The Maverick Cowboy(50)

Chase rolled his eyes at Blue. "I'm going back to the city tomorrow. You can catch a ride with me if you like?"

"Private jet?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Then I'll definitely come."

Voices echoed in the hallway and Blue tensed as Roy and Billy came into the kitchen.

"Maria's gone upstairs to wash. She'll be down in a minute," Billy said, his gaze moving around the kitchen and finally settling on Blue. "Is everything all right?"

Blue nodded as he headed for the stairs. "Talk to Chase. I'll be back in a minute."

As he reached the top of the stairs, he heard Maria singing to herself as she skipped along the landing, her braids bouncing.

"Hey." Blue smiled at her. At his daughter, and something inside him curled tight and solidified right next to his heart. "You got a moment?"

Her smile faltered and she backed up and went into her bedroom. By the time Blue reached her she was sitting on her bed, her arms folded across her chest.

He shut the door and crouched on the floor in front of her.

"The DNA results came in. You're my daughter."

"Okay."

He met her worried gaze. "I just want you to know that I'm proud to be your father, and that if it's okay with you I'm going to do my best to always be there and never ever let you down again."

She studied him for a long while.

"You can't promise things like that. What happens if you change your mind?"

"I won't."

"You might."

"I will do everything in my power not to." He hesitated. "Maria, I can't predict what will happen in the future, but I do know that you will always have a home and a family here. We love you, honey."

Her lip trembled, and with an inarticulate sound she flung herself into his arms. He held her tight and dropped a kiss onto her black hair. He wished he could hold her like this forever and keep the world from ever hurting her again.

"I know it's been horrible for you lately," he murmured. "But we'll sort everything out, I promise."

"Even with my other dad?"

"Especially with him." She raised her head and he loosened his grip on her shoulders. "Do you want to come down and see Ruth and Billy? I'm sure they'd love to welcome you into the family."

Her expression lightened. "Is Billy my granddad?"

"Yeah, and Ruth is your great-grandmother, and Chase is your uncle, as are Ry and HW, and January is going to be your aunt."

She tugged on his arm, hauling him to his feet, and started for the door. "What about Roy?"



       
         
       
        

"Roy's like an extra-grumpy great-uncle."

"How about Jenna?"

Blue winked at her. "You never know what might happen there, kiddo."

They started down the stairs hand in hand and went into the kitchen, where everyone still congregated. Maria went straight to Billy, who gathered her into a hug.

"So I understand I have a new granddaughter. Any idea who that is?"

Maria buried her face in his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. "Me?"

Billy met Blue's gaze over Maria's head and smiled. "You sure?"

"Blue said so."

"And he's quite correct. We have the science to prove it." He drew Maria onto his lap. "Now all we have to decide is what you're going to call me instead of Billy. How about Gramps?"

Blue turned away and went outside, gulping in the clean mountain air. He'd thought about Maria being his daughter, but the actual reality of it-the science, as Billy had put it-was overwhelming. He'd missed out on so much, and he wanted to give her everything-fight for her, die for her, kill anyone who so much as made her cry . . .

His hands clenched into fists and he stared out over the ranch. He'd never felt like this about anything before in his life, so out of control and so vulnerable. He didn't like it one bit.

"Are you all right, Blue?"

He looked down onto the driveway where Jenna was standing, looking up at him. He'd been so distracted he hadn't even heard her truck pull up. She took a step forward.

"Is Jake okay? Is Maria-?"

He walked down the steps to her. "She's my daughter."

She searched his face. "And you're okay with that?"

"It just hit me hard."

"In a good way or a bad way?"

"In a 'what the hell am I supposed to do now? I know nothing about being a parent' way."

She patted his arm. "You'll work it out."

"You think so?" He groaned. "I just want to wrap her up in cotton wool and keep her safe."

"That's good."

"I bet she won't think so."

She smiled. "Maybe you're overreacting just a tad, but that's to be expected. Finding out you have a ten-year-old daughter can't be easy."

He groaned. "Don't keep saying that."

She cupped his chin. "Blue, you will be a great dad. I know it in my bones. Trust me on this, I've had plenty of experience."

"Okay." He took a deep breath. One of the things he loved most about Jenna was her ability to keep her head and to share that calm optimism with him. "I think I'm ready to go back in now." 

She kissed his mouth. "Good man."

* * *

Reflecting back on his moment of sheer panic the next day as he parked his rental near the correctional facility, Blue couldn't help but be glad Jenna had turned up when she did. He hoped he would've gotten his shit together and gone back inside, but he wasn't 100 percent certain. She just made things right for him. She added the parts he missed and made him whole.

"Sir? You need to go through our security systems."

He looked up to see the walls of the prison rising above him and hastily found his ID. "Good morning, I have an appointment."

Almost an hour later he was inside the prison and sitting in a stark interview room at a table bisected by a bulletproof screen that stretched the entire length of the room and up to the ceiling. After a long wait, a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit was escorted into the other side of the room and maneuvered into the chair opposite.

Red Williams still looked like the sweetest man alive with dimples, bright brown eyes, and a friendly smile. But that probably explained his unfortunate success rate with women and the scattering of irate exes and babies he'd left behind him.

Blue picked up the phone, and the other man did as well.

"Is that you, BB Morgan? You sure grew a bit."

"Hi, Red. Yeah, I suppose I did." He wanted to ask how Red was doing, but it seemed a stupid thing to say when the guy was stuck in prison for the next five years.

"Your brother said you wanted to talk to me about your mother and baby sister."

"That's right." Blue collected his thoughts. "We're trying to find out what happened to her the night my father was arrested. Do you remember anything from back then?"

"Son, the older you get, the more clear the past becomes. I do remember that night. That's why I agreed to speak with you." Red settled into his chair, his expression focused inward, softening the harsher lines of his face.

"I remember coming out of the bunkhouse and seeing your mama getting into Big Mike's truck. I only noticed because she climbed in the driver's seat, and Big Mike, who'd been fired by Roy earlier that day and had just come to get his belongings, was slumped in the passenger seat. I suspect he was drunk as usual, which was why he got fired in the first place."

Blue nodded. "That's Big Mike's take on that night as well. He claims he didn't know who drove him away and that he woke up in a motel all alone."

"It's possible. He was a horrible drunk."

"The thing is, we don't know what happened to my mother after that."

Red scratched his ear. "Well, maybe I can help you with that. A couple of years after I left your place I happened to stop at a diner near Eureka, and guess who was working there?" He smiled. "Yeah, your mom. She wasn't real happy to see me, and she tried to pretend she didn't know who I was, but I soon calmed her down."

He winked at Blue. "I was always good with the ladies-which is why I ended up with three wives, seven kids, and in jail. She'd changed her name to Betty or something like that according to her name tag, and she begged me not to tell anyone I'd seen her. Now, I was able to do that because I had no intention of going back to Morgantown, seeing as one of those embarrassing situations concerning paternity rights and stealing had come up right there."

"Did she ask about us?"

"No, she was more concerned about me not ratting her out. Poor woman."

"Did she look . . . healthy?"

"A bit on the scrawny side, but she always was affected by her nerves."



       
         
       
        

"Did she mention my baby sister?"

Red blinked at him. "No, come to think of it, she didn't."

Blue sat and stared at the man opposite him for way too long before recollecting that his time would soon be up. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"I think that's it."

"You've been really helpful."

Red shrugged his bony shoulders. "Got nothing else to do in here except think about the past and wish I'd done things differently. Glad to help. She was a nice lady."