Chapter 8
DUVAL
Later when he arrived at the park, he found a spot beside Noelle’s car. When he got out of his truck, he saw that one of her tires was a little low.
He made a note to check it later with his gauge and take her to get some air in it if it was low.
He went around to the passenger side of the truck and pulled out the stuffed animal he’d picked up while he was shopping.
The fact that his sister Katie had joined him at the mall said how much he wanted to do the right thing.
The last time he’d gone shopping with Katie was when she wanted to get her prom dress and knew that their mother wouldn’t let her buy the kind of dress she wanted, so he’d gone with her to the mall.
He was still recovering from the indignity of that shopping trip so when he’d decided to pick up a toy for Ciela, he’d called his sister to help.
She had been a fan of stuffed animals from childhood.
He’d been the action figure kind of kid.
So Katie had more of a chance to pick out what a little girl might like.
Looking at the stuffed animal in his hands, he had a moment to second guess his pick.
A moment, but that’s all he’d give himself.
He’d promised to show up before six o’clock.
He wasn’t going to fail.
It wasn’t just that he found Noelle attractive, he could still hear Ciela’s screams in his ears.
He’d heard them in his sleep and that had kept him up and exhausted since that day.
He’d seen shadows under Noelle’s eyes, too.
If Ciela’s screams were haunting him, he knew that they were probably worse for Noelle, as her mother.
It wasn’t hard to find Noelle at the playground, she was helping her daughter walk across a kind of balance beam over a pit filled with foam pieces.
For a moment, he felt old when his memories popped up in his head of when he’d sprained his elbow trying to swing across the monkey bars at their neighborhood park and losing his grip when a bee stung his hand.
The moment he’d take one hand away from the bars, wincing in pain, his other hand slipped and he’d gone down like a sack of potatoes onto the hard-packed dirt under the apparatus.
The fall had knocked the air out of him and made him a laughing stock for a few days until someone bigger and stronger than he was went down the metal slide and burned the backs of his legs to the point where he had to spend a week lying down on his belly to let the skin heal.
At the end of the balance beam, Noelle had Ciela switch hands and started walking back.
He didn’t walk up as the little girl was walking back on the large wooden beam.
The last thing he wanted to do was scare her so she’d fall.
Ending up in a cast or even if it was just a sling sounded like a crappy way to smooth things over.
So he waited in the shadow of a large cottonwood tree until Noelle saw him.
She gestured for him to wait a minute and he nodded in complete agreement.
She was Ciela’s mom.
She’d know best.
At the end of the balance beam, Noelle swept her daughter up into her arms and spun her around and around.
Ciela lifted her arms, excited.
When Noelle set Ciela back down to the ground, the little girl ran over to a bench where Patricia, Noelle’s mom, was waiting with bottles of water.
Ciela flopped down beside her grandmother and lifted the bottle to her lips.
Noelle tried to get Ciela to slow down.
“Don’t drink too fast, baby.”
The nickname did the trick.
Ciela pulled the water bottle from her mouth and looked at her mother with a pouty lower lip. “I’m big now, Mama. Not a baby.”
Noelle’s indulgent smile did something to Duval.
What?
He couldn’t pin point or put his finger on it.
He just knew that something had shifted inside of him.
Noelle looked up at him and for a moment, he wondered if she saw it.
Or saw something different in him.
Her look was curious with just the hint of a frown around her brows.
It didn’t last long at all.
She gave him a nod, encouraging him to come over.
Patricia didn’t miss the exchange either.
She turned her head toward him and greeted him with a smile.
He was grateful to both of them for making this opportunity possible.
It wasn’t just that he was worried about Ciela’s reaction to him, but to anyone with a badge..
He wanted people to feel like they could seek help from law enforcement officers in all of their forms. If Ciela had this kind of instinctive terror of a Texas Ranger badge it might hurt her even more in the future.
Duval wasn’t sure that he could be the one to help her with this, but he knew he had to try.
Walking up, he held the stuffed animal between his hands.
He made every effort to keep his hands relaxed.
He didn’t want to squish the animal and he certainly didn’t want to get his sweat on the velvety soft surface.
When he was about twenty feet away, he slowed his steps and waited.
Noelle sat up straighter on the bench and lifted her arm above her head. “McCrae! Hello!”
Less than a breath later, Patricia greeted him as well.
“McCrae! Come and have some water.”
The last thing he wanted was something to drink at a that moment. He was afraid that he’d choke on it and upset Noelle’s daughter even more, but he was glad to have a reason to move closer.
He nodded and kept his voice as gentle as he could. “Thanks, Patricia.”
Ciela stopped drinking from the bottle and turned her head in his direction. “Not Patricia,” she frowned at him. “That’s Abuelita,” she pointed at Patricia.
Duval nodded, smiling. “Yes, yes. You’re right. Sorry. Thanks, Abuelita.”
Ciela turned he head toward her mother. “Is that right, Mama? Can he call her abuelita?”
Noelle thought over the question, nodding at first and then tilting her head to the side. “I think it’s up to Abuelita, honey. If she’s okay with McCrae calling her that, then it should be fine.”
Ciela nodded and Duval felt like he could see her thinking over her mother’s words.
She wiggled off of the bench and crossed over to the bench were Patricia was sitting.
Ciela put her hand on Patricia’s leg and looked up at her with wide, bright eyes. “Are you okay with that, Abuelita?”
Patricia reached out her hands and cradled Ciela’s face. “I think that would be fine with me, sweetheart. McCrae is a nice man who’s working with your mama. So he can call me Abuelita if he wants to.”
Ciela nodded as if she had listened to her grandmother with great interest and was now pondering over her words.
She lifted her head a moment later and picked up a water bottle from the bench beside Patricia and turned to look at him.
Duval tried not to tense or stiffen.
He didn’t want to scare the child in anyway and was trying to appear as calm as he could.
She looked at him, her eyes widening and narrowing in turn.
Duval wasn’t sure what her thoughts or emotions were, but he tried not to brace himself visibly.
Kids could pick up on body language. He’d seen it.
Kids were extremely sensitive to the emotions of their family and close loved ones. The closer they were to the people, the stronger the connection.
He learned that when he was a teen and saw Katie go through much of the same reactions when their dad was killed.
Maybe that’s why this was hitting him so hard?
That and…
Ciela broke his chain of thought.
She walked up to him and he crouched down in front of her, smiling.
“Thirsty?” She held out the water bottle. “It’s hot outside.”
He wasn’t thirsty, but that didn’t matter. “Thanks.” He reached out a hand and she stepped closer. She was almost at his knee when she reached the bottle out in both of her hands and he put his hand on the bottom of the bottle.
His one hand dwarfed both of her hands several times over so he didn’t want to scare her.
“That’s very nice of you.”
Ciela tilted her head to the side and smiled, a little shy. “Welcome.”
He let out a breath.
So far, so good.
She didn’t seem to remember that he was the man who’d scared her so badly the other day.
“I… I brought this for you.”
He held out the stuffed animal to her.
Ciela looked at it and then turned her head. She saw her mom and asked her in a whisper that wasn’t all that quiet, “I can have it?”
That was good, he reasoned.
Gifts from veritable strangers? It was really good that she asked her mom first.
It was a sad commentary on the world, but Noelle and her mother were raising a smart little girl.
Noelle nodded and gestured with her hand. “That’s Mister King, sweetie. He’s Mama’s friend.”
Ciela whirled back around and grinned at him.
“Thanks, Mister King.”
She held her hands out and stepped closer to the point when her belly was leaning into his knee.
He put the armadillo plush in her arms and she hugged it tight.
“Softy!”
He grinned. Yeah. It was soft. Which was kind of silly since it was a stuffed animal made to resemble an animal that was hard. “Do you know what it is?”
Ciela held it out in front of her so she could look at it. Then she turned it over and then around and around.
He saw the moment of recognition when she perked up and grinned ear to ear.
“I know!”
Duval smiled and felt like his heart was doubling inside of his chest.
Ciela whirled around and lifted it over her head. “Mama! Abuelita! Look! It’s a speedbump!”
Duval watched both women’s eyes widen at the announcement.
Then he saw Noelle’s mother squeeze her eyes shut and cover her mouth, likely to keep from laughing.
Noelle shook her head like she was clearing her thoughts. “What is that, baby? What did you say?”
Ciela lowered her arms and wrapped them around the stuffed animal, rocking it back and forth.
“The video,” Ciela announced, “the funny video!”
“Ay dios mio.” Patricia groaned and shook her head. She looked over at Noelle with a sad frown. “I was watching funny animal videos on YouTube. There was a driver who ran over an armadillo and he called it a-”
“Speed bump.” Noelle groaned. “Ma!”
“I know… it wasn’t funny after all. I ended the video then and found another video to watch. I didn’t think…”
Noelle wrapped an arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Little pitchers have big ears, Mama. You taught me that.”
Ciela tapped his knee and looked up at him. “Not a speed bump?”