Chapter One
Joaquin DeLeon leaned back in the chair, balancing on the back two legs. He really should get a rocker, but that made him feel even older than his forty-five years. The sky was clear tonight and there wasn’t a moon to give any light.
But the stars were endless, like crushed diamonds scattered over a swath of dark purple velvet. He strummed a few chords on his old guitar, then winced when he hit the wrong note. Shadow and Luna, the two Akitas hanging out on the porch with him, didn’t judge.
Training service companion dogs for wounded veterans gave him purpose that had eluded him. Shadow, his companion dog, had changed his life. His panic attacks and blackouts were gone. He was now giving that gift to other veterans. Training the rescued dogs fit perfectly into his life. Luna was his tenth dog, but she wasn’t responding the way he’d expected.
He was letting the poor dog down. It wasn’t her fault. She was smart, but he would have to call Valerie at Paws for Soldiers and let her know it didn’t seem to be working out.
Joaquin hated failure of any kind. He glanced at the gold-and-white Akita. What would happen to her if it didn’t work out? She had already been dismissed from the military. He’d give it one more month before returning her to Valerie. But if they couldn’t match her with a veteran, what would happen to her? Maybe he’d keep her as a pet. But if he joined the ranchers in the mountain of Matamoros, Mexico, it wouldn’t be feasible.
With a heavy sigh, he tried a new chord. It was flat.
He should go to bed, but then he’d just toss and turn, unable to sleep. With a sigh, he started the song over. After serving in the army for twenty-two years he should be happy to be home. Secluded on the ranch, working with his specialized herd of cattle and horses, the life he’d built here should be enough. He was even restoring the pasturelands to native grasses. His family was just down the hill if they needed him.
But he was restless. Things were changing whether he liked it or not. He’d been working with the ranchers in the mountains of Mexico to build his herd of longhorns and mustangs. Now they were suggesting a more permanent role. In Mexico. And his baby sister was about to be married. He shifted in his chair. He was good with it. He really was.
He glanced at the dogs. “I had my doubts, but Kingston is good for my baby sister and her son.” Happy endings didn’t happen in their family. He prayed his sister would prove that theory wrong. She had to. But watching them together brought up too many…memories.
The past couldn’t be changed so why think about it? It was the future now that was difficult to imagine.
Jupiter was bright tonight. “God, is there something I’m missing?” He opened his heart and listened. There was a verse about not being anxious but being grateful. Maybe in Philippians?
He should get his Bible, find the verse and pin it all over his cabin. Both dogs lifted their heads, then looked at him waiting for his reaction.
He laid his hand flat over the strings and listened. “What is it?”
In unison they looked back into the darkness. Headlights shone at the base of the hill. “Could be Isaac. Saw him leave about an hour ago.” His youngest brother was the rookie veterinarian in town, so he got most of the middle-of-the-night emergencies.
The dogs weren’t buying it. They stayed on alert.
The car didn’t turn to the right—it was coming up the hill. He straightened. The headlights were unfamiliar. Not a family vehicle.
Sliding the guitar behind him, he estimated the time of arrival. Should he go inside the cabin where he could better protect himself and the dogs if needed? Paranoia might be making him overreact but it was better to be prepared than surprised.
Standing, he motioned for the dogs to follow him. Once inside he gave the silent command to sit. He waited at the door. With high beams on, the large vehicle pulled up to his steps and stopped. The night went silent when the engine was cut. Then the headlights went out. That wasn’t smart on their part, because he could see clearly now. It was an old Range Rover. One that had clearly seen off-road action.
His blood pressure increased. The driver’s door opened and so did the passenger’s. It was impossible to keep his full attention on two targets. What threat was approaching? Shadow nudged his hand. His service dog knew when he was slipping out of reality. “Good boy.”
Taking a deep breath, he anchored himself by burying his fingers in his dog’s fur and touching the window frame on his door with his other hand. This was his cabin on the family ranch, not a dangerous assignment overseas.
He narrowed his gaze as a woman got out. That was a lot of white. Like a huge wedding dress.
What? The other passenger was a child, in a mini tuxedo and staring at a large digital pad. The blue light reflected off the boy’s face as he gripped the device with both hands. He looked about the size of his sister’s son, Leo, who was six.
Had he fallen asleep to find himself in a bizarre dream? He half expected an alien head to pop out of the wedding dress. He’d had that nightmare more than once.
The two retired military dogs stared at him, waiting for a command. Luna stayed against the wall. Shadow was at his side.
The woman lifted the bottom of her dress with one hand and marched up to his porch with confidence. Three bold knocks. The boy followed her, never taking his gaze off the screen. Luna and Shadow shifted, ready to spring, but were too well trained to make a sound or move without permission.
For once in his adult life, he didn’t know what to do.
“Hello! Isaac?” Her voice had a slight accent, and was soft and very nonthreatening.
His shoulders fell with the release of tension. She was friends with his youngest brother. That explained a lot—still weird, but she was lost and looking for Isaac. He frowned. Who was she? His baby brother didn’t have many friends outside of the family.
With one motion he reassured the dogs, but they stayed alert. He eased the door open.
She stepped back, eyes wide, pushing her son behind her and out of his sight.
Joaquin knew what she saw. There was nothing friendly or welcoming about him. Untrimmed hair and beard. He was six-four to her five-three, maybe, and he was two hundred thirty pounds of ex-military strength. It was hard to estimate any other details under all that fabric. Unless she had a hidden weapon, she wasn’t a threat.
“You’re not Isaac. Where is he?” Her voice was sharp. She glared at him as if he had messed up her whole night. Okay, so she wasn’t scared of him like most people.
“Not here.” He relaxed, leaned his shoulder against the door frame and crossed his arms. This was getting interesting.
After a moment of her glaring, he almost grinned at the way she managed to look down her nose at him. “Who are you?” she asked.
“The better question is who are you?” He glanced at the dress and back to her face.
She blinked, then looked down like she had forgotten the whole white silk thing, but she didn’t say a word.
“Should I be worried for my baby brother? You’re the one knocking on my door in the middle of the night in a wedding dress looking for Isaac.”
She closed her eyes briefly. When she looked back up, there was a flash of desperation and something else he couldn’t quite identify. His insides churned. He might have recognized it, but it would be easier to turn her away if he didn’t put a name to the emotion.
“I’m Dr. Kan.”
That he was not expecting. “You’re Isaac’s friend? The expert on caves?” He had pictured an old professor with white hair and pale skin due to the lack of sun. Could this night get any stranger?
He looked behind her at the little boy. “I assume he’s not the groom?”
“No.” She was back to being all business. The stone-cold face and the melodramatic wedding attire didn’t match.
He raised an eyebrow waiting for an explanation.
She sighed, as if educating him was a true chore. “I was about to be married but the wedding was called off. It was a last-minute thing. I needed a place to go, far away from—” she waved a hand in the air “—there. I called Isaac about five hours ago and asked if I could come immediately. He said yes, but in the last twenty minutes I haven’t been able to reach him. I followed the directions to the ranch. He said his apartment was past the main house. Obviously, I made a wrong turn.” She paused to catch her breath. Then surveyed the area with concern. “Am I on his ranch?”
He gave her a nod.
After a minute of silence, she started talking again. “It has been an unusually tense day. When Isaac called and told me about the cave you’d found I wasn’t available to examine it. But the idea of an unknown cave that hasn’t had human interference is a gold mine of Earth’s ancient history. I’ve never been the first scientist in any cave.” She took another breath. “Sorry, my mind is usually much more focused than this and stays on one path at a time. Right now, I would like to find Isaac and secure a quiet place to change and sleep.” She waved behind her. “My son, Oscar, is with me.”
“Let’s start over. Hola. I’m Joaquin DeLeon of Rio Bella, Texas. One of Isaac’s older brothers.”
The corner of her lips curled, not in a smiling way but more of a you-are-a-boy-in-a-man’s-body sort of way. She held out her hand and sighed. “Hola. Dr. Xitlali Kan. Professor of Environmental Engineering, Quantitative Paleobiology and incompleteness of geological records. Basically, anything to do with ancient Earth history.”
He stood straighter. “Xitlali? That’s Aztec. Do you spell it with the original X or has it been changed to the C?”
Surprise widened her eyes, then her expression softened. “My father is very proud of his Aztec bloodlines and uses the authentic spelling of Nahuatl. That’s one of several languages he speaks. So, it is the X, but I do use the C when someone is announcing me, so they pronounce it right. But when I’m in the States I go by Lali. It’s just easier. Do you speak Nahuatl?”
A soft chime came from the tablet. The boy moved next to his mother and handed her the device. “It’s 2300 hours.” He promptly removed his jacket, then sat to take off his shoes.
“He knows military time?” That was surprising. Joaquin could identify with getting out of formal clothes as soon as possible.
Ignoring him, she bent down to try to stop her son. “Oscar, no. Not here.” Her voice was low and calm, but there was an edge of desperation to it.
“Abuela said we can take off our special wedding clothes at 2300 hours, not a minute earlier,” the boy said as if reciting someone’s orders. He took off his sock, wiggled his toes and giggled.
Joaquin grinned. The night continued to surprise him. This was the most fun he’d had in a long time.
“Oscar.” The one word was low and through gritted teeth. Holding her right hand like an axe she slammed it down to her open palm.
She had quit talking and was telling him to stop in sign language.
“No. I want them off now.” He was getting upset as he pulled at the other shoe, and she tried to stop him. Then he yanked on his bow tie.
Joaquin lowered himself to become smaller. Was there something he could do to help? He didn’t want to make the situation worse. The boy’s reaction reminded him of Isaac when he was younger. His brother used to throw a fit when something set him off and he’d become hyperfocused on that one thing.
These two had obviously had a rough day. Luna, the three-year-old Akita, looked up at him and whined.
The mom in the wedding dress stayed silent but used hand signals. At this point any sound would probably overstimulate the boy. Joaquin’s family hadn’t understood that when Isaac was younger.
“Is he scared of dogs?” Joaquin kept his voice low as he directed it to Dr. Kan.
She turned and looked at him as if she had forgotten he was there. That stung the pride a bit.
“What?” She glanced at Luna.
“Luna’s in training to be a service dog for veterans with PTSD. She’s asking permission to approach.”
“He likes dogs.” With a nod she agreed, and Joaquin gave Luna permission.
The white-and gold Akita stayed low as she nosed the boy. Oscar stilled and opened his eyes. Luna laid her big head on his leg. He dug a hand into her thick fur and his sobs receded.
This was a good sign. Maybe there was hope for Luna. She had been released from the army because children in distress distracted her from her job of sniffing out bombs and weapons.
He understood all too well how children could derail focus from one’s duty.
* * *
Lali refused to give in to the tears that burned her eyes. Wanting to avoid one of Oscar’s massive meltdowns was the only reason she had stayed in the ridiculous wedding dress for hours. Matias had slipped into her dressing room to tell her he couldn’t go through with the wedding just minutes before the ceremony. He’d said it was too much pressure for him.
For him? They’d both been startled when she’d laughed out loud. Not the response he’d expected. Maybe this was the moment she was meant to start doing the unexpected. To avoid a discussion with her parents about this perfect marriage they wanted, she’d taken her son’s hand and left through the back door. Then, sitting behind her steering wheel trying to explain the change of plans to Oscar, she’d realized she had nowhere to go.
All of her family and friends had been inside the church waiting for her to walk down the aisle.
Except for Isaac. He never went to events with groups of strange people. She hadn’t seen him since their days at College Station. But he had reached out to her a few weeks ago about a job. His family had found a cave on their ranch, and he’d asked if she could survey it. She’d been excited. Unexpected manna for her research, but she had told him she probably couldn’t do it due to other obligations. Like her wedding.
She was free now and a Texas Hill Country ranch with a newly found cave sounded like the best Christmas gift ever. She needed a safe place to recover, ponder her new life choices and rest. So, she’d called Isaac, a friend her parents didn’t know anything about.
Oscar was fixated on the tablet her mother had given him. Esmeralda Puentes-Kan had given strict orders that no one was to take off a stitch of wedding outfits until the time she had set. Continuity was important for the pictures.
Lali blew out a puff of air but none of the frustration escaped with it. She had hoped to be inside when the timer went off.
Afraid of the judgment she would see in the stranger’s eyes, she had avoided him to the point of being rude. Gritting her back teeth, she finally looked up. What she observed was startling. His grayish-green eyes were full of compassion, not condescension.
She steadied her breathing. “I apologize for intruding on your evening. The arrangements were made at the last minute, but Isaac said we could come tonight. We’ve been in the car for over five hours. Do you know where he is?”
The man watched the interaction between his dog and Oscar with the intensity she used when analyzing new discoveries. She was talking to herself.
Oscar hadn’t really understood the wedding ceremony and he had never clicked with Matias, so the lack of a ceremony hadn’t upset him. But her mother had drilled into his brain they had to wear these clothes until 11:00 p.m.
She hadn’t had the energy to deal with a meltdown. Oscar was very good at following clear expectations. Flexibility from a hardwired rule was not in his toolbox, so they had left the Woodlands with wedding clothes on. Now she stood on a stranger’s porch in layers of ivory silk and her son was not at his best. She was surprised Isaac’s brother hadn’t closed his door and locked it.
The man’s stature was imposing. She was very aware of him and didn’t like it.
Oscar laid his head on the dog’s neck. This was a record for deescalating a meltdown. She reached over and gently removed his bow tie, helped him slip the dress shirt off, leaving him in his favorite T-shirt. She took a deep breath. Crisis averted.
With the now-crushed silk tie in her hand she stood. “Like I said, we’ve been in the car for a long time. If you can just point me in the direction of Isaac’s place, we’ll get out of your way.”
The mountain of a man stood and shook his head. His dark wavy hair fell over his forehead. It looked as if he hadn’t had it cut in a while.
“Isaac left a little over an hour ago. Probably on an emergency call. No telling when he’ll be back. If you know Isaac, you know how focused he is on a project. I doubt he’s going to check his phone anytime soon. There’s a good possibility he forgot you were coming.” He rubbed the back of his neck, then looked over her shoulder.
“His place is an efficiency over his equine center. You don’t want to wait there. There’s one empty room in the main house, but we’d have to wake everyone up.” He scanned the darkness as if looking for solutions.
“We don’t need much.” She heard the pathetic pleading in her voice but couldn’t find enough energy to care. “I can wait at Isaac’s. I just can’t spend any more time in this dress.”
He frowned. “Of course not. Not far from here is the hunter’s lodge. It should be good. It’s a little farther up the hill. No one goes up there without passing my place. It has two bedrooms and a loft. If you don’t like it, we can find you somewhere else tomorrow.”
“Sounds perfect.” Tension she hadn’t even been aware of left her shoulders. Even if it was an old hunter’s lodge, it was better than any of her other options, which were none. “Thank you.”
“Let me get my keys.”
Oscar started rocking and humming. It was way past his bedtime. How had she gotten them into this mess? She lowered her head and massaged her temples. Because she hadn’t followed her heart and was afraid of her parents. The one time she’d strayed off the path they had laid out for her had been disastrous.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She had really liked Matias. They were good lab partners and had much in common with their research goals. That was it. Her parents adored him. But calling it off was the right thing to do. She should have been brave enough to end it weeks ago.
The door opened. Joaquin lifted his free hand and, with his fingers making an R, shook it back and forth. He was looking at Oscar. He had asked if he was ready to go.
Her son nodded and stood.
“You know ASL?”
“I noticed you were using it with him. Is it okay?” He frowned.
“He was nonverbal until a little over a year ago. I had started signing simple words when he was a toddler, but our vocabulary grew as he got older and didn’t start talking.”
Her parents refused to use sign language. They insisted it was the reason he wasn’t speaking and accused her of babying him to the point of stunting his development.
The word lazy had been tossed around. Anger she’d kept bottled up pushed at the now-fragile restraints. Her parents hadn’t wanted to see the truth, so she’d tried to placate them.
She was done. Everything she did from here on out was for her son. “Now he’ll sometimes go into a hyperverbal mode for a stretch of time.” But never in front of her parents. She wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or not.
With a nod, Joaquin accepted it without question and went to the huge black truck parked on the side of his cabin. He opened the back door and motioned for the dogs to get in. The one that had stayed by his side jumped in, his tail wagging. He seemed excited about the unexpected trip.
Luna hung back and licked Oscar’s hand before leaping into the back seat.
“It’s not far,” Joaquin said as he got in and closed the driver’s side door.
She sighed. Right now, everything seemed out of reach. Like a home where she could raise her son with a family who valued him. A place to do her research where she could dream of ways to make a better world.
A man who would understand all that and not just want her to improve his life. Avery, her first husband and Oscar’s dad, had wanted her to take care of the messiness of life, and Matias wanted her to better his career.
She and Oscar got in their Rover and followed Joaquin’s taillights. Okay, God. I get it. I’m grateful for my son and my research. At least I can focus on those.
Two out of three wasn’t bad. ...
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