The Rancher Takes a Bride

by Brenda Minton

  Boone led her up the steps. She wore a floral dress with a jean jacket and high heels. Her cologne was sweet and young. He hoped Boone knew how to mind his manners.

  “Duke Martin, this is Sissy Andrews. She’s from Dallas.”

  “Sissy, nice to meet you.” She took his hand in a brief handshake.

  “Nice to meet you. I take it you know where my father is.”

  “Yes, we do.” He showed her the picture. “You’re sure this is your dad?”

  “Of course. Is he sober?”

  “Been sober every day I’ve known him. Why isn’t there a missing person’s report?”

  “Because we wanted to keep it quiet. If customers knew that he had taken off, they would doubt if their orders were going to be filled and projects finished. We’ve hired investigators. They traced him to a hospital in Austin, and then he disappeared again. That’s when we contacted the police for help.”

  “He hasn’t contacted you in over six months?”

  “A few letters. A phone call once in a while. Does he have a home here?”

  “He does now. For a while he slept in the Christmas nativity.”

  She shook her head. “He really is sane. He’s a great businessman. He’s been sober for fifteen years except a relapse after my mom died. I was afraid that maybe he’d slipped.”

  “Not that I know of.” Duke turned as another car pulled in. “There he is now.”

  Joe got out of his old car. He stopped, stared up at the diner, at Duke, and then fixed his gaze on the young woman standing next to Duke. Joe shook his head, and even from that distance Duke saw him sigh. With slow, steady steps, he started down the sidewalk toward the diner.

  “Why did he come here?” Sissy Andrews asked in a voice that wavered.

  “I think you’ll have to ask him.” Duke took a step away from her. He held out a hand to Joe as he climbed the stairs. Joe took the hand, shook it, and then he turned to Sissy.

  “I see you found me.” He looked at Duke. “Or did you do this?”

  “I did it, Joe. I had to know who you are and why you’re here.”

  Joe shook his head. “Being a dad changes a man. It makes him think a little more about who is in his life.”

  “Yes, or in his daughter’s life.” Duke patted Joe on the back. “She’s been worried about you.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry.”

  “Were you drinking?” Sissy asked, her voice trembling just a little.

  Joe walked over to a table and sat down. He pushed out a chair for his daughter, and she took it. “Dad?”

  “Yes, I was drinking. But I haven’t had a drink in a while. I left because I had things I couldn’t ignore. I knew that Morgan would hold down the fort. I knew you’d be there to make sure he did. But I had to put some things to rest and make amends. I got sober, and I came here to finish the rest of my program.”

  “Dad, why here?” She reached for his hand. “You slept in a nativity?”

  He grinned at that. “It was good enough for our savior.”

  “Yes, but you’re a little older than he was at the time, and Texas is a little colder than Bethlehem.”

  “It wasn’t so bad. And I didn’t stay there long. It was just, I don’t know, something I needed to do. If the press heard about it, they’d think I was off my rocker and the business would suffer.”

  “No one is going to know. But now is the time for honesty.”

  Joe sighed. He brushed a hand over his haggard face, covered with gray whiskers. “Yes, time for honesty. But for that honesty, you have to come with me. I have someone I want you to meet.”

  “Mom has only been gone...”

  He cut her off, kissing her cheek as he stood. “This isn’t about replacing your mother. Yes, she’s been gone three years. But she was the love of my life. She looked at an old drunk, and she saw someone worth loving. Losing her, well, it almost did me in. But I still have you.”

  As the older man walked down the steps, his daughter at his side, Duke knew where he would go. He knew the lives he would change. Hopefully the changes would be good.

  As they crossed the street to Oregon’s, Lilly came out of the shop. She waited on the sidewalk for them, a big smile on her face. When Joe reached her, he smoothed her dark hair and gave her a hug.

  “You know, I think you’re about the best thing ever,” the older man said. “Where are you off to?”

  Lilly beamed at the older man. “I’m going to the park to hang out with friends. I can at least swing.”

  “Well, you have a good time and be careful.”

  “I will. Later, Joe.” Lilly’s gaze landed on Sissy, openly curious before she turned to leave them. “See ya.”

  Joe watched her go, and then he took a deep breath and faced Duke.

  “Well, this is it. I don’t know why I waited so long,” Joe said as he opened the door to Oregon’s. “Foolish. That’s all I can say.”

  “Dad, what do you mean?” Sissy followed him inside. “Why are we here?”

  The bell over the door chimed. Oregon came out of the back of the shop. She looked from Joe to Sissy, her gaze cautious. Duke wondered if she would thank him, or never talk to him again for interfering.

  “Good morning, everyone.” Oregon frowned a little as she glanced Duke’s direction. “Is something wrong?”

  “Can we put up the Closed sign for a few minutes?” Duke asked, turning to switch the sign before she answered.

  “Sure, since you already are.”

  “Oregon, we need to talk.” Joe took her by the arm. “Do you still have furniture in the back?”

  “Yes, of course.” She pulled away from him, her attention focusing on the other woman at Joe’s side. “Are you a friend of Joe’s?”

  “I’m his daughter, Sissy Andrews.” Sissy held out a hand to Oregon. He wondered if they saw what he could so easily see. He didn’t think so. They were too busy being wary to notice the similarities.

  “Nice to meet you.” Oregon’s tone brightened, and suspicion slipped away. “We all love Joe so much.”

  They walked into the living area of the shop. Oregon pointed to the sofa. She sat on a stool. Duke came to stand behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder. Looking at him, he saw her expression change.

  “What’s going on?”

  * * *

  Oregon sat on the stool, willing her body not to tremble. She wouldn’t jump to conclusions. It wouldn’t do her any good. She waited, almost calmly, Duke’s hand on her shoulder. She placed her hand over his, holding it there.

  “Joe?” Duke pushed again.

  “This isn’t easy,” he said.

  “Joe, you’re making me nervous.” Oregon looked from Joe to the woman, Sissy. She appeared to be in her midtwenties and obviously wasn’t impoverished.

  Did this mean he wasn’t the homeless man they’d all believed?

  “A long time ago,” Joe began, “a kid from Dallas had a wealthy family with several profitable businesses. And he spent a lot of time drinking. He met a woman and they eloped. His family wasn’t happy, but he thought she’d make everything right for him, like she could fix him.”

  Oregon opened her mouth but Joe stopped her.

  “Let me finish before I lose my courage. They had a daughter. Even that didn’t stop him. He continued to drink and sometimes he wasn’t the nicest guy in the world. Eventually his wife asked for a divorce. He gave it to her, knowing he’d never see his daughter again.”

  Everything blurred. Oregon shook her head. “Joe.” It came out as a sob.

  “I’m so sorry, peaches.” He got up and started toward her. She held up a hand. He stopped.

  “No, sit down.” Her voice shook, and she was suddenly chilled. She moved, dislodging the comfort of Duke’s hand. Too much
comfort and she’d fall apart. Right now she had to hold on to whatever anger she could in order to keep from crying.

  “Why?” She blinked away the tears that threatened to fall.

  “I thought you’d be better off without me. I wasn’t a father. I was a drunk, and I wasn’t always a nice drunk.”

  “You could have gotten help.”

  “I know that. There are a lot of things I know now. I know that I should have gotten help. I know that I should have kept in contact and made an effort to be in your life. But I also knew your mom would keep you safe, and you’d have a good life.”

  She hopped down off the stool. “A good life? My mother has been married a half-dozen times. Until I was fourteen, she tried to tell me I had to call each one of them Daddy. But they weren’t, were they? And I knew that. I knew that there had been someone, and he had loved me. And then he’d disappeared. I moved more than a dozen times before I turned eighteen. Every time I would get settled and think that maybe, just maybe, this time we would stay somewhere, she’d decide to move again. You were both selfish, and I was the one who paid the price for that selfishness.”

  Joe’s face crumpled in regret, and tears filled his eyes.

  “You’re right. I can’t deny that we were selfish, and you were the victim. I can only ask you to forgive me and hope we can build a relationship. I hope you’ll let me be a father to you, a grandfather to Lilly.”

  That meant telling Lilly. Oregon stood at the door, thinking about how she would do that. “How am I supposed to tell my daughter that her friend Joe is her grandfather?”

  “We’ll do it together.” Duke was at her side, his hand on her back. “Your biggest problem is that you act like you have to tackle everything alone. Maybe that’s how you’ve survived for thirty years. Now might be the time to let other people help you. Including the father of that little girl you’re so worried about.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to regroup, to find the strength she’d always relied on to get her through. Duke was right, she wasn’t good at letting other people in, letting them help. No one had ever been in her life long enough to be trusted that way. She hadn’t been able to count on her mother to be there for her. But Lilly didn’t have to live like that. Lilly had parents who would make sure she was taken care of.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t be here.” Sissy stood up, her hands clasped in front of her. Her dark gray eyes were filled with tears. They shared a similar heartache. Different, but similar. Oregon took a long look at the younger woman. Her sister. She saw pieces of herself in Sissy Andrews. In her dark gray eyes, in the shape of her face. They were sisters. It unsettled Oregon but it also forced her to the other woman’s side.

  “I’m so sorry,” Oregon told Sissy as she took her in a tight hug. “I am so very sorry that you’ve been hurt by this.”

  “Me?” Sissy pulled back. “I can’t even imagine how you feel.”

  “We have a lot of time to make up for.” Oregon hugged her once more. “And I have to find the best way to tell Lilly.”

  “We should tell her together,” Joe said in a gentle voice. A voice full of regret.

  “There is so much I need to tell her. I don’t know where to start.” She reached for the door. How had life gotten so complicated? “I need to think.”

  Joe stood, as if to follow. “Oregon, I’ve hurt you. I know that. But I love you. I love Lilly. I’ve stayed here in order to build a relationship with the two of you. I should have found a way to tell you sooner, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought.”

  Oregon saw the similarities. Because she had waited almost a year to tell Duke that he was Lilly’s father. She made eye contact with him, and he offered a grim smile.

  “Joe, I do understand that it wasn’t easy. I just, it’s been almost thirty years.”

  “Twenty-eight years and three months,” Joe said without a trace of humor. “And I’ve regretted every year, every month, every day.”

  “We all have regrets,” Oregon said, then she pushed the door open. “I have to go.”

  “Can I see her?” Joe asked as she headed out the door.

  “Yes, Joe, you can see her. But not today. I can’t do this today.”

  As she walked down the sidewalk, Oregon realized she had company. She glanced back over her shoulder at Duke. Of course. She kept walking, but he caught up to her.

  “You did this?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I did this. I guess it’s the fatherhood thing. I started to worry about Joe being around my daughter. I haven’t cared too much about his identity. He didn’t bother anyone and didn’t seem to be a danger, so why push it? But I didn’t want to take a chance with your or Lilly’s safety. So I had the guys do some checking.”

  “I wish you hadn’t.”

  “Oregon, he’s your father. He was going to tell you eventually. He wanted to be involved in your life. My guess is, Joe was the one who has been helping people in town.”

  She stopped walking. “He bought the building and deeded it to me.”

  Someone had bought her building in December, and it had been deeded over to her with the insurance and taxes all paid. Of course people in town had wondered if it was Joe, or even Breezy with her newly inherited money. But now she knew. It had been her father. Joe.

  “He wanted to take care of you.” Duke reached for her hand. “It’s what a father does.”

  “Well he’s a little too late for that.”

  “I don’t think so. I think he’s here just in time.”

  Her throat tightened. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t, Duke. Don’t make me cry. Not today. Why are you following me?”

  He tugged on her hand and stopped her. “You don’t know why I’m following you?”

  She shook her head, and she saw that he looked hurt. She didn’t want to hurt him.

  “I’m following you because this isn’t about you. It isn’t about Lilly. It’s about us. This will change her life, your life, and that means it changes my life. I’m going because a dad should be involved in a conversation that is life changing. You see, Oregon, some dads want to be there for their kids.”

  She flattened her palm against his cheek. “I’m sorry, and you’re right. I’m glad she has you.”

  “You both have me.”

  She moved her hand from his cheek and shook her head. “No, Duke. She has you.”

  “You can both have me.”

  She started walking, but he remained at her side.

  “Oregon?”

  She didn’t slow down. “Don’t. This isn’t fair. You can rescue Lilly, but you can’t rescue me.”

  “What if I want to marry you, not rescue you?”

  At that she came to a quick stop on the sidewalk. She looked up, frowning just a little. “That isn’t a relationship. You want to be there for Lilly, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. But I can’t let you marry me out of some sense of responsibility.”

  “Lady, you are so wrong. But I’m not going to argue right now. I am going to tell you this. The one thing you can’t argue with is that we make pretty decent parents. And you can’t deny that everything else between us is pretty amazing, too.”

  She couldn’t deny it, so she changed the subject. “I have to think. I need to tell Lilly about Joe. I also need to tell her the truth about my health.”

  “Let’s wait until the morning. We can have a night to sleep on it and pray on it.”

  “Okay, I can do that. We’ll tell Joe that we’ll all sit down together tomorrow and tell her.”

  Somehow Oregon found herself on the deck of Duke’s No Bar and Grill. Across the street she had a father and a sister. Down the block at the park her daughter was playing with friends, not knowing that her life was about to take a drastic turn. Not for the worse, though. She refused to believe this would be for th
e worse.

  Hadn’t she wanted Lilly to have family? A safety net. And now she had one. The strongest part of that net was sitting across from Oregon. And he thought they should get married.

  She sighed.

  “You okay?” Duke asked.

  “Yes, I’m good. Shocked, but good.”

  “Really? Because I don’t think you should be okay. I think you should be angry, hurt and I don’t know what else.”

  She leaned back in the chair. “What good would all that do? My mom has managed to leave a trail of destruction behind her. And she doesn’t think so. She has always convinced herself that she’s doing the right thing, the fun thing or the adventurous thing. All of these years I’ve asked her to tell me who my dad is, and she’s acted like it was impossible to tell, and yet here he was the whole time.”

  “What did you tell Lilly about her father?”

  She brushed a hand across her face. “I told her she wasn’t a mistake. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I told her I would find her father for her. And I did. Maybe I took too long, or didn’t tell you soon enough, but I brought her here.”

  “Would you have brought her if...”

  She knew he didn’t want to say the word. She said it for him. “If it hadn’t been for the cancer? Yes, I would have.”

  “Thank you. And for the record, you can reject me all you want, but I’m here for you. Even when you say you don’t need me.”

  The words filled an empty space in her heart. It would have been easy to step into his embrace, to accept the comfort he obviously wanted to give. But she couldn’t.

  It wasn’t fair to expect him to be that person. Yes, they had a common bond, their daughter. But they’d only had one night years ago. That didn’t make her his problem.

  A selfish part of her was thankful that he cared, though. Another part of her, a big part, wanted to be his problem to care about.

  “We should go back to the shop. It wasn’t right to walk away. I just needed a few minutes to think.”

  “And now?”

  “I think we all sit down with Lilly. Tomorrow. Is that okay?” she asked, knowing it was not just her decision to make.