Best Kept Secrets(15)

a pivotal impact on his life? Loving Celina had almost ruined

him. Her daughter posed just as real a threat. If she started

digging into the past, God only knew what kind of trouble

would be stirred up.

He intended to trade his sheriffs job for one that would

generate wealth and status. He sure as hell didn't want his

future shadowed by a criminal investigation.

Reede hadn't worked his butt off all these years to let the

payoff slip through his fingers. He'd spent his adult life overcompensating

for his childhood. Now, when the respect

he'd always wanted was within his grasp, he wasn't about

to stand by and let Alex's investigation remind folks of his

origins. The sassy lady lawyer could wreck him if she wasn't

stopped.

The people who said material possessions weren't important

already had plenty of everything. He'd never had anything.

Until now. He was prepared to go to any length to

protect it.

As he left his truck and reentered the courthouse, he cursed

the day Alexandra Gaither had been born, just as he had on

that day itself. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder

if her smart mouth wouldn't be good for something besides

spouting accusations and legal jargon.

He'd bet his next win at the track that it would.



Four



Judge Joseph Wallace was the Prairie Drugstore's best customer

for Mylanta. He knew as he pushed away from the

lunch table that he'd have to take a swig or two of the stuff

before the afternoon was over. His daughter Stacey had prepared

the meal for him--as she did every day of the week

except Sunday when they went to the country club buffet.

Stacey's dumplings, light and puffy as always, had landed

like golf balls in his stomach.

"Something wrong?" She noticed that her father was absently

rubbing his stomach.

"No, it's nothing."

' 'Chicken and dumplings is usually one of your favorites.''

"Lunch was delicious. I've just got a nervous stomach

today."

' 'Have a peppermint.'' Stacey passed him a cut-glass candy

dish, conveniently kept on a dust-free cherrywood coffee

table. He took out a wrapped piece of red-andwhite-striped

candy and put it in his mouth. "Any particular reason why

your stomach is nervous?"

Stacey had become her father's caretaker when her mother

had died several years earlier. She was single and rapidly

approaching middle age, but she had never exhibited any

ambition beyond being a homemaker. Because she had no

husband or children of her own, she fussed over the judge.

She had never been a raving beauty, and age hadn't ameliorated that unfortunate fact. Describing her physical attributes

with tactful euphemisms was pointless. She was and

always had been plain. Even so, her position in Purcell was

well established.

Every important ladies' league in town had her name on

its roster. She taught a girls' Sunday school class at the First

Methodist Church, faithfully visited residents of the Golden

Age Home each Saturday morning, and played bridge on

Tuesdays and Thursdays. Her activities calendar was always

full. She dressed expensively and well, though far too dowdily

for her age.

Her etiquette was above reproach, her decorum refined,

her temperament serene. She had weathered disappointments

in a style that was noble and worthy of admiration. Everybody

assumed that she was happy and content.

They were wrong.

Judge Wallace, a sparrow of a man, pulled on his heavy

overcoat as he made his way toward the front door. "Angus

called me last night."

"Oh? What did he want?" Stacey asked as she pulled the

collar of her father's coat up around his ears to guard against

the wind.

"Celina Gaither's daughter turned up yesterday."

Stacey's busy hands fell still, and she took a step away

from her father. Their eyes met. "Celina Gaither's daughter?"

The voice coming from her chalky lips was high and

thin.



"Remember the baby? Alexandra, I believe."

"Yes, I remember, Alexandra," Stacey repeated vaguely.

"She's here in Purcell?"

"As of yesterday. All grown up now."

"Why didn't you tell me this last night when I came in?"

"You were late coming home from the chili supper. I was

already in bed. I knew you'd be tired, too, and there was no

need to bother you with it then."

Stacey turned away and busied herself picking the empty

cellophane wrappers out of the candy dish. Her father had



an annoying habit of leaving the empties. "Why should the

sudden appearance of Celina's daughter bother me?"

"No reason in particular," the judge said, glad he didn't