Page 26

Story: Chance

In the end, the whole family joined them. His gypsy shrank back against him. She would have burrowed under him if she could have. It would have been nice if she’d been able to meet them before having to talk about her past, but there was nothing he could do about that now.

Best to make introductions. “First of all, everyone, this is Joy. She’s staying with us for the foreseeable future, and she’s under my protection. You just treat her as part of the family.”

She squeezed his arm. “No one is going to want someone like me as part of the family.”

Tilting Joy’s chin up, he forced her to meet his gaze. “Do you remember what I said about lying?”

Her pupils were dilated, and her breathing was rapid and shallow. He needed to calm her down before she hyperventilated. Resting his forehead against hers so his face was all she could see, he lowered his voice. “Listen to me, Little gypsy. I am right here. I will not leave you. I will not let anyone say anything to upset you. You are safe here, and my family is going to love you. The people in this room are only here to help. Right now, we need information only you can give us. So, I need you to be brave for just a little while longer. Then we will go back upstairs together. Deal?”

She searched his eyes as he held his breath. He wasn’t sure what they would do if she couldn’t talk to them. What he did know was her mental and physical health came first, so if they had to figure out a plan B, they would.

Whatever she was searching for, she must have found it. She nodded, and he swayed his head with hers, unwilling to break the skin-to-skin contact with her. “I may have to squeeze your finger.”

He held up his pointer finger and smiled. “One finger, at your disposal, gypsy.”

She had a surprisingly firm grip, but he didn’t say a word. He had a friend whose finger was crooked because he had tried the same move with his wife while she was in labor with their first child. Hopefully, his finger would fare better.

“All right, Sam. I think we’re ready. What is it you want to know?”

Pulling out a small, beat-up notebook, Sam said, “Well, there’s no better place to start than the beginning. Miss Joplin, can you tell me what happened that sent you running from the only place you’ve ever called home?”

Joy nodded. Her whole body trembled. The pulse in her neck ticked much faster than it should. She glanced over at the others sitting around the room.

If they had known each other longer, he would have blindfolded and bound her. By the time he finished, she would feel secure and cradled. But he couldn’t do that yet. So he said, “Eyes to me, little one. You keep your eyes on me. We are the only two people in the room. Now, tell Daddy what happened that forced you to leave Texas.”

She never took her eyes off him. Trying to smile, she answered his question.

“I’m the only person in the world who can get lost in my own hometown.”

That was not what he had expected. “You left because you got lost?”

He must have looked as confused as he sounded because her smile reached her eyes. “In a manner of speaking. I only wanted one more good picture of the light from the streetlights sparklingoff the wet pavement downtown. It had rained, and the reflection off the puddles was beautiful. Well, that and to jump in a few of the puddles.” She stopped speaking, and her smile faded. “It didn’t seem like too much to ask. It was late, well past midnight, but I wasn’t worried. Well, not too much. It wasn’t like I had anyone to go home to. Eddie was always out until the wee hours of the morning. Besides, Nameless is a small, peaceful town.”

She fell silent, so Chance asked the one question he wanted the answer to. More than he should, probably. “Who is Eddie, and why were you livin’ with him?”

Her cheeks flushed with color. “His name is Eddie Sharp. He was supposed to be my husband and my Daddy. But after two years, we never got around to the first, and he couldn’t have been the second if he tried. Which he didn’t. What he wanted was a live-in cook and maid.” She shuddered, and when she spoke again, it was in a whisper. “And he was mean.”

Chance would have said he knew what rage felt like. But until that moment, he did not. In that moment, his mind sheeted white, and it took all he could do not to leave right then for Nameless, Texas, and teach Eddie a few pain-filled lessons on how to treat a precious gift like Joy.

He was so busy planning the ass-kicking he would deliver, he almost missed Joy's next words. “But I got lost. I’m so stupid! Who gets lost in a town of nine hundred eighty-two people? There’s one grocery store, two drugstores, three churches, and four gas stations. We don’t even have any stoplights. Who could possibly get lost in Nameless? Me. That’s who. Calliope Joy Joplin, the girl with the worst sense of direction in the entire state of Texas.”

Oh, hell no. He wasn’t going to stand for that. How had she convinced herself this situation was her fault? That stopped right now. He took her cheeks between his hands. Her gaze shot to his. “You listen to me, little girl. What did I just say about lying?”

“But I didn’t lie, Daddy. That’s what happened.”

“You didn’t lie about that, but you did lie about yourself. Because you are not stupid. You are one of the smartest people I know. And on top of that, you’re brave, kind, funny, and beautiful. Trust me when I say you can’t afford any more tally marks until we take care of the ones you have. You will not lie to people. And newsflash, gypsy, you are people, too. I will blister your bottom anytime, anywhere, and with anyone watching if I ever hear you say something like that again. Do you understand me?”

He couldn’t read her expression, but he hoped she was listening. Because he was completely serious. From what he could tell, she had been lied to her entire life. The people who should have built her up had instead taught her to lower herself to what made them comfortable.

After a quick glance at those gathered in the room, she looked back at him and nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Now, tell me why you believe you have a poor sense of direction.”

Her brows scrunched in concentration, hitting him straight in the heart. Hard. She was adorable. “I guess that’s what people always told me. My mom used to say when I fell, I fell up, not down.”

Chance gritted his teeth like a dam against the words he wanted to say. His mother would never have said something like that. She was their number one cheerleader, the one who believed in them no matter what and made sure they knew it.

It broke his heart that his gypsy hadn’t grown up in the same environment. He couldn’t change the past, but he could damn sure teach her how wonderful she was now. “Did you ever get lost when you were driving north to get away from Eddie?”