Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy - Diana Palmer Page 0,65
situation who’d made the wrong choice. And for the citizens who didn’t try to evade Noah when he flashed his badge, he was usually meeting them on one of the worst days of their lives.
In his experience, there were only a handful of reasons for someone like Faith to be as wary as she was. And none of them settled well with Noah. Her fierce independence didn’t seem like a statement as much as a necessity for survival. Which he respected even more.
“What’s the deal with Faith and her brother?” he asked, wrapping the strand around a hook and trying hard to sound casual.
Clearly, he’d failed because Cody’s expression loosely translated into Let me guess. Asking for a friend? Noah flipped him a finger, which needed no translation at all.
“Faith isn’t really a sharer,” Cody said as if Noah didn’t already know. “But from bits of town gossip and talking with Shelby, I’ve pieced together that their mom decided she wasn’t cut out for parenthood, packed up her bags, and left town. Faith moved home and adopted Pax.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Eight years.”
Noah let out a low whistle. “Man, she was young. That’s a lot to take on.”
“So she’s too young to be his guardian but not too young to be his mom?” Cody asked while climbing up the ladder so he could string lights across the top of the barn door. “How does that math work?”
“What I meant is, being a teen mom’s hard enough.” Noah handed Cody a new strand of lights. “Being a teenager with a toddler dropped in your lap would make for one heck of a steep learning curve.”
“I know how hard it was to step in as JT’s dad. And he was ten,” Cody said, and Noah knew his brother would give anything to get those missed years with his son back. “Plus, I had Shelby to help me through it.”
Cody and his wife had had a rough start to their relationship. College sweethearts who placed their trust in the wrong friend and ended up losing a decade together. In fact, if Silas hadn’t added a stipulation to his will, which required a Tucker to sleep at the ranch for a year straight, Cody still might not even know he had a son. Not that Noah was giving his dad credit for doing anything right by Noah and his brothers, but JT had been a blessing. That amazing kid had given the three brothers, whose only connection had been surviving their childhood, something new to bond over.
The love and healing that came with the next generation.
Who knew, maybe Shelby was right? Maybe Silas’s intentions had been pure. Maybe he really had looked at his passing as a way to bring his sons home to heal and make new memories. Or maybe it was his final attempt to control their lives. Either way, Cody and Shelby had found their way back together and anyone looking at JT could see how much love and support the kid was surrounded with.
It made Noah wonder who Faith had in her corner. Even at the worst of times, and Lord knew there were plenty, Noah and his brothers always had each other. From the little he’d learned about Faith, she seemed to be in the thick of it all by her lonesome.
“Shelby said that Faith was off at college and decided to come home for winter break,” Cody went on. “She’d barely unpacked her bags when her mom took off. One day she was a nursing student at UCLA, the next she was a single mom.” Cody paused, looking down from the top of the ladder. “Wait, why are you asking me all these questions? You’re the one who can pull up her entire life story with a touch of a button.”
“I didn’t think of it,” he lied. Noah hadn’t been able to think of much else since he’d caught her swinging in the sheriff’s tree. “Plus background checks only give the facts. I’m looking for what wouldn’t be in there.”
Cody laughed. “I don’t think I’ve seen you this into someone since Rachel Bellows showed you all her secrets behind the chem lab sophomore year.”
“I’m not into her,” he said, and Cody laughed. “Why? Because I didn’t pry into her life?”
“Yes. You pry. That’s what you do. You are the most suspicious person I have ever met.”
“I’m a Ranger. Being suspicious keeps me alive.”
“You were convinced Shelby, the sweetest, most honest person alive, had ulterior motives,” Cody pointed out.