Hawk's Way: Rebels (10 page)

“So we’ll know he’s home, dummy,” Raejean explained scornfully.

“Oh,” Annie whispered back. “All right.”

Cherry headed downstairs hoping that Billy would arrive to fulfill her promise and waken the twins with a kiss.

As the night passed and he didn’t return, she began to worry in earnest. The worst thing was, she had no idea where he might have gone. She made up her mind to wait until midnight before she called the police to report him missing. That’s when the bars in town closed.

Not that she believed for one second that he had gone to a bar. Not with everything on the line the way it was. Not with everything he did subject to intense scrutiny in the courtroom. Not as determined as he was to keep custody of his children in the face of his mother-in-law’s clutching grasp for them.

She sat in the dark on the front porch step, waiting for him to come home. At five minutes before midnight she saw a pair of headlights coming down the dirt road that led to the house. Her heart began to pound.

Surely it was Billy. Surely it was him and not someone coming to tell her he had been hurt.

The vehicle was headed for the back of the house, moving too fast for safety. She ran through the house, turned on the back porch light and slammed her way out the back door. She was there when the pickup skidded to a stop.

When she saw it was Billy’s truck, she released a breath of air she hadn’t realized she had been holding. The relief turned quickly to anger when Billy stepped out of the truck and she saw his face. One eye was swollen almost closed and his lip had a cut on one side.

“You’ve been fighting!” She gasped as he began to
weave his way unsteadily toward her. “You’re drunk!” she accused. “How could you, Billy? How could you?”

“I’m not drunk!” he said. “I’ve just got a couple of cracked ribs that are giving me hell.”

She quickly moved to support him. “What happened? Where have you been? Who did this to you?”

She felt him slump against her. “Aw, Cherry, I don’t believe I let this happen. Not the day before I have to go to court. The judge’ll never understand.”

“Forget the judge. Explain this to me.”

“I went to town to get some supplies at the hardware store and ran into that Ray character, the one who took you to the prom.”

“Ray did this to you?” she asked incredulously.

“Him and three of his friends.”

“But why?”

“It doesn’t matter why. Or it won’t to the judge. All he’ll see is that I’ve been fighting again. Lord, Cherry, I hurt. Inside and out.”

“Come on in to the kitchen and let me bind your ribs,” Cherry said. “Maybe I can get the swelling down in your eye, so it won’t look so bad tomorrow.”

“Maybe I can say I’m sick and get a postponement,” Billy suggested.

“Is it possible the Trasks won’t find out about the fight? Did the police come?” she asked.

“They were there,” Billy said.

“But you weren’t arrested?” Cherry said. “That must mean something. I mean, that you weren’t at fault.”

“I wanted to fight, all right,” Billy said flatly. “And I’d do it again.”

“Don’t say things like that. You can’t keep getting
into fights, Billy. Not if you want to keep custody of your girls. What could be so important it was worth risking your girls to fight about?” she demanded.

He didn’t answer her, but that could have been because he was too busy hissing in a breath as she administered antiseptic to the cuts on his face. She eased the torn shirt off his shoulders and saw the bruises on his ribs. They must have kicked him when he was down.

“Where have you been all night, if you weren’t in a bar somewhere drinking?” Cherry asked.

“I went to the stock pond to sit and think,” he said.

“While you were thinking, did it occur to you that I’d be worried,” Cherry asked archly.

“I’m sorry, Cherry. I lost track of the time.”

He sat stoically while she strapped his ribs. But the light had gone out of his eyes. He had already given up. He had already conceded the battle to Penelope.

“You aren’t going to lose tomorrow,” she said to him. “You can tell the judge a bull stomped you, or—”

Billy snorted. “Stomped on my eye? Forget it, Cherry. You know as well as I do that my fight with Penelope is over before it’s begun.”

“I refuse to accept that!” Cherry snapped back. “You’re a good father. You love your children, and you provide a stable home for them.”

“That isn’t enough.”

“What more can the judge ask?” Cherry demanded.

Billy reached up gingerly and brushed his hair out of his eyes. “I don’t know. You can believe there’ll be something Penelope can offer that I can’t.”

“There’s
nothing
she can give them that you can’t,”
Cherry said fiercely. “And there’s something you can give them that no one else can.”

“What?”

“Love. A parent’s love. Don’t discount it, Billy. It’s a powerful thing.”

She saw the doubt in his eyes. He wanted to believe her, but he was afraid to let his hopes get too high. She lowered her lips to his, tender, as gentle as she had ever been. She brushed at the hank of hair that had fallen once more on his forehead. “You’re going to win, Billy. Believe it.”

He took her hand and pressed her palm against his lips. “Thanks, Cherry. I needed to hear that.”

But she saw he didn’t completely believe it. He believed this was the beginning of the end. He believed he was going to lose his children. That he was going to lose her. She could feel it in the way he clung to her hand.

She pulled herself free, unwilling to indulge in his despair.

“The girls were worried about you,” she said as she scurried around fixing an ice pack for his eye. “I promised them you would wake them up to kiss them good-night so they would know you got home all right.”

“I’ll go do that now,” he said, groaning as he got to his feet, the ice pack pressed against his eye.

“Don’t fall coming back downstairs,” she said.

He turned and looked at her. He was in no condition to make love to her, and for a second she thought he was going to refuse to come back downstairs and join her in bed. But he nodded his head in acquiescence.

“I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Cherry hurried to finish her ablutions and ready herself for bed before Billy came to her room. The sexiest nightgown she owned was a football jersey, and she quickly slipped it over her head. She was naked underneath it.

She pulled the covers down and slipped under them to wait for him. She left the light burning, because she knew he liked to watch her as they made love.

It didn’t take her long to realize, once Billy entered her room and began undressing himself, that he needed help. She got out of bed and came to him, sick at heart at this reminder of the fight that might cost him his children.

She took her time undressing him, kissing his flesh as she exposed it. Shoulders. Chest. Belly. She sat him down and pulled off his boots and socks and made him stand again so she could unbuckle his belt and unzip his jeans and pull them off. By the time he was naked, he was also obviously aroused.

“Lie down,” she coaxed. “You’re hurt. Let me do all the work.”

She had never said she loved Billy in words. But she showed him with her mouth and hands and body. She eased herself down on his shaft, and when he arched his body into hers, said, “Lie still. I’ll move for both of us.”

She did, riding him like a stallion, never giving him a rest, until both of them were breathing hard and slick with sweat. She pushed him to the brink, brought him back, and took him there again. Until at last she rode him home.

He was already asleep, his breathing deep and even,
by the time she slipped to his side, reached over to turn out the light, and snuggled against him.

“You’ll win, Billy,” she whispered into the darkness. “You have to win. Because I love you and Raejean and Annie. And I can’t bear to give you up.”

She felt his arm tighten around her.

At first she was terrified because she thought he must have heard her. Then she realized it was a reflexive move. He had reached for her in his sleep and pulled her close.

“You’re not going to lose me, Billy,” she murmured against his throat. “I’m not going anywhere.”

His body relaxed, and she closed her eyes to sleep.

T
HE DAY OF THE HEARING
dawned fly-buzzing hot, as though to deny the cloud of disaster that loomed over their heads. In the bright sunshine Billy’s face looked even worse than it had the night before. His left eye was swollen nearly shut, and the myriad bruises had taken on a rainbow of colors—pink, yellow and purple. He walked stiffly up the courthouse steps, like an old man, an occasional wince revealing what even that effort cost him in pain.

Cherry had put on a simple, flowered cotton dress with a Peter Pan collar she often wore to church. It made her look every bit as young as she was. Billy was dressed in a dark suit that fit his broad shoulders like a glove and made him into a dangerous, imposing stranger.

The twins bounced along beside them in matching dresses and pigtails, chattering like magpies, excited by the prospect of going on a picnic after the court hearing was over. Cherry chattered back at them, putting on a cheery false front to prove she wasn’t as frightened as she was.

She and Billy had exchanged very few words since waking that morning, but their eyes had met often, communicating a wealth of information.

I feel awful.

I can see that. You look like you got stomped by something mean.

What if I say something wrong? What if I can’t convince the judge to let me keep my kids?

Everything will be all right.

What if it isn’t? What will I do?

I’m here for you, Billy.

I’m scared, Cherry.

So am I.

I’m glad you’re here with me.

He reached out to take her hand, clutching it so tightly it hurt, as they entered the courtroom. The instant the twins saw their grandparents sitting at a table at the front of the courtroom with two men dressed in expensive suits, they went racing down the aisle to greet them.

“Hi, Nana,” Raejean said, giving her grandmother a hug. Mrs. Trask wore a sleek designer suit that shouted wealth, her short-cropped, silvery-white hair perfectly coiffed.

“Hi, Grandpa,” Annie said, getting a sound hug from her grandfather. Mr. Trask sported a double-breasted wool blend suit, his pale blond hair cut short on top and trimmed high over his ears.

The adults exchanged not a word, but their eyes spoke volumes.

Animosity
from Mrs. Trask.

Antagonism
from Billy.

Anguish
from Cherry.

“Raejean. Annie. Come sit over here,” Billy ordered.

Reluctantly the girls left their grandparents and came to sit beside Billy and Cherry across the courtroom.

Billy’s attorney had already suggested that Billy
compromise with Mr. and Mrs. Trask and give them partial custody of the children. The lawyer had warned that with their duo of legal experts, the Trasks would very likely win full custody if Billy insisted on fighting them in court.

“Are you ready, Mr. Stonecreek?” Billy’s lawyer asked as Billy and Cherry joined him.

“I’m ready.” Billy knew his lawyer believed they were fighting a lost cause. But he wasn’t willing to give up his children without clawing for them tooth and nail.

Billy turned to find the source of a small commotion at the back of the courtroom. “Cherry, look.”

Cherry looked and felt tears prickle behind her eyes. Her whole family was trooping into the courtroom. Zach and Rebecca, Rolleen, Jewel, Avery, Jake, Frannie, Rabbit, and Colt. She knew what it meant at that moment to be part of a family. They were there for her.

“Thank you,” she mouthed.

Her mother smiled encouragement. Zach nodded. Colt grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, while Jewel mouthed back, “We’re with you, Cherry.”

At that moment the judge entered the courtroom, and the bailiff called, “All rise.”

Cherry stood and reached for Billy’s hand as he reached for hers. They stood grim-lipped, stark-eyed, waiting for the worst, hoping for the best.

“In the interest of keeping this hearing as open and frank as we can get it,” the judge began, “I think the minor children should wait outside. Is there someone who can take care of them?”

Jewel popped up in back. “I will, Your Honor.”

“Very well. The children will leave the courtroom and remain outside until I call for them.”

“Why do we have to leave, Daddy?” Raejean asked, her brow furrowed.

“Because the judge said so,” Billy answered.

“I don’t want to go,” Annie said, clinging to Cherry’s skirt.

“It’s all right, Annie,” Cherry said. “It’s only for a little while. We’ll all be together again soon.”

She hoped.

Cherry prayed that the girls wouldn’t make a scene in front of the judge, proving Cherry and Billy couldn’t control their children. To her immense relief, they allowed Jewel to take their hands and lead them from the courtroom.

“This is a hearing to decide whether Mr. Stonecreek’s two minor children should be taken away from him and given to their grandparents,” the judge began solemnly. “I would like the petitioners to explain in their own words why they are seeking custody of their grandchildren.”

“It’s simple, Your Honor,” Mrs. Trask said as she rose to her feet. “Billy Stonecreek is an inadequate and irresponsible parent who is doing irreparable harm to my grandchildren by neglecting them. He also happens to be a drunken brawler without an ounce of self-respect. It’s a well-known fact that his kind can’t hold their liquor.”

“His kind?” the judge inquired.

“Billy Stonecreek’s mother was an Indian, Your Honor,” Mrs. Trask replied disdainfully.

The judge’s brows arrowed down between his eyes, but all he said was, “Please continue.”

“My former son-in-law has instigated several free-for-alls over the past year since my daughter’s death, for which he has been repeatedly jailed. As you can plainly see from the condition of his face, he hasn’t reformed his behavior over time.

“He has subjected my granddaughters to a series of housekeepers who come and go. His latest act of idiocy was to marry an eighteen-year-old high school dropout, who was a juvenile delinquent herself.”

Billy had remained silent during Penelope’s attack on him. When she started on Cherry, he couldn’t sit still for it. “Wait one damn minute—”

“Sit down, Mr. Stonecreek,” the judge admonished. “You’ll have a chance to speak your piece.”

Penelope shot Billy a smug smile and continued. “This pitiful excuse for a father doesn’t have the time, money, or inclination to give his children the things they need. On the other hand, Mr. Trask and I are ready, willing, and able to provide a secure and stable home for our grandchildren.”

“Is there anything else?” the judge asked.

Mrs. Trask hesitated before she said, “I believe Billy Stonecreek is responsible for my daughter, Laura’s, death, Your Honor.”

The judge raised a disbelieving brow.

“He didn’t kill her with his bare hands,” Mrs. Trask said. “But he made her so unhappy that…that she took her own life.”

Cherry bounced up and said, “That’s not true, Your Honor!”

The judge made a disgruntled sound. “Young lady—”

“Please, Your Honor. You have to let me speak,” Cherry pleaded.

The judge turned to Mrs. Trask and said, “Are you finished, Mrs. Trask?”

“I am, Your Honor.” She sat down as regally as a queen reclaiming her throne.

“Very well, then. Proceed, Mrs. Stonecreek.”

“It simply isn’t true that Billy is responsible for Laura’s death.”

“Cherry, don’t,” Billy muttered.

Cherry looked Billy in the eye and said, “I have to tell them, Billy. It’s the only way.”

When he lowered his gaze, she turned to face the judge. “Laura Stonecreek didn’t commit suicide, Your Honor. She was involved in a tragic automobile accident. She was unhappy, all right—because she wanted to have more children, but wasn’t medically able to carry another child to term. On the day she had her fatal accident, Laura miscarried a child for the second time.”

An audible gasp could be heard from the other table.

“Billy didn’t want her to take the risk of getting pregnant anymore. When Laura left the house that day she was despondent, but not because Billy didn’t love her enough. It was because he loved her too much to take the chance of losing her by getting her pregnant again.

“Billy Stonecreek is the most gentle, most kind, and considerate man I know. He’s a wonderful father to his girls, and they love him dearly. If you could only see him with them, giving them a bath, reading a story to them, kissing them good-night. They trust him to take
care of them always. It would be a travesty to separate them.”

“What you say is all to the good, Mrs. Stonecreek,” the judge said. “But I’m concerned about your husband’s propensity to physical violence. I’m especially concerned to see his condition today. I would think he would have avoided this sort of behavior, when he knew he would be appearing before this court.”

Cherry felt miserable. Billy had refused to tell her why he had gotten into another fight. And he had said he would do it again. She could understand the judge’s point. There was nothing she could say to defend Billy, except, “He’s a good man, Your Honor. He loves his children. Please don’t take them away from him.”

“Excuse me, Your Honor.”

Cherry turned at the sound of her father’s voice. Zach was standing, waiting to be recognized by the judge.

“What is it, Zach?”

Cherry was surprised to hear the judge call her father by his first name until she remembered what Billy had said when he married her. The Whitelaws were well known around this part of Texas. It appeared Zach had a personal acquaintance with the judge.

“I can explain the cause of Billy’s most recent altercation, if the court will allow it.”

The two lawyers conferred hastily at the Trasks’ table before one rose to say, “I object, Your Honor. Mr. Whitelaw has no standing to get involved in this case.”

“I’m the grandfather of those little girls, too, Your Honor,” Zach said. “My daughter hasn’t adopted them yet, but that’s only a formality. I know she loves them as though they were already her own.”

Cherry’s throat thickened with emotion.

“I see no reason why I shouldn’t allow Mr. Whitelaw to make his point, Counsel,” the judge said. “Especially in light of the consequences if I rule against Mr. Stonecreek. I’d like to hear an explanation for this most recent fight—if there is one. Go ahead, Zach.”

“First let me say that I did not initially approve of my daughter’s marriage. I thought she was too young, and I knew Billy Stonecreek’s reputation for getting into trouble. I thought he would be a bad influence on her.”

Cherry felt her heart sinking. Nothing her father had said so far was the least bit helpful to Billy. In fact, it was as though he had dug the hole deeper.

“However,” Zach said, “I’ve since changed my mind. I did enough checking to find out that my son-in-law is a hardworking, church-going man who spends most of his free time with his children. With three notable exceptions—all occurring since his wife’s tragic death—he has been an outstanding citizen of this community.

“Although my son-in-law chose to start those three fights over the past year in bars, no one I talked to has ever seen him the least bit drunk. He has never hurt anyone seriously, and he has always paid for whatever damages there were. I know that doesn’t excuse him entirely.”

“Or at all,” the judge interjected. “What I’d like to know is why Mr. Stonecreek started those fights.”

“Only Billy himself knows the answer to that question. If I were guessing, I’d say he was a young man in a lot of pain and looking for a way to ease it.”

“Then he chose the wrong way,” the judge said. “All
this is very interesting, but it doesn’t explain why he was fighting within days of this hearing.”

“To defend his wife’s honor,” Zach said.

Cherry’s glance shot to Billy. He lowered his gaze to avoid hers, and a flush spread high on his cheekbones.

“I’m listening,” the judge said.

“I was in Estes’s Hardware Store yesterday when Billy came in. He picked up what he needed and went to the counter to pay. Ray Estes stood at the register and began making abusive, slanderous comments about my daughter, Cherry, in front of several other men, friends of Ray’s, who were also waiting for service.

“Billy asked Ray to stop, but Ray continued provoking him, saying things to sully my daughter’s reputation that no man could stand by and let another man say about his wife. Even then, Billy didn’t throw the first punch.

“He told Ray he didn’t want to fight, that he knew Ray was only mad because of what had happened the night Billy had kept him from assaulting Cherry. Billy said he would forget the insults if Ray would say he was sorry and hadn’t meant what he’d said. Billy wanted the words taken back.

“Ray called Billy a coward, said he only fought men who were drunk. Even then, Your Honor, Billy kept his hands to himself. His fists were white-knuckled, but he didn’t launch a blow.

“That’s when Ray shoved him backward, and one of Ray’s friends tripped him so he fell. Ray came over the counter and kicked him hard, while he was down. That was when Billy came up swinging. Ray’s friends held
his arms, so Ray could go at him. That’s when he got the black eye.

“To tell you the truth, Your Honor, I took a few swings at those fellows myself. So you see, Billy tried to avoid a fight. He only got involved when it was a clear matter of self-defense.”

Cherry gave her father a grateful look as he sat down, then met Billy’s dark-eyed gaze. She reached for his hand under the table and clasped it tight. “Oh, Billy,” she whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I shouldn’t have let Ray provoke me,” Billy muttered. “But I couldn’t let him get away with saying those ugly things about you. I couldn’t, Cherry.”

She squeezed his hand. “It’s all right, Billy. Surely the judge won’t blame you now that he’s heard the truth.”

“I’ll concede Mr. Stonecreek may have been provoked beyond endurance in this case,” the judge said, confirming Cherry’s hope. “The courts have conceded there are such things as ‘fighting words’ to which a man may respond justifiably with violence. And I’ll take into consideration your suggestion that Mr. Stonecreek’s other forays into fisticuffs may have been motivated by something other than drunkenness,” the judge said.