Second Chance in Dry Creek. Janet Tronstad
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to go into the foster-care system if something happens.”
Calen paused at that and looked at the sheriff. “Is that what they’ll do? Send her away?”
The sheriff thought a minute. “I need to call family services in when I arrest someone and they have a child with them. Of course, until the arrest, I don’t have much need to. As long as I know the child’s safe.”
“You can’t let Tessie go into the foster-care system,” Gracie protested. “The poor thing is terrified already.”
She could feel how fragile the child was.
“Foster care is no place for a toddler,” Tyler added as he stepped around the sheriff and moved closer to the car. His voice challenged the lawman.
“I don’t know what the courts will do,” the sheriff said defensively. “But sometimes foster care is for the best.”
“No, it’s not,” Tyler said swiftly. “Not by a long shot.”
Gracie’s heart broke. Her two youngest sons had never complained to her about being sent to that state home when she went to prison, but she knew in that instant she could never do enough to make it up to them.
She looked up at Tyler. The light from the sheriff’s flashlight was directed at the letter in Calen’s hands, but it caught the expression on Tyler’s face as well. He was looking at the girl in her arms as if he dared anyone to take the child away.
Gracie forced herself to remain calm. Tessie was still asleep, her head lying on Gracie’s shoulder. She looked up then and saw the ranch foreman staring at them.
“I suppose you think I let my sons down, too,” Gracie said to Calen.
“I’m not one to judge,” he said.
* * *
Calen had too much pride to beg, either. He’d been bucked off a horse once, but he had walked back to camp without asking for help even though his leg bone was splintered. Seeing Gracie with his new granddaughter made him want to fall to his knees and plead with her to tell him what she had done to give peace to the girl.
“Tessie will live with me as long as she needs,” Calen said, the decision made in his heart before he spoke the words. “And no one is going to send Renee away for long. She’ll get well and be on her feet again in no time. She’d want Tessie to be with me.”
“I don’t know,” the sheriff cautioned him. “Renee could be looking at four counts of robbery. I wouldn’t go making any plans right now. Besides, the family-services folks are going to ask you how you’re going to take care of that little one if her mother doesn’t get out for a while.”
“She’ll live with me,” Calen repeated.
“I know that,” the sheriff answered with some irritation in his voice. “But they’re going to want to know if she has a bed to sleep in and a doll to play with—that kind of thing. They’re not going to be too impressed with her growing up in some bunkhouse filled with ranch hands and dirty socks.”
“The men at the Elkton Ranch keep the bunkhouse neat,” Calen said stiffly, as he realized he didn’t know the first thing about how to take care of a little girl. He could protect her, sure. Rattlesnakes or flash floods would be no problem. But he didn’t quite know what she would eat. Did she have teeth yet? He supposed she was past needing baby food.
The sheriff grunted. “Have you ever held a child in your arms?”
“I held Renee.”
The sheriff gave him a look. “Recently, I mean.”
“Babies are babies. They haven’t changed in the past twenty years.” Calen resolutely stepped closer to the car and crouched a little, holding out his arms to where Gracie sat with his granddaughter. “If you slide her out, I should be able to take her without even waking her up.”
It would come back to him, Calen told himself, hoping no one noticed the sweat forming on his forehead. He saw the mothers at church picking up their toddlers all the time. No one seemed to have a problem holding one. Even the fathers managed.
Gracie had barely let go of Tessie, laying her gently in his arms, when the girl jerked awake and screamed. She turned to Gracie so quickly and with such force that Calen almost dropped her.
“I’m sorry,” Calen said, as his granddaughter wrapped herself around Gracie’s neck and clung to the woman as if she was her only security in this frightening storm. “My hands must be cold.”
Gracie managed to give him a sympathetic glance while she began to rub Tessie on her back. “It’s not that.”
“Family services is not going to be impressed,” the sheriff muttered as he walked a little closer, too.
Calen was feeling a touch of panic.
“Maybe she’s hungry.” He should have thought of that earlier. Children liked to eat. He patted his shirt pockets. Sometimes he had a piece of hard candy there.
He found nothing.
Calen looked over to ask if anyone else had candy, but what he saw left him silent. It was like looking at one of those old masterpiece paintings of the Madonna and child. Gracie was humming a tune as she soothed Tessie. The girl had a good hold on the woman’s braid and had pulled it around to the front. But they were both calm, and Tessie had given up her terrified grip.
“I think—” Gracie said softly as she motioned for the sheriff to come closer. “Here—let’s see if she will go to you.”
Calen stepped back and watched as the sheriff confidently held out his arms to the girl. The sheriff had young daughters of his own and no doubt knew a few tricks.
No sooner had Gracie started to slide Tessie toward the sheriff than the girl started to screech even louder than before. The lawman stepped back in surprise.
“I didn’t mean any harm,” he sputtered. “Kids like me.”
“It’s not you,” Gracie said confidently. “The girl is just afraid of men in general.”
“But—” Calen started to protest. How was he going to take care of her if she was panic stricken around men? There were over a dozen men who lived in the bunkhouse. He might be able to get a trailer and park it near the ranch, but then who would watch Tessie while he worked? Would she learn to trust him? He suddenly realized this was all going to be more complicated than he had thought at first.
And then he saw the answer.
“She likes you,” Calen said to Gracie in relief. “Maybe I could hire you to come with us and help me take care of her—just while Renee is in the hospital.”
Gracie looked at him in astonishment. “Me? It’s been years since I had little children around. The mothers do everything different now. Diapers are different. Baby food—I don’t even know what has changed there. I think they puree their baby food now.”
“Looks like you’re doing fine to me,” the sheriff said staunchly.
“I’ll lend you a book if you need one,” Tyler offered as he stepped over. “In fact, I think Angelina just got another baby book.”
“But she’s not due for five months,” Gracie protested, at least momentarily distracted from Calen’s offer.
Tyler shrugged and grinned. “She believes in preparation.”
Gracie’s face softened.
“So, you’ll do it?” Calen pressed. He figured he better take advantage of the sentimental moment. If the woman had time to think, she’d refuse. “Ten dollars an hour sound okay?”
“I can’t take your money.”
“Well, I have to pay you something,” Calen insisted, feeling a little frantic. He knew that if Gracie made a deal with him, she would honor