Being Emma

  BEING EMMA

  Jeanne Harrell

  Copyright, 2014 by Jeanne Harrell

  All Rights Reserved.

  BEING EMMA

  Published by

  Jeanne Harrell on Smashwords

  Thank you for downloading my book! I am happy that you have made it part of your library.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author and/or publisher. No part of this publication may be sold or hired, without written permission from the author.

  Actions in the book were inspired by real events.

  Special thanks to my editor, Pam Kilrain.

  Dedicated to Jane and her wonderful books…

  Other books by Jeanne Harrell

  Rancher’s Girl

  Whisperer

  Always and Forever

  http://www.jeanneharrell.com

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  PROLOGUE

  She never was a girly-girl and sometimes it was a real problem…

  Sure, her tenth birthday party had been lots of fun with cake and ice cream, and all her friends were there too… Her brothers had put shiny decorations around the house and her sister had made her favorite chocolate cake with strawberry filling in between the layers… Just how she liked it. After playing some games and riding ponies in the back yard, she had opened her many gifts.

  She received that new saddle that she wanted and other horse related gifts. Between playing cowboy and cop, she wasn’t exactly a soft and sweet girl, but someone gave her a doll... Whoever thought she’d like that?

  Later that night in bed, she was happy. It had been a good day… She tiptoed to her window so as not to awaken the family dogs that had crawled in with her. She leaned against the windowsill and gazed out. It seemed like an enormous black blanket had been hung up with all these pretty lights twinkling down.

  The little girl looking up into the starry sky saw one big, bright star in particular. Her daddy had told her that it was Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love. Ick… She wasn’t going to think too much about love -- There were many more fun things to do.

  She wanted to be a cowboy like her brothers for a while. Or maybe a bronc rider… She wasn’t your typical little girl… The world beckoned and she wanted to have many adventures –

  The only adventure Janie wasn’t willing to try was love…

  CHAPTER ONE

  You’re kidding… It’s morning already? Janie yawned, stretched and then reached over to slam her hand down on the noisy alarm clock. She probably had already hit the snooze button once, but she was tired from her late night. She’d taken a call around eleven just outside of town on the road up to Kingsbury, close to Lake Tahoe. Domestic violence… Never a fun call… And this one ranked up there to being one of the worst. Kids were involved, wife beating, drugs, the usual – Or it seemed more usual these days than in the past.

  Janie had been a deputy sheriff in the Naples’ Sheriff’s Office for three years now. She took courses at the University of Nevada in Reno and had been hired right out of school. Generally, she enjoyed her work in law enforcement, although there were the occasional times, like last night, when things could get unpleasant. Also, her family, the Johnsons, sometimes had a little difficulty with the fact that she had undertaken such a serious position as peace officer. Her brothers, Jesse, Colt, Joey and Miles, were ranchers and artists, and sister, Meg, was a chef. Her brother, Miles, had teased her incessantly about going into police work until she finally laid him out flat with her Tae Kwon Do skills at a party once. But he’d asked for it and never bothered her again…

  She got up, rubbed her eyes and shook her head to clear a few cobwebs before heading into the shower. Her slightly-worse-for-wear alarm clock had informed her that she had thirty minutes to get to the office for the sheriff, Bud Moody, was having a staff meeting. That would include the three deputy sheriffs and office staff. Since he had meetings so rarely, she knew this would be important and wanted to be punctual. A late night domestic call was just part of the job.

  Janie dressed quickly after having downed a cup of coffee. Reaching for her Pop Tarts, she remembered what her mother had said about just eating junk food for breakfast. However, she hadn’t had time to shop this week – again – and glanced over at the bag of apples on the counter that her friend, Craig, had given her. Okay… she put the Pop Tart back and picked out one of the apples from the bag. On second thought… she smiled and grabbed the Pop Tart too. Deal with it, folks…

  She didn’t exactly speed to the office, but Janie didn’t take her time either.

  She pulled up and parked her car next to Bud’s. It looked like everyone was there already. Great…

  Bud looked up from behind his desk as Janie breezed in. He grinned at her. She was so like her mother, Lily, in temperament, but looked more like her father, Sandy. His association with the Johnson family went way back.

  “…I’m not late…”

  “No, but you’re pushing it. Late night?”

  Janie sat down by Ethan and James, the other deputy sheriffs. They grinned at his comment. She gave them both a cool look.

  “Guys… I was on duty last night, okay?” Ethan shrugged his shoulders.

  “Dispatch said it was a domestic dispute call. How’d it go? I see in the report you didn’t call for backup.” Bud glanced from the report in his hands to her.

  “No. The guy calmed down when I arrived… You know how I’m always going on about not wanting to be treated any differently just because I’m a woman?”

  Ethan laughed. “Is this a trick question?” James and Bud laughed too.

  “Ha Ha. Well, it actually helped last night that I’m female. The man de-escalated just looking at me. Maybe seeing a woman in a police uniform made him think twice about his actions.”

  “Maybe…” Bud gave her a hard look. “But next time, call for backup. We’ve seen too many of these cases explode with the dry timber. Two officers for domestic dispute, got it?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “… I’ve got good news this morning, which is why I called the meeting. The town manager just told me about our new line item amount in the budget.” He smiled broadly. “Naples raised several million dollars with the town fundraiser last week, more than last year, and the town is increasing our budget with $500,000.” Everyone was stunned…

  “You’re kidding, Sheriff…” James blinked. It was hard to believe.

  “Yes, I know. Usually we have to beg the city council for equipment and supplies, but apparently the town’s flush. Therefore… so are we!”

  A round of applause with smiles galore and then Bud held up his hand for silence.

  “Now comes the fun part… Let’s take some time to figure out how to spend it. The office staff, I know, has some computer issues to deal with.” He looked over at the secretary and dispatcher who nodded at him. “But you deputies probably have a better handle on equipment necessities than I do.”

  Janie nodded. “Sheriff, could we get a new vehicle too?”

  “Go
od idea.” Ethan agreed with her.

  “Yes, that was on my list of necessities. The ones we have are pretty worn-out and in need of servicing. I want you all to take a week, think about what you need and submit it in writing to me by next Thursday. Everyone all right with that?”

  Nods and comments of “Sure, Sheriff” were heard.

  “Then that’s it for today. Back to work…” Bud headed into another office with the secretary to discuss her computer problems. A call came in and James took it. Ethan walked over to Janie as she was getting up to leave.

  “How about some practice at the gun range? I need to get some practice hours in.” Ethan watched Janie turn that over. Pretty girl. Lovely, dark blonde hair twisted up in a no-nonsense ponytail. Cool blue eyes. He’d always had a bit of a crush on Janie, but had never acted on it. And he had never seen anything in her eyes that signaled she thought of him that way either.

  “You know, that would be great actually. I wanted to get in a workout today, but I’ll do that after work. I need to get in some hours myself.”

  “Do you want to drive up with me?” He hoped she’d say yes.

  “Hmm… Better not. I have to take some paperwork over to City Hall later. It’s close to the gun range, so I’ll just go over after the shoot.”

  “Okay then. I’ll meet you there.”

  Janie thought about that scene for a minute while getting in her car and buckling up. Ethan had been trying to get her to do things with him lately. What was that about? He was a nice looking man, tall, with brown hair, and was good at his job. And, of course, the sheriff’s son… Huh… That’s all she could think of to say about him. Guess that was it then. She headed for the gun range and thought no more about it.

  ####

  The shooting range where the local police in the whole Carson City area practiced was at a range about a mile north of Naples. There were different sections to it for stationary and moving targets. SWAT teams, detectives, cops, and deputy sheriffs all mingled when getting in their monthly practice hours. It was a necessary and ongoing requirement of any law enforcement job. As soon as Janie stepped foot onto the practice range, the smell of gunpowder filled her nose. A little rain had fallen the night before and some dampness covered part of the ground where they walked.

  Janie and Ethan found empty stalls to practice with measured targets first. They put on earmuffs and protective glasses and took their police revolvers out to check them. They both used Glocks, as many police departments did, and drew them out carefully. Janie took her time to make sure her weapon was functioning properly and straddled her shooting line. After loading new cartridges, they both got off six shots and then checked to see how they did. Janie’s shots were closer to the center of the target than Ethan’s. He whistled appreciatively.

  “Nice shooting, deputy.”

  “Thanks. Your shots are pretty good too. Let’s set them up again.”

  They practiced at this section of the range for a good half hour and then decided to go to another section where they could practice walking shots.

  Finding an area that was not being used, Janie and Ethan stood side-by-side and began their practice round. Ethan looked at Janie and nodded.

  They dropped flat on the ground to lie prone and then got off three shots. Then they rose to stand with one knee on the ground in a kneeling position and shot three more rounds. Last they stood up straight and got off three more rounds for this practice round. After they’d finished, they walked over to the stationary target. It was made of a round piece of rusted metal hung in a metal frame. However, it didn’t always stay still if the wind was blowing, so their stationary practice round became a moving target as well.

  Ethan bested her this time and Janie acknowledged it. They decided to practice for another half hour to get in a full hour for this time out. Leaving the gun range, Ethan looked over at Janie and admired a woman who could shoot so well. She did extremely well in the prone position and her standing shots were good as well. He thought she looked very attractive indeed practicing with her weapon…

  CHAPTER TWO

  The immense blue sky was spread out like a canvas. Masses of white clouds were painted as an artist might roll his brush from side to side. The craggy Sierra Mountains reached up like blocks tipped on end and all jumbled together. Higher and higher they were piled… Massive pines and junipers dotted the landscape as the altitude climbed as well.

  Dropping down quickly in elevation from Lake Tahoe, a meadow lay at the foot of the Sierras just as it broke into Nevada. The town of Naples lay in this meadow that stretched from Minden, south of Carson City, to Topaz Lake, some thirty miles south. Naples was a beautiful, small town with an historic western flavor and prosperous ranches tucked here and there. One of these sprawling ranches was the Johnson Ranch, some two thousand acres of prime ranch land. Cattle bred there were unique and sold all over the world. The Johnson family had resided in Naples for seven generations now. Sandy Johnson, head of the family, was a fifth generation Nevadan whose ancestors had come into the area in covered wagons. Their heritage was long and distinguished.

  Colt and Jesse Johnson, Sandy’s eldest sons and Janie’s brothers, were out riding the back part of the property looking for strays. They had also heard a report of coyotes harassing some of the cattle – They galloped out with Craig Ferguson. Craig’s family lived in the next ranch over -- The Johnsons and Fergusons had all grown up together.

  The three men sat back on their Palomino and Appaloosa horses as the orange and yellow colors of the sky signaled night was coming. His horse wasn’t riding right, so Colt jumped down to check its hooves.

  “Your horse start limping, Colt?” Jesse looked over as he got out his logbook to make the day’s entries.

  “Not sure. I thought I’d better check.” He felt down the side of a back leg and then lifted it to take a look.

  “Tough luck walking back home, Colt,” kidded Craig. Colt looked up at him.

  “You mean I can’t ride back with you? Sir Craig, I thought you were supposed to be this great Scottish knight. You disappoint me terribly with your lack of chivalry.” He grinned.

  “What a wry sense of humor you have and no, you can’t ride back with me. I don’t want Mandy jealous.” He leaned back in his saddle and considered Colt’s work.

  “I think she’s probably too busy with the kids to worry about how I get home tonight.”

  Jesse looked up and laughed.

  “Well, no one told you to have twins, brother…” He smiled. “You should have been more measured like me – Audrey and I have kids one at a time, like any sane person would.” Colt gave him an exasperated look.

  “Yeah, like I have anything to say about gender or number…”

  Craig looked from one brother to another and started laughing.

  “What’s wrong with you, Ferguson?” Colt climbed back up on his horse. He adjusted his cowboy hat.

  “That horse gonna make it home all right?” Jesse put the logbook back into his saddlebag.

  “Yeah, she’s okay…”

  Craig stopped chuckling. “I remember you two when you were single and carefree… Working days, playing nights… Swatting the girls away like flies. Ring any bells?”

  Jesse glanced over at Colt. “Not sure I remember any girl-swatting… How about you, bro?” He started laughing.

  “Hell, Jesse. I don’t remember you with any girl except for Audrey.”

  “…You’re one to talk. Who were you ever serious about until you met Mandy?”

  Craig put out his arms between them.

  “Boys, boys… No fighting. Obviously, I didn’t teach you the fine art of romancing women.”

  Jesse snorted. “Do you even have a girlfriend, Craig? You seem to play the field all the time, it seems to me.” Colt picked it up.

  “…Sounds like commitment issues. Right, Jesse?”

  “No doubt about it. The man can’t commit.”

  “Or,” Colt began tantalizingly, “he hasn’t m
et the right woman. Hmm?” He raised his eyebrows at him.

  They both looked at him expectantly. He smirked at them.

  “Why is it, that no matter where we go or what we do, we always talk about women?” Craig got out a bottle of water and took a sip.

  “That’s what Dad said that he and Jason always talked about when they were out here mending fences or looking for strays.”

  “Be nice what you say about our foreman… He’s been pretty nice to me since I married his daughter and gave him two grandchildren.” Jesse laughed.

  Colt looked around and up at the sky. He pulled his hat down lower on his face.

  “I don’t think we’re going to find those coyotes tonight and it’s starting to get dark. I need to get home.”

  “Me too,” said Jesse.

  Craig smiled. “Apparently, I’m the only one who doesn’t have to rush home to a wife and children.” Colt gave him a slow, easy smile.

  “One of these days, Ferguson, you’re going to be begging us to go home early to a wife and children. Just you wait…”

  “Okay, I’ll wait… And while I’m waiting, I guess I’ll go out with that new waitress over at the Naples Inn. She might keep me company awhile. Pretty blonde, know her?”

  “Nope. I’ll just head home to my brunette… How about you, Colt?”

  “Don’t know her, but I have a pretty redhead waiting for me.”

  “See you, guys. Later… Much later.” They all laughed, turned their horses and galloped back to the ranch. After reporting to the foreman, they headed off to their various pursuits. And each was happy in those individual pursuits…

  CHAPTER THREE

  Janie shared an apartment in Naples located by the Hot Springs Resort, but not far from the downtown area. Continuing on up that same road is Lake Tahoe and surrounding towns. Janie and her roommate, Diane Smith, would often drive up to Tahoe to dance and have fun. Lake Tahoe had a great area on the north side called Sand Harbor where they could swim, picnic and, in the summers, watch Shakespearian plays performed by troupes of actors from Ashland, Oregon. Janie thought it was the best location to have an apartment – Close enough to work and family, yet with an escape route to fun, fun, fun…