The Single Dad's Redemption (16 page)

Ed whipped out his phone and got it ready.

“For starters, I’ve retained a family-law lawyer here in Detroit, as I said. He’s very successful and he’s quite a shark, but I have no interest in anything beyond ensuring that Marsha and I have equal rights in Joshua’s welfare. Marsha has repeatedly stated that ‘I’ll never see Joshua again’ and that she’s ‘moving away so I can never find my son again.’ Obviously, that’s not acceptable.”

Ed frowned and looked at Marsha. “You said that? Half the time you act like you don’t want the kid around.”

She lifted her chin defiantly but said nothing.

“Before I was wrongly arrested, you and I had shared custody, Marsha. It was fair, and I believe it was in Joshua’s best interests, though you actually had him much less because you were so...busy. That was fine with me, and it certainly freed you up for work and your social life, right?”

“We’re moving south,” Ed interjected. “It would hardly work to pass the kid back and forth every week. Who’s gonna pay all that airfare unless you move down there, too?”

“I’m not moving south, so we’ll need to split the cost fifty-fifty. It won’t be cheap.”

Ed scowled.

Marsha blanched.

“The courts will want to make sure each of us is a responsible parent, with steady income to support him. On my way up here I called my brothers back in Texas, and they’ve welcomed me back into the family ranching business.” A brief image of Keeley and Aspen Creek flashed into his thoughts. “Or I may try to settle in western Wisconsin. What about you two—steady paychecks, right?”

Marsha and Ed exchanged uneasy glances.

“I’m a taxpayer,” Ed said after a brief pause. “We’re both solvent.”

But what you want is a life of casinos, gambling and nightlife. What kind of life is that for my son?
Connor cleared his throat. “Well, then, let’s get down to work and figure this out.”

Chapter Twenty

O
n Thursday afternoon
Keeley took another Tylenol then slipped in the foam earplugs she’d just purchased at the drugstore and forced herself to concentrate on the bookkeeping system in her laptop.

Even with the earplugs, she could hear a hammer pounding. But it was a good thing, she reminded herself firmly
. Embrace the renovations and be glad.

If only Connor were back in town from Detroit.

He’d been gone since early Monday morning, but though he’d called to share the news about meeting Joshua, and had been calling several times a day to report on his progress, she still missed him. A lot.

She massaged her temples, willing away the headache thudding in time to that hammer.

Now there were
three
hammers pounding in the store, none keeping time with the other, and a table saw was squealing through yet another board.

Why she’d thought these projects would be relatively unobtrusive during business hours escaped her now, but few customers had lingered today and she was counting the minutes until closing time. Still, she hadn’t expected a lot of customers during the week after the Antique Walk anyway.

A blessing. This was a
blessing
,
she reminded herself.

The contractor had called early
this morning, saying he had a remodel cancellation, and would Keeley be interested in moving her renovation dates up on the calendar? It had taken less than a second of thought to respond in the affirmative.

So now there was a team of guys fixing the roof and fire escape. Several were downstairs taking care of the floor joists weakened by more than a century of use. Others were working on accessibility issues in the main-floor bathroom designated for customers. And after five o’clock, the old, cracked cement steps to the front and back doors would be re-poured.

Every last project on her repair and reno list would now be done just in time for a professional inspection on Friday and its presentation to the loan officer at the bank.

Rags eyed her from one of the shelves above her then leaped down onto the surface of the desk with a thud and plopped his rear on her keyboard. She stared at him in surprise. “So when did you decide to be so friendly?”

He stared at her with the arched sophistication only cats and maître d’s at haute cuisine restaurants fully perfected.

“You’ll really have to move, though, buddy,” she said, pushing him to one side. “You aren’t transparent and I can’t see my screen.”

He jumped to the floor, scattering invoices and receipts.

“Keeley?”

At the sound of Bobby’s tremulous voice behind her, she spun around and launched from her chair to give him a quick hug. “How are you?” she exclaimed. “I missed you over the weekend.”

He shuffled his feet and looked away. “I couldn’t come ’cause Aunt Bess needed me. Am I fired?”

“Of course not, but I was very worried about you. I’m just glad to see you’re all right.” She waved a hand toward the rest of the store. “Did you see all the trucks parked out front? And the guys working inside? It’s a very busy day.”

He scooped up the cat and frowned at the coating of dust and bits of litter on the floor. “They made a mess.”

“Yes, indeed, but it’s a good mess, because they’re doing things that must be done, so the bank will let me refinance this place. Would you like to do some dusting for me?”

He nodded and began dusting an old rocker, then moved on to an 1880s chest of drawers with delicate carving on the front and sides.

“How is your aunt Bess feeling now?” she asked after a few minutes. “I heard she had to go to the hospital for a while.”

He shuddered. “She had to have needles and everything. But she’s better now. Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

He shot a troubled glance at Keeley and then dropped his gaze. “Not when Uncle Rafe is around.”

“You don’t like him very much?”

Bobby shook his head.

She busied herself with straightening a couple of framed prints on the wall. “Why is that?”

“He makes her cry. He’s mean to her and she cries.”

“Is he ever mean to you?”

Bobby’s silence triggered alarms in her head and she turned slowly, tilting her head in concern. “What does he do, Bobby? Does he hurt you in any way?”

The boy looked away, his lower lip trembling.

Oh, dear Lord
,
she prayed silently, desperately.
Please don’t let this be what I think it is.

“No adult should ever hurt a child in any way, honey.
No
adult has that right. And if it happens, it’s very important to let an adult know so it can be stopped...and can never happen again. Do you understand me?”

He kept his face averted.

“And it’s important to talk about feelings with someone like a school counselor or a social worker, or a policeman or your doctor...any adult whom you trust.”

He bowed his head. “U-Uncle Rafe hits people. Hard. And he yells bad words and uses his belt with a big buckle. H-he says that’s the only way I’ll learn, ’cause I’m stupid. And when Aunt Bess tries to stop him, he hits her, too.”

It apparently wasn’t the type of abuse she’d feared, but it was horrifying nonetheless. “That’s terrible, Bobby. He has no right to say those things and no right to hit you or your aunt. Would you be willing to talk to a deputy, who can, um, ask Rafe to stop?”

She held her breath as he wavered then finally gave a single, small nod.

“H-he won’t make Rafe mad, will he? Please d-don’t make him mad at me for telling.”

There were no guarantees on that score, but leaving that monster to terrify an ill, middle-aged woman and a young teen would be far worse.

“Let me make a quick phone call and then I’ll help you with more dusting, okay?”

Deputy Luke Dalton, one of the older officers in town, appeared thirty minutes later with a county social worker in tow. Middle-aged, with a friendly smile and brown hair pulled up into a tipsy bun, she seemed like the perfect, nonthreatening choice for Bobby and he appeared to warm up to her right away.

They visited with him privately in the back room for a good forty minutes before rejoining Keeley.

“This was perfect timing for you to call the sheriff’s office about this child—I was in town for a home visit anyway, and it was canceled. I’m Debra Yates,” the woman said, offering her hand. “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself sooner, but Bobby seemed to be in a receptive mood and I didn’t want to keep him waiting.”

“I know you probably can’t tell me much, but is he all right?”

Debra chuckled. “Right now he’s quite content back at your worktable, because I brought him a soda and a package of Twinkies.”

Keeley bit her lower lip. “Do you think it’s safe for him to go back to that house?”

The social worker tapped the manila folder held in the crook of her arm. “I see that a search for foster care has been initiated, but the homes on our list are already overcrowded and we haven’t been able to find him a suitable placement. Not everyone is willing to take on a teenage boy, you see.”

“But is it safe for him to be at Bess’s place? That’s my big question. Bobby said his uncle hits him with the buckle end of a belt and tells him he is too stupid to learn any other way. Did he tell you that?”

“Yes, and so long as that man is in the house, this child should not be there. It would be a different story if the uncle were to be removed from the home and jailed for a substantial time, but at most he might be locked up for six months to a year. And then he’d be back, probably angry, and potentially more volatile than before.”

“She’s right, unfortunately,” the deputy added. “Our judges don’t view excessive corporal punishment—essentially how Rafe uses his belt—as seriously as other kinds of abuse...and emotional abuse can be hard to prove. I’ll get a warrant and lock him up, but he’ll soon be out on bail and right back in the community. Even if he’s convicted, it won’t be long enough. Unless, God forbid, he does something worse.”

“So without foster-care placement, Bess’s home is the only option right now...and that isn’t a good idea. What about somewhere else temporarily—like my place? He’s here most every afternoon anyway.”

“Even though it might only mean a stay for a week or two, we need a background check and references,” Debra warned. “There are a few hoops to go through first.”

“No problem. I just want to make sure Bobby is safe.”

The woman beamed. “He tells me that he loves being here with you, so I’ll ask him what he thinks about this possible change before we go any further. If he’s on board with the idea, I’ll do whatever I can to expedite this. You’re sure you want to take him on for a while?”

Keeley nodded decisively. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

* * *

At five o’clock Keeley turned off the lights in the store and moved to the front door to lock up.

She stopped in surprise at the sight of her SUV parked in front of her store.
Connor?

He opened the door and stepped out, and she fought the urge to break into a run to meet him, just as the hilarious Western heroine had done at the beginning of
Romancing the Stone
.

Mindful of the pedestrians on the sidewalk and Millie, who was probably keeping an eagle eye on the town from her store window, she managed to rein in her emotions until she reached him. “I’m so glad to see you! How did it go?”

“Better than I’d hoped...in most ways.” He nodded toward a bench flanked with shoulder-high lilacs along the side of her building. “Can we talk?”

“Of course.” Mystified, she followed him and sat on the bench and gripped the front edge of the seat. Bad news was coming, she could feel it, and already her heart felt heavy with dread.

“It went well in Detroit,” he said. “I met three times with the lawyer your sister recommended and talked with Marsha and her boyfriend Ed several times. We came to an agreement about shared custody on our own, so my lawyer was able to make an initial appointment with the court.”

“That’s wonderful!”

“Because of the distances involved between Texas and the Gulf, Marsha agreed to have Joshua just for the summers, but I’ll have him during the entire school year. We’ll alternate major holidays. But Ed isn’t that fond of ‘having a kid around all the time’ and I wouldn’t be surprised if I were to end up having Josh most of the summer, too.”

She stared at him. “They’re moving down to the Gulf?”

“Apparently, Ed is an insurance agent, but he’s quite a gambler in his free time. He’s bent on moving down there because he likes some of the casinos.” Connor sighed heavily. “That lifestyle isn’t the kind of example I want for Josh.”

“But maybe he won’t be with them very much. Otherwise, do things look good?”

“Mostly. He and Marsha have pay stubs to prove they have incomes. But before everything can be settled legally, I need to prove that I’m gainfully employed and can do my share of supporting Josh.”

“What about your job here at the store?”

“I appreciate all you’ve done for me. But I need more income, with insurance and benefits. Unfortunately the most solid option is to head back to Texas and ranch with my brothers...at least long enough to show income and decide if that’s where I belong or if I want to do something else.”

A pang of sorrow lanced through her. “Texas.”

He gave a short, humorless laugh. “My dad and brothers were actually happy to hear from me. Dad has a heart condition and can’t do ranch work any longer, and my brothers are overwhelmed. I think they all view this as the timely return of the prodigal son.”

“It’s so far,” Keeley whispered.

“It’s my only viable choice for now. If I can’t settle the custody issue right now, who knows? I may not be granted such a good opportunity later. Marsha could decide to fight back saying I’d failed to follow through this time around and couldn’t be trusted in the future.”

Keeley clenched her hands in her lap. “So...what’s the timetable?”

“Once I get settled at the ranch, I need to go back to Detroit for a final court date and then I can bring Josh home to Texas for a few weeks before Marsha’s summertime custody starts.”

Her heart fell. “So you’re leaving soon?”

“I have to. Red says he can have my truck finished on Saturday, and my brothers wired money to pay him off.” Connor reached over and took one of Keeley’s hands in his. “So I need to leave then. I’m sorry.”

She leaned against the back of the park bench and felt as if the breath had been stolen from her lungs.

“We probably won’t ever see you here in town again, then.”

“Not for a while, anyway. I have to go—for my son’s sake.” Connor swallowed hard. “I don’t want him sitting in an apartment alone day after day while Marsha and her boyfriend are at work or spending their time at the casinos. I just can’t let that happen. Not anymore.”

Keeley’s heart faltered as his words sank in. She’d known this day would come...yet the realization now settled over her like a dark and dismal fog.

“Of course. You need to do what’s right for your son above all things. He’s a very fortunate little guy,” she said lightly, trying for a smile. “But I’ll miss you. A lot.”

“I wish...” His voice trailed off as he studied her for a long moment, his eyes filled with regret and longing. “I wish all things were possible. Honestly, I do.”

He hesitated, then kissed her lightly on the cheek. Then he pulled her into his arms for a longer, deeper kiss that told her just how much he cared.

And then he walked away.