Page 54 of The Moments You Were Mine
The scent of smoke, charred wood, and burnt plastic hung in the air. My throat closed up once more when I saw the ugly remains of the cabin.Damnit. Just damnit.
Kurt and Sheriff Wylee were standing where the porch had once been. We’d just joined them when a soft bark had Theo pulling away from Parker and barreling straight for Johnny as he and Teddy rounded the barn.
“Theo, stop!” Parker yelled, fear in his tone.
But it was too late. Theo had already reached the dog, who wagged his tail furiously in greeting. Thankfully, Johnny was one of the friendliest animals I knew. In general, chinooks were good with people, but Johnny tended to think he was more human than canine. His short-haired, tawny coat shone, and dark, almond-shaped eyes glimmered with happiness at Theo’s excitement.
Johnny had a dusting of darker brown along both the ridge ofhis muzzle and the tips of his short, floppy ears, while his chest was almost white. His mate, June, was even lighter than him, and the puppies they’d had were a fuzzy, furball mix of both parents.
Johnny was already licking Theo’s face by the time Parker and I reached them. Theo giggled, a delighted, happy sound that rang through the seriousness of the air like magic.
“Theo, you can’t just run up to strange dogs. Not all of them are friendly.”
Theo certainly wasn’t learning his lesson from Johnny as he draped an arm around the dog’s neck and shoved his stuffed animal at him. “Dog meet dog!”
Teddy dropped to one knee by the boy. His beard had gotten thicker in the last few weeks, and it was smattered with gray streaks, just like his bright-red hair. Tall and lanky, I’d always thought of him as a sunflower that had grown too tall for its stem and was likely to droop over at any second. “You don’t have to worry about Johnny, Parker. He makes lifelong friends with a mere brush of a hand.” Teddy looked over at Theo. “Johnny, sit and say hello.”
The dog planted his butt on the ground and held up a paw. Theo giggled again and shook the paw. “I’m Feo, and this is Dog,” Theo told Johnny, and I swore the chinook grinned.
Teddy stuck his large hand in Theo’s direction. “Not that you care, son, but I’m Teddy.”
Theo smiled and shook his hand.
Teddy stood up, looked from Parker to me, and then behind us to the sheriff. “Why don’t I take Theo into the barn and show him June and the puppies while y’all take care of business?”
“You brought the puppies?” I asked, surprised, just as Theo shouted, “Puppies!”
“I didn’t know how long you’d need me here today after I heard what happened this morning, and I didn’t want to leave them unattended for too long at the house.”
Those damn tears kept finding their way back to my eyes. Everyone on my staff cared about this place. It made me despise all over again the way we’d let them go when the ranch had been failing before Spence had died. Kurt and Teddy and some of the other ranch hands had spent as much of their lives on the ranch as I had. It might not be a legacy they felt responsible for, but itwas much more than a job to many of them. Dad had done his best to make up for our abandoning them when he’d hired our long-term employees back, giving each of them a nice resigning bonus. But a few of them had refused to return, and I couldn’t blame them.
Maybe I needed to add those names to the file Andie was compiling. But all of that had happened ten years ago. Why would any of those people come after us now?
It didn’t make any sense.
Parker seemed to weigh Teddy’s offer hesitantly, even though he’d known the man for more than a decade. Even though being responsible for Theo was new to him, it would be hard for Parker to leave the boy in someone else’s care.
I bumped his shoulder. “Go with them. I can catch you up on everything later.”
His jaw worked overtime as he slid his teeth back and forth. I could see the pained indecision. Should he stick with me as my bodyguard or go with Theo? This was just one of the many reasons why I wished Jim hadn’t called him. It wasn’t fair to force Parker to decide between us.
“We’ll just be right there.” Teddy pointed to the horse barn. “Got a stall at the back all laid out with fresh hay for June and her babies.”
“You show him a bunch of puppies, and I’ll end up taking one home,” Parker said with a tired resignation I’d never heard in his voice before.
Renewed worry spiraled through me. His life had imploded—in some ways worse than mine. Whoever was coming for me would be caught and put away, but Parker would now always be Theo’s guardian. A father. The one thing he’d sworn he never wanted to be. I’d witnessed firsthand that kind of obligation as a child. I’d been Theo to Spencer. I didn’t want that for either of them. The doubts. The responsibility.
Teddy chuckled at Parker’s resigned tone. “Well, these puppies still have a week or so before they’re ready to leave their mama.” He looked down at Theo and offered him his hand. “Come on, kid, I’ll show you the babies, but you’ll have to be very gentle with them.”
Theo literally squealed, his face bursting into a smile so largeit was hard to look away from, but when I did, the affection on Parker’s face stole my breath. The love there reminded me, in many ways, of the look Spencer had directed my way before he’d died. It made me instantly ashamed for thinking I’d only been a duty to my stepdad.
Parker watched as Teddy and Theo strode away, Johnny trotting along beside them.
I touched Parker’s arm. “You know he’ll be just fine with Teddy. He and Kurt raised me almost as much as Mom and Spence did.”
His jaw worked overtime again before he turned on a heel and made his way back to where Kurt and Sheriff Wylee were waiting for us. I followed with my heart full of conflicting emotions.
Sheriff Wylee shifted to take us in as we approached. He was nearing seventy, if he wasn’t already there, and he was large and round, with white hair almost the same color as his skin. It made him the perfect person to play the clichéd Santa at Christmas.
