Seeking Love in Salvation (9 page)

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this. Good night.” She quickly headed to the back porch of the cottage and then glanced their way as Ridge joined them by the lawn. They all watched her with concern, and she felt like crap. She did like them. She liked the way they kissed her and how good, how safe she felt sandwiched between them. She couldn’t be selfish. She had Kenny and Lois to think about and put first.

Nothing more could happen here. Nothing.

“I guess it’s safe to say your kisses scared her off,” Ridge said to Beck and Sparrow, tossing another pitchfork of hay into the stables.

“Don’t know why you bothered,” Jace added as he brushed down the horse.

“Don’t give us that shit. We’re all attracted to her. None of us can keep our eyes off of her when she’s around,” Beck said to them.

“Yeah, well, showing up on her run, telling her you were stalking her because you’re claiming her wasn’t too smart. Obviously,” Ridge teased.

“You didn’t see her. She was hugging the tree, bent over crying and trying to hide it,” Sparrow told them. That seemed to get Jace and Ridge’s attention. Jace stared at him.

“Crying? Why?” Jace asked.

“Don’t know, but that doesn’t seem like a normal occurrence for a woman like Valentina,” Ridge said.

“Did you call Ford or Gunny?” Jace asked.

“Ford knows we’re keeping eyes on the women. Gunny just gave me some information that explains where Valentina, Lois, and Kenny run off to multiple times a week,” Sparrow said to them. He wasn’t sure he was going to tell them. It would just bring about more questions, and Valentina was keeping her distance. She’d placed this month’s rent in the mailbox in an envelope.

“Well, what did he tell you?” Beck asked.

They were all listening to him and had stopped working. Jace leaned on the handle of the shovel and Ridge chewed on a piece of hay. Beck crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“They go outside of Salvation to the medical center and law offices. Lois and Kenny are in counseling.”

“Counseling for what?” Beck asked.

Sparrow shook his head. “Don’t know, and if Gunner knows, he didn’t say a word.”

“We should call Helena,” Beck suggested.

“And say what? We have the hots for her best friend? I don’t think so. Maybe it’s a sign, a reason we shouldn’t let down our guard and take a chance on some woman we don’t even know. A woman who has baggage, apparently,” Ridge added.

“He’s got a point. None of us are exactly commitment types, and it seems to me a woman like Valentina would want and need commitment. You guys didn’t even ask her out on a date or over for dinner. You kissed her in the woods when she was crying and vulnerable,” Jace said to them, shocking Sparrow. So it seemed his brother Jace did have an interest in Valentina. after all.

“You sound jealous,” Beck stated.

“Fuck that. I’m not jealous. I could have kissed her.”

“With a gun to her throat? Yeah, that sounds about right and your way of getting a woman in bed. Gunpoint,” Ridge teased him and they chuckled.

“She and I don’t even get along,” Jace added.

“You both get under one another’s skin and neither of you are willing to admit to an attraction. You’ll remain stubborn and so will she,” Sparrow said to him.

“Then what’s the point?” Jace asked.

“The point is that we’re all in this together. We share women. We’ve done so in the past, and we felt content, just not fully into the woman. This is different. We all feel an attraction to Valentina. We’re concerned over her well-being and even her sister and nephew. That, right there, is more serious than any other relationship we’ve had,” Ridge said to them.

“What we had in the past weren’t relationships. They were weekend and week-long love affairs, wild times. We’re too old for that shit. At least,
I’m
too old for it,” Sparrow told them.

“I don’t think I’m in on this. It’s already too complicated and we haven’t even taken her to bed. Seems like trouble to me. A damn disaster,” Jace said, and they mumbled in agreement, but Sparrow looked at Beck and Ridge.

“We got time, let’s see what happens. We’re not going anywhere and neither is Valentina,” Ridge said, and they agreed.

* * * *

It had been four weeks since Valentina started the part-time job at the business center. She was working for the Texas Rangers, helping investigate issues of violent crimes. It was the overflow of information the Rangers needed investigated. It also involved interviewing victims to gather more information.

Valentina wasn’t too sure if she would like it at first. She was required to be law enforcement, to be trained and have some counseling experience, which she did. Working with victims of violent crimes was emotionally draining, especially since she was dealing with it herself on a personal level. Having Lois and Kenny in counseling was a step in the right direction. They were beginning to establish their own lives, and she was starting to pull back a little from being in control of Lois and the decisions she made.

Working here along other law enforcement officers made her feel a little more normal, like she was back on the job again. Helena had been right. Together, her law experience, her experience with counseling, and her experience dealing with the intensity of violent crimes were definitely helpful in the services the Rangers offered.

A lot of the women and children who came in were on edge and scared, some even angry. She had to filter through those emotions and get concrete information the detectives could use to investigate the crimes and gain knowledge of the suspects.

She liked being here and helping victims get the counseling, the financial and supplemental support they needed to move on with their lives in a positive fashion. She was also establishing a name for herself.

Valentina was looking forward to getting together with Helena. Helena had called her to meet up at the farm tomorrow to show Kenny the animals there.

“Valentina.” She heard her name and looked over toward her boss, Gus. He was a Texas Ranger and head of the department. They’d hit it off immediately.

She was filing some new paperwork for one of the clients and making sure the secretary got the right ones signed before the end of the day.

“I need to talk to you a minute,” Gus said and waved her over. She gave Liz, the secretary, a smile and then went into Gus’s office.

“What’s going on?” she asked him. He gave her a serious look as he walked around his desk and picked up a file.

“Okay, I have this case. It’s a tough one. I have all the information here. The thing is… I know we talked about your family situation. This is similar in a lot of ways. Roxie has three children, all under six years old. Her ex, a gangbanger, forced her to make some deliveries with the kids in the car and things went wrong. He came back to her apartment and messed her up good. The details are in the file. Whatever he did, he made sure that she won’t say a word to any of the detectives or Rangers. We can’t get a location on her ex, but she knows where he is. She’s our only lead.

There’s more. Samuel, her ex, shot a cop two months ago. The officer lived, but we never got our hands on him. He’s known to be abusive, confrontational, and irrational. We need information on this guy, and Roxie is holding out because she’s scared for her life.”

“Where is she living, and what protection are we providing for her?” she asked him as she opened the file and saw the photographs of the woman with her babies and the ex-boyfriend.

“She’s living in a safe family shelter for domestic violence victims. Kay, one of the social workers there, said Roxie is scared and won’t talk about any of it. There’s another case our team is working on and they believe that Samuel is involved. We got agents working undercover and a lot invested in bringing down these major drug dealers. We need to locate Samuel. Someone has to get through to Roxie.”

“What am I able to offer her and the kids?” she asked him.

“What do you mean, offer them?”

“I mean, she’s not going to give up info on her ex unless she knows that he can’t come back and kill her and the kids. She needs real promises of safety for them.”

He held her gaze. “Whatever you need to do. A safe house solo if we get a full arrest and bring down the operation. Then we can set her up with something more stable. I’m sure we can figure it out. We need her ex.”

“Okay, Gus. When do you want me to go see her?”

“Right now.”

She swallowed hard. They were desperate to find this guy.

* * * *

Lois was sitting in the chair outside watching Kenny play on the jungle gym. It was a beautiful day. She was thinking about her sister. Valentina had been acting funny, kind of sad, lately. A few weeks ago she’d come in from a run and she looked flushed and angry. Lois had heard her talking outside and figured she was with one of the Brazos brothers next door. They always seemed to be around keeping an eye on things. Like now, their cousin Evan was home and he was doing some work in the yard, but kept stopping to see if she and Kenny were still here. It was unnerving but also comforting.

Lois heard a storm door slam closed and looked to see Beck coming out of the house. He waved to her and she gave a small wave back. She was getting to feel a little less paranoid and panicked. She had to. Valentina needed to have a life, too, which made Lois look out toward the barn and stable and see Jace. He was the hardest, most intimidating of the Brazos men, and reminded her of Ford, the sheriff. That thought had her belly quivering. He was as attractive as his brother Evan.

“Hey, Lois, Valentina isn’t home from work yet?” Jace asked her as he walked closer.

She pulled her sweater tighter and sat forward in her chair. “Not yet, but she’ll be home soon,” she said and looked at Kenny, who didn’t even seem affected by Evan coming over. He was getting used to all the Brazos men coming around checking on them.

Evan gave her a smile and a wink as he placed his hands into his pockets and held her gaze. “It’s pretty warm outside today. Another week and that swimming hole will be calling everyone’s names,” he said, mentioning the swimming hole again. It sounded really nice, but she wasn’t willing to wear a bathing suit and feel so exposed like that, especially around all these physically fit men.

“We go swimming, Mommy?” Kenny asked, running toward her.

She ran her fingers through her blonde hair and gave him a smile. “No, honey. You don’t know how to swim.”

Kenny made a sad face.

“I’d be happy to teach him. My brothers, cousins, and I grew up swimming in the water hole. It’s a lot of fun and there’s even a rope to jump from,” Evan offered.

“Can he, Mommy?” Evan asked.

“I don’t think so,” she said and stood up. When she did, she realized how tall Evan was and it intimidated her. She stepped back, grabbing onto Kenny.

“Let’s go inside and get ready for Aunt Val to get home. She should be here any minute,” she said, giving Evan a dirty look. She wouldn’t be intimidated by him, despite the fact that he made her nervous. Men couldn’t be trusted.

“I didn’t mean to scare you. You don’t have to go inside,” Evan said.

“No, we do,” she countered, and Kenny walked with her up the steps and onto the porch. When she glanced at Evan, he looked upset, maybe even angry. That put Lois even more on edge.

“We don’t need looking after. Don’t bring up the swimming hole to my son again,” she said and closed the door and went inside.

When she looked at Kenny, he looked sad, but then he reached for her hand.

“Don’t be scared, Mommy. Evan isn’t like Daddy. He won’t hurt you like Daddy did.”

Lois was shocked as she pulled Kenny close and hugged him with one arm, stifling her sob with her other hand over her mouth. It just wasn’t fair for her to feel this way.

When was she going to feel safe and free again? When?

* * * *

Valentina was tired and especially worn out emotionally after dealing with the Roxie case at work and getting nowhere. The woman wasn’t going to trust Val on the spot. It would take time, and that wasn’t really an option. Then, when she’d gotten home, she heard all about how Evan came over and scared Lois. That had started a whole discussion about what the therapist was doing to Kenny to make him make statements like he had to his mother about his father hurting her. It was too much to handle. On top of it all, Valentina had forgotten to hand in the rent money. She thought she would have the chance when she got home, but she’d gotten home late and didn’t want to leave it in the mailbox overnight.

Her sister was lying in bed watching TV with Kenny. Valentina told them she was going outside for a bit. She didn’t want to upset her sister more by telling her she was bringing the rent money over to the landlords and warning them to tell their cousins to stay clear of Lois and Kenny.

She made her way across the grass, the night sky illuminating a clear path. She climbed the porch steps of their beautiful home and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” she heard someone yell. She hesitated, but she was curious about the inside of their home.