All That Matters (24 page)

“If that’s the rule, then go ahead, Deputy Pike,” Beryl said softly.

Her formal use of Elroy’s title made the lawman perk right up, and Lionel glower. He placed the machine on his desk, facing them, then pushed “record,” and the whirr of the tape broke the silence that followed Beryl’s words.

Just then, Faith sent Buddy Lee such a sweet smile he nearly melted on the spot. A shiver raced up his spine, and he had to order himself to get his act together. How was he gonna find out anything if he couldn’t keep his mind on what mattered?

He looked at Elroy for help, got ignored, and turned to Lionel. What else could he do?

“Looks like you’re the one’s got something to tell
me
, so I guess you might as well start.”

Faith’s daddy acted like he had a
helluva
pain somewhere.
 
He kept squirming in his chair, scowling, clearing his throat, and squirming some more.

Get to the damned point,
he wanted to yell, but didn’t. He’d made up his mind not to let Lionel yank his chain any more. Waiting was one thing he was good at. Slow-dancing was the other, but there wasn’t any music playing here, so he just tipped his chair back on its hind legs and acted like he had more time than money.
Well, hoo-ha, don’t I just?

“Daddy.” Faith had a way of giving a single word a multitude of meanings. Buddy Lee figured Lionel was smart enough to know when the meanings were serious.

“All right, all right,” Morgan groused. “Walker, I’m gave the deputy here an alibi for you, since there doesn’t seem to be any other way to save your hide. But only because Faith’s got her mind set on you and her mama’s threatening to leave me.”

“Faith
what
?” He looked at her in disbelief. What had she done?

“And another thing,” Lionel went on, ignoring Buddy Lee’s slack jaw. “I’ve decided to forgive your note. I know Royce was blackmailing you and why. Faith told us everything.” His face darkened. “Even about the abuse. I can’t hold it against you for trying to keep my daughter’s reputation from being smeared. Guess you’d know all about that sort of thing, seeing as how you’re Boyd’s....”

“Lionel,” his wife cautioned in a soft, no-mistaking-what-she-meant tone.

“Daddy,” his daughter warned in a voice as soft as her mama’s, but much more threatening.

Lionel frowned, gave a deep sigh of resignation. “What I meant to say was, well, that was a decent thing you did, taking on a kid...
er
, my grandchild, to raise. The boy will be a Morgan, of course, so I’ll expect him to be raised right.”

Faith shook her head. “And if we have a girl, she’ll be a Morgan, too, but the last name will always be Walker, Daddy. Remember that and be happy for us. Oh, and how we raise the child will be for Buddy Lee and me to decide.”

Faith gazed lovingly at her husband, sea-green eyes gleaming with all sorts of temptations and promises. “That is, if Buddy Lee still agrees.”

His insides knotted. If
I agree?
He wondered if it’d be impolite to holler “Hallelujah!” Good sense told him not.

“That thing still on?” he asked, pointing to the recorder.

“Yeah, why?” Elroy replied.

“Just want to make sure what I say gets put on that tape.”

He paused a minute to sort out his words...decide what he wanted to say. He couldn’t afford to mess up this time.

“As far as marrying Faith goes, well, for the record, I didn’t do it just to be nice. And I damn sure didn’t do it for Morgan money.” He paused, took a deep breath and plunged ahead.
 
“I did it because I love her. Always have.”

He could feel her eyes boring right into him, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze. Not yet. He needed to keep his head clear to finish what he had to say. Looking at her only made him want to take her in his arms and love her like crazy until her troubles went away. Since he’d already tried that and only created more grief, he knew better than to let himself be tempted again. He kept staring at the floor.

“I’ll take care of her and her baby for as long as she needs me. I’m not
sayin
’ I’ll know how to love the child, but because Faith is the mama and I love her, I’ll do my best to be the kind of father I think a kid
oughta
have. And the kind of husband I think Faith deserves, if she’ll have me.”

Slowly, he raised his head. Now he could look at her. He’d said what he’d been feeling all along. He’d work on learning to love their baby and he’d be a good father. That much he could promise. And if Faith wanted him in spite of that...well, here he was, faults and all.

She started to speak, but he held up his hand, then turned to Lionel. “One more thing. About the bank note that’s due today. I don’t accept charity from anyone, Mr. Morgan. Ever. So don’t go forgiving my mortgage just so you can act like a do-gooder. All I need is an extension. This Walker pays his debts. And by the way, how come you decided to vouch for my whereabouts last night? I know you didn’t have to.”

“Like hell I didn’t.” Lionel came up off his chair. “Do you know my own wife threatened to leave me if I didn’t tell Elroy where you were? And Faith called me a selfish old man because I wouldn’t acknowledge the child she carries as my grandchild.” He raked shaky fingers through his silver hair. “I’ve given her everything money can buy. How can that be selfish?”

“Maybe money couldn’t buy what she wanted,” Buddy Lee said.
 
“Far as I know, love isn’t for sale.”

Lionel studied him a minute then sat down, hands gripping the arms of the chair. “Have you any idea how terrifying these two women can be when they decide to gang up on you?”

Buddy Lee had a pretty good notion, but figured that wasn’t ever gonna be a problem for him. He was relieved to be cleared of any suspicion surrounding Royce’s death, but wasn’t sure he liked having Faith and her mama force Lionel’s hand. Did that mean he’d be behind bars if Faith hadn’t confronted her folks with her devastating secret? That he still had no credibility of his own? Hell, he was supposed to be taking care of her, not the other way around.

Elroy shut off the tape recorder. Faith nodded her head slightly. With an answering nod, he pulled a folder from his desk drawer, and tossed it on top. “Here’s something else you might find interesting. Found these in your car.”

“My car?” Buddy Lee hollered, not even worrying about good manners.

“Yep, the Mustang. And you don’t need to yell, Walker,” Elroy added. “I can hear just fine. The car’s at Faith’s new house. Guess ol’ Webb stashed it there. The glove compartment was stuffed full of these.” He shoved the folder across the desk toward Buddy Lee. “I.O.U.’s, every one. He was so deep in debt I guess he tried to sell your car to save his skin. Seems he had a double deal going with some thug connected to a Louisiana casino racketeer, but the whole thing backfired on him. Royce had pieces of his murderer’s flesh under his fingernails where he’d tried to fight him off, poor bastard. Samples matched up with one of Boots Ogden’s thugs over in Lake Charles. Forensic report showed he squeezed the life right
outta
Webb. Suspect’s being held down there until his extradition. Big son-of-a-gun, too.” Elroy slipped the papers back in the folder.

Lionel remained silent while the deputy recounted the details of his employee’s death, but as soon as Elroy finished, the banker rose from his chair, face flushed with anger.

“And to think that crook had been lying to me all this time. I trusted him with my bank’s finances.” He slammed his fist down on Elroy’s desk. “Come on, Beryl. I have to call my attorney and the bank auditor. By God, if that S.O.B. stole any funds from the bank, I’ll....”

Elroy put a restraining hand on Lionel’s arm. “The sheriff will be in touch, Lionel. Embezzlement’s a serious charge, even if the suspect is dead, so go ahead and notify your auditor. We’ll take care of getting in touch with the other authorities.”

“You can be sure I will.” Lionel shrugged off Pike’s hand. “If I ever get out of here.” Still angry and impatient he shuffled from one foot to the other, but his wife remained seated.

Elroy turned his attention back to Buddy Lee, not even trying to hide a smirk. “By the way, Walker, your Mustang’s been impounded as evidence. Shame you signed the title over. When the investigation’s finished it’ll be auctioned off, and the judge will decide where the money will go.”

Buddy Lee’s head was spinning again. That happened a lot lately—every time he’d tried to figure things out. “So, this whole thing is over?” Even though he’d lost his car, this still seemed too simple. He looked over at Faith. She smiled at him like she’d planned the whole thing. That wouldn’t surprise him.

Elroy nodded. “Far as you’re concerned, yep. Just don’t leave town for a few days, in case we have more questions. Y’all can all go home now.”

“About time,” Lionel grumbled and headed for the door. He stopped midway, turned back, hesitating before he held out a trembling hand. “Beryl, will you come home with me? Please?”

Beryl Morgan drew a deep breath, smiled at her husband, then patted Faith’s arm. “You know where to find me, dear, if you need me.”

Faith kissed her mother’s cheek. “Yes, and thank you, Mama. I love you.”

Then she did something Buddy Lee thought he’d never witness. She gave her daddy a bear hug the likes of which nearly knocked the man off his feet.

“With a little work, you just might make a passable granddaddy,” Faith whispered, then kissed his wrinkled cheek.

“
Hhmmmph
,” was the only reply Lionel made before his wife took his arm and marched him out the door.

His father-in-law sounded like he had something caught in his throat. Crow, maybe?

He wasn’t quite sure what had just happened here, but when he also found himself the recipient of one of Faith’s bear hugs, he figured the smartest thing was to go with the flow. He hugged her back, his heart just smiling all over the place.

Some days the alligators lost.

B
uddy Lee viewed the meager excuse for dinner they’d managed to scrounge up and tried to quiet the grumbling in his stomach. There hadn’t even been any TV dinners in the freezer.
 
Grocery-shopping would definitely be a challenge for their little family, but that wasn’t what was on his mind at the moment. Faith’s earlier unexpected actions were.

They’d returned home from the courthouse, and after a quick inventory of their kitchen cupboards, had settled side by side on the lumpy, blue-plaid sofa, sharing a plate of chips and cheese. He’d found a root beer in the back of the fridge, and Faith drank a glass of milk.

“I can’t believe you told your folks about the baby being Royce’s.”

There’d been a lot of things he hadn’t believed about the events of the past few hours. Listening to Faith relate the humiliating details of her relationship with Royce to her folks and the deputy sheriff had been about as unbelievable as hearing Lionel Morgan admit to being wrong. He hadn’t expected to live long enough to see either one happen.

Of course, for almost two weeks now, his life had been one unexpected hoo-ha after another. At least, thanks to Faith and her daddy, he wouldn’t be spending the rest of it behind bars like his old man.

He took her hand, rubbed his thumb along the inside of her wrist. “Why did you do it,
darlin
’?”

Not sure what he hoped her answer would be, his breath lodged in his throat when her big, deep-as-the-sea green eyes roamed his face and settled on his mouth. He leaned forward, angled in for a kiss, and felt her fingers pluck at the corner of his lips. What
the
...?

She held up a thread of melted cheese and smiled a smile that buckled his knees. Good thing he was sitting down.

He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. Jeez
Looeeze
! He felt like a toddler just learning to feed himself.
 
It was damned hard to get serious with food hanging on his face.

Faith took a napkin and slowly rubbed it across his closed lips, following the seam into the corner of his mouth. The tip of her finger disappeared behind the napkin, stroking until he parted his lips to let her finger touch his tongue.

Her own tongue traced a wet circle around her mouth, just slowly enough to make him want to bash his head against the wall. Lightning rods of need drove into his groin. His hardness surged against the fly of his jeans again when Faith gave him the answer he’d been waiting for all his life.

“I did it because I love you, Buddy Lee. Don’t you know that by now?”

Yeah, but why can’t I believe her?
He wanted to, more than anything in his messed up world. More than that, he wanted her to believe in him. Being grateful was fine, but it didn’t go far in the way of loving.

He cupped her chin, tipped her face toward his and took the kiss he’d been after. Kissed her hard and shook clear to his shoes with the intensity of her response.

He forced himself to pull away from her exquisite mouth. “We have a lot of important stuff to talk about, Faith, but if we don’t quit
doin
’ this, we’re never gonna get things settled between us.”

“Are you saying this is wrong?”

Her puzzled look told him she didn’t know what she did to him. Didn’t have a clue. Or did she?