Chapter Fourteen
Jude Earl called the next morning while Rachel was still cooking breakfast and Dyuvad was off tending the goats. She settled the phone between her shoulder and ear, and tried hard to ignore the dread tightening her spine. “You’re up early, Jude. Everything ok?”
“They moved Juan to the Rabun County Detention Center yesterday.” A harsh sigh filtered over the phone line. “Sorry to dump it on you like that. I just found out myself.”
Rachel shoved the pan of sausage links off the eye and flipped the eye off. “I thought the police were supposed to let us know before it happened.”
Or during or right after, at least. She stumbled to a chair, yanked it away from the kitchen table, and sank into it, one hand covering her eyes, the other clutching the phone. The detention center was in Tiger a little more than half an hour away. As far as she was concerned, half an hour wasn’t nearly enough distance between her girls and their father, the murderer.
The thought turned over in her mind again and again, the only reaction she could define while she sorted out the implications. At last, she forced herself to breathe deeply, then said, “And there’s nothing we can do to get him moved back?”
“He’s a model prisoner, Rach,” Jude said gently. “As long as he stays out of trouble…”
“Yeah, yeah. I get it. ”
“Are you ready to move forward with terminating his parental rights?”
Boy, was she. “Have you got your fee sheet ready for me to sign?”
“It’s ready whenever you are.”
“Then I reckon I’m ready, too. I’ll be by as soon as I can with money and such.” She sighed, jammed her fingers into her hair, knotted them into a fist around the fine strands. “Thanks for telling me.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
“I know.”
She said her goodbyes and hung up, then sat there like a lump on a log, staring into space. Juan was coming home. Well, not home exactly, but close enough. He was coming back to Rabun County where all the trouble had started. This time, though, she wasn’t going to get dragged into it, her or the girls. But what could she do? What action would possibly get Juan to leave her alone for good, and Miguel Ramirez with him?
Rachel slapped a flat palm against the table top and stood. There was one thing. Visiting hours were pretty regular at the detention center. Next one that opened up, she’d be there to set Juan straight on a thing or two. She marched to the counter, dragged out a battered phone book, and flipped through the pages until she found the number. Her fingers were fumbling through dialing it when Dyuvad opened the screen door and stepped into the kitchen.
His gaze zeroed in on her hands and he arched one eyebrow. “Trouble?”
How did he always know? Rachel waved the phone in his direction. “Juan’s being moved to the local prison. I’m seeing about visiting times so I can tell him I’m having his parental rights terminated.”
Dyuvad nodded. “Fate will go with you.”
She opened her mouth on an automatic protest. The memory of sitting alone inside her van while it rocked back and forth shot through her mind, and she closed her mouth. “I’ll ask him.”
“Good.” He sauntered to her, dropped a hard kiss on her mouth, then touched his lips to her ear. “Tonight, beauty.”
Heat shot through her, faster than fire fueled by gasoline. “Tonight?” she gasped out in a breathy whisper.
“Tonight,” Dyuvad said firmly, and walked away.
Rachel’s knees gave out and she sagged against the counter. Tonight . Lord above, she couldn’t wait until dark fell and the girls went to bed so she could find out exactly what Dyuvad had planned for her.
But until then, she had work to do.
It didn’t take long to figure out visiting hours and rope Fate into going with her. After, Rachel finished cooking breakfast, the start of a long day of chores and family and, later, fun. It was the same pattern they’d fallen into since Dyuvad’s arrival: Work during the day, spend the after supper hours outside under the stars next to a huge bonfire.
And when they’d cleaned up and gone inside, once the girls were safely asleep and the crickets provided night’s song, Dyuvad made good on his unspoken promise and fired Rachel’s blood inside and out until they both fell asleep, exhausted.
Visitation at the detention center rolled around quicker than Rachel expected, but she gritted her teeth, put on some decent, clean clothes, and rode out with Fate in his truck while Dyuvad stayed behind with the girls.
He hadn’t said a word to her about it, but the look he’d given her had been enough. She’d understood what he hadn’t said, that she and Fate should be careful, that Dyuvad would care for Kelly and Tiny as if they were his own, that he would be waiting there for her when the hard part was over, just like he’d been there for her from the beginning.
She was well past relying on him to be there. Time was, she’d counted the days until his rent money ran out and he’d be on his way. Now, she knew where he came from, what he was going back to. Not exactly, no. She had no notion what was out there in the galaxy beyond what he’d told her, but she knew he was leaving. Only this time, he wouldn’t be going down the road a bit. This time, he’d be leaving the solar system.
It put a whole new twist on long-distance relationships.
Maybe she and the girls should go with him.
Her fingers snarled into a tangle over her jean-clad thigh and she nearly laughed. Go with him? Dear Lord, she’d lost her mind. What would happen to her goats and the land she’d inherited from her folks? What would happen to Fate if they left?
She peeked at him from the corners of her eyes and her heart twisted into a thousand knots inside her. She couldn’t leave her only brother. He was the only family she had left. If she and the girls took off with Dyuvad, Fate wouldn’t have a soul to care for him. He’d be all alone with his bees and the goats and the land.
And that wouldn’t do.
She shook her head, discarding the notion almost as soon as it had sprung into her head. Earth it was, then. Besides. Dyuvad hadn’t hinted time one about taking her with him when he left. Well, except for that time in the shower when he’d mentioned his mother and fighting and God only knew what else while his hands made merry with her body.
Did he really expect her to pay attention to his words when he was a-doing that to her?
The truck slowed and turned, and Rachel came back to reality with a bang. “We’re here.”
“Yup,” Fate agreed, his voice mild. “You woulda knowed sooner if you hadn’t been mooning over Dyuvad.”
She shot an exasperated glance at him, but held her tongue. One day, Fate would meet his match, and then she’d tease him mercilessly about mooning over a woman.
They went inside and checked in, endured the security protocols and the press of people waiting to see loved ones. Rachel kept her eyes as straight as she could, avoiding the dry, industrial sterility of the waiting room along with everybody’s gazes, and only exchanged terse greetings when she had to. These visiting times never got easier, but like any chore, she was determined to grit her teeth until it was done.
When she finally got to see Juan, his appearance shocked her. She hadn’t visited in weeks, months, really, while she sorted through what had to be done. He appeared leaner somehow and pale through the plexiglass partition separating them, like he hadn’t ever been out in the sun. His hair, once glossy and nearly black, had been shaved to the skin, accenting the new hollows in his cheeks, and his dark eyes were flat and cold and empty, bereft of the sweet humor that had once filled them.
He picked up the handset on his side of the partition, waited for her to pick up her handset, then said, “How you been, Rach?”
His voice sounded as worn out as he looked. Rachel bit back her kneejerk concern and firmed her lips into a hard line. Juan had made his choices. Doing so had pulled him out of her life, and heart, for good. “Your move up here was a surprise.”
He laughed wearily and ran a shaky hand over his stubbled head. “Good behavior.”
“So I heard.”
“How are the babies? Is Kelly still doing good in school?”
“She’s taken a shine to the stars here of late.” No need to mention who was encouraging her along those lines. “Tiny’s still not speaking right.”
“Give it time, Rach. It’ll come.”
Of that she had no doubt, though it might take a long while. The knowledge of what Tiny might be, of the people who were interested in her, popped into Rachel’s head. She tucked it away again and focused on the things she could control in the here and now. “I’ve got some things to tell you, Juan, starting with that flat-footed rascal Miguel Ramirez.”
Juan’s eyelids slid closed and he winced. “C’mon, Rach.”
She jabbed a finger at him, stopping just shy of poking the partition. “His men nearly turned the van over and me in it. What if the girls had been along, huh, Juan? What would’ve happened to them then?”
“I didn’t have nothing to do with that.”
“But it happened because of you, because you were too spine-boned weak to keep your nose clean and do right by your family.” Rachel sucked in a sharp breath, bottling her anger up, and breathed it all out in one gusty sigh. Wouldn’t do any good to bring up the past when there was so much needing her attention right now. “Look, Juan. Seems like you might be trying to straighten yourself out again, and I hope you are. But in the meantime, I’ve got to protect Kelly and Tiny. I’ve got to protect them any way I can, including legally.”
Juan slumped in his chair and shifted his grip on the handset, his black eyes bleak and stark as an Arctic snowfall. “Legally?”
“I’m having your parental rights terminated.”
“Rach—”
“No, you hear me out, Juan Olvera. I’ve had it up to here with your shenanigans, and I sure as tootin’ don’t need your old gang messing around the girls anymore.”
“Messing how?”
“That don’t make no never mind,” she snapped out, and immediately regretted the sharp tone. She took another calming breath and tried again. “Sorry. I just meant that they’ve caused enough trouble. If I can put some distance between you and us, Miguel might leave us alone this time, you know?”
Juan stared at her for a long time, and the longer he held her gaze, the harder his became. Finally, he said, “You do what you gotta, but understand this, Rach. I’m gonna do what I gotta do, too. They’re still my girls.”
“Nobody said they weren’t.”
“Nothing you do is gonna change that.” He sat forward and speared her with eyes gone stone cold. “Ramirez came to me a couple of weeks ago, asking about you and my girls. Wanted me to do him a favor in exchange for leaving you alone.”
Something sickeningly acidic cramped Rachel’s stomach. “Oh, my God.”
“I’m gonna take care of it,” Juan said, and he stood up and gazed down at her, resolution a determined mask over the too-pale skin stretched taut along his cheeks. “Don’t you worry none about it. ”
“Juan, don’t—” she began, but it was too late. He’d already turned away, leaving her there to sort through the sudden feeling that whatever Juan was about to do, it wouldn’t do a thing to staunch the trouble heading their way.
The next day, Fate took Rachel into town to pick up her repaired van and visit the lawyer. Dyuvad stayed behind with Kelly and Tiny and the goats. As soon as breakfast was cleaned up and morning chores were finished, he jumped the girls onto his ship.
It was the safest place for them. Rachel’s objections be damned.
His nape crawled all day long, carrying a foreboding Dyuvad had no trouble interpreting. Something bad was coming. Maybe it would come from Rachel’s former husband. She’d told Dyuvad every detail of the visit after he’d coaxed and bullied and pushed her into it, and he was certain whatever Juan had planned would make the situation worse.
Then there were Juan’s associates, who’d been too quiet of late. Miguel Ramirez in particular had struck Dyuvad as more dangerous than he appeared. Not a man to let something go, especially something he wanted badly, the way he seemed to want Rachel, Kelly, and Tiny.
Until Juan or Miguel acted, though, Dyuvad was stuck in the same holding pattern as Rachel and her family. Sit and wait. No other action seemed appropriate.
Dyuvad set his ship to monitor Rachel’s property, then shoved away from the helm. He might have to wait, but by Fryw, he didn’t have to sit idly by.
Kelly and Tiny were in the galley taste testing the snacks Dyuvad had set out for them earlier. Crumbs were scattered around the floor where they sat cross legged facing one another. Kelly looked up when Dyuvad entered and her eyes went round.
Tiny jabbered in a mixture of languages Dyuvad didn’t recognize, though one word stood out plainly, the name of his home planet .
Kelly carefully sealed the lid on a container of dried fruit strips. Her small fingers were dark against the white lid and hesitant where she normally wasn’t. “I got a question, Mr. Dyuvad.”
He crossed the room and knelt beside her, then brushed one fingertip along the tip of her nose. “I thought we’d agreed to drop the mister.”
“Yeah, um.” Kelly’s chocolate eyes darted to Tiny and back. “What’s this Abyw thing Tiny keeps talking about?”
“The planet I was born on.”
“Oh.”
“It’s a long way from here.”
“Oh.” Kelly drew the word out as her fingers fidgeted along the container’s sides. “You gonna take us there or something?”
“Do you want to go?”
She nodded, shook her head, shrugged. “It might be neat to visit another planet. Like, nobody on Earth ever has, you know?”
“True.”
He sat on the floor and pulled her into his lap, waited until Tiny clamored onto his other leg, and embraced them both. The little girl scents of freshly washed hair and fruit sticky fingers drifted to him, and his heart clenched in his chest, seized by a love he’d never expected to feel. Another man might have fathered Kelly and Tiny, but they were Dyuvad’s now, his in a way he barely understood. What would he do if his relationship with Rachel failed to flourish? How could he possibly leave this part of his heart behind and forsake the daughters he’d always wanted?
Kelly placed her ear against his chest and sighed. “Do you reckon I’ll ever get to see my daddy again?”
Dyuvad leaned back and caught her gaze. “Why do you ask?”
“It’s just…” She shrugged one thin shoulder and her round face twisted into a frown. “He’s a bad man. That’s why he’s locked up, right? And if he’s that bad, then I reckon I’ll never get to see him again.”
“I’m sorry, sweet. ”
Tiny patted a chubby hand against her sister’s cheek and said, “Good sissy.”
Kelly’s expression cleared. “Aw, Tiny. You’re a good sissy, too.”
“Good sissy,” Tiny repeated, then crawled off Dyuvad’s lap and tottered across the galley to the doorway.
“She’s getting better at making sense,” Kelly said.
“I think she understands more than we know.” Dyuvad hugged Kelly close and pressed a hard kiss against the top of her head. “Why don’t we ask your mother if you all can visit Abyw soon?”
Kelly pumped a fist in the air and hooted out a laugh. “All right, Dyuvad. You’re the best.”
His heart clenched tight again, then he laughed, too, softly against her fine brown-black hair. “You, too, sweet. Now, how about another lesson?”
She leaned way back against his arm and grinned. “Stars?”
He grinned back and slowly shook his head. “Fighting.”
“Kewl.” She scrambled off his lap, stood, and stared down at him. “I’m glad you crashed into our fence, Dyuvad.”
“Me, too.”
She scampered after Tiny, slapping her bare feet against the cushioned floor, and Dyuvad sat there, wishing with all his might that he could keep her and Tiny safe and happy every day for the rest of his life.