Home to You (3 page)

What was going on?

“You aren’t telling her about the shenanigans, sister, so don’t you tell me to get off the phone.”

“If you would give me a minute.”

Carolyne sighed. Confused, but determined to wade
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through their chatter to find out just what was going on, she raised her voice firmly, “What woman?”

“I don’t think she’s addled or slow, mind you,” Margaret butted in over Mary. “To be honest, I don’t recognize her at all and I’m sure that Dakota won’t either.

Anyway, we’re about to go over and talk to her.”

“We thought about reporting her to the police—”

Mary added.

“She’s drinking.” This from Margaret who attempted to cut Mary’s words off.

“And she’s dressed, well…indecently,” Mary added, not to be outdone.

“Black boots up to her thighs,” Margaret supplied.

Alarmed, Carolyne sat up straight, both feet coming to rest on the floor. “Boots to her thighs?”

“And what she’s wearing would make anyone blush,” Mary said outrageously.

Alarmed, Carolyne tried to tell herself not to over-react. “I’m sure there’s some explanation…”

“There sure is,” Margaret said bluntly. “Your son needs you. He’s not eating supper at home and not getting home until late at night. He’s gotten to where it’s as late as mid-night or more before he makes it home and now this woman is on his doorstep. He’s ruining his reputation!”

“Well now, sister,” Mary interrupted, “I wouldn’t say he’s ruining his reputation, but it is obvious that he needs Carolyne back home.”

“It’s scandalous,” Margaret sounded knowing.

“Maybe I should call him,” Carolyne’s mind whirled in a tizzy over the conversation these two women were attempting to have with her.

“He’s not home yet. Believe me, if he was, I’m sure
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that woman wouldn’t be lolling out on the front porch like she is.”

Mary added, “If you were here, everything would be fine. It seems like as soon as you left, Dakota went wild.”

“He always was the wilder of the two,” Margaret butted in to say.

“I have to agree with sister on that. But I think this is all some mistake. Dakota is a fine man. Still, he has no one here and I think he’s lonely.”

“Lonely?” Margaret scoffed. “He’s so busy he doesn’t know what lonely is. Carolyne, we tried calling Pastor Cody at the church and he wasn’t there. He’s making an early day of it, which means he’ll be home soon. If you want my advice, I’d suggest you get home as soon as possible. I think your son needs you.”

Carolyne’s mind raced.

Dakota didn’t need her at all. He was a grown man.

Just as her daughter, Susan, was a grown woman.

But hadn’t she just been thinking about returning home?

She missed Texas and it was getting too cold here.

She missed her church and the familiar sounds and ease of her own house.

Of course, Dakota didn’t really need her, but would it hurt to go ahead and return home early?

“Carolyne, did you hear me?”

“Yes, Margaret, I did. Let me call the airlines, talk to my daughter and see what I can get done, all right?”

“Oh good,” Mary said breathlessly. “I’m so glad you’re coming back. We’ve missed sitting out on the porch with you in the evenings.”

“Never you mind that, sister,” Margaret admonished.

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“Her son is under attack and she needs to be here to re-store his reputation. Now, get off the phone so I can hang up. Carolyne needs to make plans.”

Carolyne heard a click and then Margaret added,

“We’ll be watching for you.”

“I need to make plans first,” Carolyne argued.

“No, Carolyne. You need to be here for your son,”

Margaret’s uncharacteristically soft voice touched Carolyne. “Please, hurry home.”

Carolyne heard a click and shook her head.

She hung up the phone and then sat staring at it, unsure what was going on at her house. Dakota had been so busy that he rarely had time to call; and when he did, his reports were always filled with what he had to do the next day.

She hadn’t pushed talking about how he was doing because he was just so busy.

Maybe she should have.

Could he know the woman who was lounging on their front steps?

Surely not.

If the sisters had described the woman right…unless she was one of Dakota’s charity cases, he wouldn’t have anything to do with that type of female. Would he?

“Is everything all right, ma’am?”

For the first time, Carolyne noticed Cokie standing there next to her.

“I’m not sure, Cokie. But it looks like I need to go home and find out.”

“Ma’am?” Cokie asked.

“I need help packing. It sounds like my son needs me.”

Carolyne stood.

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Cokie hurried off down the hall and Carolyne picked up the phone to call Susan at work, deciding to call Susan first.

If she planned it right, she could be back home in Texas by dinner.

Dakota Ryder sat in the seat next to his friend, Chase Sandoval. “I appreciate the ride home, Chase. Seems my car won’t be ready until tomorrow.”

“No problem, bud,” Chase replied, his familiar brown eyes glancing toward Dakota as he turned down the tree-lined street. “I can’t believe you still live out in this area, man. I remember the years we spent picking leaves up every fall, swearing when we grew up we were going to move where there were no trees.” He shook his head. “So, are you gonna hire someone to rake up all the leaves in your yard this fall?”

“You think it’s that bad?” Dakota chuckled.

“We spent too many years out there doing it to be forced into doing it anymore.”

Dakota laughed outright remembering their childhood adventures together.

“Maybe I’ll hire some kids from church. They’re getting ready for a winter trip they’re planning to take Christmas break, and Jeff has them offering to do jobs for everyone so they can earn money for their expenses.”

“Sounds like that new youth pastor of yours is working out.”

“He’s doing great. A year ago I couldn’t have imagined having this many young people attending church.”

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“Ah, but when you step out on faith and do what God tells you to do…”

Dakota grinned and knew his own brown eyes reflected the humor of Chase quoting back what he’d told him so many times. “It’s
my
job to say that.” It sure was good to have his old friend back in town. “Yeah, we don’t know what God has planned for our future. The church has doubled in size, and we’re even looking into doing something special for families around town this Christmas.”

Chase turned onto Chippewa where Dakota lived.

Dakota tried to look at his neighborhood from his friend’s point of view. It was an older area of Shenandoah, a town that wasn’t much younger than Fort Worth itself. The streets were laid out in straight lines from north to south and from east to west. Sidewalks graced each side of the street and huge old maple and elm trees filled the front yards. Leaves covered everything, including the streets. The breeze caught a few and they swirled up, dancing across the road in a flurry of movement and color, looking like one of the small twisters that so often invaded their land in the springtime.

The houses themselves were tall and square, mostly made of brick or whitewash, but smaller than the houses in the center of town, and not on such evenly divided lots. By the time a person reached the edge of town, it seemed like wilderness—nothing for miles except the many cattle ranches and a few farmers who grew wheat or cotton.

Dakota had grown up in the house he lived in now.

A two-story whitewash, it had a front porch and a
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swing. Two huge maples stood in the front and a weep-ing willow and a vegetable garden graced the backyard. The garden had always been his mom’s favorite; she loved digging in it, but right now, as autumn deepened its hold, the garden was barren.

“Speaking of the church, it’s actually doing very well,” Dakota returned to the conversation. “With you back in town you might consider coming there if you don’t find another church.”

Chase hesitated. “Let me get moved in first.”

Because his car had broken down, Dakota had been forced to break his luncheon appointment. But as luck would have it, he’d seen Chase and they’d ended up having lunch together.

His friend wasn’t the joking, laughing person he’d remembered. His letters hadn’t revealed just how much Chase had suffered since his wife’s death. Dakota wondered if he’d backed off from God spiritually as well.

“Shenandoah sure has grown since I’ve been gone.”

Dakota nodded. “I guess twenty years ago everyone thought moving to Fort Worth was the way to go. Now everyone’s escaping back out to the small towns within a few hours of the big cities.”

“Too much corruption and pollution in the big cities.”

“Just why did you move back, Chase?”

Chase had been one of Dakota’s best friends growing up. In tenth grade he’d had to move away, but they’d kept in touch over the years through regular mail and e-mail. Last year Chase’s wife had died, and Chase had been left to raise their daughter alone.

“You mean besides the job as deputy sheriff?”

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Dakota nodded as Chase pulled up at his house. “It looks just the same…except for the two old ladies standing in your yard.” Chase nodded toward the house.

Dakota followed his gesture and groaned.

Chase grinned. “What’s up with them?”

“That’s the Mulgrew sisters. Mary and Margaret.

They live next door. Don’t you remember them?”

Chase’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute…you mean they’re still alive?”

Dakota nodded. “Alive and well and out to take care of me now that my mom is visiting Susan and helping take care of the twins.”

Chase unsnapped his seat belt and jumped from the sedan. Dakota followed suit. Reaching into the back of the car, he grabbed one of the two boxes he’d put in his car, intending to bring them home before his transmis-sion had given out.

“I’ll help you with those,” Chase offered.

“You just want to see what the Mulgrew sisters have to say.”

Chase chuckled, the first real laugh he’d heard from his friend since meeting up with him again. “They were a pair back then.”

They started up the leaf-covered sidewalk toward the house. Mary and Margaret both wasted no time in hurrying toward them.

The shorter of the two, Mary, her light blue hair distinguishing her from her older (by only a few minutes) sister, who had silver hair, started forward. “It’s awful.

I told her she shouldn’t be up there, but she just laughed in my face, didn’t she, sister?”

Margaret nodded. “And rather rudely. She’s had a
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nip.” Margaret motioned with her hand, as if tipping a bottle up, and then dropped it into her other hand, clasp-ing them, worrying the white hankie that was in her other hand. “Bless your mother’s heart. If she saw that she’d turn white with shock.”

“Not sister and me though,” Mary added. “I do say, it is shocking, but then, we grew up in poverty and saw worse back then, though you didn’t flaunt it.”

“Well, you did if you were one of them,” Margaret lifted an eyebrow to match her superior tone.

“Margaret,” Mary admonished.

Dakota raised a hand. “Um, excuse me.”

Both women turned from each other to look at him expectantly. Before he could say a word, however, Margaret launched back into her speech. “We thought about calling the police but then, you are a pastor and are supposed to have mercy and we decided you’d probably seek out a homeless shelter—”

“Or something,” Mary added, not to be left out.

“I’m not sure…that is…” Dakota began trying to decide what to address first in all they had just said. These women had a way of turning his dark brown hair a bit grayer with every meeting. He was certain those first few gray hairs he’d found the other day were attributa-ble to conversations like this.

“Have we met?” Margaret interrupted, staring oddly at Chase. “You look familiar.”

Chase cleared his throat. “I’m Chase Sandoval, ma’am.”

“Oh, yes!” Mary nodded suddenly. “You were that boy that liked to ride his bike through our yard.”

Chase actually blushed to the roots of his hair. “Oh,
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yeah, I’d, um…forgotten.” He cast a look at Dakota, hoping for help.

Dakota was still trying to figure out why he’d want to contact a homeless shelter.

“We certainly didn’t forget,” Margaret told him. “I always worried you were going to grow up to be a hoodlum. Looks like you turned out good—unless you’re here for counseling from Pastor Cody.”

“Pastor—”

“Cody…” Dakota acknowledged. “They’re the only ones who still call me that name.” He smiled patiently.

“But he’s not. Here for counseling, that is. Which brings us around full court. Can you tell me, ladies, why I might want to call a homeless shelter?”

The sound of his swing creaking brought his head around to his porch—and his jaw dropped.

A woman, no more than five and a half feet tall, stood up. It wasn’t just a woman though, it was…he glanced at her outfit and saw why Margaret and Mary had worried about who was on his porch.

Moving past the two women, he headed toward the steps and slowly climbed to the porch.
Father, guide me,
he prayed silently, wondering how this woman had found his address.

Her black skirt hung at an odd angle and stopped just above her knees—it might have once been a possible accessory to a business suit. However, one boot was missing a heel, and her sweater hung off one shoulder, nearly exposing areas that Dakota had no business seeing. Her hair was ratted, big enough a bird’s nest could hide in it, and the smeared and caked-on makeup on her face easily added a pound to her weight—her very light
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