The Lawman's Yuletide Baby

He’d had it all once and ruined it. He had absolutely no right to wish for more than what he had now. A great job keeping people safe, a small boat and a house on the water.

A house that seemed pretty empty compared with the busy family living next door.

Chapter Two (#ua08ae45c-8952-5791-a721-32b2d8f44a0e)

Gabe had just finished packing dozens of boxes when his landline phone rang the following Saturday. He almost tripped getting through the confusing maze, but when he saw his mother’s number in the display, he grabbed the call quickly. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”

“Gabe. Do you have a minute?”

Worry wrenched her voice. He was pretty sure she was crying, and he was nearly four hours away with a moving crew on the way, but if she needed him, he’d hop in the car and head toward Albany because Linda Cutler had gone the distance for him too many times to count. And with his mother’s crazy, mixed-up, dysfunctional family, Gabe knew he’d been blessed to be on the normal end of the spectrum. “Of course I do. Take your time. I’m right here.”

“I know. I just...” She breathed out a sigh. “Aunt Maureen just got off the phone with me, screaming about life’s injustices, and how unfair things are. She’s blaming the police and the world for everything that went wrong with Adrianna. I tried to calm her down, but it didn’t work. She hung up on me, but not before she called me unkind names.”

“I’m sure she’s hurting, but that’s no reason to take it out on you. I’m sorry, Mom. You know Aunt Maureen. It’s always someone else’s fault.” His narrow-minded aunt had recently buried the daughter she’d disowned years before. Adrianna had gotten herself into a mess of trouble as a teen, then again as a young adult. She’d done time, and her parents made sure that everyone knew they wanted nothing to do with their wayward child.

She’d died in a convenience store robbery gone bad, a tragic end to a life filled with flawed choices.

“My sister is mean, Gabe. Just plain mean, and it’s got nothing to do with her faith or her church, it’s her. No wonder that poor girl went rogue. And now look what it’s all come to.”

She was right. His mom’s younger sister had a sharp tongue and always held a grudge. She and his uncle had little regard for Christ’s instruction on forgiveness. “Aunt Maureen is probably second-guessing her actions, Mom—maybe wishing she hadn’t thrown Adrianna out of the house, or been so strict with her.”

“Or she’s blaming everyone but herself for her family problems.”

That sounded more like it. “Do you want me to come down there? I can. I’ve got the next two days off.” He didn’t mention that he was supposed to be moving because she’d refuse his help if she thought she was inconveniencing him.

She’d blessed him from the day he was born, or at least as far back as he could remember. She’d been a single mom at a time when being a single mother wasn’t overtly accepted, but she’d been great. And still was.

And through it all, her sister Maureen had held Linda’s mistakes up like a banner, making sure everyone knew that Linda lived a life of bad choices.

But in the end, Gabe had turned out just fine and Maureen’s two daughters had brought nothing but trouble on themselves. That had always infuriated his fire-and-brimstone aunt. “Why did you take her call?”

“Because she just lost her daughter.”

Gabe would have done the same. “Do you want to come up here for a visit?”

“No, I just needed to vent. Maureen is just...” She paused, then drew a deep breath. “Well, you know. She needs to lay this at someone else’s door, and that finger of blame will never fall back on her. Maybe if she’d shown those girls a little kindness, a little understanding—” She paused again. “No use rehashing all of that. And you’re right, if she calls again, I’ll let it go to voice mail. I’m working overtime this weekend, so that will gain me some distance.”

His mother worked at a manufacturing facility outside Albany. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I just needed someone to talk to. It’s been a rough couple of months down here, and losing Adrianna like that has stirred some old pots.”

“Aunt Maureen and Uncle Blake had choices, Mom. So did Adrianna.”

“I know. And I knew I could only do so much when their mother was dead set against anyone helping those girls out, but it weighs on me, Gabe, knowing Adrianna longed for help and thought no one would provide it.”

Guilt.

It was an emotion he knew well. Too well. “We pray, Mom. And we keep our eyes open for other ways to help people. Like you taught me all along.” The noise of pickup trucks pulling into the driveway made him turn. “You sure you don’t want me to head down there? I can be there by lunchtime.”

“I’m sure. Just glad you don’t mind talking with your mom now and again.”

“Mind?” He laughed because throughout his times of trouble, Linda Cutler had been the calm voice of faith, hope and reason. “I love it, Mom. And I love you.”

He pictured her smile in the softer note in her voice. “I love you, too. Bye, honey.”

He hung up, knowing she’d be okay, but it wasn’t easy to dodge angry family members, especially when proximity allowed them access.

That was another reason he’d moved four hours northwest when everything fell apart. Distance from his mother’s family wasn’t a choice, it had been a lifesaving measure.

The first two trucks rolled to a stop, and half a dozen boys and men aimed for his door. He swung it wide in welcome.

He might not have family here, but between the troopers and the baseball team, his needs were covered.

By ten o’clock they were on their way to 2312 Lakeshore Drive with the first wave of belongings.

He thought it would take all day to move things.

He was wrong.

A single guy who worked long hours and coached three seasons of baseball didn’t accumulate a lot of stuff.

They pulled the trucks into the lakefront driveway one at a time. Tee spotted them and raced across the narrow yards, hurdling the short privet hedge on the property line. “Can I help?”

He spotted Corinne’s bemused expression next door. Hands up, she gestured to the tables and chairs she’d been setting out and then her daughter. “You help here,” he told her. “I’ll go help your mother move the tables.”

“Oops.” Looking a little guilty, Tee spun and waved. “Sorry, Mom!”

“I’ll bet she is,” Corinne noted as Gabe drew closer. “She’d much rather help the team than be stuck helping her mother.”

“Pretty normal, I expect. But I can help her mother,” Gabe added as he lifted one of the tables. “Tell me where you want them and I’ll get them in order for you.”

“You’ve got a whole house to arrange,” she scolded. “I can handle this.”

Gabe moved the first table closer to the lake as he replied, “I’ve got bedroom stuff, kitchen stuff and living room stuff, which means half the rooms of the house will sit empty. I bet they can figure it out, Corinne. And my buddy Mack is over there with his wife, and when Susie MacIntosh takes charge, we all smile and nod and follow orders.”

“My kind of gal.” Corinne started setting up folding chairs. “Should we start the fire now, if you guys don’t have to make too many more trips back to your old place?”

“One more trip should do it, so that’s probably a good idea.” He settled the next table close to the first. “And if I’m setting these in the wrong spots, tell me. Don’t wait until I’m gone, then change them.”

“Well, it’s a simple afternoon barbecue, so I’m pretty sure anywhere is good.”

Her tone was easy, but it didn’t take a real smart guy to sense something amiss. “Listen, Corinne. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the committee meeting the other night.” He was working as the safety liaison for the upcoming Christkindl festival, a huge annual event that netted tens of thousands of dollars for the Police Benevolence Fund. The fund helped widows and children of fallen officers. As a widow, Corinne had headed the committee for half a dozen years, but the current committee had voted in some major changes she didn’t like. Changes he approved, which might make him persona non grata with his new neighbor.

“Because you were mobbed by triumphant town retailers and I had to get home to the kids.”

That was true, but law enforcement was schooled in undercurrents, and the one on this deck rivaled an East Coast riptide. “I don’t want you to think we were trying to undercut your position.”

A momentary pause of her hands was her only outward reaction, which meant she was hiding her feelings, a move he recognized because he’d hidden his share. Watching her, he realized she was just as good as he was at disguising his true emotions. Maybe better. “When you, Lizzie and Maura took places on the committee, it meant we all needed to work together,” she replied in a soft, even voice. “Although neither Kate nor I was invited to the impromptu meeting you guys had on Tuesday.”