Unfortunately, though, there was no way the truth could be kept hidden forever. Cody had already seen his daughter. His brother knew that Sharon Lynn was Cody’s. Sooner or later the pieces of the puzzle would come together, and when they did, she didn’t have a doubt in her mind what Cody’s reaction would be. If he’d been furious when he’d thought she was cheating on him with his best friend, he would destroy her when he found out about the baby she’d kept from him. Maybe he wouldn’t fight her for custody as her mother feared, but he would make her life into the hell she deserved for deceiving him in the first place.
She rubbed her knuckles against Sharon Lynn’s soft skin and sighed again. There was so much of Cody in her daughter. She had the same stubborn tilt to her chin, the same dark blond hair that streaked with gold in the summer sun. And, for the most part, she had the same sunny disposition and laughing eyes Cody had had before he thought Melissa had betrayed him.
It had hurt today to glimpse the old teasing Cody, only to see him vanish in the space of a heartbeat at the first mention of the past. When he’d walked out of Dolan’s, her heart had been heavy with the burden of guilt and fear.
“I have to be the one to tell him,” she whispered finally, her fingers caressing that precious cheek. “I have to tell your daddy all about you.”
Maybe by revealing the truth herself, before he learned it from someone else, she would have some small chance of earning his forgiveness. They could work out a solution together.
Tomorrow, she vowed. First thing tomorrow afternoon when she got off work, she would drive out to White Pines and tell Cody everything. And then she would pray that it didn’t cost her the only person on earth she held dear.
* * *
Too restless to stay in one place for long as he contemplated how to go about discovering whether Melissa’s baby was his, Cody drove over to visit Jordan and Kelly. Six-year-old Dani was always a distraction and he just might get a chance to hold that nephew of his. He had a hunch it would be a bittersweet sensation given what he suspected about Melissa’s child being his own.
“Uncle Cody!” Dani screamed when she caught sight of him. She ran and leapt into his arms, planting kisses all over his face. “I really, really missed you.”
The weight of her in his arms, the peppermint-sticky kisses, filled him with nostalgia and accomplished exactly what he’d hoped for. “I really missed you, too, pumpkin. I’m sorry I didn’t get to take those kittens you had for me awhile back.”
She patted his cheek consolingly. “That’s okay. Francie had more. Want to see? One is all black with a white nose. I think you’ll really, really like him.”
He grinned. “I bet I will,” he agreed. “We’ll go see him later.”
“We’d better go now,” Dani protested. “Later it will be my bedtime.”
“Give me a few minutes inside to say hello to your mom,” he negotiated. “I’m sure it won’t be your bedtime then.”
Dani braced her hands against his chest, leaned back in his arms and studied him intently. “You promise you won’t leave without going to see the kittens?”
“I promise,” he said, solemnly crossing his heart as he put her down.
“Okay,” she said cheerfully, and ran toward the house screaming, “Mommy, Uncle Cody’s here and he says he’s going to take one of Francie’s kittens.”
“Thank goodness,” Kelly called back as she emerged from the house, a grin on her face. “Conned you again, huh?”
He chuckled. “If you’re not careful, that child of yours is going to be the biggest scam artist in the entire United States.”
“I prefer to think she’ll have a career in diplomacy or maybe negotiating strike settlements,” Kelly said. “Come on in. Jordan’s still at the office, but he should be home soon.”
His sister-in-law surveyed him closely. “How are you? You look lousy.”
“Obviously Dani isn’t the only one in the family with a silver tongue.”
Kelly didn’t bat an eye. “Did you see Melissa today?”
“I’m sure you know perfectly well that your husband and Luke badgered me into it.”
“They said they were going to try. I wasn’t sure if it had worked.”
“I saw her,” he admitted. “And her baby.” He watched closely for Kelly’s reaction. She remained expressionless.
“I see,” she said blandly, keeping her attention focused on the vegetables she was chopping. “How did it go?”
Cody thought she was working awfully darned hard to feign disinterest. “Fine for the first few minutes, ugly after that.”
“Oh, Cody,” she protested softly. “Isn’t it time you settled things with her and came home for good?”
Suddenly he didn’t want to pursue the topic. He needed a break from it. They could get into it again when Jordan got home. Hopefully his brother would have answers that Kelly couldn’t or wouldn’t give him.
“I don’t want to talk about Melissa right now. First I want to catch a glimpse of that brand new baby boy of yours,” he declared just as Jordan came in and dropped a kiss on his wife’s cheek.
“Hey, little brother, what brings you by?” Jordan asked, sneaking a carrot from the pile Kelly had just cut up.
“He’s going to take a kitten,” Dani chimed in. “Can we go see them now, Cody? It’s later.”
Since going to see the kittens would keep him from having to deal with the subject of Melissa and her baby a little longer, Cody stood and headed for the kitchen door. Dani tucked her hand in his.
“You should probably take two kittens,” she said on the way out. “One might get lonely.”
“Listen, young lady, I said one kitten,” he protested over the sound of Kelly and Jordan’s laughter.
“But you were going to take two last time.” Apparently she caught his stern expression because she gave a little shrug of resignation. “I bet you’ll change your mind when you see them.”
A half hour later he was back in the kitchen with two kittens in a box. Dani had been giving him very precise instructions on caring for them ever since they’d left the barn. Kelly’s expression turned smug when she saw him.
“You are pitiful,” Jordan said, shaking his head. “Is there a female on the face of the earth you can resist?”
“Who are you kidding?” Cody shot back, gesturing to the big tomcat that was curled in Jordan’s lap purring contentedly. “You always hated cats and now you’re surrounded by them. I don’t hear you complaining.”
“You may not hear it,” Kelly said, “but it is almost the last thing I hear every single night. He says ‘Good night, I love you, no more cats,’ all in one breath.”
“I do not,” Jordan said, dislodging the cat and pulling Kelly onto his lap.
Cody listened to their banter and watched their undisguised affection with envy. Until he’d lost Melissa he’d never thought he wanted marriage and kids. He’d been as commitment-phobic as any one of those jerks who made the rounds of the talk shows. Ironically, ever since their breakup, all he’d been able to think about was settling down and having kids. He’d deliberately isolated himself in Wyoming so he’d be far from the temptation to try something at which he knew he’d inevitably fail.
After all, he hadn’t appreciated Melissa when he’d had her and she was as sexy and generous, as kind and intelligent, as any woman he’d ever known. He’d had a roving eye, just the same. He’d taken her for granted, which everyone in the family had accused him of doing at one time or another. He suspected he’d do the same with a wife. What was the point of ruining some woman’s life for his own selfish longing to have just a taste of the kind of love Jordan and Luke had found?
“How long are you sticking around? Have you told your boss when you’ll be back in Wyoming?” Jordan asked after Kelly insisted Cody stay for dinner.
Kelly dished up a serving of stew for him and lingered at his
shoulder. “You are not going back until after J.J. is baptized,” she said emphatically.
Cody glanced up at her. “When is that again?”
“Next weekend, which you know perfectly well. I sent you an invitation. We’re going ahead with it. Harlan insisted.”
Something in his expression must have given him away because she frowned. “You ripped it up, didn’t you?”
Cody recalled the scattered pieces of the pretty blue invitation and felt a tide of red rising in his cheeks. Was the woman a damned witch?
“Of course not,” he fibbed.
The response drew a disbelieving snort. “So you’ll be here at least that long,” she said.
Cody had a feeling once he learned the truth about Melissa’s baby, he wouldn’t be able to get away from Texas fast enough. He’d need to cool his temper for a good long while before confronting her with what he knew. He’d also need time to make up his mind exactly what he wanted to do about the baby she’d kept from him. He intended to learn that truth in the next twenty-four hours.
“Sorry,” he said eventually. “I can’t promise to stay that long.”
Kelly glanced at Jordan, then back at him. “Your brothers said you were going to say no,” she said.
“I had no idea I was so predictable.”
“Lately you are,” his sister-in-law said. “Lately, you’ve gotten downright boring.”
He gave her a wry look. “More of that fatal charm, I see.”
Kelly frowned at his teasing. “What if I told you that Jordan and I want you to be the baby’s godfather?”
Something deep inside him shifted at the offer. He felt an unexpected warm glow. It was a feeling he told himself he didn’t deserve, especially not if he had a real child of his own he’d never even acknowledged.
“I’d say you made a lousy choice,” he responded.
“I told you he wouldn’t even be gracious about it,” Jordan chimed in. “Leave him be, Kelly. He’s as stubborn as the rest of us when he digs in his heels. He’ll change his mind, if we let the idea simmer long enough.”
“I won’t change my mind,” Cody said. “Sorry.”
“You say that a lot these days,” Jordan observed.
“Maybe I have a lot to be sorry for.”
“Well, this is one thing you can check off the list,” Jordan said.
He spoke in that matter-of-fact way that indicated he’d reached a decision and wanted no further argument. It was a tactic that might have served him well in business, but it grated on Cody’s nerves.
“I want you here, little brother,” Jordan stated emphatically. “And I want you to be the baby’s godfather. It’s settled.”
Despite his annoyance at Jordan’s attempt to snatch the decision out of his hands, Cody could feel himself weakening, feel that odd, empty sensation in the pit of his stomach that always meant the loneliness was taking hold again.
“Did you check it out at the church?” he inquired lightly. “They’ll probably be worried about lightning hitting the steeple if I show my hide in there.”
“There was some mention of that, but I believe there’s a general consensus that your soul is still salvageable,” Kelly said. “Please, Cody. We’ve missed you. It’s only for a few days more. How bad can that be?”
A few days, one hour, any time at all would be hell, especially if he discovered in the meantime that he had a baby of his own. Still, Cody had never been able to resist his sister-in-law. Kelly had been coaxing him into trouble since they were toddlers. Jordan had been too stuffy even at seven to fall in with some of her more outrageous mischief, though there had never been a doubt in anyone’s mind that Jordan was the one she loved.
“I’ll stick around,” he said eventually. “Long enough to get that nephew of mine in good graces with the Lord. Then I’m heading right back out. Understood?”
“Understood,” Kelly said meekly.
Kelly meek? Every alarm bell in him went off. Before he could get too caught up in trying to figure out her angle, she was gone. He was left alone with Jordan, while Kelly went upstairs to tuck Dani into bed. Suddenly the questions that had been tormenting him earlier in the day could no longer be ignored.
“Kelly mentioned that you saw Melissa and her little girl today, after you left Luke and me,” Jordan said, his gaze fixed on Cody’s face.
The comment gave him the perfect opening. “Why didn’t you warn me?” Cody asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “You knew about the baby, didn’t you?”
Jordan sighed, then nodded. “I saw her once, about eight months ago. She was just a baby.” He scanned Cody’s face as if looking for answers. “What did you think when you saw her?”
“I figured Melissa and Brian had more going for them than I’d realized. I figured they were a happy little family now.” Cody threw out the possibility to gauge his brother’s reaction. If Jordan knew anything different, he’d find it out now.
The color washed out of Jordan’s face. “Did you say that to Melissa?”
“More or less,” he admitted. “Along with offering her my congratulations.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing.”
“I see.”
Cody lost patience for the game. He knew darned well that Jordan knew more than he was saying. He could see it in his eyes. His brother was looking everywhere in the kitchen except directly at him.
“You might as well spit it out,” he told him finally.
“What?”
“Whatever has you looking like you’d rather be in Kansas.”
A faint grin tugged at Jordan’s mouth. “Maybe Houston, not Kansas,” he said. He sighed. “How good a look did you get at the child?”
“Good enough,” Cody said. He sensed that Jordan wanted him to reach a different conclusion than he’d just offered all on his own. He sucked in a deep breath. “She’s mine, isn’t she?”
Once Cody had actually spoken the words out loud, Jordan nodded, confirming everything.
Cody’s heart pounded. An uncommon mix of hope and dismay swirled through him. “You know that for sure?”
“I saw it right off,” Jordan admitted. “She was the spitting image of your baby pictures. I confronted Melissa about it straight out.”
Cody felt an icy chill settle over him as Jordan’s earlier comment came back to him. He stood and leaned down to look his brother in the eye. “And that was when? About eight months ago, you said?”
“Yes,” Jordan replied softly.
“And Melissa confirmed your suspicions right then and there?” he demanded, the hurt and anger of yet another betrayal slamming through him.
“Yes.”
“Damn you, Jordan,” he snapped, backing up to prevent slamming a fist in his brother’s face. “How could you do that to me? How could you keep a secret like that? Didn’t you think I had a right to know? Or was this another one of those big-brother-knows-best decisions?”
“She pleaded with me not to tell you,” Jordan said simply.
Cody stared at him incredulously. “And your loyalty was with her and not me?”
“Why the hell do you think I’ve done everything in my power to get you back here? I didn’t want to lay this on you when you were in Wyoming. I wanted you here, so you could see for yourself. I didn’t want you to accuse me or her of making it up just to get you back here.”
Cody wasn’t buying it. “No, you were more concerned with keeping your promise to a woman who betrayed me than you were with doing what was right—giving me a chance to know my own child.” He turned on his heel and headed for the door, the box of kittens in tow. “I can’t believe you would do something like this. Maybe family loyalty doesn’t mean anything once you’re a big corporate executive. Is that it, big brother?”
“Cody, you have it all wrong,” Kelly protested when
she came back into the kitchen. Obviously she had overheard the tail end of the argument.
“I don’t think so,” he snapped, shooting her a look of regret. “Don’t expect me at the baptism, after all. In fact, forget you even know me.”
Kelly called out after him. He heard the screen door slam behind her, then Jordan murmuring something he couldn’t quite make out. Whatever it was, though, it silenced her. When he looked back as he drove away, he saw them standing on the porch staring after him. He was sure it was only his imagination, but he thought he saw his brother wiping something that might have been tears from his cheeks.
He slowed the car momentarily and closed his eyes against the tide of anguish washing through him. Melissa had done it again. She had come between him and his family. He vowed then and there it would be the last time. This time he wouldn’t run. He wouldn’t let her control his destiny as he had before.
Forgetting all about his resolve to let his temper cool, an hour later he was in town, pounding on the Hortons’ front door. Ken Horton, wearing a robe and slippers, opened it a crack. At the sight of Cody, he swung it wider, a welcoming smile spreading across his weathered face. Cody could see Velma’s panicky expression as she stared over her husband’s shoulder.
“Cody, what on earth?” Horton grumbled. “You trying to wake the whole neighborhood?”
“Where’s Melissa?”
“She’s not here,” he said as his wife tugged frantically on his arm. When he leaned down, she whispered something in his ear, something that wiped any lingering expression of welcome from his face. “Go on home, Cody.”
“Not until you tell me where she is.”
“Don’t make me call the sheriff.”
“Don’t make me pound the information out of you,” Cody shot back belligerently.
Ken Horton regarded him sympathetically. “Boy, go on home and get some sleep. If you’ve got things to talk over with Melissa, do it in the morning, when you’re calmer.”
Despite his earlier promise to himself to think things through clearly, Cody realized he didn’t want to be calm when he talked to Melissa. He wanted this rage to keep him focused, to keep him immune to the sight of her. He wanted to have this out with her while he was hot with anger, not lust.
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