"Have you ever been?"
After a slight hesitation, she replied, "Years ago. For a short time."
"What happened?"
The grayish green eyes didn't waver. "We, uh, went different directions."
"Oh. Too bad."
"Yes, it was."
"How old were you?"
"Young."
"How old are you now?"
Tiel laughed nervously. "Older. Thirty-three last month."
"You'd better hurry up and find someone else. If you want to have a family, I mean."
"You sound like my mother."
"Do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Want to have another husband and kids?"
"Someday. Maybe. I've been awfully busy establishing my career."
"You could be a single mom."
"I've considered it, but I'm not sure I'd want that for my child. The jury's still out."
"I can't imagine not wanting a family," the girl said with a gentle smile for Katherine. "That's all Ronnie and I talk about. We want to have a big house out in the country.
With lots of kids. I'm an only child. He has one little stepbrother, and they're twelve years apart in age. We want a large family."
"That's an admirable ambition."
Unobtrusively, Doc signaled Tiel with his chin that it was time to switch sides. Tell assisted Sabra, and soon Katherine was happily sucking away at the other breast.
Then the girl surprised them by angling her head back and asking, "What about you, Doc?"
"What about me?"
"Are you married?"
"My wife died three years ago."
Sabra's face fell. "Oh, I'm so sorry."
"Thank you."
"How'd she die? If you don't mind me asking."
He told her about his wife's illness, making no mention of the conflict that followed her demise.
"Any kids?"
"Unfortunately no. We had just begun talking about starting our family when she got sick. Like Ms. McCoy, she had a career. She was a microbiologist."
"Wow, she must've been smart."
"Brilliant, in fact." He smiled, although Sabra couldn't see it. "Much smarter than me."
"You must've loved each other a whole lot."
His smile gradually faded. What Sabra couldn't guess, but Tiel knew, was that his marriage hadn't been flawless and trouble-free. During the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Shari Stanwick's death, it was disclosed that she had engaged in an extramarital affair.
Bradley Stanwick knew of his wife's unfaithfulness and generously assumed his share of the blame. His work schedule was demanding and often kept him out late and away from home.
But the two had loved each other and were committed to making the marriage work. They were in counseling and planning to stay together when her malignancy was diagnosed. Her illness had actually brought them closer together. At least that's what he had claimed to his accusers.
Tiel could see that, even after all this time, reminders of his wife's adultery still pained him.
When he became aware that Tiel was watching him, the wistfulness in his expression vanished. "That's enough for now," he said, speaking more brusquely than he probably intended.
"She's stopped sucking anyway," Sabra said. "I think she's gone to sleep."
While Sabra was readjusting her clothing, Tiel took the baby and changed her. Doc eased the girl back into her original position, then checked the diaper he'd placed beneath her. "Better. Thank God."
Tiel cuddled the baby close and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head before returning her to her mother's arms.
The telephone rang. The hour was up.
Everybody snapped to attention. Anticipated for an hour, the ringing telephone was jarring, because it represented the course of their future. Now that it was imminent, all seemed loathe to hear Galloway's response to Ronnie's demand. Especially Ronnie, who appeared more nervous even than before.
He looked over at Sabra and tried to smile, but his lips couldn't hold the expression for long. "Are you sure, Sabra?"
"Yes, Ronnie." She spoke quietly but with resolve and dignity. "Absolutely sure."
The boy wiped his hand on his pants leg before lifting the receiver off the hook. "Mr. Galloway?" Then, after a momentary pause, he exclaimed, "Dad!"
CHAPTER 9
WHO'S THIS?"
When the latest arrival was escorted into the FBI van, Galloway had ignored Russell Dendy's rude question and instead stood up to shake the man's hand. "Mr. Davison?"
"You've got to be kidding me." Dendy had sneered with disgust. "Who invited him?"
Galloway had pretended Dendy wasn't even there. "I'm Special Agent Bill Galloway."
"Cole Davison. Wish I could say it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Galloway."
Judging by his appearance, one would guess Davison to be a rancher. He wore faded Levi's and cowboy boots. His starched white shirt had pearl snaps in lieu of buttons.
Upon entering the van, he'd politely removed a straw cowboy hat that had left a deep indentation in his hair and a pink stripe across his forehead, which was several shades paler than the lower two-thirds of his suntanned face. He had a stocky build and walked with a bowlegged gait.
He didn't ranch. He owned five fast-food franchises and lived in Hera only to escape "metropolises" like Tulia and Floydada.
Galloway had welcomed him with a "Thank you for coming so quickly, Mr. Davison."
"I'd've come whether you asked me to or not. Soon's I heard my boy was holed up here, I was anxious to get here. I was on my way out the door when you called."
Dendy, who'd been fuming in the background, had grabbed Davison by the shoulder and spun him around.
He thrust his index finger into the other man's face. "It's your fault my daughter is in the mess she's in. If anything happens to her, you're dead and so is the miscreant you spawned-"
"Mr. Dendy," Galloway had interrupted sternly. "Once again I'm on the verge of having you physically removed from this van. One more word and you're out of here."
The millionaire, ignoring Galloway's warning, had continued his harangue. "Your kid," he'd declared, "seduced my daughter, got her pregnant, and then kidnaped her.
I'm going to make it my life's mission that he never sees the light of day or breathes a breath of freedom. I'm going to make certain that he spends every single second of his miserable life in prison."
To Davison's credit, he had kept his cool. "It appears to me you're partly to blame for all this, Mr. Dendy. If you hadn't come down so hard on those kids they wouldn't've felt the need to run away. You know's well as I do that Ronnie didn't take your girl against her will. They love each other and ran away from you and your threats, is what I think."
"I don't give a fuck what you think."
"Well, I do," Galloway had said, shouting over Russell Dendy. "I want to hear Mr. Davison's take on the situation."
"You can call me Cole."
"All right, Cole. What do you know about this? Anything you can tell us about your son and his frame of mind will be helpful."
To which Dendy had said, "How about some sharpshooters?
A SWAT team? Now that would be helpful."
"Using force would risk the lives of your daughter and her baby."
"Baby?" Davison had exclaimed. "It's come?"
"From what we understand she delivered a baby girl about two hours ago," Galloway had informed him. "Both are reportedly doing okay."
"Reportedly," Dandy had snorted. "For all I know my daughter is dead."
"She's not dead. Not according to Ms. McCoy."
"She could've been talking to save her own hide. That lunatic could have been holding a gun to her head!"
"I don't think so, Mr. Dendy," Galloway had said, striving to remain calm. "And neither does our psychologist, who was listening to my conversation with Ms. McCoy. She sounds in perfect control, not like someone under duress."