Texas Ranger Dad. Debra Clopton

the ladies seemed to lean forward, reminding Rose of racers in the starting blocks. Rose got the sudden picture of Dottie saying she could use a glass of water and the entire room blasting forward to get it for her. It was a sweet picture and so like her town. A lump formed in her throat. Her emotions were unusually volatile today. What would it have been like to have had this kind of support when Max had been born?

      “Please don’t worry about me,” Dottie urged everyone. “The doctor assures me that the lack of energy is nothing to get worried about. You all know, my body went through an ordeal in that hurricane in Florida. He said considering all that my poor body had been through that I’m doing great. God has me in the palm of His hand.”

      “Yes, you are, my dear,” Adela said. She was a wisp of a woman with a snowy-white pixie cut, and together with Norma Sue and Esther Mae completed the notorious matchmaking posse of Mule Hollow.

      Esther Mae relaxed. “Y’all are right. My goodness, Dottie, the good Lord brought you through being crushed under that house so I expect He’s got bringing our sweet baby into the world under control.”

      Rose let those words sink in. God was in control of her life, too…but she couldn’t help feeling like she was riding in a car without brakes. She managed to make it through the present opening without letting her thoughts dwell on Zane. However, a few minutes later, while everyone was enjoying cookies and punch, that became impossible when talk turned suddenly to the new deputy in town. Of course it would—she should have expected it. Not much went on in a small town that didn’t get talked about and a new deputy, especially a handsome ex-Texas Ranger, would draw attention. Rose had half expected it to be one of the matchmakers who brought him up, but it was Dottie.

      “I’m so happy to have Zane helping Brady out,” Dottie said as she sipped her strawberry punch.

      “He seems like a real nice, upstanding man,” Norma Sue said. “And he’s single.”

      “And sooo good-looking,” Esther Mae added. “I met him yesterday. He has the most intense eyes. I mean really, they just come alive with all that gold sparking them up. It just gave me goose bumps when he looked at me.”

      “They are unique,” Norma Sue added. “Just think how they’ll light up when the right woman comes along!”

      If Rose hadn’t been so upset she might have gotten tickled watching the matchmakers setting their sights on a fresh target. But that wasn’t the case. As she took a long drink of her punch, she was too busy trying to keep her hand from shaking while the fear she’d been trying to deny began to surface. Zane’s eyes were unique—but she saw a similar set across the dinner table every night. Would they realize?

      All the questions that she was trying to put off suddenly came screaming forward. His coming here couldn’t be an accident. He had to have discovered she lived here. But why had he followed her here after all these years?

      Did he know?

      The question knocked the breath out of Rose. Panic hit her and she hurried to the kitchen. Her hand was shaking and as she set her cup down punch sloshed onto the counter.

      “You okay?”

      She jumped, startled as Lacy came through the doorway behind her.

      “You look as white as the tablecloth.”

      Panic clawed at Rose. “I—I need to go. Could you tell the others I had to leave?” She was already headed toward the door. She could feel her friend watching her. She knew Lacy would be worried about her, but Rose was too distraught to attempt a smoother exit. The denial she’d been struggling to keep at bay came down on her head in a landslide.

      What had she been thinking? She couldn’t put her head in the sand and pretend this wasn’t happening. She had to confront Zane and she had to do it now.

      She had to find out what had brought him to Mule Hollow.

      She had to find out if he knew her secret.

      

      “Thank you, Officer Cantrell. You saved my life.”

      “You’re welcome, Mrs. Lovelace. But all I did was change your tire.” Zane stepped back from the SUV and tipped his hat to the petite brunette. From the backseat the excited barks of two miniature poodles erupted.

      “Oh, you saved me all right. If you hadn’t come along when you did, me and my babies wouldn’t have been able to make it to San Antonio in time for registration.”

      “Drive safe. You’ve got plenty of time.” Zane waved as Mrs. Lovelace and her barking menagerie headed off in pursuit of dog-show glory. He was grinning as he got into his truck and drove back toward town. So far during his first couple of days at work, he hadn’t done much of anything. This roadside rescue was his first actual official act. Brady had assured him that the job had its days when everything happened at once. He was supposed to expect the unexpected at any given moment.

      Mrs. Lovelace had been distraught when he’d found her broken down on the side of the road. With no phone service for her to call for help and absolutely no idea how to change a flat, she had been more than happy to see him drive up. Three months ago, he’d been escorting a federal criminal into court, and today he was sending poodles to dog shows.

      It was a little hard to get used to, and as he drove into town, Zane wondered if he was going to be able to make this adjustment.

      He was surprised but pleased to find Rose standing outside the sheriff’s office when he drove up. Just as it had the first time he’d seen her all those years ago, every protective instinct he had went into high gear when it came to this woman. The first time he’d met her she’d been a scared young woman who’d witnessed a murder. There had been no hysterics or melodrama. She’d quietly come forward and told her story, though she’d been visibly shaken. He’d greatly admired her for stepping up when it would have been easier…safer to pretend she hadn’t seen anything.

      “Why are you here?” she demanded.

      The anger in her voice jolted him. Even though it was well-deserved and expected. He stepped to the pavement, closing his door behind him as he grappled with the right words. She kept on talking.

      “You can’t tell me that you showing up here was an accident. Mule Hollow is just too small. Too out of the way. And after all these years, why?”

      There was a fierceness in her eyes that he’d not seen before. He’d known he wouldn’t be welcome. “I had to come try to make things right between us.”

      She gave him a look of disgust. He’d told himself he was prepared for this reaction, but he wasn’t. Beautiful, sweet Rose looking this hostile broke his heart. How could he have expected her to understand what he’d done? Why he’d done it? He’d never given her any explanation of why he’d left. Up until this moment he hadn’t realized that deep down he’d hoped his leaving hadn’t affected her. Knowing he’d embittered her like this was hard to take.

      “Make things right?” she scoffed at last. “Why now, Zane? That was the past and you of all people should know that I don’t live in the past. After all, you were the one who taught me the art of living a lie.”

      “That was my job. It was to keep you safe and you know it. Taking on a new identity was the only way. You had to, or you might have been killed before you testified against that thug, Lawton.” He knew this wasn’t really what she was asking yet he needed to get his head back on straight. It was not keeping her safe that he needed forgiveness for. His oath required him to protect those under his care, but with Rose it had gone so much deeper. From day one of meeting her he’d been doomed.

      When he’d been assigned to Rose’s case, it had been his job to explain her options. He’d explained that she needed to enter the program or risk being killed before she could testify. Rose had touched his heart with the way she’d handled herself. Naively, without understanding what it would cost her, she agreed to do what was needed to see justice served. She hadn’t realized her ailing grandmother would refuse to go into