The Soldier's Redemption

After a grave handshake, Willie looked up at her. “Wouldn’t mind having a little guy around here. Always did like to take my grandkids fishing.” He waved an arm in the direction of the pond she’d seen. “We keep it stocked.”

Kayla’s heart melted, just at the edges. Grandfather figures for Leo? A chance for him to learn to fish?

There was a low woof from inside the screen door and a responding one from the porch. A large black dog she hadn’t seen before lumbered to its feet.

“About time you noticed there’s some new folks here,” Long John said, reaching from his chair to run a hand over the black dog’s bony spine. “Rockette, here, don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the world these days. Not unless her friend Duke wakes her up.”

Willie opened the screen door. A gray-muzzled pit bull sauntered out.

“Duke. Sit.” Willie made a hand gesture, and Duke obediently dropped to his haunches, his tongue lolling out. Willie slipped a treat from the pocket of his baggy jeans and fed it to the dog.

Leo took two steps closer to the old black dog, reached out and touched its side with the tips of his fingers.

“One of our agreements, for anyone who lives in the cabins, is that they take in a dog,” Finn explained. “Gives them a little extra attention. Especially the ones not likely to be adopted.”

Leo tugged Kayla’s hand. “Would we have a dog?”

“Maybe.” She put seriousness into her voice so he wouldn’t get his hopes up. “It all depends if Mr. Gallagher decides to offer me the job, and if I take it. Those are grown-up decisions.”

“Sure could use the help,” Long John said, lowering himself back into his chair with a stifled groan. “Me and Willie been doing our best, but...” He waved a hand at a walker folded against the porch railing. “With my Parkinson’s, it’s not that easy.”

“Hardly anyone else has applied,” Willie added. “Don’t get many out-of-towners around these parts. And the people who live in Esperanza Springs heard we’re gonna have more guys up here. They get skittish.” He winked at Kayla. “We vets are gentle as lambs, though, once you get to know us.”

“Right.” She had direct experience to the contrary.

At first, before her marriage had gone so far downhill, she hadn’t translated Mitch’s problems into a mistrust of all military personnel. Later, it had been impossible to avoid doing just that.

When Mitch had pushed his way into her place well after their divorce was final—talking crazy and roughing her up—she’d gone to the police.

She hadn’t wanted to file a complaint, which had been stupid. She’d just wanted to know her options, whether a protection order would do any good.

What she hadn’t known was that the police officer she’d spoken with was army, too. Hadn’t known he drank with Mitch at the Legion.

The cop had let Mitch know that she’d reported him, and she still bore the bruises from when he’d come back over to her place, enraged, looking for blood.

Shaking off her thoughts, she watched Long John talk with Finn while Willie plucked at his guitar and then held it out to show Leo. The two veterans did exude a gentle vibe. But then, their wartime experiences were distant, their aggressions most likely tamed through age and experience.

“Let’s take a look at the kennels,” Finn said and nodded toward the barn. “Later, guys.”

Just outside the barn, Finn turned and gestured for Leo to stand in front of him. After a nod from Kayla, Leo did, his eyes lowered, shoulders frozen in a slump.

“I want you to ask before you touch a dog, Leo,” he said. “Most of them are real nice, but a couple are nervous enough to lash out. So ask an adult first, and never, ever open a kennel without an adult there to help you. Understand?”

Leo nodded, taking a step closer to Kayla.

“Good.” Finn turned toward the barn door and beckoned for them to follow him.

Much barking greeted their entry into the dim barn. Finn flicked on a light, revealing kennels along both sides of the old structure and more halfway up the middle. One end of the barn was walled off into what looked like an office.

Finn walked down the row of dogs, telling her their names, reaching through some of the wire fencing to stroke noses. His fondness for the animals was obvious in his tone and his gentle touch. “All of them are seniors,” he explained over his shoulder. “Which is about seven and up for a big dog, eight or nine for a little one.”

“Where do they come from?” she asked. The barking had died down, and most of the dogs stood at the gates of their kennels, tails wagging, eyes begging for attention.

“Owner surrenders, mostly. Couple of strays.”

She knelt to look at a red-gold dog, probably an Irish setter mix. “Why would anyone give you up, sweetie?” She reached between the cage wires to touch the dog’s white muzzle, seeming to read sadness in its eyes.

“Lots of reasons,” Finn said. “People move. Or they don’t have money for food and vet bills. Sometimes, they just don’t want to deal with a dog that requires some extra care.” He knelt beside her. “Lola, here, she can’t make it up and down stairs. Her owner lived in a two-story house, so...”

“They couldn’t carry her up and down?”

“Apparently not.”

“Can I pet her, too, Mom?” Leo asked, forgetting to be quiet.

Kayla looked over at Finn. “Can he?”

“She’s harmless. Go ahead.”

As Leo stuck fingers into the cage of the tail-wagging Lola, Finn turned toward Kayla. “Most of our dogs are really gentle, just like I was telling Leo. The ones that are reactive have a red star on their cages.” He pointed to one on the cage of a medium-sized brown dog, some kind of Doberman mix. “Those, you both stay away from. If the job works out, we’ll talk about getting you some training for handling difficult dogs.”

If the job worked out. Would it work out? Did she want it to?

Finn had moved farther down the row of cages, and he made a small sound of concern and opened one, guiding a black cocker spaniel out and attaching a leash to her collar. He bent over the little dog, rubbing his hands up and down her sides. “It’s okay,” he murmured as the dog wagged her tail and leaned against him. “You’re okay.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Her cage is a mess. She knocked over her water and spilled her food.” He scratched behind her ears. “Never has an accident, though, do you, girl?”

Kayla felt her shoulders loosen just a fraction. If Finn was that kind and gentle with a little dog, maybe he was a safe person to be around.

“Could you hold her leash while I clean up her cage?” he asked, looking over at Kayla. “In fact, if you wouldn’t mind, she needs to go outside.”

“No problem.” She moved to take the leash and knelt down, Leo hurrying to her side.

“Careful,” Finn warned. “She’s blind and mostly deaf. You have to guide her or she’ll run into things.”

“How can she walk?” Leo asked, squatting down beside Kayla and petting the dog’s back as Finn had done. “Mom, feel her! She’s soft!”

Kayla put her hand in the dog’s fur, shiny and luxuriant. “She is soft.”

“She still has a good sense of smell,” Finn explained to Leo. “And the sun and grass feel good to her. You’ll see.” He gestured toward the door at the opposite end of the barn. “There’s a nice meadow out there where the dogs can run.”

She and Leo walked toward the barn’s door, guiding the dog around an ancient tractor and bins of dog food. In the bright meadow outside, Kayla inhaled the sweet, pungent scents of pine and wildflowers.

“Look, Mom, she’s on her back!” Leo said. “She likes it out here!”

Kayla nodded, kneeling beside Leo to watch the little black dog’s ecstatic rolling and arching. “She sure does. No matter that she has some problems—nobody likes to be in a cage.”

A few minutes later, Finn came out, leading another dog. “I see you’ve figured out her favorite activity,” he said. “Thanks for helping.”

The dog he was leading, some kind of a beagle-basset mix, nudged the blind dog, and they sniffed each other. Then the hound jumped up and bumped her to the ground.

“He’s hurting her!” Leo cried and stepped toward the pair.

“Let them be.” Finn’s hands came down on Leo’s shoulders, gently stopping him.

Leo edged away and stood close to Kayla.

Finn lifted an eyebrow and then smiled reassuringly at Leo. “She’s a real friendly dog and likes to play. Wish I could find someone to adopt her, but with her disabilities, it’s hard. Willie and Long John can only handle one dog each. I have one of our problem dogs at my place—” He waved off toward a small house next to a bigger one, in the direction of the lodge. “And Penny—she owns the ranch—has another at hers. So for now, this girl stays in the kennel.”

If she and Leo stayed here, maybe they could take the black dog in. That would certainly make Leo happy. He’d sunk down to roll on the ground with the dogs, laughing as they licked his face, acting like a puppy himself. He hadn’t smiled so much in weeks.

And Kayla, who always weighed her choices carefully, who’d spent a year planning how to divorce Mitch, made a snap decision.

This place was safe. It was remote. Mitch would never find them. And maybe Leo could have a decent childhood for a while. Not forever, she didn’t expect that, but a little bit of a safe haven.

She looked over at Finn. He was smiling, too, watching Leo. It softened his hard-planed, square face, made him almost handsome. But as he watched, his mouth twisted a little, and his sea-blue eyes got distant.

She didn’t want him to sink into a bad mood. That was never good. “If I can arrange for the summer camp for Leo,” she said, “I’d be very interested in the job.”

He looked at her, then at Leo, and then at the distant mountains. “There’s paperwork, a reference check, drug tests. All that would have to be taken care of before we could offer you anything permanent.”

“Not a problem.” Not only did she have good references, but they were sworn to secrecy as to her whereabouts.

“I’ll have to talk to our owner, too.” His voice held reluctance.

Time to be blunt. “Is there some kind of problem you see in hiring me?”

“I’m withholding judgment,” he said. “But we do need someone soon, since our last assistant quit. Until everything’s finalized, how about a one-week trial?”

“That works.” Even if the job didn’t come together, she and Leo would get a week off the road.

With dogs.

Meanwhile, Finn’s extreme caution made her curious. “You never did mention what branch of the military you served in,” she said as he bent over to put leashes back on the two tired-out dogs.

“Eighty-second Airborne.”

Kayla sat down abruptly beside Leo, pulling her knees to herself on the grassy ground. She knew God was good and had a plan, but sometimes it seemed like He was toying with her.

Because this perfect new job meant involvement with a man from the same small, intensely loyal division of the US Army as her abusive ex.

Chapter Two

“You sure you’re not making a big mistake?” Penny Jordan asked Finn two days later.

It was Saturday afternoon, and they were sitting in Penny’s office, watching out the window as Kayla’s subcompact sputtered up the dirt road to cabin six, leaving a trail of black exhaust in its wake.

“No.” Finn watched as Kayla exited the car and opened the back door. Leo climbed out, and they opened the hatch and stood, surveying its contents. Leo looked up at her, listening seriously, like an adult. “I think it probably is a mistake, but I couldn’t talk her out of wanting the job. So I went with the one-week trial.”

“But she’s moving in.” Penny, ten years older than Finn but at least twenty times wiser, took a gulp of black coffee from her oversize cup. “That doesn’t seem like a trial thing to do.”

“They were staying at the campground up toward Harmony.” He eased his leg off the chair where he’d been resting it, grimacing. “Afternoon thunderstorms are getting bad. At least they’ll have a roof over their heads.”

“You’re skirting the issue.” Penny leaned forward, elbows on the table. “She has a young son.”

“I know, and even though she says she’s got a plan for childcare, I don’t know that it’s safe for him—”

“Finn.” Penny put a hand on his arm. “You know what I’m talking about.”

He wasn’t going there. “Guess I’d better get up there and help ’em move in.”

“You’re going to have to face what happened one of these days,” she said, standing up with her trademark speed and grace. “I’ll come, too. Gotta meet the woman who broke through your three-foot-thick walls.”

“She didn’t break through—it’s a trial,” he emphasized. “She knows the deal. And yes, you should meet her, because when she’s not working kennels she can do housekeeping for you. Free you up for the real work.”

Penny put her hands on her hips and arched forward and sideways, stretching her back. She was slim, with one long braid down her back and fine wrinkles fanning out from the corners of her eyes, the result of years spent outdoors in the Western sun. Not a trace of makeup, but she didn’t need it; she was naturally pretty. Big heart, too.

She didn’t deserve what had happened to her.

“Speaking of the real work,” she said, “we might have two more vets coming in within the next six weeks.”

“Oh?”

“Guy’s classic PTSD, right out of Iraq. The woman...” Penny shook her head. “She’s been through it. Scarred up almost as bad as Daniela was.” Penny walked over to the window and looked out, her forehead wrinkling. “I’m going to put her in the cabin next to your new hire. She’ll be more comfortable farther away from the guys.”

Finn nodded. Daniela Jiminez had only recently left the ranch to marry another short-term resident, Gabriel Shafer. They’d stopped in to visit after their honeymoon, and their obvious joy mostly made Finn happy. He’d never experience that for himself, didn’t deserve to, but he was glad to have had a small part in getting Gabe and Daniela together.

They walked down the sunny lane to the cabins. Finn kept up with Penny’s quick stride even though he wasn’t using his cane; it was a good day.

When they were halfway down, Willie’s truck came toward them and glided to a halt. “Hitting the roadhouse for dinner and then a little boot scootin’,” Willie said out the window. “You should come along, Finn. Meet somebody.”

Penny rolled her eyes. “Men.”

“Like Finn’s gonna get a lady friend,” Long John said from the passenger seat.

“You think you’ve got better odds?” Finn asked, meaning it as a joke. Everyone knew he didn’t go out, didn’t date. Those who pushed had gotten their heads bitten off and learned a lesson. Willie and Long John, though, were more persistent than most.

“We’ve both got better odds because we know how to smile and socialize,” Willie said. “Ladies around here love us.”

That was probably true. Unlike Finn, they both had the capacity for connection, the ability to form good relationships. He, on the other hand, didn’t have the personality that meshed easily with a woman’s. Too quiet, too serious. Deirdre had thrown that fact at him every time he caught her cheating.

“Y’all be careful, now,” Penny said, giving the two men a stern look. “You know we don’t hold with drinking at the ranch, and that roadhouse is the eye of the storm.”

“Rum and coke, hold the rum,” Willie promised.

“Scout’s honor,” Long John said, holding up a hand in mock salute.

The truck pulled away, and a couple of minutes later Finn and Penny reached the cabin driveway where Kayla was unloading her car. She put down her box, picked up a red rubber ball and squatted in front of her son. “You say hello,” she told the boy, “and then you can go throw the ball against the house.”

The little boy swallowed, and his eyes darted in their direction and away. “Hi,” he said and then grabbed the ball and ran to the side of the cabin.

“He’s a little shy,” Kayla said. She extended a hand to Penny. “I’m Kayla White. Are you Penny?”

“That’s right.” Penny gave Kayla a frank appraisal. “I’m glad to meet you. Looking forward to having a little help around here. See how you like the work. And how the work likes you. Cleaning up after dogs isn’t for everyone.”

“I’ve done worse.” Kayla’s color rose, like she’d read a challenge under Penny’s words. “I appreciate the chance to stay in the cabin, but we’re not going to really settle in until the trial week’s over. I know the job wasn’t intended for a mother and child.”

“Sometimes the Good Lord surprises us,” Penny said. “Now, what can we do to help you move in?”

“Not a thing.” Kayla brushed her hands on the sides of her jeans. “I’m about done. And I can do some work tomorrow, although it’ll be limited by Leo. I’m going to have him try that church camp on Monday.” She shaded her eyes to watch her son as he threw the ball against the house, caught it and threw it again.

Looking at young Leo, Finn felt the lid on his memories start to come loose. Derek had loved to play ball, too. Finn had spent a lot of time teaching him to throw and catch and use a bat. Things a father was supposed to teach his son.

His throat tightened, and he coughed to clear it. “We’ll take care of the work your first day here. You can start on Monday.” He was feeling the urge to be away from her and her child.

She looked from Finn to Penny. “Well, but you’re giving me a place to stay early. I don’t want to be beholden.” She pushed back a strand of chocolate hair that had escaped her ponytail and fallen into her eyes.

She was compact, but strong, with looks that grew on you slowly. Good thing she wasn’t his type. Back when he was in the market for a woman, he’d gone for bigger, bouncier, louder ladies. The fun kind.

Yeah, and look where that got you.

“I’m with Finn on having you start Monday, but I’ll tell you what,” Penny said. “We all go down to church on Sundays. Why don’t you join us? It’ll give your son a chance to get to know some of the other kids while you’re still nearby. That should make his first day at camp a little easier.”

Finn turned his face so Kayla couldn’t see it and glared at Penny. Yeah, he’d hired Kayla—temporarily—but that didn’t mean they had to get all chummy in their time off.

Still, it was church. He supposed he ought to be more welcoming. And he knew Penny missed her grown daughter, who for inexplicable reasons had sided with her father when Penny’s marriage had broken up. If Penny wanted to mother Kayla a little, he shouldn’t get in the way.

Kayla bit her lip. “I’d like to get Leo to church,” she said. “We went some back home, but...well. It wasn’t as often as I’d have liked. I want to change that, now.”

So she’d be coming to church with them every Sunday if she took the job? It wasn’t as if there was much of a choice; Esperanza Springs had only two churches, so it was fifty-fifty odds she’d choose theirs.

Unless she wanted to get some breathing room, too.

Or maybe she’d leave after a week. He intended to make sure the work was hard and long, so that she didn’t get too comfortable here.

Because something about Kayla White was making him feel anything but comfortable.

* * *

As the church service ended in a burst of uplifting piano music, Kayla leaned back in the pew. Her whole body felt relaxed for the first time in weeks. Months, really.

The little church had plain padded benches and a rough-hewn altar. Outside the clear glass windows, the splendor of the mountains put to shame any human effort at stained glass artistry.

Leo had sat with her for half the service, reluctantly gone up to the children’s sermon and then followed the other kids out of the sanctuary with a desperate look back at Kayla. She’d forced herself not to rescue him and had made it ten minutes before giving in to her worries and going to check on him. She’d found him busily making crafts with the other young children, looking, if not happy, at least focused.

Now beside her Penny stretched, stood and then sat back down. “Hey, I forgot to mention that Finn and I help serve lunch after church to the congregation and some hard-up folks in the community. Would you like to join us? If you don’t feel like working, you can just mingle until lunch is served.”

The pastor—young, tanned and exuberant—had been visiting with the few people remaining in the pews, and he reached them just as Penny finished speaking. “We find we get more people to come to church when we offer a free meal,” he said and held out a hand to Kayla. “Welcome. We’re glad to have you here. I’m Carson Blair.”

“Kayla White. I enjoyed your sermon.”

He was opening his mouth to reply when two little girls, who looked to be a bit older than Leo, ran down the aisle at breakneck speed. They flung themselves at the pastor, one clinging to each leg, identical pouts on their faces.

“Daddy, she hit me!”

“She started it!”

The pastor knelt down. “Skye, you need to go sit right there.” He indicated a pew on the left-hand side. “And, Sunny, you sit over here.” He pointed to the right.

“But...”

“We wanted to play!” The one he’d called Sunny looked mournfully at her twin.

“Sit quietly for five minutes, and you can play together again.”

Kayla smiled as the pastor turned back toward the small circle of adults. “Good tactics,” she said. “I have a five-year-old. I can’t imagine handling two.”

Finn pushed himself out of the pew and ended up standing next to Kayla, leaning on his cane, facing the pastor. “Had a phone message from you,” he said to the pastor. “I’m sorry I didn’t return it. Weekend got away from me.”

“We all know your aversion to the phone,” the pastor said, reaching out to shake Finn’s extended hand.

“To conversation in general,” Penny said. “Finn’s the strong, silent type,” she added to Kayla.

“Don’t listen to them,” Finn advised and then turned back toward the pastor. “What’s up?”

“I was hoping to talk to you about your chaplain position. I know you can’t pay yet, but I’d be glad to conduct vespers once a week, or do a little counseling, as long as it doesn’t take away from my work here.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Finn’s answer didn’t seem very gracious for someone who’d just been offered volunteer services.

The pastor looked at him steadily. “Do that.”

“We certainly will,” Penny said. “But speaking of work, that lunch won’t get served without us. You coming?” she asked Kayla.

“Absolutely. Lunch smells wonderful. I’m happy to help, if it will get me a plate of whatever’s cooking.”

“We all partake,” the pastor said, shaking her hand again vigorously. “We’re glad to have you here. It’s rare that we get a fresh face.”

“Won’t be so rare soon,” Penny warned. “We have a couple of new veterans coming in. And I’m working on getting Long John and Willie to church, too.”

“You know the church does a van run,” the pastor said. “Sounds like you’ll need it. And we’ll gladly welcome the men and women who served our country.”

Finn jerked his head to the side. “Let’s go.”

In the church kitchen, organized chaos reigned. Finn handed aprons to Kayla and Penny and then donned one himself, choosing it from a special hook labeled with his name.

“Why do you get your own apron?” she asked, because there didn’t seem to be anything special about it.

“It’s king-size,” he said ruefully. “Those little things barely cover a quarter of me. Last Christmas, the volunteers went together to buy me this tent.”

“And in return,” a white-haired woman said, “we make him carry all the heavy trays and boxes. Isn’t that right, Finn?”

“Glad to, as long as you save me a piece of your strawberry-rhubarb pie, Mrs. Barnes.”

Kayla was put to work dishing up little bowls of fruit salad while Penny helped Mrs. Barnes get everyone seated and Finn pulled steaming trays of chicken and rice from the ovens. A couple of other ladies carried baskets of rolls to each table and mingled with the guests, probably fifty or sixty people in all.