Roping Your Heart (17 page)

Blake had no idea if the boy, Brett, had sent her messages. He didn’t want to violate his daughter’s trust. But if she violated his trust again, then he would consider screening her messages.

Demi’s name was called and they both got to their feet and she pocketed her cell phone. He accompanied her as a nurse took Demi’s temperature and blood pressure as well as weighed her and measured her height. Then they went into the examination room where they waited for the doctor.

Blake and Demi talked about the upcoming rodeo while they waited, and he felt more and more uncomfortable.

When Dr. Mack and a fairly young nurse walked in, Blake wasn’t sure if he felt relief or more tension than he’d been feeling before. Dr. Mack was in his early sixties, a good guy whom Blake had always liked.

“Honey, will you be okay if Dr. Mack talks with you alone?” Blake asked. “Now that you’re a teenager you can have conversations with the doctor without me around.”

Demi nodded. “Okay.”

Relieved, Blake left the examination room and went to the waiting area. He forced himself to sit down rather than pace.

This was a time when it would have been good for Demi to have a woman in her life. Someone stable who could explain things like women’s physicals so that his daughter would be better prepared.

He’d thought about Sally going with Demi to the doctor, but Sally hated that kind of thing and he was the parent with full custody. Not to mention, he needed to be with Demi when the blood tests were done and he didn’t want Sally spilling the reason why they were having them done in the first place. He didn’t want her to go through the pain of thinking about him possibly not being her biological father if it was unnecessary.

He wished he could have had Cat along. But even though Demi wasn’t sulking as much, he didn’t think she was ready for she and Cat to be doing things so personal together.

His lawyer had said there was precedent in Arizona where adoptive parents were given joint custody, so it was likely Sally couldn’t win full custody. However, it was possible that Blake could get only partial custody and end up only having her on some holidays and during the summer. Sally would take Demi away to Tennessee. As far away as that was, it might as well be in another country.

He rubbed his temples. Damn. He couldn’t lose Demi like that. He couldn’t stand not being able to see her every day.

When Demi came out into the waiting room, Blake’s tension rose. His daughter looked okay, but somehow seemed more adult as she walked outside with him.

“I didn’t like that,” she said, then handed him a paper. “The doctor told me that I also have to have some blood tests done.”

Blake nodded. It was what he’d expected. At the same time they would have blood drawn for the court-ordered tests as well.

He drove them to the lab next and they both had their blood drawn. Demi refused to look at the needle as it pricked her skin and her jaw was set as she clenched her teeth. She’d always hated shots when she was younger, like most kids did, and having her blood drawn was no better as far as she was concerned.

She frowned as they walked outside the lab building. “I didn’t like having my blood drawn.”

He put his arm around her shoulders. “You did great.”

“Why does the doctor need to do blood tests?” she asked as they reached the truck.

Blake opened the truck. “They just need to make sure everything is okay. Kids can get sick from things that need to be treated.”

After they climbed in, Demi said, “Like Cat’s daughter? She got sick so young.”

He started the vehicle. He and Cat had talked about her daughter and she’d shared about what had happened to her. “Yes, they look for things like that.” He gave Demi a comforting smile. “But thank God those things are rare.”

She nodded and looked at him. “I love you, Dad.”

Love and pain filled his heart and it was almost too much to bear. “Just remember how much I will always love you, too. No matter what.”

* * * * *

Demi’s cell phone rang and Blake watched as she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the display. She flopped in a kitchen chair and answered, “Hi, Mom.”

His shoulders always tensed when Demi talked to her mother and he mentally shook his head. He went back to pouring a glass of iced tea and squeezed lemon into it.

“I’m doing good.” Demi had a light note to her voice as Blake wiped lemon juice from his fingers on a hand towel. “I missed sixth hour at school today which was okay with me. I hate math.” She listened then said, “I didn’t go because Dad and I went to the doctor today. I had to have a physical. It sucked.”

A pause and then Demi frowned. “How did you know I had blood tests done?”

Blake’s gut clenched. When he’d talked with Sally earlier this week he’d asked her not to say anything to Demi until the results were back and to let him tell her.

Blood drained from Demi’s face and she turned pale as she listened to her mother. Her eyes were wide as she looked at Blake. Then she said in a choked voice. “Dad isn’t my real father?”

Blake felt like his heart had stopped beating. Confusion and pain clouded his daughter’s face. He didn’t know what to do as Demi stared at him as if begging him to challenge what her mother had told her. What could he say? He didn’t know for sure.

She sat frozen with the phone held up to her ear. She didn’t move when Blake took the phone from her and disconnected the call without saying anything to Sally. He turned the phone off so that she couldn’t call back and disturb them.

As his daughter stared, he crouched in front of her chair and met her gaze. “Honey, your mother told me a week ago that I might not be your biological father.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “But I don’t care what any damned tests say. I
am
your father. I love you more than anything in this world.”

“That’s why my blood was taken today?” she whispered. “To prove that you’re not my real dad?”

“I am your real dad.” Blake’s fury at Sally was hard to contain as he tried to reassure Demi. “No matter what, I love you and you are my daughter.”

“Then why did you make me take the blood tests?” She looked as if she’d been betrayed.

“Your mother got a court order for both of us.” He tried to keep his voice calm. “I had no choice.”

Demi’s lower lip trembled and tears started rolling down her cheeks. She shoved her chair back, got to her feet, and bolted out of the kitchen.

“Demi!” Blake went after her, heading for the front door.

She was ahead of him, running as fast as she could for the barn.

He followed her. Just as he reached the barn, Dandy tore out with Demi riding her bareback, her face streaked with tears.

“No, Demi,” he shouted. “You know you’re not allowed to ride bareback. It’s too dangerous.”

But she didn’t heed him and probably couldn’t hear him, as fast as she was riding.

“Damn.” Blake ran into the barn and brought out Tango, his fastest mare. He threw a saddle on the horse and cinched it securely before he mounted and went after Demi.

She was nowhere in sight. The pain inside him for what Sally had just done to Demi mixed with fear for his daughter. She shouldn’t be riding bareback, especially not in the emotional state she was in.

He headed Tango in the direction Demi had gone, the horse’s hooves flying over the ground. They went over a small hill. Just as they crested it, he saw Demi’s horse in the distance. The horse was riderless. As he got closer he saw a still form on the ground beside Dandy.

Blake’s heart thundered and his entire body felt like ice. The fear in him was so great he felt like a knife had slashed his gut. What if what had happened to Cat had happened to his daughter?

When he reached Demi, her horse was nudging her as if to wake her up, but Demi didn’t move.

He dismounted in a rush and went to Demi’s side. She was so damned still. He placed his trembling fingers at her neck and found that her pulse was beating strong and sure.

Demi blinked and looked at Blake from where she lay on the ground, her expression confused. “What happened?”

“You took a spill off of Dandy.” Blake stroked her hair. “Does anything hurt? Can you move your legs and arms?”

She shifted and pushed herself to a sitting position and rubbed the back of her head. “I have a lump but I think I’m okay.” She frowned. “My hair feels sticky.”

Blake looked at the ground and saw that a rock was where Demi’s head had been and it was covered in blood. The fear that had never left him rose into his throat and he gently examined the back of her head. Her blonde hair was dark and matted with blood.

“Ow.” She flinched.

“Don’t move.” He had to work to control his voice as he pulled a bandana out of his back pocket. He folded it and wrapped it around her head. “I’m going to get you to the ER.”

“I’m okay.” She winced as she spoke. “I just hurt my head, that’s all.”

“You were knocked out so you probably have a concussion,” he said. “The doctors need to make sure there’s no other damage or fractures.” He stood with her as she got to her feet. “Do you think you can ride?”

She swayed a little and favored one leg as she grasped Tango’s saddle. “I’ll be okay,” she said after a moment.

He helped her mount Tango and she gripped the pommel. He walked between the two horses, holding Tango by the bridle and resting his hand on Dandy’s neck. As they headed toward the ranch, he kept a close eye on Demi to make sure she wasn’t going to fall.

While they walked, Demi was silent. She looked like a heavy weight was on her mind. She looked down at him. “Mom said you might not be my father.”

“I am your father, honey,” Blake said.

She was silent again.

When they got to the barn, he helped Demi dismount then quickly unsaddled Tango and put both horses in their stalls.

Demi limped a little as they started walking. “Ouch,” she mumbled and Blake’s stomach twisted.

The drive to the hospital took too damned long as far as he was concerned. Once they were in the ER, while the nurse started taking Demi’s vitals, Blake stepped away and called Sally.

“We need to talk,” he said when Sally answered. “That was no way to tell a girl that her father might not be hers, even if it might be true. You had no right to do that.”

“I can tell her any damned way I please,” Sally said.

“Well, thanks to that stunt, Demi got upset and took off bareback on her horse.” He clenched his jaw. “She fell off the horse.”

Sally’s voice grew shrill. “Is she all right?”

“She probably has a concussion and she might have broken something,” Blake said. “Other than that, she’s fine.”

“I’m on my way,” Sally said. “A girl should have her mother.”

She should have considered that years ago, Blake thought as Sally disconnected the call.

After talking with his ex-wife, Blake talked with Cat to fill her in. She’d been upset and had offered to come to the ER to be with them, but with Sally coming it probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

Because Sally currently lived in an apartment in town, she arrived within fifteen minutes.

“Are you all right, baby?” Sally rushed to Demi’s bedside when the nurses directed her to Demi’s room. She looked the girl over. “Where are you hurt?”

Blake said nothing, just folded his arms and watched as Sally made a fuss over Demi. He wondered how much of it was real and how much was for show. He dragged his hand down his face. Maybe he wasn’t being fair. Sally genuinely cared for Demi, at least in her own selfish way.

“I’m okay,” Demi was saying. “I just have a headache and my right leg hurts a little.”

Sally whirled on Blake. “This is your fault. If she were with me this never would have happened.”

Blake didn’t repeat that what had happened to Demi wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for the way she’d broken the news to Demi. It wouldn’t help anything right now.

Sally turned back to Demi. “You’re going to come live with me soon.”

Demi’s brows furrowed and she looked at Blake.

Before Sally could say anything else and before Demi could answer, he took Sally by the arm and led her out to the hall outside of the room.

“At least wait until Demi’s out of the hospital before you start fighting over her,” he said in a tight, low and angry tone. “She doesn’t need this right now.” Sally started to speak but he raised his finger. “As a matter of fact, don’t fight in front of her at all. We’ll work this out without turning her against either one of us.”

“You have no say.” Sally glared at him. “You’re not her real father.”

“I am her father,” he said. “I’ve raised her as my own for fourteen years and my name is on the birth certificate.”

“It won’t be for long,” she said in a cold voice.

The fury burning inside Blake threatened to burst out of his control. He fought down his anger.

“If you upset her while she’s in the hospital it’s only going to make things harder on her.” He took a deep breath. “Let’s make a truce while we’re around her. No talking about who is and who isn’t her father and no talking about ripping her away from her home. There’s time enough to discuss any of that later.”