Heartbreak's Reward (Double Dutch Ranch Series: Love at First Sight Book 2) Read online

  HEARTBREAK’S REWARD

  Double Dutch Ranch Series:

  Love at First Sight #2

  Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

  http://www.maryjdresselbooks.com

  Copyright

  Heartbreak’s Reward is a work of fiction. Canyon Junction is fictional. Names, characters, places, and incidences either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Heartbreak’s Reward Copyright © 2014 by Mary J. Dressel

  First Digital Edition September 2014 United States of America

  Publisher: Teel Blue Books

  Edited By: Creative Manuscripts

  Cover Design By: Dawné Dominique

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, scanned, distributed, stored in, or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, either now known or in the future, is forbidden without the express written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  License Notes This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work in whole or in part is illegal. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people unless in a qualified lending program. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the provider and purchase your own copy. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Books by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

  Bull Rider Series Books

  Howdy, Ma’am

  Hey, Cowboy, #2

  Double Dutch Ranch Series: Love at First Sight

  Cowboy Boss and his Destiny

  Heartbreak’s Reward

  Dedication

  To a great friend who makes me laugh.

  M. Reid Christiansen

  Chapter 1

  Jase Carlson paced in the hallway of the courthouse for his dissolution of marriage. He’d prefer they call it what it was. A damn divorce. He glanced over at his brother, Tristan, waiting on the bench.

  Tom Brandt, his lawyer entered and motioned him over. “Take a seat J.C. I have some fairly good news.”

  Jase raised his hands in frustration. “Seeing my kids walk through the door will be good news.”

  “Rebecca can’t touch your inherited ranch property, but she’s signing off everything—vehicles and furniture, yet you’ll pay off her credit card bills acquired before she left. If she wins, of course, you’ll continue paying child support through the court.”

  Jase glanced at his brother but looked into his minds-eye, seeing the blaze in his yard from the pile of burning furniture. “I’ve already paid off most of the bills anyway. What about my kids?”

  “You’re seeking sole custody. She wants joint. It’s looking good for you from what I see of the way Rebecca’s been living.” Tom put his hand on Jase’s shoulder. “Her drug use has been proven. Not to mention lying to the courts about where she lived. Mainly, where she didn’t live.” Tom shook his head. “They sent child support checks to an address where she no longer resided, or never did. In other words, we don’t know where she was at the time.”

  “This is hell to think of what my children have been though these past six months. They couldn’t even tell me anything when they were with me because she sat right there across from us.” He sighed. “Now I know why she hung out. She was afraid the kids would talk.”

  Jase peered at the floor before looking back up at Tom. “Look, I followed the rules concerning my kids, and see where it got me? I should have snatched them right out of her hands and brought them home.” His throat tightened. Anger threatened to take over, and if he was anywhere else he’d probably punch a wall. He had to take a big breath. He missed those kids so much.

  Jase got up and walked down the hall, came back, and sat beside Tom. “How do we do joint custody when she won’t tell me where they live? Tucson is all I got out of her. All she allows me is one dinner a month with them at a place between Canyon Junction and Tucson, if she feels like it.” When it was time to leave, she slipped away into the night with his whole world. He’d tried to follow her a few times but to no avail. She just disappeared. Always disappeared. On a daily basis, he didn’t know if his kids were okay and that tore him apart inside.

  “Do it the same way you’ve been doing it but in reverse,” said Tom.

  He stood. “You make it sound like a field trip or something fun. You have no idea what it’s been like.” Jase turned to the right at the sound of heels clicking across the floor. Rebecca rounded the corner. “There’s the—never mind.” The kids weren’t with her. Blood rushed to his head and his face heated. Control. Deep breath.

  “Jase, sit back down,” said Tom, closing his laptop and stuffing it into his bag.

  He blocked her path when she got to him. “Where’s our kids?”

  Her chin jutted forward and she raised her hand as if to stop him. “The kids are fine. I didn’t bring them for this. You’re keeping your property, and I surely don’t want anything you have. Be thankful for that. Let’s get this over with, okay?” She shoved his arm to move past him, but he didn’t budge.

  “The kids are everything, the other is material.” Jase observed her. In the two months since he’d seen her, she had lost weight. Her brunette hair no longer had its shine, and her hazel eyes looked pale. “Look, I don’t care who you’re with, Rebecca. I’m over it after all these months of waiting to divorce you. I don’t know where you live or if they’re safe. They hardly talk when I’m with them, like they’re terrified.”

  He remained in front of her without breaking eye contact. “It’s not fair to Jaelle and Joey.” He’d love to bring up her drug use, but he chose not to. Drugs. There was never a clue, other than that bottle of pills he found after she had left, then it all came together. Her will had broken, and she gave into the weakness again. She’d been clean a long time, too. Her moods, neglect, empty stares…now had reason.

  She peered around him. “There’s my lawyer, I have to go.”

  “You know the effect this divorce has on our kids.” He moved in closer. “Why Rebecca? I was always a good husband to you.”

  Rebecca glared at him, and then diverted her eyes to the floor. “I’ll give you that much. It wasn’t anything you’d done.”

  “Then I don’t understand.” Dammit. This almost makes it worse. “Help me understand.” Jase reached for her hand but she jerked away.

  “Don’t touch me!” Again, a cold glare shot from her eyes. “Maybe I fell out of love with you.” Rebecca folded her arms across her chest and peered off into space.

  “Fell out of love with me. It’s that simple?” He lifted her chin to make her look at him and she didn’t protest. “What are the kids supposed to do with all this?”

  Shoving his hand away, she pierced him with a hateful stare. “They’re getting by.” She glanced around the hallway, lowered her voice, and said, “Stay the fuck out of my life.”

  Whoa! Jase was so mixed up, he wanted to both draw her close, and shake some sense into her at the same time. “If I don’t win sole custody today, I’m fight
ing for them. I’ll never stop. Rebecca, I can care for these kids, give them the stable life they’ve known. Please.”

  “I have to go.” She shoved her palm into his shoulder. “Get a life, Jase.” Rebecca walked past him but peered over her shoulder with a smirk.

  He shoved his hands into his front pockets and dragged his feet on the way over to his lawyer. “How can she do this? I want my kids today if I win custody.”

  Tom glanced at his watch. “We’ll know shortly. Her lawyer and I have talked. All she wants is a divorce and no debt. Maybe she’ll cave on the custody.”

  Yeah, sure. He clasped his fingers behind his neck. “It’s okay for her to take them away from me, the family here? And walk away?”

  “No, Jase, it’s not all right. Let’s go inside the courtroom.” Tom set his hand on Jase’s shoulder, but he shrugged it away. “Do not respond to her in there, and do not lose your temper. Everything’s been worked out. The judge has the final decision.”

  Jase raised his hands in front of him trying to find a calm before entering the courtroom. “I’m usually a patient man. At least I was until she became a cheater hooked on drugs.”

  “Stay in control, Jase.” Tom said to Tristan, “He needs to stay in control.”

  Tristan glanced at his brother and hesitated a moment before confirming. “He’ll be fine.”

  ***

  After court and the final decree, Tom and the other attorney met in a conference room with Rebecca and Jase to discuss visitation time.

  Tom spoke to Rebecca. “Look, Jase is granting you visitation because he has a good heart. According to what the judge said, he doesn’t have to. He has sole custody now.”

  “Rebecca,” Jase said, “When you get a job, a decent place to live, and clean up your life, we’ll rethink this. Only then will I open up summers and holidays.” He clenched his hands on his lap. “Until you have stability for Jaelle and Joey, I’m protecting them. They’ve already lived through your hell all these months you’ve been gone.” Jase got up and paced around the conference table to the window, and peered outside. His shoulders rose and fell in a deep breath.

  Turning back, he hesitated. He stood behind the lawyers and used his phone to text before sitting back down. “Move back to Canyon Junction and it’ll be easier on all of us. Tucson’s too far to go back and forth with your rundown car.” Jase brushed his hair back. How the hell did she end up in Tucson anyway? “When you return the kids to me this weekend, I’ll give you the car you left behind. I paid it off, and it’s yours if you want it. Hell, just let me come get the kids now.” He took her hand. “Rebecca, think of our children instead of yourself for once.”

  “I said I didn’t want anything from you.” Shaking free, she said, “Don’t make demands on me, Jase Carlson. I don’t care what…”

  He waited for her to continue. Nothing. “They don’t deserve this. You want to hurt me, fine, I get it, although I’ll never know why…” He looked away a moment before facing her again. “Our kids never asked for this divorce.”

  “You’re the one who filed,” whined Rebecca.

  Jase stood. “What’d you expect?” He held her stare and wiped sweat from his forehead with the heel of his hand. “You could have come back home. I would have helped you get off the…” Forget it. Too late now.

  His lawyer stood beside Jase. “Sit down.” Tom peered at Rebecca’s attorney. “We need to finalize this.”

  Rebecca rose from her chair and took a step toward the door. “I’ll see you this weekend, Jase. No sooner.”

  Her lawyer called after her. “Wait, Rebecca, we’re not finished.”

  “I’m finished.” Rebecca stopped at the door, waiting for her attorney to collect her paperwork. Mrs. Jameson gathered documents, handing a folder to Rebecca. She took her arm and escorted her out.

  Tristan and Tom stood beside him. “I don’t trust her,” said Jase. “No way is she accepting me taking the kids and giving her supervised visitation. Even though, that’s what she’s been doing to me.” He knew her too well.

  They walked through the courthouse and out to Jase’s truck in the parking lot. His lawyer went on his way after setting up another appointment with Mrs. Jameson. Jase unlocked the truck and the two of them got inside. He turned up the air conditioning, lowered the volume on the radio, and faced Tristan. “I’m getting my kids. Now. You don’t have to be a part of this. Have Nora or Mom pick you up. ” He clenched the steering wheel. “I can’t trust her.”

  Tristan tapped his fingers against his thigh. “How ya gonna find her? You’ll get your ass thrown in jail, Jase.”

  “The kids belong to me now.” He drew in a breath and released it before speaking. “Her address was in her lawyer’s folder, and I…ah, kind of saw it, texted it to myself. I have to do this.” Jase lowered his forehead to the top of the steering wheel. He trembled. “It’s your call. I won’t hold it against ya for getting out.”

  Tristan peered at him and stuck his hat on his head. “Alrighty, roll. Let’s bring those kids back where they belong.”

  Jase nodded, dropped it into first gear, and headed toward Tucson. He knew the area and it wasn’t a place he’d choose for his kids to be raised.

  ***

  Once they rolled into the neighborhood, Tristan checked the number on Jase’s phone. “It should be right up here, according to the GPS.” He checked each address as they passed. “There,” he said, pointing to the left.

  “There’s no curtains on the windows, Trist.”

  “Sonofabitch.” Tristan flung his seatbelt off and hit his palm against the dashboard.

  “She doesn’t even live here?” He released the clutch and jumped out, ran up to the windows, and peered inside. “There’s nothing in here. Not a damn thing.”

  Tristan followed him to the house, shaking his head. “She either moved before court, or lied to her lawyer again. You sure you got the right address?”

  “I got the right address.” He went back to the truck for his phone. “I have to call Tom.” He paced in front of his truck, and said to Tristan, “She lied about everything, and has no intention of bringing the kids back.”

  Jase left a message for his lawyer and hung up. A neighbor walked from across the street. “You all looking for somebody?”

  “Yeah, the woman who lived here.” Jase sauntered up to the man, pointing back at the house. Either a nosy neighbor or someone who might be able to help.

  “Ah, she’s gone. Packed up last weekend and moved out. Can’t say I was sorry to see them go.” The man pointed across the street to another house. “I stood right there and watched.”

  “A woman with two kids?” asked Jase, his voice already quivering.

  “That’s right.” The neighbor turned to go.

  Tristan called after the man. “Wait. How many people lived here? I mean…did the woman have a man with her.”

  “A couple guys. Well…” The man hesitated.

  Jase took a step forward. “They’re my kids and that was my wife.”

  The neighbor folded his arms and stared at the ground. “Well, she lived there with her husband…or so I thought. The other guy was just…well, just living there.”

  “I was her husband,” said Jase, “until today. What about the kids? Two of them…a boy and a girl.” He held his palm flat to indicate their height.

  “Nope, they all moved out. Cute kids, too. Well-behaved. Their dad—sorry. The guy watched them sometimes.”

  Tristan asked the man, “You don’t happen to have any photos, do you? Maybe of the asshole pretending to be their dad?”

  The man shook his head. “No, nothing like that.”

  Jase weakened. Shook his head. Diverted his eyes. “Thanks, man.” He headed for the truck, and got in the passenger side. He waited for his brother and handed him the keys. He slouched down in the seat and lowered his hat over his eyes.

  Tristan backed out of the driveway in Tucson, and headed back home toward Canyon Junction. Most of the trip was s
pent in silence until they stopped to eat. He turned to Tristan. “Some asshole I don’t know watched my kids. I’ll find them…and him. I swear I will. Not even God can help him if he hurts my babies.”

  Chapter 2

  Brenna Page stopped on the side of the road, scanning the map. It’d make more sense if she had a clue where she was. She peered at the GPS, comparing it to the map. No comparison. Apparently, it quit working in Phoenix when she left the shipping yard after picking up her car. “Canyon Junction should be right ahead.” She didn’t see anything but a big mountain to her left.

  Brenna looked around before glancing back at the map. Superstition Mountains. Sounded spooky. She missed a turn somewhere and it would be dark before long. She didn’t know if she’d ever seen a sky so melon-orange in color before, except maybe from a box of crayons. It was true what she’d heard about an Arizona sunset—awe-inspiring.

  Pulling out onto the road again, she drove a few more miles. What a surprise she had when the road ended, making a sharp right turn onto a dirt road not much more than a path. “How does a road this size end just like that?”

  She thought to follow it around the curve, but changed her mind. Maybe it went to some junkyard or something. When she took the job, she knew it was a small town, but right now it didn’t seem so little.

  She turned around to backtrack. At the next road she made a left, thinking she’d have better luck, but no way did luck lead her to the highway. She made one more right turn. Brenna gasped and took a double take at the building ahead. About five hundred feet down the road, she turned left into a parking lot. Leaning forward, she read the sign with the name of the elementary school she’d work at.

  She scanned the area—behind her and toward the front straight down the road. But, how did she get here? The damn big mountain distracted me! She got out of her car, walked to the front and leaned against the hood. Maybe luck was on her side.