Madison's Children. Linda Warren

scent of oats wafted through the tantalizing aroma of the holidays.

      Maddie walked over to the counter where Nell Walker stood waiting on a customer. Cigarettes took pride of place in the glass case beneath. A gallon jar of jawbreakers sat on the counter among chewing tobacco, gum and tempting candy bars. She always went for the jawbreakers—they were her favorite. She resisted the urge to stick her hand in the jar.

      Instead, she studied Ms. Walker. She had aged since Maddie had last seen her. Her gray hair was cut short like a man’s and the lines of her stern face were set into a permanent frown. A tall, big-boned woman, Nell Walker exuded a persona of toughness and rigidity, the same as her nephew.

      The customer left and Nell swung her gaze to Maddie. “May I help you, Ms. Belle?”

      She noticed that Nell’s eyes were a cold gray like a winter’s day. As she pulled the list from her pocket, she thought that Nell looked very unhappy.

      “I’d like to pick up some supplies.” She placed the list in front of Nell.

      Nell looked it over and then shouted, “Luther.”

      A man in his sixties ambled from the back.

      “Is your truck out front?” Nell asked Maddie while glancing at the list and scribbling it into a record book.

      “Yes.”

      “Give Luther your keys and he’ll load your supplies.”

      “Oh, okay.” She’d never done this before so she wasn’t sure how it worked. Digging in her purse, she found her keys and handed them over.

      As Luther took the list and walked out the door, Nell said, “I’ll put everything on your bill. Anything else I can help you with?”

      Maddie swung her purse strap over her shoulder. “Yes, there is.”

      Nell raised frosty eyes to Maddie’s, and for a moment, a tiny moment, her resolve weakened. She stepped closer to the counter. “A lot of days I’m busy and don’t have time to come in for supplies, so I’ll be sending Cooper Yates, my foreman, in for them. I hope that’s not a problem.”

      “I don’t want him in my store.” The words were delivered like an errant baseball smacking someone against the head. Unexpected and painful.

      Nervously, her hand tightened on her purse strap, but no way would she bend. Coop deserved better than this kind of treatment. “Fine. If that’s the way you feel, I’ll just take High Five’s business into Giddings, and I’m sure Caitlyn will agree to do the same for Southern Cross.”

      A telltale shade of pink crawled up the woman’s face. Losing two ranches’ business would hurt the store. Evidently hitting her in the pocketbook was talking her language.

      “I don’t want ex-cons in here. It’s bad for business, but—”

      “Is there a problem?” Walker strolled from the back, Georgie on his heels. Georgie smiled and she smiled back for a second.

      Then she glanced at Walker, tall and imposing in a white shirt, snug jeans and boots. His Stetson was pulled low and hid his eyes, but just the sight of him made her heart go pitter-patter.

      She took a breath. “Yes, there is. Ms. Walker refuses to allow Cooper to pick up supplies.” She stood her ground when she wanted to take a step backward. The man was just so…so intimidating, frustrating and…handsome. There, she’d admitted it. He was too handsome for her peace of mind. And that sincere note in his voice was sidetracking her.

      “Is this true?” Walker asked his aunt.

      “We can’t have ex-cons in here. Business will drop.”

      “Caitlyn and I will certainly take our business elsewhere if the status quo doesn’t change.”

      “It will change, won’t it, Nell?”

      Nell puffed out her chest. “I was just about to tell Ms. Belle that.”

      Walker swung his gaze to her. “Good, then there’s not a problem.”

      Her insides did a crazy flip-flop. What was wrong with her? Earlier she was annoyed at his attitude, but now she was acting like a ridiculous teenager. Before she could gather her wits, Georgie stuck his hand into the jar for a jawbreaker. Nell quickly slapped his hand with a resounding swat. Georgie let out a wail.

      Walker gathered the boy into his arms, his eyes turning as cold as Nell’s. “You will not hit my child.”

      “He eats too many sweets and he’ll choke on those things.”

      Maddie walked over to a jar on the shelf and used the scoop to fill a bag with jelly beans. “Put this on my bill,” she said to Nell, and handed them to Georgie. She waited for Walker to say he could pay for his own kid’s candy, but he didn’t say a word, just looked at her. “It’s okay, isn’t it?” she asked, to hide her nervousness under that gaze.

      “Yes.”

      “See?” she said to Georgie. “These are smaller and chewy. They’re good.”

      Georgie wiped away a tear and poked his hand into the bag. He popped two into his mouth and nodded with a grin.

      The door jingled and Luther came in and handed Maddie her keys. “All loaded and ready to go.”

      “Thank you.” She looked at Nell. “I trust we won’t have any more problems.”

      “No, ma’am.”

      “Bye,” she said to Walker and Georgie, and headed for her truck.

      Walker watched her leave with a funny feeling in his gut. God, he was falling for her caring attitude. No. It was just a natural reaction to her kindness to Georgie. He had enough problems without even thinking of Ms. Belle and her pure, pure blue eyes.

      He had parked out back. His office was next door so it was always easy to leave Georgie with Nell. After resigning from his search-and-rescue unit in Houston, he hadn’t planned on going back to work. But Mr. Pratt, the constable, had passed away, and the commissioner’s court, by way of Judd, begged him to take the job.

      There were two years left on Mr. Pratt’s term and Walker thought he could handle that. Then he would decide if he wanted to run for the office or not. He was already a state-licensed law enforcement officer so he’d agreed. After in-service training, he was appointed the constable of High Cotton and the surrounding precinct.

      As an associate member of the Texas Department of Public Safety, his job was to keep the peace, enforce traffic regulations, go on patrol, undertake investigations and arrest lawbreakers. Since he didn’t have a jail, he coordinated his activities with the sheriff of the county.

      At the time he’d taken on the job, he thought he would need something to keep him busy. But now he wished he’d thought it over a little more. He was needed at home.

      Juggling his kids was getting harder. He never knew Nell was using physical discipline. That he wouldn’t tolerate.

      He’d gotten a call that the Grayson brothers were fighting again. He’d planned to leave Georgie for just a little while with Nell. Now he’d changed his mind. He’d take Georgie with him. He didn’t have any other choice. His part-time deputy constable, Lonnie, was in Brenham visiting his parents.

      The Graysons weren’t dangerous, just idiots fighting over a fence that was ten inches over the line. He had to talk to them about every six months to defuse the situation.

      He walked closer to his aunt. “You might try losing that holier-than-thou attitude, because if the Belles and the Calhouns take their business elsewhere, Walker’s General Store will be in trouble.”

      “I handled it, didn’t I?” She tucked a receipt into the register and slammed it closed.

      “Yes, in a disagreeable fashion.”

      “Now…”

      “No.”