Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
“Iinherited a retail business from my uncle, on my mother’s side.
He passed away about the same time my dad retired,” Sully replied, stepping aside at the doorway to a spacious den boasting a stone fireplace and leather furniture.
“Randy, who you met, splits his time between my ranch and my store. Roy works for me full time at the retail store.”
“I think being your own boss and working with your cousins is just too cool!”
“It is cool,” Sully said with a chuckle. “Once a week, my dad drops in at the store too. But he stays busy working with Derek Brevard, Chloe’s husband, training and breeding Percherons for mounted police.”
“That’s a great cause.” Charley entered the den. Large windows on either side of the hearth offered peaceful views of the stables, a corral, and an endless green pasture. “Do your parents still live next door to your ranch?”
“My dad does in the house I grew up in.” Sully smiled, and Charley’s heart raced because Sullivan Custis was just that handsome. She could understand the woman named Trish wanting him. “My mom passed away three years ago.”
“Oh Sully, I’m sorry to hear that,” Charley said softly. “Having lost my mother recently, I can identify with your loss.”
“I’m sure you can,” Sully said with compassion in his deep voice.
“My mom came from a wealthy family and left me a generous inheritance. After my dad deeded thirty thousand acres of ranchland over to me, I built this house with some of my inheritance.” With a shrug, he added, “Anyway, my dad lives a bachelor’s life like me now. ”
Sully walked to an overstuffed black leather sofa and Charley followed. As he swung a hand toward it, she took a seat. He sat down a cushion away from her and held out his beer bottle. She clinked the neck of hers to his, and they both took a sip.
“I live a bachelorette life in town,” Charley offered without making eye contact.
“In Colorado Springs?”
“Yes. In the Old Colorado City neighborhood of the Springs.”
“Where the young woman was recently murdered,” Sully commented. When she flinched, he asked, “Have you lived there all your life?”
“Yes,” she replied and shifted slightly on the sofa to better face him. “You’re wondering how it is that I just found out I’m a Cooper.”
“Curious,” he admitted, resting his arm along the back of the sofa.
“Here’s what I’ve pieced together with help from the Coopers and a scrapbook I found that belonged to my mother.
” Charley took a fortifying drink, pushed a tendril of hair away from her face, and said, “Back in the day, my mother met Clarence Cooper during a week on the dude ranch that Cash inherited, and they became…involved. A few months later, when she realized she was pregnant with me, she didn’t tell him.
She ended things before he could figure out she was expecting. ”
“Clarence really was a nice man,” Sully said with feeling. “He was good with children who visited the dude ranch and good with all of us kids when we were growing up. Too bad you weren’t offered the chance to meet him.”
“Yes,” Charley said with longing. “Even though I moved into the apartment next door to my mother after I graduated high school, our relationship was strained. She was closed-off, never easy to talk to. I always felt like she was keeping a secret from me.”
“Why do you think she chose not to tell you about Clarence Cooper?”
Charley shrugged and looked away. “She was a fiercely independent businesswoman, and she said that’s why she never married.
I’m lucky I was born because I don’t think she had planned to share her life with anyone.
” She sighed and shook her head before looking at Sully again.
“I point-blank asked her more than once who my father was, but she always said she didn’t know.
My birth certificate states, Father Unknown.
I questioned her as to where my last name of Cooper came from, and she claimed she made it up out of thin air. ”
“I admire independence,” Sully said. “But it’s a shame you and Clarence missed out on each other. He would have been thrilled to have his daughter in his life.”
“I would have liked to have had a father in my life.” Charley felt the recent mixture of grief and fury hitting her and tapped it down.
“I appreciate an independent nature too. But I’m angry that she cheated my father and me from getting to know each other.
” When she hung her head and stared at her lap, she felt Sully’s hand on her shoulder.
“Now that I know what her secret was, I can’t even confront her about it. ”
“It was a rough secret. But don’t let anger about the past ruin your future.”
Charley nodded at the good advice, and Sully’s hand returned to the back of the couch.
“As you know, my mother was murdered, and when the newspapers said she was survived by a daughter named Charlotte Fleming Cooper, Cash Cooper reached out to me on behalf of the Cooper family. According to Cash, Clarence Cooper had mentioned my mother to the family and said if a child of his were to surface, Charlotte Fleming would most likely be the mother.”
“That sounds like the Coopers. They are loyal and generous to family and friends.” Sully took a drink from the bottle and asked, “Did you already have your Mini Cooper before you knew about your father?”
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “It’s the first new car I’ve ever owned. It just felt right.”
“No doubt,” Sully said with a grin. He was quiet for a moment, and Charley could almost hear other questions running through his head.
“I’m sorry for your losses, Charley. First, losing your mother tragically and then finding out your father was deceased.
Do the police have a suspect in your mother’s murder? ”
“Not yet.”
“The person found strangled to death in a cave was a woman about your age. The news said your mother died from being shot. I guess from being the son of a former sheriff, I wonder if the police think the two murders are linked due to their close proximity.”
“I don’t know.” Charley shrugged again. “I remember reading that the young woman’s name was Grace Lightner and thinking that being strangled was not a graceful way for her to have to die.”
“I agree.”
Charley felt like a freak. She’d never known her father, and her mother was to blame.
Now her mother was dead. Murdered by an unknown assailant.
Her eyes went to a framed photo on the wooden mantle of the stone hearth.
Sully, probably in his teens, stood between a handsome man with black hair and a beautiful blonde.
No doubt his dad and mom. From what he’d told her, Sully had a normal upbringing with loving parents.
What was he thinking of her and her unusual circumstances?
Unable to meet his green eyes, she said, “If you will give me your address, I’ll call an Uber to come pick me up.”
“Charley, I’ll take you back into town.” His fingers lightly tapped her shoulder. “Or you’re welcome to stay here tonight. My master bedroom is on the main floor. I have three guest rooms all upstairs.”
“I couldn’t impose on you like that any more than I could Cash and Tracy.”
“You’re not imposing now any more than you were interrupting earlier.”
Charley quickly ran two scenarios through her head: first, staying with Sully to be here in the country bright and early to get a tow truck for her car and second, having him take her home only to be stuck in town.
“If you’re sure I’m not imposing, I’d appreciate staying,” Charley said.
Sully smiled. “Great, after the tow truck comes for your car, I can run you into town.”
“I’ll buy you breakfast, brunch, or lunch to thank you.”
“Not necessary, but you’ve got yourself a deal.” Sully held out his beer bottle, and she clinked her bottle to his again to seal their deal. “So, how close do you live to where the murder by the so-called Cave Killer was committed?”
“Close. Just a few blocks away in an apartment on one side of a duplex where my mother lives—lived on the other side.”
“Were you nearby when your mother was shot?”
“Yes. It happened in my apartment.” She offered nothing more about that and glanced away from the handsome man again to say, “After her death, while cleaning out her apartment, I found the scrapbook and a photo of her with a man. On the back of the photo, in her handwriting, it read Charley’s daddy and me. ”
“That must have come as a shock.”
“It did. But I didn’t know who Daddy was until I met Cash, Chase, and Chloe in an attorney’s office. I showed them the photo, and they identified Clarence Cooper immediately. I liked them on the spot, and I felt a kinship with the three of them. But at my insistence, we had DNA testing done.”
“And?”
“The results showed enough hits in a row and chunks of DNA that matched over twenty-three pairs of chromosomes to convince us we are first cousins.”
“So, you lost your parents, but found a fantastic extended family,” Sully said. “I don’t know any better people than the Coopers.”
“Yes,” Charley agreed with a nod. “They could have resented me, but they seem to be welcoming me with love and kindness.” She placed a hand over her heart. “I am beyond blessed to have them in my life.”
“Have you met your grandfather, Crawford Cooper, who goes by Coop?”
“Oh, yes. In the attorney’s office,” Charley said with a smile. “Coop just turned ninety, and he is a hoot. I fell in love with him.”
“Yes, he’s the best. Coop lives in a log cabin on Chase’s ranch with his longtime girlfriend, Tammy, who is Tracy’s grandmother.
There’s another story for you.” Sully shook his head and said, “I don’t know what else is going on in your city life, but you’re in good hands out here in the country.
” The grin Sully gave her sent a thrill through Charley.
What would it be like to put herself in Sully’s large hands?
“Would you like to see your choice of bedrooms?”
“Yes, please.”
Sully scooted to the edge of the sofa. “Come on.”
“Okay,” Charley said and stood as he did.
She followed him out of the den and down the wide hallway to a two-story foyer.
High above the double front doors was a stained glass window.
It depicted a big bay stallion in a green pasture with Pikes Peak in the distance and lavender columbines in the foreground.
She stared in wonder. “How magnificent, Sully.”
Sully grinned with a shrug. “I got the idea from the stained glass front door that Clarence Cooper had made for your log cabin.” He went up the staircase first and stopped on the second-floor landing.
Pointing, he indicated the main guest bathroom and then flipped on the lights of the bedrooms. “Take your pick.”
“I like all three. You pick for me.”
“The bedroom we’re in now has its own private bath.” Sully crossed the floor and turned on the bathroom light. “Take it.”
“Sully,” Charley began, walking to the queen-size bed, where she stopped and looked at the handsome man, “I want you to know that I don’t stay the night with random men.”
“I didn’t figure you did. But you met me through my friendship with the Coopers and knowing I was raised by the former El Paso County Sheriff, you feel safe.”
“Exactly,” Charley said. “I do feel safe here with you.”
Giving her an appreciative nod, Sully said, “There are towels and soap in the bathroom. Please make yourself at home.”
“Thank you, Sully. See you bright and early in the morning?”
“Yup.”