A Knight In Cowboy Boots (21 page)

Zach stiffened, jolting himself awake.

He’d been enamored with only two women in his life. The first time, he’d mistaken it for love. The second time, he’d tried to be more cautious about overestimating his feelings. Neither infatuation had withstood getting better acquainted with the objects of his esteem. The hurt he’d felt when each of the affairs ended had made him vow he’d be even more cautious the next time, but as he lay there with his hand on Maddie, envisioning her pregnant, he knew he was already sunk. So quickly, he was more enamored with her than he’d ever been with anyone in his life.

No wonder he got distracted so easily.

*

After Zach left, Maddie loaded Jesse up and headed for the Laundromat. It was busy enough she had to stagger her loads. Between the second load’s last rinse and its spin cycle, Jesse started fussing. Maddie walked him back and forth until he upchucked sour milk on her shirt. He was better after that but still fussy. Holding Jesse in one arm, she unloaded the washer into one of the rolling baskets one handed, then loaded the clothes into the only available dryer. Jesse continued to fuss, and she hoped Peggy wouldn’t mind folding the clothes for her so they didn’t get too wrinkled. When she checked the second load, the clothes were still as wet as when they came out of the drier. Even if another machine were available, she didn’t have time to run them through another cycle. Not if she was going to make it to work on time. She threw the still wet clothes on top of the wrinkling dry ones in her basket.

Work was no better, culminating in her last customer of the night—a business man from Dallas—grabbing for things that didn’t belong to him as she passed by. By the time she got home to find Peggy walking the floor with an angry Jesse in her arms, she just wanted to sit down and cry.

“Guess I earned my fee tonight,” Peggy said as she handed Jesse off. “You don’t realize how heavy he is until you have to tote him around a while. I feel like my arms are going to fall off.”

Or maybe sitting and crying was really only her second choice. What she really wanted was Zach to put his arms around her and to tell her it was all going to be fine. “I’m sorry. Did you get any studying done at all?”

Peggy shrugged. “It’s okay. At least I don’t have any exams tomorrow.”

Maddie was starting to feel like her whole life was an exam, and she was flunking.

*

“Hello.”

Relief washed through Maddie. Thank God Pru wasn’t at the grocery store or the hairdresser.

“Hi. It’s me.”

“Are you okay?”

Maddie was too preoccupied with Jesse to register the apprehension in Pru’s tone, except peripherally. “Not really. What do I do with a baby that won’t stop crying?”

“Does he have a fever?”

“No. I don’t think so.” Maddie checked Jesse’s forehead again. “I’ve walked him all night. It’s the only thing that keeps him from screaming. Even when he’s not screaming, he’s fussing. I don’t know why I thought I could take care of a baby. I don’t know what to do.”

Jesse butted his head against Maddie’s shoulder and let out a wail. Maddie gritted her teeth.

“He sure doesn’t sound happy. He’s what? Six months old now?”

“Yes.”

“Is he slobbering a lot?

“Mr. Darte’s old bloodhound would be jealous.”

“He’s teething,” Pru said.

Oh, no
. Maddie had heard horror stories about the misery of the teething experience. “Teething? Are you sure?”

“Put your finger in his mouth and rub his gums.”

“Okay. Just a second.” Maddie set the phone down on the table and pushed Jesse’s head back so she had a clear shot at his mouth. “Please don’t be teething. Please, please, please.” She ran her finger across his bottom gum. Did it feel different than normal? His gums seemed to protrude in the front, but since this wasn’t something she normally did, she couldn’t tell if that was normal or not. She pressed a little harder. Jesse’s fingers wrapped around her extended thumb. The volume of his cries instantly diminished. “Damn!”

Maddie picked up the phone. “He’s got a bump in the middle of his bottom gums. That’s a tooth coming in, isn’t it?”

“Did he stop crying when you rubbed it?”

“No, but he quit screaming.”

“Then it’s a tooth.”

“What do I do?”

“Rubbing his gums will help. You can also get some Ambesol at the drug store. An ice cube will do in a pinch, but I always used brandy. It seemed to work better. For me and for Jonathan,” Pru said, referring to Maddie’s cousin. “If you need him to sleep, I definitely recommend the brandy.”

“Thanks, Aunt Pru. Thanks so much. I’m so tired I just can’t think any more.”

“I can hear it in your voice. You get some brandy and you get some sleep. Everything will look better when you’re rested.”

“I hope so. Thanks.”

“And Maddie?”

“Yes.”

“When you wake up, you call me back, okay? We need to talk.”

Faintly, Maddie heard an alarm go off in her head, but it didn’t stand a chance of being heard over the din of Jesse winding up again. “I will.” Maddie dialed Peggy as soon as she broke the connection to Wyoming, then listened to the trill of the phone ringing. And ringing. And ringing.

Damn
. They were probably all still in classes. “You’re timing really stinks, Charlie Brown.”

She couldn’t take Jesse out to get brandy, not with the way his whine was getting shriller by the moment. Think! Maddie commanded herself, but the lack of sleep and the pain behind her eyes that grew with Jesse’s volume scrambled her brain cells.

Maddie picked up the phone again and dialed the bar.

“Hi, Pete. Is Claudia there?”

“Nope. She’s gone for about an hour. You got a sick baby?”

“You can hear that?”

“The man in the moon can hear that baby. Are you calling in sick to take care of him?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I’ve got an errand I need to run, but I can’t leave Jesse, and I can’t take him with me.”

“Not the way he’s screaming, you can’t. I’d offer to run your errand for you, but I can’t leave the bar. Wait a sec. Rachel just walked in.”

Pete was calling Rachel to the phone before Maddie could protest.

“Hey, Maddie.” Rachel came on the line. “Pete says you need a favor. Good God! Are you torturing that child of yours?”

“Yes, of course, I am. I’m pounding teeth through his gums just to hear him cry!” Maddie’s voice sounded loud in the silence as Jesse drew a long breath to fuel the next wail.

Rachel was the last person Maddie wanted to ask a favor of, but the ear-splitting cry Jesse unleashed, accompanied by fresh tears, pushed her over the edge. Desperate enough to suspend all hostilities, Maddie would have begged help from the devil himself. “I need a bottle of brandy. For his gums. But I can’t leave him, and I can’t take him with me, and my babysitter is in classes.”

“You know, another good remedy is—”

Jesse let out a long shriek in the range just below the ultrasonic pitch only dogs could hear.

“Brandy!” Maddie yelled. “I need brandy!”

“Okay! Okay! I got it. Brandy it is. Give me your address and I’ll bring it right over.”

*

Maddie settled onto a chair by the table, Jesse braced on her lap, and rubbed his gums. Even though Jesse’s cries subsided to whimpers, it seemed as though it took forever for Rachel to ring her bell. Maddie was nearly in a stupor by then, sitting and staring at nothing, her finger soggy from Jesse’s drool.

When she took her finger from his mouth to buzz the downstairs door open and again to let Rachel in the apartment, Jesse’s whimpers immediately rose in pitch, like jet engines preparing for takeoff.

“Thank God!” Maddie said when she saw the bottle in Rachel’s hands.

As efficient as ever, Rachel helped herself to Maddie’s kitchen. Maddie followed on her heels like a lost pup, with Jesse in her arms. Rachel poured brandy into a juice glass, dipped her finger, and stuck it Jesse’s mouth.

His cry cut off with the abruptness of a slamming door.

Maddie sagged against the refrigerator in relief.

“Here,” Rachel put the glass in Maddie’s free hand.

Maddie looked stupidly from the glass to Jesse and back again.

“That’s for you,” Rachel said. “Just open your throat and pour it down.”

Maddie peered into the depths of amber liquid, but her brain was too fried to argue. She swallowed it in two gulps. An inverted mushroom cloud of heat spread through her gut.

“That’s good.” Rachel took her arm and guided her across the room to her bed. “You just lie down now.” Rachel eased Jesse from Maddie’s arms as she lowered herself on the bed. “I’ll sit with Jesse until he’s asleep.”

“You sure?”

“You’re exhausted. I might want a decent Bloody Mary when I get off today, so you need to have enough brain cells firing to make it right. On the off chance Jesse sleeps through, I’ll set your alarm so you’re not late to work.”

Rachel stood over her as Maddie pulled the sheet up to her chin. Zach’s sister really wasn’t as nasty as she tried to make people believe, Maddie thought as her eyes slipped shut.

“Sure I am,” Rachel said.

Maddie’s eyes flew open. “I didn’t say that out loud, did I?”

Rachel chuckled. “You did. But you’ve got a teething baby, so you get a free pass this time. Just don’t let it happen again.”

Maddie wanted to apologize, but her body felt heavy and the bed felt so good that, before she could sort out words that wouldn’t dig her a bigger hole, her eyes slid shut again and the world disappeared.

Chapter Sixteen

“You look awful!” Peggy blurted with her signature bluntness when Maddie let her in to babysit.

“Yeah, well … Jesse’s teething.” Maddie tried to wipe the grit from her eyes. “I didn’t get much sleep.”

“So that’s how come he was so cranky yesterday.” Peggy went to look into the crib at Jesse, who was doing his misleading imitation of an angel sleeping.

“There’s brandy on the kitchen counter. If he gets fussy, rub some on his gums.”

“That’s what my mamma used.”

Maddie shook her head, wondering if there was an AA program for babies that she’d somehow never heard of.

“Are you wearing that to work?” Peggy asked in what passed for tact in her world.

“No, it’s not what I’m wearing to work,” Maddie half-snarled, then shook her head. It wasn’t Peggy’s fault she’d had a rough night. “Sorry. I know I look like a wreck. I slept in my clothes.” Maddie dug into the laundry basket. Everything was either damp or wrinkled. Finally, she found a pair of slacks and a sleeveless ribbed top that didn’t look too bad.

Maddie dressed in the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, she discovered she looked even worse than she felt. Maybe a heavy base of liquid makeup would hide the blue circles under her eyes in the bar’s kinder lighting.

She would have appreciated a crowd in the bar—anything to keep her too busy to think about laying her head on the bar for a nap—but it was a typical Tuesday, with a sporadic crowd.

Jesse fussed through the night, but at least the brandy saved her from the wild crying of the previous night. Wednesday, she woke feeling nearly human again.

She found a different place to rewash her laundry. Having clean, dry, and properly folded clothes made all the difference. Settling down to feed Jesse lunch in clothes that didn’t make her want to cringe, Maddie began to feel like she might just survive Jesse’s first bout of teething.

“Thank God for Aunt Pru,” she said as she spooned strained carrots out of the jar and into Jesse’s mouth. “What would we have done without her, Charlie Brown?” The ring of the spoon against the glass as she scraped the last of it out of the jar dislodged something in her brain. “Was I supposed to call her back?” she asked Jesse. The memory was vague enough that she might have dreamed it.

Maddie reached for her disposable phone.

Pru answered on the first ring, anxiety plain in her voice. The red flag Maddie had been too distracted to consciously register before was suddenly waving like a matador’s cape.

“It’s me.”

“Are you all right?” Pru’s tone adding to Maddie’s misgivings.

“I’m fine.”

“You were supposed to call me back.”

“I know. I—I forgot. I’m sorry. What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

She could hear Pru take a steadying breath. In her mind, Maddie saw her aunt settle heavily on the chair by the phone.

“I don’t actually know that anything’s wrong. You’ll have to judge that.”

“Just tell me what happened.”

“I got a call last week from someone—a man—who wanted to buy the Lincoln. Said he’d heard I had one for sale. When I told him it was already sold, he wanted to know who bought it.”

“You think it was Derek?”

“No, I know his voice. And this was a polite man. Probably used to being able to charm women into whatever he wants.”

“Doesn’t sound like anyone Derek would know.”

“Don’t you underestimate him, girl. Derek was plenty charming when he wanted to be. Charmed Laurel right off her feet. But I’m not senile enough for it to work on me.”

“So you didn’t tell him anything.”

“Stuck to the story. But that’s not really what worries me. The call was from out of state.”

Maddie’s heart suddenly seemed like it was crowding her lungs. “Where out of state? Did you get caller ID like I asked you to?” Stupid question, Maddie realized. How else would Pru know the call wasn’t made in Wyoming. “Do you have the number?”

“Yes, just a second.”

Maddie tapped the back of the spoon against the table during what seemed like an interminable wait. An out of state number didn’t mean anything. Derek could have had a friend across the border in Colorado make the call. It didn’t mean he had any clue where she was. He was just trying to rattle Pru.

Her aunt came back on the line. “The call came from -—”

Maddie couldn’t hear the rest of the number over the whooshing noise in her ears. The spoon dropped from her numb fingers, but she didn’t hear it hit the floor either. Maddie thought she was going to pass out. She put her head between her knees.
This is stupid. If I pass out like this, my head will hit the floor first. But at least it will be a short fall
.

“Maddie? Are you there, girl!”

She tried to swallow but somehow her throat couldn’t complete the deed upside down. Maddie pushed herself upright. “Yes, I’m here. Did you say ?” Please, Maddie prayed. Not Galveston.

“Yes.” Pru’s voice was tight with reflected worry.

“When—” Maddie had to swallow to clear the way for the words. “When did you get this call?”

“Last Friday. Late morning.”

Maddie turned her head to look at the door. Was the deadbolt thrown? She could envision Derek standing outside her door. If he were, the deadbolt wouldn’t even slow him down.

Stop it!
she yelled silently at herself.
This isn’t some stupid movie where everything is timed for maximum dramatic effect.

“Honey, there’s more.”

Maddie fought for control. Getting hysterical would only upset Pru further. “Go ahead.”

“Maybe I
am
getting senile. I think I did something really stupid.”

“What?”

“I knew you’d want to know about the call, so I didn’t erase it from the caller ID thingy. Actually, I’m not too sure how to erase it, but I didn’t even try because I knew you’d want the number.”

“Pru, you’re babbling.”

“I know. I just wish I could go back and change the way I did things this last week.”

“Why? What else happened?”

“
He
showed up late Friday afternoon.” The way Pru said it, there was no doubt ‘he’ meant Derek.

“There? At your place?” Maddie scarcely gave Pru a chance to answer. “You didn’t let him in, did you?” But she already knew Pru had.

“He was on the porch before I even knew he was here. When I opened the door, he just came in, like he was going to walk over me if I didn’t make room. He said he was worried about me because I hadn’t been answering my phone, then he starts asking the same questions he always asks: where are you, and have I heard from you? Then he asks for a glass of ice water. I thought maybe he’d leave quicker if I gave it to him. I never even thought about the caller ID thing sitting right out here by the phone.”

“Oh, God!” Maddie whispered as her skin went cold.

“He was standing over it, his finger on the button when I came back from the kitchen.”

She had to stop reacting like it was all over.
Think!
Maddie commanded herself. After a few breaths, she asked, “But that doesn’t make sense. If he already knows—”
What would the numbers on the caller ID tell Derek that he didn’t already know—if he was behind the other call?
The number on Maddie’s disposable phone wasn’t even a Texas number. That was why she’d gotten it in the first place. “When was he there yesterday?” Maddie asked. “What time?”

“In the morning. About ten.”

Derek had been in Wyoming Friday morning, even though the call had come on Friday. It didn’t make sense. But it didn’t have to, Maddie decided. He could have caught a plane to Texas by now. He could be there in Galveston already, looking for her.

Panic threatened to overwhelm her. She’d begun to feel complacent and acting as if she was safe. It had been weeks since she’d even thought about her contingency plan. For a moment, she couldn’t even remember what it was.

“You sold that car like I told you to, didn’t you, girl?” Pru asked as though she was afraid of the answer.

Why in the hell hadn’t she sold that damned Lincoln? She’d meant to as soon as she’d found a job.

Maddie almost succumbed to the temptation to lie. She could almost convince herself she just wanted to spare her aunt another reason to worry, but deep down, she knew she just didn’t want to admit her own stupidity. Through everything, she’d never lied to Pru; she wasn’t going to start now.

“I didn’t.”

“Oh, Maddie … ”

“I know. I’m not going to tell you not worry, but you know I have a contingency plan.”

“You’ll call me.”

“Of course, I will, but I’ve got to go now and put everything in motion.” Maddie took a deep breath. When she hung up, she would be on the run again. “I love you, Aunt Pru.”

“I love you, too, girl. Stay safe.”

Maddie hauled out her bags and started packing furiously, everything she’d just learned running through her mind in fits and starts.

She was afraid to just abandon the car; afraid somehow the trail would lead back to her new identity. For a moment, she thought about giving it to Peggy, but Peggy could fill in too many gaps if Derek found her. She needed to sell the car to a stranger, but she couldn’t list it in the Galveston paper—too slow—or even on the internet—too searchable—for fear that Derek would be watching for it. She shuddered at the idea of Derek answering an ad for the car.

The phone’s shrill ring made Maddie jump. She stared at it through two more rings as though Derek hid behind that suddenly ominous, everyday sound. Why hadn’t she followed her own advice and gotten caller ID?

Carefully, as though she were handling some type of poisonous snake, Maddie picked up the receiver, her heart pounding wildly.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweet Maddie.”

Maddie’s heart rolled over in her chest.

“Zach.” She breathed his name on her sigh of relief.

“You okay, Maddie?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m great. What’s up?”

A few seconds passed before Zach answered. When he did, he sounded dubious. “Thought I’d see if you done changed your mind about y’all coming to the rodeo with me.”

“I don’t think you want us. Jesse’s teething and he’s cranky as hell.”

“You got whiskey?”

“Whiskey? No.”

“Get some. Rub it on his gums.”

Did everyone in the world have a remedy for teething babies but her?

“I’m using brandy.”

“I suppose that’ll work.”

“It’s a mystery to me why anyone over twelve months old isn’t an alcoholic if everyone’s remedies involve alcohol,” Maddie said, amazed at her own ability to hold a reasonable conversation even as she felt Derek closing in on her.

Zach laughed. Then he cajoled. “Whiskey works, Maddie, I swear. There ain’t no reason you and Jesse can’t come to the rodeo. C’mon. What do you say? If it don’t work, I’ll stay with him and you can check out the rodeo. I’ll even sit up with Jesse if he fusses all night.”