Jessie's Child

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Jessie smiled at her mother’s automatic response and her father’s swift grimace.

“Sorry, hon.”

“What are you doing away from your office in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, Jess? Playing hooky?” Chase set a tall glass half-filled with ice in front of his father and an identical glass at an empty spot next to Jessie. He pulled out the chair and sat down before reaching for the pitcher of cold tea.

Jessie shrugged. “I decided it was too nice a day to spend inside a stuffy office. One of the perks of being self-employed.”

“True.” He deftly swiped the remaining cookie from her plate and took a bite.

“Hey. That’s mine.”

“Not now it isn’t.” He grinned at her and popped the rest of the cookie into his mouth.

Jessie frowned at him, shrugged and turned to her father. “Mom told me you have a new plane, Dad.”

John’s eyes lit up. “Yeah.” He launched into details while Jessie listened, nodding on occasion.

“Jessie,” Chase interrupted after several minutes, pointing out the window. “Did you tell Rowdy he and Muttly could dig a hole in Mom’s flower bed?”

“What?” Jessie followed his gaze and jumped up. “Oh, no! That boy…!”

The three left sitting at the table watched her run out of the kitchen and dash across the lawn to where Rowdy and the big dog were industriously removing rich soil from the flower bed to make a dark pile on the green grass.

“He reminds me of you at that age, Chase,” Margaret commented, laughing out loud when Rowdy looked up and grinned angelically at Jessie.

“You mean because he gets in trouble with his mother too often?” A rare smile curved Chase’s mouth before his eyes narrowed consideringly over the three outside. “Is everything okay with Jessie, Mom? It’s not like her to skip off work.”

Margaret sighed. “She’s worrying about Rowdy needing his father in his life.”

“Why the hell does he need his father?” Chase shot back, frowning. “The guy bailed on Jessie when she found out she was pregnant. That’s not the kind of responsible parent the kid needs.”

“You and Luke keep saying he abandoned her,” Margaret said. “But Jessie has told you repeatedly that she couldn’t reach him to tell him about Rowdy.”

“It’s all the same in the end, isn’t it? The bottom line is, the SOB didn’t make sure Jessie didn’t get pregnant. I’d like five minutes alone with him in a locked room. Ten minutes would be better.”

“If I ever find him, you’ll have to take a number and stand in line.” John McCloud’s face was set in hard lines.

“Men.” Margaret heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Why is it you all seem to think a fistfight will solve everything?”

“Not everything,” her husband corrected. “But sometimes, it can go a long way toward getting justice.”

“Who’s getting justice?” Jessie asked.

Chase looked over his shoulder. “Justice is the one thing everyone deserves.”

Jessie looked puzzled but Rowdy squirmed, tugging against her hold on his arm and distracting her. “Mommy, why do I have to wash my hands and face? I’ll just get dirty again when I go back outside to play with Muttly.”

“I’m sure you will. But before you get dirtier, we’re going to wash off the current layer of dirt. And what do you say to Grammy for digging in her flower bed?”

“I’m sorry, Grammy,” he said sweetly. “Don’t be mad at Muttly, either. We were looking for the bone he buried.”

“Muttly buried a bone in my flower bed?” Margaret asked, surprised. “How do you know?”

“He told me.”

“He did?”

John and Chase exchanged amused grins.

“Yup.” Rowdy nodded, his voice muffled as it disappeared under the damp washcloth. “Muttly talks to me a lot.”

“I see.”

All four adults hid smiles and listened with interest to Rowdy’s recital of prior conversations with the big dog.

Jessie spent the rest of the day at her parents’ house and finally drove home after seven that evening. She would have stayed longer but if Rowdy wasn’t in bed by eight o’clock he’d be tired and cranky throughout the following day.

There were no messages on her answering machine and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Don’t be silly, she chided herself. Did you expect Zach to call? He probably hasn’t given you a second thought since he boarded that plane nearly four years ago.

The idea didn’t console her and she wasn’t sure if she was relieved Zach hadn’t called, or disappointed that he hadn’t immediately tried to contact her. She decided to ignore the niggle of disappointment and told herself she was glad he hadn’t left a message.

Two days later, Jessie was halfway between town and her parents’ ranch, on her way to pick up Rowdy after work, when her cell phone rang.

She rummaged in her bag on the passenger seat beside her, found her phone, glanced at the caller ID and smiled as she lifted it to her ear.

“Hi, Mom. What’s up?”

“Jessie, I’m glad I caught you before you drove all the way out here. I wanted to let you know that Rowdy isn’t here.”

“He’s not? Where is he?”

“Luke and Rachel were by this afternoon and took him back to their house to show him the new miniature horse Luke gave Rachel.”

Apprehension filled Jessie but she chatted with her mother for a few more minutes before hanging up as she neared the turnoff for Luke’s ranch. She sped down the lane to the cluster of buildings that made up the headquarters of McCloud Ranch Number 6. A strange pickup sat on the far side of Rachel’s car, and Jessie’s nerves stretched tighter, fluttering with foreboding.