Healing the Lawman's Heart

Julia Harrison was going to kill Tanner for not protecting her brother. And he wouldn’t blame her one bit.

She rushed into the ER twenty minutes later with Zach’s wife, Piper, and a big, broad man that must be Zach’s father, Marty. He was taller than Julia, with the same blond hair, and he threw a frustrated look at Zach. “First her.” He jerked a thumb at Julia. “Now you. I assumed this whole parenthood thing got easier once you grew up. Clearly I was mistaken.”

“Are you okay?” Julia asked while Piper grabbed hold of Zach and burst into tears.

Zach sent his father a questioning look because anyone who knew Piper McKinney Harrison knew she didn’t cry. Ever.

Marty Harrison made a face, surprised.

Julia shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I figured it was just an ankle and not a bullet, but then I’m hard-hearted.”

“Compared to Piper?” Tanner scratched the back of his head. “No one’s tougher than Piper, are they?”

Julia started to speak, then paused.

Zach winced in pain, then caught her look. “Piper? Are you...? I mean, are we expecting again?”

“Yes.” She nodded against his chest, and Tanner’s gut did a weird little twist when Zach’s hand tightened protectively over his wife’s neck. “I was going to tell you tonight, I had it all planned and it was going to be very romantic—”

“Seems it already was,” noted Julia. Her easy humor made Tanner feel better, but for a guy who avoided pregnancy and children purposely, he’d been unexpectedly bombarded by both for the past twenty-four hours.

“And then they called and said you were hurt,” Piper continued, “and the first thing I thought was you were shot.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“Well, you could have been,” she insisted.

“Only if Tanner shot me. Or Chalmers. Unfortunately I was bested by a decorative rock path buried under a monumental snowdrift. I went one way. My foot went the other.”

“How bad is it?” Julia asked. She lifted the blanket, grimaced and set the woven throw back down gingerly. “Oh, that’ll need an operation, bro. When is that expected to happen?”

A doctor strode into the room. “Right now. We just called in an ortho specialist. I’m Dr. Laramie, hey, wait.” He stared at Tanner, then Julia, then Zach. “Didn’t I see you Three Musketeers in here last night?”

“Guilty as charged,” Tanner admitted. “Last night it was her fault.” He pointed Julia’s way and ignored her little squawk of protest. “This one’s on me.”

“It’s on a rock path and a snowstorm and three brats who wanted to steal old folks’ pensions to support a drug habit.” Zach held Piper’s hand between two of his and stared at Tanner. “You had two-on-one at the back. You did what you needed to do. I tripped, plain and simple.”

Tanner couldn’t let it go that easily. “If he’d come around the other way, you’d have been clear and there’d be no injury. Now you’re busted, your wife’s expecting and you won’t be around to back me up for six—”

“Eight,” said Zach’s father.

Julia scoffed. “Ten, minimal.”

“Twelve weeks, most likely,” the doctor advised cheerfully. He held up an X-ray. “This snazzy black-and-white photo of your bones shows multiple breaks that are going to be surgically repaired by installing some pretty inventive hardware in your ankle. The nuts and bolts will hold things together as they heal, but the tough part isn’t the four breaks in the bone.”

“It’s not?” Zach asked.

“Soft tissue damage,” the doctor reported. “That’s why we’re looking at twice the healing time. Tendons and ligaments grow slowly, so you’ll be spending the entire spring out of commission.”

Zach looked like someone just kicked him in the teeth, and Tanner knew just how he felt. Twelve weeks of immobility?

A killer.

Zach turned toward his sister. “Julia. The clinic.” His face darkened. “Oh, man. You were counting on me, and you need to have that work done on time for the grant money to be disbursed.”

She waved his concern off as if it was nothing, and that garnered Tanner’s respect because Zach had explained that if the work didn’t get done, the grant money went to someone else.

“You think you’re indispensable or something?” Julia shrugged as if this wasn’t a big deal, but Tanner knew better. “We’ll get someone else to help us get the clinic ready for business.”

“I know what your budget’s like and you were counting on me,” Zach lamented. “And we can’t have Piper working in a zone that might have asbestos. Jules, really, I’m so sorry.”

“I’ll help” Tanner offered. It was the last thing he wanted to do, to be caught in a work zone with midwives and doctors and pregnant women, but they should be done with the work before too many young mothers came around. “I’m decent with a hammer and I like fixing things. And it’s not bragging to say I’m better than your brother.”

Zach started to protest, but Tanner stopped him. “Save your breath. If I’d been between the kids and that alley, the second kid wouldn’t have gone that way and you’d be doing paperwork right now. As it is, Chalmers is doing paperwork and I’m...” He took a deep breath. “Going to help build walls for a women’s health clinic in a crime-riddled strip mall.”

“Not necessary,” Julia said coolly. “But thank you. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of help, and didn’t we confirm last night that accidents happen to everyone? No one’s fault, then or now.” Her expression said she didn’t need his help or like his attitude. But he knew what he needed to do.

“I will help, it’s useless to argue,” Tanner offered mildly. “And who’s got your boys and little Jackson if you’re all here?”

“My mother.” Piper kissed Zach’s cheek as the doctor returned with papers to sign. “She’s having the time of her life, and she can’t wait to be a grandma again.”

Tanner had had enough talk of babies and clinics. He’d been so happy to get the call-in today, glad to push thoughts of this anniversary aside, but that was hard when pregnancy chatter surrounded him. He took a step backward. “Zach, I’m heading out to help Chalmers. I’ll do whatever you need, and again, I’m sorry, man.”

Zach waved him off. Tanner started to head toward Julia, but her expression said their conversation was over.

It wasn’t over, it had barely begun, and he had every intention of helping with her women’s health center. Why it had to be in his patrol area was a quirk of fate he didn’t need, but out of his control.

He strode out the door, determined. Like it or not, Zach had gotten hurt because he’d messed up. Now he’d help pick up the slack his mistake had caused. Whether Julia liked it or not.

Chapter Three (#ulink_7d9e9c3e-c543-5705-870d-66778f50d010)

Julia stopped by her house on the way home from the hospital. The emergency enclosure firm had battened down the hatches and the firefighters had removed the tree and secured the electric lines, but it would be weeks before her house was habitable. She hurried upstairs, grabbed clothing and toiletries she’d need for herself and the boys, then saw the message light flashing on her landline as she descended the stairs.

She hit the message code. The unexpected tones of her ex-husband’s voice made her chest ache. “Ignoring me, Julia? Doing what you do best, hiding your head in the sand to avoid reality? Well here’s the deal, Martin and Connor are my kids as much as yours, and if I have to go to a judge to enforce my visitation rights, I’ll do it. Don’t make me bring you to court, Julia. Call me and set up a time for me to have my sons. We’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”

Julia’s heart froze solid, the phone in her hand.

Meet in the middle?

Did Vic expect her to drive halfway to Ithaca and hand Martin and Connor over to him after he’d spent the past two years ignoring them?

Not gonna happen.

Ice pulsed through her veins as she smacked down the phone. The sound of his voice was antagonistic, and condescending, as if distancing herself from his affairs was an over-reaction on her part.

She paced the long living room, examining her options.

Vic had visitation rights, but he’d never bothered to use them. He’d shrugged off her moving to Kirkwood Lake two years ago, and other than the infrequent child support checks, he’d stayed out of their lives.