A Cowgirl's Secret (9 page)

“I know.” Daisy had naively hoped returning to Weed Gulch would create positive changes for her son. He was getting to the age that he needed a man to look up to—not that being with his father wouldn't have been beneficial to him through all stages of his development, just that now that Kolt was soon to be a teen, Daisy wouldn't be his ideal choice for discussing guy stuff. Groaning, she rubbed her throbbing forehead. “I thought telling all of you about Henry would be my hardest task. But now, I'm afraid it wasn't anywhere near as tough as it's going to be ensuring my son grows up happy and well-adjusted.”

 

“Y
OU CAN TALK TO ME, YOU KNOW
.”

The night of the rodeo, Kolt didn't even want to look
at his mom, and he sure didn't want to talk to her. He sat on the end of the bed in his new room. The walls were dark green and he missed his old blue room back in the loft.

“I'm sorry if I embarrassed you this afternoon. Henry's not a nice man and all I could think about was getting you away from him.”

“He's always been nice to me.” What was wrong with his mother? Making up stories about people. Plus, she was always fighting with his dad. Why did he have to be nice to Luke if she wasn't?

She sighed. “I know he may have seemed nice, but on the inside, he's a very bad man. If you ever see him again, run and tell a grown-up as fast as you can.”

Kolt rolled his eyes. “I wish Uncle Cash and Aunt Wren could be my mom and dad. They're not crazy. I asked Uncle Cash to take care of me.”

“Oh?” She chewed on her fingernails and looked as though she was about to cry. Kolt hated seeing her upset, but lately all she'd done was hurt him. “What did he say about that?”

“He said, no, because I have a mom and dad. But I know if I help Uncle Cash with chores and stuff, he'll want to keep me.”

“Get this straight,” his mom said in what he now knew was her crazy voice. “You are mine. You will not live with Uncle Cash and you will stop being upset with me for watching out for you the only way I know how. Have I made mistakes? Do I still? Yes. What parent doesn't? But I love you.”

“Can I please just go to bed?” Kolt was tired of
hearing her talk. She always said lots of stuff that sounded good, but nothing ever changed.

 

M
ONDAY EVENING
, through the setting sun's orange glow, Luke saw the dust cloud before the car. Instinct told him exactly who it would be.

He finished watering what remained of his struggling tomato plants, then coiled up the hose. By the time he'd finished, sure enough, Daisy and Kolt had pulled into his drive.

After drying his palms on the thighs of his jeans, Luke moseyed over, not especially in a hurry to see the woman who'd turned his life upside down. He'd had a tough enough time relating to her before learning about what she'd been through with Henry. Now, Luke was even less sure of what to do or say.

She was wearing a T-shirt and pink flip-flops that made her look all of fifteen. Her messy pigtail didn't help. She looked as pretty as she had the spring day he'd asked her to the prom. But that didn't change the fact that as sorry as he felt for what Henry had put her through, she didn't have a free pass for Luke missing the first ten years of his son's life.

When Kolt exited the car, stepping onto his land, Luke wasn't sure what to say. Kolt was handsome. Tall for his age and stick thin. A smattering of freckles dotted his nose and his dark hair had been neatly trimmed.

“When I was your age,” Luke said to his boy, hands shoved in his pockets, “I hated getting my hair cut. One day my mom let me cut it myself. Kids at school teased that it looked so bad I must've got caught in barbed wire.
Just looking at your head tells me you're a damned sight smarter than me.”

“You cussed,” his son scolded.

Chuckling, Luke said, “About time you learned that's what cowboys do. Sometimes there's just no way around it.”

“Don't listen to him,” Daisy said.

“Do listen to me,” Luke insisted with what he hoped came across as a welcoming, friendly smile. “Here's what you need to do. Let's say you're on your horse and see a snake. What're you going to say?”

Nose wrinkled, Kolt shook his head. “I dunno.”

“Wrong. How about, damn, that's a big snake.”

Wearing a cautious grin, Kolt mimicked, “Damn, that's a big snake.”

“Excellent.” Luke held out his hand for a high five and was pleasantly surprised when Kolt didn't leave him hanging. “All right, now it's time for—”

“That's enough.” Arms crossed, Daisy didn't look amused by the evening's cursing lesson. “Could we please go inside? It's hot.”

“Help yourself,” Luke said. “Front door's open. If Kolt doesn't mind, we need to feed the horses before we head in for the night.”

“Kolt?” she asked, worry lacing her tone. “Is that all right with you?”

“Just go, Mom. I want to talk to my dad.”

Luke couldn't help but beam with pride when his boy asked, “Can I brush your horses, too? Uncle Cash taught me how and he says I do a really good job.”

“Absolutely,” Luke said, ignoring the fact that Daisy
still stood in front of the porch. “And hey, while I've got you here, can you tell me why the farmer's horse went over the mountain?”

“Nope.”

“He couldn't go under it.”

Though Kolt didn't crack a smile, he couldn't quite hide the light in his eyes.

Luke knew he had a long way to go before his son fully accepted him, but, Lord willing, with enough bad jokes and kid-friendly animal chores, the two of them might work their way into each other's hearts.

As for his child's mother? Good thing Daisy had finally chosen to hide out in the house or Luke just might've put her on manure duty.

A week had passed since Daisy's last secret had gotten out. Funny how time had a way of elongating or shortening in direct proportion to one's discomfort level. The past seven days had felt excruciatingly long. Kolt was still giving her the silent treatment, insisting Henry had been his friend. During her brief exchanges with Luke, he wasn't much more communicative.

She'd hoped sharing the whole of her past would bring them closer, but instead, he seemed more distant than ever. Painfully polite, as if mere words might cause her to once again break.

Seated behind what had once been her home desk that she'd placed in the sun-flooded southeast corner of her new office, Daisy tackled a few emails from Barb regarding case research. Her friend had asked her to stay on with the firm at least until Daisy established her own law practice. Barb made no effort to hide her hopes that Daisy would soon tire of small-town life.

Truth be told, though Daisy had never been surrounded by more people who knew her, she had also never felt more lonely or out of place.

Dallas had Josie.

Cash had Wren.

Georgina had club meetings and grandchildren.

Wyatt had his travels and a seemingly neverending stream of buxom blondes.

By comparison, Daisy felt as if she had no one. Sending a personal note grousing about this fact to Barb, Daisy was surprised by her boss's down-home advice to take the bull by the horns and make her son and Luke spend time with her.

Though it'd been years since she'd been on a picnic, Daisy figured that'd be as good a way as any to start the lengthy process of regaining their trust.

“Hey,” she said when Luke answered his cell on the second ring.

“What do you need? I'm in the middle of something.”

“Sorry. I'll make it quick.” She doodled a series of stars on a yellow legal pad. “Are you free tonight? I thought we might build a fire down by the pond and roast hot dogs. Make s'mores.”
Talk.

“Sounds nice,” he said, “but I already made tentative plans with Kolt and Cash and Dallas.”

“Oh?” Nice of him to include her.

“I was going to call and run it past you, but Dallas said there's some pretty decent catfish in the pond by the Peterson place. We're riding horses over just as soon as Kolt gets home from camp.”

Snapping her pencil in half, Daisy managed a count to three in her head before she blew. “While I'm thrilled that you've jumped right into parenting, Luke, you seem
to have forgotten the fact that I'm Kolt's primary care-giver. As such, it's customary for you to—”

“Stop right there,” Luke said, tone lethally low. “Don't you dare lecture me on how much time I'm allowed with my boy. Within reason, I will see him whenever, and wherever I'd like. As I'm sure you and any right-minded judge would agree, we have lots of lost time to make up for.”

Daisy gulped.

“Speaking of which, my mother is throwing a party in Kolt's honor Saturday. A sort of welcome to the family, ten-year catch-up on birthdays and Christmases. My parents didn't want to invite you, but I insisted. After all, it's the neighborly thing to do.”

 

S
EATED ON HIS FOLKS' SOFA
Saturday afternoon, Luke had mixed feelings watching his son open a mountain of gifts. On one hand, he was so proud of the well-mannered, funny, likeable little guy that he was about to burst. On the other, Luke realized he'd had nothing to do with how Kolt had turned out beyond donating some DNA.

The living room was so crowded not only with the Montgomery clan, but with relatives from his mom's side of the family that Daisy had been forced to the dining-room table. Watching her brought on a whisper of nostalgia for happier times. Blotting that out, however, was the screaming reality of what she'd done. He and Kolt might be pals, but would they ever have the bond a father and son should? When Luke thought of what Henry had done, rage seized him, but so did his inherent
mistrust of Kolt's mom. At a time when she should've run straight to Luke, she'd run away from him as fast as she could.

As if feeling his stare, Daisy looked up. Their gazes locked. Their connection was so undeniably strong his stomach tightened. She half smiled and on autopilot, he smiled in return before hastily focusing his attention on his son.

The day wound on with ten flavors of birthday cakes and an assortment of Christmas pies. Kolt and all other kids present were on obnoxious sugar highs.

“Nice party.”

Luke glanced up from his third piece of cake to find his efforts to avoid Daisy had failed. At least they were in the quiet kitchen. The last thing they needed was an audience. “Yeah, uh, Mom and Dad went all out. They're excited about finally being grandparents.”

“If that was another subtle dig at me, again, I'm sorry. I get that my actions hurt an awful lot of people.”

Ignoring her, Luke finished off his cake.

“Are things ever going to get back to normal between us?” She'd softened her voice, in the process filling him with an asinine desire to turn back the clock. If lives were road maps, how many wrong turns had it taken to land them in their current position?

“What do you consider normal?” Luke didn't mean to be cruel, but seriously, the woman had vanished for ten years, didn't bother telling him he had a son and now expected everything between them to be hunky-dory? “We don't even have a baseline for what normal would look like.”

“For starters,” Daisy said, “we could talk. Share a meal. Discuss our son's future.”

“We could do all of that,” he agreed, “but what's the point? It's not leading anywhere. Do you honestly think we even have a shot at being friends?”

Her complexion paled. “I-if that's the way you feel, I'll leave. I assume you won't mind giving Kolt a ride home?”

“Of course, I don't mind.”

She gathered her purse and keys from the bench beside the back door. “Please, thank your parents for me. And tell Kolt I said goodbye and I love him.”

“Aw, Daisy…” Damn if she didn't have him feeling bad.

“What?” She stood in the open door. Luke knew he should ask her to stay, but he didn't have it in him. Being polite just wasn't in the cards. But what was? Clearly, he couldn't maintain this level of animosity. For Kolt's sake, Luke would have to find middle ground. “Okay, then,” Daisy said when he couldn't find words. “Maybe I'll see you tonight?”

“Yeah…maybe.”

She cast him one last wounded look before leaving.

 

F
ROM THE PARTY
, D
AISY WENT
to Reasor's for Doritos and Reese's Pieces and coffee ice cream. Nothing soothed an aching heart like a good movie accompanied by a junk-food buffet.

She was standing in the checkout line when a man said from behind her, “Hey, there, pretty lady. Long time no see.”

The graveled tone gave her chills. She didn't want to turn to see Henry, but she also didn't want him for one second thinking she was afraid.

“Like that dress on you,” he whispered as they moved ahead in line. “Makes a nice showing of those curves you used to love for me to touch.”

“Back off,” Daisy said, trying to keep her cool despite her runaway pulse, “or I'll scream for security.”

“You won't do that, because if you did, everyone in the store would know what a dirty little girl you are.”

Bile rose, stinging her throat. She wanted to scream, but her vocal cords had frozen. Panic seized her, flooding her limbs with concrete.
Run!
her every instinct screamed, but her body refused to comply.

“Ma'am? Excuse me, ma'am? Are you ready?”

The checkout clerk's prodding jolted Daisy from her horrifying past to the present.

“S-security,” she managed. “Is there a store officer?”

The middle-aged woman cocked her head toward a uniformed guard standing alongside the ATM machine. “Yes, but what do you need him for?”

Daisy turned to point at Henry, report what he'd done, only he wasn't there. Had she imagined the whole thing? Hand to her temple, she tried to stop the store from spinning.

“Ma'am? You all right?”

“Y-yes. Fine.” Daisy paid for her few groceries, then returned to the ranch. The entire drive, she kept one eye on the road and the other on the rearview mirror. Only
when she'd locked herself safely inside the house did her pulse slow.

“Heavens, girl,” her mother said from the sofa where she was curled up with a book. “You're as pale as a jar of marshmallow creme. Are you coming down with something?”

“Maybe,” Daisy said, setting her groceries and purse on the floor.

“Where's Kolt?”

“He's still at the party. I've got a headache and didn't want to spoil his fun. Luke's bringing him by later.”

Nodding, her mother asked, “How are things going with Luke?”

“Could be better. If you don't mind, I think I'll lie down.” She'd almost reached the stairs when she couldn't hold back tears a second longer.

“Sweetheart, what's wrong?” Rising from the couch, Georgina pulled her into a hug.

Daisy wanted to keep all of the day's troubles to herself, but she'd tried that tactic before with less than stellar results. First, Daisy shared what had happened at her son's party. “I felt like a pariah. Like Luke's whole family hates me. I don't blame them, but what am I supposed to do? How can I ever make up for what I've done?”

“Give it time,” her mother counseled, helping Daisy sit on the nearest step. “Right now, Luke's family is no doubt just as shocked as we were to learn Kolt's been around all this time. What they don't have is the love we all feel for you. Love makes forgiving come a little more easily.”

Groaning, Daisy covered her face with her hands. “Unfortunately, Kolt's party was the high point of my day. I stopped by the grocery store and who should step up behind me in line? Henry.”

Her mother lurched back. “He didn't threaten you, did he?”

Daisy shook her head. “Just said awful things.”

“Like what?” With her mother's arms securely around her, Daisy told the worst, and felt surprisingly better for sharing her pain. When Daisy finished, Georgina said, “You should tell your brothers and Luke about this.”

“Please, no. It's too humiliating.”

“Honey,” Georgina tucked Daisy's hair behind her ears, “you have to get it through your thick head that Henry's the one who has a problem—not you.”

“I know. In counseling, I've been over that fact a hundred times. But seeing him—having him that close—” She shuddered.

“Please at least talk to Luke about all of this.”

“Why? What good would that possibly do? Especially when he can't stand the sight of me.”

“Sure about that?” Drawing Daisy in for another hug, Georgina said, “When you get to be as old as I am, you tend to want to get past the BS and straight to the heart of things. Want my opinion? I think Luke's problem is that he never stopped caring for you. You devastated him once when you left all those years ago. Now you've hurt him again. He wants to trust you, but you've proven yourself—in his eyes, anyway—not worthy. The trick is going to be proving to Luke that not only have you learned from your mistakes, but that you're willing to
work through them to regain the special bond the two of you once shared.”

For Daisy, knowing her mother was right didn't make the task ahead any easier.

“I'm not by any means suggesting you try getting romantically involved, but for Kolt's sake, you should at least be civil.”

Daisy sighed. “You're preaching to the choir, Mom.”

Georgina cracked a smile. “I don't need the whole choir to hear me—just you.”

 

“Y
OU TWO HAVE FUN
?”

As Luke rounded the backside of his Jeep, he saw Daisy rise from one of the front-porch rockers. In the waning light, the sound of cicadas rising and falling in the still air, the sweet scent of freshly-watered petunias lacing the yard, he could almost forget what she'd done.

“Mom!” Loaded down with a pile of presents tall enough to nearly block his sight, Kolt shuffled across the parking area. “Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Joe gave me the best party ever! I got so many toys and games I could open my own store!”

“That's awesome, sweetie.” She left the porch to help their son with his load. “Let's put all of your new things on the dining-room table for now, then get you ready for bed. We'll sort through everything in the morning.”

“But I wanna play with it tonight.”

“Kolt,” Luke said, coming up behind his boy with an equally impressive load, “how about grabbing more stuff from the car?”

“Okay.” Kolt scampered back the way he'd just come.

“I'd like a minute alone with you,” Luke said to Daisy once their son was out of earshot.

“Good. I'd like to talk to you, too.”

“You first,” Luke said, motioning for her to start.

“No, you.” Daisy fingered the long braid hanging over her right shoulder.

“Luke,” Kolt called from the Jeep. “I'm gonna need your help with my bike.”

“Sure.” Luke looked to Daisy. “Be right back.”

She nodded.

By the time the bike was set free, along with the ten-year-old riding hell-bent for leather down the drive, Luke no longer knew what to say.

“Does it bother you that Kolt calls you by your first name?” Daisy stepped up behind him.

“I'd be lying if I said it didn't, but given the circumstances, I think it's for the best. When—if—the time comes that he feels comfortable enough to call me Dad is something for him to decide.”

“Even when we were kids,” Daisy said, “I remember you doling out wisdom. The perpetual mediator.”

“This bothers you?” The sun had set and lightning bugs sparked over the tall grasses on either side of the mile-long drive.