Falling Softly: Compass Girls, Book 4

by Mari Carr

  “Oh fucknuggets,” Hope, who rarely swore, cursed beneath her breath.

  Sterling almost broke out in hysterics.

  “Is it true, Sterling?” Jake trembled where his hands fisted in her shirt. “Am I the sucker you were just talking about, who never got to know his family? Is Viho my son?”

  Cindi gasped. She raced to Jake and hugged him from behind.

  One by one, Sam pried Jake’s fingers from Sterling.

  “Yes.” The man in question stood in the door. Tall and handsome, he stared at her as if she were scum. “Sterling hasn’t lied. I believe you are my father.”

  Sterling wobbled as she got to her feet and crossed the room. She reached out to Viho, but he shoved her away. She tripped, skidding across the polished wood floor, hugging her stomach.

  “Stop this!” Hope draped over her, shielding her. She glared at Viho. “You may hate her right now, but don’t fuck up too badly or you’ll never know your own child. Don’t hurt the mother of your baby.”

  “Excuse me?” Sam whipped around from where he’d braced Jake, either to keep him from rampaging or crushing Viho in a hug; Sterling had no idea at this point.

  “Sterling?” Cindi’s eyes were wide and her mouth hung open at the chaos around them all.

  Sterling crawled out of the midst of the insanity, then clung to the doorframe as she found her feet. A room full of Comptons had never managed to be so quiet. Until now.

  Good thing too because she could hardly manage a sarcastic whisper. “Yes, I’m knocked up. Hooray.”

  When it seemed like everyone in the room would rush her, except Viho, who might as well have been turned to stone for all he moved, Vivi headed them off. She stepped in between Sterling and the rest of the commotion. “You will leave her alone. Let her think. Everyone calm down. This is not how I raised my family to behave. Sit your asses down. All of you.”

  Even Sterling took a step forward, but Vivi shook her head. “I think you should go outside and get some air. The barn has a good track record for helping people think things through.”

  Dazed, Sterling nodded.

  She dodged Viho without meeting his stare and bolted before anyone could stop her.

  Chapter Eight

  “Why don’t you come in, Viho?” Cindi Compton reached out to him, drawing him into their nest. He’d never felt so out of place in his life. Not even on the reservation, where he knew people feared him and what his leadership could mean to their conservative ways, though he never planned to stake any claim. That was why he’d left.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He shook his head, keeping his feet planted.

  “What the hell were you doing here?” Jake stood, his fists balled.

  “I heard shouting. I thought something might be wrong with Sterling. Or Mrs. Compton.” He blinked, speaking as mechanically as a robot. Was this really happening?

  “Did you come to Compass Ranch to extort me? Or to make me pay by hurting Sterling? Because I’ve treated her like my own daughter when I thought…” Jake swallowed hard.

  “What?” Viho rocked onto his heels. The last of his childish hopes for a cheerful reunion smashed as surely as the blooms scattered on the floor. His own father thought so little of him. He supposed he’d given the guy no reason to think otherwise. “I wouldn’t—”

  “Jake,” Sam Compton barked at his friend, grabbing the guy’s arm. “Think about what you’re saying. This isn’t you.”

  “Where is she?” Jake pressed on as if he hadn’t heard the sage advice.

  “Sterling?” Viho could hardly think of anyone else. She was pregnant? Right now. With his child? She’d looked so scared. Horrified, actually.

  “No. Your mother. Where is Haiwee?” Jake leaned forward, straining the limits of Sam Compton’s strength as he snarled.

  More sadness piled on Viho’s shoulders. They were ox-like, but they could only take so much. This might be his limit. “Gone. Dead. Two months ago. Cancer.”

  “No!” Jake howled. He smashed his fists into the table repeatedly. “No.”

  The longer Viho stood there, watching the surreal scene in front of him, the angrier he got. At the selfish man he no longer cared much about knowing. At the woman he’d respected and duped himself into thinking he might be falling for—or could, if he stuck around.

  All his life he’d worked on keeping his temper in check, knowing people mistrusted him simply because of who he was and how overgrown he was. His mother had drummed the importance of control into him. For the first time ever, he felt that composure cracking.

  “I can’t believe she told you my secret.” Viho shook his head. Obviously Sterling’s loyalties didn’t lie with him. Their connection, false. “And that she didn’t share with me about the baby.”

  He figured he hadn’t given her much chance over the past month, when he’d ignored her. But last night…why hadn’t she confided in him then?

  It seemed like her family was about to make a shit ton of excuses and he didn’t give a fuck about any of them. They’d almost conned him into thinking they weren’t the greedy people he’d always imagined, stealing his father when they had plenty of family of their own in their ridiculous Compass clan.

  Several breaths huffed out of him as he prepared to unleash his rage. Bottled for so long, the resounding explosion would be epic.

  Except, just then, Sterling’s mom approached. Unafraid of his flaring nostrils or the maroon tint to his skin, she ignored Sam’s call and reached out. Not in anger, or shock, or fear, but in acceptance.

  “Give her a chance to explain.” Cindi hugged Viho. “I’m not saying my daughter is perfect, but I know her heart. She would never so cruelly betray someone she cares for. Like it or not, Viho, you’re part of this family. Forever bound. Twice over. I promise you we will make you proud of that one day.”

  They wanted to impress him? Viho’s eyes stung as he looked around the room.

  Sterling’s cousins nodded, smiling.

  He thought of how they’d pushed Sterling toward him the day before.

  And at the head of the table, Mrs. Compton wept. She held Jake’s hand in one of hers and reached to Viho with the other. “Come here.”

  She wasn’t the kind of woman you said no to.

  So he didn’t.

  “Please forgive him.” Vicky Compton took Viho’s fingers, as much of them as she could grip. From beside them, sloppy sobs echoed from Viho’s father. He wailed for Haiwee, but Viho could have assured him that she could no longer hear either of their desperate pleas. “Jake has never gotten over your mom. He couldn’t understand why she left. He never knew what he’d done to make her run from him. I’m sorry. He’s a better man than this, I swear. You are too. My granddaughter needs you. Please. Go to her. Stop this chain of ugliness. It only takes one person to begin turning things around. You can make this right. Please, do it.”

  Viho felt his betrayal, rage and—most of all—fear melt from him as he stared into Vicky Compton’s clear blue eyes. This was the most lucid he’d ever seen her. When her family needed her, she fought for them. That was what he wanted. She was right. He had the power to avoid the mistakes his own parents had made. He had to be responsible now.

  Not for himself.

  But for his child.

  Who would never know the pain he had endured if he could help it.

  Without a backward glance at his father, he left the house, stumbling down the stairs then jogging across the yard. By the time he reached the barn doors, he was sprinting full out.

  Toward his future.

  “Sterling?” Viho slowed in time to avoid crashing through the door like a cartoon, leaving a man-shaped cutout in his wake. He didn’t want to scare her or seem aggressive. Not after the commotion in the main house.

  She didn’t respond.

  Instead, Wyatt stood barely
inside, poking furiously at his phone. He glanced up at Viho. “What the hell is going on?”

  “Have you seen Sterling? I need to talk to her.” He didn’t have time to explain.

  “Yeah, I saw her. She’s huddled in the corner of one of the empty stalls, crying her eyes out. I cleared the rest of the guys out of here so she could have some privacy.” He glared at Viho. “Clay’s trying to calm her down. And Hope isn’t answering my texts. Did you do this?”

  “You could say that.” He deflated. “Look, the shit just hit the fan up in the main house. You guys are going to want to head over there. I’ll take care of Sterling. I promise.”

  “I think I’d rather wait to hear from Hope.” When Wyatt didn’t seem like he planned to budge anytime soon, Viho dropped his bomb.

  “It can’t be good for a pregnant woman to be so upset. If anything happens to her, it’s on you. And I’m not going to take kindly to some asshole hurting my family.” He rose up to his full height.

  “Did you say—?”

  “Yes. Move. Now.” Viho smiled wolfishly when Wy stepped aside. “Thank you for looking out for her.”

  “Anytime.” The other guy’s eyes were huge in the dim interior of the barn. “Clayton, let’s go.”

  He seemed like he might have argued, but when he turned and saw Viho coming, he stopped cooing in mid-sentence, grabbed his hat and left the unlikely pair to their private matters, murmuring as he passed, “Good luck, Chief.”

  Viho nodded, then ducked into the stall. He held his breath at the rush of emotions that slammed into him when he saw Sterling. He tamped down the negative ones and tried to magnify the positive—protection, awe, pride and affection.

  Before wrecking the moment by opening his giant mouth and stuffing his boot in, he settled beside her and opened his arms. Sterling surprised him when she flew into them, crashing against his chest. She shook like a shoot in a tornado, scaring him with the intensity of her response.

  “Hey now. It’s going to be okay.” He tried every trick he knew to soothe her. Petting her hair, rubbing her back, rocking her gently, promising things he couldn’t be sure were true. “We’ll find a way to make this work.”

  A long time passed, filled with nothing but those reassuring whispers. And then, finally, an enormous, shaky breath from the woman in his arms. She relaxed against him and hugged him back.

  “I’m so sorry, Viho.” She crumpled his shirt in her hands as she clung to him. “That was…a disaster.”

  He had so many things to ask her. Starting with, how could you tell them my secret?

  But he didn’t.

  As if she could read his mind, she answered him anyway. “I can’t believe this is real. That everything went down like that. I swear, Viho, I didn’t tell Jake who you were. I didn’t keep this baby from you.”

  She rushed to explain herself. So he let her.

  “I didn’t know. I promise. I haven’t been feeling so good. And sure, I was late, but I figured it was because I’ve been kind of sick. Then I was so tired today. I blew it off thinking…well, you know…that yesterday wore me out.” A weak laugh left her, making Viho take a deep breath for the first time in what seemed like ten years. “I didn’t even suspect. So dumb of me. Hope made me take the test.”

  “So you’ve only known for a little bit yourself?” He hugged her tighter.

  “An hour, I guess,” she confirmed.

  “Oh, Sterling.” A portion of his resentment evaporated. “You’re still coming to terms with this too?”

  “I don’t think I’ve even started, Viho.” She looked up at him with diamond tears dangling from her lashes. They made her look heartbreakingly beautiful, more even than if they’d been some of her exquisite jewelry. “I went to see Vivi, get her advice and deal with the news. I told them—”

  Her story faltered as her anxiety ratcheted up again.

  “Shhh.” He stroked his palms up and down her arms. “It’s okay that you shared my past. Under these circumstances. Well, you were shocked—”

  “I didn’t.” Sterling stiffened in his grasp. “I swear, Viho. I didn’t tell them about Jake.”

  “Well, he certainly knew by the time I heard the ruckus and showed up.” This time it was her soothing him with hugs and kisses on his neck that were surprisingly effective.

  “I was irrational. Still probably am. Freaking out. This isn’t how I’d planned for my life to turn out, you know?” She pleaded him to understand with big, soft doe eyes that he couldn’t resist.

  “Yeah, I think I can relate.” He smiled a bit.

  “I started to talk crazy about giving up the baby to Hope, Wy and Clay. They’re trying you know?” As soon as the confession left her lips, he froze, though he tried to stay open-minded. “And then I realized how unfair that was to you. And that given the situation, you’d never have a child without being involved in their life.”

  “Damn straight,” he growled.

  “I told them how you were raised. I think Jake must have been standing in the other room. He guessed. He asked what your mom’s name was. I think, Viho, he must have had an inkling. Maybe you remind him of your mom, just like Vivi saw his eyes in you.” She shivered. “He grabbed me and started yelling. Demanding to know the truth. I swear, I didn’t tell him.”

  “No, I did.” Viho rewound the horrible scene in his mind. Sterling hadn’t crossed him after all.

  “I know it’s not what you wanted. None of this is.” More tears leaked from her. “I’m so sorry. What are we going to do?”

  “First, we’re going to dry your eyes.” He dabbed at her face. “This should be a happy occasion, Sterling.”

  “Really?” She peeked up at him. “You’re not angry?”

  “If I was, I’d only have myself to blame. I knew my prescription was running out. I should have stopped myself that day. But I couldn’t. No, I didn’t want to.” He didn’t glance away when he promised her, “I don’t regret taking that risk, and I will accept responsibility for my actions. No matter what, this peanut did nothing wrong and I won’t have its life start out with accusations and anger.”

  He laid his hand on her stomach and she clutched his fingers.

  “We made something phenomenal. If we work together instead of against each other, we’ll be better off in every way.” He nuzzled her nose with his.

  “Partners?” she asked.

  “Partners.” He liked the sound of that. Someone he could count on. A person he would look after. Well, two of them, he supposed. Tenderness swamped him when he watched Sterling and imagined her growing full and ripe with his child. He pictured her rocking a baby, swaddled in soft blankets.

  It wasn’t a bad vision at all. In fact, he groaned, never having imagined he’d have that kind of domestic tie in his life.

  He couldn’t guess what Sterling conjured as she stared right back at him, but it must have been something equally as inspiring because she leaned forward and rose up, seeking. Him.

  This time when their lips met, it was like sealing a pact. They caressed each other with kindheartedness and consideration that seemed appropriate for a mate. Sweet, lingering contact spoke to Viho on an instinctual level that surpassed any vows they could exchange.

  Finally, they broke apart, leaving a serene energy humming between them.

  “I’m glad I’m in this with you,” Sterling whispered.

  And honestly, he couldn’t think of another woman he would rather have for a partner. Though he hadn’t known her long, she’d already surpassed any other lover he’d had in his estimation. Good thing, too, since they were bound for life.

  “I’ll try my best to never let you down.” He kissed her softly. “Our baby either. I’m going to be the best dad I can be. And the best husband too.”

  “Huh?” Sterling jerked, plopping off his lap into the hay on the floor. “Who said anything about get
ting married? Viho, I hardly know you.”

  “Well enough to have a baby together.” Could she seriously be balking after all they’d discussed. “What happened to partners?”

  “That can mean a lot of things.” She got to her feet and held out her hands. “Like my dad has partners in running the ranch. They’re not married!”

  “So I’m good enough to fuck, but not good enough to be legally yours?” Hurt rained over him as he realized if it weren’t for the baby, she’d never have considered him more than tryst material. He’d wasted his breath the night before, warning her that he had planned to leave. She’d probably shrugged her shoulders mentally when he’d admitted that.

  “No. I mean, I don’t know. We’ve only known each other a little while.” Sterling glanced over her shoulder, as if searching for an escape route.

  He wasn’t trying to trap her, but what other freedoms did she expect?

  “Are you going to want to screw other guys? Bring them around our child? Use me, then leave me when you find Mr. Right instead of Mr. Side-of-the-Road? Some guy who can treat my kid like he’s not good enough because he’s not genetically connected?” Viho knew he was losing it because of his own childhood, but he couldn’t stop the pain from venting after all he’d endured. Right when he thought things were going okay, they always took a turn straight into the shitter.

  He was tired of the stench.

  “That’s not what this is about, Viho.” Sterling closed her eyes. “It’s just that in my family, people marry for love. Not out of obligation. That level of commitment isn’t a simple contract. It has to be more than that to last. We’re not going to do this baby any good if we find out in a year or two that we made a mistake by rushing into things.”

  “A little too late to decide that, isn’t it?” he growled.

  “I’m going to cut you some slack, Viho.” She stepped back once, then again, picking up speed. “I know what this must sound like to you. And we’re both on edge right now. I think we should say goodnight. You can come over in the morning.”