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“She probably thought you’d love a dog, to keep you company,” Abby said.
He sighed. “So many things don’t make sense six years down the road,” he said enigmatically.
“That’s life,” Abby replied. “How about some hot coffee? And hot chocolate,” she added, smiling at Lucy.
“That would be great! Shall I go inside and tell Hannah?”
“You do that, sweetheart,” Abby said, smiling at the little girl.
“Okay!” She picked up Snow and made for the house.
“She’s a sweet child,” Cody said. “All big eyes and heart.”
“Yes. She misses her parents, but it gets easier, as time goes by.”
“You must miss them, too. They were the last of your family.”
She nodded. “Lawrence and I had each other, at least, and we both had Mary.” She smiled wistfully. “She was a wonderful person. Lucy’s a lot like her.”
“So are you. All heart.”
She laughed. “It’s a drawback, from time to time. They used to say I was too naïve to live, at the office in Denver. People would come in off the street, looking for handouts, and I’d always have a dollar or two to spare.”
“If that’s being naïve, I love it,” he said. “I’d never turn away a person in need.”
“I figured that, about you,” she replied. “They said your opponent in the last sheriff’s race groaned to anybody who’d listen that your reputation would keep him out of office. In fact, he only got one percent of the vote, so I’d have to agree that he was right.”
“This is my second term in office, although I was a deputy for some time before I ended up behind a desk.” His eyes were thoughtful. “I’m not sure I’d want to run again. It’s a rewarding job, but if I can get the ranch going, I might consider alternatives.”
“Didn’t Debby mind your job?” she asked hesitantly. “I mean, it’s dangerous. Really dangerous.”
He looked down at her with affection. “She never thought about it.”
She started to speak and thought better of it.
He frowned. “You’d think about it,” he said.
She grimaced. “Well, yes. I mean if I was married to somebody who wore a badge, I’d think about it a lot. I’d be sitting up at two in the morning with black coffee and bags under my eyes worrying.”
That shocked him. He’d never considered how much Debby’s lack of concern for him had mattered. She didn’t miss him when she went back to work. She didn’t worry that he might get shot. She never told him to take care of himself. If he was sick, she told him to pull himself together and get back to work.
“I shouldn’t have said anything. Sorry...” she began.
He got up and pulled her up, turning her toward him. His hands on her coat sleeves were warm and strong. “She never worried about me.” He drew in a troubled breath, his eyes on Abby’s face. “If she’d been here when Anyu...when I lost her, she’d have been irritated that I grieved. She had no sympathy for people who were hurt.”
“But she was a doctor...!”
“I know. I never understood it, either. I was madly in love for the first time in my life, blind with need. I never saw her the way she was,” he explained. “Six years afterward, I’ve questioned a lot of things I never noticed before.” He cocked his head and his dark eyes softened. “You should have married and had half a dozen kids, Abby,” he said gently. “You’d be out in the yard playing baseball with them while dinner burned on the stove,” he chuckled.
“I’d love a big family,” she replied. “Lawrence was a lot older than me. When he left home, it was like being an only child, like Lucy is now. I think big families must be wonderful, especially at holidays, like Christmas.”
“I’ve always thought that, too. It’s lonely, being the only kid in the house.”
She studied his face and wondered what his children would look like. She smiled faintly. “They’d have brown eyes,” she said, thinking aloud.
He chuckled. “What?”
“Your kids. They’d have brown eyes.”
