The Ranger And The Widow Woman by Stella Bagwell Page B

her wrists and grabbed her by the shoulders. If his fingers were biting into her flesh, Violet didn’t notice. She was gripped by his blue stare.
    “A drive into Ruidoso could kill him!” Charlie flung at her. “Can’t you see you need to ease off the reins a bit? You’re going to make a sissy out of him!”
    “My son is not a sissy! And anyway...it’s none of your business.”
    That was true, Charlie thought. But something about Sam made him remember back to when he was four years old and it had been just him and his mother. He’d been desperate to have a father show him how to do big-boy things. When his parents had eventually married, having his daddy around and spending time with him had been heaven. Charlie couldn’t give Sam his own father back, but while they were here at the cabin, he could at least see the boy had a chance to experience the outdoors.
    “No,” he said coldly. “I guess Sam isn’t any of my business. I guess you aren’t, either.”
    He dropped his hold on her shoulders, and before Violet could guess his intentions, he walked out of the kitchen, then out of the house.
    His leaving stunned her just as much as the things he’d said to her, and she looked around the small kitchen while still feeling his presence, the clamp of his strong fingers on her wrists and shoulders.
    What was the man all about? she wondered. And why did she care if he was angry or disappointed with her? He was the one who’d gotten out of line!
    You’re making your son a sissy!
    She’d wanted to slap his jaw when he’d flung the accusation at her. But now as she stood in the silent kitchen, the words haunted her. Was Charlie right? Had she, in her fear of losing him, been holding on to Sam too tightly?
    Groaning aloud, she thrust dark hair off her moist forehead and walked over to the screen door leading out to the backyard. Sam was sitting under the sole cottonwood. Between his straddled legs was an assortment of trucks, tractors and farm animals, including horses. He had a vivid imagination and could entertain himself for hours if necessary. But she didn’t want Sam to live only in his mind.
    Slowly, she pushed through the screen door then walked down the steps and out to her son. The moment he spotted her, he looked up and grinned, and a pang of guilt rushed through Violet. Her son loved and needed her. Making his life happy and good was all she’d ever wanted.
    “Hi, Mommy. Can you play with me now?”
    She sat down beside him on the sandy ground. “I’m not finished with my work yet. Maybe I can play later. Right now, I want to talk to you about something.”
    Talking wasn’t at all like playing. He turned his attention back to his toys, and Violet watched him carefully place a Hampshire hog in the back of a pickup truck, then push the truck over to an exposed root of the cottonwood.
    “Okay,” he mumbled, his thoughts already drifting to whatever fate he had planned for the hog.
    “Did you like riding Charlie’s horse?” Violet asked him.
    The word horse did the trick. Sam looked at his mother with bright, attentive eyes. “Yeah! It was real fun!”
    “You weren’t afraid you were going to fall off?”
    His little face wrinkled up as though he considered her question ridiculous. “No, Mommy. Charlie promised he wouldn’t let me fall. And Charlie wouldn’t lie.”
    He seemed so certain, so trusting of the man. And he’d only met him yesterday. Her son couldn’t know that Charlie was a man who could ultimately hurt them both. And that was something she didn’t want her son to know. She never wanted him to learn of the threats and dark clouds hanging over their heads. One of these days it would all be over. She had to hold on to that hope, otherwise she didn’t know if she could go on.
    “I see,” she said thoughtfully. “So you believe Charlie’s going to take care of you?”
    Sam nodded emphatically. “Sure. He’s a Texas Ranger. When he works, he wears a pistol and a badge. And