furiously as she floored the gas pedal and left a cloud of dust in the yard.
Once the tires hit the pavement, she took a deep breath and lifted her foot. Tyler sat still and silent in the seat beside her. She took her eyes off the road for an instant to look at him. “I’m sorry, Tyler.” She wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for. Her crying? Arguing in front of him? Letting Wyatt have custody?
“That’s okay.” He looked over at her. “My mom’s good at getting mad, too.”
“Is she?”
“Yeah.” The silence grew thick. “Ms. Ivers?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think she’s comin’ back?”
“I hope so.” She wasn’t sure that was totally true at all. But otherwise, Emily hadn’t a clue where Tyler was going to end up. This was all her fears coming to life. She’d made a huge mistake. She’d believed all the lies. A soft sob broke her throat. She felt like an idiot.
“Don’t cry, Ms. Ivers. Mama always says it’ll get better. It has to.”
Emily smiled through the ache in her throat. Tyler was trying to comfort her and she wondered how many times he’d done the same for his mom. “You’re going to be a good man someday.”
“Yep. Just like Uncle Wyatt.”
Emily would have banged her head on the steering wheel if it wouldn’t impair her driving. She wished Tyler weren’t right. Wyatt was a good man, just not good enough.
* * *
“YOU DID WHAT?” Warren’s voice came over the phone line.
Emily knew he didn’t want her to repeat what she said. He was just trying to wrap his brain around the day’s events that she’d just relayed to him. So she remained silent. Waiting.
He didn’t disappoint her. “So you didn’t call social services because...?”
“I did what I judged to be the right thing at the moment.” She knew Tyler hadn’t been in any imminent danger. DJ was actually telling her to take him. She’d had time to wait for someone impartial to come out to the ranch. But what she hadn’t had was the trust or patience. She’d escaped because of her emotions and she knew that.
“Where is the boy now?” Warren sounded weary.
“Here with me.” She heard him shuffling papers in the background.
“Where the hell is his file?” he grumbled.
“Are you at the office?”
“Of course I’m at work,” he growled. “I’m always at work.”
“The file’s in my office, on the conference table.”
“With probably about fifty other files.”
She wasn’t sure he was talking to her. But he hadn’t hung up, and she wasn’t going to be the first one who did.
“Wasn’t there an aunt, or someone else involved?”
Addie. Emily had completely forgotten about Addie. How, she didn’t know. “Yes. She’s in Austin.”
“Get in touch with her.” He was walking, she could tell. More pages flipped. “Why didn’t we consider her as the guardian?”
“She didn’t apply.”
“Well, call her, anyway. Maybe she’ll step in until I can clear this up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And, Emily?” His voice was heavy as it came through the phone.
“Yes?”
“My office. Eight o’clock tomorrow morning. Don’t be late.” He ended the call without saying goodbye.
Emily swallowed her apprehension. “Yes, sir,” she whispered to the now-dead phone. Warren had been relatively nice the last time he’d summoned her to his office. This time would be different. She looked back at Tyler, who was sitting on the couch watching TV, and knew she’d do the exact same thing again.
Part of what made her a good magistrate was her ability to fit together all the pieces and formulate clear answers. This case had been muddied from the beginning, by the hastiness of her involvement, by the shadows of the Dean case and, she hated to admit, by her own prejudices. She just needed time and space to see more clearly.
But even in the few hours since leaving the ranch she’d had enough time and distance to realize there were vital pieces of this situation that she was missing.
“Tyler?” She sat down beside him on the couch. “Can I talk to you a minute?”
“Yeah.” He muted the TV with the remote.
Emily reached over and turned the TV off, knowing that even if there was no sound, the pictures would distract him. “I probably should have asked you sooner, but I was upset.”
“Asked me what?”
“To tell me exactly what happened with your dad that gave
you those bruises.”
“Oh.” Tyler looked distressed and rubbed his hand through his hair. He was already picking up Wyatt’s habits. She dismissed the realization.
“I’m listening, Tyler. Just tell me the truth,” she prompted.
“You won’t get mad again, will you?”
“At you, no.”
“No, at my dad.”
“I can’t promise that. But I’ll try, okay?”
“Okay.”
He seemed to be thinking over what to say. She hoped he wasn’t trying to come up with a story.
“I was being a pest. Asking lots of questions.”
“Where were you?”
“In his room. He was trying to get dressed. He was really frustrated.”
“I see. Go on.”
“Mama says I’m a chatterbox too much of the time. Guess she’s right.” He looked sad at the mention of his mother. Emily didn’t push him. She waited patiently for him to continue.
“He told me to leave, to go to my room until he was done gettin’ dressed.”
“And did you?”
Tyler slowly shook his head and looked down. Emily could understand DJ being self-conscious and not wanting his son to see him falter—she’d give him that.
“I kept askin’ questions. He tried to make me leave. He turned me around and told me to go.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah. I started to, but he lost his balance and fell. He didn’t mean to grab so hard, really, he didn’t.”
Emily closed her eyes, picturing the scene. She knew Tyler well enough to know he was telling the truth.
Dread ripped through her. She’d overreacted.
Warren was going to kill her. She was pretty sure DJ already thought she was an uptight bitch....
And Wyatt? She refused to think about that now. She couldn’t. It hurt too much. Looking down at Tyler, who stared up at her, his eyes wide and confused, reassured her. She’d rather overreact than leave him at risk.
“How about we call your aunt Addie? Maybe she can come up to visit for a few days.”
“So you’re not mad at my dad anymore?” His eyes filled with hope.
“Maybe.” She was still irritated that he’d told her to take Tyler and hadn’t tried to fight for his son. Not as if she’d have listened, a voice whispered in the back of her mind.
“I hope she makes cookies.” Tyler smiled. “Can I watch TV now?”
“Sure.” Emily handed him the remote and went into the other room to make the call.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THREE FILES WERE all that remained on the conference table. Emily looked at the polished surface that she hadn’t seen in months. She should feel a sense of accomplishment and relief that all the work was done. She didn’t. All she felt was a sadness that she couldn’t shake.
There wasn’t anyone she could share her success with. No one to encourage her, like Mom. No one to smile at her, like Wyatt. She blinked away the stupid tears that kept ambushing her. Enough.
The phone rang, saving her from falling apart. Emily grabbed it on the third ring. She’d barely had time to say hello before Drew’s voice slithered through the line. “I found your little hidey hole.”
Emily cringed. She’d recognize his voice anywhere. It lived too frequently in her nightmares.
“Wh-what are you talking about?” She tried to sound calm.
“Oh, don’t play innocent with me. You know what I’m talking about.”
Unfortunately, she did. He must have gone out to the trailer house. If he had, all he had to do was walk into the bedroom and he’d see the pile of clothes she’d left on the bed, the open closet doors, the hole cut in the wall. She hadn’t tried to hide it. She hadn’t cared. Still didn’t.
She heard him moving around. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he out at the trailer now? She closed her eyes. Of course, he was.
“Shut up!” Emily heard him speak away from the phone—someone was with him. A high-pitched, indistinct voice came through the line.
“Who are you talking to?”
Drew laughed, and it wasn’t a cheerful sound. “I don’t owe you an explanation. We’re not family, remember?” His anger was all too loud and clear across the airwaves.
Emily sat back in her desk chair and rubbed her eyes. She was so tired of dealing with him. So tired of this. It was time to tell him the truth. Maybe then he’d go away.
“Drew. I don’t have the coins. I never did. I didn’t know they even existed until a few weeks ago.” She sighed, trying to figure out how to tell him what happened.
“Liar.”
“Think what you want. But I’m telling you the truth.” She curled her hand into a fist, focusing her anger. “Yeah, I think Mom took them from Earl, but Earl himself stole them from someone.” Neither was a decent excuse. “They’re all gone, Drew. Long gone.”
“What the hell does that mean?” She heard him hit something. A wall? A desk?
“She pawned them. That money was what we lived on after Earl left.”
The air was silent and thick with his anger. Emily expected him to explode, but this silence was far worse. She shivered, thankful they were having this conversation over the phone.
Her relief was short-lived, though, as she heard him talking to someone in the background. “Drew?”
“You took what’s mine.” The anger in his tone was beyond anything she’d ever heard. “Now it’s my turn.”
“Drew. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Oh, this is far from stupid. I’m a lot smarter than you think I am, Emily. You’ll see.”
“Drew?”
He didn’t answer. But the line wasn’t disconnected. She heard something. A whimper? A cry?
“No!” A voice, a familiar voice, came over the line, just before the call ended.
She stared at the phone. I know that voice. Tyler!
Dianne rushed into the office, her glasses bouncing off her nose as she hurried to Emily’s desk. “Addie Hawkins just called. Tyler wasn’t at the school when she went to pick him up. The school told her he wasn’t there all day.”
“But I dropped him off,” Emily whispered, then louder, “Why didn’t someone call? Oh, my God. Oh, no.” She stood. Whatever she remembered doing, whatever someone else didn’t do, only one thing mattered now—Drew had Tyler.
* * *
WYATT WATCHED FROM the doorway as DJ shoved his clothes into the duffel bag, this time with more organization and determination. It was the same green bag he’d brought home from the hospital. The same bag he’d taken to boot camp. And overseas.
“Don’t do this, Deej,” Wyatt said softly, not sure what DJ would say or do. This man wasn’t the same one Wyatt had grown up with.
Heck, who was he kidding? He barely recognized his brother these days.
The time DJ had spent in the military had taken the skinny teenager Wyatt remembered and turned him into a tough, muscle-bound man. The burns had caused DJ’s legs to thin down, but his arms were as thick as his thighs had ever been and his broad shoulders almost made Wyatt feel inadequate. Almost.
“Don’t do what? Get on with my life?” DJ took a moment to glower over his shoulder at Wyatt.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“What did you mean, brother?” DJ zipped the bag closed and slung it over his shoulder. “I appreciate the hospitality, but it’s time to get out of here.” His voice lacked even a drop of sincerity.
Wyatt waited until DJ reached the top of the stairs before he spoke. He didn’t raise his voice. “What about Tyler?”
DJ paused. Wyatt saw him take a deep breath before he spun on his boot heel. “You know what your problem is, Wyatt? You can’t fix a damned thing. You’ve alwa
ys taken care of everything, everyone. You learned to cope, to make do. But you can’t fix shit. Not this time.” The former soldier headed down the flight of stairs.
Wyatt followed to the top step. “I asked you a question.”
DJ barely paused at the front door. “Keep him.” The door seemed to explode open, the wood slamming against the wall with a crash. The hot Texas sun and wind blew in, carrying a flurry of dust and dried leaves onto the polished wood floor.
Wyatt didn’t remember going down the stairs, but found himself on the front porch, his big hand curled around the wooden rail. Wyatt didn’t move, couldn’t seem to let go of the rail. He didn’t know what to do—not having an answer was foreign to him. DJ’s words echoed accusingly around the yard, bouncing off the corral and barn to whip across Wyatt’s ego.
First Emily, now DJ. What other failures lay ahead?
When the phone rang, he was thankful for the interruption. All that changed as soon as he heard the voice on the other end of the line. “Dianne?”
“Wyatt, you have to go after Emily. She’s headed out to her mom’s place. I’m sure that’s where she’s going.”
“Slow down.” He could hear the panic in the woman’s voice. “What happened?”
“Emily’s stepbrother called. Again.” Wyatt heard her take a deep breath.
Wyatt cursed. He’d seen firsthand what a jerk the guy could be. He should have— No, she was the one who’d made it clear they were done. Still...
“I don’t know what he said to her, but she was upset. Hysterical, almost. She raced out of here right after I told her Tyler didn’t make it to school today.”
“What?” Wyatt pulled the phone away. “DJ,” he yelled as his brother climbed onto his bike, the urgency in his voice cutting through the anger of their argument. DJ stared back at him, then slowly climbed off the bike.
“Explain,” Wyatt spoke to Dianne.
“I’m sorry. I’m upset.” The woman was clearly distraught. “Emily said she dropped Tyler off at school this morning. But when Addie went to pick him up they told her he wasn’t there today. Emily thinks Drew took Tyler.” Dianne’s voice shook.
“What?” Wyatt cursed, ignoring his curiosity about Addie’s arrival. He looked over at DJ, who had moved close enough to hear the other side of the conversation. “Where the hell did she go?”