The bunkhouse came into view, sheltered in a grove of thick pines. It looked like she was the first to arrive. Good. She climbed out of her car and made her way slowly up the steps to the porch. The door was open, so she stepped inside.
The place was exactly as she remembered it. The galley kitchen where they used to make sandwiches and heat frozen pizza. The bright yellow curtains and the threadbare rug on the floor. The two bedrooms off the main hall. The bookshelf filled with Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew paperbacks. Steven had claimed to be using it as an office, but the only evidence of that was a stack of papers on the counter by the stove and an open computer on the desk.
At the sound of a motor, her heart fluttered in her chest. Timmy. At last.
The door creaked open.
Her heart dropped. It was Seb.
“So, you did manage to talk your way out of the hospital. I should have known you’d find a way to do that. But I thought you’d be resting back at your grandfather’s. What are you doing here?”
Dread swamped her body. “I was wondering the same thing about you.”
“I’m looking for Steven.”
“Well, as you can see, he’s not here. Maybe you should check the stables.”
“Already have.”
“What about Dot’s Diner? He could be having a late lunch.”
Seb took another step into the room. “Why are you here, again?”
She said the first thing she could think of. “I wanted to see this place before I took off. It sure brings back a lot of memories.”
“Okay.” His raised brow hinted that he didn’t quite believe her. “Did you remember to ask your grandfather if Lois went out last night?”
“I did. He said that she was with him, waiting for me to return.” She glanced down at her watch, then fidgeted anxiously, wincing at the burst of pain from her ankle. “Say, Seb. I know that this is going sound weird, but would you mind giving me a little time here by myself?”
He stared at her for a minute. “You need time to yourself in my family’s bunkhouse?” He didn’t wait for her reply. “Okay. Sure. We can talk later. I assume you plan to stick around for a bit. Maybe I’ll walk to the barn and recheck the stables. Never know. Steven might be back.”
He turned away from her and walked across the room. The door swished shut behind him. A minute later, gravel crunched on the driveway.
Tacy limped out to the porch as a tan truck ground to a stop in front of the bunkhouse.
Steven was at the wheel, and Timmy was next to him in the passenger seat. It had only been three days, but she felt a surge of joy at the sight of her son.
The driver’s door opened, and Steven jumped out.
“Hi, Tace,” he said.
“Hi,” she whispered. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Seb, halfway down on the path.
Thunk! Steven slammed the door.
Seb stopped in his tracks and spun around. He raised his hand up and waved. Then he turned and began walking back to join them.
Tacy fixed her eyes on Timmy, who hadn’t moved from his seat. She waved her hand to get his attention, but he didn’t look up. Did he even realize that the truck had stopped? Maybe not if he was lost playing FreeCell on Steven’s phone.
“Isn’t this nice?” Steven said with a smile. “Looks like the gang’s all here. I’ve got to give it to you, Tace. I didn’t think you’d do it, but I guess you told Seb after all.”
Seb reached the top of the path and stepped between them. “Told me what?”
Tacy’s eyes darted between Steven and Seb.
“Told me what?” Seb asked again as the passenger door opened and Timmy catapulted out of the truck.
“Hi, Mom,” he said.
Her heart lurched. Side by side, Timmy and Seb looked like the before-and-after photos of a time traveler’s journey over twenty years. The shape of their faces, the tilt of their chins. The two of them even had the same broad smile, although no one was smiling at the moment. Not even Timmy.
Especially not Timmy. Her baby was always so perceptive, so quick to pick up on the tension in any room.
“Mom? What’s going on?” Timmy’s bottom lip trembled.
“It’s all good, Timmy,” she said. She pulled her son to her and considered her chances of evasion or escape.
Did Seb realize Timmy was his son? Guessing from the look on his face, she’d say yes. Did Timmy realize that Seb was his dad? Not yet. And, at least for the moment, she’d like to keep it that way.
“Timmy,” she said, stepping back from the embrace. “Did Steven tell you that I asked him to pick you from camp because I hurt my leg?”
“Yeah.” Timmy nodded. “He said that you would meet us at his parents’ ranch. He said that he was an old friend of yours and that you both grew up around here.”
“I told you about it. Remember? When Gramps was so sick and we were talking about what it was like when we lived in North Dakota? Well, this is the place.”
“Okay. But do you think we can start to drive home tonight? I have baseball tryouts next week, and the coach said we shouldn’t miss.”
Right. She had made a note of the time and location on her calendar at home. Bredesen Field. Two o’clock, Thursday.
“We’ll definitely be home by then.”
Steven pulled out his truck keys and tossed them in the air. “Hey, buddy. I know you want to get going, but what do you say I give you the grand tour of the family ranch? I’ll show you the lake where I almost drowned when I was just your age. And we can stop by the house and you can meet our new puppy. And we can grab a big handful of my mom’s famous chocolate chip cookies. They’re good enough to make you forget about baseball. All you’ll care about is going back for more.”
Tacy blew a short breath out of her nose. She had to hand it to Steven. He had managed to lob two grenades with one toss. The first, a subtle reminder of Timmy’s age, just in case Seb hadn’t been paying attention. And the second, an unscheduled stop into Sandy Hunt’s kitchen. That one needed to be nipped in the bud immediately.
“Thanks for the offer, Steven, but if you don’t mind, I think Timmy should skip the cookies. He and I will probably stop and get something to eat on the road, so I’d rather not spoil his appetite for dinner.”
“Aww, Mom.” Timmy frowned. That boy sure did love dogs and chocolate chip cookies.
Steven’s eyes were on her, but his words were directed toward Timmy. “Your mom’s the one in charge here, not me. Let’s go visit the buffalo instead. We can climb up and watch them from the top of the gate.”
“Awesome. Mom, is that okay?”
“Yes. Just be careful,” she said. But Timmy and Steven were already halfway down the path.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to look at Seb.
For a long moment, he was silent. But the expression in his eyes... She didn’t have to ask if he’d put the pieces together. She knew he had.
“What did you tell him about me?” he asked.
“I told him that his dad was in the military. I said that it was hard for him to take care of us, being so busy defending our country. It sounds lame when I say it now, but he understood.”
“He understood? Says who? I guarantee that he had—and still has—a lot of issues with that.”
“Maybe. But my dad and I decided that the truth could wait.”
Seb clenched his fingers into a tight fist. “I should have known that Keith was the mastermind of this deception. That’s why he made you move away, wasn’t it? He wanted to keep my kid all to himself.” He tensed, forcing out the next question between clenched teeth. “Or did he take his anger out on Timmy? Did he blame him for being half Hunt?”
“Of course not. He wasn’t happy when he found out I was pregnant. How could he be? But he loved Timmy. It would have been hard not to. He was such a sweet
baby that...”
“Let’s skip the memories of the early years. I missed all that, in case you don’t remember. Tell me something, Tacy. Did you and your dad ever even think of all the people who were affected by your decision? Me. My mom and dad. Steven. Though I guess I shouldn’t worry about him too much since he knew about Timmy before I did.”
“Seb. I had to tell Steven. Last night, I thought my ankle might be broken. I knew I couldn’t drive. I needed someone to pick him up at camp.”
“Right. And it wouldn’t make sense to ask his father.”
His father. After so many years of denying the truth, those words struck a chord in her heart. “I thought about it. But I couldn’t. Seb, I’m sorry. You have to understand.”
“Why don’t you be the one who tries to understand? In case you forgot, someone has been trying to kill you since you arrived in town. I’ve been tearing my hair out trying to get you to recognize the danger—but at every step, you’ve been blowing me off. Making excuses. Staring at your phone. I thought you were ignoring me, but you weren’t. You were focusing on Timmy instead. On how to keep your secret instead of keeping yourself and our son safe. There were two of you I should have been worrying about all this time, and I never even knew. Because instead of telling me about Timmy so I’d be prepared just in case, you held on to your secret and hoped for the best. You’ve got to admit that was a pretty dumb strategy.”
“I’ll admit nothing of the kind. You show up in my life again after ten years and I’m supposed to just pour out all my troubles on your shoulders? Why on earth would I trust you with any of that? You left me, remember?”
The memory of the brokenness she had felt when she found out that Seb had gone back to Texas after her accident was as real to her now as it was back then. At first, she couldn’t believe it. Seb had always been the one person she could rely on, the boy who would never let her down. But as the days passed, reality dawned. He wasn’t coming back. He had left her, just like her mom did when she was eight. It felt as if someone had yanked her heart out of her chest.
He shook his head. “We both know who left—who moved away without looking back. I wrote you dozens of letters. And called at least a hundred times. How was I supposed to stay with someone who was already gone?”
What? That was news to her. She hadn’t seen any letters or heard about any calls. In fact, there had been nothing but a wall of silence until Seb filed for divorce. And even that was a fuzzy memory—her dad handing her the paperwork and telling her to sign on the dotted line.
Were Seb’s claims true? Her father was overprotective, but surely he wouldn’t have gone that far. Or would he? She looked into Seb’s eyes, which were heavy with disappointment, and was struck by the certainty that, regardless of what had happened between them, it had been wrong to keep Seb from his son. But that didn’t mean that this was the right moment to tell Timmy the truth. She needed time. She needed space. She needed to protect her son—not just from danger but from confusion and disappointment.
“I need to take Timmy home, Seb. You’re the one who keeps telling me that it isn’t safe for us to stay.”
She walked back into the bunkhouse and sat down on a bed. Tears prickled the corners of her eyes, but she pushed them away with the back of her hand. For Timmy’s sake, she needed to stay strong.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. There was no one to call, no one she wanted to talk to, but it was better to look busy than to let Seb see her cry.
* * *
Seb watched Tacy scroll through the messages on her cell. Her forehead was scrunched, and her eyes were cast downward, almost as if she thought he’d disappear if she refused to acknowledge his presence.
Sorry, but it wasn’t going to work.
“Nope,” he said.
She didn’t look up, so he said it again.
“Nope. I know there’s danger, but running from it isn’t the answer. If you stay here, I can help you get to the bottom of what’s going on. And at the same time, I can get to know my son. We don’t have to tell him that I’m his dad. At least not right away. It might be awkward, but you can give your grandfather a heads-up about what’s going on. And I’ll do the same with my folks. I’ll even make sure they don’t ask Timmy to call them Grandma and Grandpa. But this will be a first step toward something more significant. You owe me this, Tacy. You owe it to all of us. You can move in here. I’ll bring you some towels and fresh sheets. It’ll feel just like home.”
She shot him a look. “And how do you suggest I sell this to my grandfather? I have a son I didn’t tell you about. And by the way, we’re both staying at the Hunts’ bunkhouse.”
He shrugged. “That sounds about right. I’ll tell my mom to expect all of us for dinner. Fried chicken, okay? You can talk to her about the menu for the next couple of days.”
“Let’s not get carried away here. We have lives waiting for us at home. You heard Timmy. He wants to get back for baseball tryouts. He’s not going to be happy to hear there’s been a change of plans.”
“That’s right—you have lives. Lives that I should have been a part of all along. You’ve kept my son from me for almost ten years. I think I deserve more than five minutes with him before you walk away again. I am going to be a part of my son’s life, Tacy. You might not like it, but that’s the way it has to be. As far as baseball tryouts go, well... Eventually, you’ll have to explain to him that I wasn’t exactly the delinquent dad you painted me out to be. One of us is going to look bad, no matter how you play it. I’ve been the villain for ten years. Now it’s your turn.”
Harsh words. But he was determined to make up for lost time in the days ahead. And he couldn’t ignore the excitement exploding in his chest. He had a son!
“Seb?” Tacy’s tone was laced with frustration. “Are you forgetting that I’m in danger? You’ve convinced me that all of these incidents aren’t accidents. That someone is trying to kill me. Would Timmy even be safe here?”
He rolled his head back on his neck. Tension was building in his head. What Tacy was saying was true. There was a threat against her. But he couldn’t let this moment pass. He had already missed ten years of his son’s life. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye when he hadn’t even had the chance to get to know Timmy. And what if the danger followed Tacy back to Colorado? At least here, he could protect her. He just had to make her understand.
“Tacy, going back to Denver doesn’t guarantee you’ll be safe. If trouble follows you, what then?”
That seemed to pull her up short. Seizing his advantage, he stepped forward. “Please, Tacy. You can’t tell me I have a son and then take him away where I can’t see him. I admit that there is a risk in remaining here in Chimney Bluff, but there could be a risk in Colorado too. If you stay here, I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”
It was a big promise. But he was trained Army MP. He had kept witnesses safe before. He just needed to maintain a constant watch over the two of them. To always be on the look-out. To always be ready.
Tacy didn’t look convinced. Not completely. But she didn’t say no right away, either. He held his breath and waited. After a long beat of silence, her shoulders slumped.
“Okay,” she whispered at last. “We’ll stay, at least for a couple of days.”
“Thank you,” he whispered, flooded with relief so strong that his knees wobbled. He had a chance—to get to know his son, to build some kind of relationship.
And to make sure no one dared to harm this precious piece of his family he’d only just learned he had.
FIVE
A sharp pain shot up from Tacy’s ankle as she lifted her suitcase from the trunk of her car. It hurt even more as she dragged her bag into the bunkhouse, her injured leg cramping and throbbing and slowing her gait. She fixed her lips into a stoic smile as she passed through the main room where Seb was waiting.
Of course, he ha
d tried to lend a hand, following her out to her car and engaging in a mini-scuffle over the luggage. But she had shooed him away, insisting that she was perfectly capable of handling it herself.
Which she was. And she needed some time alone to think.
She never should have hidden her pregnancy from Seb. She had been wrong to allow her feelings of hurt and betrayal to color the choices she had made. But what about Seb’s claim that he had tried to contact her after the accident? Could that be true? And if so, did it change anything? She wasn’t sure. Her judgment had proven time and time again to be faulty. It was enough to have her second guessing every decision she’d made—including the one to stay in Chimney Bluff when someone was after her. Was she making the wrong decision again, putting not just herself but her son in harm’s way?
There was a lot to consider as she made her way back and forth between her car, Steven’s truck and the bunkhouse. Timmy’s belongings were stuffed into a canvas duffel, along with all of his dirty clothes and half-finished craft projects from camp. Thankfully, instead of sulking about baseball tryouts, he had already begun to look upon the change in their plans as a great adventure. Apparently, Steven had taken advantage of their time in the car to regale him with stories of horses, rocky trails and herds of buffalo. So what if he didn’t get the chance to try out for the traveling team? Baseball could wait until next year.
Tacy dragged her suitcase into the larger of the two rooms and heaved it onto a bed. The springs of the old mattress creaked under its weight, and a cloud of dust rose up in the air. She covered her mouth mid-sneeze. This place was going to wreak havoc with Timmy’s allergies. Did she bring along an extra vial of his meds? She opened her cosmetic bag and looked inside. Nope. Another mistake. Then again, she hadn’t expected that they were going to get stuck living in a musty old bunkhouse on the Hunt ranch.
Fatal Ranch Reunion Page 5
