The Cowboy Lawman
At the top of the steps stood Slade McKennon and his little boy, Caleb. She smiled at the five-year-old boy with the blond hair because it was easier to look at him than at his father. Caleb, Vicki’s baby.
She remembered holding him at Vicki’s funeral, cuddling him close. When she looked up from Caleb to meet Slade’s gray eyes, she knew that he’d gone back in time, too. He managed a smile. Hers was slower to return.
“Good to see you here.”
“Thank you.” She looked past him into the church. “It’s good to be here.”
Behind her, Granny Myrna prodded her forward. “Slade and Caleb are going to ring the bell. We need to find a seat.”
Find a seat? Mia smiled at that. The Coopers sat on the second pew from the front. It wasn’t their pew. If visitors showed up, the Cooper clan moved. But most of the time, you’d find them there, sitting together. A few of the kids missed church from time to time. Heather went to church in Grove. She liked the anonymity of going to a big church. Blake Cooper, second to the oldest of the kids, sometimes had business that kept him out of town.
Gage and Dylan traveled a lot, bull riding or providing livestock for rodeos and bull rides. Bryan, the youngest brother, was in South America on a mission trip.
Mia called it his “guilt trip.” He had made a mistake, like so many other kids, and now he felt he had to pay for it.
Caleb reached for her hand as she eased past father and son. “Do you know I’m in school now?”
She smiled down at him. “I heard that. Do you like it?”
Vicki had always wanted half a dozen kids. Caleb should have been one of many. Mia had always groaned at the idea of six kids. She’d grown up as a Cooper, surrounded by siblings.
Caleb nodded. “We’re having a class party and the moms are bringing cupcakes.”
“That’s going to be great.” Mia looked up from the little boy to his dad.
“Let Mia go, Caleb. We’ll talk to her later.”
Caleb released her hand. Mia knelt next to him and wrapped her left arm around him in a quick hug. “I think I know how to make cupcakes.”
He smiled at that but Slade cleared his throat. “We’ve got it covered.”
Mia got it. Slade didn’t want her that involved in his life. She stood and followed her grandmother down the aisle to the second pew from the front.
* * *
Slade watched Mia walk down the aisle toward the front of the church. He didn’t know why it hurt him so much to watch her with Caleb. He guessed because it had hurt five years ago when she sat behind him at Vicki’s funeral, holding their baby boy. But today was different. Today something else had happened when he saw her hug his son. This was a different kind of ache.
It took him by surprise and he stood there for a full minute trying to make sense of it. A hand reached for his and pulled hard.
He looked down at Caleb and smiled.
“You going to hand me that rope?” Caleb stood steady in his new boots and his best shirt.
“I sure am.” Slade unhooked the rope from the hook on the wall and handed it to his son. “Ring the bell, Caleb.”
Caleb pulled hard, swinging a little on the rope and then pulled again. The sound of the ringing bell filled the Sunday-morning silence. It was a constant, that bell. It ranked with Sunday lunch, good friends, Vera’s fried chicken and weekends at the rodeo.
After Caleb finished ringing the bell, Slade followed his son down the aisle to the empty spaces they’d left behind the Coopers. Slade’s mom hadn’t shown up yet. He glanced at his watch. She was never late. Caleb slid into the pew and Slade sat next to him. He glanced at his watch and then at his silenced phone.
In front of him Mia reached to smooth her dark hair. He watched as she settled nervously, waiting for the service to start. He remembered the day he returned to church. It took him a month, maybe six weeks after Vicki’s accident. Looking back, he shouldn’t have waited. He’d avoided the place and people he had needed most.
His mom had tried to tell him that. He hadn’t wanted to listen. Now, with Caleb next to him, he realized they had survived. It still hurt, but they were making it. They were good, the two of them.
Lately his mom had been telling him that no one could take Vicki’s place, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t find room in his heart for love. Caleb squirmed next to him, digging in his pocket for something, distracting Slade from uncomfortable thoughts. He looked down at his son, frowning as the kid pulled something from his pocket.
No way. He shook his head at the half-eaten piece of taffy. It had lint stuck to it and probably bacteria that would light up a microscope. Caleb gave the candy a wistful look and handed it over. Now what in the world was he supposed to do with it? Slade sighed and fisted the candy. A tissue got tossed over his shoulder. He smiled back at Ryder Johnson and his wife, Andie. She grinned and blew a kiss at Caleb. Their twin girls were in the church nursery.
Life in Dawson was changing. Slade had come to terms with the reality that he and his friends were now the adults in town and there were new kids sitting on the tailgates of trucks parked at the local convenience store.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it the first time. It rang again. A slow, bad feeling slid into his chest. He put a finger to his lips to silence Caleb and pointed for him to stay. He reached up, tapping Miss Myrna Cooper on the shoulder. When she turned he showed her his phone and pointed to Caleb. She nodded.
The congregation started to sing and Slade hurried down the aisle to the doors. His phone was ringing a fourth time as he stepped outside.
“Slade McKennon.”
“Slade, it’s Janie, on the ambulance. Hon, we’ve got your mom here. She’s having chest pains. We’re going to head for Grove Hospital if you want to meet us there.”
The tightness that had grabbed hold of him when the phone rang twisted a little tighter. “I’ll be right there.”
“Now, Slade, your mom says for you not to drive like a maniac. She’s fine. I agree with her. Don’t rush. She’s going to be in the E.R. and getting good care, so you take it easy.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’ll take it easy. Tell her I’m going to find someone to watch Caleb and I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Janie laughed a little. “Your mom said it better take you longer than twenty minutes.”
He slid the phone back into his pocket and stepped back into the church, where he nearly bumped into Mia Cooper. She wasn’t smiling.
“What’s up?”
He slid a hand across her back and followed her back outside. “They’re taking my mom to the E.R. She’s having chest pains. I need to make arrangements for Caleb and go.”
“Do you want me to take care of Caleb or go with you?”
“Mia, you don’t have to...”
She cut him off with a glare. “I’m either taking care of that little boy or I’m going with you. It’s your choice which one I do.”
“Can you watch Caleb?” He looked away, just for a minute, needing to ground himself.
“I think I can manage one five-year-old boy, Slade.”
“I know you can.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll call you later.”
“That’s good. And Slade, I’ll pray for her.”
It took him by surprise, the softness in her voice, in her expression. It drew him in and he leaned to kiss her cheek. “Thank you.”
She blinked a few times, then let it go. “Call me when you know something.”
“I will. Tell Caleb his grandma is good. She even told me not to drive fast. He doesn’t need to worry.”
“I’ll tell him.”
She slipped back inside the church, closing the door softly behind her. Slade stood there, staring at the double doors for a few seconds before he turned and hurried down the steps and across the parking lot toward his truck. His better self took control, not letting him think too much about Mia and the decision to leave his son in her care.
As he pulled out of the parking lot, his mind was fully planted on his mom and her health. Anything could happen. In the blink of an eye, the world could change. He’d experienced it. His mom had, too. Ten years ago when they lost his dad to cancer.
The roads were quiet. A typical Sunday morning in Dawson. Most people were in church. There were only a couple of cars at Vera’s. He drove out of town, speeding up as he left the city limits behind. He hit his emergency flashers and punched the gas, forgetting the twenty-minute rule his mom had set.
He had kissed Mia on the cheek. He shook his head and called himself a few names because kissing Mia had always been off-limits. He’d always been okay with that rule. What had changed?
Chapter Four
After church, and after making a few excuses to avoid lunch at Cooper Creek Ranch, Mia led Caleb across the parking lot to her grandmother’s car. The child held tight to her left hand. His feet dragged.
“You know, it’s easier to walk if you lift your feet.”
“Is my grandma okay?” He looked up from the blacktop he’d been studying. His blue eyes narrowed on her as he waited for an answer.
“She’s going to be just fine. She’s at the hospital and they’ll give her medicine to help her heart.”
“Is it attacking her?”
She hid a smile at the image he probably had in his mind.
“It’s hurting.”
“I’m going to your house?” He looked down again. She got it. He barely knew her. A few visits over the years wasn’t a lot.
She sighed and then squatted in front of him to put herself at eye level. “Caleb, your grandma is okay and your dad is going to pick you up at my house. We’ll hang out together and maybe we can convince your dad to bring pizza later.”
“Do you have toys?”
She grinned. “I have a few trucks that my nieces and nephews play with at my house.”
“Girls play with trucks?” He wrinkled his nose.
“Yeah, they do.”
“Okay.” He looked up and grinned, but not at her. “Hi, Jackson.”
She glanced back and then up, frowning at her brother. “I’m going with Gran.”
He raised his hands in surrender. “I know and I wasn’t going to try to talk you into going to the house. I wanted to see if I could keep a mare at your place.”
“A mare? Because you don’t have room for one more?” They both knew that wasn’t the case. She held out a hand and Jackson pulled her to her feet.
“I picked her up from a place north of Grove. The owners lost their farm and went to Tulsa. She’s been in a corral for a few weeks and needs to be stabled and have some weight put on her.”
A broken horse to fix. She knew this game. When she’d first moved to Cooper Creek twenty years ago, she’d been given a sick goat to care for. She had kept that goat for years. That goat, crazy as it seemed, had probably saved her life.
“Jackson, I don’t need a project.”
His eyes widened. “Who said it was a project?”
“I know you too well. You’re the guy who led me out to the barn and told me that the sick goat wouldn’t live if someone didn’t take care of it.”
“It lived, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, it did.” And so had she.
She remembered her mother lying on the floor, OD’d, and police moving through the house. She’d hidden her siblings under a bed because it had always been her job to protect them. She shivered even with the warmth of the sun pouring down on her.
“Mia?”
“Bring it by tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” Jackson ruffled Caleb’s hair. “Later, buddy. Don’t let Mia get you into trouble.”
The little boy looked up at Jackson and grinned big, probably thinking trouble sounded like fun.
Her grandmother finally joined them, looking a little spacey, smiling like a woman with a secret. And Mia knew that it had to do with an old farmer named Winston. Her grandmother, at eighty-five, was in love.
Love? Mia shook her head as she opened the back door of the sedan for Caleb to climb in. Love wasn’t her thing. She’d tried it once, but the man in question hadn’t been able to handle a woman in law enforcement with a gun and better aim than him.
Not that she had a career now. It still didn’t mean she wanted romance with flowers and moonlit walks. No, that wasn’t her cup of tea. She’d never really dated. In high school she preferred the easy camaraderie of her brothers and their friends to the complicated relationships her friends seemed to seek out.
She slid into the front seat of the car and glanced back at Caleb. His attention was focused on the window, but she saw worry reflected in his eyes. Stoic. She got it. She knew how it worked. If you didn’t talk about it, it didn’t hurt. Or so she’d always tried to convince herself.
“What do you want for lunch?” she asked and he turned from the window to face her.
“I like peanut butter.”
“That sounds good. I like mine grilled with strawberry jam. Have you ever had grilled peanut butter and jelly?”
“That sounds gross.”
She smiled. “Yeah, I guess it does. But it tastes good.”
He turned back to the window. “I’d like to see that horse.”
“Huh?” She looked out the window, but she didn’t see a horse.
“The horse Jackson has.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll have your dad bring you by to see it.”
“Okay. And I’d eat that sandwich.”
Granny Myrna chuckled but she didn’t say anything. Mia shot her a look. “What?”
“Nothing.” The older woman shifted into Drive and eased the car forward. “I’ll help you make those sandwiches.”
“I can do it. You go ahead and have lunch with the family.”
“Two of us can skip out on the interrogation.”
Mia smiled. “So you’re avoiding questions about Winston.”
“That I am. And you’ve been avoiding the inevitable for years.”
“What does that mean?”
Mia’s grandmother kept driving. “Mia, you have to stop running.”
“I have. The doctor told me...”
Granny Myrna gave her a full-blown angry look. “I am not talking about actual running. I’m talking about facing your life, your past and all that stuff you’ve bottled up inside you that you pretend you’ve dealt with.”
“Oh.” Mia didn’t know what else to say. She could argue, but arguing with her grandmother never worked. Granny Myrna would remind Mia that at eighty-five she had lived a lot and seen a lot.
“Is that all you have to say?”
Mia glanced back at Caleb. He was sound asleep.
“Gran, I’m good.”
“No, you’re not. You’re good at avoiding, but that isn’t good. You watched your mother die. You lost your siblings. You’ve lost a lot.”
“I have people who love me. I have a family.” And she’d never been one to dwell on the past. “I’ve lost, but I’ve gained, too.”
“Yes, you do have people who love you, and I’m one of them. But I think you stay as busy as possible and you hold yourself back for fear of losing again.”
“Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?” Mia admitted to herself the joke was getting old. But her grandmother’s words ached deep inside and she didn’t want to explore her feelings today, tomorrow or anytime soon.
They had reached Mia’s house and Granny Myrna pulled up to the garage and parked. “You need to think about what I’ve said.”
“I will.”
“And I am going to come in and fix you both sandwiches.”
“Thanks, Gran.”
Mia managed to wake Caleb up. He rubbed his eye a few times and blinked. “Is the horse here?”
She reached for his hand. “No. Let’s go in and have lunch. The horse won’t be here until tomorrow.”
“Oh. I think I had a dream.”
“Did you?”
He nodded as Mia opened the door wider for him to get out. “Yeah, we were riding that horse faster than Uncle Gray’s motorcycle.”
“That would be something, huh? Someday maybe we’ll ride her.”
“Soon?” He rubbed his face again and yawned.
“Yeah, soon.”
They walked up the steps of the porch, Granny Myrna in the lead. When they reached the door she turned and looked back at Mia and Caleb.
“Didn’t you lock this door?”
Mia’s neck hairs tingled and the sensation slid down her spine. She stopped Caleb and at the same time reached for her grandmother, pulling her back lightly.
“Yes, I did.” She always locked her doors. Out of habit she reached for her sidearm. But she didn’t have one. She stepped toward the door, listening. She leaned against the door frame, motioning her grandmother back. Her weapon was in the house. Locked up, but if a person didn’t mind breaking down a front door, he wouldn’t have a problem breaking into a gun cabinet.
“Mia, I’m calling 911.” Her grandmother’s voice shook as she whispered from a few feet away.
Mia eased through the door. “Stay here and don’t touch anything.”
She could hear her grandmother already talking to the 911 operator. Mia stepped farther into her living room.
The cushions were off the sofa and the end tables had been ransacked. She stood in one spot, listening. Nothing. She eased through the house, room by room. Whoever had been here was gone now.
But someone had definitely been in her house, in her sanctuary, the place she’d kept separate from her job, that life. This had been her place of light, away from the dark world that always felt too much like her childhood.
A world she kept going back to, even though she’d escaped from it.
A car pulled up. A radio squawked. Mia walked out the front door and met a county deputy coming up the sidewalk.
“The house is clear.” She motioned him inside.
“You went in?” He stepped to the door, pushing it open with his gloved hand. “No sign of forced entry.”
Another car cruised down the road and pulled in. She smiled at Caleb, standing next to her, thinking to reassure him. He appeared to be having the time of his life. At five, everything was an adventure. She did have a moment’s hesitation when she thought about explaining this to Slade.
The second car was unmarked. The trooper nodded to Mia’s grandmother and to Caleb.
“I’d like for you all to take a seat in my car until we’ve looked the house over.”
“Jim, the house is clear.” Mia protested and the trooper shook his head.
“Mia, I’m asking you to let us do our job.” He pointed to his car. She sighed and headed that way with her grandmother and Caleb. “I’m going, but not because I want to.”
He laughed as he walked through her front door. “Mia, I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.”
“What’s going on?” Caleb slid into the backseat of the sedan.
“Just being careful, Caleb.” Mia stood outside, peering in at her grandmother and Slade’s son. She had put them in danger. She should have gone to the ranch after church, then none of this would have happened. She could have come home alone, noticed the unlocked door and handled things herself.
The boy leaned forward, watching her house through the window. “But why?”
Oh, yes, the questions. She remembered that with Bryan, her youngest brother and with a few foster children the Coopers had taken in over the years. She knew he wouldn’t stop until he had answers.
“Because my front door was open and because it’s always good to be careful.”
“Oh.”
She stepped away from the car door. “I’m going to make a phone call.”
Her grandmother peered a little too closely. Mia never liked that look. It felt too much like her grandmother knew what she was up to. And Myrna Cooper usually did.
Mia dialed her phone as she walked away from the car. She waited and finally a soft voice said, “Hello.”
“Tina, it’s Mia. I wanted to check on you.” She watched as another vehicle came up the road. Slade’s truck. She hadn’t wanted this. He should be in Grove at the hospital.
“Mia, I...”
“Tina, what?” Mia’s back tingled and she waited, holding her breath. “Are you and the kids okay?”
“Of course. Yes, we’re fine.”
Mia stood there for a long moment. She watched Slade get out of his truck and walk to the car where Caleb still waited, jumping out when he saw his dad. She watched Myrna explain what had happened. Slade looked her way, his eyes narrowing, his mouth tightening in a firm line. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his short, dark hair.
The tightness in her chest eased and she breathed a little easier. Because Slade was there? She shook it off and returned to Tina and the conversation that had lagged.
“Tina, maybe you should come visit me.”
“No, I don’t think so, Mia. I’m fine. Really I am.”
“I’ll stop by and see you in a few days.” Mia waited and knew that Tina would protest.
“You really don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t, but I have a doctor’s appointment and I’ll be in Tulsa. I think it would be great if we could have lunch, maybe take the kids out.”
“That would be good. We’ll talk then.”
Slade had put his son and her grandmother back in the patrol car. He stood in front of her, hands behind his back, handsome cowboy face a mask of concern. Her eyes connected with his. She wanted to look away because if anyone could read her, it was Slade. She looked away as she finished the conversation.
“We’ll talk, Tina. And call if you need anything. Anything at all.” She hung up, but made a mental note to call her boss in Tulsa.
“What’s going on?” Slade asked the minute she slipped the phone into her pocket.
“How’s your mom? You should be with her.” Mia watched as the officers went back into her house.
“My mom had a heart attack. Mild, but she’s going to need to rest. My sister is with her now.” His gaze shifted, taking in his son. Mia knew this would be hard. Slade’s mom had been the person filling in since Vicki’s death.
“I can watch him for you.” The words were out, no taking them back.
Slade turned, looking at her. “What?”
“Caleb.” Mia hesitated as she looked at the child sitting next to her grandmother. “If your mom needs to rest, she isn’t going to be able to do that with a five-year-old child in the house. I can watch him for you.”
“I don’t know.” He glanced at her arm but she thought that was just an excuse.
“I can handle a kid in my house.” She looked up into his silver-gray eyes.
Friendship. Easy. Uncomplicated. No problem.
The officers approached, both looking more relaxed now that they’d been through her house and found it safe. She could have told them it was safe. She was injured—that didn’t mean she’d forgotten how to do her job.
“We bagged some evidence.” The trooper shrugged. “But it isn’t much. We got a partial print.”
“I told you...”
Slade touched her arm, stopping her.
“Mia, they’re doing their job.”
“Any idea who or why?” the deputy asked.
Mia shook her head, but she did have ideas. And she had a really sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that it had something to do with Tina.
But who did she trust with that information? Her eyes sought Slade’s. He was watching her, suspicious, curious, concerned. Maybe all three.
She knew she could trust Slade.
* * *
Slade watched the patrol cars leave and then he walked with Mia, Myrna Cooper and Caleb to the house. Myrna fanned herself with a church bulletin she pulled out of her purse.
“Well, that’s more excitement than an old gal needs in one day. Slade, how’s your mama doing?”
“She’ll be released tomorrow, but they want her to rest. Not that she’s going to be okay with resting.”
“Well, I’ll take a casserole over there tomorrow afternoon. You tell her not to worry about a thing.”
Caleb’s face scrunched and he looked at his dad. “Is grandma okay?”
“She’s fine, Caleb. Her heart is a little sick but the doctors will help it get better.”
He hoped that was the truth. It had to be. He had prayed long and hard on the way to the hospital. The prayers had taken him back to the night Vicki died. He’d prayed that he would get to the accident and it would be a mistake, that it wouldn’t be her. The old wound opened, and he had to reach down for his son’s hand to jolt himself back to the present.