Daddy by Surprise (17 page)

“Thanks, Lib. I appreciate the offer—and everything else, too. But the boys have been bugging me about seeing the bison. They can take the four-wheeler out and do a head count while Dad and I talk.”

Not that she was expecting any huge breakthroughs. Her father wasn’t all that self-aware, although he was good at assigning blame. Talking to him might be a mistake, but she needed to find out why her body had tricked her into believing something that wasn’t true.

Then she had to call Jack. She felt terrible about inadvertently creating this stupid firestorm. He’d probably lose a whole bunch of money by backing out of his purchase of the Smith house. And who knew what else he’d done to start the ball rolling?

She didn’t know how he would take the news. Would he be angry? Or relieved? The two prime emotions Pete and Drew would have displayed—most vocally. But Jack was an enigma.

Tomorrow. She’d call him in the morning and that would be that.

A
N EMPTY
J
ACK
D
ANIEL’S
bottle in the trash wasn’t a good omen, Kat thought as she passed through the kitchen of the log home she’d always loved. The place seemed pretty tidy, though. Not the way it had when her father was on a bender and she was expected to keep it clean.

She called out his name but didn’t get an answer, so she headed toward his bedroom at the back of the house. It wasn’t unusual for him to take a late-afternoon “nap” on days that began with a cocktail for breakfast.

After a quick stop at home to change into her jeans and boots and grab a few things for the boys, she’d driven into Rapid to pick them up. Shane had thoughtfully cut every one of the extras a check after they’d wrapped up filming. Hers included a nice little bonus for providing henna tattoos to the wives and girlfriends of the staff who’d traveled from California for the week.

Jenna had suggested the idea when Kat had complained about being bored the first day of filming. The tattooing had been a nice diversion on Monday and Tuesday. After that, Kat had used the downtime to study. Two fewer worries that might have added to her stress—her paper was done
and
her car had a full tank.

She paused to glance out the window. Even through the thick log walls she could hear the tinny rattle of the old quad her father let the boys drive. “Find the herd and take an accurate head count,” she’d told them. “But don’t hop the fence. This is rutting season and the young bulls are very unpredictable. Got it?”

Tag had heaved his old-man sigh while Jordie had jumped up and down with excitement. She wasn’t sure her younger son understood what rutting meant, but no doubt his world-weary older brother would explain if the opportunity to point out the act arose.

She shuddered with resignation and walked the rest of the way down the hall. “Dad?” She knocked lightly on his bedroom door.

She didn’t enter until he answered, “Huh? Kat? Is that you?”

She opened the door, her heart climbing into her throat. To her surprise, he wasn’t stretched out in bed, rumpled and bleary-eyed. He was seated at his desk. His computer was on and a stack of bills rested beside the keyboard. “Am I interrupting?”

He pushed himself back and stood. “A welcome break. Is that the quad I hear? You musta brought my grandsons along.”

She came a little closer, still not trusting the clear look in his eyes. Maybe he only had a little nip before the bottle ran out, she thought. “They’re going to find the bison. Is that okay? They haven’t been here for a while and I—”

“Of course, it’s fine. I figured Jordie was probably going through bison withdrawals about now. He does love the big woollies.”

Her heart twisted oddly. She hadn’t realized her father was so observant. “I know. He’s a softie. Like me.”

Buck’s bushy left eyebrow rose. “I wouldn’t say that. You can be as prickly as any one of those rosebushes in the garden. And you’re as tough as nails when it comes to keeping your boys in line.”

She blinked. Was that a compliment? It almost sounded like one. “What’s going on, Dad? Are you loaded? You don’t look drunk, but free compliments? That’s not like you.”

She waited for an explosion, but instead of blowing up at her remarks, he laughed. “You got that right. I ain’t saying otherwise. But fact is, that bottle you probably spotted in the trash is the last of my hidden stash. I’d forgotten I planted it in the tack room. Emptied the whole thing down the sink.”

He seemed sincere, but she wasn’t buying it. “I’ve been after you for years to stop drinking. Why now?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s not like I found God or learned I have cancer or anything. I just woke up one morning with a bad hangover and told myself this is a stupid way to waste what’s left of my life. I called a friend of mine who goes to AA and he picked me up for a meeting.”

“You’re going to AA?”

He made a wobbly motion with his hand. “Joining things isn’t my way, but I know they’re there if I need a little help. And Ray, my buddy, says I can always call him.”

She didn’t know what to say, but the fact that he was lucid and in a fairly good mood might actually work in her favor. “Want a cup of coffee?” he asked.

She started to say no. She avoided caffeine when she was pregnant. But then she remembered the test she’d taken at Libby’s. “Okay.”

She followed him to the kitchen and hopped up on a stool at the counter. “Dad, I wanted to talk to you about you and Mom. Your marriage.”

He groaned. “What for? That’s old news.”

“But I’ve made the same mistake. Twice. And now Jack’s asked me to marry him. I don’t want to blow it again.”

“Are you knocked up?”

She stuck her tongue out at his back. “No, I’m not.” She couldn’t believe how much satisfaction it gave her to say that—even though she still felt most of the symptoms that had convinced her she was pregnant. And she still hadn’t gotten her period, either.

“Then why the hell do you want to get married?”

She let him finish filling the carafe before answering. “I didn’t say I did. But he’s buying a house in Sentinel Pass and moving his practice up here from Denver. He doesn’t seem to want to take no for an answer. Why? I really have no idea.”

Buck chuckled softly. “No. I don’t suppose you do.”

“What’s that mean?” she bristled. “That I’m so unlovable only a man who got me pregnant first would want to marry me?”

His eyes narrowed in a way that used to scare her to death. She crossed her arms and didn’t look away. He took a step closer. Her heart sped up. The little kid in her was ready to pee her pants, but she clenched her jaw and waited.

“If your mother and I made you feel unlovable, Katherine, I’m sorry.”

Katherine.
The name sounded funny coming from his lips. Formal, yet tender. Respectful, even. Her jaw dropped. “Really?”

He nodded. “That’s what you want to know, isn’t it? Why we fought so much? Why you got caught in the crossfire? I’m not stupid. I know you felt like you were to blame most of the time, but it wasn’t you, honey girl. I’m an ornery old cuss who doesn’t like to admit when he’s wrong. I was wrong a lot when I was married to your mother. I loved her more than any woman ever, but we couldn’t be alone in a room without either making love or trying to kill each other. It might be some weird chemistry. I don’t know.”

Kat truly hadn’t expected his honesty. Or frankness. “You guys fought about me all the time, but then when I came here to stay with you, you ignored me.”

His face screwed up in a sheepish look she couldn’t ever remember seeing. “I didn’t know squat about raising a little girl, but I was afraid if I let your mother have you all the time, she’d convince you I didn’t want you.”

“You did? Want me?”

“Hell, yes. Why do you think I helped you buy those damn bison? You know we’ve never made a dime on them, and I could have fattened a couple thousand head of cattle on the grass they eat. But I kept ’em. Because they were yours and you love them and I…well, you know.”

Even now he couldn’t say the words, but she understood. He loved her. He’d always loved her. He just didn’t know how to show it. Except where her herd was concerned.

The revelation left her a little dizzy. Maybe coffee wasn’t such a good idea. She might spin right off into the sky like a dust devil.

And what any of this meant to her relationship with Jack, she didn’t have a clue.

She thought about asking her father for advice—maybe this new touchy-feely Buck could offer her some insights into how to handle a crazy man who was poised to turn his life upside down for nothing. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, the high-pitched pinging sound of a quad engine revved at full bore came in through the window.

Buck turned and looked outside. “Uh-oh.”

She was out the door and down the steps before the four-wheeler entered the yard. Tag was driving, his thin body hunched forward as if willing the quad to go faster. Jordie’s arms were clenched around his brother’s middle, but she couldn’t see any more than the crown of his helmet.

Something was wrong. Her maternal instinct told her that. She just didn’t know what. Had the bike hit a bump and Jordie got tossed off? Their helmets were hand-me-downs and probably not as good as they should be. She’d never forgive herself if—

“Mom, it wasn’t my fault,” Tag said, turning off the ignition as the quad rolled to a stop. He hopped to the ground, gesturing excitedly. “I told him to stay on this side of the fence, but he saw a baby by itself. No mother bison around. Jordie thought it might be hurt or caught in wire or something. He wasn’t even halfway between me and the bison when this young bull came out of nowhere and charged him. Jordie’s fast, Mom. He would have made it fine if he hadn’t tripped.”

By now Kat was at the vehicle. Her fingers lightly skimmed over her son’s back and chest, but he continued to keep his hands locked across the lower half of his face.

“Did the bull stomp him?” Buck asked. “You point out which one it was and I’ll shoot the mo—it…dead on the spot.”

Jordie’s eyes went wide and he let out a muffled cry.

“The bull never touched him, Grandpa. You know they don’t see that good, and once Jordie was on the ground the bull veered off in the other direction.”

“What happened to your mouth, honey? Can I see?”

He shook his head.

“I think he broke some teeth, Mom.”

Kat looked at her youngest son’s eyes. Tear tracks had left grayish streaks in the dust on his pudgy cheeks. His muffled sniffling and constant blinking told her he was ready to burst into tears again.

“It’s okay, sweetie. Accidents happen. Don’t cry.” She scooped him off the seat and into her arms. He looped his arms around her neck and buried his face in her neck as she carried him to the porch. His tears came in earnest and within seconds he was wailing.

“Don’t worry, Jordie boy. Let Mommy see.” She sat on the top step and settled him on her knee. She gently pried his hands away, trying not to let the sight of blood and dirt around his mouth influence her already queasy stomach. “There’s so much dirt I can’t really see. Dad, could you get us a glass of water?”

Buck was already charging into the house as she continued to comfort her son. “Don’t make yourself sick crying, Jordie. It’ll be okay. I promise.”

How?
a little voice asked. Every penny she’d earned this summer was spoken for once she started student-teaching.

She carefully loosened the chin strap of the helmet and eased it over his ears. His hair was damp with sweat and stuck up in spiky clumps.

“I brought some ice, in case there’s swelling,” her father said, joining her on the step. He laid a towel across her knee and set a plastic bag of ice beside her foot. Pulling Jordie a little closer, he bent down to take a look. “Open up, kiddo,” he coaxed in the gentlest voice Kat had ever heard.

Eyes squeezed tight, Jordie clenched his fists and slowly opened his mouth. His tongue looked gritty. “Yuck!” Tag cried. “You really did eat dirt.”

Jordie’s tears started again. Kat gave her older son a severe look. She was just reaching for the glass of water Buck had set beside the ice when her dad jumped to his feet. “Here. Wait. This will work better,” he said.

He grabbed a nearby hose and turned the water on low. Jordie tried to bolt, but Kat said firmly, “We have to see, honey. You can do this. Lean over the step and rinse and spit. Good idea, Dad.”

It took three tries to get his mouth clear enough for a good look at the damage. His front two teeth had been bent all the way back, exposing their little roots. The tooth just left of the middle stuck sideways like a piece of jagged glass. It was broken and seemed to have punctured the inside of his cheek. A couple of other teeth looked loose, but Jordie wouldn’t let her touch them.

“What a mess,” her father declared, which made Jordie start to cry again.

“Dad,” Kat complained. “It’s not that bad, honey. We’ll call a dentist and see if we can get you in right away.”

“On a Friday night? In August?” the Buck of old said in disgust.

Her father was right, but she couldn’t just sit there and wait until Monday. “There must be someone we can call in an emergency.”

“How ’bout Jack?” Tag asked.

Kat looked at Jordie, who nodded. “J’k,” he said, the word whistling through the gap in his teeth.

“Too bad Jack’s in Denver,’ she muttered.

Denver. A drive she could make in seven or eight hours if she left now.

Her father straightened and reached into his pocket. He held out a key ring. “Take mine. It’s got a full tank of gas and there’s room for the boys to stretch out in the back. Plus, I won’t have to worry about you breaking down. It’s got a built-in phone and you can let me know when you get there.”

Her car was a compact. It got better mileage. But it was also old. And needed the radiator flushed. Buck’s SUV was brand-new. Kat had never even been in it. Her hand was shaking as she reached for the keys. “Are you sure?”

When she looked at her father, she was almost certain she saw a hint of tears in his eyes. But he turned away before she could be sure. “Load up the boys. I’ll pack you a lunch so you don’t have to stop.”

She closed her fingers around the fancy key ring. She could do this. For Jordie.

“S
TOP PACING
.”

“I can’t. If you don’t like it, go home.”

“No. I want to meet her. And you might need me.”

Jack looked at his sister. “You’re not a dental assistant.”

“I know. But when I was, like, fifteen or sixteen, Dad used to pay me to come in on Saturdays to do some filing and help out. He wasn’t very busy by then, but I learned a little bit. At the very least, I could be a witness.”

He swirled to face her. “Don’t tell me Mom got to you during dinner. Kat is not an opportunist. She hasn’t been coaching her son to screw me over. She isn’t like that, Rachel.”

“If you say so, but why risk it? I’ll be your assistant and everybody’s happy.”

He was sorry he’d checked his answering machine from her house. He’d walked her home after their mother left so they could talk about her life, which she felt was going nowhere since her divorce. She’d been standing close enough to overhear Kat’s frantic voice message. And she’d listened just as attentively when Jack called back.