The Cowboy's Family (Family Ties Book 2)

by Carolyne Aarsen

  But that sympathy died a quick death when he realized what he had lost because of a misplaced obligation he felt toward him.

  The only thing he could feel proud of was that he’d defended Tricia to him. That he showed Roger he wasn’t supporting his efforts to take the twins. Mason knew that without his support, Roger had little ground to stand on. At least he had accomplished that much.

  However, as he drove away, hands clenched on his steering wheel, jaw held tight, he knew his misplaced loyalty had cost him everything.

  Chapter 16

  "Where Mason?" Hope looked up from her bowl of cereal, her eyes casting around the table as if hoping he would suddenly appear.

  It was Tuesday morning. Mason had been gone thirty-eight hours, and during every one of those hours Tricia fought a bizarre mixture of yearning and anger.

  "Mason working?" she asked.

  Her questions reverberated in Tricia's skull. "I told you honey, Mason is gone visiting his family."

  She wiped Hope's mouth, avoiding her father's pained look and Kane’s and Elliot’s sympathetic ones.

  Elliot had filled her father and brother in on Mason's duplicity. They had both expressed their anger, which hadn’t helped her untangle her confused emotions.

  She didn't want them to be angry with him, but at the same time she was so angry herself. Angry, hurt, betrayed…

  It was hard to tease out which emotion was the strongest. Which one caused the most pain.

  "What you have planned for today?" her father asked as he stabbed scrambled eggs with his fork.

  Tricia didn't know who he was talking to, so she said nothing.

  "Do you want me to watch the kids while you go out to work with the horses?"

  Guess it was her.

  "I suppose," she said. Yesterday she hadn't bothered with the horses at all. Her heart just wasn't in it. The horses didn't train themselves, and she knew if she waited too long she would lose a lot of ground with them.

  "I can help you if you want," Elliot offered.

  "Don't make promises you can't keep," Kane said with a gruff voice. "You promised to help me row up those hay bales."

  Elliot shrugged, giving Tricia an apologetic look. "Sorry, sis. Guess I'm ranching today."

  "That's okay. I can work with them on my own for a while." Tricia glanced at her father. “We’ll need to hire another trainer."

  "Mason said you're very capable," he said, and frowned as Elliot elbowed him in the side.

  "We're not mentioning that name here," Elliot warned him.

  Hope was banging her spoon against her empty bowl, singing some silly song. Each clang of the spoon on the bowl was a shot of pain through Tricia's head. She'd been nursing a headache for the last couple days. Crying did that to her. And then, of course, when she was done crying, she was angry that Mason had such an effect on her emotions. Which only made her headache worse.

  She rescued the bowl and spoon from Hope then took Cash’s away from him as well.

  "It doesn't matter how capable I seem to be," Tricia snapped. “I’ll still need some professional help if I want to do this for myself."

  "I can put the word out," Elliot offered. "I have some connections."

  "You seem to have a lot of those," Kane said dryly.

  "I think I'll let Dad take care of that," Tricia said. "Though thanks for the help, Elliot." She believed that Elliot had a number of connections, but she didn't completely trust him to follow through on his promise. She had been surprised when he offered to stick around a few days, considering he hadn't been back at the ranch since he and Kane fought over Elliot's interference in Faith’s musical career. That fight had torn Kane and Faith apart. Had broken their engagement and sent Faith on a two-year search to find herself.

  But maybe now that Kane and Faith were engaged, Kane might find it in his heart to be gracious to their wayward brother.

  At any rate, Elliot had told them he wasn't sticking around. Big surprise. He had a bunch more rodeos to compete in, and he needed every one to gain the points toward his goal. Competing in the Canadian Finals.

  Tricia dropped the kids’ dishes in the dishwasher. Hope and Cash climbed off their chairs, dancing around Elliot and Kane.

  "Play hide and seek," Cash announced, grabbing Kane’s hand.

  "Sorry, buddy," Kane said apologetically. "Uncle Kane and Uncle Elliot have to work."

  Kane picked up his plate and pushed his chair back.

  "Guess that's the signal I've been waiting for," Elliot joked. He got up as well, but as he passed Tricia on his way to the sink, he squeezed her arm in sympathy.

  Tricia was glad that neither her brothers nor her father had asked her more about Mason. She knew if they did, she would burst into tears. And she didn't want to cry anymore for him. It was humiliating and embarrassing.

  "You play with us, Mommy?" Hope asked.

  "Sorry, honey," Tricia said. "We don't have time for that either."

  She had promised Faith that she would come over and help her decide which outfits Cash and Hope would wear at the wedding. Faith had taken the day off from her secretarial job at her grandfather’s law firm, and she only had a couple hours this morning to meet her.

  The guys left, and she finished cleaning up the kitchen. Each time she passed the window she glanced out, looking toward the cabin that Mason had been staying in.

  Stop it. Stop thinking about him. He's not worth it.

  But even as she tried to convince herself of that, her traitorous mind slipped back to the kisses they had shared. How he had held and comforted her, how he had listened to her. She had told him things she hadn't told anybody else.

  How could she have trusted him? How could she have read him so wrong?

  Guess you just have lousy taste in guys.

  The twins pulled some blocks out of the cupboard and got busy stacking them while she wiped the counters.

  Once again she glanced out the window, but this time she saw a low-slung silver car come around the corner, roll down the driveway, and stop beside the trucks.

  Puzzled, she watched as the man about her father's age stepped out of the car. He wore sunglasses, a crisp white shirt, a leather vest, and dress pants with cowboy boots.

  He looked like a salesman.

  He stood a moment, his hands on his hips, looking around the ranch as if assessing it. Maybe a real estate agent who still thought the ranch was for sale.

  He walked to the door, and Tricia hurried to forestall him. She opened the door just as he stepped onto the porch.

  "What can I do for you?" she asked.

  The man stopped halfway up the stairs, staring at her. He pulled his sunglasses off, and Tricia sucked her breath in. Her heart began thundering in her chest. She swallowed, her legs wobbling as she stepped out and shut the door behind her.

  Drew's father.

  "I'm guessing you recognize me," he said.

  "Drew told me about you," Tricia said, the anger and sorrow she’d been battling the past few days finding a target. "He told me I shouldn't tell you about the children. That if you found out you would take them away. I thought he was just paranoid, but it turned out he was right."

  The man blinked, looking away from her. Tricia reached for her cell phone to call Kane and her father, then remembered with a clench of dismay that she had left it on the kitchen counter.

  She felt defenseless and helpless.

  She wished Mason was there.

  Where did that come from? He was the last person she wanted around right now. Mason was the reason Roger Bouche was here.

  "I'm guessing Mason sent you here," she snapped, reaching for the anger that had sustained her when she wasn't crying. "I know he works for you. He told me."

  "Actually, he didn't send me here." Mr. Bouche folded his sunglasses and slipped them in his pocket. "I'm here on my own. And Mason doesn't work for me anymore. He quit."

  “What do you mean he quit?" Tricia was having a hard time keeping up with him. "He told me
he’s worked for you for a long time. That he owes you so much."

  In the silence that followed her comment Tricia could hear the children playing in the house.

  What should she do? Invite him in? Send him away?

  They are his grandchildren too.

  "So why are you here, Mr. Bouche?" She took a step back, leaning against the door as if barring him entrance, her better judgment struggling with reality. Whether she liked it or not, he had some right to see his grandchildren. Didn’t he?

  He sighed heavily. “I wish you would call me Roger. I'm not here to take the children away from you, if that's what you're thinking." The man’s comment surprised her even more than his unscheduled visit.

  "I thought that was the whole purpose of Mason being here,” she said, suddenly wary.

  “I would be lying if I said that wasn't the reason I sent Mason here. But Mason said some things that made me want to come here and see you for myself."

  That name again. That stab of pain again.

  She didn't want to ask what it was that Mason had said. But she didn't have to.

  "Mason told me what an amazing mother you are," he continued. "How good you are with the children. Yes, I sent him here to spy on you. I know how that looks. But I needed to know how my grandchildren were doing. I had no way of finding out, and I was pretty sure Drew told you some very one-sided stories about me."

  “Drew was afraid of you,” she admitted, crossing her arms in a defensive posture. She couldn’t completely discount the fear that Drew had expressed as he lay dying.

  “Of course he was. And he should have been. I knew what kind of life he was leading, which, I have to confess, made me wonder what you were like." He shrugged, holding her gaze. "When I found out that your old boyfriend was a drug dealer—"

  "I didn't know. I had no idea," Tricia said, her anger and her guilt spilling out. "I broke up with him. I couldn't help it that he followed me around. That wasn't my fault. Sure, I made a mistake, but I paid for it in spades. But even in spite of that, I made sure my children were safe."

  "Is that how they ended up getting dumped here on the ranch by the daughter of the woman who was babysitting them?"

  His comment hit too close to home and once again Tricia fought down a surge of guilt. "I was at a conference for work. For training. I was hoping to make manager of the restaurant I was working at. I did it for the kids." Her voice broke, and she was frustrated that she had to defend herself to a man who knew only the worst about her and who seemed determined to believe it.

  Roger stood silent, his hands resting on his hips. Then he shook his head, giving her a wry smile. "I'm sorry. Mason accused me of only seeing what I wanted to see when it came to you. Of only seeing things that would reinforce my position."

  Tricia couldn't say anything to that but his about-face surprised her, as did Mason’s defense of her.

  "I know how this whole situation looks to you,” he continued, the bluster out of his voice now. “And I'm sure you're not feeling kindly toward Mason right now. But he was working for me because he felt an obligation to me. An obligation he should never have carried. I realize that now." He released a sigh. "Mason made me look at myself in a way I didn't really appreciate. But you need to know he's a good man. And I believe he really cares about you. About you and about the children. He only wants what's best for you all."

  Tricia pressed her fingers against her lips to stop them from trembling. His defense of Mason was difficult to hear but encouraging. Maybe she could trust her judgment about men after all.

  But Mason was gone. She had chased him away. And despite her father-in-law’s defense of him, she had too much pride to go chasing after him.

  "I hear the grandchildren inside,” he continued. “I know this might be too much to ask, but I'd really like to see them."

  Tricia still felt torn, still felt betrayed, but as she looked into this man’s eyes, she saw a yearning and a hunger she couldn’t, in good conscience, deny.

  “I promise you, I won’t be trying to take them away. I would have needed Mason for that, and he’s not cooperating.”

  More words of support for a man she thought she had banished from her life.

  “And so he shouldn't,” she said finally. “I may not have been the best mother, but he could see that I was trying.”

  “He said you did more than that,” Roger said.

  Tricia felt another jolt at his words but then turned, opened the door, and stepped aside for Roger to enter the house.

  Hope and Cash were still playing, piling up the blocks and knocking them over. But when Tricia and Roger entered the room, they spun around and stared at him.

  "Who you?" Hope asked, stepping back toward her bedroom, her smile immediately replaced by a look of wariness.

  Despite her anger toward Mason and the man beside her, a thread of guilt wound around Tricia’s heart at the expression on her daughter’s face. She had created that uncertainty, that fear of unknown men.

  The thought was like a punch in her stomach. She glanced at Roger to see his reaction. He was biting his lip, his hands clenched against his heart as if trying to hold it in his chest.

  "He a good guy?" Cash asked as he carefully set another block on top of his tower.

  Tricia wasn't sure how to answer that question. Wasn't sure what to tell them about this man they had never met or knew anything about.

  The guilt tightened.

  You didn't know. You were going by what Drew told you. And then you spent the next year trying to outrun a drug dealer.

  In that moment, the reality of her previous existence shuttered into the present. Did she have any right to keep her kids from this man?

  "This is Grandpa Roger," Tricia said finally, realizing that Roger wasn't going to say anything.

  The fact that he had kept silent raised her estimation of him. He had a ways to go yet; after all, he had sent Mason to check her out. But even as she thought about that, she couldn't help but think of Perry. From the outside looking in, the optics weren't good. Her poor judgment had got her into a bad situation.

  "No, Grandpa Zach," Hope said, shaking her head in puzzlement.

  "Yes, Zach is your grandpa," Tricia said walking over to the children and kneeling down beside them. "Zach is my daddy, and Grandpa Roger is your daddy's daddy."

  Tricia had made sure to let the children know they had a father. That he wasn't around. It was a difficult concept to explain to two-year-olds, but she thought if she started soon, eventually it would sink in.

  Cash tilted his head too, as if trying to figure this all out.

  Roger gave him a careful smile. His eyes flicked upward to Tricia. "He looks exactly like Drew did at that age," he said.

  Tricia stroked Cash's head, smiling down at her son. "I always thought he resembled Drew."

  "And Hope looks exactly like you."

  Roger pulled a kitchen chair closer to the kids and sat on it, leaning forward. "I'd like to get to know you kids a little better."

  Cash nodded as if he understood what this meant.

  "What games do you like to play?" Roger asked.

  "Hide and seek," Hope said. "Mason plays."

  "They've been angling to play hide and seek all morning, but no one wants to play along. Mason played it with them." Tricia was thankful her voice didn't wobble as she spoke Mason's name. Maybe she was getting used to this.

  Does it need to stay this way? He was saying good things about you.

  He betrayed her trust. She didn't know if she could ever trust him again.

  "Where Mason?" Hope asked, looking up at Tricia with expectation.

  "I told you, Mason is visiting his mom and his sisters."

  "I wove Mason," Hope said, turning back to her blocks.

  "Sounds like they've developed quite a relationship with him," Roger said. He glanced up at Tricia, a question in his eyes.

  “Would you like some coffee?" Tricia pushed to her feet, ignoring his unspoken query. She was too
confused right now. She was still angry with Mason, hurt by his actions, and yet, she couldn't deny her feelings for him. And that was her dilemma.

  However, now that the children’s grandfather was here, now that he had met the kids, they might as well find a way around this mess. They might as well open the lines of communication. Find a way they could make this work.

  That Mason had instigated all of this wasn't lost on her. But right now she couldn't think about him.

  Chapter 17

  "So you're still heading back to the ranch?" Kelly walked with Mason out the door and down the steps toward his truck.

  "There are a few things I have to pick up," Mason said.

  "Are you going to talk to Tricia?" Kelly watched as Mason opened the back door of his truck and tossed his suitcase inside.

  "I don't think she wants to have anything to do with me. And I don't blame her," Mason said. He wished he felt as casual as he sounded.

  The entire time he was at his mom’s house, Tricia was on his mind. He kept wondering if there was any way he could have done things differently.

  But every single time he came up against the reality that he had to tell her the truth some time or other. And while the Bible promised that the truth would set him free, in this case it had created an untenable situation.

  "You don't think she'll understand once you explain everything to her?" His sister leaned against the door of his truck, her arms folded over her chest. She looked like she wasn't moving until she got what she wanted.

  Mason had already said his goodbyes to his mother, and his other sister had already gone back to her own home. Kelly was headed home soon but had stuck around to say goodbye. Now she followed him to the door and now out to the truck, and Mason knew it wasn't just to say one last goodbye.

  "I explained everything to her," Mason said. "And that's the reason I can't go back."

  "What about the horses?" Kelly asked. "How will she train them?"

  "I've already thought about that. I've called a few other guys, tried to see if anyone will work with her."