Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3) (24 page)

“Are you going to give me a lecture for every little thing I do?”

“Jaydee
, it’s my job to keep kids safe. It’s what I do.”

“Did
you seriously just call me Jaydee? My name is J.D.”

“Would you rather I call you Judith?”

She finished off her orange juice and just shook her head. “I’d rather you just didn’t call me anything at all.”

“Oh, calm down and
tell me . . . are you planning on marrying Salvador when he finds out about the baby? I think you should.”

“Oh really? Well then I won’t
.”

“Haven’t you thought about the kind of life you’re bringing a child into?” asked Judas. “Honey, you really need to marry the boy. After all, you two made a mistake and you need to be responsible for it.”

“The way you and my mom were? You didn’t seem to act responsibly when you got her knocked up.”

“That’s different,” he protested. “I didn’t know she was pregnant.”

“Well Salvador doesn’t know I’m pregnant either, so it’s the same thing. And if you didn’t know mom was pregnant, then why were you going to marry her in the first place?”

“Because our parents wanted us to get married.”

“And did you want to?”

“I guess not. I just wasn’t
ready for such a commitment. That’s why I walked away, though I’m not proud of it.”

“And maybe I’m not ready for that kind of commitment either.”

“That’s too bad. You need to marry the guy, for the baby’s sake if nothing else.”

“Hi you two,” said Laney, walking up to the table at a very awkward moment. “Care if I join you?”

“I’m just leaving.” J.D. scooted out of the booth, her stomach getting so big she had a hard time standing.

“Did I interrupt something?” Laney looked from her daughter back to Judas.

“That’s an understatement,” mumbled Judas stirring his coffee vigorously with his spoon.

“Mom,
he told me I have to marry Salvador. But I’m not! Not unless I decide I want to.”

“Judas? What’s going on?” Laney looked over to him.

“Why don’t the three of us have a little talk?” asked Judas. “Laney, J.D., can you please sit back down?”

“I’m going to call Charolette and have her pick me up. Mom, I’ll be back later to help you with the store when the band gets here.” She stormed away, leaving Laney standing there with her mouth open.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened or not?” Laney slowly lowered herself into the booth across from him. “I thought you two were getting along so well this morning, but I guess I was wrong.”

“No, you were right,” said Judas, pouring a cup of coffee
from the pot on the table and handing it to her. “But with that child and her moods, you never know what you’re going to get.”

“Did you reall
y tell her she has to marry Salvador?” asked Laney taking a sip of coffee and looking up to him with those big green eyes.

“I’m her father, Laney. Of course
I did. I don’t want my teenage daughter being a single parent.”

“
But you don’t even know the boy or anything about him. And remember, I was in that same position at one time, so I understand what she’s going through. You just need to ease up on her and let her make her own decisions.”

“No, I don’t. S
he’s only seventeen and has no idea what the hell she’s gotten herself into.”

“And neither did I, but I survived.”

“And you got married too.”

“Not right away, and you also need to realize I didn’t marry the man who got me pregnant. Maybe J.D. will marry someone else down the road, just give her some time.”

“Laney, if this is about us, I told you I was sorry. I had no idea you were pregnant at the time.”

“And if you’d known, would you have married me without our parents insisting?”

Judas thought about that, realizing he couldn’t answer yes without feeling like somehow maybe it wasn’t the truth. “I was young and foolish,” he told her. “Hell, I don’t know what I would have done, but all that matters is that we’re married now, sweetheart.” He reached out and touched her hands from across the table.

“Tell me that one of the reasons you walked away wasn’t because you were headstrong and our parents were making us get married.”

Suddenly, Judas realized that Laney was right. That had been one of the reasons he’d left her at the altar all those years ago. He didn’t like anyone telling him what he had to do. And especially not his father. He’d thought he’d be hurting his father by walking away but now he realized he’d only been hurting Laney instead.

“All right, maybe you’re right and we should just let J.D. decide who and when she’ll m
arry. But I still don’t like it,” he finally agreed.

“As parents who care about their child more than life itself, that’s to be expected,” she told him. “We’re not always going to like her decisions, but how else will she learn from her mistakes if we keep interfering and stopping her from making them?”

“So then what do we do?” he asked.

“I think we wait til later and you meet the boy first. Then, after the car show and festival is over, maybe the three of us can talk like we should have
done to begin with, and we can tell J.D. that the decision is hers.”

“I’ll do the best I can to act like nothing’s bothering me,” Jud
as told her. “But seeing the band that was once your husband’s is not going to be easy for me.”

“And neither is it
going to be easy for me,” she said, reminding him what she was going through as well.

Judas thought about that for a moment, realizing he had never considered how Laney was going to feel about this whole situation. He saw her clutching her crystal and took a deep breath and released it the way she’d taught them in the meditation class. Then he got up, ready to start his day that was probably going to feel like the longest day of his life.

Chapter 23

The car show and end of the summer festival started, and tourists flocked into town not only to see the old cars but also to witness the goats on the roof. The restaurant had been so busy that Candace had planned on coming to help Laney, but had to back out at the last minute. Thomas proudly showed off the 1964 Mustang he and his son Dan had refurbished, and it looked beautiful, painted in a shiny turquoise color. And they were happy that one of the first people who looked at it already bought it. That money went to Thomas but he agreed to donate half to the town’s fundraiser, which was very generous of him.

And when the crowds started sw
arming into her antique shop Laney knew she’d better call for backup, and phoned J.D. to tell her and Charolette that she needed their help.

The tables for the crafts and bake
sale were set up between Winston’s Mercantile and the Sweet Water Feed Store right next door to Laney. Mabel Durnsby was manning the stand by herself since Candace had to recruit a few of the women’s club to wait on the extra tables they had set up outside the restaurant. People seemed to love the idea of watching the goats on the roof while they ate the latest healthy creations Candace and Levi had concocted.

T
he feed store was selling a batch of rabbits and a litter of kittens that seemed to attract all the kids. Zeke, Thomas’s eleven-year-old son was great with animals and was walking around the festival with a rabbit or kitten in his hands and was doing a wonderful job selling them and finding them all homes.

There were some carnival rides set up in the parking lot of Kramer’s Gas Station, and tables and chairs set up in front of the laundry mat and convenient store where some of the high school girls were doing face painting on the kids or braiding beads into their hair.

And the 4H club had a petting zoo set up in the grass next to the church. Thomas’s sons, Sam and Dan, and Gus’s daughter Maryanne were selling rides atop Thomas’s two horses to raise money for the fire station as well.

But the biggest draw was the raffle
that was set up right outside the police station. Some of the prizes included riding with Judas and following him around for the day, being assistant mayor with Levi, and every shop owner donated a gift to raffle off as well.

Candace had donated gift certificates for the restaurant and
Laney had donated a big cushy pillow with a crystal, a candle and some incense. Mabel had been buying tickets all day long hoping to win the ornate pillow, and Laney knew that what Levi said could be true. The woman must be repressed and was attracted to the lusty vibes Laney and Judas were leaving all over the shop.

“Laney, I need help over here,” shouted Mabel, packing up another couple birdseed bars into a bag and taking a tourist’s money.

“Here’s J.D. and Charolette now,” said Laney, seeing them walking down the sidewalk, having had to park two blocks away because of all the traffic.

“J.D. hurry up, we need you.” Laney thanked a customer and handed them the lamp they’d bought and hurried over to greet her daughter. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “You don’t look well, sweetie.”

“I think that big breakfast is coming back on me.”

“It’s called heartburn,” Laney told her. “You should have eaten my oatmeal after all.”

“I don’t know, Mom, I’m just feeling weird today. I think I need to sit down.”

“All right, go on in the shop and sit down
, but please be there for the customers.”

“What can I do?” asked Charolette.

Laney looked back to Mabel and knew the woman needed an extra pair of hands. She also knew Mabel would never agree to having Charolette help her, but this was a perfect opportunity for the woman to see that Charolette wasn’t as bad as everyone thought.

“You’re going to help Mrs. Durnsby with the bake sale,” she said leading her over to the stand.

“Oh no, I don’t want her,” said Mabel looking over her shoulder.

“Take a deep breath and release all your f
rustrations,” Laney told the old woman. “Now, you don’t really have a choice, you need help. And Charolette is good with customers so give her a chance.”

“Maybe male customers,” sniffed Mabel and looked the other way.

“Mabel?” asked Laney taking her by the arm. “Please, just for today.”

Mabel looked at Charolette and the girl actually smiled at her.

“If you need me to run back and forth to the restaurant to bring more baked goods, I’ve got my running shoes on today,” Charolette offered, showing her the bright green shoes with hot pink laces.

“Well,” said Mabel, eyeing up the girl and making a face. Then she looked at Laney and took a deep breath and released it slowly. “All right, just for today. But no flirting with the boys
, young lady.”

Laney smiled and walked back to her shop, helping a few more customers when she s
aw a van pull up by the bandstand in the center of the town square. The bandstand was a raised pavilion covered by a tall, pointed wooden roof and surrounded by wooden railings as well. There were lots of folding chairs set up around it that the kids had brought over from the basement of the church.

Laney
knew that van very well, as it was Spyder’s. It had spiders and webs and red squiggles painted on the outside and in neon lettering, the name of the band – The Spyder Veins. It did not fit in with anything in this conservative little town at all.

“Thank you for shopping and have a great day,” said Laney to a customer and then stuck her head into the door of the shop. “J.D. the band is here. You’d better come out.”

J.D. was lying on one of the antique couches with her feet up on the arm of it. She sat up slowly, took her time getting off the couch and waddled toward the door. She stopped, her hand on her stomach and her eyes fastened to the band as they unloaded their equipment and started to set up on the bandstand.

“I’m scared, Mom. What if Salvador
doesn’t care about me or the baby?”

“I thought it didn’t matter to you.” She put her hand on J.D.’s shoulder.

“I just told Judas that because he was bugging me to get married. But I really do care about Salvador. If he asks me to marry him, I’m thinking of saying yes. Do you think he will?”

“Well, we’re never going to find out by standing here. Why don’t you go over there and greet him?”

“Come with me,” she said, grabbing Laney’s hand.

“I can’t leave the shop,” she told her, looking around at all the customers.

“I can’t do this by myself. Please,” J.D. begged her.

Laney
’s hand went to her crystal and she took a deep breath and then released it. She couldn’t let her daughter go through this alone when she was begging for her help for one of the first times in her life. But Laney didn’t really want to see the band members. She’d been preoccupied with so many things since Spyder’s death that she hadn’t had to think about her past. But now it was here and staring her in the face.

“All right,” she said, clutching her crystal. “I’ll get Charolette to cover whi
le I go over there with you, but you’re the one who is going to have to tell the boy that he is the father of your baby.”