Chapter Twenty-Five

Home by two-thirty where her dad had the Sinners preshow airing on the TV, a beer in his hand, and a bowl of peanuts to shell by his side. Jessie rolled through the kitchen and took a place by his side.

“Didn’t think you’d be back so soon. Grab a beer and join me. Teddy and the other guy are trying to make this match sound like it won’t be a blowout, but I mean they are playing the Browns. The Sinners could start with their second team and the backup quarterback and still win.”

Jessie studied Teddy on the screen. He didn’t know yet. Running through the injured list, who had returned to play, who stayed out, he appeared cheerful and upbeat. She heard her mom come in from the yard where she’d been watering plants as September appeared to be mimicking a scorching August only with less rain.

“Hey, what kind of gunk did you drag in, Jessie? You’ve make marks all over the floor.”

“Blood,” she said, flat and without explanation. That brought her mother running to her side.

“Did you hurt yourself trying to get your chair in and out of the car? I knew you needed help. Is that why you’re home so early? Where’s your backpack. Why didn’t you call?”

“I’m only bruised as far as I know. This is Teddy’s spare chair. Ella and her boyfriend made off with mine, including my phone and the backpack. I’m sure she’ll love owning my makeup. I hope they enjoy using those catheters. I know I’d like to shove one way up Wyatt’s…”

“Jessie, who is Wyatt?”

“Ella’s rotten boyfriend. He manhandled me and would have done worse if she hadn’t stopped him. I shot him with Teddy’s gun.”

To give her father credit at the mention of the word gun, he turned off the TV. Then, she had to tell the whole story over again, ending with losing Lizzy to the social worker.

“That’s as it should be. You can’t be expected to take care of the child for hours on end. Come into your bedroom. I need to check your legs.” Her mother used her no-nonsense coach’s voice almost as deep and stern as her father’s when he was on the field.

“I can do that myself.”

“And not tell me if you need to see a doctor.”

“All right. I submit.”

Jessie went to her room and hiked herself onto the bed. She allowed her mother to lower her jeans and examine her legs. The knees were bruised and slightly swollen, the skin not broken. Her wrists bore a ring of black and blue where Wyatt had circled them in a vicious grip, but she demonstrated to Dale that she could still move them just fine, nothing broken. “I’m okay, Mom. I need to cath myself. Why don’t you go out and watch the game? There’s nothing you can do.”

“Leave your jeans off. You need ice on those knees. In fact, put on a robe. You aren’t going out again today.” Dale shook her short-cropped head. “Here I believed Teddy Billodeaux was good for you. Your dad certainly thought so, getting you out and about, but now I don’t know. The Billodeaux family attracts crazies like those kidnappers who took Xochi, always some drama about them in the tabloids.”

Jessie indulged in the eyeroll she’d perfected as a teen. “They can’t help being celebrities.”

“Well, I don’t want you involved with them anymore.”

“You have no say.”

“As long as you are dependent on us you will…”

“Obey our rules. Simply because I’m crippled doesn’t mean I’m in my second childhood. If you want me gone, I’ll find my own place like Teddy did. I can manage.”

For a woman who seldom backed off from calling out an official at her basketball games, Dale stopped ranting and clamped her mouth shut. “I’ll get something to ice your knees.”

At this moment, nothing appealed to Jessie more than cleaning up and putting on a robe. After taking care of her most urgent needs, she studied her face in the mirror. Not as bad as she’d feared, more like she’d put on heavy smoky eyes for a hot date. She washed away all of her makeup, shook out her ponytail, brushed her hair, and got into the robe. Raising one leg after the other, Jessie put on a pair of fuzzy slippers she’d once favored. Her feet still got cold even if she didn’t feel it.

In the living room, Teddy’s voice beckoned as the game began. By its ease and friendly banter, he still had no idea she’d been attacked and lost Lizzy to Child Welfare. Forcing herself to join the family, Jessie waited for a sign. It came just before halftime when his delivery turned stiff, and he lost track of the game after a commercial break. One of the female sportscasters usually found on the field sat in his seat after the next ad. With a blinding and somewhat smug smile, she announced that Teddy Billodeaux had been summoned home to deal with a personal situation. As soon as they knew more, they’d certainly share the information. “Wishing you the best of luck, Teddy,” she chirped before ripping into commentary on a bungled pass by the Browns like a woman whose time had come.

What if this personal situation cost him his job? Could she have handled it better by hitting that panic button sooner and not confronting Wyatt and Ella? But she had no way of knowing who Ella talked to in that back room before she approached. Or she might have simply returned to her car and let them leave? Lizzy would still be in her crib, no bloodshed, no violence brought into her small world or Teddy’s life. Jessie just didn’t know.

****

The Browns lost miserably, a game not worth watching, Coach Mo declared before turning the channel to a better match. Jessie helped her mother make a salad to go with the grilled salmon for dinner. Time moved so glacially it might as well have been winter rather than a long, hot September day. Jessie waited for some word from Teddy, any word. He did not call. But then, she’d lost her phone to Ella, too, so much stuffed into the pouch and backpack on her chair. Still, her parents hung on to a landline, and he had the number.

At seven, he drove up in his van, and selecting his chair over his sticks, approached the house by way of the garage. Jessie let him in and spoke before he could say a word.

“I’m so sorry I made a mess of everything. Oh, Teddy, Child Welfare took Lizzy, and Ella meant for you to have her.”

“Not your fault. You defended yourself and Lizzy. I’m proud of you and glad you were there to be with her. Are you hurt? The cops said her boyfriend assaulted you.” The deep concern that troubled his eyes and erased his smile nearly broke her.

Jessie showed off her knees still draped by bags of frozen peas. “Sexy, huh?” she said, trying to make light of her injuries, of the whole assault scenario. “I’m fine. Ella pulled him off of me. I hate to think how she’ll pay for that. Will you be able to get Lizzy back?”

“Not tonight. I had a chance to read the letter. Ella left very clear instructions about Lizzy. It certainly explains why she didn’t want to become attached to her child. She knew she was going to give her up one way or the other. This Wyatt sure has a mercenary heart—or none at all.”

“Any chance the police will find them?”

“It occurred to me while the officers filled me in that I had the number Ella called over and over again in my contacts list. Not her father after all. We phoned to see who might answer and if we could determine their direction. Ella picked up. She said she was taking Wyatt for medical help since you nearly killed him, but wouldn’t say where, not to chase them since they were never coming back. Right after that the phone went dead. Sounded like a semi ran over it so they were on one of the major highways, I-10 or 95.”

“We can still track them. My phone is in the pouch on my wheelchair. They stole that along with your TV. They might not even hear the ring tone if it’s in the back of their truck. If I could kick myself, I would, for not thinking of that sooner.”

“Doubt if I’d have thought of that with all that went on. We’ll call and tell the police.”

Coach Mo stuck his head around the corner. “You going to keep that young man sitting in the hall all night, Jessie? Let him in. Did you have dinner, son? I’ll bet not.”

“No, sir, I didn’t. After I got word, I hightailed it back to Lafayette. I’m not looking forward to returning to the apartment. My spread and sheets are considered evidence. They took them away. All that mess is still on the floor, and well, no Lizzy and no TV to take my mind off of this situation. When I think I put Jessie in danger…”

“You couldn’t know, and Jess, she handled herself very well.” Coach made his hand into a gun and pulled the trigger. “Ka-pow! Wish she’d hit him in the nuts. That’d be the last baby the guy who tried to rape my daughter ever made.”

Dale Minvielle added to the crowd in the hall. “For heaven’s sake, Mo, this afternoon was dreadful. Do we have to relive it again?” She jerked her head in Teddy’s direction. “You probably have lots of paperwork do. Thanks for stopping by to check on Jessie. She’ll be fine.”

Jessie figured if her mom could have gotten by the two wheelchairs to slam the door in Teddy’s face, she would have.

“Dale, the boy needs a place to stay tonight until he can get his apartment straightened out. You could stay in our son’s room, and Jess has that special shower. She dragged some of the blood in here, too, but my wife cleaned it up like it never existed and wiped down your wheelchair, too. We’ll have to borrow it until we can get our daughter a new one. I’ll bet Dale could get you some supper, too. We had plenty of salmon left over. It’s not my favorite.”

Dale nodded as her neck were stiff. “No, you’d rather have fried catfish. Certainly, I can put a meal together for you, Teddy, but wouldn’t you rather stay at the ranch until this is straightened out?”

“Usually my family remains in New Orleans after the Sinners play, goes out for dinner, and hangs around watching the night game together. Even Knox Polk and Corazon sometimes go along now that they are family, though Knox hates leaving the ranch out of his care. I sent them a text saying there had been a problem with the baby, and I had to return home sooner than I expected, not to worry.”

Jessie’s mom nailed him with her stern coach’s eyes. “You lied to them.”

Teddy shook his head vehemently. His fine blond hair drifted across his blue eyes, making him seem like a guilty child. “No, ma’am. There was nothing they could do to help right now, and I didn’t want to spoil their day. Tomorrow, I’ll start right on it and see if my folks can do something about getting Lizzy back. I hate to think of her in a foster home even for a night. I’m all she has.”

Despite the distress on Teddy’s face, Dale hadn’t finished with him. She dressed him down like one of her players who had seriously screwed up. “Do you really think they will give that child back to an unmarried handicapped man with a job that takes him away from home?”

“Mom, stop!” Jessie put in her plea. Her stomach knotted at her mother’s attack. She could taste the oily salmon in her mouth.

“Yeah, Dale, leave the guy alone. Go rustle up some grub. I’ll bet he’s starving. He’s staying the night with us. It’s all settled,” Coach Mo, one of the few people who could handle Dale Minvielle, ordered.

“Make sure you stay in your own room tonight,” Dale said, before making an almost military turn and stalking off to the kitchen. A dish slammed down on a table. The refrigerator door shut with a vengeance.

“Why don’t we go into the living room until the food is ready,” Coach Mo suggested, his voice affable enough, but his broad features set like a bulldog.

“I need to put on some clothes. Teddy, keep my dad company, would you?”

When Jessie returned dressed in comfortable sweats to accommodate her swollen knees, they pretended to watch the game until Dale stuck her head into the room and asked as if it were a great bother, “Beer or iced tea?”

“I really could use a beer right now,” Teddy answered, swinging his chair in her direction to be polite.

Determined to find fault, Dale countered, “Do you drink a lot of beer?”

“Not all that much, Mrs. Minvielle. Thank you for the meal.”

Coach Mo took his eyes off the screen and turned to his wife. “If everything is ready, why don’t you come put your feet up with me? Let Jessie sit with him while he eats.”

“It’s my kitchen, and I can stay in it if I want.”

Mo shook his head. “She’s hard to get along with when she gets this way.”

Jessie, her cheeks red with fury, spoke up. “Forget about the food. We’ll go out for something.”

“And waste the salmon?”

“Throw it in the garbage for all I care. Teddy, I’m driving.”

“Huh?”

“Dad installed hand controls in my old car for my birthday. We had some complications. That’s why I was late. If I’d been even later, I’d have missed Wyatt and Ella altogether. Wish I had.”

“Sometimes, it’s all in the timing,” Teddy said.

“Damn right, in football and in life. Go on, get a pizza or something on me.” Coach Mo fished out a twenty and thrust it at Jessie. “Get going. Your room will be ready when you return.”

Neither of them argued with Jessie’s dad. They headed out but had to pass the kitchen first where Dale scraped salmon and rice into the garbage disposal and declined to look at them. As they opened the door and went down the ramp, they heard Coach Mo shouting at his wife, “You see what you’re doing here, Dale, driving our daughter away.”

Though they had some difficulty getting two chairs in the backseat, Teddy got Jessie set behind the wheel first, then folded his as he sat in the passenger seat and managed to cram it behind the headrest. Jess concentrated on the driving, trying hard not to seem like a person with road rage. She got them to Buffalo Wild Wings where they could snack on sticky chicken and pretend to watch the game on the multiple screens. Neither had any interest in it.

Once they finished ordering, Teddy said, “I can go to a motel or drive to the ranch even if no one is around. That would be better than making your mom madder at me. I understand she’s upset by the danger I put you in however accidentally.”

“Teddy, Ella said it, you are too good. If this keeps up, I’m moving out. She can’t mother hen me for the rest of my life, and she’ll try if I stay in her house. Help me find a place I can handle.”

“Mine,” he offered so quickly she knew it had been in the back of his mind. “You can have Ella’s room if you don’t want to sleep with me.”

Jessie’s hand found the side of his face, cupped it, and she gave him a kiss despite some hoots from neighboring tables filled with college guys. “I want to sleep with you again and again. For tonight, let’s get a hotel room. I’m not going home.”

“I really don’t want to come between you and your mother.”

“She started this. She’ll come around, but it is time I went out on my own.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am.”

Teddy dug in his pocket. For a split second, she thought the small box might be a ring—but most jewelers didn’t use tin foil for wrapping paper.

“I got this for your birthday. It’s not much.” He shoved the box in her direction.

Smiling, Jessie ripped off the cheap wrapping and opened the box—empty. Her smile didn’t drop, though Teddy’s did. “Ella strikes again. I got a gold and pearl necklace she admired and gave it to her to wrap.”

“Let her keep it. I have what I really want. You.” She followed that statement with another kiss, longer and deeper. Let the whole world hoot if it wanted.