Sweet Talking Lawman (10 page)

“You take it however the hell
you wanna take it.  I don’t give a damn.  But I intend to be her
father from this day forward.  If you thought you’d have a problem with
that, then you should have stayed the hell in Branson, Missouri and continued
to keep her a secret from me!”  Rafe struggled to keep his voice on an
even keel.  He knew a shouting match would upset Raale and he didn’t want
that.

Mesa turned and walked over
to the door and called Raale.

Looking up expectantly, the
child ran to the door.  She looked past her mother at her father’s face
and easily recognized the trace of anger she saw there.  She looked back
at her mom, her dark brows drawing down into a frown.  “Did you say no?”

Mesa shook her head.  “I
just want to make sure you’re alright with this.  Do you want to go?”

Raale nodded.  “He’s
gonna takes me to meet Uci and my cousins and to ride a horsy with me. 
Isn’t that alright?”

Mesa turned to look at
Rafe.  “Ride a horse?”

“With me,” he
clarified.  “There’s a ropin’ at Jenny and Russ’s place.  I was over
there when I got the call to come here.”  When he sensed her beginning
objections, he lifted his hands to stop it and managed to keep his voice
civil.  “I won’t rope anymore today.  I’ll keep Raale with me the
whole time and I’ll bring her home before dark.”

Mesa looked back at her child
whose small face was beaming with hope.  “Please, Mom.  I’ll be extry
special good.  I won’t ask too many questions or talk to strangers and
I’ll use my bestest, bestest manners.  I promise.”

Mesa sighed in defeat. 
“Let’s go find you some jeans to put on.  These slacks you’re wearing
would get ruined.”  She refused to look at Rafe, but if she had, she’d
have recognized the excitement in his eyes.

They had to move the car-seat
from the back of Mesa’s SUV in to the passenger side of Rafe’s pick-up. 
Mesa closely supervised to make sure it was properly positioned, even after
Rafe assured her that the entire Sheriff’s Department Staff had received
special training to make sure they knew when a child’s safety seat was properly
secured.

Jory stood silently beside
Mesa as they watched the truck travel down the dirt driveway away from
them.  “She’ll be fine.  You know he’d die before he let anything
happen to her.  She’s already got him wrapped around her little finger.”

She nodded.  “Yeah, I
know.  It’s just going to be hard having to share her all of a sudden.”

“He’s pretty angry about it,
huh?”  He lifted one hand and rubbed her shoulders affectionately.

Again she nodded.  “He’s
furious.  It was a mistake not to tell him before she was born.  I
don’t think he’ll ever forgive me for this.  I should have listened to
you.”

Jory patted her
shoulder.  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about his forgiveness if I were you and
Raale isn’t likely to allow him to stay angry long.  She likes peace and
harmony.”

“I never dreamed I’d come
back here to live, but now that I have, I don’t see much chance of peace and
harmony in
my
life in the near future.”  She was envisioning fights
with her mother on a daily bases and now, having to maintain a relationship
with Rafe that looked difficult, to say the least.  All she could see in
her future was chaos.

“Mesa, everyone makes
mistakes in their lives.  The most helpful thing one can do is recognize
the mistake for what it is and then try to learn from it,” Jory counseled
softly.  He of all people understood that.

She sighed.  “I’m tired
of conflict already.  Maybe it would have been better to have hired a
couple of nurses and a manager for this place and stayed in Branson.”

“And let your mother spend
this place into bankruptcy?  This is Raale’s heritage.  Keep
reminding yourself what you’re fighting for.”  Jory wrapped his big arms
around her for a quick hug before he turned and went into the house.

Jory knew most people found
his and Mesa’s relationship incomprehensible.  There were times when he
did, too, but he loved her in a way that he’d never loved another human
being.  He loved her as he would have loved the daughter he’d never had.

During a time in his life
when all he looked forward to was his next bottle of booze, he’d heard her
voice floating through the falling snow like the voice of an angel.  It
gripped his heart and drew him and he followed it through the trees until he
saw her.  It was so cold snowflakes were starting to fall and she sat
there in jeans and a light jacket, holding a guitar, singing her heart out,
completely unaware of the frigid temperature or anything else around her. 
The sweet sound of her singing anchored him and all he could do was stand there
in the cold and watch and listen.  The wind was whipping her long brown
hair around, her eyes were closed, her fingers danced over the strings of the
musical instrument in her hands, giving life to a simple melody, and the voice
floating up from deep inside her melted his heart.

Jory Madison was overwhelmed
and as he watched and listened, icy tears escaped his eyes.  The song she
was singing was about a young man who’d had a fight with his wife and wandered
into a bar.  He’d ordered a drink of ‘the good stuff,’ and the bartender
was telling him what he’d asked for didn’t come in a bottle.  It was found
in a loving home and wasn’t promised to be there forever, therefore, it should
be treasured and carefully nurtured.  In the sweet words she sang, Jory
saw his past life.  The wife he’d loved, the son they’d been expecting,
the fiery car crash that had taken both of them from him, and the overwhelming
grief that had led him downhill and into this foggy, numb world of unending
drunkenness.

When she stopped singing,
Mesa was surprised to discover that she wasn’t alone.  She put the guitar
aside and walked over to the man kneeling in the brown grass that was quickly
disappearing beneath the falling snow.  “Hey mister, are you alright?”

Jory shook his head
negatively and wiped his tears away.  He struggled to his feet again and
swayed slightly, his mind still hazy but he didn’t know if it was grief or
liquor.

Mesa could smell the alcohol
on his breath, but the grief she recognized in his pale blue eyes touched her
heart.  She took his hand.  “Come on, it’s freezing out here. 
I’ve got a place just across the street from the park where we can get out of
the cold.  I’ll open a can of soup.”

Jory wasn’t very steady on
his feet, but Mesa took him back to the small, two room apartment she’d been
lucky enough to find.  It wasn’t far from the club that had agreed to let
her sing for tips and she knew how lucky she was to have the small apartment
and the opportunity to earn money with her singing.

After eating the soup, the
warmth from inside and from outside was like a sedative for Jory and he’d gone
to sleep on her small couch.  Mesa had slipped a pillow beneath his head,
removed his shoes, and covered him with the blanket off her bed.

Over the next weeks, she’d
helped him through alcohol withdrawal and into an AA meeting and then slowly,
one day at a time, into a new life.  In return, Jory introduced her to an
old business associate who arranged for Mesa’s first recording session.

They celebrated hearing her
song on the radio for the first time by treating themselves to hot dogs from a
street vender and as she became better known, a now sober Jory, easily stepped
into the role of being her manager.  Somehow, they each saw the other as
the catalyst for the positive changes in their lives and it became a bond
stronger than blood.  The trust between them had been born when neither
had any reason to trust the other, or had anyone else they could trust and
because of that, the unlikely friendship was sealed in their hearts.  Mesa
became the family Jory had needed and he became the family her own had ceased
to be.

Mesa shied away from road
tours and concerts and preferred performing in smaller clubs, and Jory
skillfully guided her career in that direction.  When they found the club
outside Branson for lease, they hadn’t hesitated.  It was like a dream
come true for them both.

During their years together,
Jory knew there was a part of Mesa missing.  She was a beautiful young
woman and there was no shortage of men who sought her company.  Mesa might
date occasionally, but never the same man for long and Jory often wondered what
kept her from falling in love and getting married.

Then one night Rafe Storm
Horse had wandered into the club and Jory had seen Mesa’s missing part. 
It didn’t take much to figure out that she’d loved him since she was a child
and he filled her heart so completely she would never love another man.

Jory never knew what had happened
between the pair before Rafe left, but during the short weeks he was in
Branson, Mesa was the happiest he’d ever seen her.  When he was gone it
was weeks before she smiled again and as her friend, it broke Jory’s heart to
watch the struggle.  It wasn’t until she finally confided that she was
carrying Rafe’s baby that the familiar spark of happiness once again lit her
eyes.

The impending birth of Raale
motivated them to end the lease of the club and to purchase it outright and it
had been a profitable investment.

^^^

It didn’t take Jory long to
unpack and put away his personal belongings, after which he went upstairs and
started to work in Raale’s room.

When they finished, Mesa put
together a quick meal for the two of them from the scanty supplies they’d
picked up in town.

After eating, Mesa retired to
the rocking chair on the front porch and Jory began exploring the area around
the house for a suitable spot to plant the garden that already grew in his
mind.  He and his wife had grown fresh vegetables in the back yard of the
small house where they’d lived until she died.  He’d enjoyed working the
soil and tending the plants and then harvesting and eating the produce of their
combined labor.  Now, he knew he could enjoy that experience again.

The area he kept coming back
to was a small fenced area between the big house on the hill and the lake
cabin.  It was easy to see that it had been designed for gardening at some
point in the past.  It was big enough to keep him busy.  Water lines
already existed and the fence would protect the tender plants from any
livestock, and it was close enough to the barns to make use of the unending
supply of fresh fertilizer produced around the clock.

The gate was on the side
closest to the big house, and he was leaning against it, laying out rows in his
mind and selecting what seeds to plant, when he heard foot-steps approaching
from behind him.  He turned and silently watched the woman approach.

“Who are you and what are you
doing here?”  She demanded without preamble.

He knew this could be none
other than Shirley Howell who Mesa had always labeled, the wicked witch of the
Rocking H.  Except for the bleached blond hair, she looked a lot like an
older version of her daughter.

“I’m Jory Madison,” he
offered his hand as a friendly gesture.  He’d learned long ago not to
accept other people’s judgments and refrained from making his own. 
Circumstances caused people to act in ways others would never understand.

She looked at his hand, but
didn’t take it.  Instead her eyes narrowed and she looked at him
suspiciously.  “You must be the man Mesa is living with.”

He nodded.  “Actually,
I’m living with her.  We’ve been together for years.”  He couldn’t
resist feeding her suspicions, just a little.

“Well,” she continued, “I
expected someone younger,” a short pause for emphasis, “and better looking.”

Jory grinned and decided not
to let her assumption grow.  “I’m afraid, like most other people, you
assume that Mesa and I are…a couple.  We aren’t.”

Shirley frowned.  “What
the hell does that mean?”

He turned and looked back at
the garden space as he spoke.  It was time to clear up the muddy
water.  “Mesa is like my own child.  When she started singing, I was
her manager and we became business partners.”

“In other words, you took her
for as much as you could and are planning to keep it up.”  Shirley snarled
at him.

“Well, Mrs. Howell, if you
want to look at it like that, go right ahead.  However, if I were you, I
wouldn’t cast criticisms.  Mesa and I have been together almost as long as
she was with you, and from what I’ve learned, our relationship is much more
stable.”  Like Raale, Jory preferred peace and harmony, but he wouldn’t be
pushed around either.

His remark was met with
silence so finally he turned to look at the woman.  He was surprised to
see her battling against tears that had suddenly pooled in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mrs.
Howell.  It wasn’t my intention to hurt you.”  He apologized softly.

Shirley swiped at her
eyes.  “I suppose I deserved it.  Mesa was right when she told you I
wasn’t a very good mother, but my shrink keeps assuring me that old dogs
can
learn new tricks.  It just takes them longer.”  She extended her
hand.  “I’m Shirley Howell and I hope you’ll accept my apology.  I’m
trying real hard to stop being such a bitch.”

A deep chuckle bubbled up
from somewhere deep inside Jory and he took her hand.  “Apology accepted
and I’ll be glad to do all I can to help you achieve that goal.”

^^^

As Rafe drove down the
highway toward Jenny and Russ’s place, he kept cutting his eyes over to look at
the little girl sitting in the passenger seat where Spur usually rode. 
She was so busy looking out the window she didn’t notice him looking at
her.  His daughter!  It was a shock to think that the last time he’d
driven over this same road, just a short time ago, he hadn’t even known she
existed.  Damn, that cut deep!  How could Mesa have kept that from
him?  And for the better part of six years!  He didn’t realize that
he was frowning until she caught him looking at her and he saw a look of
concern flash across her small face.

“Are you mad at me?” she
asked timidly.

He shook his anger off. 
“No, sweetheart.  I was just wonderin’ why your mom kept you a secret all
this time.  I really wish I could have been with you when you were a
baby.  I’d have loved watchin’ you grow up.”

She nodded.  “Yeah, I
used to gets mad at her ‘cuz I didn’t know you, too.  She dust said that
grown-ups gotta do what dey think’s da best and when I gets growed up, I’d
understand.  I really didn’t like dat part ‘cuz it takes a really,
really
long time to gets all growed up and I still don’t understand.”

Rafe couldn’t keep from
reaching out and touching her face.  “Well, we have each other now, and
we’re gonna have a lot of time together.”

Raale smiled at him. 
“Yeah, and a lot of fun.  Like today.  I’m gonna gets to meet Uci and
my cousins and ride a horsy with you.”

He nodded.  “You aren’t
afraid of dogs are you?”

She shrugged.  “I always
wanted a dog, but I didn’t gets to habe one.”

He grinned.  “Well, I’ve
got a really big dog that I think you’ll like a lot.  His name is Spur.”

“Spur?” she giggled. 
“That’s a funny name for a dog.”

“He’s a funny dog,” Rafe
chuckled.

“Uh…,” she started to speak
and then seemed to think better of it.

“What,” he queried her. 
“You and I can talk about anything.  It’s important for you to remember
that.”

“Is it okay if I dust…call
you Dad?” she asked shyly.

“I can’t think of anything
that I’d like any better,” his throat tightened with emotion and he swallowed
to get rid of the lump.

He slowed the truck to turn
off into the Double B, Jenny and Russ’s ranch.  Raale craned her neck up
and her eyes took in the number of cars and truck/trailer rigs parked near the
arena.

“Wow,” she breathed
softly.  “Is all dese people your family?”

“No,” he reassured her with
an understanding smile.  “There are a lot of friends here today,
too.  Your Uncle Russ, that’s Aunt Jenny’s husband, is havin’ a Jack-Pot
Ropin’ today and that always brings in a crowd.”

“What’s a Jack-Pot…thing?”

“It’s when a bunch of friends
and neighbors get together for a little friendly contest, to see who can rope
steers in the fastest time.  Everyone pays to get a chance to show off,
and the ones that finish fastest win the money.  It’s fun and you’ll learn
a lot about it while we’re here.”  Rafe kept the explanation as simple as
possible.

“Wow,” she whispered
again.  “You know a lots of peoples.”

As soon as they got out of
the truck, Spur scampered up to greet them.  Rafe made sure the dog didn’t
overwhelm Raale with his natural exuberance.  He certainly didn’t want his
child and his dog to get off on the wrong foot.  When proper introductions
were made, she slipped her hand in his and walked beside him, with Spur trotting
along at her other side, one of her arms draped across his back.  Rafe led
her through the maze of vehicles to the edge of the bleachers where many people
were sitting.  At the other end, he spotted Uci comfortably seated in the
padded fold up chair Jenny provided for her comfort.