Garden of Dreams (25 page)

JD wasn't averse to commitments. He'd married Nancy, after all. He just knew from experience that his luck with women batted somewhere in the zero range. Sooner or later, Nina Toon would discover all the flaws in his character and speed into someone else's arms. But he damned well couldn't give up women just because his luck was bad.

He turned his mind to the things that would pave his way into Nina's heart. He had already sent out a query about lawyers in the vicinity. He expected a reply shortly. JD heartily suspected Nina's mother could be bought off for a nominal sum. Money wouldn't matter. In a few weeks, he could be one of the richest men in the country. He chuckled as he imagined Nina buying into that fantasy. She definitely had no trust in his financial capabilities.

Turning off the computer, JD contemplated his next move. The wiring. Nina would appreciate his accomplishing something concrete and visible, like good electrical wiring. Or he thought she would. Sometimes, she didn't seem aware they lived in the twentieth century. He would drag her kicking and screaming into the technology age if he must. Images of installing a Jacuzzi on that wide back porch danced in his head.

He peered out the lace-curtained window at the sound of tires screeching to a halt in the gravel drive. Cursing at the sight of the sheriff's car, JD blinked in puzzlement at the tiny Geo chugging up the road behind it. He couldn't remember Nina having any friends with Geos, but it certainly fit local habits more than a Mercedes. Thank heavens Nina and her mother were still in Hopkinsville. He could straighten out Sheriff Hoyt Stone and his bullying tactics once and for all.

Jackie and friends were still carving order out of wilderness. JD didn't have to act the part of upstanding citizen for the kid's sake this time. Tucking in his T-shirt, he threw open the front door before the sheriff could knock. The sight of Nancy climbing out of the Geo blew him away.

How had the woman found him all the way out here? Images of Nina and Nancy trading information on him like baseball cards ruptured every gasket left in his mind. They'd fry him alive. Damn, but he'd known things were working too smoothly.

“Friends here to see you,” the sheriff said dryly when JD said nothing.

“So I see.” Jerking himself back from his first gut panic, JD settled his gaze on Nina's would-be suitor. “Nina probably has some iced tea made. She's in Hopkinsville right now with her aunt, but you're welcome to come in and cool off.”

“Just might take you up on that.” The sheriff waited patiently for JD to move from the doorway, but JD waited for Nancy to join them first. His lips tightened as he watched Jimmy unfold himself from the tiny car. He should have known. Jimmy was a sucker for any woman who batted her eyelashes.

Growling something irascible, JD stood back and let the trio troop in. “Jackie's out working in the woods,” he replied in answer to Nancy's darting gaze. “They'll be in shortly looking for something to drink. You might as well make yourself comfortable while you wait.”

“Couldn't I go out and look for him?” Nancy didn't take the seat offered but stood in the hall, glancing anxiously toward the kitchen, then up the stairs, as if expecting a wild horde of motorcycle thugs to descend on them.

Conscious of the rubber band in his hair and the ragged hole in his jeans, JD shrugged. She had every right to think of him as that mixed-up kid she'd married sixteen years ago. He hadn't precisely behaved any differently by dragging Jackie into this mess. “He won't appreciate it,” he said in response to her question. “He's with his friends, trying to act as if he's grown-up. You have to let up on him, Nancy. He's fifteen, going on a hundred.”

Biting her bottom lip, she nodded uncertainly. JD couldn't help but contrast her uptight, hovering anxiety with Nina's relaxed ease with the boy. Of course, Nina wasn't Jackie's mother. Maybe that made the difference.

“We've gotta talk, JD,” Jimmy said from behind Nancy.

“Sometime after I punch your lights out, MacTavish. Go get a chair with the sheriff while I bring in the tea.” JD jerked his head toward the living room.

‘Tea?”

JD heard the question behind the question and grinned. “It's a dry county, and our hostess doesn't believe in stocking beer or alcohol. Tea, milk, or various ghastly carbonated beverages are available. I don't recommend the water.”

By the time JD returned to the living room with a pitcher and glasses, his three unwanted guests had struck up a somewhat stilted conversation. JD plunked the tray down on the coffee table and left them to help themselves.

True Southern gentleman that he was, Sheriff Hoyt poured a glass for Nancy first, then poured his own. Before he took a drink, he pinned JD with his glare. “The state police came in this morning. The corpse didn't drown.”

Holding the glass of iced tea against his sweltering forehead rather than sipping from it, JD glared back. “And?”

“He was shot in the back.”

Nancy's shocked gasp created just the reaction the sheriff expected, but JD didn't fall for it. He shrugged. “I have no notion what firearms are kept on the place, but if you suspect any of us, I guess you'll need a search warrant. I'm not familiar with the area, but I imagine if you have bootleggers in these parts, you have other criminal types, too. People don't change much wherever you live.”

“Nina threatened to bring out a shotgun if the cell phone guys came back. You don't happen to know where that is, do you?” The sheriff sipped complacently at his drink.

“Nope. And knowing Nina, she probably doesn't either. But I'll have a lawyer after the phone company shortly, so she doesn't need a gun. I'm sure she'll tell you you're welcome to it when it shows up.”

The sheriff's expression indicated JD had hit the mark of Nina's behavior pretty accurately, and Hoyt didn't like it a bit. Score one, round one, JD thought smugly.

The conversation lapsed uneasily. “The lady back in town told us about the garden, JD,” Nancy offered hesitantly. “What kind of garden is she talking about?”

Smiling, JD sipped his drink. Nancy had grown into a lovely, polite woman. Boring as hell, maybe, but polite. “A botanical garden. Nina thinks she can turn these acres into a tourist attraction that will draw people year-round. We're in the process of drawing up a nonprofit corporation to handle it. That's what Jackie's doing now, clearing some of the woods that the landscape man wants to make into a woodland garden.”

Jimmy contributed little to the conversation, inhaling his tea and tapping his toe while glancing around at his surroundings. JD imagined him mentally tallying the cost of the ancient sagging sofa, the wooden rocker, the television that would fit in a museum exhibit, and coming up with lots of zeroes. JD knew Jimmy made no judgment on these factors. He just calculated costs out of habit.

When the conversation did nothing more than sputter and start in his presence, Hoyt finished his tea and stood up. “Thanks for the hospitality. Tell Nina I said hello and ask her about that shotgun. If we don't identify the body, we may have to subpoena her to have a look. If he was shot, it was almost certainly on her land.”

“Water doesn't move in these parts?” JD asked, following the sheriff to the door.

“Not much along the bank. There's too much timber in the shallows, and the main current is out beyond the buoys. Nina owns most of that land up toward the dock. I suppose he could have been shot out there, but seems like someone would have heard it that close to civilization.”

“Seems like.” JD could be agreeable if the sheriff would get his rear moving. He needed to talk to Jimmy, and his patience had worn thin.

The sheriff tipped his hat and swaggered back to his car. JD closed the front door just as the back door flew open. Wondering if his timing was good or bad, he waited for Jackie and friends to storm through the house, adolescent feet clattering like a herd of elephants across the uncarpeted floor.

“Saw the sheriff's car! Have they found who done it?”

“No, he was directing your mother out here. She's in the living room. Give her a hug, then go get your friends something to drink. And for pity's sake, wash your faces off. You look like savages.” Stank like them, too, but JD didn't remind them of that. Short of lending them all his personal deodorant or hosing them down, he couldn't think of an immediate solution to that problem.

“Mom?” With both dismay and surprise, Jackie turned and met his mother as she rushed to hug him.

Wishing he had a beer instead of the tea, JD watched as Nancy sensibly stopped short of hugging her malodorous son, tousling his hair instead and kissing his cheek. He supposed she would take the boy back now. JD didn't know how he felt about that. He'd scarcely gotten to know Jackie. Hell, he'd scarcely had a chance to realize the boy was his. For fifteen years, he'd had a kid and never known about it. If he thought about it, he'd resent the hell out of missing all those little things like first words and baby steps and baseball games. But then, he'd have to remember what he'd been doing during those years and realize he'd have missed them anyway.

“I've got to get the guys something to drink. Miss Toon keeps Popsicles and things in the freezer for us. We'll be back after we clean up.” Jackie tugged away from his mother's affectionate gestures and herded his wide-eyed friends back down the hall, not giving JD a look either. JD figured Jackie was probably pretty confused by all this, too. Food and drink always eased confusion.

“Who precisely is this Miss Toon?” Nancy asked acerbically when JD returned to his chair.

“Teacher. Her aunt owns the place, but she's in a nursing home. Nina's visiting her right now. She'll be sorry she missed you,” JD added quickly, showing his obvious hope for an early departure.

To his surprise, Nancy suddenly looked uncertain. She threw another anxious look in the direction Jackie had taken, then settled back in her chair. “He looks happy.” She didn't sound thrilled by the news.

“He's a good kid. You raised him right. We've got him and the others working off some of their energy, and paying them just enough for pizza and movies to keep them out of trouble. He's learning to fish, and now that I have a little spare time, I'll take him out on the lake so he can learn boating.”

JD didn't think about what he said until he'd said it. If Nancy took the boy back, he wouldn't be teaching him anything. He may have already blown his opportunity to know the boy better. He'd worked right through it. Damn, but he made a lousy father.

Jimmy's head bobbed up at the mention of his having spare time, but JD couldn't say anything in front of Nancy.

“I left Bob,” she said, apropos of nothing. She stared down at her hands. “I've gone back to my daddy's place. I have a job with an insurance company making pretty good money. We'll be able to get our own place shortly. I want to take Jackie back with me.”

JD definitely wanted something stronger than iced tea. Setting his glass down, he ran his hand down the back of his neck, striving desperately for the words that needed saying. To his relief, Jimmy wandered out of the room, leaving them alone.

“I owe you support for all those years,” he said awkwardly. “You should have told me about the boy.”

Nancy shrugged. “Daddy didn't want you coming back and claiming him. We didn't starve.”

“I could have given him a lot of little extras, even when I was in the marines. I didn't make much, but I could have listed him for insurance and such. I owe you for those years, Nancy. And I can provide a lot more for him now. There's college ahead. Cars. Computers. I can help.”

She looked mildly alarmed. “I want Jackie, not your money, JD. I won't let you have him.”

Furious, but with no outlet for the fury, JD stalked to the big window overlooking the front lawn. “I can't take him away from you. Boys need their mothers as well as fathers. But he does need a father, Nancy. Don't fool yourself. Give me a chance.”

“How?” she asked mournfully. “We live in different worlds. I can't trust you to bring him home when you're supposed to. I haven't even known where he was these past weeks. I've worried myself sick. I can't go through that again, JD. I need him with me.”

Fighting back an anguish he didn't know he could feel, JD swung around. “Look, it's been crazy these last few weeks, all right? I didn't mean for any of this to happen. But it's over now. I've got the job done, and Jimmy can take it back with him. I promised Jackie a real vacation. He's happy here. Nina looks after him. She's the one who made me call Jimmy and assure you everything was all right. She won't let me do anything I shouldn't. I'll admit, I don't know beans about kids, but she'll keep me straight. You've had him all these years. Give me a chance with him. You have a new job. You don't need to be worrying where he is all summer while you're working.”

She hesitated for the longest time. JD wished he'd learned to be a persuasive talker. Until he'd spoken the words, he hadn't realized how much he'd relied on Nina's help. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned it.

“I think I'd like to meet this Miss Toon,” Nancy finally replied.