Page 2 of Legends: Easton (Legends of Fire Creek #3)

The red door.

Bailee smiled, recalling the day the door transformed from a plain, white frame to the vibrant crimson entrance.

It had taken two coats of paint to get the right shade.

The job could have been finished in a day, two at the most, but Bailee spent a week at her grandmother’s side working on the project.

They talked and laughed and didn’t care a bit that they extended the job longer than was necessary.

Back then, Bailee had loved any project where she didn’t have to worry over the mess she made.

She couldn’t remember what she wore, but it was likely a pair of shorts, a tank top, and ratty sneakers.

Her brown hair, worn long back then and bleached to a vibrant chestnut by the sun, would have been in a ponytail, either askew or slipping out of the elastic band.

Her knees would have been dirty with scrapes from her last adventure.

Mud would have been under her fingernails, and paint spatter would have decorated her skin.

She didn’t have to remember everything about that day to know the details because that’s how she’d always spent her days when she visited her grandparents.

Bailee was pulled from her journey down memory lane when the red door opened.

The woman who stepped on the porch stood at a diminutive five feet two inches.

Her hands rested on her hips, her khaki shorts revealing slender legs and sun-kissed skin.

Her silver hair was contained in a long braid that draped over one shoulder like a rope.

Her smile was just a slight crooking of her lips, but her blue eyes sparkled bright enough for Bailee to see from where she sat in the car.

Bailee drank in the sight of Darby Anne Maxwell under her smile widened enough to split her face.

Opening the car’s windows, she switched off the ignition and pulled the keys free.

She pushed open the vehicle door and eased her stiff body out of the car.

Feeling the kinks fall away from her joints, she quickened her pace until she rushed into Gran’s open arms.

The hug started as a tight squeeze but eventually lightened into a clinging embrace. Bailee felt the years melt away, and she was transported back to being a young girl spending summers with the woman who symbolized security, joy, and love.

“It’s been too long, Bailee Anne,” her grandmother breathed next to her ear.

Bailee smiled. Darby Anne Maxwell was nothing if not dramatic, and because she was proud to share a name with her granddaughter, she used every opportunity to middle-name Bailee – if she was happy, angry, making a point, or even if it was just a Tuesday.

Most of the people in Bailee’s life stuck to her first name or a shortened version of it because that’s what suited her most, but not her Gran.

Darby Anne, on the other hand, grew up being called by her full name.

Anyone attempting to shorten it was told in no uncertain terms that she would never answer to anything other than her full, given name.

Bailee was proud to have inherited a bit of her grandmother’s feistiness, but there wasn’t a person alive who was exactly like Darby Anne Maxwell.

“I’m sorry.” Bailee shocked herself at the tears pricking the back of her eyes. She blinked them away and squeezed her grandmother tighter. “I shouldn’t have stayed away so long. I missed you. I didn’t realize how much until now.”

Darby Anne pulled back, and for a moment, Bailee thought she detected a telltale glistening in her grandmother’s eyes.

“Let’s get you inside them. You must be starving.

I waited to eat dinner until you got here.

I kept it light since I knew you’d be tired from traveling.

How does chicken salad sandwiches sound? ”

“Perfect.” Bailee started past her grandmother to step inside before she drew up short. “Oh! I almost forgot the dog.”

The women looked at the car, and Bailee grinned.

Sitting straight up, more alert than she’d been the entire trip, the dog peered through the windshield, her ears twitching and her head slightly tilted.

The sun shining through the car windows washed out her golden fur to white, making the black around her snout and ears stand out even more.

Bailee noted the tip of the dog’s tail waving erratically in the air, but the dog sat stark still, waiting for her new owner to give her the okay to investigate this new person and the surroundings.

“Good Lord.” Darby Anne’s Southern drawl was more pronounced, doubling the syllables of the short phrase. “That’s not a dog. That’s a bear. How did you ever fit it in your car?”

Bailee chuckled, understanding Gran’s shock.

She’d felt that way when she first spotted the dog cowering behind cars in the parking lot of her apartment complex.

The furry beast ran from anyone who approached her, and Bailee noted the signs of abuse and malnutrition in the way the dog moved and looked.

She loaded her car for her road trip, thinking someone else would take care of the dog. To her surprise, the dog approached her, skittish but curious. Bailee shooed her away, but the dog kept approaching, inching closer with each pass.

Bailee opened the door, intent on leaving, but on impulse, motioned for the dog to jump in the car. The dog never hesitated. She jumped into Bailee’s car and settled in the back seat as if the space was rightfully hers.

Bailee smiled at the curious dog peering curiously at them.

“It is a she, and she believes she’s normal size.

It’s endearing. I took her to a vet near Mom and Dad’s.

She’s healthy, if a little underfed. The vet said she’s some type of English mastiff mix, so she’s destined to be a huge dog.

I never saw myself with a pet, but she’s grown on me. ”

“What did you name her?”

Bailee shrugged. “I haven’t. I wasn’t sure I was going to keep her. I planned to drop her off at a no-kill shelter on the way to Mom and Dad’s, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I tried to think of a name, and Mom and Dad made suggestions. Nothing felt right, so she’s nameless for now.”

Darby Anne gaped at her. “She needs a name, Bailee Anne. What do you do when you need to get her attention? Yell hey, you?”

Bailee thought for a moment. “I’ve never had to get her attention. She sticks to me like glue. Has since the first time I saw her. She’s skittish around most people, so I think once she decided she belonged to me, she wanted to stay by my side, either to protect me or herself. I’m not sure which.”

“I don’t think I have enough food in the house to feed her.”

Bailee laughed as she stepped back to the car. “It’s fine. I brought enough for her until I can get to the store.”

As soon as the door opened, the dog bounded out of the car but crowded her massive body around Bailee’s legs.

Bailee barely managed to get the car door closed with the English mastiff hovering so close.

The dog watched Darby Anne with her ears twitching and tail swishing across the ground.

She didn’t growl or bark, which Bailee took as good signs, but neither did the mastiff approach.

Bailee waited as the dog and her grandmother sized each other up. Finally, Darby Anne nodded.

“Well, I can’t let you in if I don’t know what to call you. Since your mom won’t give you a name, I will. Come on, Roxy. Let’s get you fed and settled.”

Her grandmother disappeared inside the house. Bailee gaped after the mastiff as she bounded after Darby Anne, apparently deciding the older woman could be trusted.

Bailee smiled. “Roxy, it is then.”

She sobered as she stared at the door they passed through. It was still open, beckoning for her to come inside. The memories called to her, but more importantly, the promise of healing was a strong pull.

Her first stop to see her parents in Florida confirmed she had made the right choice to spend several days with family. Being spoiled by Mom and Dad, watching them dote on Roxy, surrounding herself with their love and caring had been just what she needed.

They hadn’t asked her a lot of questions about work or her time undercover, but she ended up sharing her story anyway. The last two years had left her raw and vulnerable, a shadow of the person she used to be. Her parents reminded her that person was still there.

When it came to restoring the broken pieces of the old her, her parents’ home wasn’t the place to do it.

No, she had to go back to the small town of Fire Creek, Alabama, to the home where she spent countless summers thriving under the care of Gran and Pops.

Her mother, Delilah, often despaired at Bailee’s wild and tomboyish ways, but Gran and Pops embraced it and encouraged it.

Her parents were wonderful, but her grandparents had understood her more than anyone else in her life.

Bailee took her and Roxy’s belongings from the car, raised the windows, and secured the vehicle before heading inside. She dropped her bags in the entryway and carried the dog food into the kitchen.

Gran was filling a bowl with water and placed it in front of Roxy. Bailee set the dog food bag on the floor next to the pantry. When she turned, she pierced Gran with a pointed look, her brow slightly raised.

“Roxy?”

Darby Anne shrugged. “It fits, don’t you think? The dog needs a name, Bailee Anne, to feel wanted and cared for. You may not have wanted a pet, but the good Lord brought you two together for a reason.”

Bailee walked over to the cabinet to find a food bowl for Roxy and filled it with the kibble. “You’ve always believed that, haven’t you? That everything happens for a reason?”

She could feel Gran’s eyes on her. Once Roxy was fed, Bailee found a glass and filled it with Gran’s ice-cold sweetened tea from the refrigerator. She was almost afraid to meet Darby Anne’s probing eyes because she didn’t want Gran seeing the pain that was surely in the depths of her own.