Like me.
In a deliberate attempt to calm her fraying nerves, Julee picked up the paperweight from Tate’s desk and rolled it between her hands, watching snow drift over the pair of baying hounds. Was it her imagination, or could she still detect the warmth of Tate’s skin? Oddly, the thought calmed her.
“Any reason why you’re targeting minorities?”
Oh, yes, the most important reason in the world. Their daughter had Tate’s Seminole heritage and the genetic types that went with it.
“Minorities have a very limited donor system, so the chances of finding a match are almost nil. And because their population is small, we need all the donors we can get.”
“We?”
She shrugged, but her grip on the paperweight was tight enough to turn her knuckles white. She’d done fine without this man for nearly ten years. She had no desire to disrupt her life or his any more than necessary, but Tate’s cooperation could save Megan’s life. “I’ve been working with the bone-marrow registry for a while. Too many kids die who could be saved by somebody if only that someone had his blood type on file.”
Her heart had been broken a dozen times as beautiful children she and Megan had come to know had withered away while waiting for a transplant. Minority children especially lacked hope. Somehow, she had to change that.
“Why come to me? Why not go to the hospital or the Chamber of Commerce?”
“I have. The hospital administrator thinks it’s a great opportunity for PR. The bone-marrow people will send a mobile unit, the Saturn Company has signed on to sponsor, and we’ll accept regular blood donations, too, to help with expenses.”
He tilted back in his chair again, eyebrows knit in thought. Bright sunlight slanted in through the window behind him and gleamed off his almost-black hair. He picked up a pen and rotated it between his fingers. “Let me ask that again. Why come to me?”
“I’m lining up all the community and civic leaders. The mayor, the school administration, fire chief, etc. Since I’m especially interested in bringing the Seminoles on board, your influence…” At Tate’s thunderous expression, Julee clapped her lips together. She’d thought he was warming to the idea, but now the cold, shuttered expression returned.
“You’ll have to go to the BIA or tribal chiefs if you want the Seminoles. Don’t expect me to get involved.”
Her heart fell. “But I thought—”
“You thought what, Julee? That you could march in here and pretend ten years hadn’t passed? That I’d ignore the law-enforcement needs of this county to run around drumming up business for your tax break?”
“No! That’s not what I thought at all.” Where had she gone wrong? “As I said, you’re the sheriff, you have a certain clout that could be used—”
“Used? No thanks. Been there, done that.”
Julee squeezed her hands into fists, the long nails digging at her skin. She wanted to scream, to cry, to grab Tate and make him listen. Everything was coming out all wrong.
“That’s not what I meant!”
With a loud exhale, Tate held out a palm, peacemaker style. “Look, Julee, I don’t mean to be a hard case about this, but there are plenty of others to help with this cause of yours. I really am awfully busy, and given our history, I’d expect to be the last man on earth you’d come to.”
Their history was exactly why she had to have his help, but for Megan’s sake she dared not tell him that. Resuming perfect posture on the slick vinyl seat even while her insides howled in terror, she struggled for control and a serene façade. Any act of hysteria on her part was bound to make him wonder why he was more important than any other civic leader.
“We were once such good friends, I just thought—”
“Once,” he interrupted. “And once was a long time ago, a time I don’t care to revisit. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He tossed the pen down and pushed upward from the desk. “I have to see a woman about a Peeping Tom.”
“Wait. Please.” But Tate was past listening.
Julee watched in dismay as the Sheriff of Seminole County, the man whose very blood she depended upon, grabbed his hat and, as if he couldn’t stand to be in her presence another moment, strode out the door.
Chapter Two
“He says he won’t help, Mom.” Julianna gripped the telephone receiver, trying to keep the panic at bay.
“He has to!” Beverly Reynolds’ strident voice pierced the distance from California to the Blackwood Motel.
“I know that, Mother,” Julianna cried. Then flopping back onto the standard green-and-brown motel bedspread, she relented. “I’m sorry. I’m just so scared. What if I can’t convince him to be tested?” She rubbed at the ache building between her eyebrows. “I don’t know what I’ll do.”
The motel television flickered to a commercial and Julianna saw her own legs hawking a new brand of depilatory cream. She turned away from the inane sight.
“I don’t know, either, honey.” Regret tinged her mother’s words. “If I hadn’t lied to everyone, especially Megan, you could come right out and tell Tate the truth.”
“I don’t want to hurt his family, but if he doesn’t agree to donate on his own, I’ll have no choice.”
“No! Absolutely not. You can’t risk it.” Julianna held the phone away from her mother’s screech. “The doctors have told us a dozen times how important a positive mental state is to Megan’s struggling immune system. Her health is too fragile to suddenly discover the father she thought was dead is alive and well in Oklahoma. Who knows what the shock might do to her?” A tormented sigh came through the phone lines. Julianna envisioned her mother repeatedly pushing short frosted hair behind one ear. “This is all my fault. I never should have started that lie.”
“You did what you thought was best at the time, Mama. I don’t blame you for any of this.”
When Julee had discovered her pregnancy and Tate’s marriage to another woman, her mom had created a deceased husband to save face in the new city and among new friends and co-workers.
“You were so young and so stubbornly determined not to ruin Tate’s chances for a football career. For a while I hated that boy. There you were pregnant, trying to succeed in this crazy modeling business, and wanting to spare the very boy who’d gotten you into trouble. I only meant to protect you and Megan from mean-spirited people.”
“I know, Mama, I know.” Julianna stared at the black spots on the ceiling tile. She’d relived those days in her mind a thousand times wondering what she could have done differently, and the answer always came out the same. She didn’t know.
Her mother hadn’t wanted her united with Tate, though she’d bitterly resented Julianna’s original plan to keep Tate in the dark. But Julee had feared what would happen if he’d discovered the pregnancy. He would have abandoned the athletic scholarship, his only opportunity to move beyond
