Imperfect Justice (13 page)

“Welcome to the club. Now you know how I’ve felt since I found out. But can’t you see? We’re at each other’s throats already about who’s making a bigger sacrifice. That’s why marriage between us wouldn’t work. We shouldn’t be two victims making vows we really don’t mean. We’ll only come to resent each other eventually and believe me, our child will figure that out. Kids are smart.”

The fight seemed to drain out of him at that point. “Okay, let’s table the marriage discussion. For now, anyway. But I don’t want you to leave town. How can I make sure you’re okay if you’re in Seattle? I don’t want to miss a minute of the pregnancy or our baby.”

Misty had to admit Jared’s protective streak was kind of sweet. What he didn’t seem to realize was that she’d been taking care of herself since she was eight years old. “You could call me. Or text me. Even Skype. That way you could see I was fine and healthy.”

“It’s not the same,” he argued and he had a point.

It hadn’t occurred to her that he would want to be this involved, which only underlined the fact that they didn’t know each other well enough for marriage. Maybe she needed to rethink the whole Seattle thing. The city wasn’t going anywhere and she could paint from here and travel back and forth as needed. She didn’t want to be the kind of person who deprived a loving man of his child.

“I see that you really mean it about wanting to be involved. Can you give me a few days to think about this? If I stay here in Fielding I’ll have to find another place to live since my apartment has already been leased by someone else. Plus I have to do something about the contract in Seattle. There has to be a way we can compromise.”

Jared nodded, seemingly satisfied with her answer. “A fair compromise is all I ask. And as for your lease in Seattle I can buy you out of that. Just say the word.”

It must be nice not to have to worry about money and if she decided to stay in Fielding, even for just the pregnancy, she’d think about taking him up on the offer. She had her pride, but otherwise she was going to lose pretty much all her life savings.

“You took the news better than I expected,” she admitted, stirring the whipped cream in her hot chocolate. “I’d heard you were calm in a crisis and now I’ve seen it for myself.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily file this under a catastrophe. There are worse things in life.” Jared signaled for the waitress. “Just for grins…how did you think I’d react?”

Misty laughed and shook her spoon at him playfully, glad the tension between them had dissolved. “I thought you might run screaming down the street, hop in your truck, maybe change your name.”

Chuckling, Jared asked the waitress to bring them two menus and more coffee and hot chocolate. “That sounds pretty extreme. Why don’t we order some lunch and maybe talk about baby names? I had an uncle named Horatio. It’s kind of a family name.”

Her look of horror must have amused him. “I’m kidding. Well, not about my uncle’s name but about the whole family thing. I think we might want to pick something more mainstream.”

Misty barely glanced at the menu. “I’m not really hungry.”

Jared pushed the menu back in front of her. “You’re eating for two now. How about the grilled chicken with rice and vegetables? That sounds nice and healthy.”

Her stomach, already nauseous from anticipating this meeting, took the opportunity to churn in her abdomen letting her know undoubtedly that was not what she was going to be having for lunch.

She pressed a hand to her middle and shook her head. “That doesn’t sound so good. Oh look, they have chicken pot pie. Now that I think I could eat.”

“That’s a lot of carbs.” Jared was frowning at the menu as if it had done something to offend him.

“Do you want me to eat or not?” she asked sharply. Geez, he was bossy. He was going to have to learn no one ordered her around. Badge or no badge.

He cleared his throat and stuck his nose back in the menu. “I want you to eat. I just want you to eat healthy.”

Reining in her swirling emotions, she sighed and pushed the menu away. “Listen, I’m tired and my stomach is queasy. I just want some comfort food for it. I promise I won’t spend the next nine months eating cheeseburgers and chili fries.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, he nodded but she could tell it was reluctantly. “You need to make sure you get your rest. Maybe even get in a nap if you need to.”

“Trust me, I’m falling asleep at all hours of the day and night. My friend Rayne says this is normal in the beginning. I’m making a human being here. It’s a lot of work,” she tried to joke and was rewarded with a real smile this time.

The waitress came back with their coffee and hot chocolate and Jared ordered for both of them. Chicken pot pie and a side salad for her and a steak sandwich with extra cheese for him. It looked like he worried about her health but was relatively unconcerned about his own. She’d make him eat the darn salad since he’d ordered it. Greens would only make her tummy more upset but he didn’t seem to be really hearing what she was saying.

“If this is going to work you’re going to have to give me some space. You can’t just horn into my life and start ordering me around. I’m not going to fall in line like one of your deputies,” she warned, wanting to put them on equal footing right here at the beginning. He needed to respect her wishes and trust she wouldn’t do anything to hurt their child.

“Just don’t relegate me to the sidelines.” Jared’s blue gaze captured her own, his expression deadly serious. “I want to be involved. Hell, I
will
be involved. I know you’re used to doing everything on your own, Misty, but this isn’t just yours. This baby belongs to both of us. We may not have planned this, but now that it’s happened I’m going to be the best damn father in Montana.”

From what Misty knew about this man that was exactly what he would be. And where would that leave her? She could see now that leaving for Seattle would be a selfish move. How many times as a little girl had she wondered about her own father? No, this baby would know it was loved. By
two
parents.

Somehow she had to make this work. The question was how.

Chapter Ten

J
ared didn’t have much time to dwell on the shocking news Misty had delivered to him. Halfway through their lunch he’d received a call from Deputy Knox that Chris’s departmental SUV was on fire at a convenience store out of town. He hated to leave her in a lurch like that but if she was going to be his wife then she would need to get used to stuff like this. And she was going to marry him. She wasn’t thinking straight right now, but in a few days or weeks she’d realize it was the only sensible thing to do.

By the time Jared made it there the flames had been extinguished but the vehicle was going to be a total write off. Hays, the tow truck driver, was hitching the burned-out hull to his truck as Jared circled the SUV looking for signs of what had started the blaze.

“So you were inside talking to Billy about the shoplifters when this happened?” Jared asked Chris. The younger man looked upset and a little scared, as if he was afraid Jared was going to rip him a new one.

“Yes, sir. But Billy didn’t know anything about the call. I had my back to the windows so Billy was the first to spot the flames. I got his fire extinguisher while he called the fire department. I’m sorry, boss.”

“Doubt this is your fault,” Jared said briskly. “This is a gas station, after all. Perhaps someone threw a cigarette butt into some spilled fuel. Hell, the truck could have had a gas leak. We won’t know until we can get a closer look.”

If they ever found out. It was a fucking gas station. Flammable shit was everywhere. On television he’d even seen a car go up in flames from the static electricity spark from a damn cell phone. But one detail stood out from everything else.

Billy hadn’t reported any shoplifters. Another bogus call out.

Which made Jared very suspicious about this vehicle fire. Good chance it wasn’t an accident. Hopefully Billy had cameras stationed around the property because they’d had no luck with the earlier calls. All of them had been made from separate pre-paid cell phones. He couldn’t trace them anywhere but that was sure suspicious.

Dammit. Jared needed to have a chat with Boyd Hicks immediately. He’d had no luck as he never seemed to be “home” whenever Jared stopped by. He was sure that was by design.

“Billy, we’re going to need any footage from your security cameras inside and outside.”

“Sure, Sheriff.” The man nodded and scuttled away. “It’s in the back room.”

“I’m really sorry,” Chris said again. “Jesus, when I saw it…”

Jared slapped the younger man on the back. Chris was a good junior deputy and was going to make a great senior. He might even be a sheriff one day. Sharp and brave, he didn’t make excuses. In other words, Jared’s kind of lawman.

“Relax—I really don’t think this is your fault. I think there were other forces at work here.”

Chris’s expression cleared. “Hicks? What’s that guy’s end game anyway? What does he gain from something like this?”

“Right now he’s amusing himself,” Jared replied. “He wants to make us look stupid and so far he’s not doing a bad job of it. We need to regroup and figure out how to deal with this because knowing him – and I do know him – he’s going to escalate. Ultimately this is about revenge.”

After retrieving the footage from Billy, Jared gave Chris a ride back to the station. Knox was already there keeping things running smoothly as usual. Jared sent Chris to the motor garage in the back to see what extra vehicles they might have available. Jared was sure there was a decent cruiser. It wasn’t as good on snow as an SUV but it was better than nothing until the insurance payout.

“We need to figure something out here,” Jared said to Knox, pulling him aside. “It looks like that was another bogus call. And yes, I think Hicks is behind this.”

Knox shook his head. “I don’t doubt it either.” He held out a slip of yellow paper. “Looks like your brother wants to talk to you.”

Jared took it and picked up the phone. He’d call Seth Reilly first before Royce. It would be a good chance to bend Seth’s ear about being a father so quickly after meeting Presley. All Royce was going to do was bitch about Ty, Dad, or something else just as stupid.

Jared scribbled a reminder to himself on the pad next to the computer. He needed to order a book about pregnancy and being a dad. He didn’t know shit about the subject and although his own father was a fine man, Jared wasn’t sure that the competitive atmosphere Gerald Monroe had raised his children in was the right thing. Look how screwed up Royce and Becky were. Hell, look how screwed up he himself was. He’d been competing for his father’s approval and love his entire life. His friends told him his standards for his deputies and women were too high.

In general, he was a pain in the ass. It wasn’t that he didn’t know it. He did. He just couldn’t seem to stop himself. Too many years of his father inspecting how straight his shoes were lined up or how he’d made his bed. Crap like that was going to leave a mark.

It made Jared want to be the best he possibly could. It also made him difficult to be around because he wanted everyone else to feel that way. And he sure as fuck didn’t want to lay that burden on his child.

He had some changing to do. Luckily he had nine months to do it. If he didn’t drive Misty away before then.

Misty sipped the herbal tea and relaxed back onto the daybed. It had been quite a day but she’d told Jared about the baby. She’d been practically shaking like a leaf when she sat down but failure had not been an option. He needed and deserved to know.

He also deserved to be the kind of father he wanted to be. Maybe because of her upbringing, never knowing her own father, she’d assumed he wouldn’t want to be that involved. Somehow she’d pictured him in the periphery – there but only on birthdays and holidays.

But Jared Monroe wanted to be hands on.

He wanted to marry her so they would be a family.

She didn’t even know what that was. That was the real problem here. Yes, she wanted her husband to love her. Unlike other girls she’d never fantasized about her wedding or a white dress and flowers. She’d dreamed of getting out of Fielding, having enough money to buy new clothes that weren’t from a thrift store and eating out at fancy restaurants with interesting people as her friends.