Mindset (22 page)

“God damn it, Cade, do you think I like it any more than you do?  I’m starting to think it is the Wesley brothers, but what do you want to do, go charging up to New York and call them out?  We’d all end up in jail, and then who would protect the women?  I already have a restraining order on both men, so if it is them , the law obviously isn’t deterring them.”

“If I had gone up to New York like I wanted to in the first place, maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

“Okay, let’s all take a deep breath here and think a minute okay?  We’re all on the same side here, remember?”

John continued, “Jake’s right.  We sure don’t need to go after each other.  You’re both upset and angry that your women had a close call, and that’s understandable, but going at each other’s not going to solve anything.”

Josh didn’t bother to correct his grandfather’s notion that Eva was his woman.  “We’re just going to have to double up on guarding them, that’s all.  We’ll create a barrier between them and whoever is trying to get to them.”

Cade took another deep breath.  “I agree that we need to do that, but for how long?  They’re getting ready to open up a new business.  Even if they weren’t we can’t just lock them in their rooms.  Callie’s scared right now, but I know her, and you do, too.  It won’t take long before she goes all ‘tough Texas chick’ on us and wants her space.  She was supposed to be in a locked building today while I went to pick up the file cabinets.  Hell, I don’t blame her for going out to the damn shed.  Who could’ve guessed she’d be in danger in the back of a privately owned building that can’t be seen from the front?”

“Whoever it is, he’s following them everywhere they go.”  All three younger men turned to look at their elder.  “If you think about it, you’ll see I’m right.  He had to have been watching the house and seen Callie walk from the bunkhouse to the main house before he ambushed her.  She’s not in the habit of being out that late, so they couldn’t have known she’d be out there unless they’d been watching for her.  The Literacy Center hasn’t opened yet, so whoever went there today had to follow them there.  Callie and Eva have both gone out with you boys before and haven’t been bothered.  Whoever is doing this is waiting and watching for a chance to get to them when they’re unprotected.  If they can watch us, we can watch out for them, too.  Maybe we can figure out a way to flush them out.”

Josh’s cell phone rang, and he got up and walked to the living room to answer it.  A few minutes later, he returned with a scowl on his face.  “That was the P.I. I sent to New York.  He says neither James nor Richard Wesley have left New York in the last month.  I told him to keep watching them and to try to find out if they’ve been in contact with anyone out of the ordinary, any clandestine meetings, anything at all suspicious.” 

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.  I don’t care if they’ve been here or not.  There’s just no other explanation for what’s been going on.  Plus, Eva is sure of it, and she knows them better than any of us.  I respect her opinion, and I trust her.  I should’ve paid closer attention to her before.  If I had, maybe none of this would’ve happened.  By God, nothing else is going to happen to her.  I’m going to make sure of it.  She’s been through enough already, enough to last her a lifetime…”

As Josh continued to mumble and ramble on, Cade had to smile at his best friend and adopted brother.  “You’re starting to sound more and more like the lady’s champion there, buddy.  I noticed you were pretty protective of her while we were in the hospital, too.”

“Yeah, well, get used to it, asshole.”

“Can we please get back on track here, boys?”

“We are on track here, Jake.  Keep up,” Cade retorted.

“Like I was saying, boys, maybe we can flush out this guy before he has a chance to try again.  I’m not sure how to go about it, but maybe we can put our heads together and come up with a plan.”  John looked from one to the other.

“Well, Granddad, I’m not sure how we’re going to do that, without putting the girls at risk.  What you said about this guy following them around and waiting until they’re vulnerable before he strikes makes sense, so how are we going to flush him out without putting them at risk?”

“I don’t know yet, Jake, but I’m going to keep thinking it over.  In the meantime, neither of the girls go anywhere by themselves, agreed?”  All the men nodded their agreement, all deep in thought.

Chapter 18

“Knock knock!  Anybody home?”

Jake came to the door.  “Well, hey Trish, you’ve sure got your hands full, don’t you?  Whatcha got there?  How ya doin’, Trevor?” 

“I brought dinner.  I figured everyone would be stressed out and tired, so I threw some lasagna and a salad together.  It’s in the car; my hands are full of babies.  Trevor, can you take sister’s diaper bag for me please?  Lexie fell asleep on the drive over.”

“Here, let me take her.  She’s just a little thing, but after holding her the other day, I know she must get heavy after awhile.”

She paused a split second before handing her daughter over.  “She sure does.  Thanks.  I’ll just go get the food and be right back.  You don’t mind watching the kids for a minute, do you?”

“Nah.  Come on in Trevor.  Granddad’s in the kitchen, and I know he’ll be happy to see you, partner.”

“Granddad!  I’m back!  Let’s go see the bunny rabbits.”

“Trevor, that’s Jake’s Granddad, not yours.”

“Ah, he won’t mind.  It’ll probably tickle him.  Let me just make sure he makes it to the kitchen alright.  You need any more help bringing in the food?”

“No, I can get it.  I’m used to making two trips back and forth to the car.  Minimum!  I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

Jake headed to the kitchen passing his granddad and Trevor on their way outside, no doubt headed outside to the rabbit cages, and turned on the oven to preheat for the lasagna.  He was leaning against the counter when Trish bustled in with her hands full again, this time with dinner.  “Oh good, you already turned on the oven.   Aren’t you clever?  I’ll just put in the lasagna and then I’ll take the baby off your hands.”

“We’re doing just fine here, don’t worry about it.  She’s still sound asleep.”

“Oh.  Okay, if you’re sure, I’ll just go check on Trevor.”

“He’s just fine, Trish.  Granddad took him out to see some of the animals.  Why don’t you just sit down and take a load off for a minute.”

“I guess I could do that.”   Trish plopped herself down in a chair.

Cade said hello to Trish and addressed Jake.  “Hey, Jake.  I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that land I bought to the east of your granddad’s land.”

“Yeah, Cade?  What about it?”

“I’m thinking about building on it sometime soon.  Thought maybe you might handle the job for me.  What’s your schedule look like in the near future?”

Cade looked up from his coffee to find all three sets of eyes on him.  “What?”

Jake slowly smiled.  “How soon are you looking at?”

Josh had another grin on his face as big as his brother’s.  “Say there, Cade, what were you thinking about building out there?”

Cade actually blushed
.  Jesus Christ.  This was a bad idea
.  “I’m going to build a house out there, what else?” 
Well, hell.  I should never have brought this up with both of them here at the same time.  They’re gonna razz my ass till Christmas.

Getting into tag-team mode, the brothers continued.  “Uh huh, and what brought this on?  Outgrown the bunkhouse after fifteen years, have you?”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with our sister, would it?  Josh mentioned you were holding her hand the other day.  About damn time.”

“Christ.  Forget I mentioned it.”

Josh continued, “Say, seeing as how you and Callie have been seeing each other for awhile, now might be a good time to ask you what your intentions are towards her.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake!” 

“Trish, aren’t you concerned about his intentions.”

“Hey, don’t look at me!  I don’t believe in marriage anymore.  And for what it’s worth, I think Callie is more than capable of taking care of herself.”  She smiled at the brothers.  “Besides, Callie’s never lacked for male attention, that’s for sure.  If Cade’s not interested in a future with her, there’ll be a line from here to Las Cruces waiting for a chance to make her happy.  Not that she needs a man to make her happy.”

“Well, that’s true enough.  You can’t take that girl anywhere without seeing tongues hanging out of mouths.  Just the other day when we were at the grocery store, three different guys tried to pick up on her.  Josh, didn’t you say your buddy in real estate was just asking if she was single?  Isn’t he in the million dollar club?”

“He sure was, Jake.  I told him she was seeing Cade here, but he said he didn’t see a ring on her finger, so he figured she was still fair game.”

“You fuckers.  Sorry, Trish.  I’m going up to check on Callie.”  He scowled, scraping his chair back and leaving the room.

“You boys are so mean,” Trish smiled.

Both of the men chuckled together,” Jake said.  “Poor devil.  He’s all but up at the altar.  He’s so far gone, and he doesn’t even know it.  Callie’s had her eye on him since she was just a kid.  And when our little sister sets her mind to something, it’s all but over.”

“He never stood a chance, the poor bastard.”  Josh shook his head with a wide smile on his face.

All three joined in laughter at Cade’s expense. 

Cade quietly entered Callie’s bedroom and sat in the chair next to her bed.  She still looked so pale and fragile in her sleep, he felt the fear of losing her roll over him all over again.  He’d never been so scared in his whole life as he was when he realized she was trapped in that burning shed and couldn’t get out. 

Shit
.  He’d been steamrolled.  One minute he was resigned to the fact that a relationship with Callie, or anyone else for that matter, was out of the question, and the next he was planning on building a house.  Not that building a house had anything at all to do with her.

Shit.
  Who was he kidding?  It had everything to do with her.  After fifteen years, all of a sudden, privacy was an issue.  And so was pride.  Pride in himself and the pride of owning his own home that he could share with the woman he loved.

Oh shit
.  He did love her.  Everyone seemed to see this coming except him.  How could this have happened?  Hell, if he was honest, this had been happening for years.    Callie had been demanding her way into his heart since he was eighteen when she’d gotten past his anger and self-imposed isolation and made him realize that he could take a stand and refuse to let life defeat him.  The skinny kid who’d earned his respect and driven him half crazy following him around like a second shadow had grown up to be the most incredible woman he’d ever known.  Aggravation had morphed into respect, respect to friendship, and finally, friendship had evolved from lust to love.