Page 12 of A Cowboy's Claim
Sydney deliberately let her jaw fall open. “Get out.”
This time Nora glared. “Young lady, sarcasm does not become you.”
“No, this isn’t sarcasm. This is outright shock that someone is taking my good advice and, in fact, speeding ahead faster than average.” Sydney raised her glass to the woman. “But then, I always knew you were above average.”
Pleased, her cheeks flushing slightly, Nora waved her fingers. “My children were equally shocked when I called them this morning to let them know the news. But that’s the good thing about having always been a stubborn old woman. I’m doing what I want regardless of what they think.”
Good to know that the family was in the loop. Support at a time like this was invaluable. “It’s a big transition. If you need help along the way, let me know.”
“We’ll take it as it comes,” Nora assured her.
The next hour was spent in a companionable conversation as Nora brought out a deck of cards. Sydney drank tea, played the game, and thought how sometimes things did work out the way she’d hoped they would.
She helped put the fruit away in the fridge and took the basket back, accepting Nora’s firm handshake before heading out the door.
Outside the house, Sydney paused. Two vehicles screeched to a stop beside her truck, plumes of dust swirling into the air. Unfamiliar faces peered out the windows, scowls firmly in place. Doors slammed, and two women and a man in their late forties rushed toward the cabin.
They didn’t look like any religious proselytizing drop-ins that Sydney had ever seen. She stood her ground and waited with a smile in place.
At her back, the door creaked open. “Are you still there, Dr. Jeremiah?”
“Doctor?Thisis the woman who demanded that you move?” The shorter of the two women, heavyset with a tangle of brown and grey curls, marched up to Sydney and glared in disgust. “How dare you interfere in things that are none of your business?”
Sydney straightened to her full height even as she took a step back to make sure she had ample room to duck if necessary. “And you are?”
“This is our mother,” the other woman declared. She shook her head, and her brown bob swayed, her thin fingers clutching the strap of her oversized purse. “What are you doing here?” She glanced over her shoulder at the slender man behind them. “Adam, she’s trespassing. Can we get her arrested?”
“She’s not trespassing, Cara,” Nora said firmly. “She’s my guest, so you can all stop your?—”
“Mother, get back in the house. Cara, Cindy. Go inside with her.” Adam stepped around his sister, shoving her toward the front door so he could loom menacingly over Sydney. “I’ll deal with this.”
“There’s nothing to deal with,” Nora insisted, pushing off her daughters’ grasp. “I’m sorry, Sydney. I had no idea they’d be like this.”
Sydney held her hands in the air as if showing she was unarmed. She slowly eased closer to Nora, just in case. She’d seen abuse masked as family concern before. The tone. The expressions. “I’m not sure what brought on all the aggression, but I need to tell you that right now, with the way you’re behaving, I’m not comfortable leaving you alone with your mother.”
“How dare you?” Cindy snarled.
Cara tugged on Nora’s arm. “Mom. Get into the house and away from this scammer right now.”
Gravel sprayed in the driveway, but other than hoping it wasn’t another child coming to join in the fray, Sydney didn’t have a second to look.
Instead, she slipped her body between Nora and her daughter, facing the older woman straight on. “This is your decision. Do you want me to leave you with them? Do you feel safe?”
“Is this the kind of nonsense you have been feeding her? Our mother, not feel safe around us? How ridiculous.” Adam roared loudly enough the metallic ring of a truck door slamming shut was a faint sound.
What she did hear was a gasp of pain as Cara tightened her grip on her mother’s arm and tugged.
“No,” Nora insisted, jerking away.
Sydney moved. She wrapped her fingers around Cara’s wrist and squeezed.
Cara shrieked, her fingers flew opened, and Sydney pulled Nora free.
The older woman shuffled for a second, wavering on her feet, and Sydney fought to catch her.
Beside them, Cara flailed her arms as she stepped backward.
Shouting, shoving. Boots on gravel. It all mixed together as Sydney focused on making sure Nora landed safely.
