To Save a Child--A Clean Romance

by Linda Warren

  Parker took his seat. “You’re not going to find anything. Brooke Bennett wanted to be in Joel’s life, and she did everything she could to make that happen. Chasing him and harassing him. It just ended in a bad way.”

  “Did y’all interview anyone at the hospital about his injured wrist?” Cole asked.

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “The file says he injured his wrist playing football with kids in the park. Ms. Bennett says he hurt his wrist in a bar fight.”

  Parker laughed out loud. “Oh, man. That woman has you tied up in knots.”

  Cole let that slide. “Then you wouldn’t mind if I checked it out at the hospital.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “I’d like to interview Briggs, too.”

  That brought a scowl to Parker’s face again. “He’s just going to tell you the same thing he’s told us.”

  “Then you don’t mind?”

  “Knock yourself out, but you’re wasting your time, and you’re wasting the department’s time.”

  “It’s my time.” He reached out and touched the file. “Nowhere in here does Briggs mention a concern for his daughter, for her welfare or her safety. For a man who wants custody, in my book, he should at least know his daughter and what she looks like. And he should especially be concerned that she’s being well taken care of.”

  This time Cole was the one who walked out.

  * * *

  GRACE HAD A great day until they returned home. Grandpa went to sleep in his recliner, and she put Zoe down for a nap in the living room. Mr. Walt wanted her close to him, and Grace didn’t fight him on it. He’d helped her a lot today. Then she unloaded the groceries they had bought. She was busy in the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

  She hurried to the front door so it wouldn’t wake Zoe and found a stranger standing there. He was probably in his seventies and wearing a baseball cap. A teenager stood behind him.

  “Is Walt home? I have his delivery.”

  Delivery? Did Mr. Walt order something?

  Before she could finish that thought, Mr. Walt stomped up behind her. “Bring it on in.”

  “What did you order, Mr. Walt? And when? And does Cole know?”

  “Ah, it ain’t nothin’. And it’s my money.”

  Grace stared in disbelief as the man and the boy brought in a baby bed. A beautiful, white baby bed. “You bought this?”

  “Zoe Grace needs a place to sleep. You can’t keep her in that pen all the time.”

  “Mr. Walt, I’m very upset with you. Zoe has a bed—it’s in Austin and we will be returning there soon.”

  “No returns, Walt. That’s my policy,” the man said.

  “Bring it in here,” Mr. Walt told him. The man and the boy followed Mr. Walt into Grace’s bedroom. She stood there transfixed, not knowing what to do, and watched as they went outside and brought in the mattress and a box of sheets. The man shook Mr. Walt’s hand and left.

  Grace walked into the bedroom and stared at the bed. “Where did you get this?”

  “Resale shop in town.”

  “This is a new baby bed.”

  “Sometimes he gets new furniture, and while you were with Gabe, I went and looked around. Zoe Grace liked it, so I bought it.”

  “What did you pay for it?”

  “Twenty dollars. It was worth it.”

  She shook her head. “Mr. Walt, you paid more than twenty dollars for this, the mattress and sheets. I didn’t want you to buy a bed, and yet you did.”

  “So sue me. I want Zoe Grace to have a nice bed. Now help me put the mattress on it.”

  She gritted her teeth. The Chisholm men were infuriating. She counted to ten and then proceeded to help him.

  * * *

  THE FIRST THING Cole heard as he opened the back door was “How are you going to explain this to Cole?” That was Grace’s voice.

  “It’s my money!” his grandfather shouted.

  Cole followed the voices and found them in Grace’s bedroom staring at a baby bed.

  Grace was the first to notice him. “Your grandfather bought a baby bed while I was at Gabe’s office. And they delivered it this afternoon. I knew nothing about this, and I’m very upset with him.”

  He walked over to the bed. “It looks nice.”

  Rascal barked and interrupted the conversation.

  “Zoe’s awake,” Grace said. “I’ll get her.”

  “Now before you start,” Grandpa warned him, “it’s my money and I can spend it any way I want to.”

  “I wasn’t going to say a thing. You’re right. It’s your money.”

  “Then I don’t see what all the yammering is about.”

  Cole took a deep breath. “Grandpa, I’m just a little concerned.”

  “About what?”

  “Your interest in Zoe. I think it’s very nice that you like the baby, but you do realize they will be leaving soon, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do.” His shaggy eyebrows knotted together. “I’m not senile.”

  Cole nodded. “Good. Then we’re clear on that.”

  “Did you find a way to help Grace?”

  Before Cole could answer, Grace brought Zoe into the room, and Grandpa immediately took her. “There’s my girl.” He took her over to the bed. “This is your new bed. You have a place to sleep now.” He laid Zoe in it, and she rolled to her stomach as if to go to sleep.

  “See.” Grandpa beamed with delight. “She likes it.”

  The sleep didn’t last long. Zoe scooted to the rail and pulled herself up and stood there smiling at everybody. And Cole knew he’d do whatever he could to ensure Zoe had a home where someone loved her and would care for her.

  * * *

  COLE DIDN’T SEEM upset about the bed, and Grace relaxed. She was anxious to ask Cole about what he’d learned today, but he went to feed the animals so Mr. Walt wouldn’t have to. It was chilly outside.

  She put Zoe in her walker and let her go. She chased Rascal around the house. Rascal would go down the hall and back into the living room and she would follow, making little noises. She was happy. Grace never knew Zoe liked animals.

  As she chopped the last bit of chicken and stirred it into mashed potatoes for Zoe, Cole walked in and stared at the mess on the counters. “What are you doing?”

  “Making Zoe’s supper. She can eat food from the table now. I just have to be careful what I give her. She was frowning the other night because she didn’t like the organic food I had bought.”

  He leaned against the counter and folded his arms across his broad chest. “I honestly believe there’s nothing you can’t do. On Saturday when we had the ice storm, Grandpa didn’t want to live anymore—he wouldn’t eat lunch. He said he wasn’t hungry. He’s eaten very little since my grandma died. And now he’s eating and he’s completely captivated by Zoe. I don’t know how you accomplished that.”

  Unable to stop herself, she smiled. “Divine intervention.”

  “Yeah, right.” He smiled back, and the soft expression on his face took her breath away. The blue of his eyes wasn’t steel anymore. They were warm and bright like the sky on a summer day.

  “When’s supper, Grace?” Mr. Walt called and broke the moment.

  “In a minute,” she shouted back, and her mind focused on what was important. “Did you find out anything today?”

  “We’ll talk after supper,” he said. “Grandpa’s not going to give us any peace until he’s eaten. It seems he’s making up for lost time.”

  Grace hurried and cooked the chicken fried steak that Grandpa had ordered. He’d helped her prepare everything. She had zero expertise on chicken fried steak, which was the reason for the big mess in the kitchen. She’d clean it up later. With the food on the table, she called Mr. Walt and put Zoe in her high chair. The meal seemed to go on forever. Sh
e was anxious to talk to Cole.

  Zoe rubbed her eyes with her hands, getting food all over herself. Grace wiped her hands and her face and then gave her a bottle.

  “I’m going to put her down for the night. She’s had a big day.”

  When she made it back to the kitchen, the table was clean and the dishes were in the dishwasher. He was such a sweet guy.

  * * *

  THEY SAT AT the table. Cole stretched his broad shoulders. “It’s tiring sitting at a desk for hours.”

  “Is that what you did?”

  “Yes. I went over every word in that file, and you’re right, Parker is a fan of Briggs’s. He’s promised to help him get Zoe.”

  The blood drained from Grace’s face, and she went limp. “What?” She could barely squeak out the word.

  “Don’t panic,” he said in a rush, and she took a long breath.

  “Can he do that?”

  “If he feels Briggs is the better parent, but I’m going to find something to disprove that. It might take a while, and I have to be back to work next Monday. So I have to spend all my time investigating Briggs’s story. I’d like to ask you some more questions.”

  She scooted forward in her chair. “Sure. Anything.”

  “You said Briggs injured his wrist in a bar fight. The file says he injured it playing football in the park with a bunch of kids.”

  “Brooke said that’s what he told her at the time in the ER when she was asking him questions, but later he told her he’d only said that because he didn’t want any bad press. He was really in a bar and a man said something derogatory about him and he took offense and hit him, injuring his wrist.”

  “Did she tell you the name of the bar?”

  “No. I don’t know if she knew.”

  Cole pulled out his phone. “Let’s go over this again. After the ER visit, who made the first call?”

  “He did. He came back to the ER to get her number. She was so excited that he had done that. She’d thought he wasn’t interested.”

  “She didn’t call him?”

  Grace shook her head. “As far as I know, he did all the calling.”

  “According to Briggs, he had no interest in Brooke, but she kept calling him and he finally gave in.”

  “That’s a lie.” Grace was appalled that Briggs would go so far to sully her sister’s name.

  “I’ll check into that at the hospital. Who are her friends there?”

  “Amber Lewis and Brooke have been friends since grade school. She works in the ER, too. Heather Wright. They used to go out together a lot.”

  “Let’s go over the timeline again.” Cole looked down at his phone. “She dated Briggs and then moved in with him. Three months later she came home with bruises.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then three months later she went back to him and became pregnant.” Cole was reading from his phone, so he must’ve written everything down she’d told him. “She was four months pregnant when she came home again with bruises?”

  “Yes. And she stayed until Zoe was about two months old. That’s when Briggs apologized and asked her to come back.”

  “And up until that time he’d never seen Zoe?”

  “That was the first time he saw her, and he never even picked her up. Brooke put her in the carrier, and they left.”

  “You told me he was seeing a therapist. Do you know which one?”

  “No. I’m sorry. Brooke never said.”

  “One week later Brooke brought Zoe back to you?”

  “Yes. I begged her to stay home with Zoe, but she left anyway.”

  Cole leaned back in his chair. “I’m guessing that’s about the time she started working at the gentlemen’s club. She didn’t have time to take care of Zoe at night, so she brought her to you. I just can’t figure out why she would do that.”

  Grace shook her head. “I don’t get that part. That’s just not my sister.”

  “The name of the club is in the file, and I will check it out, too.”

  “Thank you, Cole, for doing this. Please don’t let Joel get Zoe. He doesn’t love her. I know that deep inside.”

  “I’ll do everything I can, but like I told you, you need to start facing the fact that there’s a good possibility he will get her. He’s her father, and he has rights.”

  “Because Parker’s behind him.”

  Cole nodded. “Partly. A cop’s recommendation is going to go a long way, but I’m not through by a long shot. I’m going to leave early in the morning, and I won’t come home tomorrow night. I’ll sleep at my apartment. Do you think you can handle Grandpa that long?”

  “Does a duck waddle?”

  Cole grinned. “You’ve been around my grandpa too long.”

  “He introduced me to a lot of people today, and they were very nice. I’m known as the lady who slid off the road. Maribel, the owner of the diner, has twin boys with dark hair and dark eyes. They’re not identical, but they’re close. She has a Pack ’n Play set up in the corner with toys. They were supposed to stay there, but they’d climb out and run all over the diner. When they saw Zoe, they came over and stared at her and jabbered. Zoe jabbered back. I think they had their own language. Then Maribel said, ‘Daddy’s coming,’ and they shot back to the Pack ’n Play and crawled over busying themselves with toys. A tall, nice-looking man walked in.”

  “That would be Elias Rebel. His family owns a big ranch right outside Horseshoe.”

  “The moment he opened the door, they were out of that Pack ’n Play again and flew to him, one around each leg. He kissed his wife and picked up the boys, one in each arm, and walked out. We all watched as he put the boys in car seats in a big truck. He was parked in the middle of the street.”

  “That’s Elias. It sounds as if you had a really good time today.”

  “It was just...” Words tumbled around in her head as she tried to explain it. “It was the first time since my sister died that the rope around my heart loosened a little. Gabe gave me hope, and I witnessed happiness here in Horseshoe, Texas. It made me feel good.”

  Or maybe it was Cole. He was always telling her to be prepared for the worst, but she knew he was just trying to make her face reality. And the reality was she might lose Zoe. She also knew though, with Cole on the case, she had a chance. He gave her more hope than Gabe.

  CHAPTER TEN

  COLE WAS UP EARLY, intending to be in Austin before seven. He shaved and showered in Grandpa’s bathroom. As he tied his bathrobe, Grandpa stomped into the room in his boxers and a T-shirt, scratching his gray head.

  “What are you doing in my bathroom?”

  “I thought I’d give Grace the privacy of the other bath.”

  “Good.” Grandpa nodded his head.

  “Grandpa, I’m not coming home tonight. I’ll be interviewing and gathering information to help Grace.”

  “That’s fine. Grace is here, and we’re going grocery shopping.”

  “Grocery shopping? Didn’t you do that yesterday?”

  “Yeah, but now we have to get stuff for Thanksgiving. I told Grace I wanted turkey and dressing, and she said she doesn’t know how to make it. What are mothers teaching their girls these days?”

  “Probably that they don’t need to do all the cooking. These days men know how to cook.”

  “That’s nonsense. Women need to know how to cook, too.”

  Cole didn’t have time to get into it with his bullheaded grandfather. He was set in his ways and would probably never change.

  “I’ve got to run, Grandpa. Just remember I will be spending Thanksgiving at Stephanie’s, so don’t buy a lot of food for just you and Grace.”

  “I’ll buy whatever I want to.”

  Cole sighed deeply. He could feel the weight of a cantankerous old man seeping into his bones.

  “Get out of my bathr
oom. I have to shave and shower. Zoe Grace will be awake soon.”

  Cole gave up and hurried to his room to change clothes. He wore jeans and a white shirt. He pulled out his blazer because the weather was still cold. As a detective, he could now wear street clothes. As he slipped on his boots, he thought he shouldn’t complain about his grandfather. At least he was shaving and showering. Amazing Grace. A smile touched his face.

  He made his way down the hall and stopped. He heard a sound coming from Grace’s room. The door was open, but the light wasn’t on. He glanced around the doorjamb and saw Zoe standing up in her bed. Grace must be in the bathroom. As soon as Zoe noticed him, she held out her arms.

  “Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.”

  He had to go and Grace would be out in a minute. The problem was Zoe kept pushing against the bed and holding out her arms over the rail. He was afraid she would tumble out of it. When he stepped into the room, she got all excited, wiggling and moving around, making happy noises.

  “Grace will be out in a minute.” He found himself standing in the moonlight streaming in from the windows talking to a baby who didn’t understand a word he was saying. When he didn’t take her, she stuck out her lower lip and crocodile tears leaked from her eyes. He couldn’t stand it. He gently picked her up.

  He patted her back. “Is that better?”

  Her happy face reappeared, and she snuggled against him, rubbing her cheek against his. He wondered if Jamie ever held him like this. Did he have that overwhelming joy and endless gratitude for holding something so precious, so unique and special in a way that it could never be replaced? In that moment he looked beyond the shadow of Jamie to the son of Jamie.

  His dad must’ve held him every day like this and dreamed about the future and a little boy who would grow up with the love and support of his parents. The tragedy of his parents’ death had changed all that. And for the first time he wanted that love back. He wanted to feel that love again.

  Zoe rubbed her face against his again.

  “What are you doing?” he asked in a voice he’d never heard before. He was talking baby talk. If Bo heard him, Cole would never live it down.