A Texan for Hire (Welcome to Ramblewood)

by Amanda Renee

  Abby spent the remainder of the day working at Dance of Hope until it was almost time to meet Clay at the salon. She dropped off Duffy at the Bed & Biscuit. Her timing was perfect—Mazie was too involved in preparing dinner to pay Abby any attention. She managed to clean up, change clothes and head out without answering a single question.

  When she arrived at the salon, Abby was surprised to find the lights on and Ruby waiting with Clay inside. Bridgett appeared seconds later, walking in through the back door.

  “What’s all this about?” Bridgett asked.

  “That’s what I want to know,” Abby said. “Clay, what’s going on?”

  “There’s something I need to tell the two of you,” Ruby began. “This isn’t easy for me, so please bear with me.”

  Abby and Bridgett looked at one another then back to Ruby.

  “Ruby.” Clay offered his arm for support.

  “Oh, my God.” Abby’s hand flew to her chest. “This has to do with my sister, doesn’t it?”

  Clay maintained eye contact with Abby. “Yes.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand. What do you, Ruby and Bridgett have to do with it?”

  The room became deafeningly quiet. Abby heard each breath she took, every beat of her heart. “Somebody say something. Please.”

  “Mother?” Bridgett, eyes wide, stared at Ruby.

  “You two are sisters,” the woman whispered.

  Abby inhaled sharply at the words. “Come again?”

  “Bridgett is the sister you’ve been looking for,” Clay confirmed, his eyes shifting between her and Bridgett.

  “For real? Mom?” Bridgett’s tone filled with disgust. “You had an affair with Abby’s father? How could you?”

  Searching Clay’s face for answers, Abby stepped back. There was more. Something they hadn’t said yet. “Is that what happened? You had an affair with my father?”

  “No, honey.” Eyeliner and mascara stained Ruby’s cheeks. “I didn’t have an affair with Walter.”

  Abby heard the words, but the pieces weren’t fitting together. “So then you hooked up after my parents split?” She looked at Bridgett. “It’s the only possible way you could be my sister. H-how old are you?”

  “I’ll be twenty-eight on the thirteenth,” Bridgett answered, confusion etched across her features.

  Abby reached for the chair behind her. “The thirteenth of what?”

  “October.” Bridgett shrugged. “Why? I don’t understand what’s going on.”

  “How can this be?” Abby stared at Clay for an explanation.

  “Abby, you need to sit down.” He approached the two women. “Bridgett, so do you.”

  “Would somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?” Bridgett demanded. “And don’t tell me to sit down.”

  “Bridgett,” Abby said. “You and I are twins. We have the same birthday.” Her voice shook. “I don’t understand.” She turned to Ruby. “If you didn’t have an affair with Walter, and you’re Bridgett’s mother and Maeve is my mother then how is any of this possible?”

  “Am I adopted?” Bridgett fell backwards into a stylist’s chair. “M-Mom, please tell me the truth.”

  “You’re not adopted.” Ruby crossed the room to Abby. “Abby—”

  “No, no, no.” She shook her head and laughed. “Don’t even go there. I know who my mother is. You can’t possibly be—”

  Abby looked past Ruby, through the front windows of the salon. Outside, people and cars went by, not a care in the world. She wanted to be one of them. This—this was a joke. A cruel, cruel joke and she wasn’t going to listen to any more of it.

  “I have to get out of here.” Abby ran for the door. Stopping when she heard Ruby’s voice.

  “The adoption agency told me you were going to a young couple. Your parents.”

  “No, you must be mistaken.” Abby thought back through all her parents’ photo albums. She had wondered why there weren’t any photos of her mother pregnant with Abby. Maeve had explained they were lost during a move and then quickly changed the subject. She had received the same quick dismissal when she attempted to discuss Walter’s note telling her to find her sister. “Oh, my God. It’s true.”

  Ruby wrung her hands. “I never for one second thought your parents wouldn’t tell you that you were adopted.”

  “Mom!” Bridgett yelled. “I have a twin sister and you never told me? How could you give her away?”

  “You gave me away.” The realization of Bridgett’s words gripped her lungs and squeezed tightly. Abby lowered herself into one of the waiting area chairs. “What did you do, play eenie-meenie-miney-mo?”

  “It wasn’t like that,” Ruby said. “I didn’t know I was pregnant with twins.”

  Bridgett’s eyes narrowed. “How could you not know, Mother?”

  “The doctor didn’t even know. One baby was on top of the other, and he heard only one heartbeat. I couldn’t afford an ultrasound. I didn’t have any money or a job. I was recently divorced from one man, pregnant by another. Your grandparents didn’t want anything to do with me. I came to Ramblewood with nothing, and I thank God every day that Fran and Ed Carter took me in.”

  “Hello?” Abby waved her hands. “If you didn’t have an affair with my father, then who is my father?”

  “Some guy in the Air Force that didn’t even know Mom was pregnant before he was transferred off overseas.” Bridgett sighed.

  “You never met your father?” Abby asked.

  “I’ve never met anyone in my family outside of my mom and well...you.”

  “I’m sorry, what? Where are your grandparents?” Abby couldn’t believe Bridgett didn’t have a single family member other than Ruby.

  “When Mom got pregnant, they disowned her. She was a military brat herself, and after a while she lost track of where they were.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. If I can find my sister, you can find your grandparents, especially with the aid of a private investigator.”

  “I never had the need to.” Bridgett hugged herself. “If they didn’t want to be a part of my life, I didn’t want them in mine.”

  “So my father is some random soldier and Walter wasn’t even biologically related to me?” No wonder it was so easy for him to walk away when he and Maeve had divorced. Abby wasn’t his child.

  “Ruby,” Clay said. “Are you telling them the truth about their father?”

  Abby suddenly remembered the picture of her father that Alfred had taken. “Darren Fox.”

  Ruby’s eyes bugged at the mention of his name.

  Abby snapped her fingers. “Walter was in town because of Darren.” It all made sense now. Walter’s note wasn’t just about finding her sister. She had been right all along. It was a deathbed confession.

  “The mayor is their father?” Clay asked Ruby.

  “Darren’s my what?” Bridgett stepped within inches of her mother. “My father has been in this town my entire life and you didn’t tell me?”

  “Darren was married when I got pregnant with you both. He wanted me to take care of things, but I couldn’t do it. I refused.”

  “Unbelievable.” Bridgett paced the length of the room. “Do you have any idea how many times I served him breakfast and lunch? And now you’re telling me he’s my father. That man looked me straight in the eyes a million times and never said a word. He barely ever tipped me.”

  “Abby.” Clay stood in front of her, taking her hands in his. “I am so sorry.”

  “For what?” She shrugged away from him. She didn’t want to be comforted. She wanted answers. “You did exactly what I paid you to do. You found my sister.”

  “I want to know how you could give one of us away,” Bridgett ordered. “Who splits up twins?”

  “I’d like to
know how Walter fit into all of this,” Abby said.

  Ruby’s fingers trembled as she wiped away her tears. “Darren and Walter were in the Air Force together. Darren had confided in Walter about my pregnancy, fearing the affair would end his marriage. When I wouldn’t get rid of the baby—” she shot a glance at Abby “—your mom and dad offered to adopt you.”

  “Why didn’t they adopt me and Bridgett if you were so eager to give me away?”

  “You two were born almost half an hour apart, and when Bridgett came, I thought it was a sign I was meant to have a baby of my own. I promised to give Walter and Maeve their child and I did. A second child was never part of the bargain.”

  Abby couldn’t listen anymore. “I wasn’t a bargain. I was a baby. Your baby.” Her heart actually hurt, and she was finding it difficult to breathe. “I need to get out of here.”

  Out on the street, Clay caught up to her. “Where are you going? I don’t think you should be alone right now.”

  “Clay, I don’t want your sympathy or your pity. All I want is answers. If Darren isn’t in town, then I want his damn phone number so I can track him down.”

  “Darren’s back. Ruby called him this morning and he does want to talk to you.”

  Knowing that she’d meet her biological father for the first time terrified her. She prayed the anger from what she had just learned would conquer that fear and give her the strength she needed to face him. How sweet was it that the man who had wanted to abort her would grant her this meeting?

  “Will you take me to him?” she asked.

  “We can go right now.”

  Abby steadied her nerves. Bridgett’s voice carried into the street as she berated Ruby for keeping such a secret. To find out her life was a complete lie was one thing, but for Bridgett to find out her father had been around her entire life and had never acknowledged her was unfathomable.

  Clay gripped her hands. “Even though all of this pans out on paper, I am urging all of you to get a DNA test to confirm it.”

  “Absolutely, no doubt there.” Abby squared her shoulders. “Please take me to the sperm donor.”

  * * *

  CLAY ADMIRED ABBY’S wry sense of humor through all of this, though he assumed she did it out of self-preservation. He held his truck door open for her and she climbed in. Neither one of them spoke a word during the drive to Darren’s house. When they arrived, it was painfully evident Darren had confessed his affair to his wife—a large red handprint bloomed across his face.

  “Abby.” Darren stood back and admired her. “You are an extremely beautiful young woman.”

  She laughed bitterly. “And your other daughter? What about her? You haven’t acknowledged Bridgett. How do you think she’ll feel when she learns that you want to be a part of my life and talk to me when you ignored her for the past twenty-eight years? Don’t you care?”

  “Let’s not do this outside.” Darren stepped into the foyer. “We’ll go into my den and talk.”

  Clay followed Abby into the bookcase-lined room. Darren closed the French doors and motioned for them to have a seat in the burgundy leather club chairs near the fireplace. Sitting across from them, Darren leaned back in his chair.

  “You probably have many questions and I will be happy to answer all of them. But I’d like to tell you my side of what happened twenty-eight years ago. I’ll start off by saying I’m not proud of what I did, but once the lies started, I didn’t know how to stop it.”

  “I’m listening.” Abby spotted a decanter filled with amber liquid, rose from her chair and poured herself a glass. “I’m sure you don’t mind your daughter fixing a glass of— What is this?” She lifted the glass to her nose and swirled it around. “Bourbon.” She raised her glass in the air. “Hey, congrats, you’re a dad.”

  Clay fought a smile as Abby rejoined them and gestured for Darren to continue.

  “I was twenty-four when I found out Ruby was pregnant. I was married and already had a child of my own. And before you ask, you have three half siblings who do not know you exist. That will be corrected in the morning.”

  Clay watched Abby’s expression as Darren spoke. The deep lines in her forehead had softened when Darren mentioned his other children.

  The mayor leaned forward in his chair. “I’m not saying what I did was right by any means. I can tell you I was young, impetuous and really didn’t think how it would affect anyone except me, at that time. I can’t lie and tell you I tried to convince myself that the truth would not hurt my wife. My marriage is probably over, but that’s my cross to bear.” He swallowed. “I did what I did to protect my reputation and myself without giving any thought to how Ruby felt. Walter was a great friend of mine, and when I confided in him, he told me about his infertility issues. When you serve in the military with someone and they have your back on the frontline, they have your back on the home front, too. Wanting a child of his own so badly, Walter offered to adopt the baby.”

  Abby clicked her tongue. “That was a pretty simple arrangement. Then I would be gone from your life forever. But I don’t understand how that would work out with both of you being in the service together. If my parents were trying to get on-base housing, you would’ve still seen me on a regular basis.”

  Darren shook his head. “My tour was up and I wasn’t reenlisting. I knew your father would be shipped off to another base and I wouldn’t see you again.”

  “That was convenient. But what happened when you found out there were two babies?”

  “I was furious. I wanted Ruby to give your parents the other child. I begged her to, but she refused. When I threatened to tell your parents about the other baby, figuring they might have legally been able to claim her and declare Ruby an unfit mother, Ruby threatened to shoot my balls off on top of telling my wife about our affair.”

  “Way to go, Mom.” Abby raised her glass in the air in celebration.

  Clay was surprised to hear her use the word Mom in connection with Ruby so quickly.

  “Walter did eventually find out that Bridgett existed, and he really wrestled with his conscience about keeping you two apart. He only did so because I begged him to leave it alone.”

  “So the moral of the story is that you were a coward and now that you’ve been called out on it you—what?—want a relationship with me? Want to tell me to leave you alone? What do you want?”

  Darren leaned forward. “Well, that’s entirely up to you. I can honestly say I’ve matured over the past twenty-eight years, and I have wondered about you every single day of my life. At least I got to see what was going on in Bridgett’s life even if I couldn’t be a part of it.”

  “You could’ve been a part of her life any time,” Abby said. “You chose not to be.”

  “I chose not to turn her life upside down with my selfish need to come clean.”

  As much as Clay hated to admit it, a part of him saw Darren’s side of things. It must have been hard standing on the sidelines, watching your child take her first steps, speak her first words, go on her first date and never be able to say a word. Never offer congratulations when she brought home a great report card or when she graduated high school.

  “Bridgett says you never even left her a decent tip.” Abby squared her shoulders. “I don’t know what I want as far as you’re concerned. Much of it will depend on Bridgett. I don’t want to do anything that will hurt her more because she has to live with the fact that the father she thought didn’t know she existed has been watching her for all these years. That’s sad and creepy. I don’t know what to tell you, Darren, but at some point, I’d like the opportunity to meet your children, my half siblings. What are they? Boys? Girls?”

  “Two boys and a girl.”

  “And are your parents still alive?”

  “You have grandparents, too, and as soon as you leave, I will be calling them and letti
ng them know you two exist. Whether or not you meet or have a relationship with them is up to you. I can provide you with all the information, and I will give you a complete medical history, because you do deserve to know that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll say this, and I’m not judging your parents, but I had no idea you didn’t know you were adopted. In the back of my mind, I always figured you were looking for me, wanting to know who your birth father was. I knew this day was coming. It simply didn’t happen quite the way I expected it to.”

  “Fair enough. For now, I’m going to leave things as they are. I’ll get your information from Clay and I will be in touch. I need some time to process this, and I need to pay my parents a visit.”

  Clay had known Abby would leave town eventually, but to hear her speak the words aloud made his chest constrict. Of course, she would confront her parents. She had every right to do so. He had imagined her doing it over the phone. Driving from Texas to Pennsylvania in her current condition didn’t sound like such a good idea.

  After saying their goodbyes, Clay drove Abby back to the Bed & Biscuit. “When are you leaving?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Let me go with you,” he said.

  “I need to put my big-girl panties on and handle this on my own. I appreciate the offer, though. I need some time to think and reevaluate my life since it’s not what I thought it was.”

  “Are you coming back?” Clay ran his palms over the steering wheel.

  “I don’t know.” Abby opened the truck door. “I would like to say yes, but I can’t make any promises right now. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and I don’t know where things go from here. I wish I could tell you more.”

  “Is this where we say goodbye?” Clay looked at Abby, unable to bear the thought that this was the last time he’d see her. There were no promises she’d return. Only an emptiness slowly filling his heart.

  “I think it’s best, instead of dragging it out tomorrow.”

  “I never wanted you to get hurt in any of this.”