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  wish my mother had been like yours," she said involuntarily.

  "What's that old saying, baby? If wishes were horses, beggars could ride?"

  She smiled. "I like it when you call me 'baby.'"

  "Female sexist pig," he accused. "You aren't supposed to like it."

  "I do anyway. What do you want for supper?"

  "I'm cooking," he said flatly. "You go sit down and watch television or something. You've had a blow. You have to have time to get over it. Whatever her faults, and I'll agree that they were large, she's still your mother."

  "I was just thinking that," she told him.

  "And crying."

  "How did you know?" she asked.

  "I told you. It rubs off. I'll be home as soon as I delegate a few tasks. You'll want to fly to Georgia tonight, right?" "Yes. I have a friend there..." "Sergeant William James," he interrupted. "He said you phoned him." "I did. He sounds like a good guy." "He offered to come out and fly back with Rory and me, for protection." "I'll do that." "That's what I told him." "I'll get tickets." She let out a long sigh. "Thanks, Cash." "It's no big deal. I'll see you soon." "Okay."

  RORY CAME HOME JUST MINUTES before Cash. He noticed that Tippy was unusually quiet, but

  he didn't ask questions. When

  Cash came home looking equally solemn, Rory had a good idea what was wrong. "It's our mother, isn't it?" he asked Tippy while they were eating supper, which Cash had whipped together. "Yes," Cash said. "She's had a heart attack and they don't think she's going to live. She wants to see you and Tippy."

  "She's going to die?" Rory asked.

  He nodded.

  Rory looked at his sister and reached over to grasp her slender hand affectionately.

  "I don't remember any good things

  about her."

  "Neither do I," Tippy replied.

  "We have each other," Rory reminded her.

  "And me," Cash added, sipping coffee.

  Rory smiled at him. "And you."

  Tippy smiled, too, through tears.

  Cash pushed back his chair, tugged her out of hers, and held her across his lap while

  she cried, her cheek pillowed on his hard

  chest.

  Rory eased himself under Cash's free arm, and he cried, too.

  "It's silly to cry for a woman who treated us like dirt," Tippy said huskily, wiping

  her tears away with the back of her hand.

  "Family is still family. We don't get to choose who our parents are," Cash said

  philosophically.

  "Tippy said you had a nice mother," Rory told Cash as he fought his own tears.

  "She was wonderful," Cash agreed. "My father was, too, before he fell in love with a

  cheap gold digger and broke up our family. He and my brothers were all taken in by her. I

  was sent off to military school because I didn't follow suit." He had a faraway look in

  his dark eyes. "It's been years since I saw my father."

  "And your brothers, too, right? All except for Garon?" Tippy asked, recalling an earlier conversation about the estrangement.

  "That's right. When Garon came by for a visit last autumn, he said he was looking at real estate out in the county, but I think it was just an excuse to see me."

  "Is Garon like you?" Rory asked.

  "He's the oldest," Cash said. "And more hot-tempered than I am. He lives in San Antonio. The other two still live at home with Dad in west Texas."

  "Are any of them in law enforcement?" Tippy wondered.

  "Two of them are. Garon works for the FBI," he said.

  "No girls in your family?" Rory asked.

  "Not for four generations," Cash said. "That's why I had such a fit over Judd and Crissy's little girl."

  It was a reminder that he'd been crazy about Christabel. Tippy was sure that a small part of him still was. But she was wear-ing his rings, and he considered her part of his life. She looked up with quiet trust, and she smiled tenderly.

  He smiled back, tracing her pretty nose with his forefinger. You even look pretty when you cry," he said and bent to kiss way the tears. "Now, get up and finish your supper. You, too, Rory. We've got plans to make."

  They went back to their respective places, feeling better al-ready. By the end of the meal, the tears were dried.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  IT TOOK ABOUT THREE HOURS to get to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where Cash rented a car for the short drive south to Ashton, Georgia.

  Ashton was a sleepy little Southern town about the size of Jacobsville. It had a brick courthouse over a hundred years old and still in use, and a liberal arts private college. Most of the land around town was agricultural. Sergeant James, an older man with white hair and green eyes, met them there. He was on duty, but on his dinner hour. He drove them to a local motel, where Cash checked them in, and they left their luggage. Then Sergeant James drove them to the city hospital.

  Tippy's mother was in a semiprivate room, connected to half a dozen tubes and

  wires. She was pale and swollen. Her hair, once red, was now almost completely

  gray.

  Tippy and Rory looked at her with mingled emotions, the strongest of which was distaste. Cash stood just behind them, with a hand on each shoulder.

  The woman in the bed, as if suddenly aware, opened her eyes. They were a watery blue, bloodshot and dull. She looked at the three people in the room with her with a faint frown.

  'Tippy?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

  "Yes," Tippy replied, without moving closer.

  The old woman sighed. "Thanks for coming. I know you didn't want to. Is that Rory?" she asked, staring at him intently. "Gosh, you've grown." Neither of them said a word. The old woman in the bed didn't seem to be surprised by their lack of animation. "There's nothing they can do for me," she told them. "I was trying to get sober. I

  haven't been sober in years. I don't like it much," she added heavily. "I started remembering things, terrible things, I did to both of you." She took a breath, coughed and winced. "I been talking to a preacher. He says no sin is so big it can't be forgiven." She looked directly at Tippy. "I'm not asking for nothing," she added. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for all I done to you. And that if I could take it back, make it all right, I would." She took another breath. "I done talked to the federal people. I told them everything, about how Sam and I cooked up this kidnapping scheme for drug money. I gave them names, places, everything. Sam won't ever get out of jail, they'll make sure. You two will be safe."

  Tippy looked at Rory and Cash, whose faces were as bland as her own. There had been too much misery for a few words and a belated apology to make much difference.

  The old woman seemed to know that. She closed her eyes. 'Tippy, I wish I could say who your dad was, but I don't know anything except his first name, Ted, and that he liked fast cars, and that's gospel. I was so high that night, I don't remember much. But I know who Rory's dad is. He's standing behind you."

  Rory gasped as he looked at the police sergeant who'd been so kind to them. He looked shocked, and Tippy actually smiled with relief that Rory's father wasn't actually Sam Stanton.

  "Maybe that makes up a little for all the bad things, Rory," she added. "This is the first time I told your dad that you were his. I'm...really sorry. Really sorry." She closed her eyes.

  She never opened them again.

  THERE WAS A SMALL FUNERAL, with only four people attending a graveside service. William James was hesitant with Rory, who was equally hesitant with him. But a relationship was going to grow there, because they'd exchanged addresses and they were going to correspond. Sergeant James was a widower with no children, so Rory would fill a big hole in his world.

  Their mother left very few personal effects and a lot of debt behind. Tippy dealt with that, and the back rent that was owed on the trailer where her mother lived. She felt very little emotion. There had been too much pain. But she did feel a sense of relief. So
did Rory.

  TIPPY AND RORY FLEW BACK to Jacobsville with Cash. Cash had already talked to the feds and learned that Mrs. Danbury's deathbed statement was going to put Sam Stanton away for life, along with his two henchmen. When the trials began in several months, Tippy and Rory were going to be happy to testify. But meanwhile, it occurred to Tippy that most of her major

  worries were over. Her cuts and bruises had healed, like her ribs. She was no longer in

  danger. She could go back to work.

  And, in fact, Joel Harper called her the next day after they arrived back in

  Jacobsville, with a start date for the movie.

  Cash didn't say a word against it. He kissed her warmly and told her that he and Rory would be fine while she was away. In fact, they'd come and visit her on set. She didn't like the idea of leaving them, but she'd promised to go back to work as soon as she was able. So she made arrangements to fly to Chicago, where the rest of the movie was going to be filmed, and she said a quiet goodbye to her family.

  "Use the phone," Cash said firmly, kissing her hungrily at the airport, regardless of prying eyes. "And no dangerous stunts! You have a husband and a little brother who'll chew their fingernails off if you put yourself at risk again."

  She grinned at him. "I'll remember."

  "You'd better." He kissed her again, just for good measure.

  Rory kissed her, too. "Call us," he instructed.

  She hugged him close. "Every night. I promise. You two stay out of trouble," she instructed. "We'll do our best," Cash assured her. She cried all the way to Chicago. She missed Cash so badly that she could hardly get

  her mind to work. It was so much worse now that she knew how much he meant to her. But she had this one last obligation to fulfill. She could go home as soon as it was done, she reminded herself. It was only for a few weeks. Right.

  THE FEW WEEKS WERE AGONY. Tippy phoned home every night to talk to Rory and Cash, trying to make light of the movie and her loneliness. Mostly she missed the warm strength of Cash in her arms at night. She was miserable without him.

  She started losing her breakfast the second week on the set. Joel Harper noticed immediately and had a long, secret talk with all his employees about Tippy's health. She was to be allowed as many breaks and as much rest as she required, because he had a feeling about her condition.

  So did Tippy. She could hardly believe it, but as the days passed and she began to feel crushing fatigue and nausea every morning, her heart lifted like a helium-filled balloon.

  She confirmed her condition with a home pregnancy test, but she didn't say a word about it to Cash. It was her own secret for the moment. But she was very careful on the set not to do anything that might put her at risk, and she noticed that Joel was doing the same. The two assistant directors were as careful as nurses of her health, something she noticed with amused delight.

  She could hardly believe the joy she felt. She was almost certainly pregnant. She didn't even have qualms about Cash's feelings, because of the way he was with Crissy's little girl Jessamina. He loved children. It would heal all the wounds if they could have a child of their own. She bought yarn and new bamboo knitting needles and a craft bag to carry on the set with her.

  Predictably, a reporter happened on the set near the end of filming and put one and one together. A gossip columnist broke the story with kind amusement, noting that the recently wed Miss Moore was spending her free time knitting baby clothes. But her timing was impeccable. She actually waited until the filming was over, and Tippy was back in Jacobsville to print the story.

  Tippy had been curled up in Cash's arms watching television while Rory was on a camping trip with two new friends her third night home.

  "Do you have to go back?" he asked.

  "I don't think I will," she murmured, smiling into his throat. "Joel assured me that he had all the film he needed. He even did extra scenes, just in case."

  "Just in case?"

  "Well, I'm going to look a lot different in a few weeks."

  He was watching a gun battle in a western, only half hearing her. "You're going to look different?" he mused. She reached into the pocket of her loose blouse and dangled something under his nose. It was pink and soft and looked like a sock. A very tiny sock. Cash looked down into her eyes with his mouth open as he realized what he was seeing. It was a baby bootie.

  She grinned. "Surprise."

  He caught her up close and kissed her almost to death, his heart beating furiously.

  She kissed him back, smiling gleefully under the crush of his hard mouth. "I'm so happy," she wept. "I could hardly believe it when I started losing my breakfast!" He rocked her in his arms, fighting the wetness in his eyes. He buried his hot face in her throat, hugging her with aching tenderness. "A baby. A baby!" She sighed contentedly. "I'd love twins, like Judd and Crissy have, but there aren't any in my family. How about yours?" "No twins." He lifted his head and looked at her hungrily. "I don't guess you take orders, but I'd love a little girl with green eyes and red hair." She laughed through her tears. "And I'd love a little boy with black hair and dark eyes," she whispered.

  He smiled tenderly. "I guess we'll love whatever we get."

  "Of course we will." She reached up and kissed his chin. "Happy?"

  "I could die of it," he said huskily.

  "I know what you mean." She closed her eyes and cuddled close to him. She felt happier than she'd ever been in her entire life.

  RORY JUMPED UP IN THE AIR and yelled with joy when he learned the news. "I'm going to be an uncle!"

  Cash chuckled. "Looks like it," he agreed, patting the boy on the back.

  'That's just great, sis," he told Tippy and hugged her. "The guys are going to be pea-green with jealousy!" "Speaking of boys," Cash interrupted seriously. "Do you want to go back to the academy next year, or would you rather live with us and go to school in Jacobsville?"

  Rory looked uncertain. "I guess I'd be in the way here..."

  "Are you nuts?" Cash demanded. "Who's going fishing with me? She won't," he pointed at Tippy. "She gets faint every time I mention worms and hooks in the same sentence!"

  Tippy gagged and ran for the bathroom.

  "See?" Cash prompted. "I'm not going through this alone. You have to stay."

  Rory absolutely beamed. "That's what I'd rather do."

  "Me, too," Cash assured him, ruffling the boy's thick hair. "I've got used to you." "Yeah," Rory said, trying to talk past the lump in his throat. "I've got used to you, too."

  Tippy came out of the bathroom holding a wet washcloth to her lips and glaring. "You mention worms again, and I'm going after that iron skillet in the cupboard," she swore.

  Both males put their hands on their hearts. "We swear!" they said in unison, and

  looked so solemn that she burst out laughing despite her nausea. TIPPY AND CRISSY BECAME close in the days that followed, as Cash and Rory did. Things at city hall and in the police department calmed down. Cash was able to concentrate on social programs more. He lost his old coolness and began to act like a man with a baby on the way. The other police people were amused by his sudden interest in books on child care and figured out what was going on without being told. Cash began to find little items on his desk. There were pretty little baby booties in a variety of pretty colors. There were homemade baby afghans, baby clothes, rattles and spoons. He was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm his department was displaying about his approaching parenthood, but a little curious as well.

  "It's simple," Judd explained to him. "You're about to have a family. That means it looks like you've put down roots and you're going to stay. They all see job security and retirement benefits. You'd never get over the county line now, if you decided to work elsewhere."

  Cash was flattered and trying not to show it. But he grinned from ear to ear.

  As the weeks passed, he and Tippy were invited to all sorts of parties and gettogethers, and eventually people looked past Tippy's exquisite face and figure to the real woman. Sh
e and Cash both became just citizens of Jacobsville, instead of celebrities, mysterious or otherwise. They were part of a big family for the first time in their respective lives.

  Family took on a new meaning when Cash's three brothers and father suddenly showed up in town and knocked on the front door around lunchtime on a warm Saturday in the early autumn.

  Tippy stood at the door staring with total surprise at the visitors. The father, who had silver hair, was a carbon copy of Cash except older. The other three men resembled Cash, but not a great deal. They were all tall and powerful-looking. And they didn't seem to smile much.