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“What’s this all about, Caleb?” Jigs asked from his place at the table. He was sipping on a cup of joe, the steam covering his face.
Caleb looked around. “Valerie didn’t come home last night!”
This was never her home, son. Not to her.
“Caleb—”
“No, Beau!” The boy whirled, pointing at the man in the doorway. “She came down here to get Dad for dinner last night—”
“Enough,” I barked. He looked up at me, shock on his face. Confusion followed.
“Where is she, Dad?”
I shook my head. “That woman is gone.”
He stepped back, shaking his head in disbelief. “No, she can’t be. Not after…”
“Not after what?” Mags pressed.
Caleb held up his arm. “Mom did this to me yesterday.”
A cold, deadly silence, filled the room. I stared at the little boy who kept me from putting a bullet in my mouth ten years ago, trying to comprehend what he was telling me.
“What did you say?”
“Mom came up to the house yesterday while you were working on the other barn. She tried to take me, but Val stopped her. Mom’s nails here cutting me, Dad. Val told Mom to let me go. Then Val punched Mom in the jaw!” he explained.
I flinched.
She still defended my boy.
While Moonie was dropping money into her bank account.
“I ran down here to get help, but no one was here. I went into the bathroom to clean up the blood, but Valerie found me, and I didn’t want her to.”
“Why?” I found myself asking.
Caleb met my eyes. “Because cowboys don’t cry, and I wanted to cry then.”
Oh, bud, how wrong you are.
Cowboys cry.
They just don’t let anyone see the tears.
He continued. “She can’t be gone. Miss Nancy is getting worried. Val promised me something yesterday! So, I know she can’t be gone.”
“What did she promise you?”
She promised me things, too…
His bottom lip trembled. “She promised she would try to love me like a momma should.”
Fucking hell.
My knees gave out, and I fell onto the cot again. Elbows on my knees, my head fell, and I gave the room the top of my hat.
Cowboys don’t cry, they mourn.
