Texas Ranger Dad

“Them two,” Sam said, indicating Applegate and Stanley with a nod and talking loud enough for them to hear his every word. “Don’t let ’m fool ya. They kin get into more trouble than two teenagers let loose fer the first time in thar daddy’s pickup.”

Zane chuckled. “That so?”

Applegate scowled from across the room. “No mor’n anybody else. We’re retired and plum tired of it. So now we help out at The Barn Theater on the outskirts of town and that fills some of’r time.”

“That’s right.” Stanley jumped one of his checkers over Applegate’s, winning him a hard look. “You’ll have ta come on out and take in a show. We got ourselves a right smart good program.”

Applegate grinned for the first time and surprised Zane so much by the transformation that he almost spit out the coffee he’d just taken a sip of.

“Got some mighty fine talent out thar. Why we got reviewed in pert near ever newspaper that’s worth its salt. And our Sugar Rae Denton even got invited to be in a movie and on Broadway!”

“I’m impressed,” Zane said.

Sam arched a brow. “We got all kinds of good thangs going on in this little town. One of them thangs is my wife and her two friends. You bein’ a single man, ya ought to be prepared ta draw their special attentions.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’ve had this conversation several times in the past?” He knew resident journalist, Molly Jacobs, wrote a syndicated newspaper column about the goings-on of the town. He had heard it frequently covered matchmaking.

“’Cuz it’s true,” Applegate grunted, then plopped a handful of sunflower seeds into his mouth and grinned. He was more amiable than Zane had first taken him to be. “And it kin be downright entertainin’ fer us old-timers ta see you young bucks get snared up in their good intentions. Ain’t that so, Stanley?”

“Yup. This here spot in front of this window is better seat’n than front row at one of them movie theaters.”

Sam grinned at Zane. “We figure’d ta warn ya and then sit back and watch the show when they start in on ya.”

Their candor caused Zane to laugh, but it faded quickly when the older men all stared at him funny.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, feeling suddenly like he was in a lineup.

Stanley pulled at his ear. “When you laugh like that, I seemed ta thank maybe I met you someplace b’fore.”

“Yeah,” Applegate agreed.

Sam nodded. “But I ain’t one ta forget faces, so I know I ain’t met you.”

Zane had had his fair share of so-called twins through the years. He was certain everyone got told several times in their life that they looked just like someone else. “Someone in this area must resemble me,” he offered.

“That must be it,” Sam said, rubbing his chin and continuing to study Zane.

“We know e’vrbody,” Applegate grunted, piercing Zane with his scrutiny. “Who do y’all thank it is?”

“Cain’t put a finger on it,” Stanley mumbled. “But it’s that smile and something else…I jest cain’t figure it out.”

Zane chuckled. “Well, boys, relax. Given the size of Mule Hollow, one of us is bound to run into my look-alike pretty quick. When we do, the mystery will be solved.”

Zane, who was used to challenging jobs, figured that would be the biggest mystery he might face in the peaceful little community. It was going to take some getting used to. But if he could make things right with Rose, then he would gladly settle into this quiet life with a happy heart.

Chapter Three

Mule Hollow was having a baby and everyone was in an uproar! For a town that had been on the verge of dying not so very long ago, it was pure joy to think that babies were coming. Rose couldn’t miss Dottie’s shower, no matter how much she’d considered hiding out at home. Dottie had been on bed rest for a month, so the shower was being held at her home. The place was packed with women.

Even though Rose was apprehensive about what was going to happen with Zane, she was determined to go on as if her world hadn’t been turned upside down.

As she’d done with Max in the cactus field, she focused on what was going on around her. It was always lively when the women of Mule Hollow got together. So unlike her own silent, secretive pregnancy. The comparison slipped in unbidden; it was as if Zane coming into her life again had brought her past back to haunt her. By the time she was as far along as Dottie, Rose realized she’d gotten herself into a mess. By this time she’d stopped thinking David, her exhusband, was the answer to her troubles. By then he’d begun to show his true colors and she was regretting her rash decision to marry him. His overprotectiveness had first drawn her to him, but she’d soon learned it was control and not care that drove him. Almost the instant their vows were spoken, he’d begun shutting her in and shutting out the world. She made no friends and even if she had, he wouldn’t have allowed them to come around. A gathering like this wouldn’t have happened.

“This is from Norma Sue,” Dottie said, reading the card. She was sitting on the couch and melted as she pulled back the tissue paper, exposing a pair of red, satin baby slippers and a matching dress. “Ohhh,” she cooed, lifting them for everyone to see.

“I love red!” Scarlet-haired Esther Mae’s voice rose above the others’ exclamations. Esther Mae was in her sixties and as vibrant as the color she dyed her hair. “Every baby girl needs a red outfit. You did good, Norma.”

Her friend and cohort in all kinds of escapades, Norma Sue Jenkins’s plump cheeks beamed. “I figured if the baby has a head of black hair like Dottie, that the red would look real nice.”

“You are so right,” Dottie sighed, her navy eyes bright against her pale skin. She handed the gift off and it began to make its trip around the room.

“This is from Lacy,” Rose said, glancing at the card on the bag, then holding it toward Dottie. Her hand was resting on her rounded stomach and she looked slightly uncomfortable. Rose hesitated. “Are you okay? Not too tired?”

“I’m fine. Really,” she said, but didn’t look completely convincing.

Rose hadn’t been ill a single day while she was carrying Max, a blessing in more ways than one. Her life had been so messed up in other ways that she’d been thankful not to add morning sickness to the mix. Still, she felt for Dottie.

“You do look tired,” Lacy Matlock said. Live-wire Lacy had enough energy to share with anyone who needed it. “Is there anything we can do to help you more?”

All the ladies seemed to lean forward, reminding Rose of racers in the starting blocks. Rose got the sudden picture of Dottie saying she could use a glass of water and the entire room blasting forward to get it for her. It was a sweet picture and so like her town. A lump formed in her throat. Her emotions were unusually volatile today. What would it have been like to have had this kind of support when Max had been born?

“Please don’t worry about me,” Dottie urged everyone. “The doctor assures me that the lack of energy is nothing to get worried about. You all know, my body went through an ordeal in that hurricane in Florida. He said considering all that my poor body had been through that I’m doing great. God has me in the palm of His hand.”

“Yes, you are, my dear,” Adela said. She was a wisp of a woman with a snowy-white pixie cut, and together with Norma Sue and Esther Mae completed the notorious matchmaking posse of Mule Hollow.

Esther Mae relaxed. “Y’all are right. My goodness, Dottie, the good Lord brought you through being crushed under that house so I expect He’s got bringing our sweet baby into the world under control.”

Rose let those words sink in. God was in control of her life, too…but she couldn’t help feeling like she was riding in a car without brakes. She managed to make it through the present opening without letting her thoughts dwell on Zane. However, a few minutes later, while everyone was enjoying cookies and punch, that became impossible when talk turned suddenly to the new deputy in town. Of course it would—she should have expected it. Not much went on in a small town that didn’t get talked about and a new deputy, especially a handsome ex-Texas Ranger, would draw attention. Rose had half expected it to be one of the matchmakers who brought him up, but it was Dottie.

“I’m so happy to have Zane helping Brady out,” Dottie said as she sipped her strawberry punch.

“He seems like a real nice, upstanding man,” Norma Sue said. “And he’s single.”

“And sooo good-looking,” Esther Mae added. “I met him yesterday. He has the most intense eyes. I mean really, they just come alive with all that gold sparking them up. It just gave me goose bumps when he looked at me.”

“They are unique,” Norma Sue added. “Just think how they’ll light up when the right woman comes along!”

If Rose hadn’t been so upset she might have gotten tickled watching the matchmakers setting their sights on a fresh target. But that wasn’t the case. As she took a long drink of her punch, she was too busy trying to keep her hand from shaking while the fear she’d been trying to deny began to surface. Zane’s eyes were unique—but she saw a similar set across the dinner table every night. Would they realize?

All the questions that she was trying to put off suddenly came screaming forward. His coming here couldn’t be an accident. He had to have discovered she lived here. But why had he followed her here after all these years?

Did he know?

The question knocked the breath out of Rose. Panic hit her and she hurried to the kitchen. Her hand was shaking and as she set her cup down punch sloshed onto the counter.

“You okay?”

She jumped, startled as Lacy came through the doorway behind her.

“You look as white as the tablecloth.”

Panic clawed at Rose. “I—I need to go. Could you tell the others I had to leave?” She was already headed toward the door. She could feel her friend watching her. She knew Lacy would be worried about her, but Rose was too distraught to attempt a smoother exit. The denial she’d been struggling to keep at bay came down on her head in a landslide.

What had she been thinking? She couldn’t put her head in the sand and pretend this wasn’t happening. She had to confront Zane and she had to do it now.

She had to find out what had brought him to Mule Hollow.

She had to find out if he knew her secret.

“Thank you, Officer Cantrell. You saved my life.”

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Lovelace. But all I did was change your tire.” Zane stepped back from the SUV and tipped his hat to the petite brunette. From the backseat the excited barks of two miniature poodles erupted.

“Oh, you saved me all right. If you hadn’t come along when you did, me and my babies wouldn’t have been able to make it to San Antonio in time for registration.”

“Drive safe. You’ve got plenty of time.” Zane waved as Mrs. Lovelace and her barking menagerie headed off in pursuit of dog-show glory. He was grinning as he got into his truck and drove back toward town. So far during his first couple of days at work, he hadn’t done much of anything. This roadside rescue was his first actual official act. Brady had assured him that the job had its days when everything happened at once. He was supposed to expect the unexpected at any given moment.

Mrs. Lovelace had been distraught when he’d found her broken down on the side of the road. With no phone service for her to call for help and absolutely no idea how to change a flat, she had been more than happy to see him drive up. Three months ago, he’d been escorting a federal criminal into court, and today he was sending poodles to dog shows.

It was a little hard to get used to, and as he drove into town, Zane wondered if he was going to be able to make this adjustment.

He was surprised but pleased to find Rose standing outside the sheriff’s office when he drove up. Just as it had the first time he’d seen her all those years ago, every protective instinct he had went into high gear when it came to this woman. The first time he’d met her she’d been a scared young woman who’d witnessed a murder. There had been no hysterics or melodrama. She’d quietly come forward and told her story, though she’d been visibly shaken. He’d greatly admired her for stepping up when it would have been easier…safer to pretend she hadn’t seen anything.

“Why are you here?” she demanded.

The anger in her voice jolted him. Even though it was well-deserved and expected. He stepped to the pavement, closing his door behind him as he grappled with the right words. She kept on talking.

“You can’t tell me that you showing up here was an accident. Mule Hollow is just too small. Too out of the way. And after all these years, why?”

There was a fierceness in her eyes that he’d not seen before. He’d known he wouldn’t be welcome. “I had to come try to make things right between us.”

She gave him a look of disgust. He’d told himself he was prepared for this reaction, but he wasn’t. Beautiful, sweet Rose looking this hostile broke his heart. How could he have expected her to understand what he’d done? Why he’d done it? He’d never given her any explanation of why he’d left. Up until this moment he hadn’t realized that deep down he’d hoped his leaving hadn’t affected her. Knowing he’d embittered her like this was hard to take.

“Make things right?” she scoffed at last. “Why now, Zane? That was the past and you of all people should know that I don’t live in the past. After all, you were the one who taught me the art of living a lie.”

“That was my job. It was to keep you safe and you know it. Taking on a new identity was the only way. You had to, or you might have been killed before you testified against that thug, Lawton.” He knew this wasn’t really what she was asking yet he needed to get his head back on straight. It was not keeping her safe that he needed forgiveness for. His oath required him to protect those under his care, but with Rose it had gone so much deeper. From day one of meeting her he’d been doomed.

When he’d been assigned to Rose’s case, it had been his job to explain her options. He’d explained that she needed to enter the program or risk being killed before she could testify. Rose had touched his heart with the way she’d handled herself. Naively, without understanding what it would cost her, she agreed to do what was needed to see justice served. She hadn’t realized her ailing grandmother would refuse to go into the program with her. It had been a devastating blow to Rose. He’d had to stand at the door and watch as her grandmother sent her away. She’d believed, and rightly so, that her illness might somehow make it easier for Rose to be tracked down. It had killed Rose to say goodbye, but it was her grandmother’s wish that Rose be safe. And against his better judgment, for the first time in his life his job became personal.

It went beyond his oath, beyond the promise to her grandmother that he would keep her safe at all cost…he’d fallen in love with Rose, with her principles, with her loyalty. And she’d almost lost her life because of it.

“I did what had to be done to keep you safe,” he said. And it was true, even down to leaving her. It was putting her at risk and not telling her goodbye that he needed to make right.

Rose stared at Zane. Hearing him say he’d done what he’d thought was best to keep her safe cut to the quick. After all these years, how could it still hurt so much?

“We need to get some things straight,” she said, hearing the bitterness in her voice. “Have you told anyone that we know each other?” If no one knew, then maybe she had a little more time to figure things out. But she had to know if he knew about Max and had come looking for him.

“No,” he said, unlocking the door. “Let’s go inside.”

Rose didn’t want to be alone in a room with him. But what she needed to say shouldn’t be discussed on the street, so she nodded.

She refused to let him see her unravel. But looking into his amber eyes so dusted with flecks of gold that they stood out in a crowd made it near impossible. She felt certain everyone in Mule Hollow was going to see that Zane Cantrell had given his son his distinctive eyes.

And if that weren’t enough, he’d passed his devastating smile to Max as well.

Rose felt sick and her legs barely held her up long enough to walk past Zane to the chair in front of his desk. “I’ve started a new life here, Zane,” she managed while she sank into the chair. “This one is real. I don’t want to be reminded of my past. Of the lies. My son doesn’t know I was once in the witness protection program and I had hoped to keep it that way. I wanted him to be…one identity. His real identity.” Only he doesn’t know his real identity.

Rose inhaled sharply. Her blood pounded in her temples. Until Zane had come into the picture she’d been able to pretend that Max didn’t need to know the truth.

Zane sat on the edge of the desk and looked down at her. Despite everything between them, her insides knotted with the pull of emotions. Oh, how she’d loved this man before he’d abandoned her.

Abruptly, he moved from the desk to the window and stood gazing out, with his back to her.

Did he know?

She wasn’t sure how well the U.S. Marshal’s office kept up with witnesses after they were deemed safe to return to the world as they’d known it. And she wasn’t certain how much information a Ranger assigned to the case would have access to. How much of her life since the last time they’d seen each other did Zane know?

His wide shoulders remained rigid as moments ticked by and he stared out the window. When he turned back to her, his expression gave nothing away. Striding past her, he took his seat behind the desk. “I’m not sure I understand why you’d keep your past hidden,” he said finally. “What you did was a brave thing. It’s something to be proud of. Since there is no threat any longer, no one would be in danger from knowing the truth.”

He didn’t know! Relief washed over Rose at the realization. She suddenly felt light-headed and closed her eyes.

“Are you all right?”

Startled by the concern in his voice, she opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes,” she said, trying to get a hold on her emotions. He didn’t know Max was his son. If he did he would understand that she wasn’t hiding her life in the witness protection program all these years. She’d been hiding from him.

He studied her, his keen eyes searching for the truth in her expression. “Look, Rose. I came here hoping to start over, too. Hoping that we—”

At his admission her traitorous heart beat a little faster. It upset her all the more. “‘We,’” she gasped. “There is no ‘we.’ Will never be a ‘we.’”

“We” died the day you left me there…alone.

The muscle in his jaw jerked and his gaze darkened. “I see,” he said after a long moment. “Coming here and seeing that you’re okay has been worth it. I would never do anything to jeopardize your happiness.”

There was so much she wanted to say to him. But she wouldn’t. She’d believed she was over being bitter…but she was seeing the truth now. “I hope not. But if you’ll remember, I don’t have much faith in what you say.”

His expression hardened. “I did what I considered was right for you when I got reassigned. I believed it would keep you safe. I’d do it all over again if I felt it was the best choice.”

She surged to her feet, emotions rushing at her like darts. “I trusted you, Zane. Do you even know what that means?” She was mortified at knowing she was about to unravel in front of him. “I can’t do this. I just needed to get things out in the open between us. Stay away from me and my son. Like I said, Max has no idea about my life in the witness protection program. I chose not to tell him because we’ve had more than our share of bad luck and I feel as if I’ve spent my entire life in hiding. I didn’t want him to feel that way. Your coming here can only make things bad again.” She closed her eyes and fought down the fear of what would come if he stayed. It was an impossible situation. “Stay away,” she managed as she headed toward the door.

Zane was beside her in an instant, his hand reaching to open the door for her, surprising her with his apologetic smile…Max’s smile.

“I can’t do that, Rose. I owe it to you to explain. To make you see—”

“I don’t want anything from you. It’s too late for explanations.” There, that was plain enough. Back stiff, she walked out the door. But she knew when she got inside her car and met Zane’s unwavering gaze through the windshield that somehow what she wanted didn’t matter. Never had. Zane would do what he wanted and she would suffer the consequences.

Chapter Four

“You feeling okay, Mom?” Max asked as they got out of the car and started toward the church the next morning.

“I’m fine. Just a little tired, I think,” Rose said, feeling as if she was walking straight into disaster. She should have told Max last night. “I was up late making syrup for the jelly.” And worrying—but she kept that thought to herself as she looked up at her son. Even at his age it was obvious he was going to be tall and lean just like…his dad. All these years she’d tried to pretend she didn’t see Zane every time she looked at Max, but that was impossible. And today, with each step she took toward the small crowd gathered on the church lawn, her world teetered on the edge of falling apart.

What would Max say when he realized that she’d lied to him? The very idea made her sick. Her skin was clammy and her stomach kept lurching as if she were on a raft in high seas. Seeing Zane standing among her friends sent her hand to her stomach in the futile attempt to quell the queasiness. She’d left his office the day before knowing she’d left herself wide open for a public confrontation. She’d like to think that even if Zane realized the truth, he wouldn’t make a scene…but she didn’t really know him. It was stupid on her part, but she really wasn’t thinking straight. How did a woman break such news to her son? She prayed God would help her figure this out. So far no light had appeared at the end of the long, dark tunnel she found herself in.

“Hey, there’s Gil. I’ll check ya later.” Max loped away.

She watched him go and felt a touch of relief knowing the inevitable might have been put off for a few minutes. Why hadn’t she figured out a way to tell him?

“Rose, over here,” Norma Sue hollered, waving her over. Rose paused and engrossed herself in digging a peppermint out of her purse. It was her only excuse for delaying moving toward Zane. Also, peppermint was good for a queasy stomach. Her fingers trembled as she unwrapped the candy and plopped it into her mouth. Sadly, there was no instant calm for her nerves.

Esther Mae and Norma Sue were both waving her forward now, with big rolling waves like traffic cops. She nodded and finally, with nothing else to put it off, she closed her eyes, prayed for guidance—intervention actually—and then willed herself to cross the yard.

You can do this, she coached herself.

She would do this. Could do this.

Deep breath. Another deep breath and steps in between had her moving across the lawn. Choices from the past yielded consequences—the truth exposed was of her own making. She’d lived almost half her life behind a mask of deception and as much as she despised it, she would do it for a bit longer if it meant clinging to her and Max’s make-believe life for a moment more.

She couldn’t help clinging to it for as long as possible, because she was terrified of how their relationship would forever be altered when he realized she’d lied to him.

Zane had been watching her approach, but she’d kept her gaze off him. Meeting his watchful stare would only make her queasiness worse—throwing up on the church lawn was not something she wanted to do. Thank goodness for the peppermint, though she realized she was really expecting a lot from the tiny piece of candy.

“Good morning,” she said, pleased that her voice sounded halfway normal. She continued to avoid Zane’s piercing gaze locked onto her like a missile to a target. Of course he had no idea the potentially explosive nature of their meeting here on the lawn of the quaint country church.