Homecoming Day

The lieutenant nodded. “Yes, ma’am. You signed the papers, right?”

“Yeah, I signed your papers. Come on.” JT’s mother grabbed her arm and pulled her from the room. Laura picked up her purse and followed them down the hallway, not sure what else to do.

The lieutenant walked beside her, not saying anything.

They got outside and Laura saw Mrs. Thomas and JT climbing into their car. It was obvious they were fighting. But when Mrs. Thomas reached over and smacked JT, Laura’s jaw dropped, as if she’d been the one who’d been slapped.

The lieutenant brushed by Laura and charged across the small parking lot. He knocked purposefully on the driver’s side window. Laura couldn’t hear what was said, but he leaned in and spoke earnestly to the woman for a minute, then stepped back as she pulled out of the parking space and drove onto the street.

A gust of cold wind blew by and he hurried toward the building.

“You let her go.” Laura had wanted to chase after JT’s mom as well, but given her size, walking was enough of a trial.

“There’s nothing more I could do. It was only a slap, I’d be hard-pressed to make an abuse charge stick. The woman was disciplining her daughter.” The lieutenant’s words sounded calm, but there was a hint of something in his tone—something that said he was as upset at that slap as she was.

“I don’t believe in hitting kids. Ever,” he said. “But I don’t write the laws. I simply enforce them. But I did tell her that I’d be checking in with JT next week at school. And you’ll contact me if you see anything I can make stick.” He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a business card. “Call me. Anytime.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”

Laura clutched the card as she started across the parking lot to her own car.

“Laura,” came a voice that wasn’t the lieutenant’s. She recognized it and knew that her luck had run out. Every fiber of her being wanted to keep walking, but she didn’t. She turned to face the man who reminded her of what Jay might have looked like if he’d lived to be his father’s age.

“Sir.”

Mr. Martin looked as if he’d aged a decade since Jay’s funeral. She’d made it clear that she didn’t want to see him or his wife, and they’d stayed away, though they called to ask about the baby’s progress. The conversations were stilted and uncomfortable at best. But now, here he was and she’d been right, seeing him hurt. “How are you?” he asked.

“The baby’s fine,” she answered, knowing that was his real question. Chief Martin wanted to know about his grandchild, not his son’s almost-wife.

“We’ve missed you.”

Laura looked at her watch. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”

Knowing she was a coward, but not caring, she hurried to her car as quickly as she could given her ponderous size. And she purposefully didn’t glance back at the man she’d once thought would be her father.

Her hand rested on her stomach. This baby was all the family she’d have.

And that was enough.

SETH WATCHED THE TALL BLONDE waddle to her car.

“Why was Laura here?” Chief Jameson Martin asked Seth.

The deputy chief’s voice was choked with emotion, but Seth understood the unwritten code of manly conduct and ignored it. He simply answered his boss’s question. “One of her students, Chief. Ms. Watson came to wait with her until the girl’s mom picked her up.”

“You gave her a card?”

Martin didn’t miss a thing. “Yeah. She’s worried about the girl. So am I. The mom smacked the kid, but no reason to suspect anything more than a parent at her wit’s end. Still, I talked to the mom and I told Miss Watson to call me if she saw any evidence that there’s more than an isolated slap going on.” He paused and asked, “You know her?”

“She was Jay’s fiancée.”

Shit.

Seth knew Martin had lost his son last spring. He’d gone to Kloecker’s Funeral Home, like the rest of the department. They’d all filed through, offering condolences, shaking hands, even hugging Mrs. Martin.

He remembered there was a fiancée, but he hadn’t known until now that she was pregnant. And from her reaction, things were not very amicable between her and the chief. Seth wasn’t sure what to say about it or what to do, so he stood and waited.

Martin finally spoke, breaking the silence. “She doesn’t want anything to do with us. If we call, she’s polite enough, but she’s put a wall between us. It’s killing my wife. That baby is our last connection to our son, but more than that, my wife loves Laura.”

Seth was pretty sure it was killing Martin, too, but he didn’t say it.

“I’m sorry.” His mother once told him that there are some pains that are so great that those are the only words that can be offered. And yet, he wished he had something more to offer his chief. “Maybe she’ll come around.”

“I’d like to think she will, but…” Martin’s voice cracked, and he was silent a moment. “You’ll tell me if you see her again? If there’s anything she needs, you’ll let me know? A lot of guys from Jay’s group have been taking care of some work around her house. Not that she asks. She keeps insisting she’s fine. But how can she be?”

There were three patrol groups on the Erie Police Department. Martin’s son, Jay, was assigned to a different group than Seth’s. They’d known each other, but never worked together. Seth figured Jay’s group would consider Laura Watson one of their own, as they should. Even if she insisted she didn’t need their help, they’d help.

“Sure,” he promised. “I’ve got to go into her school next week. Why don’t I make it a point to check in with her about her student?”

“I’m not asking you to spy on her, or break any confidence,” Martin assured him hastily. “It’s that she’s our only link left with Jay. Her and the baby. But it’s more than that. We loved Laura as if she was our own. When we lost Jay, we lost her, too, and it hurt. We’d do anything for her, if she’d let us.”

“Sure thing, Chief. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

He turned and walked back into the office, his mind on Laura Watson.

The very pregnant Laura Watson.

And that thought made him remember Allie. Not that he ever forgot her. She was there with him, every day. At first, Allie had been there every minute, a constant pain that ached with every breath he took. Now, that pain wasn’t as fierce or frequent, but as it faded, he was left with this huge hole in his life. And he didn’t know how to fill it.

He could really understand Laura Watson’s pain at losing her fiancé. Losing that one person you loved more than life itself—it was the kind of thing you never actually got over. You might learn to live, despite the loss. But you were never truthfully the same.

He shut off such thoughts. He was at work and couldn’t afford the distraction. Later, tonight, he’d remember, and if he was lucky, he’d dream about Allie.

That’s all he had left.

CHAPTER TWO

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, LAURA looked at the sullen girl wiping down the chalkboard. JT was not impressed that she was doing her detention with Laura instead of in the usual auditorium. While she was cooperating, she made her displeasure clear with every movement, every monosyllabic response.

Gone was the girl who’d called on her for help.

Laura ignored JT’s mood. “When you’re done with that, why don’t you sit down and start your homework?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Laura had gone to the principal’s office first thing Monday morning. She’d told him about the police station and had asked if JT could do her latest round of punishment with her rather than in the auditorium with the rest of the students. Mike Asti had readily agreed. “It doesn’t seem like the normal route is working with JT. She’s a C to D student with little academic motivation. And she’s had daily detentions a lot this year. It’s definitely…not the most auspicious way to start a high school career. Maybe something a bit less traditional would help her,” he said. “And let’s face it, she’s only a freshman, and so far every one of her teachers has complained about her, but you. Maybe she needs someone on her side.”

Laura watched as JT stomped across the room, slumped into one of the desks and picked up a book. Their second day of detention wasn’t going particularly well. Somehow, she intended to reach the girl.