Rescue Me (Colorado Blues) (10 page)

Rory
groaned when he recognized the truck coming up the hill toward the house. “Not
now, Tyson.”

“Well,
lookie here, another spunky cowboy and this one looks like he’s single. Please
correct me if I’m wrong.” Layla glanced at the family and when they didn’t say
anything, she whistled and sauntered toward him, her hips sashaying seductively.
Tyson got out and looked at her. She reached out her hand when she got to the
truck. “Hi, I’m Layla.”

Tyson
stood with his mouth half open, dumbstruck at the sight of the blonde beauty in
front of him.

“Never
seen him without a word to say before. I think I kinda like it.” Chance spoke
over his shoulder to Rory as they all stood together and watched the scene
unfold.

“Chance,
you want to introduce me to this lovely young man. Seems he’s a little
awestruck and lost his tongue.” Layla looked over her shoulder, her eyes beckoning
him to help her.

Rory
snorted. “This I gotta see. Should be worth a laugh and a half.” He stood with
his hand around Gina and watched as his elder brother made the introductions.

“What
will we do if he wants to stay and won’t go home?” Her eyes were wide with
fear. “I don’t know if I want to talk about everything with Layla while he’s
here. You know what his attitude is like.”

“He’ll
be fine, don’t worry so much. I promise not to leave you alone with him.”

Gina
tried to relax but with Tyson here and the impending conversation with the
lawyer, he could feel she was far too tense. Even watching Layla try to charm
her future brother-in-law didn’t calm Gina down any.

“You’ll
have to show me your ranch soon. I just adore horses. Never had the chance to
own one growing up and now I live in the city, it’s just not possible. I don’t
suppose you happen to know a cowboy who’s good at teaching a silly city girl
like me to ride, do you?” She ran her hand down his arm, resting her fingers on
his wrist.

Tyson’s
face turned beet red as they watched him struggling to cope with the gorgeous
women almost throwing herself at him.

“Don’t
think he knows what to do with her, do you?” Rory heard Chance whispering to
Callie who stood transfixed by the exchange and sniggered.

“This
is hilarious. Just you wait until I get him alone, he’s not going to live this
one down.”

Just
then Fisher started to get restless in Callie’s arms, so Gina took him inside
to feed him dinner. Rory offered to help bath him and ready him for bed after
Fisher had been fed, but for now he wanted to stay and watch the show. Chance
sidled over and punched him on the arm. “Bet you a hundred bucks she has a ring
on her finger within the month.”

“No
way. She’s a city girl, look at her. All flash clothes and high powered legal
stuff. Tyson would never move to the city and give up his ranch.”

“You
might be proven wrong there, brother. I wouldn’t be surprised if Layla already
has it planned out. Nothing if not determined and focused, that one, just you
wait and see.”

“And
just how do you know her?” Callie looked up at him. “You seem to be pretty
close, so come clean, pal.”

Chance
laughed. “She took care of any legal business I had. Contracts and the like
plus a couple of, um how shall we say, paternity suits that got thrown my way
from women I hardly even knew.”

Callie’s
face dropped and her mouth went wide in shock. “You mean as in you took them to
bed without getting to know them, or they were just crazed fans who were
pulling a fast one on you?”

“Crazed
fans. Although I did date one of the questionable ladies who filed against me.
Never quite got her to bed though. lLittle bit on the unbalanced side as I
found out when we were halfway through dessert.”

“Hmm,
it took you that long. What can I say?” She shook her head. “I thought you were
faster than that.”

“You
know I am, baby. I prove it to you every night, don’t I?”

Rory
watched the byplay between the two of them and hoped this latest hiccup would
be cleared up soon so he could marry Gina and get on with their lives. He hated
to see her struggling with everything being thrown at her the way it was. It
seemed very unfair. He knew how life went some days. You just had to roll with
it and do the best you could. He knew that from experience.

***

Gina’s
hopes of getting Tyson out of the way before they started talking over her case
were dashed when he followed Layla inside, like a hungry puppy after a big
juicy bone. He looked totally besotted with her and Gina couldn’t blame him. She
was stunning and seemed like such a determined person. Layla was put together
like the perfect package, and Gina felt inadequate beside her.

Rory
took the sleepy little boy from her arms and carried him upstairs, leaving her
at a loss for something to do to keep her hands busy. Her nerves were shot and
having Tyson around didn’t do anything to help.

“Right,
let’s get this started, shall we?” Layla picked up her briefcase just as Rory
walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

He
came over and put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. “It’ll be
fine, stop stressing.”

She
took a deep breath and let herself be led to the dining table where everyone
else had already taken a seat.

“Right.”
Layla took out a legal pad, pen, and a sheath of papers. “This is what I have
so far. Feel free to interrupt anytime, Gina and give me the facts as you know
them. I want to keep on track with this so let’s keep assumptions to a minimum
please and if you have nothing to add, keep your opinion to yourselves.” She
looked at everyone around the table in turn.

Gina
glanced at Tyson, but his gaze remained locked on Layla.

“Right,
Mr. and Mrs. Bellingham have filed suit for the sole custody of your son,
Fisher. The reasons behind this are as follows. You are being cited as an unfit
mother.” Layla looked at her. “From what I can find out, they’ve done some
digging around and found out about your family history.”

Gina
felt the blood drain from her face and gripped the edge of the table.

“Your
father died as a drug addict who had never sought rehabilitation no matter how
many times the courts ordered it. He is classed as being an undesirable
influence on you growing up and therefore they think you are unfit to raise
their grandson. There is also speculation of your own drug use.”

Stars
formed in front of her eyes and her breathing turned ragged.

“You
are accused of being the person who introduced their son to drugs and also supplying
him as well.” Layla flicked her hair back and looked at Gina. “This is a
serious charge and you’re going to have the battle of all battles on your
hands. These guys pull a lot of weight and have the money to hire the best there
is. I wouldn’t be surprised if they start a smear campaign against you just to
help leverage things in their favor.”

“That’s
not legal, surely?” Callie glanced between Gina and the lawyer.

“No
its not, and if it’s their lawyer doing it, dropping snippets to the media from
‘an undisclosed source’—and you can be sure they won’t dirty their hands personally
like that anyway—they can claim no prior knowledge and get away with it.
Besides, by then the public will be on the grandparent’s side and no jury would
hand a child back to someone who’s looking like a drug dealer. Would you?”

Callie
frowned. “That’s not right. Gina would never do that, look at her.”

“We
have to deal with facts so this is what we do.” She turned to Gina. “I know
this is hard on you but I have to do this to you if we have any possible chance
of winning. I want to do a drug test first. How long did you know Aden?”

Gina
licked her lips, trying to get moisture back in her mouth before she answered.
“Um, I met him about eight months before I became pregnant. Fisher is nearly fourteen
months old now so almost three years ago.”

“Right.”
She made notes on her legal pad. “Did you do drugs in the time you were
together or the time prior to meeting him?”

“I’ve
never done drugs.”

“Ever?
Not even tried them at a party, even just once.”

“No.
Not even once. I saw what they did to my father.”

A
smile curved Layla’s lips. “So long as this is proven by the test, it will go a
long way to saving your ass. How long did it take you grow your hair that long,
four five years?”

“I
guess that’s about right.”

“Long
enough for our purposes then. I don’t care what you did before that.” She made
a note on her legal pad before looking back at Gina.

 “So
just to clarify things, the drug test isn’t going to give me any surprises then,
you’re sure about that?”

Gina
shook her head and he noticed the sheen of tears in her eyes. This had to be
hard for her as well as embarrassing to air her history in front of people she
hardly really knew. When Layla had started asking questions her face had gone
pale and Rory hoped she didn’t pass out. He’d never seen anyone as frightened
as she was.

“I
need a hair sample. Luckily you have long hair which makes things so much
easier. It will show us what you’ve taken in the way of substances over the
last few years. It’ll get tested in an independent facility that is approved by
the courts.” She made another note on her pad.

“They’re
hinting at supplying their son as well as getting him addicted. How did you
meet Aden? Can you tell me that?”

“I
worked as a waitress. He came in one day with some friends to the café where I
worked and then he kept coming back.” She glanced quickly at Rory who couldn’t
help but watch her. “We hit it off really well and started dating soon after
that.”

“So
you didn’t know who he was?”

“No.
He looked the same as most of the crowd that came in. College type kids who
never really had much money.”

“When
did you notice he was doing drugs?”

***

Gina
sighed and thought back. “I think it was after he’d moved in with me. I never
had much of value but one day I noticed things missing. When I asked him about
it, he snapped and said I was crazy and asked if I was I accusing him of
something.” She looked around the table. “I had no one to turn to, not a soul
since my father died and I was lonely. I tried not to upset him because I
didn’t want to make him leave. More and more went missing including the money I
used to stash away for rent.”

“So
he stole from you to support his drug habit?”

“Yes,
at least that’s what I believe. We were the only two in the apartment.”

“How
did he die?” Layla looked at papers from her file. “From all accounts, he
wasn’t formally identified at the time of his death.”

“I
knew very little about him really. I know it might sound strange to you, he
didn’t like to talk about himself and at the time I didn’t care. I was happy he
was with me.”

“So,
he died how?” Layla looked pointedly at her waiting for an answer.

“I
woke up one morning to go to work and found him dead next to me. He’d overdosed.
I freaked out and didn’t know what to do.”

“So,
help me out here, Gina. Just give me the whole damned story. It would be
helpful in this instance if you could elaborate and I didn’t have to pull every
sentence from you like this.”

“Hey,
go easy on her. Can’t you see she’s upset?” Rory turned on the lawyer and
growled in warning before facing Gina again. His face softened, the big
protective policeman turned into the soft hearted man she loved in the blink of
an eye. When he reached out to touch her, Gina tried to smile and reassure him
she was okay. Layla was right, this had to be done.

“Settle
down, Sheriff. If they get her on the stand, what I’m doing now will seem like
child’s play. Sit down and behave yourself.”

“Gina?”

“I
didn’t know what to do. He still had the needle in his arm and he was cold. So
very cold.” She shuddered and rubbed her arms even though the house was warm.
“I don’t know how long I sat there watching him. Eventually I called the police
and they came.”

“They
didn’t ask for identification?”

“Yes
they did. I couldn’t find his wallet at first. I found it later when I got over
the shock and gave it to them. He didn’t have much of anything apart from a few
clothes. Everything in the apartment was mine.”

“What
was he like?” Layla leaned back in her chair and tapped the pen on her lips.

“He
could be very sweet. Then he would change and be erratic and snappy. I never
knew when he was going to erupt.”

“And
you never found any evidence of drug use in the house?”

“No.
I guess I never tried to find any. It’s not like I knew for sure he used drugs,
more of a guess I suppose. The erratic behavior should have alerted me, but it
was easier to pretend it wasn’t there. I didn’t want to upset him and get into
an argument.”

“Fair
enough. So when the police questioned you, what did you tell them?”

“Exactly
what I’ve told you.” Gina licked her lips and glanced at Rory. “They came back
again the next day and grilled me again. I let them look for drugs but there
weren’t any. There was nothing that gave any clue as to who he really was and
they said he’d be classed as just another unidentified person unless someone
came forward. His wallet was under the seat of my car, although that didn’t
give them much to go on anyway.”

“What
did you do then? Did you know you were pregnant?”

“No.
I found out a couple of weeks later. I had nobody to turn to.” She ignored the
look of pity in Rory’s eyes. “The rent was overdue because of, well Aden I
guess, so I packed up what I could, sold what I couldn’t, and walked out.”

“Right,
I can use this. Where did you go? Give me all the details you can too, please.”
Layla leaned forward and watched her with piercing eyes, making Gina feel like
a bug on a pin.

“I
took what I could fit into my car and went to a flop house and rented a room. They
didn’t ask for bond and it was all I could afford. I stayed there until I moved
over here.”

“Yes,
we’ll get to that in a moment. Back to the, ah living accommodations. You moved
into this room. You were pregnant. You had little or no money, correct.”

Gina
nodded her head.

“You
continued to work at the café?”

“Yes,
right up until Fisher was born. I had a couple of days off and then found
another job. My boss wouldn’t hold my position for me.” She held her head up
high, determined not to feel bad about what had already passed.

“Who
looked after the baby while you were working?”

“I
made friends with an elderly lady. We used to share the kitchen and some days
we shared what little food we had. She offered to look after Fisher while I
went back to work and I paid her what I could. It worked for both of us until
my shifts got cut and I couldn’t pay for my room anymore.”