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“Wove you, Sheriff.”
“Let’s go see the horses at Aunt Maggie’s and Uncle Justin’s, okay?”
“Okay!”
“I’ll get him dressed,” Annie said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Come on, big boy. You don’t need a bath now, but the bathroom is flooded.”
The men could hear Stevie’s delightful laughter from his bedroom as they walked to the kitchen.
“What happens now?”
“I call CPS and hand it over to them. I’ll give Steve Casson a courtesy call, but he’s going to have to talk to them as well. Then we go to Justin’s. What else can happen?”
“Yeah, that’s what I was just thinking,” Chris said. “First my ex, and now this. It never ends. Should we really go to Justin’s?”
“Oh yeah. It’s Sunday. There’s a backlog at CPS, and he’s safe now, so there won’t be a rush. But I feel sorry for Steve’s mother if she’s guilty. She’s got a rep.”
“For what?”
“Public drunkenness. She’s been going to AA for a year, but something must have set her off yesterday and it appears she took it out on a toddler. Not happening.” Chris walked him to the door. “I’ll see you in a while. We’re headed out there as soon as I get home and pick up my family. We’re stopping off to pick up coleslaw from Spencer’s.”
“Crap, we were going to get something from the diner. Can you pick up a cheesecake?” Chris asked, digging in his pocket for bills.
“Stop,” Dave said, waving his hand away. “Cheesecake it is.”
Standing in the doorway, Chris watched his brother get into his truck, back out onto Main Street, and head north toward Creole Cottage. Dave always seemed so placid for being a sheriff. Chris wondered how being raised by Emily Chastain had shaped Dave.
In the past conversations with Justin, he’d said his mother was an enigma. She’d traveled with her father-in-law, showing horses all over the country, but at home was a recluse. She would spend time at the clinic with her veterinarian husband, Vic, charming the clients, but then not attend any social events they’d been invited to. Who was his mother?
He closed the door and stood listening to Annie and Stevie’s voices from his bedroom.
The weekend had turned into an emotional roller coaster. And then shocking him, he longed for his former simple life in Mobile, the no frills rented apartment, being able to walk to work, no social life to speak of because he wanted it that way. Maybe he was more like his birth mother than he realized. He’d given up his bachelor life to live with this vibrant woman and her child. Oh well, it was too late to turn back now. He wanted Annie. He loved Annie. And he wanted to please her.
“I guess Dave left?”
Annie came into the living room holding Stevie’s hand. She wore jeans with a white lace top and a blue shawl wrapped around her shoulders.
“You look like you’re ready to go to a garden party,” Chris said, grinning at her.
“I’m trying to go with the flow. I don’t really want to go out, but if I stay here, I’ll just cry all day. It’s warm out and we should take advantage of it. It’ll be good for the kid to see his little friends and spend some time outdoors.”
Nodding toward Stevie, Chris was surprised at how resilient the little boy seemed. “He’s recovered.”
“For now. Do you mind giving him a cookie? I’m going to call my former mother-in-law.”
“Should you do that? It’s just one more thing that will be upsetting.”
“Yes, I think I should. I’m not about to wait around for CPS to make a move. I want to hear what she has to say for herself.”
“Okay. Come on, buddy. How about a cookie?”
He took Chris’s hand, one eye on his mother.
“I’ll be right back. Mommy has to go to the bathroom.”
He nodded at her and willingly went with Chris.
Back in her bedroom, with shaking hands, Annie called Beverly Casson. At one time, she had considered her mother-in-law a friend. They often worked together at the animal rescue on Maggie Angel’s property. Annie’s sister-in-law, Kelly, ran the rescue. The three of them became close during those months working together. And now, in one afternoon, it disappeared. The worrisome part was wondering if, on the rare times Beverly baby sat for little Stevie, she had been mean to him.
