Mindset (4 page)

“Yeah, but as soon as they see my face, I’m going to have my hands full keeping those men in my life from going after my ex-fiancé.  And I’d just as soon not have to hold my next family reunion in prison where my brothers and my granddad are all doing life sentences for premeditated murder.”

“You reap what you sew, isn’t that what you’re always telling me?”

“Yeah.  More words of wisdom I got from Granddad.  He’s full of them.  Just let me do the talking, ok?  With any luck, I can smooth this over before anything gets too heated.”

“Uh huh.  Good luck with that.  From what you tell me, your men are pretty protective of you.  And as far as I’m concerned, Richard would deserve everything he got.”

“Richard can go to hell, as long as it’s nowhere near here, and as long as nobody in my family gets in trouble for sending him there.  Ok, here we go.  Just let me do all the talking.”

Callie turned into the entrance of the Dubeck Ranch in the lower valley area of El Paso and slowly drove the couple of miles up to the ranch house an hour before sunset, just after the work day had ended.  She parked the jeep and got out of the driver’s seat and started walking towards the house.  Before she got to the porch, the door flew open, and a barrel chested, silver haired man wearing a cowboy hat raced down the steps and grabbed Callie in a bear hug.

“Well, I’ll be darn, if it isn’t my Callie girl.  What a nice surprise, baby!  Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?  I’d have told your brothers to come by and fixed you a special supper!  Are you hungry?  How long can you stay?”

Laughing, Callie gave as good as she got and hugged her beloved grandfather in return.  “Hi Granddad!  I’ve missed you so much!  I’m so glad to be home!”  He started to pull away, but she held him tighter, so he held her back.

“Are you okay hon?  Is everything alright?  Let me take a look at you.”

“Everything’s ok, Granddad, now that I’m home.  Hey, I brought a friend.  Her name’s Eva, and you’re really going to like her.  You met her once a few years ago in New York, remember?  You said we looked so much alike we could be sisters.”  She started to turn away, but he stopped her with a light touch on her arm, and she froze.”

“Are those tears, Callie?  What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“Oh Granddad, it’s nothing.  I’m fine, just happy to be home is all.”

“Calliope Jade.  I know you better than that.  Tell me what’s going on.”

Callie slowly turned and removed her sunglasses.

“What happened to your face?  Were you in some kind of an accident?”

“Not exactly, Granddad.  Listen, it looks a lot worse than it really is.  I’m fine, I swear.  I’ll tell you all about it inside, ok?  Come say hi to Eva.  I’m starving, Granddad, aren’t you Eva?”

“Famished,” her friend chimed in, “I could eat a horse!”  Callie mouthed her thanks and started back towards the jeep.

Sidetracked for the moment, the gentle rancher reached out to shake his visitor’s hand.  “I’m afraid I’m fresh out of horse, but I reckon I could find some prime beef and barbeque us up some steaks.  Welcome, Eva.  Any friends of my granddaughter’s are welcome to stay here as long they like.”

“That sounds great, Mr. Scanlan.  I can help with dinner if you’d like.  I used to be pretty handy in the kitchen.”

“You can call me John, hon, and you girls can just keep me company.  I’ll show you to the guest room, and you can get settled in.  That’s a long drive from New York.  Callie, you coming?”

“Be there shortly, Granddad.  Just going to lock up the jeep and grab my purse.”  Callie started back towards the jeep. 

While I’m here, I might as well grab a suitcase.
  She didn’t hear anyone coming up behind her until she heard a familiar, sexy voice say behind her, “Well, would you look at what the cat drug in?”  Callie froze and slowly did a 180. 

“Hey, Cade.  How’s it go-?”

Before she even finished the sentence, Cade tensed.  “What the fuck?  Who the hell hit you, Callie?  I’ll kill the son of a bitch!”

“Well hell.  Look, it’s a long story, Cade, and I’d just as soon tell it only once, so you’ll just have to wait till we’re all in the kitchen.  You might as well call Josh and Jake, too.”

“Damn it, Callie, you tell me who’s responsible for this!  Right now, damn it!”

“In the kitchen, Cade, in the kitchen, and you might as well make those phone calls.  I’ve been driving for two and half days, and right now, all I want to do is take a nice, hot shower.  I’ll tell you everything when everyone gets here, ok?”

He stepped closer to her and reached out and held her by her upper arms.  “Are you okay?  At least tell me that, Callie.”

“I’m a tough, Texas chick, you know that.  Besides, if you think I look bad, you should see the other guy.”

“Callie, this is no joking matter.  Whoever did this to you is going to answer for it.  Josh is out of town working on some case in Albuquerque and won’t be back till tomorrow, but Jake should be at home.  I’ll give him a call while you take that shower.  Now, I’m going to ask you one more time, Callie.  Are you alright?”

“Yeah.  I’m alright.  Honest.”  Try as she might, she wasn’t able to stop the single teardrop that trickled out.

He reached over and gently touched her bruised cheek with the back of his hand, wiping away the tear.  Then he reached up to her blackened eye, barely grazing it with the tips of his fingers.  Lastly, he traced her lips with his thumb, being extra careful when he got to the cut in the corner.  He didn’t miss a thing.  It was hard to believe that a man so strong could be so gentle, so tender.  Callie closed her eyes and savored the touch she’d so rarely felt and so often craved.  She opened her eyes then and slowly leaned into his strength, as he wrapped her in his arms, a warm, safe haven she never wanted to leave.   She snuggled in closer.  He took a deep breath and stiffened, slowly pulling away.  He gave her a tight nod, picked up her suitcase, and walked towards the house.  Just before he went in, she heard him mutter something about breaking bones and sending someone to hell or giving someone hell, or hell to pay… something about hell, anyway.  Then, she slowly followed him inside.

Chapter 3

Everyone was seated at the kitchen table when Callie and Eva came downstairs, both refreshed from their showers and wearing fresh clothes.  Eva was just thinking how lucky she was that she and her friend still wore the same size when she noticed the silence that fell when they walked into the room.  Eva tensed when she saw the two men sitting with her friend’s grandfather.

“Jake!  When did you get here?”

Jake took one look at his sister’s face, then looked over at his adopted brother.  “Shit.  You didn’t exaggerate, Cade.  She looks like hell.”

“Watch your mouth around the girls, son.”

“Thanks a lot, Cade.  I’ll have you know that this face has graced the covers of many a magazine, walked down many a runway, and even appeared in several commercials, so there.”  She proceeded to make brief introductions.

“Yeah, yeah.  So what’s the story, sister mine?  Just cut to the chase and tell us where we can find the son of a bitch.  Sorry, Granddad, ladies.”

“Well, let’s see.  The last time I saw Richard was…oh yeah, at Eva’s place in New York.  But he was a little tied up at the time, right Eva?”

“Yes, he was.  With the telephone cord, if I remember correctly.  Where’d you learn how to tie knots like that, anyway?”

“My Granddad taught me, right Granddad?  Course it wouldn’t have been nearly as easy to tie those knots if you hadn’t already knocked him out cold with that bookend.  Nice work, that.  If I forgot to thank you at the time, please accept my humble gratitude now.”

Three sets of eyes moved from one woman to the other.  Several times.  Then everyone seemed to start talking at once.

“Hold it, guys.  If you’ll all settle down, I’ll tell you the whole story.  How’s that steak coming along, Granddad?”

“Slow cooking on the grill, Callie.  Baked potatoes are in the oven, and corn on the cob is on the stove.  We’ll be ready to eat in about half an hour.  Now, quit stalling, and let’s hear what happened. Dollar waitin’ on a dime.”

“Okay, okay.  It all started a couple months ago when I started dating a man named Richard Wesley.  We’d met a couple of years ago at Eva’s wedding when she married his brother, James.  I ran into him awhile back, he asked me out, and we started seeing a lot of each other.  To make a long story short, he asked me to marry him a couple of weeks ago, and I said yes.  I changed my mind a few days ago, tried to give him back the ring, and he took exception to my ending the engagement.  Before I knew it, he knocked me around some, and I was on the floor.  It might have been worse if Evita hadn’t cold cocked him, but as it turned out, I got myself out of there before too much harm was done.  Really, it looks worse than it is.”

Her grandfather was the first to break the heavy silence.  “Honey, you didn’t mention anyone special when you were here last.  When did this engagement happen?”

Callie glanced away, then continued.  “I didn’t actually start dating Richard until I got back from my last visit, Granddad.  I was going to bring him to meet y’all after we got engaged, but I didn’t have a chance before I broke things off.”

“Well, I hope he’s still rotting in jail, the bastard.  I assume you called the police and filed a report.  Josh will want to file a restraining order, no doubt, even though New York’s pretty far away.  No sense taking chances, though, plus it’ll be on his record in case he ever gets violent with someone else,” Jake added.

Silence.

“You did file a police report, didn’t you, Callie?”

“Well, that’s where it gets complicated, Jake.”

“For Christ’s sake, Callie, don’t tell me you still have feelings for the guy!”

“No!  Of course not!  The only feelings I have for Richard are about as far from warm and fuzzy as you can get.  Good lord!”

“Well, then, why the hell didn’t you have him arrested?  Were you just scared?”

“It’s not her fault.  I wouldn’t let her, ok?”  Eva stood up, wrapping her arms around herself.  “And she wasn’t scared at all.  She was brave!  She never backed down, not even once.  Not even after he knocked her down on the floor.  He never broke her.  He might have been physically stronger, but she never once gave into his demands, refusing to sign those bank papers, even when she knew it meant he was going to hit her again.  She’s the bravest person I’ve ever known.”

Every eye was on Eva now.  She took a deep breath and continued.  “You don’t know Richard, and you don’t know my husband, his brother, James.  I do.  Calling the police wouldn’t have helped.  I know, because I’ve been there, done that.  I’m ashamed to say that I’m somewhat of an expert on the subject.  My husband beat me more times than I can count, and I tried to get help from the police, from a lawyer, and even tried leaving. Twice.  Nothing I tried gained me my freedom or any relief from the abuse my husband dished out.  As a matter of fact, it just made it worse.  The Wesley’s are powerful people in New York.  I didn’t know what else to do but run, even though I know it’s just a matter of time before they find us.”