She was still wiping down Neptune when Travis popped in to say he was going to grab a quick bath. No doubt, he’d prefer a cold shower after what just happened in the springhouse, but he’d have to settle for the hand-held nozzle he’d installed this week in the apartment’s tub.
After he left, she finished with Neptune and started doling out oats to the horses. When Travis finished bathing, he came back to help haul water. He’d dressed in tight jeans and a denim shirt, his hair still wet from his bath. She fought the inappropriate urge to run her fingers through it. And now she was wet, too. How the man could elicit such responses from her long-dormant body with his mere presence or a casual glance was beyond her.
Get your mind off the unattainable.
“Oh, I ought to warn you about the brownies,” she said as they made their way toward the house together after the horses were taken care of. “They’re made so as not to trigger a sugar spike.”
“I wondered how they could be part of your diet. What’s the catch?”
“A secret ingredient. But if I told you what it is, I’d have to kill you.” She grinned at his stunned expression as she opened the kitchen door.
“Sounds serious. Is it legal?”
She laughed out loud. “Not that ingredient! This is Kentucky, after all. And, yes, it’s perfectly legal, just not one you’d associate with baked goods.” She went to the sink to wash up, and he followed suit.
While he poured the bottle of Fairlife milk, she carried the container of brownies to the table. “Let’s dig in,” she said.
She waited for him to take his first tentative bite, chew, and swallow. As if not quite sure yet, he took another bite, this one even bigger. Then he smiled at her. “These are some of the best brownies I’ve ever tasted.”
Her gaze shifted to his mouth where he’d been tasting her less than an hour ago. When he licked a crumb of brownie from the corner of his lips, a heaviness pooled in her lower abdomen. She remembered his tongue entangled with hers…
Once again, Travis made her experience emotions she hadn’t allowed herself to feel since their breakup. Her mind conjured up any number of sensual scenarios featuring him in the starring role of each, but she tried to quell them. Most likely, none of them would come true.
“Aren’t you going to eat yours?”
Picking up the brownie, she took a bite. They did taste good, but she’d had them lots of times. “I’ve gotten good at finding ways to enjoy the treats I love with a few necessary substitutions among the ingredients.”
They were coming to the end of the brownies and their last evening together before she would tell him the secret that most likely would end any chance at their having a future together romantically. Oh, he’d probably be a part of her life forever as they shared the parenting of Chelsea, but she wanted to enjoy these last moments with him without acrimony.
After he took a swig of milk, he asked, “What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”
That all depends. “Um, I have a light day with lessons because half my students are at church camp. I should finish up by lunchtime.”
“Perfect. Play tour guide for me tomorrow.”
Tell him tonight.
She ignored the nagging voice in the back of her mind. The thought of spending another idyllic day with him like yesterday’s time at the Red River Gorge was too tempting.
Don’t be selfish.
“Aren’t your folks expecting you Sunday?”
“I was just up there for Memorial Day weekend two weeks ago. Besides, they don’t even know I’m in Kentucky.” He’d been close to his parents back in college, so she wondered why he hadn’t told them about this journey into the past. Did they harbor any resentment toward Kate for calling it off with Travis? How might a meeting with his parents and siblings go when they found out about Chelsea?
“Do you want to split one?” he asked, reaching for another brownie.
“No, but you go ahead. Two’s my limit.”
He bit into another and grinned. “Man, they’re good.”
She couldn’t watch him eat without another carnal side trip, so she picked at the crumbs on her plate. “How are all the Coopers doing?” He hadn’t said much about his family up to now.
He reached for his fourth brownie, the last on the plate, and swallowed before answering. “Mom’s trying to convince Dad it’s time to join her in retirement.”
“I can’t believe she’s retired.”
“Well, it was partly due to her health after getting diabetes. Being office manager at his company was too sedentary. To keep her A1C down, she quit to become more active.” He took a drink of milk before continuing. “Clint’s poised to take over the firm whenever Dad steps down. He’s married now with two little kids. His wife, Susan, helps out with the books, working from home.”
“And your sisters?”
“Tanya moved to Chicago to work for a major tech firm. She travels a lot. I’m lucky if we cross paths twice a year anymore. And Shania and Emmylou started their own business together.”
She had to smile at the way Joe and Loretta, Travis’s parents, had named their five children after the country-music stars they loved. The boys for Travis Tritt and Clint Black, and the triplets for Shania Twain, Tanya Tucker, and Emmylou Harris. His mom told Kate years ago that she’d been named for Loretta Lynn and wanted to pass along the tradition.
“What kind of start-up?”
“They find missing people.”
Well, that certainly was an unusual career choice. “Sounds interesting. As long as those people want to be found, I suppose.”
Kate used to fantasize about tracking down her mother, but then reality clicked in. She didn’t want to risk another rejection if her mom didn’t want to be found.
“They’re a whiz at reuniting adoptees with birth parents and long-lost siblings and such. And they love what they’re doing. They get to travel quite a bit, too. All three of my sisters have a touch of wanderlust. Emmy and Shania still live in Louisville, but they could work anywhere given the majority of what they do happens online.”
“Fascinating. Those two always seemed closer to each other than with Tanya.”
“Yeah. Tanya’s a bit of an introvert and a loner.”
Travis stood. “I’m going to call it a night. Why don’t you sleep in again tomorrow? I can handle the horses and stalls.”
“Thanks, but I’m already back on my schedule of rising at the crack of dawn.”
He smiled at her. “I won’t complain about having you working alongside me.”
Memories of ogling his half-naked body while they fixed the fence flashed across her mind. Her carnal thoughts had set her body on fire and had probably led to that kiss and their eager fumblings in the springhouse a little while ago.
With mere days before Chelsea came home, her conscience told her it was time to tell him. Travis would need to come to grips with the news before he’d be ready to meet his daughter for the first time. So why weren’t the words coming to her?
“Good night,” Travis said, walking toward the door.
She followed him. “Night, Travis.”
As she watched him walk back to the barn, she thought about calling out and offering to let him sleep in the house again. But, no. Chelsea didn’t need to come home to find that her mom had a hired man sleeping down the hall from them.
Be fair, Kate.
Okay, not a hired hand at all, but Chelsea’s dad. She closed and locked the door and made her way upstairs to prepare for bed.
On a whim, she bypassed her bathroom and walked to the end of the hallway to where her father had slept. She’d thrown out the mattress he’d died on and had totally redone the space into a guest room, although she rarely had anyone stay over. Lidia and Jason had stayed a few months when their house was undergoing extensive renovations, but that had been years ago. It had become more a storage room for winter things in summer and vice versa. The room used to smell sweet from her father’s pipe, and she often came in her
e in the weeks and months after his death to feel closer to him.
Oh, Daddy, I miss you.
She wiped at her stinging eyes and moved toward the mantel over the fireplace. When Kate was little, Daddy had stripped off layers of paint and stained it to match the walnut bedroom suite that had once belonged to her great-grandmother.
Kate looked at some of the photos of Michaels family ancestors, most of whom she’d never known. There were side-by-side pics of Daddy—one with infant Kate on his chest while they both slept and another of him in the same pose with his granddaughter as a baby. Kate had wished at the time to have been able to place Chelsea on Travis’s chest to carry on the tradition, but that hadn’t been possible.
Kate and Chelsea had missed out on having connections with extended family members. Bringing Travis into the family would change that for Chelsea, opening her up knowing a slew of aunts, an uncle, and grandparents who would dote on her every move.
If Daddy had lived longer, no doubt he’d have made a profound impact on Chelsea’s life, too. Her eyes swimming with tears, Kate picked up the picture of Daddy holding her daughter. Travis should have been the one in that photo. They’d all been robbed of so many years together.
Sometimes life just wasn’t fair.
Only it was her actions, not random fate, that had deprived Travis of having those moments with his baby girl. Her heart ached at being the reason he didn’t know his daughter.
Wiping at her eyes, Kate turned and left the room, flipping off the light switch and making her way to her bedroom. It had been a long time since she’d felt this alone. Sitting on her bed, she opened the drawer to her nightstand and pulled out three photos. If her father had known she had them, no doubt he’d have destroyed them along with all other evidence of her mother’s existence.
She didn’t know why she’d kept these hidden away to this day. Yes, you do. Even after all this time, her chest ached to look at them. They evoked thoughts of the fictitious relationship she pretended to have had with her mom before she’d left soon after Kate’s fifth birthday. While she had vague memories of the woman, nowadays she wasn’t sure how much was real and how much she’d conjured up.
Kate’s favorite image was taken on that last birthday together. Her mother’s eyes were animated and her smile beaming, lit from somewhere inside, and she appeared ready to help Kate blow out the candles, if need be. Kate’s smile was radiant, too. She couldn’t remember being that happy for the rest of her childhood.
The tears were back, flooding her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. How could she still long for something she’d never really had?
Kate dashed away the tears and tucked the snapshots back into the drawer before heading to the bathroom to shower. Tomorrow would take a toll on her, this time with memories of a different part of a past filled with regrets. She needed to be mentally prepared for the afternoon with Travis. No more excuses.
The time to tell him about Chelsea had come.
Chapter Twelve
“What the hell do you think you were doing locking them in there like that, Danny?” Ben kicked a porch post, not unlike the way he’d kicked open the springhouse door a short while ago.
Danny balled his hands into fists. Ben was fit to be tied, but Danny had no intention of caving in to his bullheadedness. He had a mission and limited time to achieve success. Trying to exhibit a cool exterior, Danny pointed out, “I didn’t notice either of them complaining.”
Realizing their earthly charges had parted ways for the night, Ben and Danny wandered around to the front porch, settling in the swing after Katie went upstairs.
“That’s my daughter you and your buddy are messing around with.”
“And Travis is my best friend,” Danny said, giving a nod toward the barn where Travis had disappeared. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see the sparks flying between those two. They’re perfect for each other. He never stopped loving her, if you ask me.”
Ben scrutinized the barn before turning toward Danny and staring through narrowed eyelids. “That may be, but locking them in the springhouse to force them together isn’t the way to go about making them see that.”
“How do you know? You showed up and kicked open the door just when things were getting hot and heavy,” Danny grumbled.
“Dammit, the last thing Kate needs is another baby with him.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what she needs. And I know Travis would jump at the chance to be a father from the get-go this time.”
“He doesn’t even know he’s a father the first time yet. How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’ve seen him around kids. The man’s a natural.”
Ben remained silent a moment. Had he made any progress in winning the older spirit over?
“Just how do you expect to get through to him? Haven’t noticed you having all that much success.”
Danny shrugged, fully aware the old man had changed the subject rather than concede that Danny had a point. Hell, Ben was right. He hadn’t convinced Travis he was with him at all. Katie seemed slightly more believing that she’d heard her father.
“If you’ve got any better ideas, I’m all ears,” Danny said.
Ben became silent again. Danny could hear the June bugs and see the yard lit up with lightning bugs. He missed the little things he’d been enchanted by as a boy that he’d lost the ability to enjoy later in his miserable life.
“Getting those two together isn’t my primary mission,” Ben said. “I’m here to undo the mess I created between her and her mother.”
Danny remembered the scene he’d witnessed earlier tonight in Katie’s bedroom, which left a bitter taste in his mouth. “Yeah, those tattered photos she saved broke my heart. You really were a dirtbag, you know?”
Ben stiffened then nodded. “You’re right. I sure was.”
“Well, admitting it is the first step. Her mom’s still alive, right?”
“Last I checked, she was. Living in Oregon. Don’t know how she wound up there, but she’s always been a drifter. That’s how I met her. What worries me is that her health isn’t all that good.”
“Terminal?”
“Not like cancer or anything. She doesn’t take care of herself, though. Her diabetes is out of control, too.”
“Does Katie know her medical history?”
Ben shook his head. “Not for that side of the family, anyway, because I had no idea myself. Kate and I didn’t talk about her mom at all. I let Kate think I was just too torn up about Gail’s deserting us. Truthfully, I just wanted to keep Kate all to myself. Selfish bastard, I know.”
“I’ll say.”
Ben turned toward him. “You sure are an agreeable sot.”
Danny held up his hands. “I haven’t had a drink in five months.”
“Because you’ve been dead for that long.”
Danny shrugged. “We aren’t here to talk about my mistakes. And I’m sure I haven’t said anything you haven’t told yourself a hundred times since you crossed over.”
With a sigh, Ben said, “A million times maybe.”
“You taught Katie to hoard her own daughter, just like you did with her. At least I can see her wavering before it’s too late to redeem herself. She’ll come around, once she knows she can trust Travis. And there’s no better man to be Chelsea’s dad than my buddy. So how do you plan to get Katie to search for her mom?”
Ben seemed to think on it an awfully long time. “All I can do is try my damnedest to pry that last letter from Gail loose and get it in front of Kate’s face. She came darn close to it tonight, but she’ll never find it on her own unless she takes down that mirror over the fireplace. Not sure how much kinetic energy I can muster.”
“You sure had no trouble with the springhouse door.”
“Getting Neptune to bump his head against the door helped.”
“Well, maybe between the two of us we can gather enough force to nudge the envelope out of its hiding place.” Danny thought a minute. “If that doesn’t wo
rk, how about a visit to your wife? Or widow, I guess you’d say now.”
“I tried to visit her soon after I crossed over, but she cussed me out.”
Danny laughed. “Think maybe you deserve it?” He sobered. “Wait. She could see and hear you?”
“Oh, yeah. Even when we were together, she’d told me she communicated with spirits who had crossed over. I never believed her back then, but man, I do now.”
“If she’s so intuitive, then convince her she needs to come back here.”
“Tried that that first time. She refused. I guess she has some things in her past she’s not too proud of. Doesn’t want Kate to be ashamed of her.”
Danny shook his head. “Crazy how humans in the physical world worry about the stupidest shit, isn’t it? We sure don’t care about any of that over here.”
Danny had made the same mistakes on Earth. His own parents had disowned him long before he wound up in juvie and later joined the Army. His father was on this side of the veil now, but Danny hadn’t reached out to him yet. Danny did visit his sister once after his death. She seemed aware of his presence, but became frightened of him, so he decided to keep his distance after that.
His mom, on the other hand, was so closed down spiritually he couldn’t even visit her in a dream without her writing it off as a delusion. He didn’t want her to think she was going bonkers, so he’d left her alone, too. As for his dad, well, maybe some grudges did carry over to this side. Neither had sought the other out in the past five months.
But Travis was a different story. Not that he hadn’t dropped everything to come up here after that dream visit from Danny. “Travis’ll come around. He’s just too logical with that engineer’s brain of his. Eventually, my melodic voice will make an impression on him.”
“You mean nagging voice, don’t you?”
“Well, that, too.” Danny laughed. “Tonight, I saw some wavering in his disbelief.”
Kate's Secret (Bluegrass Spirits Book 2) Page 14
