Heartstrings (24 page)

“Because I’ve never lied to you about anything else...ever.”

“Well, I think this one lie makes up for all the ones you didn’t tell, don’t you?” Emily turned away.

“I’ve wanted to tell you about Seth since he came home, but Mike wouldn’t let me. He’s even threatened me.”

“What do you mean?”

Abby leaned against the doorframe of the living room and sagged. “He told me he’d go to a tabloid. Mike married me for my money, sugarbaby. He and Tammy Jo have been together forever, but after she went to college, he asked me to marry him. I was pregnant with you. He devised the plan that we’d fool people into thinking you were his.”

Emily hiccoughed and tilted her head to meet her eyes. “Seth said he’s always loved me, but why didn’t he ever come see me?”

She swallowed hard. It was time to tell her the whole truth. “When you were little, I wanted you to know about Seth, even if he wasn’t in your life. Mike wouldn’t hear of it. Over the years, he made me believe Seth abandoned you.”

She puckered her brow. “How?”

“By lying to me. He never told me what he’d told Seth when he came to see you after you were born. What Mike said hurt Seth and made him believe you’d be better off never knowing him. Mike then told me Seth wanted nothing to do with his Indian bastard.”

Emily jerked and stared at her. “Why would Daddy say those terrible things?”

“Because he’s hiding something himself. He doesn’t want Tammy Jo to know the truth, is my guess.” She stepped forward and caressed the tears from her daughter’s cheeks. “I think he lied to her the same way he’s lied to everyone else. Including you, baby.”

“What do you mean?” Emily’s voice cracked.

She dragged Emily into her arms and held onto her as tightly as she dared. “By his treachery, he’s robbed you of ever knowing your real father. He never wanted you to know Seth. And he wouldn’t have kept me away from the only man I’ve ever loved.”

* * * *

Abby paced the kitchen while Seth wore out the floor of the living room. She glanced at the clock on the stove again. Carolann and Frank were due any minute. Emily had all but begged to stay home from school, but Abby had insisted she go.

She didn’t want her daughter to see how her grandparents reacted when they found out the truth.

“They’re here.” Seth’s baritone jarred her to a stop, and she sucked in a breath.

Carolann knocked on the kitchen door as she opened it. “Hey, we got here as soon as we could.”

The woman who’d become a mother to her after hers died rushed over and wrapped her in a surprisingly strong hug, considering her petite stature.

Abby hugged her back and choked on her heart. “Hi, Mom.”

Frank entered the kitchen and closed the door.

“Dad.”

Frank kissed Abby on the forehead.

Carolann noticed Seth standing in the doorway between the dining area and the living room. “Seth. What the heck are you doing here?” There was no mistaking the smile in Carolann’s voice as she hugged him.

As he shook Frank’s hand, the judge asked, “What’s going on?”

Abby met Seth’s gaze. “Let’s go into the living room. Seth and I have something to tell you.

Carolann and Frank sat on the couch clasping each other’s hands while Abby and Seth told them about Emily. By the end of the confession, Carolann and she were crying and Frank stared at her as if he didn’t ever want to see her again.

Maybe he didn’t.

Frank had never liked her mother. He’d blamed her for dragging the reputation of his friend into the mud. He’d never made Abby feel unwelcome, but she knew he’d considered her father nuts for throwing away everything and marrying an Indian whore.

“Does Mike know?”

Seth stood behind Abby’s chair–the same chair Emily had sat in yesterday. His hand rested on her shoulder, tightened ever so slightly, trying to give comfort even though there possibly couldn’t be any as he answered Frank. “Yes, Mike knows. He knew Abby was pregnant with my baby when he talked her into marrying him.”

Carolann wiped at her tears and squared her shoulders. Abby hated the paleness of the older woman’s face. The grief and betrayal made her look ten years older than her sixty-five years. Abby immediately thought about her tenuous heart condition when Carolann squeezed her hand into a fist over her left breast.

Carolann shook her head. “Why would Mike talk you into marrying...”

“I think I know why.” Frank leaned over his long legs and scrubbed his face in his convulsing hands before looking at Abby. “Mike never got a loan, did he?”

“I don’t know what you’re asking.” She sucked in a deep breath and looked at their pain-stricken faces.

Frank narrowed his eyes. “Mike told us he applied for a loan after we signed the Circle R over to him in hopes to save it from the bank and the tax collectors. When I asked him what collateral he had, he said he borrowed against Crawford Creek at your insistence. I thought it was odd at the time. That greedy bast–James McAllister hated my guts ever since I put his younger brother in the state pen for arson and insurance fraud back when I was the DA.” He gritted his teeth as he referred to Tammy Jo’s father, who had been the bank president fifteen years ago.

Frank let out a long sigh. “McAllister calling in the mortgage got us in the predicament we were in, in the first place. I couldn’t believe he’d give my boy a loan. Unless he was just thankful Mike was no longer chasing his daughter’s skirt.”

“He never borrowed money from a bank.” Seth’s hard voice added to the tension in the stuffy room. “He never borrowed the money, period.”

“Dear God, how much did he take from you?” Carolann covered her heart.

Before she could reassure the woman she loved as a second mother, Seth replied, “Almost everything. He may be a decent father to my daughter, but he’s a lousy friend.”

* * * *

Abby turned the corner and stopped dead. In the parking lot of the nursing home, Mike leaned against her Silverado. His hands were in the pockets of his bronze-colored pants, and his hat shaded his face. His Sheriff’s Department Tahoe parked beside her truck. He looked over at her and removed his mirrored sunglasses.

As she adjusted the strap of her oversized purse, she headed toward him and tried to ignore the rapid pounding of her heart. No doubt by the scowl, Emily or his parents had talked to him.

But she’d bet it was Emily. She’d been in a major funk since Sunday. Abby stayed out of her way, but made it known she was willing to talk when Emily was ready. Obviously, she’d chosen to talk to Mike.

“Hey.” She stopped in front of him and looked around, wishing they weren’t in such a public place. Other nurses and staff were leaving at the end of the afternoon shift, and she hated the curious stares.

Mike didn’t seem in a hurry to look at her. He pushed away from the side of the truck and glanced to the side before meeting her eyes. The cold turbulence she saw in the dark depths caused her to gasp.

She swallowed hard, but the lump in her throat didn’t move. “I was going to call you.”

His jaw worked as if he was releasing his back teeth. “My distraught daughter beat you to it. I hope you enjoyed hurting her.”

“She deserves to know.”

He glanced away and shrugged. “I told her I knew nothing about you being pregnant with Seth’s baby. Nice little performance with my parents too, by the way. But when it came to your crying that I married you for your money and my shock that you’d lie to me, who do you think they believed? You or me?”

The parking lot shifted under her feet and opened up, and she pitched into a bottomless pit. She hugged herself, hoping the world soon righted itself. “Why are you doing this? You were my best friend. I loved you. No, I never was in love with you, but we had ten good years together.” Not to mention a childhood before then.

He took a step toward her and scowled. “I raised your brat, Abby. I even loved her. But what thanks do I get for my sacrifice? The first time that son-of-a-bitch shows back up, you can’t wait to fall into bed with him and destroy what’s mine. Do you know what I stand to lose if your version of the truth becomes public knowledge?”

She wanted to back up, but she called on her pride and stayed her ground, though it wobbled dangerously under her feet. “I have a guess. Tammy Jo.”

He bore down on her like a lion stalking a deer and leaned closer. “I lose every fucking thing I gave up for you. And I’ll be damned if I’ll lose it again.”

His low growl flattened her as surely as if the lion had pounced on the deer. She shook from the force of so many emotions colliding within her–fear, pain, anger and betrayal were just a few.

As he got into the cruiser, he put his sunglasses on. “And Abby, my version of your sins are about to become public knowledge. I just sold the story to
The National News
this morning. Hope you have a great day.”

She closed her eyes against the burn. He’d sold his lie to the most notorious gossip rag out there. She would hold it together if it was the last thing she did. But the tears gushed over the dam of her determination. She opened her eyes and released the panic on a strangled breath.

Seth.

He was the only one who’d know how to counter this madness. She got into the truck and turned the ignition with a shaky hand. On the radio, his baritone sang out in unison with Amanda Lang’s sultry voice,

“
In the heat of night we’ll forget the coldness of day.

Baby, we’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.

Oh, yeah, why don’t you stay? Why don’t you stay?
”

She switched the radio off and backed out of the parking lot.

Chapter 12

“You really are a cowboy.”

Seth tugged on the reins to bring the horse to a stop and turned in the saddle at the sound of the silky voice at the rail of the corral. Amanda smiled and pushed flyaway blond hair out of her face.

“I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.” He steered the gelding around and trotted across the corral to her.

She pouted her deep purple lips. “I’m happy to see you too, baby. I thought we could spend the day together.”

He dismounted and patted the sorrel’s neck. “Amanda, I’m seeing someone.”

She laughed and put her hand on her hip, drawing his gaze down her body. Dressed in a short miniskirt, low-cut blouse and high heels, she had a body that graced fashion magazines and had both young and old men hyperventilating. Except him. He preferred Abby’s soft curves to Amanda’s workout sculpted, nearly non-existent muscles, made so from starvation diets and popping pills.

“Since when has that stopped you? You know... I’ve never had a roll in the hay. Care to oblige me?”

“No. I won’t oblige you. This woman isn’t like the rest.”
She’s not like you
.

He pushed his hat back on his forehead. The day was a warm one, and he’d spent the past several hours rounding up calves. The other cowboys were back at the bunkhouse. He planned to take care of his horse and join the boys for supper.

Straightening her back and squaring her shoulders, Amanda lost her Hollywood smile. “She’s the one you’ve been hung up on since ARS, isn’t she?”

“Amanda, let it alone.”

“She is. I thought she was married and had a kid.” She’d removed her sunglasses and looked at him through black fake lashes with pale green eyes.

“I have to take care of the horse. Come around to the entrance of the barn and we’ll talk.”

He led the horse into the barn, poured out a ration of oats and filled a trough with water. He removed the saddle and the bridle and laughed when she wrinkled her nose as she came through the door.

“Eww... They say LA stinks. I’ll take the smog over country air any day.”

“LA does stink.” He set the saddle in the tack room and returned with a brush. He’d ridden hard, and the gelding deserved a rubdown before being put out to pasture.

“Yeah, but not like this.” She covered her nose with a perfectly manicured hand. “Gawd!”

“And to think you wanted a roll in the hay. That’s what you’re smelling, by the way. Besides, the horses, the leather and me. I spent the day rounding up steers.”