Love Under Two Kendalls Part 2

Ginny didn't have any excuses. She turned and saw Samantha, Bernice, and Kate standing where she'd left them. She returned their waves, and then smiled so they wouldn't guess she was having second thoughts. The support of those women meant the world to her, and had given her the final dose of courage she'd needed to do what, for her, had been her only viable option. She took more courage from them now. If this wasn't right, they'd have said so.

No, Ginny knew she couldn't have just sat by, day after day, and waited for others to do, to see, and to act on her behalf.

She only hoped, as she guided her son toward their boarding gate, that her chosen course of action hadn't burned her bridges with the two particular Kendalls who'd come to mean so very much to both Benny and her.

Deke Walters was a simple man, and generally took pride in being just that, exactly. No one would find a pastel s.h.i.+rt in his closet, and he wouldn't be caught dead toting one of those "man purses." He believed the good Lord set an order to things, and that women ought to obey their men, and children should be seen and not heard.

He tended to see things just one way-his way-and he knew what he knew, and that was that.

What he knew right at this particular moment in time was that the source of all his grief had a name, and that name was Ginny Rose.

When he got his hands on that b.i.t.c.h, she'd see the error of her ways right soon enough.

"It's just too bad you didn't bring her to me as soon as the two of you hooked up," Jerry Stone said. "We'd have gotten her trained properly."

Deke sat in the front seat of Jerry's car, a p.i.s.s-yellow Toyota, and kept the ball cap Jer had given him the day before pulled down low so that it shaded his face.

"Women need to be trained so that they know their place. Once you've trained them well, you never have to worry. Take that b.i.t.c.h of mine. She'll let me know when the cops come 'round. She'll give them the story I gave her, and she'll say it convincingly, too." Jer spared him a glance. "I'll order her to blow you when we get back, if you like. Nothing smoothes a man out like getting a good b.l.o.w. .j.o.b."

"Thanks, I'll take you up on it. You don't figure the cops will be watching your place?"

"No one saw us together, 'cause you ditched your guards and met me several blocks from the hospital. You didn't tell that idiot Mayo it was me you was meeting, did ya?"

Deke chuckled. "Give me some credit, Moose. Of course I didn't. That patsy was just that, a patsy who showed up at the hospital and helped me out for a couple C notes. I didn't tell him jack s.h.i.+t."

"Don't get huffy. I didn't think you would have. So...cops got no 'reasonable grounds' to set eyes on me. We'll drive past the place on the way back tonight, just to be sure. In the meantime, you figure to cruise through that town where you ditched the kid?"

"Yeah. Can't forget the name. l.u.s.ty, Texas. The sheriff that brought Ginny's so-called deposition to the Rangers was from there, so I got to figure they've got her there somewhere. That public defender the courts a.s.signed to me said no charges for desertion had been laid against her-you know, for dumping her kid. But maybe they kept it off the books, had her holed up there for a time, I don't know, working off her debt to society." Deke smirked. "Likely flat on her back with her legs spread. All women are wh.o.r.es under it all."

"Okay, then. We'll drive through the place, get a feel for it. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and spot her straight off."

"Yeah. All I got to do is get her alone for ten minutes. I can persuade her to drop those charges. Then I'll be a free man." Of course Ginny wouldn't be free. He'd follow Moose's advice and get her trained good and proper this time. As for the kid, he was small enough. Rarely spoke, so Deke wouldn't be surprised if there was something weird wrong with him. Anyway, he knew a guy who'd be willing to pay top dollar for a young boy, all soft and fresh like that Benny.

Yeah, that's what he'd do. First he'd grab them, then he'd deal with them.

"Here's the road the computer said to turn onto."

Deke brought his attention back to his surroundings. He had to admit that he'd not paid a lot of attention back when they'd ditched the kid. Ginny had picked the place to leave him at a restaurant here in l.u.s.ty, and he hadn't cared at the time. One place would be as good as any other.

Only things he remembered about the place were the food was decent and a couple of the waitresses had nice jugs.

Moose slowed the car, and Deke saw two signs. One, the typical kind, announcing l.u.s.ty city limits. The next was a carved wooden one, proclaiming that all were welcome.

"Barely a dot on the map, and I can see why," Jerry said.

Deke tried not to be obvious as he looked left and right. The stoplight turned red, and that afforded him a moment to scope out both sides of the street. He saw the Sheriff's office straight off, and made a note to himself to remember exactly where it was.

The light changed, and Moose eased the car forward. There were folks out and about, and they all turned, one at a time, and stared at the car as it drove past.

"We ain't stopping," Jerry said quietly.

"No, we're not." Deke had known his friend had pretty good instincts, and that call just proved it. The combination of small town, strange car, and very attentive residents spelled disaster for anyone thinking to pull anything. If he and Jerry just drove through one time, and then left town again, that would be the end of things.

If they stayed around, or drove back, that would probably spell a s.h.i.+tload of trouble for them both.

Deke wasn't afraid of a little trouble, but he figured he'd meet it on his own terms, when he was good and ready for it.

"I got me a buddy in Gatesville. He owes me a few, so he'll swap cars with me. We'll go see him tomorrow or the next day. Then maybe I'll get me a room over at that no-tell motel we pa.s.sed just off the interstate. You stay there while I take another drive through, maybe stop at that restaurant where you and your b.i.t.c.h left her kid."

"Yeah." Deke would rather have seen Ginny on his pa.s.s through town. h.e.l.l, he'd have had Moose slow just enough he could have grabbed the b.i.t.c.h right there and then if he had.

Even if she was staying there, likely the locals didn't give a flying f.u.c.k about her. After all, she'd abandoned her kid there. She really wasn't much more than a wh.o.r.e.

All women were.

But Ginny hadn't shown her sweet a.s.s on the streets of l.u.s.ty, so Jer's plan was the next best thing.

That sheriff had been the one to force Ginny into signing that complaint. Sure as h.e.l.l that a.s.shole's b.a.l.l.s would be all twisted that Deke had escaped. That meant Deke being seen in his town was probably not a good idea.

"What do you say? We'll head back to my place, now that we've been here. I'll get Nancy to give you some primo head. Then she can make us a good meal, and we'll grab a good night's sleep. Start fresh in the morning."

"What do I say? I say it sounds like a plan. I appreciate you being there for me, Moose. I really do."

"f.u.c.k, man, we're buds. There's just one thing, though."

"Name it, man."

"Stop calling me Moose. Always hated that nickname."

Deke chuckled. "You got it, Moo...um, Jer."

Jerry smiled. Then his smile sobered. "We've been friends for a lot of years. The way I see it, we've got to stick together. Besides, I can't in good conscience let you go down for doing what G.o.d gave you the right to do to your woman. It's just not right."

No, it hadn't been right. But Deke knew that soon-very soon-it was going to be made right.

His hand stroked the leather of his belt and he smiled. He was looking forward to having Ginny on her knees before him, begging him for mercy like she used to do.

Chapter 3.

For the second time in her life, Ginny Rose was received by a total stranger with open arms. It made her realize how narrow her world had been before that one day more than six months before.

Though a virtual stranger, she'd known Margaret Morrison-Maggie-as soon as that woman had opened the door to her.

"Ginny, Benny, welcome to my home! Oh, my, you do look like my mother!"

Ginny took in Maggie's sandy-colored hair that seemed to be alive with natural curl. She didn't recall her mother's face all that well, in the flesh. What she did remember was the photo that had taken up s.p.a.ce on a shelf in the living room of their small apartment. She had a sense the picture had been of her mother, before she'd left her eastern-seaboard home for the plains of Texas with Joe Rose.

"And you look like my momma, near as I can recall her."

Maggie had hugged her then, fussed over Benny, and brought them into her own house, which was attached to the motor inn she owned and operated.

Maggie had set Benny up with milk and cookies at the kitchen table, and then joined Ginny in her parlor for tea.

"Thank you for letting me come and stay for a spell. You didn't even wait to hear the reason I suddenly changed my mind and asked to visit."

"You're family," Maggie said. "I didn't need a reason when you called, and I don't need one now. I'm glad you're here, and you're welcome to stay for as long as you want-or need-to stay."

"You're very kind. I appreciate it, more than I can say."

Maggie waved her hand. "Not at all. I'm ashamed when I think of the way my mother treated Earline. I was only very small when she left. I barely remember her. For years, I took mother's word that she'd died shortly after she 'ran away' from home."

Maggie shook her head, her expression sad, and then paused to sip her tea. "Mother was always so strict with me, and I took that to be on account she was afraid I'd run away, too. It was only when she became ill, and after she developed dementia, that I began to suspect the truth."

"I didn't know my momma ran away-I had no notion of her family at all until you wrote that first time. I do know my folks were legally married," Ginny said. "But my daddy left momma when I was, oh golly, I don't know, five, maybe? She never spoke about him. One day, he was just gone."

Opening up about her past wasn't an easy thing for Ginny to do. Going back in time was to visit old hurts. But she could almost feel the connection she shared with Maggie. Maybe visiting old hurts with someone who had a part of them could ease them, some.

"When children's services took me, they placed me in foster care. That's when I was ten. Not long after, momma died. It was drugs, I found out later, and I do recall that she was out of it most of the time. Anyway, they couldn't put me up for adoption, on account I had a daddy somewhere. So it was one home after another until I came of age."

Just then Benny came in from the kitchen, a happy-looking milk mustache decorating his upper lip. When he came over to stand close to her, Ginny took a tissue from her purse and gently patted the milk away.

"Did you enjoy those cookies, Benny?"

She smiled when he nodded and, picking up on his cue, turned to Maggie. "Thank you for the cookies, ma'am. I put my plate and my gla.s.s beside the sink."

"You're most welcome, Benny." She looked at Ginny. "Why don't I show you where you'll be staying? I have two large suites that face the ocean. I'll give you one of them. There are very few guests this time of year, so you won't be bothered by noisy neighbors. You can get unpacked and settled in. Take a bit of time to have a look around." She looked down at Benny. "Even though this is off-season, the beaches are still patrolled. This is a very safe area."

"Benny and I are both looking forward to walking on the beach." Ginny had never been so close to the ocean before. Just as Samantha had suggested, she was going to make the most of this vacation.

"Great. We'll have dinner around seven, if that suits."

"Seven sounds good. What do you think, Benny? Do you want to see our room and then walk down to the ocean?"

"Yes! I really want to see the ocean. I just wish Adam and Jake were here to see it with us. I miss them."

"Adam and Jake? Are those two of his little friends?" Maggie asked.

Ginny felt her face heating. "Um, not exactly."

"Adam's the sheriff, and Jake is his brother. They're cool, they help me with my homework, and they're teaching me how to play baseball and sometimes, I get to fingerprint them!"

Ginny's aunt looked from Benny to her, and then she proved as astute as she was hospitable. "Perhaps we can chat some more, after dinner, then."

Ginny had spent her time with Deke trying to fit herself into the peg that he wanted her to occupy. Over the last months, as she'd healed, as she'd rediscovered her self-esteem and begun to get back her self-confidence, she'd learned she much preferred to just be herself.

If this new relative wanted a relations.h.i.+p, then she'd need to know her for who she was. And who she was at the moment happened to be a woman who was giving serious consideration to taking on two lovers by the name of Kendall.

Simply thinking of Adam and Jake made her feel just a little bit homesick, too. Benny tugged on her hand, and she looked down at him. Her heart filled with such love, she wondered she could hold it all.

"Yes." She looked up and gave this new relation a smile. "Yes, we'll talk more after dinner."

"Stupid morons." Adam couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so p.i.s.sed off. He certainly couldn't remember the last time he'd reached out to fellow law enforcement officers, only to have his hand smacked. "Stupid f.u.c.king morons."

"Don't hold back, Adam. Tell me how you really feel."

Jake's dry response pulled Adam out of his funk. He shot his brother a quick look. For all appearances, the man looked laid back and relaxed. h.e.l.l he looked half asleep as Adam navigated his cruiser back to town. Of course, Adam knew better. But ribbing his brother might brighten his own mood, some.

"Don't go all lawyerlike on me and tell me that the cops were right to refuse to put that a.s.shole's house under surveillance. We both know that Stone character is tied up with Deke Walters and is probably with him right now. You saw that woman who came to the door." Just the memory of the blonde's haunted face was enough to make him want to hit something, or someone.

Jake sat up and took off his sungla.s.ses. "I can't help going all lawyerlike on you, bro. I am a lawyer. I will say the cops were right in their a.s.sessment of the situation based on the evidence at hand. The witnesses' descriptions of the man who helped Walters escape all meshed, and clearly who they saw was not Jerry Stone."

"f.u.c.k."

"Yeah. But I'm with you. He's definitely involved, and that woman..." Jake sighed in frustration.

Because he knew him so well, Adam understood that Jake had been as affected just as deeply as he had been by the look of that waif who'd opened Stone's door. She'd donned makeup, but makeup had been unable to completely disguise her black eye. "I gave her my card, but I doubt she'll call. She stood by her story, and didn't even blink when I told her she didn't have to stay there, with him." Adam shook his head in memory. No, she'd just shut the door in his face.

"You can't rescue those who do not wish to be saved."

Jake's words had been said to him, in one form or another, by various members of his family for most of his life.

"I know. d.a.m.n it." Adam kept his foot on the accelerator, and the bulk of his attention focused on the road ahead. But he had plenty of brainpower left to think of other things.

"I keep thinking that could have been Ginny. Except our Ginny got herself out of the untenable position Walters had manipulated her into. I know I put a bit of pressure on her to sign that complaint all those months ago..."

"But if she hadn't wanted to sign it, she wouldn't have done it," Jake said. "You're right. Our Ginny wouldn't have let things go that far, because she didn't let things go that far. That woman who opened the door to us today has become little more than an automaton. f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d's beaten all the spirit right out of her." Jake ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment. "When we get back to town, I'll stop in at my office and give Melvin a call. The cops can't stake out Stone's place, but we sure as h.e.l.l can."

"Good idea." Adam knew Melvin Richardson well. A former San Antonio police detective, he'd opened his own PI business a few years back. The families had sometimes used Melvin's firm when the situation warranted. Now, of course, for some of their simpler investigative needs, they turned to the Benedict-Murphy detective agency.

"I'm also going to hire the uncles to set up a watch over Ginny's apartment-even when she's not there. Should have thought of it earlier. Just in case that b.a.s.t.a.r.d somehow manages to figure out that she's in l.u.s.ty and stakes out her place."

"As much as I want to say 'go for it,' I really think we ought to talk to Ginny about that, first."

Jake opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Christ, I'm so wired I'm not thinking straight. Of course we'll talk to her about it, first. In fact, let's go there, and see her right now."

Adam exhaled deeply. Just the thought of seeing Ginny managed to get him to calm down several degrees. "Another good idea, brother."

"What can I say? I'm on a streak."