Protecting the Single Mom Read online

  So did she.

  “What kind of things?”

  He held up an ear of corn. “Can we have corn on the cob?”

  “Sure. Get four. And remind me to buy butter.”

  Danny bagged four ears of corn while Cate chose a head of lettuce and some organic spinach. “Do you like him?”

  “Who?”

  “Detective Davis.” She ground out the words. She had a hundred questions she wanted to ask. All of them leading to the one important one. What did you tell him about us? Things that would incriminate me? Things no one, especially a cop, should know?

  Logic told Cate she was being ridiculous. Danny didn’t harbor half her fears and for good reason. She’d never told him the truth about her past. Which was precisely why she wanted to keep the status quo. She didn’t need Trent Davis poking around in her life. The current one or the old one.

  “I like him pretty much,” Danny replied. “He’s really big. And strong. Did you see his arms, Mom? I always thought Timmy’s dad was the toughest-looking dad in our school. But Detective Trent, I mean Davis, he’s got really big muscles.” Danny spun around to face his mother. “Do you think I could grow that big?”

  “Sweetie, I’m sure Detective Davis is very careful about what he eats, and he exercises to stay strong. So, yes. You could do that, too—someday when you’re older.”

  “Good.”

  “What kind of questions was he asking you?” she ventured, feeling a bit frustrated.

  “He didn’t ask me anything.”

  “Nothing at all?”

  “Nope.”

  “You two talked for such a long time I thought he was asking you, well, about us.”

  “No. But, Mom.” Danny lifted serious blue eyes to her. “I told him a secret.”

  Cate swallowed hard. There was no telling what Danny thought was and was not a secret. This past year he’d become inquisitive and not easily satisfied with her explanations of why they had no other family. No grandparents, no relations. Why there was only the two of them. “What secret is that, sweetheart?” She braced.

  “I told him something that I haven’t even told you. I—I think I want to be a policeman. Just like Detective Trent.”

  Cate felt warmth flood her icy veins. It was okay. Danny was being a little boy. That was all. Nothing to be afraid of. She touched her hand to his cheek and realized she was trembling.

  Brad.

  This was his fault. He was the reason she’d been on edge for days. For years she’d lived in the cocoon of her lie. But all that she’d built, contrived and manipulated was about to come tumbling down if she didn’t stop him.

  Her first objective was to keep Danny safe. Keep him locked in the dream she’d invented. She needed to act normal. “What did he say to that? Was he flattered?”

  Danny raised his shoulders and dropped them. “I dunno. He told me he was in the army. Special Forces, Mom. A real Green Beret. He’s like a—a hero.”

  Cate knew how much Danny admired Luke Bosworth. Timmy’s dad was the closest thing Danny had to a father figure even though Danny had seen Luke only on rare occasions. Now that Danny was in kindergarten, he saw more of Luke than before. All around, this was a good thing. Interestingly, in all the times that Danny had praised Luke, she’d never heard the kind of adoration she now heard from him about Trent Davis.

  “He said he had some problems in school with reading. He told me he was impressed about me liking chapter books, Mom. He was impressed with me.”

  She crouched to his level and put her hands on his shoulders. “Danny, you are a very impressive boy. Everyone likes you. The kids in your class look up to you. Your teacher says you are probably the smartest boy in the class. Detective Trent should be impressed with you. Everybody is.”

  “But, Mom. The difference is that he told me so.”

  Cate couldn’t argue that one. How many days went by that she didn’t tell Danny that he was great. She told him that she loved him a half a dozen times a day or more. But to comment on his skills? His behavior? His accomplishments? She was guilty of lagging in that department.

  She needed to pay more attention to this special person who, by sheer luck the universe, had been given to her as her son.

  “You know, Danny, you’re right. That was very nice of him to say that.”

  “I like him a lot, Mom.”

  “I can see that.”

  He reached into his jeans pocket. “He gave me his card so I can call him anytime I want.” He showed her the card.

  She glanced at it and smiled. He put the card in his pocket.

  “Do you like him, Mom? He’s protecting us. Right?”

  She smiled. “He is. And that’s not all that easy, is it? It’s one thing to take care of your own family, but to watch over someone else’s family, that’s different.”

  Danny put his hand on Cate’s arm and pulled at a thread on her blouse sleeve. “He doesn’t have a family. There’s just him.”

  “He told you that?”

  “Yeah. I think he’s lonely.”

  “How can you tell?” she asked.

  “Because he looks at me like he wishes I was his kid,” Danny said, balling the thread between his finger and thumb then flicking it away.

  Cate was dumbstruck. Who was this forty-year-old adult in a child’s body? Was he really that astute? Or was this Danny looking at Trent, wishing Trent was his father?

  Either way, it was apparent to Cate that a bond was forming between her son and Detective Davis.

  “Well,” she said, touching Danny’s nose with her forefinger and smiling at him. “I know one thing. If he does think that, he’s smarter than I’d imagined. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have as a child than you.”

  Danny put his arms around Cate’s neck. “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you, too, Danny. So much.”

  Danny pulled away and grinned. “Can we get ice cream?”

  “Oh, you stinker.” She laughed. “I suppose you’ll want cookies to go with it.”

  “Uh-huh. Maybe some hot fudge?”

  “I’ll tell you what. We’ll go to the Louise House for ice cream over the weekend. And I’ll buy the ingredients for cookies. If we’re going to have treats, I want to know what’s in them.”

  He kissed her cheek and she rose.

  “Okay, Mom. And don’t forget the pumpkin bread.”

  * * *

  CATE PULLED UP to her garage, hit the button and waited for the door to open. After parking the car, she and Danny unloaded the groceries into the kitchen. She went back, hit her remote to lock the car, then locked the garage and double-bolted the kitchen door behind her.

  “Don’t forget to turn on the motion light, Mom,” Danny said.

  “I always have the motion light on,” she replied.

  “I’ll get it.” Danny went to the switch, raised onto his toes and flicked the switch. “We need lots of lights.”

  Cate bent to put the broccoli in the refrigerator, straightened and as she did, she looked out the window.

  There was no mistaking a man’s figure in their yard. She ducked next to the cabinets. “Danny! Grab my purse off the island.”

  “What’s going on?” he asked, staring at her with curiosity but no panic in his eyes.

  “I need my cell phone. Do you still have Trent’s—I mean Detective Davis’s card? I want it.” Then she motioned for him to sit beside her.

  “Yeah.” Danny shoved her purse across the floor and then crawled over to her. He pulled the business card from his pocket.

  Cate punched in the number. Trent picked up on the first ring.

  “Davis,” he said.

  He’d only said his name, but the sound of his strong, deep voice soothed her rattled nerves. �
��It’s Cate Sullivan. Detective Trent—I mean, Davis—”

  “Where are you?” he asked bluntly.

  “I’m...we’re home.”

  “Inside?”

  “Yes. But there’s a man in our backyard. I think it’s the intruder you told us about.”

  “Doors locked?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m on my way,” he said and hung up.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  TRENT SPED DOWN Indian Lake Avenue as if the devil himself were on his tail. Though his lights were flashing like strobes in a night club, he purposefully didn’t use the siren. The lights would warn most motorists to move out of his way. Those who didn’t, he’d blast past those. Indian Lake Avenue was a busy thoroughfare with weekend tourists coming from Illinois to photograph the fall leaves. Fortunately for Trent, cars quickly pulled to the shoulder and allowed him to pass. Once he turned off Indian Lake Avenue, he shut off the lights but kept his speed. He needed to catch Le Grande this time.

  Trent drove two blocks past Cate’s street, then doubled backed. He turned off his headlights, dropped his speed to a crawl and scoured the neighbors’ yards, the sidewalks and street leading up to Cate’s house. He was a block away when he saw a black Mercury peel away from the curb.

  Trent rammed his foot on the gas, turned on his lights and focused his searchlight on the license plate. He memorized the first three numbers, just as his radio shouted at him.

  “Officer—10-101. What is your status?”

  “I’m in pursuit of a late model, black Mercury sedan. Illinois license M3Y. Negative on the rest of the number.”

  Trent glanced in his rearview mirror to see Danny and Cate running down their front sidewalk. Danny was jumping, waving his arms as if to flag Trent down.

  He cursed under his breath. He spoke into his radio. “Send backup. Mercury heading north out of town on Indian Lake Avenue. Presumably toward I-94.”

  “Copy that,” the dispatcher replied. “Sending an APB. State troopers on alert. Will apprehend.”

  “Dispatch, 10-19. Will report from the scene.”

  “Copy that. Do you need backup at scene?”

  “Negative.”

  The dispatcher signed off, “Ten-three.”

  Trent yanked his steering wheel around and performed a stellar, illegal U-turn and shot back to Cate’s house. She and Danny were standing on the front porch steps, their arms wrapped around each other.

  Trent bounded out of the car and strode toward them in four long-legged steps. “Are you two okay?”

  “No,” Cate replied and instantly burst into tears. She hid her face in her hands.

  Danny went straight to him and flung his little arms around Trent’s thigh. “We were scared. It was just like you warned us, Detective Trent.”

  Trent put his hand on Danny’s head and pressed him into his leg. He rubbed his back affectionately. “Don’t worry. I’m here.” Danny heaved a sob and clung tighter.

  Every protective bone in Trent’s body ached for Cate. Of all the calls, all the assignments he’d been given over the years, this one reverberated inside him like church bells on a summer morning. It didn’t take a genius to understand that his reaction was all about the woman. Not that she was defenseless, but that she’d been so strong for years. Like a stalwart angel against all odds, she’d chosen to obliterate her old life and don a new one.

  He respected her and admired the kind of character it took to create a life for herself and her son that appeared normal to all outsiders when, in fact, the underpinnings were held by the sinewy fingers of evil. An evil not of her making.

  Trent reached out to Cate and pulled her hands away from her face. She was trembling even more than Danny, if that was possible. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a funny sound, like a little dog’s bark, came out. Mascara ran down one cheek, and her face was red and blotchy. But her eyes were like searchlights in a storm, warning ships away from treacherous, rocky shores. More tears streamed down her face as she gently shook her head, as if she didn’t mean what she said.

  “No,” she uttered thickly. “No. I shouldn’t have brought you into this.”

  “Don’t say that. It’s not your fault. It’s my job—” Already, he knew he’d moved beyond professionalism where Cate—and Danny—were concerned. If he could steal her away, then he’d be the savior.

  “Your job,” she said, then sniffed. “Yes.”

  Her eyes swam in a sea of tears, and though he could not see beyond the fake brown of their color, he felt the explosion of emotions in her. In that moment, he read the suffering she’d experienced at her ex-husband’s hands. He couldn’t imagine what it had been like for her back then. Pregnant. Afraid. On the run.

  Trent had probed Luke for information about Cate and had been satisfied to hear that his own observations about her had been spot-on. Cate was the kind of person who did everything for herself and by herself. She didn’t ask for favors. She didn’t lean on anyone. Cate was more likely to help her friends than to ask for help.

  What Trent knew was that everyone had their breaking point, and Cate had come to hers.

  Trent wanted her to know she could depend on him. She knew him only as the cop doing his job. But he wanted to be a friend to her, just like Sarah, Luke and Mrs. Beabots. He wanted her to feel comfortable allowing him into her circle. Not because he thought he’d wheedle some information from her, but because, after being around her and Danny at the Sunflower Festival, he liked how he felt when they were together.

  He realized with a jolt that he might need her more than she needed him.

  He took her hand in his. “You’re trembling.”

  “I’m scared.”

  Trent pulled her toward him. She relented like a flower in a spring breeze. “Come here,” was all he said.

  She fitted against his chest like she’d been born to inhabit that very spot. He slid his arm around her shoulders and pressed her head into his chest, just as he had done with Danny. He made comforting noises that were half words and mutterings that he remembered his mother using when he was small and terrified of monsters in his closet.

  For Cate and Danny, their monster was very real.

  Standing in the dark with woman and boy clinging to him for comfort, safety and protection filled Trent with a sense of belonging he’d never experienced in his life.

  And he didn’t want it to end.

  But it had to. He was Trent Davis, former Green Beret who’d seen too many things, done things—top secret things—he could never share with another living human being. Yet, they were part of him. Part of what told him that as much as he wished this moment would go on forever, he had to push Cate away. He was damaged, and he never wanted to hurt her.

  Trent smoothed his hand across Cate’s shoulders, noticing that as he did, her trembling eased and her sobs had abated.

  Oddly, as much as Trent knew he should release Cate, she seemed in no hurry to move away.

  She turned her head on his shoulder and looked at him. “My hugging you probably isn’t in your department manual, is it?”

  “It’s on page 27. Section E.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “No. It specifically states there is to be no fraternization.”

  Her eyes probed his as a gentle smile uplifted her pink lips. Kissable lips. He was losing his focus, and he didn’t give a hoot.

  “Is that what this is?” she asked teasingly.

  “Absolutely not,” he lied. It was so much more.

  “Darn,” she replied, and lowered her head.

  Trent kept his arm firm around her, and allowed his hand to slide comfortingly up her arm. She smelled like a spring garden that he could spend a lifetime roaming.

  Cate was a conundrum that baffled and beguiled him, and he didn
’t care. At the Sunflower Festival she’d been professional, rehearsed in her manner toward him, yet she’d scrutinized him as if he were under a microscope. Even so, she’d allowed Danny to spend time with him. Yet, like quicksilver, she’d changed her attitude and couldn’t wait to get away from him.

  It was just as well because, in the end, Trent wouldn’t and couldn’t ever allow himself to get involved with a woman.

  Cate was his informant. The victim. His case. That was all.

  He was on thin ice, but as long as Cate was on it with him, he’d take the risk. After all, it was possible they would share only this moment. It wouldn’t happen again. Would it?

  “Are you okay to go inside?” Trent finally asked.

  Cate nodded but didn’t move away from him. She lingered as if she needed him. Was he just the cop to her, or was she feeling the same attraction he was?

  He felt a clutch at his heart and a snap in his head as if a connection had just been made. Was it his epiphany? Or had Cate come to abide in his head and his heart?

  She placed her hand on top of his right hand, which was resting on her son’s head. “We should. It’s getting chilly and Danny only has a sweater.”

  Danny leaned his head back and looked at Trent. “I’m okay.”

  Trent smiled at him. “You were a brave guy tonight, Danny. I don’t know when I’ve met anyone with so much courage. Except for your mom.”

  She mouthed thank you.

  They might have done the right thing, but they were both a bit shell-shocked, and he believed it was up to him to allay their fears. Thinking quickly of ways to lighten the mood, he rubbed Danny’s back.

  “Your mom’s right. You’re chilled. Maybe a cup of cocoa would warm you up.”

  Cate sniffed, and when he looked, he could see more tears. He didn’t blame her. He’d be out of his mind if his kid had been threatened in any way.

  “I’m sorry, Danny. No cocoa. I didn’t buy any mix.”

  Trent guffawed. “You don’t make it from scratch?”

  “Uh, no.” She stepped out of his embrace and wiped her face, seeing the mascara on her fingertips. “I’m a mess. Let’s go inside. I need to wash my face.”