Chapter 14
NOELLE
She heard the familiar rumble of the engine in McCrae’s truck in the drive and she put down her pencil on the dining table where she was working.
She was barely out of her chair when a rocket blew past her toward the door.
“Ciela! Be careful!”
Her daughter stopped with her hand on the doorknob, turning her head with a flash of wavy hair.
“You need to look before you open the door, sweetie!”
Ciela’s shoulders sagged dramatically. “I know who it is, Mama! It’s a Ranger truck!”
Noelle couldn’t help but smile. Ciela had discovered McCrae’s job by accident. A story in the newspaper and a picture of the S.W.A.T team in action and Ciela had gone out to bring the paper in from the yard and saw the image.
As she’d held her breath, watching… waiting, Ciela had announced to the room that the man in the picture was ‘Mister King.’
Then she pointed out the other members of the S.W.A.T. team that she knew by the names she called them.
Just excitement.
Smiles.
She’d insisted that they read the article to her, which they had, omitting some of the references to the crimes that had happened. And of course, the man who’d been shot by the suspect they’d gone to apprehend.
Since then, they hadn’t been as reserved with Ciela about who McCrae and his friends were, but they were still watchful for any sign that Ciela was upset.
Time, or maybe the people involved were the difference for her daughter.
Now, as she stood at the door, reaching up to the deadbolt on her bare tiptoes, Ciela was almost bouncing with excitement.
“Here, sweetie,” Noelle crossed to the door to help her. “Let me help you.”
“No, mama. I want to open it.”
Noelle didn’t argue with her daughter in words.
Instead, she wrapped an arm around her middle and lifted her up.
Ciela giggled and used both hands to turn the handle on the deadbolt until they both heard it click.
“Got it!”
“Yes, baby, you did.” Noelle put a smacking kiss on her daughter’s head and stepped back. She opened the door with her free hand just in time to see McCrae step up onto the porch.
He had a look on his face that she couldn’t quite read.
There was something guarded about his expression, and she had a feeling that she was seeing more of the Texas Ranger than she was seeing the man.
It didn’t bother her in the least, but it intrigued her.
“Mister King!”
Ciela clapped her hands together and then opened her arms for McCrae.
The man didn’t miss a beat.
He reached out and took Ciela into his arms.
Noelle smiled softly as her daughter wrapped herself around McCrae’s body like a koala bear grabbing onto a tree, turning her face up to his.
“Besos, Mister King! Besos.”
Something changed in McCrae’s expression.
It softened.
The hard line of his shoulders relaxed.
He lifted his free hand and smoothed it over Ciela’s hair as he smiled. “Yeah,” he sighed softly, “you get kisses.”
He put a kiss on the crown of her head and then her forehead.
Ciela tipped her face up toward his, her smile baring all of her baby teeth and a hint of a dimple in her cheek. “More!”
He kissed her nose and then each cheek.
Before he could do anything else, Ciela clapped her hands against his cheeks and she pulled him down.
Noelle knew that if he hadn’t wanted to move his head toward her, McCrae wouldn’t. He was big enough and strong enough to resist, but around Ciela, the man melted.
He leaned down Ciela giggled as she put a smacking kiss on his chin.
“Besos!”
She laughed out loud before putting a kiss on his lips, leaving just the hint of sugar behind from the pink concha she’d been eating before she’d run to the door.
McCrae looked particularly adorable with bits of pink sugar on his lips.
“Oh my...”
Noelle turned her head when she felt a hand on her lower back.
“I never thought I’d live to see the day.” Finola was standing beside her.
McCrae lifted a curious brow when he saw his mother in the room. “Ma?”
Finola was unphased about her son’s confused stare. “Yes?”
“What... what are you doing here?”
Stepping closer to McCrae, Finola reached her arms out and Ciela transferred from McCrae to his mother without her feet even touching the ground. “I’m just here to see my grandbaby.”
Noelle’s chin dropped as she tried to hide a smile.
She’d tried to correct McCrae’s mom before, but Finola was adamant in her words.
“Ma?” McCrae looked at her and shook his head. “You know that we... that I’m not-”
Finola bounced a little, rubbing Ciela’s back. “You’ll get there eventually, but I’m not about to wait around for you to catch up to where the rest of us are.”
“The rest of... who?”
“Me,” Finola nodded. “Your sister.”
“Me!” Ciela shouted and wrapped her arms around Finola’s neck.
Noelle had the feeling that Ciela didn’t understand exactly what McCrae’s mother was talking about but she liked happy things.
Happy people. She knew that Finola loved her and Ciela loved her right back, so if Finola said that she was ‘in’ for something, Ciela was in for it.
Which was why the two had joined Ciela’s abuelita in matching conchas pastries during Finola’s visit.
“Okay,” Finola leaned in toward Ciela and they brushed their noses together, “I’m going to take this little sweetie back to the kitchen so we can finish our snack.” Finola turned and walked away, casting a look over her shoulder. “You can have her back when we’re done, McCrae.”
“Uh... thanks?”
Noelle saw him reach his arms out for her and she stepped into his side, wrapping her arms around his waist.
She leaned in and pressed her face into his shoulder. Noelle breathed him in and felt him take a breath as well.
The other noises in the room faded away as she held him against her, leaning into his warmth.
And as they stood there, she felt him lean into her as well.
Slowly.
Very slowly, she felt their positions shift until she felt more of his weight on her than she had pressed against him. It was a powerful feeling for her.
Holding him.
Supporting him.
She didn’t know what had happened before he showed up at her house, but it mattered that he felt like she could hold him up. Hold him together.
“’Elle?”
She tried to nod in response, but his weight made it more difficult than she could manage. “Mmm?”
“I needed to see you.”
She heard his words and they melted right into her heart.
Noelle rubbed her hands on his back, trying to soothe whatever it was that he was feeling.
She didn’t ask him any questions, she just stood there, holding him.
“We interviewed the two brothers who ran the market where Aracely worked.”
Noelle nodded as her hands continued to rub his back.
“They gave us a hint about the man who might have... who might have killed her.”
She tightened her arms around him.
“Trouble is... Both of these men were complete jerks. I’d love to nail them for it just so they could pay for some of the horrible shit they did to the women who worked for them.”
“But they didn’t kill her?”
He tensed against her and she felt his hands grip her tightly. “I hate to say it, but we don’t think so. They were really upfront with the shit they did.”
She tried to nod, but there wasn’t enough room between them to move. “You talked to them?”
He sighed and she moved her hands over his back. “No. Jack went to talk to them along with a female deputy from the sheriff’s office. We felt like they’d be more open talking to two pretty women.”
She smiled a little at that, knowing that her face was likely hidden in his shoulder.
“I felt that,” he murmured softly. “Your smile.”
“I bet Jack did a great job.”
He held her closer, something Noelle hadn’t believed was possible until it happened. “She was great. Hayden, too. They got us another name. Someone related to the brothers.”
Noelle felt him turn his head and brush his lips against her cheek.
“They have an old picture of him, but we can’t find anything more recent.”
She heard him pull in a breath and then let it out.
“Do you think... ‘Elle, do you think you could-”
“Show me the photo. I can see what I can do.”
He tensed again. “I don’t want to ask you to do this unless-”
Noelle leaned away from him, moving her hands from his back to his upper arms. She met his gaze and hoped that he could see the truth in her gaze.
“McCrae, I’m here for you. I’m here for this.
I feel like I have a connection to her. I...
I have her face in my head. I want... I need her to get justice for this if we can help.
You give me the photo, and I’ll see what I can do. ”
She hesitated and let out a breath. “If I’m working from a photo,” she wanted to warn him, “it’s not my strength. Working from bone out? I’m great. But with a photo, I’m working in the opposite direction and then I’m working back out again. I can’t guarantee how good the image would be.”
McCrae leaned in closer, leaning his forehead against hers. “Baby, whatever you can do? It’s icing. It’s gravy. Whatever you can give us to help? It’s lightyears ahead of where we’d be without you.”
Noelle heard McCrae’s stomach growl. “Well, let’s get something to eat for everyone and once Ciela is down for the night. I’m yours.”
McCrae’s breath caught in his throat. “Yeah?”
It took her a moment for her to realize what she’d said. “Oh, I meant... I could work on the photo.”
He smiled.
A smirk that pulled up one corner of his mouth higher than the other. “We could do both...”
She shook her head. “Food first.”
McCrae’s eyes didn’t change, there was still a spark in his gaze, but he moved his hands over her arms, soothing her. “Food first,” he agreed, but she knew he would circle back around to the rest of it.
He always did.
And she didn’t mind it, any of it, at all.
* * *
DUVAL
Damn.
This felt like family.
Being with Noelle, Patricia, and Ciela felt like home.
It wasn’t because his mother was there, too.
In fact, it was his mother who made things... awkward.
“I’d love to sign CeeCee up for dance classes.”
Duval turned to look at his mother, giving her a warning glance before turning to see how Noelle and Patricia were reacting to his mother’s massive over reach.