by Sharon Sala
“I can’t think of anything better,” Cathy said. “I happily accept.”
Duke beamed, and before he thought, took her by the shoulders and was about to kiss her on the cheek when he caught himself and stopped. Instead, he just gave her shoulders a quick squeeze. “I’ll talk to you soon. Call if you need me,” he said and then let himself out.
Cathy sighed. There for a moment she’d thought he’d been going to kiss her. She wasn’t sure whether to be disappointed it hadn’t happened, or relieved things weren’t moving too fast.
Duke put all of his rain gear back on and made a run for his truck. Once inside, he glanced up at the house and saw her standing at the window.
He waved.
She smiled and waved back.
He didn’t remember one single minute of the drive home.
Chapter 6
Lon was well aware of the dejected look on the little boy’s face. He’d never had a runaway like this one before.
“Uh…you said your mother kept you out of school a lot?”
Melvin Lee nodded. “Yes, sir. They held me back in first grade ’cause I can’t read so good. I missed too much school, I reckon.”
“So, is it rough being held back?” Lon asked, as he braked at the stoplight, then saw the little boy’s eyes well.
“The guys laughed. They said I must be dumb.”
“Didn’t your school tell your mother you can’t miss a lot of school?”
“I don’t know,” Melvin Lee said. “All I know is I don’t get to go every day. You sure you’re gonna talk to her?”
Lon nodded. “I’m absolutely positive. Don’t worry. Your life is about to change in a good way. That I can promise.”
Melvin Lee beamed.
“Thanks, Chief!”
“No problem,” Lon said.
The light turned green and he accelerated through the intersection, then took a right at the next street and pulled up in the driveway of a pretty yellow house with brown trim.
“Here we are,” Lon said.
Melvin Lee looked up just as his mother came running out onto the porch. He sighed, then unbuckled his seat belt and grabbed the bag with his clothes.
“Hang on, Melvin Lee. I’ll get the door for you,” Lon said. He got out in the rain and circled the car to get his passenger, then kept his hand on Melvin Lee’s shoulder as he walked him up the steps to the house, carrying the bag with the little boy’s clothes.
Junie fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
“Melvin Lee…you scared me to death. What happened? Why did you run away?”
Lon’s hand was still on the boy’s shoulder. “Tell your mama, then go on in the house.”
“I’m not taking care of no more babies,” Melvin Lee said, and then shrugged out of her arms and dragged his bag into the house.
Junie stood abruptly, and she was frowning. “What’s going on here?”
Lon stared straight into her eyes. “Keep in mind I can check this for myself, but I’m expecting you to answer me truthfully. Has the school been sending you letters about Melvin Lee’s absences?”
Junie’s chin jutted out. “You don’t understand. I need help at home while my husband is away.”
“No, ma’am. What you don’t understand is that you aren’t allowed to use your child as unpaid help when he’s supposed to be in school. It’s against the law. You do not want to get social services in your business, and that’s what’s about to happen. You hire help. You call on your adult family members if you need help, but you figure it out now, because your little boy is so overwhelmed by the responsibilities you’ve dumped on him, and by being called stupid at school because he was held back, that when he found out you were pregnant again, he took off in a thunderstorm and had no intention of coming back.”
The defiance on Junie Wilson’s face faded as the shock washed through her.
“I didn’t know kids were making fun of him,” she said. “I need to talk to him.”
“Yes, you do. And you will assure him that you will never keep him out of school to watch your babies again. Those are his siblings, not his responsibility. Do we understand each other?”
Junie’s shoulders slumped. “Yes, sir.”
“Now…go inside and get him dried off and dressed for school. I’ll wait. I’m taking him to school this afternoon, and I will be checking at school every day to make sure he’s not absent again.”
Junie bolted inside. Lon heard kids screaming and a toddler crying, and winced. Poor Melvin Lee.
Within minutes, the little boy came flying out of the house in dry clothes, wearing a little green raincoat.
“Mama says you’re taking me to school!”
“Yes, I am. Pull up your hood,” Lon said, and a few minutes later, they were pulling up at Blessings Elementary. “I’m going to walk you inside,” Lon said.
“Yes, sir,” Melvin Lee said, eyeing the steady downpour. “Reckon we oughta run?”
Lon grinned. “I reckon we should.”
And so they did.
* * *
Duke was still smiling to himself when he pulled up at the back of the house and got out. Having Cathy as a guest at their house for Thanksgiving had changed the whole vibe of the holiday for him. He got out on the run and dashed through the rain to the back porch, then shed all of his rain gear at the door before going inside.
He could hear laughter in the front of the house, and he could smell lemon oil. Cleaning house was in progress.
“I’m home!” he called out.
“We’re in the living room,” Jack shouted. “Grab a dust rag. Hope is on a tear.”
Duke sighed. He’d been on the receiving end of Hope’s penchant for cleaning house before. He paused in the kitchen long enough to get some cleaning cloths, and headed toward the front of the house in his sock feet.
The vacuum cleaner was in the middle of the floor, and Jack was standing on a ladder with a long-handled feather duster, wiping down the blades of a ceiling fan. Hope was near the fireplace, polishing the ancient wood on the mantel, which explained the scent of lemon oil.
“What’s all this about?” Duke asked.
“Since this is my day off, I’m using it for holiday cleaning,” Hope said. “You can dust the books and the bookshelves first, and then we’ll do the dining room table and chairs next. I’m not running the vacuum until all of the wood has been dusted and cleaned.”
“Speaking of holidays, I invited Cathy Terry to Thanksgiving and she accepted,” Duke said.
Jack stopped and looked down from the ladder.
Hope paused and turned around.
“Way to go, Duke. That’s a first,” Jack said.
Duke ignored the insinuation and headed for the bookshelves.
“That’s great,” Hope said. “You know how I feel about holiday dinners. The more, the merrier. How is she feeling?”
“I guess okay,” Duke said. “She’s managing enough that she took off out of the house barefoot and limping to go rescue a little boy she saw out in the storm.”
Sensing a story, Hope paused and sat down on the huge stone hearth.
“Oh my gosh! Was it a toddler? Was he lost?”
“No. Nothing like that. It was Danny and Junie Wilson’s oldest son. He’s seven, almost eight, he said, and he was running away from home.”
Jack climbed down from the ladder. “I remember running away once. But that was because I broke a window.”
Duke grinned. “I remember, and Dad sent me to find you.”
“So Cathy went after him?” Hope asked.
“Yes. I went to get lunch, and when I got back, they were both soaked to the skin and she had him in her lap out on her porch swing, wrapped up in a blanket.”
“Bless his heart,” Hope said. “Why did he run away?”<
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Duke turned around and leaned against the bookshelves to finish the story.
“It appears his mama has been keeping him out of school so much to help her with the three younger children that the little guy is having to repeat first grade. The kids are making fun of him and calling him stupid, and I guess his breaking point came this morning when he overheard his mama telling his daddy over the phone that she was pregnant again. He told Cathy he wasn’t gonna take care of no more babies. He packed some clothes in a plastic garbage bag and took off.”
Hope grimaced. “That’s terrible that she did that to him. I thought there were laws about parents getting in trouble for not sending their kids to school.”
“There are. Of course, Cathy had already called the police department to report she’d found him, and they’d just received a frantic call from Junie that he was missing, so Lon came and picked him up. Last thing I heard, Lon was promising the little guy that he’d make sure his mama didn’t make him miss any more school just to babysit, and then he took the boy home.”
Jack grinned. “Your life has certainly become more exciting since rescuing Cathy Terry.”
“I guess, but I’d put our cattle getting stolen as a bigger issue,” Duke said. He turned his back on both of them and resumed dusting.
The reminder that had happened shifted their focus enough that they stopped teasing him. By midafternoon, the house was shining, they all smelled like lemon oil, and the rain was beginning to let up.
* * *
Over two thousand miles to the west of rain-soaked Georgia, Blaine Wagner was in his limo on the way to a business lunch at the Venetian in Las Vegas when his cell phone rang. He set aside his glass of wine, and when he saw caller ID, he closed the window between him and his driver, then answered.
“Hello, Rand. I’m expecting updates.”
Rand Lawrence had his notes pulled up on his iPad to make sure he didn’t forget anything.
“Yes, sir, I have some, and interesting ones, for sure. Cathy Wagner filed paperwork to reclaim her maiden name as her legal name.”
“So, she’s Cathy Terry again?” Blaine said.
“Yes, sir, which does explain why she left all of the credit cards and her identification behind. She had canceled all of the accounts anyway, so the cards and ID info are worthless.”
“Do you know where she is?” Blaine asked.
“No, sir. But she left Vegas by bus with a one-way ticket to Denver, Colorado. She did arrive there, but has since disappeared. I received your text about her moving her money out of her bank, but there is no credit card trail anywhere, and while I have some hacking skills, I’m not comfortable trying to find out where she’s moved her money. That’s messing with the FDIC and federal banking laws.”
“Understood,” Blaine said, but his thoughts were in freefall. “Listen, here’s what I want you to do. Just keep the case open, and if anything pops up on any of your searches, let me know. Okay?”
“Yes, sir. Will do. Should I invoice your office, or you privately?”
“Privately, and thank you for asking.”
“Yes, sir,” Rand said, and disconnected.
Blaine dropped his phone back in his pocket and then reached for his wine as the limo pulled up to a red light. The black tint to the windows in the rear of the limo gave him complete anonymity, which also gave him a sense of security. A man with his standing in this city always had to be careful.
He eyed a gaggle of tourists crossing in the walk lane, viewing them all as money in his pocket. He could tell which ones were just sightseers, and which ones came to play.
Even though the people who played the slots and the tables were part of the bloodstream of Vegas, the whales who came to the private games were the ones Blaine catered to. Those were the high rollers who received lavish comps because they wagered large amounts of money during their frequent stays.
Everything in Vegas was a game and a gamble, including the people who came and went, and today Blaine was having to come to terms with the fact that his ex-wife was gone. But what was she doing? Where did she go? He was beginning to realize he should have kept his mouth shut and not threatened her. That was all the warning she’d needed.
And then his gut knotted.
What if she went to the feds out of spite? What if the feds put her in witness protection? I need to put out some feelers and see if there’s anything stirring that might come back on me.
He took another drink and then set the wineglass aside and opened the window between him and the driver.
“Paddy, replace this wine. I don’t like it. I’d prefer something from the German pinot noirs, I think.”
“Yes, sir,” the driver said, and accelerated through the green light.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the Venetian Resort hotel and casino. Paddy jumped out and circled the limo to open the door for his boss.
Blaine exited the car and was immediately greeted by an employee who escorted him to where the private lunch was being held. As soon as Blaine walked into the room, his blood pressure settled and his wayward thoughts about his ex disappeared. He was in his element and on familiar ground.
* * *
Dan Amos came by Cathy’s house after the rain finally stopped, bringing a Mexican casserole and a tres leches cake.
“Alice sent food, and I’ll confess it took an extreme amount of my willpower not to sample it on the way over. Her saving grace is that she made the same thing for us for supper tonight, so your food is intact.”
Cathy inhaled as he carried it into the kitchen for her.
“Wow, that smells good,” she said.
“I put the cake in the refrigerator. She said to tell you it needs to stay cold. The casserole will be fine sitting out until after you’ve finished supper.”
“Thank you so much…both of you, and please tell Alice how much I appreciate it.”
“Will do,” Dan said. “Before I leave, do you mind if I get up in the attic to make sure the roof doesn’t have any leaks? You’re the first renter who’s lived here since the hurricane, and I want to make sure the roof repair held.”
“Oh sure, do you what you need to do,” Cathy said.
“Thanks,” Dan said.
He stepped back out onto the porch, then brought in a ladder, carried it down the hall to the attic access, then climbed up and crawled in.
She could hear him walking around above, and felt grateful for having a competent and honest landlord. A few minutes later he climbed down.
“It’s all good and dry as a bone up there,” Dan said. “I’ll get out of your way now. I have a couple more houses I need to check before I quit for the day.”
“Here’s hoping they’re all nice and dry,” Cathy said.
Dan gave her a thumbs-up and left with his ladder.
Cathy watched him loading up and then driving away and wondered what had happened in his life that made him give up the high-powered lifestyle of a prominent criminal lawyer and settle in this little town doing his own repairs on his rental properties. Then she shrugged. Everybody had a story to tell, even her, although nobody here in Blessings knew a thing about hers—except Dan.
A short while later, there was another knock on her door, and the woman standing on the porch holding a sack of groceries immediately introduced herself.
“Hi, sugar! I’m Ruby Butterman. I run the Curl Up and Dye salon, and I heard through the Blessings grapevine—otherwise known as the gossip circle—that you’re a bit incapacitated right now. So, these goodies are from me and the girls at my shop. When you get to feeling like it, stop by for a free shampoo and style.”
Cathy was enchanted. “Thank you so much. I run by your shop almost every morning…or at least I did before I messed up my ankle. I appreciate the offer and the goodies so much. Please pass on my thanks to the girls as well.”
/> Ruby set the groceries on the seat of Cathy’s walker and then handed her a card from her shop.
“This has all my contact info on it. Call if you ever need anything, okay? I’ve got to get back to the shop. I have a client coming soon.”
She waved, then turned and dashed off the porch and drove away.
Cathy rolled the sack of groceries into her kitchen and put up a quart of milk, a loaf of fresh bread, some meat and cheese for sandwiches, and a couple of frozen dinners.
“I swear, these are the nicest people ever,” she muttered, and then found a Snickers candy bar in the bottom of the sack, and grinned. “Score. That’s a woman after my own heart.”
She took the candy bar into the living room with a glass of iced tea and enjoyed the unexpected treat.
* * *
Melvin Lee had the best day ever at school—even if it had only been for the afternoon—because the chief of police made Mama promise never to keep him home to babysit again. He didn’t even pay any attention when one of the guys from his old class laughed at him in the hall and called him dummy. He wasn’t gonna be dumb forever.
Rain was letting up when he boarded the school bus for in-town kids and rode it to the corner of his block. Raindrops splattered on the hood of his little green raincoat, making it sound like rain on a roof. He and two other kids got off at the same stop, but he was on the only one who lived down the street, so he headed for home.
At first Melvin Lee was happy, but the closer he got to the house, the slower his steps became. He was dreading helping feed the kids and getting them ready for bed when it dawned on him that Granny’s little blue car was in the drive. He loved his granny and started running, splattering through the puddles.
He was running up the steps when the front door opened and his mama appeared.
“Stop right there,” she said. “Take off your wet shoes and raincoat out here.”
Mama’s voice sounded squeaky, which meant she was all stressed.
He sighed, said, “Yes, ma’am,” and did as she asked.