Righteous Lies (Book 1: Dancing Moon Ranch Series)

by Patricia Watters

  "The sample of sperm Marc donated is gone," Grace said, having no intention of telling her parents it had gone to the sister-in-law of her baby's father. She hadn't even told Marc's parents, only that there was a mix-up and she wouldn't be having Marc's baby. They seemed neither disappointed nor relieved, but accepted it without question.

  "That's good," her mother said.

  "No, it's sad," Grace replied. "I really wanted Marc's child. But I'm having this one and I'm happy about it. I've always wanted lots of children."

  "But not without a father," Ethel said. "This whole idea of being a single parent is not good thinking. There will be ramifications later, when you have a teenage son and no father."

  "I'll deal with it when the time comes." Grace wondered how long they'd be staying. From the moment they arrived she'd been struggling to think of a plausible excuse for them to leave, but kept drawing a blank.

  "I'm not quite clear why you're staying at this ranch," Ethel said. "You said you'd gone into early labor and needed bed rest, but you look fine now, and it's been several weeks."

  "Well... umm... by the time I moved my stuff here, it was easier to stay. The ranch is closed until spring, and Flo said she liked having company here."

  "Flo?"

  "She's the housekeeper."

  "Oh, that's right. You work for Merry Maids," Ethel said. And Grace left it at that. "Where is the father of your baby now?" she asked, opening a whole new can of worms.

  "Well... he's..." Grace stared at her mother, who was staring back at her, waiting.

  ...He's what? The man I'm living with? Half owner of this ranch? A cowboy who makes me want to do hedonistic things I've never dreamed of doing...

  The front door swept open and to her mortification, Grace saw Jack standing at the entry. Catching her eye, he said, "I'm riding up to check on things at the cabin in the mountains. You'll be okay for a while?"

  Grace sat frozen in place as Jack walked over to where they were sitting, spurs jingling with each step. He paused when he saw her parents, then looked at her for an explanation. Her father stood, and said, "We're Grace's parents. We just stopped by to see her for a short visit."

  Jack offered his hand, "Then it's time we met. I'm the father of Grace's child."

  Grace could not even begin to imagine what her mother must be thinking, looking at a man who towered above her father, and who was dressed in his usual denims and chaps and scuffed boots with spurs, and who had day-old whiskers because he hadn't shaved that morning because he started moving furniture and painting the room and didn't want to take the time, and whose hands were large, and weathered, and work-hardened... not the kind of man they would ever expect Grace to be drawn to. And she could see, from the glances passing between her parents, that they hoped she never would be.

  "Then you must work here," her father said, finally clasping Jack's hand.

  "Yes," Jack replied, and offered nothing more.

  Grace wasn't sure whether that was good or bad, not telling them he was half owner of the ranch, then decided it was good. If her father knew that much, the first thing he'd want would be to make sure Jack paid child support.

  Her mother had still not found her voice. But when she did, the first words out of her mouth were, "It was a very unfortunate mistake, this fertility clinic mix-up."

  "Actually, Mom, we're happy about it," Grace said. "Jack wanted a son, and like I said, I've always wanted children."

  Ethel looked at Jack, her eyes moving down the length of him, pausing on his scuffed boots and spurs, then coming back up to fix on his face, and she said, "Then you'll be involved with Grace's baby?" There was a definite edge to her tone, Grace noted.

  "Grace and I will be sharing joint custody," Jack informed them. Then he looked at Grace and added, "So, you'll be okay for a few hours?"

  Grace nodded. "I'm fine. Flo's here," she said, wanting Jack to leave before her parents learned she was living in his house.

  He held her gaze for a few moments, and she was certain he understood, because he nodded to her parents, and said, "Nice to meet you," then turned and left.

  After the front door closed behind him, Grace's mother said, "You gave us the impression you'd be raising the child alone with a settlement from the fertility clinic."

  "There will be a settlement," Grace assured them. "But the father would like to be involved with his son. We have things worked out."

  "When will you be moving back to your house?" her mother asked, which carried its own underlying message...

  ...how soon until you get away from that disreputable-looking cowboy?

  "Probably right after the baby's born," Grace replied.

  "Do you think that's a good idea?" her mother asked.

  "We talked about it, Mom, and decided it would be better for me to be here when I go into labor because there would always be someone at the ranch to drive me to the hospital. It's also very comfortable here, and I get all my meals. If I were at my house, I'd have to do it myself, and the doctor wants me to stay as quiet as possible. This just seems the most practical thing to do."

  "Yes, I suppose it is," Ethel agreed.

  Before this, Grace's father had said little, which was the norm as long as Grace's mother was present, which was also the reason they'd stayed together for thirty-five years. He looked at Grace, and said, "You're a long way from the hospital here."

  "There's one in McMinnville," Grace said. "We can be there in twenty minutes." She neglected to tell them she'd be having the baby at a birthing center, for obvious reasons. They'd both go ballistic.

  "Then I guess you know what you're doing," he said.

  "Everything will be fine," Grace assured them. "Now, don't worry about a thing. In two weeks you'll be the grandparents of a big, handsome boy." She got a knowing glance from her mother and immediately regretted throwing in the word handsome, almost hearing the internal monolog in her mother's head...

  She thinks the disreputable looking man is handsome... a common cowboy no less...

  To Grace's relief, her father became anxious to leave because a few flakes of snow were falling, and after a round of dutiful hugs, they were gone.

  Several hours later, Jack returned from the mountains about the same time Maureen's brother, Greg, arrived at the ranch to discuss the legal action against the clinic. Sam joined them, and Maureen excused herself to monitor Susan, who continued to be disturbingly distraught. But after Maureen left, Greg started in, laying out grounds for the lawsuit against the fertility clinic.

  "There are multiple issues," he said. "Jack, you've fathered a child by a woman you didn't intend to impregnate, and now you have an obligation to care for the child for eighteen years—"

  "He's my son," Jack cut in. "I have no problem with taking care of him, and Grace."

  "I'm not talking about your moral obligation," Greg said. "I'm talking about—"

  "Just to set the record straight," Jack cut in again, "neither Grace nor my unborn son are obligations." He looked at Grace and winked.

  "We're talking about legal rights," Greg said. "Because of negligence on the part of the clinic, you'll be supporting a child you would not have had to support if Susan had been impregnated with your sperm, as you and Sam and Susan contracted with the clinic to do, because under Oregon Artificial Insemination Law, Sam would have been the legal father. Now, Sam's the legal father of the child of Grace's dead husband, depriving Grace of the child she wanted. Then we have Grace who's having the child of a stranger—"

  "Not anymore," Grace cut in. "I'm happy to be having Jack's child."

  "Again, we're talking legal rights," Greg said. "The clinic owes you substantial compensation for burdening you with the child of a stranger."

  "This child is not a burden," Grace said, placing her hands on her stomach. "He's mine and Jack's and I love him, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for him."

  "I understand that," Greg said, a little exasperated, "but you didn't contract with the clinic for them to impregn
ate you with Jack's sperm. It's also my understanding that there's no more sperm from your dead husband stored in the bank."

  "Well, no," Grace said.

  "Then you need to be compensated for the fact that you won't have another chance to have a child by him."

  Grace nodded. But if she had been impregnated with Marc's sperm, she wouldn't have met Jack, and she wouldn't be having his child or him to help raise it, and for some reason it seemed she'd gained more than she'd lost. Yet, she also wanted Marc's child...

  Greg looked at Sam. "Then there's Ricky. How do you set a price on a child's life? Because of the mix-up, there's little chance of a donor sibling from a child conceived by Susan with Grace's husband's sperm, so Ricky's only chance is for you, Grace, to fly to New Jersey on the chance of a match."

  "She's not flying anywhere," Jack said. "Grace is afraid of flying, and I don’t want her to jeopardize our child."

  "It's not your choice," Grace said to Jack. "Not legally... Yet."

  Jack looked at her long and hard. "Don't even think about doing it," he said.

  "We'll talk about it later," Grace replied.

  Greg paced in front of the fireplace. "That's between the two of you, but that's yet another issue. We also have Susan, who's threatening to terminate her pregnancy."

  Grace looked at Sam with a start. "Did Susan actually threaten to have a late-term abortion?"

  "She's pretty upset about things, but she won't have an abortion," Sam replied. "I disabled her car so she can't get to a clinic unless I drive her there."

  Grace stared at Sam. "Then you obviously think she's capable of doing it," she said, alarmed.

  "I don't think she would," Sam said, "but I want to be on the safe side. After the baby's here she'll be fine. Mom plans to help out for the first few months." Sam looked at Jack, who was glaring at Sam, and Grace knew exactly what Jack was thinking...

  ...she doesn't need an abortion to get rid of the baby. All she needs is a pillow...

  Grace turned to Sam, and said, "I'll take the baby. I want him. He's my husband's child." Tears filled her eyes. "Please, Sam. Just let me have him. Turn over your rights to me. Talk Susan into giving him up at birth."

  Jack put his arm around Grace, who was blinking back tears, and said, "Honey, don't get all worked up. You could go into labor again."

  "I want my husband's baby," Grace said. "I'll do anything to have him. You can do something, Jack. Please. You can adopt him too. We can raise him along with Adam."

  "Another issue," Greg said to Grace. "You have no legal claim to the child Susan's carrying, and she has a legal right in Oregon to terminate the pregnancy at any time. But if she can be talked into bringing the pregnancy to term and giving up the child, we could proceed with the adoption. It might make her more open to continuing the pregnancy."

  Jack stood and addressed Greg. "I don't want to sound ungrateful, and I think the clinic needs to be held accountable so nothing like this happens again, but I'm not out anything here. I have a son on the way and Grace to help me raise him. I just want to set things straight. But no amount of money can compensate Sam and Susan for Ricky, so whatever you get out of the clinic in my behalf can go to them. And Grace."

  Grace glared at Jack, who was skirting the adoption issue by changing the subject, which was tantamount to refusing to go along with her suggestion, and said to Sam, "If you and Susan are willing to let me adopt my husband's child, that's all I want." She looked at Jack, hoping for confirmation, but saw uncertainty.

  ...just too many things coming at him at once...

  Sam looked at Grace, and said, "I'm not ready to give up my right to the baby Susan's carrying, but I'll do whatever it takes to see that nothing happens to him."

  Grace slumped in the chair and said nothing. She felt exhausted trying to fight for a baby no one truly wanted but her. She was about to appeal to Sam again, when Sam stood, and said to Greg, "I have to get back to Susan. And thanks for what you're doing." He patted Jack on the shoulder as he passed, and Greg left shortly afterwards.

  After everyone had gone, Grace mulled over what had been said and decided to put the issue of adopting the baby aside for now. She wanted time with Jack. Maybe she was getting broody again. Maybe she was falling in love and wanted to be intimate with Jack. Whatever the reason, she opened a dialog by saying to him, "Can we talk for a little while?"

  Jack looked at her, suspiciously. "Talk about what?"

  "For heaven's sake, Jack. You've been living alone too long. I'm used to having people to talk to. Friends. Neighbors. You want me here where you can watch me, and I'm okay with it, but I want you to communicate with me. We haven't talked about how we want to raise Adam, or how we plan to discipline him. Or religion or politics. Or what makes us happy... certain needs."

  When she said nothing more, Jack asked, "Certain needs like what?"

  "Like those... we can do for each other... at certain times." Not exactly subtle.

  "You're right. We should talk. But I need a shower first. I've been riding all day and I smell like a caveman."

  Grace smiled. "Do you want me to soap your back?" Even less subtle.

  "That's part of what we need to talk about," Jack said, then turned and headed for the bathroom.

  ...I don't want you getting your feelings all tangled up with mine...

  Her feelings were already tangled up with his, and she didn't know what to do about it. He was a very insular man. At least he had been, until now...

  Perturbed and frustrated, she sat in one of the high-backed, overstuffed chairs facing the fireplace and stared at the flames licking up from the stack of logs, and tried to figure out what she needed to do to get through the wall of silence surrounding Jack and his hardened heart...

  ...a hearth-and-home kind of guy... he's just forgotten what it's like...

  So she'd give him a reminder, like red wool socks to keep his feet warm, and a clean house with a fire on the hearth when he came in from the cold, and the smell of coffee brewing and bread baking, and convince him that his son's mother was the hub of the home...

  But that wouldn't take care of tonight, and she wanted Jack to come to her tonight...

  Fifteen minutes later, when Jack emerged from the hallway wearing nothing but gray sweat pants, Grace could hardly breathe. It was the first time she'd seen him without his shirt, and looking at him in the flesh sent her heart skipping. Her eyes roamed over his muscular torso, then fixed on his shoulder and the tattoo of a moon with dancing flames encircling it. Although she'd never liked tattoos, for some reason, on Jack it looked right.

  Catching the direction of her gaze, Jack shrugged, and said, "My Army buddy and I had a little too much to drink and I got kind of homesick for the ranch, so I had the thing done."

  Grace's gaze meandered over a brawny chest and well-developed abs. "Is that the only tattoo you have?" she asked, as her eyes traveled down a thin line of dark hair to the waistband of his sweats, coming to rest on a very masculine bulge...

  "If you're wondering if I have a tattoo there, the answer's no," Jack said, and Grace realized she'd been staring. She raised her eyes to meet his and found him smiling.

  To her surprise, Jack dragged an overstuffed footstool to where she was sitting then sat facing her, and said, "While I was in the shower I started thinking about last night..." He paused, and his eyes fixed on her left hand. Lifting it from where it was resting on her belly, he said, "You took off your rings."

  Grace looked at their hands. The contrast was startling. Hers small and smooth and white. His large and tanned and work-hardened, with corded blue veins. But the night before, when he ran his hands over her body, they were magical.

  "My fingers were swollen," she said. Which was true, but not enough to keep her from wearing her rings. But she didn't feel right wearing the rings Marc gave her, now that she was about to give birth to Jack's child, while also wanting Jack to come to her bed. But the rings were in a special place in her jewelry box where they'd stay
. Just as Marc's memory was in a special place in her heart, where it would stay. But her life was with Jack and their child.

  Jack continued holding her hand, as he said, "What I was about to say is, it's a little more complicated with you here. You're vulnerable because of our situation—"

  "Stop calling it a situation," Grace snapped. "It's not like I got pregnant because I like to sleep around. That would be a situation. I'm pregnant with a child I thought I was going to have to raise by myself, who now has a father, and you have a son coming who you thought would be raised as your nephew, who will now call you Dad. I call what we have a gift from God."

  Jack seemed to think about that, and after a few moments, he said, in a quietly contemplative voice, "Put that way, I guess I have to agree. But, about those needs..."

  "They're not all that complicated," Grace said, gliding her palms up Jack's chest and over his shoulders. From the moment he emerged from the hallway, her hands had been restless. She wanted to touch Jack everywhere. She wanted to explore every inch of his muscular male body. "I loved having your hands all over me last night," she said. "But next time I'd prefer you not wear boots and spurs or a shirt... or pants."

  "Yeah, it does kind of make things awkward," Jack said. "And maybe I'll take you up on fixing my problem. It would beat taking a cold shower."

  "I'd like that," Grace said, raising her lips to receive his kiss...

  But as their lips came together, a rapping on the front door caught them up short.

  Jack pulled Grace's hands from around his neck, and said, "We'll continue this later," then went to open the front door. Grace couldn't resist turning to see who it was, and when she saw a woman with coal-black hair and cerulean-blue eyes, who was without doubt the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen, she knew at once it was Lauren Hansen.

  And from the look on Jack's face, he was dazzled by her.

  CHAPTER 10

  Grace watched the woman, whose eyes were fixed on Jack, and who was unaware of anyone else in the room. For a few moments neither spoke, then Lauren's eyes filled with tears and she said, "Please forgive me, Jack. I didn't know what I was doing. I loved Jackie. And I love you. I've never stopped loving you. I'll do anything to make things right. Anything to get you back. In prison I read about postpartum depression. It's a hormonal imbalance that messes with the brain and makes women hallucinate. That's what happened to me."