Almost Home (18 page)

Zach couldn't help being taken in by her enthusiasm.
Katherine had so much desire to set things right, and she wanted everything to
be beautiful. She didn't see the dark side of life, only the light. In a
weed-filled garden, she saw beauty. In an old love letter she saw her father.
He couldn't help wondering what she saw when she looked at him.

"Mrs. Stanton said I could do some work if I
wanted to," she continued.

Zach suddenly realized he'd lost half the
conversation. "Mrs. Stanton? You saw Mrs. Stanton?"

"Yes. She came into the garden. Haven't you been
listening?"

"I wish you hadn't gone there."

"Why?"

"Because that garden was very special to the
Stantons
. I don't think
they want people in there trampling all over the flowers."

"I wasn't trampling the flowers, and Mrs. Stanton
said I could come back any time, that she'd welcome a little help with the
garden. Of course, I said I would. And she said you'd be happy to help me find
the gardening tools."

"Oh, hell, Katherine. How do you get yourself
into the middle of everything?"

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared
at him. "I was being helpful. That's all. I don't know why you have such a
problem with me doing some gardening. It's not going to bother you."

She didn't know the half of it. That garden was only a
short ways from his house. She was already invading his personal life; the last
thing he needed was to see her at work.

"Every time I turn around, I trip over you,"
Zach said. "Of course you're going to bother me. You'll want tools and
more tools and directions and suggestions and someone to look at what you've
done."

"That's not true. I won't ask you for a thing. In
fact, I'll find my own tools."

"I thought you were here to look for your father.
Now you're going to spend your days weeding some garden that nobody cares
about? Why?"

"Because it's there, and it needs me."

"We're talking about a garden, not a person."

Katherine tucked a piece of hair behind one ear in a
gesture that was becoming endearingly familiar.

"I know you don't get it. But at home, in
California
, I'm not
really needed. Everything runs smoothly without me. When I saw the garden and I
smelled the lavender, I knew that this place was special and I was meant to fix
it."

"Kat, I don't believe in fate or oblique symbols
that people use to rationalize their decisions. You weren't meant to drift
through life. You're supposed to take charge. You do what you want to do, and
to hell with whatever other people think or want."

"Easy for you to say—I've spent my whole life
worrying about what people think of me."

"Why do you care?"

"Because I do." She picked up her menu. "Maybe
we should order now. I'm starving. I spent most of the day listening to some
woman describe the intricacies of quilting. It would have been great if she'd
told me something helpful, but—"

"Wait," Zach interrupted, suddenly realizing
he'd gotten sidetracked, and his father was due to show up any second. "There's
something I have to tell you."

She sent him an expectant look. "What?"

"I didn't make this dinner reservation. My father
did. I only came to warn you not to listen to him."

"I don't understand."

"
Jackson
heard you were looking for your father. I don't know how or when. As far as I
knew, he was on the other side of the world or dead. But apparently he's here
in
Paradise
, and he wants to meet you. His
name is
Jackson
with a
J
,"
Zach said pointedly.

Confusion, then shock, filled her beautiful blue eyes,
and Zach had the urge to take his words back. But he'd never believed in
pulling off a Band-Aid slowly. Better to yank it off, get the pain over all at
once.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Katherine sat stiffly. She had that proud, vulnerable
look on her face again, the one that made him think of a terrified puppy facing
a German shepherd.

Before he could reply, he saw his father out of the
corner of his eye, approaching their table like a missile on target. "Just
don't believe a word he says," Zach said quickly.

"Zach—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jackson Tyler
stopped next to the table, looking handsome and refined in a charcoal gray
suit. Somewhere in his travels he'd obviously picked up some new threads.

"Zachary. There you are."
Jackson
smiled at Zach, then at Katherine. "I
trust my son has been entertaining you, Miss Whitfield. Allow me to introduce
myself—Jackson Tyler." He offered her a small bow along with his hand.

Katherine shook it somewhat warily. "You're Zach's
father?"

"Yes, I am,"
Jackson
looked over at Zach.

"Don't say it, Pop. Don't do this."

"Zach, what's going on?" Katherine asked. "What
don't you want your father to tell me?"

"That this isn't just any dinner,"
Jackson
replied smoothly.
"It's a family dinner."
Jackson
sat down next to Katherine, forcing her to slide closer to Zach. She looked
from one to the other, trapped between them.

"I'm not sure I understand."

"I'm your father, Katherine. Welcome to the
family."

Her mouth dropped open. "My father? Oh, my God!"
She sent Zach a wild, desperate look. "He's wrong, isn't he? Please tell
me I'm not—I can't be your sister. I just can't be."

"Now, now. There's no reason to get hysterical,"
Jackson
said
soothingly. "I realize Zachary might not be your first choice for a
brother, but he's not so bad."

Katherine heard
Jackson
's
words, but they didn't make any sense. There was only one sentence going around
in her head.
I'm your father.

She'd finally heard someone utter the magic words, but
she'd never imagined how deeply they would hurt. She looked at Zach
imploringly, willing him to tell her his father was making a joke—that there
was no possible way they could be brother and sister. A sense of horror grew in
her soul as she thought about their kiss, the way his tongue had probed hers,
his mouth warm and hot, his hands seeking, her body wanting…

Zach's gaze dropped down to the tabletop. He took a
deep breath, the pulse in his neck beating like wildfire as he fought some
inner demon. Finally he looked up at her—at his father.

"Tell her, Zach,"
Jackson
encouraged. "Tell her how much
you want us to be a family. After all, you're entering an exciting time in your
life. You have a horse that might win the
Derby
,
and perhaps Stanton Farms will be yours after all these years. That is, as long
as you stay on Harry's good side. Katherine will want to share in that."

Zach stared at his father as if he hated him.
Katherine could see it in the way his eyes blazed and his hands clenched on top
of the tablecloth. She didn't understand what was going on between the two of
them or with her.

"Katherine won't be sharing in anything,"
Zach said tersely.

"Now, Zach, don't forget our little
understanding."

Zach shook his head and glanced over at Katherine. "He's
not your father. It's a con. He heard you were rich and looking for your old
man. He figured he could sell you your dream. But it won't come cheap, Kat. Don't
buy in to it." He paused. "You deserve better."

Her heart caught in her throat at his last words.
You
deserve better.
No one had ever thought she deserved more. Looking at the
two angry men, she had a feeling it would cost Zach more than she knew.

"Don't listen to Zach, Miss Whitfield. He's
afraid I'll leave everything to you, instead of to him,"
Jackson
said.

"Leave what to me? You don't have anything."

Jackson
ignored him, turning to Katherine. "I believe
your mother's name was Evelyn Jones."

Katherine nodded, feeling panicked by his words. "Yes."

"I knew her. Only she didn't call herself Evelyn
then. She had another name."

"What?" Katherine whispered.

Jackson
smiled, looking as if he were beginning to enjoy the
evening. "Now, I'd be happy to tell you everything. But not tonight. Not
until we make ourselves a little deal."

"That's it." Zach stood up and grabbed
Katherine's hand, pulling her out of the booth along with him. "You don't
need to listen to any more lies."

"We'll talk later, when we can be alone,"
Jackson
promised.

"Do you have proof that—that you're my—my father?"
she asked haltingly.

"Would I come to you if I wasn't?"

"You would," Zach answered for
Jackson
, looking straight
at him. "But maybe to ease everyone's mind, you'd submit to a blood test.
Painless. Easy."

Jackson
's eyes glittered with dislike. "I don't need a
blood test to prove I'm her kin. I have information only a father would have."

"Then spill it."

"Always so impatient, Zachary. Why don't you both
sit down?"

"No. This dinner is over. You didn't know her
mother. And you certainly aren't going to know her." Zach squeezed
Katherine's hand, as if to reassure her that he would never let that happen.

Jackson
's eyes narrowed as he took in the two of them. "I
should have realized. You're sweet on her. Well, no matter. The truth will come
out."

"You wouldn't know the truth if it hit you."

Zach stalked out of the restaurant, dragging Katherine
behind him, ignoring their waiter's startled look and the murmurs following
their exit. He didn't stop moving until they reached the parking lot, until the
night air cooled the raging anger in his body. "Goddamn him," he
swore as he let go of her hand to hit the side of his truck. "Why the hell
can't he leave me alone?"

Katherine looked at Zach's hard face, his dark eyes,
and saw a fleeting shimmer of pain covered by anger and hate and weary
disillusionment. She wondered if this man had ever been a boy, if he'd ever
looked at an apple without searching for the worm. She glanced over her
shoulder, relieved to see that
Jackson
hadn't followed them out to the parking lot.

"I can't believe he has the nerve to show his
face around here, much less claim to be your father," Zach said. "Since
he won't take a blood test, it's obvious he's lying."

"But he must have known we'd ask for proof."

"He must have something else," Zach
murmured.

"Like what?"

"Something on your mother, maybe. He seems to
know a lot more about you than I do."

"Maybe I should go back and talk to him,"
Katherine said, even though it was absolutely the last thing she wanted to do.

"No, it's better not to talk to my father unless
you're armed with more information than he is, and at the moment, he's got the
upper hand."

"He wouldn't have the upper hand if you'd thought
to warn me," Katherine said sharply.

Zach tipped his head. "You're right. I thought
about it."

"Why didn't you call me today and tell me what
was going on?"

"I thought about that, too."

"Zach!"

He shrugged. "You're looking for a needle in a
haystack, Kat. But sometimes you don't find the needle, you find a rat. I
warned you about that the first day we met."

Katherine sighed. "So I got what I deserved."

"Well, maybe not what you deserved. Nobody
deserves
Jackson
.
That's why I couldn't let you have dinner alone with him. And now I wish I had
called you earlier. We could have skipped the whole thing."

"Do you think
Jackson
knew my mother?"

"We went in and out of
Paradise
all the time in the early seventies. My father even worked now and then at some
of the farms. As soon as he got a little cash, we hit the road to find a new
game." He ran a hand through his hair, looked at the restaurant, then back
to her. "I need some time to think, but in the meantime, are you hungry?"

"Starved," she admitted.

"Rico's Pizza is nearby. It's not fancy, but it's
good. What do you say?"

"I say extra large with pineapple and ham."

His tense face eased into a reluctant smile. "This
is
Kentucky
,
darlin', no pineapples within a hundred miles." He opened the door to his
truck. "But I think we can find something you like."