True-Blue Cowboy Christmas (24 page)

When he looked out the peephole, he thought for a moment that woman was back, but the sparkly scarf and the dark glint of hair identified the woman on the other side of the door as Summer.

Wait. The resemblance.

He felt as though he'd been pushed back in time months to when he hadn't wanted to open his home to Summer. To a time before he loved her. It took him a minute to push past that and open the door.

But when he opened it, she was alone, and he felt foolish for the millionth time tonight.

“Hi,” she said breathlessly.

“Hi.” He glanced around. “Where did you come from?”

She shook her head, quickly stepping inside as he closed the door behind her, locking up before turning to face her.

She all but launched herself at him, arms around his neck, mouth desperate on his. If it hadn't been for the sight of the gun propped up against the wall, he might have fallen into it. But the woman on his porch before—the reason she looked familiar was
Summer
.

He pulled her away, and there were tears on her cheeks and a kind of frenzied desperation in her expression that he'd never seen there before.

“Kiss me, please. Just one more time.”

“One more time?” Confusion dulled some of the shock, but not enough of it.
One more time.
“Summer. What is going on?”

“You don't have to worry about the woman who came to your door, and you don't have to worry about me. You don't have to worry period, because what's happening doesn't have anything to do with you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have to…go away for a while. It might be a long while.”

Everything inside him stilled for a moment before crashing back into real time. “Go away for a long time?”

She nodded. “I don't want to, but I have to keep Mel and Lissa safe.”

“Safe?” He grabbed her arm, the fear of her disappearing competing with his fear of her being in danger. “Do I need to call the police? You aren't making any sense.”

“No, no police. She hasn't done anything wrong, nothing that we can call the police for. But I know her, Thack. I know what she's here to do, and I can't let her.”

She still wasn't making much sense, but he wasn't a dumb man. The resemblance, Mel, the thing Summer would fear. “Your mother?”

She nodded. “I know. I look…like her.”

The woman had been blond, and it had been dim, but he could see why he'd found her familiar. Same fairy face, same build, same coloring.

“You need to sit down and tell me things from the beginning.” Because he needed details, facts, sense. She was panicking. She wasn't just going to run away.

She shook her head, releasing her arm from his grasp. “No time. I have to talk to Dan. I have to… Anyway, I only came to say good-bye. I couldn't not say good-bye.”

A word he'd had his fill of, and that had anger sneaking into all the cracks that surprise and confusion had left in their wake. “That sounds a hell of a lot more final than I hope you mean.”

Her tears were back, flowing down her cheeks in a steady drip. When she spoke, her voice was little more than a croaky squeak. “I don't know how long I'll be. I don't know if I'll be able to come back. I only know I have to get her away from here. For everyone's good.”

“You're going to run away from us?” he demanded. It was so…out of left field and insane that he almost thought he was having some kind of warped nightmare.

That she would say she loved him.

That she would leave.

Or is that just the way your life works?

“No, I'm going to… I have to get her away from here. Away from them. She's…she's poison, Thack. I know that sounds like an overreaction. Or like I've made her into some one-dimensional villain, but she's not. It's so much more complicated than that.”

Complicated. But was it really? It didn't feel complicated. It felt stupid. Damn fucking stupid, not one euphemism for the curse words forming in his mind. “So, instead of telling your family, instead of rallying all the people who love you together to fight whatever poison she could inflict, you're going to run away?”

“Stop saying that!” she said on a choked sob, desperate and panicked.

A part of him wanted to comfort her, to get to the bottom of this crazy plan and find a way to soothe her panic away, but his anger had grown beyond that nurturing part of him. He was furious. Furious that he would finally have a
partner
within his grasp. Someone who cared as much about him, as much
for
him, as he did for her.

And she was saying good-bye. Two days before Christmas. Once again, the world was taking from him, but this was all her doing, not the world's. “It's what you're doing. Why should I stop saying it?”

“I am saving Mel and Lissa, and I'm sorry you don't understand. Actually, no, I'm glad you can't understand this. I'm glad this makes no sense to you, because it making sense is awful.” Her tears seemed to have stopped, replaced by that inner strength he was so used to.

She was good at projecting that—the way she seemed to have it all together, all worked out. That way she seemed to know just how to navigate the world, just what the right thing was.

There was no doubt in his mind that she was dead wrong right now.

“You need to tell Mel. You need to tell Caleb. You need to tell your father, and you need to not run away. What can your mother do if we're all around you?”

“She can
hurt
them. If Kate was in danger, and you had to leave behind the things you loved to save her, wouldn't you?”

“I don't believe you have to.”

She straightened her shoulders. “Fine. In fact, that's good. Don't believe me. It makes everything easier. Good-bye, Thack. Please tell Kate good-bye for me.” The tears were back, but she didn't slump. “Tell her that I love her.”

“You said you loved me too.”

“I do.”

He took a step toward her, wishing he had something besides anger and hurt settling into his gut, but he couldn't find anything else. “If you knew what that meant, you wouldn't walk out that door.”

Her lips firmed together, her hands clenching into fists. “I have to walk out that door. If Kate were on the line, you'd walk out that door too. Love isn't black or white. It isn't stay or go.”

“No, it isn't. But it is fighting. It's trusting. It's giving yourself over to be loved, as much as it is to love. It is more than swooping in and saving someone. More than sacrificing yourself for someone else. Fuck it all, Summer,
you
taught me that. If you walk out that door, determined to do this thing, you might as well spit on the past month.”

“You don't understand.”

“Then go. But if you were looking for a sweet send-off, you're shit out of luck.” He turned away from her then, because if he didn't, the regret would swamp him. The uncertainty. If she was going to leave, if she was going to abandon everything
she'd
built—even in the name of her family—he couldn't relent. He couldn't soften, because in all the times in his life that he'd lost, he hadn't had a choice. Love had been yanked away from him by death, cruelly, irrevocably.

But this…this was all Summer's doing, and he couldn't forgive her for it. He wouldn't.

“Good-bye, Thack.” The door clicked, and he stood in the middle of his dark, silent living room.

Alone.

Summer was so exhausted she couldn't even cry any longer. All she wanted to do was sleep. All she wanted to do was go back to her caravan and curl up on her bed and give up and tell Mom to do whatever she wanted.

But giving up wasn't an option. She'd ruined the thing she'd worked so hard to forge. She'd given up the thing she'd hoped for desperately for so long. Love. A future.

But she didn't care how angry Thack was. He was wrong. He didn't understand. She had no doubt—not one iota of doubt—that if it came down to saving Kate, he'd do exactly what she was doing.

Rally the people she loved? For what? So they could all be hurt? So they could all feel used and dirty and wonder how they had come from this woman? How they could love someone who had pieces of this woman in her?

She shook her head, surprised to find that she had more tears to shed. It didn't matter. She had things to do. It would be too late to talk to Dan without Mel around, but that didn't mean she couldn't get everything set up.

She would put her good-byes in motion and make sure everything was in order before she managed to get Mom away.

She parked her car at the bottom of the hill that Shaw house was planted into. She didn't want the engine or the lights to wake anyone up. It was late, and the house was dark. She had to pray they were all asleep and would stay that way.

She wasn't sure how long she had to do what she needed to.

Pushed by purpose and determination and
love
, no matter what Thack thought, Summer made it up the hill and into the house quietly. Instead of pocketing the key, she placed it on the kitchen counter. She'd love to keep it, to remember she'd had somewhere to belong…

But anything on her could end up in Mom's possession, and she wouldn't give Mom easy tools of destruction. It might not stop her, but Summer could put some roadblocks in her way. One way or another, Summer
would
fix this in the end.

A squeaking sound made her whirl toward the entrance between the kitchen and the living room. Even in the dark, she knew exactly who was there.

“It's late.” Her father's voice was low and gruff, and there was just a hint of something else in it. Fear? Hope? She'd never know.

She'd never, ever know what made him tick. Why he'd let her go. Why she couldn't find a way to get over all the walls he'd built.

She stared at him, this man who had barely given her a second thought. All she'd ever had from him were a few kind words scattered over a year. Every little event she thought might be momentum had turned out to be just him backed into a corner.

Well, now
she
was backed into a corner. And part of it was his own damn fault.

“I need your help,” she said, surprised at how strong her voice sounded. No hint of the way she'd sobbed at Thack's, none of the squeaking or wobbling. No, facing her father, she knew exactly what needed to be done.

He stiffened, then gestured down at his wheelchair. “Doubt I can offer you any kind of help.”

“You can, and you will. If you care about your family.”

He grunted, then started backing his wheelchair out of the room. Oh no, she would not let him off that easily.

“She's here.”

He stopped, and she knew she had to say the words, but she also had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly what she meant.

“Who?” he demanded gruffly.

“My mother.”

He didn't move, but he didn't say anything either. A rage she hadn't known existed flashed up inside her so fast, so dark and hot, that she didn't know how to do anything but unleash it. “She's here and she's ready to hurt everyone I love, simply because she can. She is
here
, and she is going to ruin all of our lives.”

Still nothing. Summer wished she could shake him. Hit him. She could all but feel the satisfaction from cracking her palm against his cheek. But what would that serve?

“I know you don't care about her ruining
my
life…” She swallowed the lump in her throat, focusing on the anger that was getting her somewhere. “But Mel and Lissa… Even if you're not all there for them, I know you won't turn your back on them. I know there's more inside you than a man who would let that woman hurt his children.” The ones he loved, anyway.

“What do you expect me to do?” She was surprised how strangled his voice seemed, almost anguished, as if he did actually feel some damn thing.

“I need you to make sure Caleb and Mel stay away until I can get her out of here. I need you to make sure Lissa is nowhere near Shaw, and that someone's always got an eye on her. Until I can get Mom away from Montana, I need you to step up and be the head of this family.”

Silence settled between them, and it was full of a million things, all of them dark and ugly. He was going to say no. He was going to wheel away. He wasn't going to change. Why would she think he would help? He didn't
want
to help. He didn't even want to live.

But
why
was her father still here if he didn't want to live? There had to be something inside him. Something that felt. That needed. That cared.

“You owe it to Mel and to Caleb. Everything you've put them through. You owe them this.”

“What about you? Don't you think I owe you something?”

“I've given up on collecting. Now, I need you to—”

“Bring her here.”

“What?” She'd misunderstood. He was…not understanding. “No, I can't bring her here. Are you insane? No! Caleb could wake up. He… Things are already hard for him. He's at his limit. He doesn't need her too. We cannot let her get anywhere near this house.”

“None of us need her, but she is here. I can't go much of anywhere like this, at least not with only your help, so bring her here. You want me to be the head of the family? Listen, girl, bring her here. We're going to settle this.”

“She can't be here. She can't. You don't know…”

“What is it you're so afraid of?”

Mom
, she wanted to scream. How could he of all people not know the danger Mom posed? He'd traded one daughter's safety for his unborn child's. It didn't matter though. He must have forgotten the kind of damage Linda could inflict.

Summer hadn't. She had believed so much of what that woman had told her for twenty years, and she was so afraid…so afraid Mom could make her believe it again. So afraid Mom could step in and crush all the relationships and love Summer had built.

She'd leave before she let that happen. She'd…run away.

“Trust me, I can handle Linda. Bring her here. I'll settle it.”

“How?”

She could feel his gaze more than she could see his eyes. Everything was so dark. Everything was so mixed up. She was so damn tired, and she wanted him to have an answer. She needed him to.

Then she smelled it. Perfume. She whirled around to find Mom standing behind her in the entrance Summer had walked through not ten minutes before.

She was sandwiched by her parents. The two people who were supposed to love her and didn't. The people who were supposed to protect her, guide her, nurture her, and hadn't. It took everything inside her not to cry—everything Caleb and Delia, Mel and Dan, little Lissa, Thack and Kate had given her. Hope and love and worth. So, no, she wouldn't cry, because she had more than she'd ever need from the people who really loved her.

That was
not
Mom, and Summer wouldn't ever…
ever
allow herself to believe it again. She would not be manipulated. She'd
escaped
. She was strong. Strong enough to fight, to sacrifice herself for the people she loved.

She would not cry over doing so. Not now. Not over that. “How did you get in here?” Summer demanded harshly.

Mom shrugged. “Old habits die hard, and I lived here a lot longer than you ever did. I know all the little secrets of this house. All of them. Why, hello, Cal. You're looking terrible.”

“Linda.”

Mom's eyes glittered in a beam of moonlight that shone through the window over the kitchen sink. It was that look, the one Summer had ignored over and over for years, the look that said Mom would do anything,
anything
to get what she wanted. Because what she wanted was all that mattered.

“I wonder if you'd feel a thing if I stabbed you in the leg,” Mom said conversationally to Dad, and Summer tried to stand taller, tried to be bigger to stand between them. To protect him from Mom, even if he didn't deserve it.

“No need to stab me. You're here. That's pain enough,” he replied as though completely bored by this turn of events. “Stand behind me, girl,” he muttered, so quietly Summer barely made it out, so quietly she didn't think Mom heard at all.

Summer swallowed. He was going to protect her. Well, he was going to try. So, she closed her eyes and prayed that would be enough.

But when she heard Caleb's voice from behind them, demanding to know what the hell was going on, she had the terrible sinking suspicion it wouldn't be.

* * *

It was nearly one in the morning when Thack opened the door to his father. He'd lasted all of ten minutes wallowing in his own misery before he'd called Dad and asked him to come home.

It was stupid. It was potentially dangerous, but he couldn't let Summer do this. He couldn't let her sacrifice herself on the altar of her
mother
. The woman who'd showed up at his door with menace in her eyes, the one who had tried to turn Summer into a glorified prostitute.

No, he had to do something.

“I know you said it isn't an emergency, but demanding I come home sure scared the hell out of me, Son.”

Mrs. Bart followed Dad inside on the heels of Dad's oxygen tank.

“I know you didn't invite me, but he's been having a bit of a rough hour,” Mrs. Bart said apologetically. “That medication had really been helping too.”

“I'm fine. It was that damn idiot burning his trash. My lungs can't handle smoke like that.”

Dad and Mrs. Bart faced him like one entity, and for the first time it felt…good. Good that his father had someone.

“Summer's in trouble.”

“Well, hell, boy. Don't stand around explaining. Get your ass out of here,” Dad demanded in his wheezing voice.

“But you—”

“I'll take good care of him, and Kate, should she wake up, which she won't. Everything will be fine. You go help that nice girl.”

It was amazing how that calm teacher voice could help steel his nerve, steel his determination. Yes, he needed to help, and he had the reserves to do that now.

Dad sank into his armchair, and though he was wearing the oxygen and looked tired, he certainly wasn't in the worst shape Thack had ever seen. His complexion wasn't gray and his lips weren't blue. All in all, this little episode was a mild one, especially since Dad been in such good health since the new medication.

“I don't know when I'll be back.” Since he didn't have a clue what he thought he was doing.

“Got your phone?”

Thack nodded. “Phone. Keys.” He glanced at the wall where the gun still sat. He'd barely taken his eyes off it since Summer had left.

“Wait one second,” Dad said, for the first time noticing the rifle against the wall. “This is
carry your gun around
trouble?”

“I'm not sure. I just want to be safe.”

Dad and Mrs. Bart exchanged a look. “Have you called the police?”

“Yes, and they didn't find anything. Look, I'm going to lock the rifle on the truck rack. I just want it on hand.” For what, he couldn't say. It wasn't like he was going to shoot Summer's mother. It wasn't like Summer's mother was that kind of dangerous. Summer had called her poison, but hadn't said anything about her being…bodily harmful.

And yet, Thack couldn't get over the feeling that the woman who'd shown up at his doorstep trying to get invited into his home was capable of significant harm.

“I hope you won't forget you are all Kate has left,” Dad said carefully, more carefully than he said just about anything.

“That's not the least bit true, but I'm not putting myself in any danger. I just don't want to be caught off guard.” He wouldn't take a bullet for anyone. Because it wouldn't come to that. He was just going to let the Shaws know what was going on. He wouldn't let Summer do this alone, no matter how much she thought she had to.

“All right,” Dad replied with a hint of reluctance. “Keep that phone on you at all times. Keep us up to date.”

Thack nodded, grabbing the gun from the wall and marching outside. He did as he'd said, locked the gun into the gun rack on the back of the truck, just like when he went hunting.

He didn't know where Summer or her mother would be, and that didn't really matter. His mission was simple.

Tell the Shaws what Summer's plan was, and hope like hell they stepped up. Because if they wouldn't…

He was damn well going to.