Chapter Twelve #2
“What were you and the padre having to say to each other at the table? You seemed to have a deep conversation.” Cole and she were the last to pass through the house after the others had said their good nights.
He turned out the lights along the way until they made their way to the hall.
They slowed on one accord at the stairs.
“I’d say that everyone else is asleep. I think we are okay to whisper.
Did you find out anything yet? Are these guys really going to lead you to the person you’re after?
Will this all soon be over and I can kick my ex and her entourage from my ranch once and for all? ”
Jesse nodded. “And when we have something definite to share we will. Until then, while we may be gathering information, we won’t be sharing any of that. But I know you are anxious to get rid of your guests and me and Rowdy, also. Take your lives back to normal. I understand that.”
“I’m anxious to get back to normal, yes. But where would that leave you? Do you have another assignment in the offing? Do you ever get tired of moving here and there…not settling down in one place?”
“I’ve thought about that. Maybe more so now that my siblings are beginning to establish their own families and homes. I’ve basically been a wanderer for a decade or more.”
“So having roots is foreign to you?”
She smiled a half-hearted smile. “I always wanted roots. I had them with my siblings for a while. We lost our parents and then our caregiver and we all ended up in the foster system. We were luckier than most though. We had a wonderful lady who fostered and offered to take us in…all of us. So that way we could stay together. Then one by one, we all aged out. We followed our own paths then and my oldest sister keeps trying to bring us all together again. We see each other as often as we can. But yes, to answer your original question, it would be nice to have a home where I could stay longer than a couple of weeks. A family to enjoy and someone to share it all…guess I’m no different from other women. ”
“I know that you would make a good mother.”
His response both surprised her and pleased her at the same time. “How do you know that for certain?”
“Because of the way you are with Emmie. You have infinite patience. You have empathy and are able to communicate with her on her level and help her navigate all the emotions of a young girl that is becoming more foreign each day to a father such as me. You are pretty amazing in ways that you might not be that aware of, so don’t sell yourself short. ”
His words were nothing but sincere and they touched something deep inside her, suspiciously close to the area in the center of her chest that she had kept guarded for so long.
Cole Connors was dangerous in his own right…
forget his houseguests. He had found a way to creep into an area that had been off-limits for a very long time.
If she weren’t careful, he might find his way into her heart and that would be against all the rules.
And yet, somehow, she knew that she was kidding herself.
He had already made that detour with very little protest on her part.
Cole had found that crack in the slammed doorway and somehow inched it open for his entrance.
“I sense you aren’t used to anyone complimenting you on such a regular basis.
Or maybe it’s just me? I may be guilty of overstepping a time or two past those invisible boundaries of yours.
The problem is, I don’t know if they are boundaries because of your job or personal ones because you don’t like to have me do it at all? Or maybe a bit of both?”
He saw too much. But she would expect no different from the man who she knew from the start was a no-nonsense type of straight shooter.
What she had mistook on their first meeting for arrogance was simply a man who knew who he was and expected no less from those around him.
A man who cared about many people and took his role in keeping his ranch and his people who worked there safe from all outside forces no matter what or who they might be.
He had earned the respect of many and she admired that.
“Both.” She looked him square in the eyes with that admission.
He didn’t demand it but he did deserve the truth.
“You are right in there is a line one can’t cross when on an assignment like this.
Too much is at stake. And too much time and manpower has been invested in bringing this criminal down. So, I won’t…can’t…forget that.”
“But it’s also personal since you said both.
I can understand and even admire your dedication to duty especially when it involves my daughter and those close to me.
And I don’t mean to blur the lines between personal and duty.
But there’s something about you Jesse McCord…
for want of even knowing your real name…
that makes me look forward to when all this is over, and we can meet under different circumstances.
I think that might be very interesting indeed.
So, I will be asking you out on a real date when all this is done in order to meet the real woman behind this Wonder Woman facade.
I’m thinking she just might be really special. ”
“Well, she’ll check her schedule and pencil you in.
Until then, we both have our jobs to do.
Good night.” And she managed to walk up the stairs and to the confines of her room without a look back at the man whose gaze she could feel following her.
That might have been the undoing of her resolve if she had done that.
The future might be very interesting, which was a thought that brought a smile to her face.
But then reality reared its head and reminded her that futures could change in a blinding second.
The smile faded. She had looked forward once to a future with a man she loved.
But he was taken by a senseless act of violence.
And she had spent the ensuing years tracking the person responsible.
That was not a way to begin any relationship.