“I came to make amends.” Roy reached inside his jacket and pulled out an envelope. “I never paid child support because Charlene didn’t just want child support. Charlene wanted me to fund her entire income while she just sat back and reaped the money. She wanted to control me and threatened to destroy my marriage if I didn’t snap to her command. I am not a man who can be bought.”
Lucky eyed the envelope, unmoved by Roy’s weak explanation as to why he’d abandoned his own flesh and blood. “What’s that supposed to be, a written apology?”
“Something like that.” Roy held it out. “It’s the child support you should have gotten when you were younger.”
Lucky took the envelope, lifted the flap, and peered inside. His eyes widened at the large number on the check. He looked at the man who’d given it to him, the same man who hadn’t acknowledged his existence for the past thirty-four years. Now, all of a sudden, he’d grown a conscience? No way was Lucky stupid enough to fall for that. “This is a hell of a lot of hush money.”
Roy’s eyes widened before he quickly schooled himself. “What do you mean? I’m just trying to do the right thing here.”
“Why? What made you suddenly think about your long lost son after thirty-four years?”
Roy’s face reddened. “I know the money’s coming late, but I can’t go back and change time. If I could, I would.”
“Yeah, you’d go back to that night you met my mother and make sure you didn’t sleep with her. You’d eradicate yourself of your biggest mistake.”
“Look, I’m not going to pretend I had some change of heart and want you to take on my last name or join me at Christmas,” Roy said, straightening his shoulders. “I still have a family to protect, so yes, if I had the option to go back and never meet your mother that night, I would take it with no question. You got a bad deal, and I’m sorry for that, but I love my wife too much to break her heart with the news that I fathered you.”
“What a lucky woman,” Lucky drawled. “Every woman’s dream is to have a husband that can’t keep his dick out of other women. I mean, what better way to show your love?”
“Look,” Roy stepped closer, vein in his temple bulging. “I made a mistake. I admit it. I will not allow my wife to be hurt because I drank too much and failed her. I won’t allow anyone to hurt her. Understand?”
Lucky fisted and unfisted his hand, aching to drive it into the man’s face.
His father.
What a sick, sad joke. He held enough money in his hand to buy a home, pay for Cammie’s experimental drugs and any medical bills she incurred…but he couldn’t take it. There was a reason this man was trying to buy him, and he wasn’t going to make it as easy for him as abandoning him had been.
“Keep the money,” Lucky said, crumpling the envelope and its contents in his hand before dropping it at Roy’s shiny loafered feet. “Save it up until you have enough to buy a clear conscience.”
“What?” Roy’s eyes bulged as Lucky rounded the truck. “You’re going to turn your back on this much money? Don’t be a fool!”
“A fool would take the money without questioning the offer, and a fool would believe whatever lies you spew,” Lucky explained as he opened the driver’s side door. “Say what you want about Charlene Masters, but my mama didn’t raise no fool.”
****
Cammie checked the pie again and determined it had browned enough. The scent of cinnamon and apples permeated the kitchen as she lifted the dessert out of the oven and placed it on the stovetop. Nothing left to do, she wrung her hands as she paced the kitchen floor, repeatedly glancing at the clock.
She’d already heard the news from Kenzie. Lucky had come face to face with his deadbeat father, and from what she’d been told, it wasn’t pretty. Granted, Kenzie hadn’t seen the encounter firsthand, but Chance had eavesdropped from nearby while it happened. The protective older brother had been chomping at the bit to severely injure the jerk who’d abandoned his child heartlessly. Cammie wouldn’t mind throwing a few punches at him as well.
The sound of the living room door opening nearly sent tears of joy racing to her eyes. She’d feared the recent contact with his father would have sent Lucky back to the bar and further away from her. Combined with the revelation he’d had about her that morning, she was beyond relieved that he’d come back for her.
She raced toward the living room to see him step through the door with two paper sacks. The bags fell out of his arms as he caught sight of her. “What in the hell are you doing on your feet?”
She swallowed hard as she registered the anger in his blazing eyes. “I took my medication and the swelling wen—”
He kicked the door shut and scooped her up so fast her breath left her lungs with a whoosh. Muttering about hard-headed women, he stormed up the staircase and into her bedroom where he laid her on the bed and carefully ran his hands over her bare legs. “The rash is gone. The swelling’s down, but there’s still some redness.”
“I know. I was trying to tell you I’m better. I’m fine to walk.”
Lucky straightened and ran his hand through his hair as he studied her in her pajamas, a white fitted T-shirt and blue plaid shorts. “Just take it easy, okay? I don’t want anything happening to you.”
Touched by the concern she saw in his eyes, Cammie nodded. “I’m going to be fine, Lucky, and so are you. I heard about what happened.”
He sighed heavily as he sat on the edge of the bed, back toward her, and rested his elbows on his knees. “Kenzie tell you the Chance edition?”
“You know your brother is a big mama bear. He wouldn’t dare let you face that kind of thing alone.” Cammie rose to her knees and wrapped her arms around Lucky’s muscular shoulders. “I made an apple pie from scratch, my grandmother’s recipe. Why don’t you grab a slice and tell me about it…if you want to.”
She held her breath and braced herself for the brushoff she feared, but was surprised to receive a nod instead. “I need you to do something for me first, if you feel up to it.”
“Of course. Anything.”
Lucky took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze before kissing her knuckles and letting go, rising from the bed to walk over to her desk. He picked up her laptop and brought it to her. “I’m not good at this stuff. I need to know everything you can find out about Roy Johnson.”
Cammie took the laptop and booted it up as she sat back against the headboard. “Is that your father’s name?”
“Yeah.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small piece of paper. “This is his license plate number. The plate was for Lincoln, Nebraska. Does that help?”
“Yes,” Cammie answered as she took the scrap of paper with Lucky’s scrawled handwriting. “Anything specific you’re looking for?”
“Everything,” he answered, nostrils flared.
Cammie nodded, going to her favorite search engine. She would start with basics first, then dig as deep as the internet allowed.
“I’ll go pick up the mess downstairs.” Lucky headed for the hallway, pausing at the door. “Do you want anything?”
“Pie and ice cream, just a little bit.”
“All right. Be back in a few.”
It didn’t take long to score a hit on Roy Johnson from Lincoln, Nebraska. Granted, the name was fairly common so there were more than one, but one stood out above the rest. Roy Christopher Johnson was a very accomplished man. Head of his own consulting firm, he appeared to be very well off financially. His website listed several achievements in his field and other mentions of honors in the community. With his dark blond hair, now gray in more recent pictures, and good looks, there was no doubt he was Lucky’s biological father. The two shared the same resemblance to actor, Robert Redford, and the same lean build. The older man lacked the sparkle of mischief always lurking in Lucky’s ocean blue eyes. That one small detail set them far apart and spoke volumes. There was no doubt Roy Johnson was a far more serious man than his son.
His illegitimate son, anyway. Roy
’s bio showed an attractive wife with brunette hair and pretty green eyes. Her frame was thin, if not frail, but something in her posture showed she was by no means a weak woman. Two daughters smiled prettily in a family photo, one brunette, in her late teens, with braces, and one blonde with just a tad too much makeup, that looked to be about Lucky’s age. Roy Johnson, Jr. was an attractive young thirty-something, but no match for Lucky. His dark blond hair and blue eyes were just missing something…that wall of mystery and rebellion that you had to tunnel through to get to Lucky. The Johnson family didn’t have that. They were all business, as evidenced by every mention of them Cammie could find. All were smart, focused students and masters in their areas of expertise.
Cammie would bet her last dollar that Lucky Masters was the only member of that family to have ever stepped near a bronc, let alone ridden one. She was pretty sure he was also the only one to own a pair of boots, maybe even jeans.
The scent of cinnamon and sweet apples alerted her to Lucky’s presence before he appeared in the doorway with two plates of pie and ice cream. He arched an eyebrow as he saw the website displayed on the laptop. The article she currently researched featured a large headshot of Roy Johnson dressed in his normal attire of expensive suit and tie.
“See you found Daddy Dearest. Find out anything about him?”
She took the offered dessert with a gracious smile and took a bite of ice cream while sorting her thoughts, trying to determine the best way to tell Lucky about the brother and sisters he’d never met.
“You can tell me,” he said as he sat on the bed and tasted the pie, a small moan giving away his appreciation. “This…is…awesome.”
“Thank you.” She laughed a little at his reaction to her grandmother’s recipe, before sobering. “He has other kids.”
Lucky nodded, face devoid of expression. “Trust me, I couldn’t care less. I have a great brother. Chance is all I need. Anything else?”
Cammie chewed her bottom lip as she studied him, a little saddened by his reaction. True, she’d feared telling him about his siblings would break his heart, maybe make him feel even more unwanted, but his nonchalant reaction somehow seemed worse. An only child, she couldn’t imagine being okay with having siblings out there that were kept a secret. They were his blood, but then again, she didn’t know what it was like to have lived his life, to have his own blood deny him, either. Her parents had died while she was still young, but they’d loved her enough for that love to last her entire lifetime.
“He’s very successful, has his own consulting firm. The whole family is very prominent in the community and very academic.” She stopped herself. She’d never seen Lucky’s transcripts or anything remotely close to that, but she knew him well enough to know he’d never been much into academics. “There’s some mention of him running for mayor in the upcoming—”
“What?” Lucky’s head whipped around so fast she nearly jumped, not expecting the sudden movement.
“He’s running for mayor.”
“That sonofa—” His mouth twisted into a sneer as he laughed, the sound more of disgust than mirth, and went silent.
Unsure what to say at that point, she joined in the silence as they finished their dessert. Once done, Lucky took their plates and set them on the nearby desk before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking back and forth across the floor, seemingly lost in thought.
Cammie set the laptop aside and studied the man pacing her room. She wanted to comfort him, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. She wasn’t really sure what was going on in his mind, why hearing his father was running for mayor would upset him more than finding out he had siblings he’d never met. Cammie didn’t know Lucky to be a political man, and she’d found nothing on the internet to indicate Roy Johnson had done anything illegal or morally wrong, with the obvious exception of what hadn’t been documented online. Roy had done a great job of keeping his illegitimate son a secret from the world. She supposed he didn’t want his beautiful, perfect family to know just how ugly and imperfect he truly was.
“I want to be a better man than Roy Johnson,” Lucky stated as he stopped pacing, turned and faced her. “I don’t want there to be any comparison at all between the two of us.”
Cammie blinked, surprised by the abrupt declaration, and confused as to how he could even begin to think he was anything like the man who’d abandoned him. “Lucky, you already are a better man than him.”
“No, no I’m not.” He shook his head decidedly. “But I will be. I will be better than him, and I will be the kind of man that never has to hide anything from his family, who never needs to go to extremes to hide my skeletons.”
Unsure what to say to that, Cammie only nodded.
“I will never cheat on my wife or do anything behind her back. She’ll know that she’s loved because I’ll show her in everything I do, and I’ll be damned if I ignore the fact that we took vows before God just so I can spend a drunken night with some woman I meet in a bar. I will for damn sure never have a secret child.”
His voice growing stronger with every promise, Lucky sounded as if talking from a place deep in his heart. The women of Cook County that he’d been with in the past wouldn’t have believed a word he said, despite the conviction in his tone, but Cammie had always known behind the lothario image lay the heart of a good, honest man. He’d been abandoned and hurt throughout his life. She didn’t know his whole story, but she knew enough to realize that Lucky had never gotten attached to any woman because he feared the rejection. She knew enough to know that he spoke the truth now, and the lucky woman who roped his heart would be the envy of Cook County, and rightfully so.
“I believe you,” she said quietly, her heart heavy with the knowledge that she would not be the woman he chose. He spoke of family, and with his knowledge of her illness, he would choose a woman who could give him the blue-eyed, blond bundles of joy he would raise with more love than his father ever showed him.
“Do you?”
Eyes burning, tears threatening to fall, she nodded. “And I believe in you. I always have.”
“I never deserved it,” he said, voice soft as he sat beside her on the bed and took her hands in his. “But I’ll do everything I can to deserve it from now on. I need your help.”
Cammie’s heart skipped a beat. What did he want her to do, help him pick a suitable wife? Give him tips on how to be a good husband? That, she couldn’t do.
Squeezing her hands gently, he looked deep into her eyes. “Marry me, Cammie May. Marry me tonight.”
Chapter Ten
“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Blinking back tears, Cammie closed her eyes and lost herself in the sensation of being kissed for the first time by her husband. What a way to spend the first moment of being Mrs. Lucky Masters, a dream she had once thought unreachable, but had never stopped longing for.
Sure, she didn’t have the long, white, flowing dress or the cute little flower girls. She didn’t even have a cake. But she had the man she’d wanted from childhood, and the thin gold bands they’d found at the pawn shop early that morning were priceless to her.
And she had Kenzie with her, the only person she really cared about witnessing the event, even if her best friend hadn’t been overwhelmingly supportive of the quick marriage. It had taken an hour to convince her that she was not marrying Lucky due to being pregnant, though she couldn’t fault Kenzie for jumping to that conclusion. She, herself, had thought it might be the reason behind Lucky’s proposal, but he’d assured her that whether she turned out pregnant or not, he wanted to marry her and would stay faithful to her.
As she and Lucky drew apart and turned to the only two guests at their wedding, Chance and Kenzie, her friend smiled, reassuringly if not overly excited. It was good enough. Cammie was marrying the man she loved and that was all that mattered.
Chance nodded toward her, offering a small smile as well, before extending his hand to congratulate Lucky on the nuptials pe
rformed in the small courthouse. “At least you got to be comfortable on your wedding day,” he said, earning a chuckle from Lucky and an elbow in the side from Kenzie. His statement did the trick though, breaking up the awkward tension.
“You could have worn jeans and boots, too, if you’d taken me to Vegas to get married,” Kenzie teased.
“No way in hell was I getting married by a singing Elvis who couldn’t even move like The King, let alone look or sound like him.”
The group laughed at the exchange as they exited the courthouse. Stepping out onto Main Street into the afternoon sun, they quickly came face to face with locals who eyed them curiously. Knowing Chance and Kenzie had already married at the ranch, there was only one conclusion to be drawn by seeing Lucky walking out of the courthouse with them, hand intertwined with hers.
Lucky took that moment to squeeze Cammie’s hand, knowing the thoughts running through the minds of the townspeople on the street. Before dark, the whole county would know there was a new member of the Masters family, and then the rumors would really start, along with the baby bump watch.
“Y’all didn’t exactly give us a lot of time to plan anything extra special for you,” Kenzie said as she slid her arm through Cammie’s. “But come on back to the ranch for lunch. Shouldn’t take us much time to whip up a cake, and we already have fresh churned homemade ice cream.”
“Sounds great,” Lucky said, speaking for the first time since saying his vows. He guided Cammie over to his truck, helping her inside before closing the passenger side door and rounding the front to join her in the cab.
Silence filled the space between them as they pulled out, and he navigated the truck onto the street, following his brother to the Calhoun-Masters Ranch. After five minutes of it, Cammie couldn’t take any more. “We’re married,” she stated the obvious.
“Yep, we sure are,” he replied, eyes never leaving the road.
“I think we set a record for quickest marriage from proposal to ceremony.”
“Yeah, pretty quick.”
Cook County Cowboys Page 17
