The Sheriff's Son by Stella Bagwell

she’d somehow always thought of him as her man. Which was crazy. Roy wasn’t her man, and never had been.
    â€œI guess I’m just not like other women, Aunt Kitty. I want more than that, and Roy can’t give it to me.”
    Kitty let out a hopeless sigh. Then, walking up behind her, she placed a hand on Justine’s arm. “I would like to know something, Justine.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWhy you kept Charlie’s parentage a secret. Why did you not tell your parents, your sisters? Instead, you let us all believe you were engaged to a college student and he was the one who’d left you pregnant.”
    A pang of regret lanced through her chest. “Because I— I was ashamed of myself for getting involved with a man who was a—a philanderer. I didn’t want them to think badly of me. But more than that, I didn’t want anyone, especially Roy, putting two and two together and wondering if Charlie was his son. And, oddly enough, I didn’t want to ruin his reputation.”
    Kitty stared thoughtfully at her niece’s bent head. “Why in the world would you be worried about his reputation? You should have wanted to smear him in the dirt.”
    Justine let out a deep sigh. “Roy was a deputy then, everyone liked and respected him. And when I realized things weren’t going to work for us, I was devastated, I hated him, or I thought I did, and told myself I could never forgive him. But I didn’t want to humiliate him by dragging his name through the mud. I guess I still don’t. Crazy, huh?”
    â€œLove is crazy, Justine. And I think you need to face the fact that you still love Roy Pardee.”
    An hour and a half later, Justine turned her pickup down a dusty side road and through an arched-pipe entrance with a sign announcing that she was on the Pardee Ranch.
    On the bench seat beside her, Charlie stared curiously out the windshield. “Is this the way to Sheriff Roy’s house?”
    â€œYes. It will only be a few minutes until we get there now.”
    He looked at his mother. “Why are we going there, Mommy? Does he think we’ve done something bad?”
    Justine smiled at him. “No, darling. I’ve got to give Roy a paper, and he—wanted you to. come along, too.”
    Charlie’s face brightened. “Do you think Sheriff Roy likes me?”
    Justine had never been an overly emotional woman, yetshe suddenly felt tears clogging her throat. “I’m sure he does. You’re a pretty easy boy to like.”
    Charlie giggled, but then his little face sobered. “Well, I couldn’t tell if Sheriff Roy liked me, ‘cause he don’t smile very much. Why doesn’t he smile, Mommy? Is he a sad man?”
    Justine darted a glance at her son as she went over the question in her mind. Was Roy a sad man, or had he simply grown hard?
    â€œI don’t know, Charlie. A sheriff is a very busy guy. He has to protect a lot of people. It might be that he forgets to smile.”
    Charlie tilted his head one way and then the other as he contemplated his mother’s words. “Then we’d better remind him.”
    If only it could be that simple, Justine thought.
    The distance from the Bar M to the Pardee Ranch was not that far, but in those few miles the landscape began to change. The mountains began to slope off into desert hills covered with sage, scrubby creosote, piñon pine and choya cactus. The area was a startling change from the heavily forested mountains in Ruidoso, but it was equally beautiful to Justine.
    Roy’s home was a split-log structure built near the edge of the Hondo River. A row of poplars and several cottonwood trees shaded the house and the yard. There was hardly any grass to speak of, and the closest thing to a flower was a blooming prickly pear growing at the edge of the barbedwire fence.
    Justine parked the pickup near the front of the house. By the time she and Charlie had