Trouble In Dixie (25 page)

With a harrumph, the woman turned and
stalked to the Cadillac then got inside and waited for the two
silent men with her to get in as well.

When Katie saw their tail lights heading
down the driveway, she sucked in a sharp breath and said, "Wow..."
then she knelt down and pulled Dixie into her arms and hugged her
tight. "It's gonna be okay, darlin'...don't worry about that woman.
Your daddy and I won't let her hurt you." Dixie sobbed then buried
her face in Katie's neck and cried.

"Damned right we're not. That old hag has
bit off more than she can chew now..." Tommy said angrily and Katie
looked up and saw fear in his hazel eyes, but determination too. "I
need to call my dad in Florida, maybe he knows a good family law
attorney," he told her then walked up the steps and into the
house.

Wow, Katie didn't know his dad was in
Florida, hell she hadn't even known the man was still
alive...they'd never talked about it. It showed her just how little
she knew about Tommy Tucker. Even though she loved him, she didn't
know diddly squat about him.

Dixie's sobs quieted, and Katie gave her a
squeeze, then pulled back and wiped her tears with her thumb,
before she put a kiss on her splotchy cheek. "Let's go get a snack
and talk. You need to tell me how much fun you had at Susie's
house, and what ya'll did," Katie told her with a soft smile.

As a distraction, it worked, because Dixie's
face lit up and she gave her a watery smile, then said, "Okay," and
took the hand that Katie offered her.

They walked inside, and she didn't see Tommy
anywhere. She assumed he must be in his office on the phone. She
and Dixie walked into the kitchen, and she stopped when she saw
Cookie leaning against the counter with her arms folded under her
massive bosom, and a smug nasty smile on her wrinkled face. "Have a
nice visit with the Prestons?" she asked Katie sarcastically and
glanced down at Dixie.

Blood rushed to Katie's face as clarity
dawned inside her mind. Cookie had called them, she'd probably been
spying on Tommy for years, and the Prestons were only doing this
now, because of his relationship with her. Hot scorching anger
boiled her blood, and Katie sucked in a breath, then looked down at
Dixie who was staring up at her. "Dixie, honey, go get your daddy,"
she told her, then said, "He's probably in his office...tell him
it's important."

Dixie nodded and ducked under her arm then
ran across the living room. "I hope you have a good insurance
policy woman, because I'm gonna kick your ass," she told her in a
low threatening voice, then took a step toward her. "What you've
done is unbelievable, horrible...you are a sick, mean old hag, just
like Mrs. Preston."

Cookie shrank back and edged down the
counter a little, then said, "Mrs. Preston is a grieving mother,
and she has every right to blame Tommy Tucker for her daughter's
death. He has no right to be seeing anyone else and disrespecting
Maggie's memory, corrupting her daughter," she spat meanly, her
eyes glittering with malice.

Katie took another step toward the ugly old
woman and got in her face, "I hope you burn in hell bitch, for what
you've done to him. Just because you and that hag want to wallow in
misery, doesn't mean you get to force him to do that too."

"He deserves misery...he doesn't deserve to
still be alive after what he did to Maggie," she said, then shoved
Katie, and tried to move around her. Katie's hand arced without her
permission and landed solidly on the side of the old woman's face,
jerking her head back and stinging Katie's palm. The old woman
gasped then her hands flew up too fast for Katie to catch them, and
closed around her throat then Cookie squeezed tightly, cutting off
her air.

Katie clutched at Cookie's hands and dug her
nails into the woman's wrists, but she wasn't letting go. Black
spots formed in front of her eyes, and she tried in vain to draw in
a breath. She dropped her hands from the woman's wrists the swung
wildly at her head with a fist. She connected with Cookie's ear and
the woman's hand fell from her throat, and her head bounced off of
the side of the refrigerator, then she slid to the floor.

"
Katie
!" she heard Tommy yell then
heard his boots running across the hardwood floor of the living
room. He slid around the breakfast bar then ran to her and grabbed
her up in his arms, rocking her gently and kissing her hair. In a
breathless voice, he asked, "Are you okay, baby? What happened?"
then he looked down at the dazed Cookie who was on the floor
holding the side of her head.

Pulling away from him, Katie pointed a
finger at Cooke and told him, "That bitch is the one who called the
Prestons...she's been spying on you for years, Tommy. She is the
root of your problems."

"Mr. Tucker, that woman is crazy...I don't
know what she's talking about," Cookie whined, looking up at him
pitifully.

"And you're as sly as a fox, you mean old
bitch," Katie spat, then looked at Tommy. "When Dixie and I came
inside, she asked how I enjoyed my visit with the Prestons. Then
she said that Mrs. Preston has every right to despise you, because
you killed her daughter, and she was a grieving mother. How the
hell else would they have known that you and I are..."

"Living in sin?" Cookie supplied snottily
then shoved up to her feet.

Katie's throat was throbbing and raw, and
she reached up to rub it, and Tommy's eyes followed her action. His
face turned dark purple, then he demanded, "Who did that to you,
darlin'?"

"She choked me..." Katie told him then shot
Cookie a dark look.

"She slapped me," Cooke rebutted then folded
her arms again.

Tommy took a step forward then growled like
a feral animal, before he leaned down and shouted in Cookie's face,
"You have fifteen minutes to get your fucking ass out of my house
and off my property, after that I'm calling the police and having
you arrested!"

"You're making a mistake...Mrs. Preston is
going to take that child out of this house, and there's not a
damned thing you can do to stop her," she told him in a trembling
voice.

His back stiffened like he was restraining
himself from strangling the woman, and he ground out, "Get out!"
then stepped back and pointed to the front door. "I'll box your
crap up and ship it to you. Leave now!"

"I don't have a car," she said and her face
flushed.

"You better hope those ugly ass shoes are
comfortable then," he grated and grabbed her arm, before he dragged
her to the door and opened it, then shoved her onto the porch.
"Don't you ever come around my family again, or I'll put your ass
under the jailhouse."

"You don't scare me...Mrs. Preston has more
money than God, and I've been loyal to her...and Maggie. Which is
more than I can say for you," she spat then turned and stomped down
the steps. Katie walked up beside Tommy and watched Cookie walk
across the yard then start down the driveway.

Tommy stepped back and she did too, then he
slammed the door and shoved a hand through his hair, "Good
riddance," he said then pulled Katie into his arms. "Are you really
okay, baby? I think you should go lie down and I'll fix us some
dinner."

"I'm fine, really...I'm just glad she's
gone. I knew there was something up with her...it just clicked what
that was after that scene in the yard, and her question in the
kitchen when I came in."

"Well, you don't have to worry about her, or
them, any more. I'll handle it," he said in a deeply determined
voice.

Two weeks later, when Katie walked in from
giving Dixie a riding lesson at the barn, and found Tommy pacing in
front of the big stone fireplace in the living room, with a piece
of paper clutched in his fist, Katie knew they were in deep
trouble. The wild look in his eyes and his flushed face, said it
all. When she'd left to go to the barn, Tommy had been happily
working on something in his office.

Anxiety seized her as she walked up to him,
and he didn't stop pacing or say anything to her. Tension and rage
poured off of him in waves. Softly, she asked him, "What's wrong,
Tommy?"

Tommy looked up at her and his eyebrows
raised, as if he just noticed that she was there. He stopped
pacing, then his throat worked a few times, before he slowly stuck
his hand out to her and unclenched his fist. The paper floated on
the air to the floor between them.

Holding his gaze, Katie bent down and picked
up the paper, then smoothed out the wrinkles. Dropping her eyes to
read it, every word she read felt like a nail being driven into her
heart. It was an emergency custody order signed by a judge in Moore
County, giving Edith Preston temporary managing conservatorship,
sole custody basically, of Deanna Tucker, until the hearing for
permanent conservatorship in two months.

Katie couldn't force words past the lump of
fear that lodged in her throat, and tears burned behind her eyes,
as she handed it back to him. "How could she have gotten a judge to
agree to this?" Katie finally said in a hoarse whisper.

"That woman has every judge in that county
in her pocket. Her daddy was an old oil baron and she's got more
money than you can imagine. People are scared of her, and the
influence she has in Moore County. She's the Queen of Dumas,
Texas," he said with a snort.

"We've got to talk to your attorney, fast,"
Katie said frantically.

"I've talked to him," he told her in a
choked voice.

Fear punched Katie in the gut and she
clutched her stomach to fight off the nausea swirling there when
she asked, "What did he say?"

"He asked for a change of venue, and the
judge refused because it's within a reasonable distance, which
wasn't the point and the judge knows it. My attorney said there's
nothing we can do right now, because the suit was filed in that
county, and the order was issued in that county. He gave him
reasons Dixie needed to stay here with me, but was told that the
order was going to stand, until the hearing, and nothing he did was
going to change his mind."

"That has to be illegal, this is
not
what's best for Dixie, her school and friends are here, she doesn't
even know who that woman is!" she said fiercely and started pacing
with her fists clenched at her sides. "You need a better lawyer,"
she told him.

"I can't afford a better attorney right now,
I bought extra stock for the cutter herd I wanted to start, and I'm
kind of cash poor right now," he admitted and swallowed hard.

"So sell them..." she suggested then looked
around the huge house he lived in. "Or get a mortgage on the
property and house."

"I can't do that...the house and property
are still in my daddy's name...he has it tied up in a family
corporation to reduce inheritance taxes. I'm the heir, but he's
alive, so he controls it. I just own the stock...and I'd lose a
fortune if I sell the mares now, since they're bred."

Katie saw his desperation and despair and
wanted to fix things, to help him get out of this mess, so she
offered impulsively, "I'll sell my property and give you a loan. I
still have about fifty grand from my winnings in the Charity Rodeo,
and a hundred or so left in my savings too...I can loan that to
you."

"Hell no--that property is yours, and I'm
not taking your money, sugar," he said and hugged her. "Thank you
for the offer, though."

Tommy dropped his chin to his chest in
defeat and told her, "There's nothing we can do about it, Dixie is
going to have to go and stay with that wretched old woman, until we
can sort this out."

Katie saw his shoulders were shaking and he
moved a hand up to cover his face. Her heart shifted violently in
her chest and she walked over and put her arms around his waist and
hugged him, then said softly, "I'm so sorry, Tommy...this is my
fault. I'm so sorry."

He took a deep shuddering breath then
grabbed her shoulders and set her away from him, to look down at
her angrily. "This is
not
your fault, Katie--where the fuck
did you get that from?"

"I'm going to call Edith Preston and
apologize for getting involved with you, I'll tell her I trapped
you into it, then I'm going back to Bowie. She'll drop it and then
you can get your ducks in a row to sucker punch her when you're
ready. I can't let you lose Dixie, because of me," she said in a
trembling voice, then added, "You need time to work things out, and
that's what I'm going to buy you."

"You are not fucking leaving me," he said in
a strangled voice. "I'm not letting you leave me," he wailed then
pulled her to him and hugged her so tight she could barely breathe.
"That bitch is not going to win...I'm not giving you up, baby."

Katie pushed away from him and looked up
into his terrified eyes, and then took his hands in hers. "Dixie
needs you, Tommy, she doesn't need to be in another county with
that wicked witch," she told him, her lips trembling over the
words, then finished, "This isn't about winning or losing, it's
about what's best for your daughter..."

"You're what's best for my daughter, she
loves you...I love you," he said desperately, then grabbed her
shoulders. "She's been a different little girl, since you've been
around. I haven't had to go to school once so far because she's
been in trouble. Do you know what a miracle that is?" he told her
with wonder in his voice.