“Maybe you should move closer to me,” Jake said quietly.

At those words, Cat’s world flipped over. At first she thought he wasn’t going to meet her eyes, but then he looked at her squarely and she saw the tumult of emotions in them. For a wild moment, she wondered if maybe she and Jake had a chance to go back in time and be together again.

“I wouldn’t try to push myself into your lives. I promise,” he said after a moment. “I just—well, if you were closer I wouldn’t worry about the two of you so much.”

“Oh.” Cat felt all of her wild imaginings fall back to earth with a thud. She had somehow forgotten how responsible Jake felt for everything and everyone. Of course, he would want to do his duty by her and Lara. She just knew that love was a far cry from duty, and she had searched for love her whole life.

She needed to remember she had come here for Lara. Her own feelings didn’t matter.

She looked down at her daughter. Cat needed to be strong for her.

Dear Reader,

It’s spring again and, if you’re like me, that signals a time for new hope. Something stirs in each of us when we see new green shoots of grass or plants come to life after a hard winter. On the family farm where I grew up in Montana, my mother had lilac bushes and, if my sisters and I left our bedroom window open at night, we went to sleep with the fragrance of the bushes all around us. Maybe that’s why spring, in my mind, always smells like lilacs.

I’m sure you have similar memories and I hope this book will remind you that new beginnings are still possible—whether it’s in a relationship or some other place that is broken in your life. Remember all things are possible with God’s help.

If you have a minute, I’d love to hear from you. Just contact me through my website at www.janettronstad.com. In the meantime, God bless you and keep you.

Sincerely,

Lilac Wedding

in Dry Creek

Janet Tronstad

www.millsandboon.co.uk

If thou canst believe,

all things are possible to him that believeth.

—Mark 9:23

This book is dedicated to my friend, David White,

with love and affection.

Chapter One

Distant thunder rumbled as Jake Stone lifted his duffel bag onto his shoulder, closed his door and started walking down the hall toward the lobby of the Starling Hotel. It was a rainy day in March and he didn’t look forward to the long drive north to Dry Creek, Montana—especially because once he got there his older brother would start pressing him even harder to move back to the ranch, settle down and get married.

Jake refused to marry some poor woman just to stop his brother from nagging him to death. The Stone boys had bad history when it came to family life, even if his brother chose to ignore it. As for moving back to Dry Creek, Jake had decided years ago that this nondescript hotel near the Las Vegas airport was home enough for him.

He entered the lobby and glanced over to where the owner of the place stood behind the counter.

“Well, don’t you look fine?” Gray stubble showed on Max Holden’s weathered face, but his eyes were lively as he looked up. “Going home to Dry Creek for your brother’s wedding is doing you good already.”

Jake stopped and ran a finger around the collar of his new white shirt so he could breathe easier.

“Got some stamps?” He finished walking over to the counter, dropped his duffel bag to the floor and reached into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling out an envelope and handing it to the other man.

Jake didn’t like to talk about the wedding. His brother was wrong if he thought getting married would change who he was in the eyes of their small hometown. Not that Jake blamed anyone for how they felt about the Stone family. Everyone knew about the years of physical abuse out at their ranch. All of the family secrets had been laid bare when his father was murdered and his mother had gone to trial for doing the crime. People naturally had wondered if the sons were more like their father or their mother. Neither answer had been good back then.

Max took the long, white envelope from Jake and weighed it in his hand. “I figure two stamps should do it.” Then he glanced down at the writing on the front. “I hope this Cathy Barker appreciates all the letters you send. Who is she, anyway?”

So much time had passed since Jake heard someone speak the woman’s name that he hadn’t expected the jolt that went through him. Max had never questioned the envelopes before.

Secrets had destroyed Jake’s family as surely as his father’s alcoholism. If his mother had confided in their neighbors, then they might have understood what was happening. And she might not have served a ten-year prison term before anyone realized she was innocent and had only confessed to protect her teenage sons from facing suspicion.

“We used to call her Cat,” Jake began and forced himself to set forth the whole story. “I don’t know how she feels or even if she gets the letters. I put my return address on every one, but she never writes back.”

At that bit of information, Max’s jaw dropped along with the envelope.

“You mean to tell me, all these years you’ve been stuffing those letters with cash—and don’t think I don’t know what’s in there—then asking me to mail them like they were your last will and testament. And you don’t even know whether or not they’re getting through to her.”

Rain continued to pound against the windows as Jake tried to think of an answer that didn’t make him seem like a half wit. Nothing came to mind. It sounded foolish to admit that it eased his worries to send her money.

“You’re sure about sending this?” Max asked as he looked down at the envelope now resting on his counter. “What if you have another dry spell? You might not always be winning at the poker tables like you have been. And, there’s a lot of money in there.”

Jake glanced over his shoulder. The lobby was empty. But, through the main windows, he could see the figure of a woman walking down the street toward the motel, trying to hold a black umbrella open in front of her against the wind. As near as he could tell, it looked as if she was rolling a big suitcase behind her. He had only a few minutes before she got here.

Jake turned back to Max. He’d have to talk fast. “If I keep my expenses like they are now, I have enough money in the bank to last me a hundred and fifteen years. I don’t plan on living nearly that long, and Cat might need something today. She’s a friend from the youth home—you know, the place where they sent me and my youngest brother when they shipped my mother off to prison and my older brother joined the rodeo circuit. No one there will ever give me Cat’s address, but they always promise to forward the letters for me.”

Jake had never strung so many words together in his life and he was starting to regret it.

Max cleared his throat and nodded. “I know how it is. There are guys from Vietnam I’d send my last dollar to if they needed it. You go through something like that with someone, you never forget them.”

Jake nodded. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to bare his soul after all.

Then the door clicked open behind him and the wind blew cold air inside, making the back of his neck shiver. He didn’t turn to see who was there. The anxious frown on Max’s face was enough to scare the woman away without him adding to it. Thinking of Cat always unnerved him.

“Mommy?” The voice of a young girl sounded uncertain behind him.

He’d been mistaken in thinking it was a suitcase beside the woman, Jake realized. He was usually more observant, but the rain on the windows had made it difficult to see. Still, he didn’t turn around. He figured a woman with any sense would be shepherding her little one out of the Starling about now. One good look at the run-down hotel would be all it would take to give a mother with a young child second thoughts about staying there. The place had heart, but the color from the linoleum had faded away to nothing over the years. He should give Max some money to replace the linoleum with carpet. Jake had the money to give and Max had been good to him over the years.

“Can I help you?” Max finally asked as he looked past Jake. He must have expected the woman to be gone by now, too. “Our business is mostly by the month. There’s a nice family motel around the corner and down a block, though. It’s a little more expensive, but they’ve got a small pool. Ask for the spring special and they’ll treat you right.”

“I am looking for 3762 Morgan Street,” the woman said. “I think it must be a house or an apartment. I didn’t see any numbers outside your place and I wondered if you’d know how close I am.”

Jake lost all feeling in his body before she got to the street name. He knew that voice as well as he knew his own.

“You got a package or something?” Max asked, suddenly cautious.

“I’m looking for a man. Jake Stone. He lives there.”

Max gave a start and his bulging eyes went to Jake as if he was waiting for some signal as to what he should say to the woman.

Jake would have been happy to oblige, but something had happened in his brain and everything was going in slow motion. It sounded as though the woman’s words were coming from a great distance. He needed to sit down, but he couldn’t move. His boots kept him rooted to the place where he stood.

“My name’s Cat—I mean, Cathy Barker. If you know where I could find the address, I’d appreciate it very much if you’d point me in the right direction. I had planned to take a taxi from the airport, but none of them had a child’s safety seat so I just left our luggage in the claim section and we started to walk. They said it wasn’t far when they told me how to find the street.”

Max’s face turned a little purple at her flow of words.

“You’re …” He started to sputter and then stopped. Finally, he pointed. “That’s him. This is the address right here.”

Everything was silent for a moment.

“Jake?”

The hesitation in the woman’s voice brought Jake to his senses. He didn’t want to stand with his back to her like a fake statue, not when Cat might just be passing through and only wanted to say hello. He bluffed at the poker tables in one casino or another almost every night. He should be able to school his face into some semblance of normalcy and turn around and greet his old friend.

“Mommy, is that him?” the girl asked.

Jake felt his breath catch in his throat. He forced his lips to stretch into a smile as he turned around.

There she was. Cat. She hadn’t changed a bit, he thought, as she stared up at him, her green eyes growing large and her delicate face turning pale. Her chin still jutted out as if she expected a fight, but her golden-brown hair had been blown around enough to show she didn’t even have the strength to battle the wind on her own. And that was before the rain had plastered every strand of hair to the side of her head. He’d always protected her and he felt like doing it now.

“I …” Cat started to say something, but stopped.

“Mommy?” The small voice grew more incessant and worried. Jake glanced down and saw that the girl had a plastic, gold tiara clamped onto her damp blond hair. She wasn’t much taller than the stool behind Max’s counter and her pink cheeks made her look like a cherub in some old European painting. She had gold glitter sticking on her shoes, too, in spite of the rain. Jake was going to say something to soothe her, but then she reached for her mother’s hand.

He looked up in time to see Cat’s eyes start to close. If he hadn’t stepped over to catch her, she would have drifted all the way to the floor. As it was, she didn’t weigh more than a feather when he lifted her in his arms. He wanted to ask when the last time was that she’d eaten a decent meal. He hadn’t seen her for five years and she certainly hadn’t gained an ounce in all that time. He wondered what she had spent all of the money he mailed her on. It certainly hadn’t been food, not when she’d just fainted the way she had.

Jake caught the subtle scent of lilacs as he looked down. He’d presented Cat with a whole case of lilac soap for her eighteenth birthday.

“Mommy?” the girl said again, but this time the word had an edge to it, as though she was frightened.

Cat’s little girl stared up at him, expecting something.

“It’ll be all right,” he assured her. “Your mother just needs to eat something.”

He remembered Cat had fainted a time or two when she first came to the youth home. The nurse said it was because she hadn’t eaten then, too.

The child nodded. Her curls were starting to bounce, but her blue eyes still watched him closely. It seemed she didn’t quite trust him, even if she wasn’t withdrawing from him. She reached up to steady her tiara, not saying anything.

He stepped past the girl and carried Cat over to the sofa. He laid her down on the vinyl sofa, arranging her head so it rested on one sofa arm while her feet curved up on the other one. The upholstery creaked softly as it adjusted to her being there.

Cat had run away from the youth home the day after he gave her the lilac soap, taking every one of the bars with her. She must be almost twenty-three now. She was only a few months younger than him.

He reached for her face, hoping to bring her back. “Cat?”

Her skin was wet and cold from being outside, but he felt his fingers tingle where they touched her. He took his Stetson off and set it on the back of the sofa. Then he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. It wasn’t proper, but he couldn’t help himself. This was Cat.

“Are you a prince?” Suddenly the girl was beside him. She sounded suspicious and she moved even closer, as though she wanted to be sure she could see everything he did.

Jake leaned back and looked over at her in surprise. “A what?”

He’d been called many things in his life, but never that.

The girl’s tiara was crooked by now, but she didn’t seem to notice. “In Sleeping Beauty, the prince kisses the princess and she wakes up.”

“I don’t think …”

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe you’re not doing it right. Kiss her again so her eyes open.”

Jake looked back down at Cat. Her daughter had a point. The first kiss certainly hadn’t moved any mountains.

“On the lips,” the girl instructed him as he started toward her mother’s forehead. “It has to be on the lips for it to work. It says so in my book.”

Who was he to argue with an expert? Especially one who had a book to back her up.

Cat felt Jake’s lips brush hers, but she couldn’t rouse herself enough to respond. She’d had that dream so many times, and it never turned out to be real. Only, now her heart was racing and she felt the chill of the vinyl sofa under her and the gentleness of his hand when he caressed her cheek. Everything else was a kaleidoscope of colors, but maybe it wasn’t just her imagination this time. She’d taken her heart medication this morning, hadn’t she? She tried to remember and the moment started to come back. She’d flown from Minneapolis with her daughter, Lara, because time had become so important and the bus would have taken too long.

Had she heard Lara talking about a prince? The first thing Lara had packed in her suitcase was the book of fairy tales she’d received at Christmas. She loved those stories. It was the thought of her daughter that made Cat fight all the way back to awareness. Everything she did these days had to be about Lara.

Jake’s hand rested against her face. She hated to move because he might take his hand away. But she willed her eyes to open. She saw Jake frowning down on her, his black eyes almost setting off sparks, he was looking at her so intently. She blinked and he came into focus. Yes, he was even more handsome—and fierce—than she recalled.

No wonder Lara thought he was a prince. His thick black hair was styled back, longer than she remembered it. And far more sophisticated than it had been at the youth home. He’d spent some money on having it cut. His face had been thinner back then, too. Now it was filled out with all the muscles and power of a man in his prime. He still had what he called his “Cherokee nose,” inherited from his Native American grandfather. Jake wasn’t the lanky teenager who’d been her gallant defender in the home, but she would have recognized him anywhere. His eyes gave him away. No one looked at her like Jake did. He saw inside of her.

She wondered for the first time if she would have come here even without Lara. She was suddenly glad to see him just in case the heart surgery didn’t go well. He’d been the best friend she’d ever had and she wanted to remember his face forever.

“Could I have something to drink?” she whispered.

Then she closed her eyes. She didn’t fear the possibility of death, but she did fear what would happen to Lara without her. Before she left Minneapolis, she’d had a conversation with the chaplain at the hospital where she hoped to have her surgery. The man had led her back to the God she’d known briefly as a young girl.

Her faith helped her accept what was happening. Her heart was defective and had been since she was born. It’s just that now it was critical that something be done. The doctors wanted to do surgery right away, even though she might not survive it. Finally, she told them all that everything would need to wait until she got her daughter settled.

She opened her eyes and saw a new face looking down at her. The older man from the counter was now standing next to Jake.

“I have coffee right here,” he said as he handed a cup to Jake. “I can get her something stronger than coffee if I need to. But it’s supposed to wake people up so I figure …”

Cat wasn’t used to strangers worrying about her and she wanted to tell the older man that she appreciated his concern, but it was too much effort.

“Just water,” she managed to say. She should take one of the heart pills the doctor had given her, if she could find a way to take it without alarming either of the men. She wasn’t ready to tell Jake everything yet. Let him get to know Lara a little first. She had to believe that, if he spent enough time with her daughter, he would be willing to take care of her if needed. She had no one else to ask and she couldn’t let Lara go into the foster-care system. Jake would understand that.

“I’ll be right back.” The older man rushed away to get her what she needed.

Cat felt Lara’s hand on her arm and looked over to see that her daughter had squeezed in front of where Jake was kneeling. Everything about her was pale next to the blackness of his hair and the light brown color of his forehead, but they looked good together. As though they belonged. Cat put her own hand over her daughter’s.

“I’m fine, pumpkin.” The words were hard to form, but she kept working at it. “I just need to catch my breath.”

Lara smiled, her blue eyes dancing in quiet delight.

“He kissed you,” she whispered, a little too loud to be private. “I saw everything, and then you woke up. Just like in Sleeping Beauty.”

“Ahhh,” Cat murmured as she reached out and touched her daughter’s cheek. “Maybe it’s not quite the same. Sleeping Beauty is a story.”

She had no strength to continue. They’d already had this discussion, anyway. Lara insisted on believing her fairy tales were real no matter what Cat said.

“I’m going to call an ambulance,” Jake suddenly said as he reached toward his pocket—probably for a cell phone. “In case this isn’t just hunger.”

He was looking at her with a dozen questions in his eyes. None of which she wanted to answer.

“I’ll be fine,” Cat repeated, this time looking away from her daughter and facing him squarely. She willed him to believe her.

“You can be fine in an ambulance, too,” he said as he held his cell phone and started to dial.

She shook her head. Then she reached out a hand and motioned for him to move over slightly and draw closer so she could whisper and only he would hear. “I just need to rest a minute. And I don’t want to scare Lara.”

She didn’t need a doctor to tell her what she already knew.

“She’s not worried,” Jake murmured, and then his lips actually curved up slightly. “She thinks I’m her private prince, here to do her bidding, anyway. Like some genie in a bottle.”

Cat smiled. She put her hand on his shoulder and felt the dampness of his shirt. “I got you all wet.”

She could also feel the warmth of his skin through the shirt.

“It’s okay.”

She noticed then that his face was damp, too. She must have flung rain drops everywhere. Odd that his hair was dry. His eyes were searching hers. He always did take his responsibilities to heart. Poor Jake. She wondered if he’d rescued any more damsels in distress after she’d left the home. She had meant to spare him that.

He leaned down farther until he was almost near enough to kiss her again. Her mouth felt suddenly dry and she wished so many things were different in her life. She hadn’t been a particularly good damsel for him to rescue years ago, but now she was hopeless. She had far too many problems for any white knight to solve. And this one deserved better.

Just then the other man came back with a bottle of water, and Jake pulled away.

“I have a refrigerator in the storeroom so I can keep things cold,” the man said, not seeming to notice the tension in the air. “I have a microwave, too, if you’d rather have hot water.”

“Maybe later,” she said. “I have some crackers in my purse and I could …”

She saw Jake scowl and start to rise.

“Cold water is perfect now, though.” Cat braced her arms so she could push herself up into a sitting position on the couch. Then she reached for the water. “That’s just what I need.”

“What you need is a big steak and a baked potato,” Jake muttered. By now he was standing and glowering down at her. “When did you eat last? And I don’t mean crackers.”

She had forgotten how it was with Jake. He liked to rescue damsels, but he was opinionated as he did it. She didn’t have energy to challenge him now, though. “I had something on the airplane coming out here.”

“Pretzels, I suppose. They’re not any better.”

Cat leaned her head back and took a drink. At least Jake believed it was hunger that had made her faint. That would satisfy him for a while. Give her time to think. She hadn’t quite expected the surge of tenderness that struck her when he was so close. She hoped it wouldn’t make it more difficult to ask him what she needed to when the time came.

“You’re here on a stopover then?” He hesitated. For a moment he looked vulnerable. “How long do you have?”

“As much time as you have to spare.”

The tension left his eyes. “Well, when you finish with that water, I’m going to see about getting you something to eat, then. I’m surprised that wind didn’t blow you away out there.”

“I don’t want to be any trouble.” Even as she said it, she knew it was too late for her to be anything but that. She just hoped she didn’t disrupt his life too much.

“What does Lara like to eat?” he asked, turning to leave but not yet stepping away.

“She eats almost anything except peas.” Cat was glad the conversation wasn’t about her anymore.

There was a rustle at her side, and she saw her daughter wiggle in between them again, now that Jake was standing.

“Peas are ugly,” her daughter announced, looking up at Jake defiantly. When he didn’t say anything, she started to talk faster. “And, I’m a princess, so if I get peas under my mattress, I won’t be able to sleep all night long. And, they make me burp.” She paused and looked down at the floor. “Well, sort of—sometimes.”

Cat had struggled to teach Lara the difference between truth and lies, even before she got the book of fairy tales. At first, Cat thought the book was good because it helped Lara learn to read, but she was beginning to wonder if Lara really believed she was a princess when she said things like that.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you carrots,” Jake said as he squatted down to her daughter’s level. His voice was gentle and he seemed to really be looking at her. “I’m not that fond of peas, either.”

Lara beamed at him.

Jake just looked at the girl for another minute.

“How old are you, Lara?” he finally asked.

Cat felt her breath clutch. She suddenly realized he was asking the question as if he didn’t know the answer. She’d taken for granted that he’d known that much. She wasn’t ready to tell him everything, but he must know who Lara was. She hadn’t even worried about that on the way here.

“I’m four,” her daughter answered, and held up the required number of fingers with the confidence of her preschool training. “And three months.”

Cat saw the shock wave go through Jake and she reached her hand out to stop him from saying a word. She hadn’t told her daughter anything, but surely Jake had known.

“Lara, will you take the bottle back to the nice man at the counter?” she asked as she held the plastic water bottle out to her daughter.

Fortunately, Jake knew what she intended and waited to say anything until Lara had walked over to the older man and he lifted her up on a stool.

“Who’s her father?” Jake’s voice was low and impatient.

Cat took a quick breath. “I thought you knew. It’s you.”

“Me?” Jake turned to stare at her fully. She couldn’t read his face. He’d gone pale. That much she could see. And his jaw was tense.

She nodded and darted a look over at Lara. “I know she doesn’t look like you, but I promise I wasn’t with anyone else. Not after we …”

She didn’t even have any proof, she realized. She hadn’t thought she would ever need any. She hadn’t put his name on the birth certificate, either.

“Of course you weren’t with anyone else,” Jake said indignantly. “We were so tight there would have been no time to …” He stopped and lifted his hand to rub the back of his neck. “At least, I thought we were tight. Until you ran away.”

His voice had drifted, but it was still loud enough to be overheard and she lifted her hand to ask him to lower it. But then he went completely silent, just crouched there looking at her. Soon his black eyes warmed until they were filled with golden flecks. She’d forgotten they could do that.

“She’s really mine?” he whispered, his voice husky once again.

Cat nodded. “She doesn’t know. Although she doesn’t take after you—her hair and everything—she’s got your way of looking out at the world. I assumed someone on the staff at the youth home must have told you about her …”

His jaw tensed further at that.

“You think I wouldn’t have moved heaven and earth to find you if I’d known you’d had my baby?” Jake’s eyes flashed. He’d obviously forgotten about being quiet. “I made several trips back to the home to try and trace you. They said you didn’t want to be found so I finally accepted that. But if I’d known I had a daughter, I would have forced them to tell me where you were. I’d have gotten some high-powered lawyer and made them talk.”

Cat suddenly realized why she’d been so sure he knew. “But you’ve been sending me money. No letters. Just the money. Why would you do that? I thought it was like child support in your mind. That you wanted to be responsible even if you didn’t want to be involved with us.”

Jake shook his head. “I didn’t put down any words because I didn’t know what to say. I thought the money spoke for itself. That you would write when you were ready. And the money—it was like a tithe.”

“A tithe? You’re going to church?” Cat asked in relief. Maybe God had worked things out better than she had hoped. If Jake was a Christian, then she would feel so much better about him raising Lara if it came to that.

He shook his head. “Churches never have been any use to me, you know that. But I remember something Mrs. Hargrove gave me when I was a kid. You remember the lady who used to write me when I was in the home?” He looked at Cat until she nodded. “Well, one of the church papers talked about tithing.”

Cat was confused. “People give tithes to churches.”

Jake nodded. “Yes, so the church can help those in need. I am just cutting out the middle man. I figured you could use food and things so I gave the money to you.”

“Charity?” she whispered, appalled. She’d never imagined that was what the envelopes of cash were about.

Jake lowered his eyes, but he didn’t deny anything.

“I had money. Not much, but I didn’t need charity,” she finally managed to say before she heard Lara squeal and come running back to the sofa.

Cat willed her heart to stay steady. She couldn’t afford to get upset. She breathed as deeply as she dared and stayed silent. Jake’s eyes were caught by Lara, anyway.

“Come here, princess,” he said softly to the girl as she danced closer. The ballet shoes had been a present last Christmas, too. “Let me look at you.”

Lara twirled around and faced him, her cheeks flushed with merriment. “Are you going to turn me into a toad?”

Jake grinned. “Not today.”

Her daughter was enchanting, Cat thought in relief. No one could resist her.

Jake did seem interested in Lara, but that wouldn’t be enough, Cat reminded herself. She hadn’t even asked the crucial question yet. Now she wasn’t so sure. Jake had always been the first one to stand up and do what was right. But that didn’t equal love. She knew that better than anyone and she didn’t want Lara to grow up feeling as though she was a burden on someone.

Cat reminded herself that’s why she had run away from Jake and the home all those years ago. She’d known back then that he’d marry her for duty, but it wasn’t enough. What if Jake agreed to take Lara, but then treated her like a charity child? He might as well turn her into a toad right now and be done with it.

What had possessed him to send her all that money, anyway? She’d just assumed he knew she’d had a baby seven months after she left the home and had done the math. Over the years, he had sent her forty or fifty thousand dollars. She worked as a waitress at first, and some months she wouldn’t have made rent without his help. Even now that she worked in an office, she didn’t really make enough to do without his assistance. At least she had medical insurance, she told herself.

But money wasn’t everything. She wanted more than that for Lara.

Dear Lord, she thought finally. I need Your help here. Lara needs a father and not an imaginary prince who will break her heart. And I need wisdom to know if he is the right one to raise her if I can’t. He might be her biological father, but will he come to love her as a father should? Every little girl needs to be loved, whether she’s a princess or not.

Chapter Two

Jake pulled out his cell phone when he got back to the counter. Max was looking at him with concern in his eyes, but Jake wasn’t ready to talk about anything yet. His whole life had been picked up and spun around in a whirlwind before landing him back in the same place. He found he couldn’t remember the number to any restaurant in town.

He finally gave up and looked at his old friend. “I’m a father.”

“What?” Max frowned and leaned closer as though he hadn’t heard the words right.

“A father. You know—man, woman, baby.”

Max stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

Jake looked toward Lara. The girl was sitting on the sofa by her mother and adjusting her tiara again. Suddenly, she giggled at something Cat had said.

“But she’s blonde with blue eyes!” Max had followed Jake’s gaze and then turned back.

Jake nodded. Her hair wasn’t just blond, it was naturally curly.

“And you’re a quarter Cherokee with the black hair to prove it. And your eyes are so brown they’re almost black, in case you haven’t looked in the mirror lately. Are you sure?” Then his face flushed. “You wouldn’t be the first man to be fooled by a woman. Maybe Cat, maybe she—”

“No.” Jake glared at his friend. “It was just Cat and me.” His voice broke then. “I trust her with everything and especially that.”

He tried to think of more words to explain and couldn’t. “She’s—Cat. She’d never lie to me.”

They were both silent for a moment.

“You care about her, then?” Max asked gruffly. “This Cat of yours?”

The question surprised him. “Of course, we went through a lot together.”

Even now, being torn between the misery of not having been told when Lara was born and the wonder of just learning that he had a daughter, he still knew Cat was some kind of an anchor in his life. Now that she was here, he didn’t want her to leave. Max could probably see the feelings on his face. Not much escaped the old man.

Max’s voice softened. “I don’t suppose you asked her to marry you yet.”

Jake snorted. “Of course I asked her—years ago. She ran away from the home the next day and I never saw her again. That’s how well that went. Not that it was a good idea, anyway.”

Max was silent as they both turned to look across the room to where Cat and Lara sat, curled up together on the sofa. The gray clouds were lifting and sunshine was streaming in through the large glass windows behind them.

“You probably didn’t say it right,” Max finally said. “You have a hard time getting to the point sometimes. I’ve noticed that.”

“I said she should let me know if she got in trouble. I know a man’s duty. I said I’d marry her if needed. It wasn’t hard to misunderstand that. I didn’t wrap it up in a bow, but she had to have heard me. She just didn’t want to. Not that I blame her. I’m not any prize. You know about my father. None of the Stone men have any business setting up a family.”

Max was quiet for another minute, also studying the mother and child. By now, the sunlight was shining on them directly.

Then Max looked back, and a grin split his face.

“That little girl? She’s really yours?”

Jake nodded and started to grin, himself. “She doesn’t know, so keep it quiet.”

“That means I’m a grandpa!” Max whispered. He’d always said Jake was like a son to him. Then he reached over and flipped the switch on the counter that changed the sign outside to read No Vacancy. “Nobody needs to know why, but we have to do something. You’re a father.”

“I guess I am at that.” Jake stood there, letting the amazement settle in deeper. Maybe it would be okay if he was a father as long as he wasn’t close enough to the child to mess up her life. Cat had never said anything about telling Lara about him. Maybe the girl would never know.

Max frowned in thought. Then his face lit up. “We’ll have a birthday party. We’ve got lots of birthdays to make up for. Cake and ice cream. That should be okay.”

“I sure feel like celebrating.” Jake held the phone more firmly in his hand and started pressing buttons. He did know one number. “I’m calling that steakhouse in the new casino.”

“The fancy one?” Max asked. “They don’t even open until five o’clock. And they’ll never deliver. Maybe they’d do room service in the casino, but not over here. And we need to get a cake. I wonder if the child has a favorite kind.”

Jake put the phone to his ear. “They have that cake place there, too. I’m calling the head chef. He’s always there at this time of day. And he’s a good guy. Besides, he owes me. I handled a family problem for him a while back. His son was getting in with a bad crowd at the tables.”

Max grinned again. “Get me some of those crab cakes, too, then.”

With that, Max turned and opened the door behind the counter. Jake didn’t have time to worry about what the older man was doing by disappearing into the storeroom, not when he had the best chef in Las Vegas on the line.

“How do you like your steaks?” Jake called over to Cat, putting down the phone to muffle the sound of his voice. “And how do you feel about mushrooms?”

The sight of Cat and Lara, sitting with their heads together, made something shift around inside him. He had a new purpose in life. Lara didn’t need to know who he was for him to take care of her. He’d be some family friend that came to school plays once in a while. He’d be the old man in the back of the church at her wedding and he’d give the presents with no name tag on them at holidays. He wouldn’t even need to talk to her over the years. Just making sure she had enough to live a good life would be sufficient.

“Oh, don’t order steaks,” Cat said as she broke apart from her daughter and started to rise. “They’re too expensive. I can walk over to that burger place around the corner. That’ll be enough.”

“Steak—well-done, medium or rare?” Jake asked again. “And stay seated. You’re not walking anywhere. I don’t want you fainting a second time. Especially not when the sidewalks are wet.”

“I guess medium, if I have to choose.” Cat sat back down and brushed her hair away from her face. “But really, it’s not necessary. I never eat steak. And—”

“I’m paying,” Jake interrupted, knowing what was troubling her. Before she came to the home all those years ago, she’d lived on the streets in Fargo.

Now that her hair was drying, it was starting to fly this way and that. Jake remembered the golden-brown halo around her face. She used to look like that when she was studying her math problems. She had that same indecisive look on her face, too. As if she wasn’t sure of the right answer and didn’t want to choose the wrong one.

“I guess it’s all right, then,” she said with a frown.

“And the mushrooms?” he asked.

“Canned or fresh?”

“Imported.”

Now she looked bewildered. “I’ve never had an imported mushroom. What kind?”

“Porcini.” Jake repeated what the chef had told him minutes before. “They also call them the black mushroom. Don’t worry. They’re good.”

She looked at him in full amazement now. “You’ve eaten those mushrooms? You wouldn’t even eat garlic at the home. Said it wasn’t part of your culture. You, with your Cherokee-chief grandfather. You asked the cook to make you fry bread instead. Said the Cherokee were used to their own diet and they were in this country first and should be able to eat what they wanted. Then you used the table as a drum.”

“I guess I was pretty difficult back then,” he admitted.

“You were persuasive, too,” Cat added as she bit her lip nervously. “The cook finally made it for you that one time. She said it was just to shut you up, but she made enough for everybody. It was like a party.”

Trust Cat to find one of the few good memories related to that place.

Jake finished their order by adding roasted white corn with pepper, and truffle mashed potatoes. Then he checked with Lara and ordered a chocolate birthday cake with raspberry filling for dessert. He also asked for the crab cakes to please Max and some macaroni and cheese for Lara in case she didn’t feel like eating what the rest of them did.

“Thirty minutes,” Jake said when he hung up the phone. He’d never spent that kind of money for a meal before and he was surprised to discover it felt so good. He needed to do something to mark this day. He was a father. Maybe not a regular one with Little League and all, but it was more than he ever thought he’d be.

* * *

Cat brushed the hair away from her face as she sat down at the table. She couldn’t believe it. Max and Jake had put a full box of purple candles on the chocolate cake sitting in the middle of the table. The men who brought the food had laid a white tablecloth over the folding table the older man had pulled out of the storeroom. The deliverymen had put real china plates down, too.

There was a big Happy Birthday banner taped to the counter and Jake had explained earlier to Lara that they were celebrating all of the birthdays he and Max had missed—all four of them together. For once Cat was glad for the fairy-tale book. Lara took the party in stride, as though that kind of thing happened every day for good little girls like her.

“They’re fish,” Lara said in delight from where she was seated. She was holding up some kind of macaroni on her fork and she was right; they were fish shaped.

“The chef thought of using one of our French cheeses,” the thickset man who had laid out most of the food said. “But then he decided the little one might be more comfortable with some nice Wisconsin cheddar.”

“Good choice,” Cat said. All those years she’d been a waitress, she’d never seen anything like this. As for French cheeses—who had the money for that? “Thanks.”

Right then, Jake stepped back into the lobby. He’d gone to his room to change out of his damp clothes. She and Lara didn’t have their suitcases, but they had gone to a room and toweled themselves dry.

“Now, doesn’t he look handsome?” Max winked at her from his chair as Jake got closer.

“I’ve never seen him in a suit.” Cat feared she was blushing, but the older man was right. Jake was breathtaking in his dark suit and white shirt. He might have a whole closet full of clothes he wore in this new life of his. She looked closer. That suit was a tuxedo, even if the shirt was regular enough at first glance.

“That’s his wedding suit,” Max said proudly.

Cat felt her breath catch. Wedding! She’d never considered the possibility that Jake would be getting married. Or maybe was already married. If he was, that might change everything for Lara. Wicked stepmothers were the part of fairy tales that Cat believed, herself.

“Who is she?” Cat forced herself to ask. She’d try to keep an open mind.

“It’s his brother,” Max answered back.

She blinked at that, but before she could ask anything more, Jake stepped up to the table and sat in the remaining chair.

“What he’s trying to say is that I’m going to be best man at my brother’s wedding on Saturday so I’m trying the suit out,” he said. “Making sure it’s comfortable.”

One of the men who had delivered the food placed the last glass on the table with a flourish. “That’s everything.”

Jake reached in his pocket and pulled out a handful of bills. “Thanks, everyone.”

The man shook his head. “No need to tip us. The boss has us covered.”

Jake frowned at that, but the man motioned to his coworker and started walking toward the door. “Bon appétit.”

“Mommy, let’s pray so we can eat,” Lara whispered as the men left.

Cat realized that both Jake and Max were sitting at their places and hadn’t touched their silverware or napkins.

“It’s only polite in other people’s houses to—” she began.

Max interrupted. “Go ahead. We pray all the time.”

She could tell the older man felt a little awkward and that it probably wasn’t completely true about the praying. She looked over at Jake.

“Would you do the honors?” he asked.

She looked at him carefully. Even with the smile he had managed, he sounded reluctant. Was he cynical, as well? She couldn’t tell. When they’d known each other as teenagers, neither one of them had given much thought to God. Finally, she just nodded and bowed her head. She waited so everyone had time to get used to the idea. The last one to bow their head was Jake, but he eventually did.

Then she began. “Father, we are grateful for all of the good things You give to us. We ask Your blessing upon those wonderful men who prepared our food. And we ask …” She paused because she felt a sudden sharp pain in her side and needed to wait for it to pass.

“And please bless my very own father, wherever he is.” Lara rushed to fill in the silence with the words that had become part of her bedtime prayers lately. She’d never said them at the table until now.

Cat couldn’t get her breath back enough to stop her. Lara had been curious about her father ever since she realized most of the other children in her preschool had one of those as well as a mother in their families. She had told Lara she had a father, but that was all.

“I figure he’s busy like You are, God,” Lara continued, with her eyes closed and her hands pressed tight together. “Ruling his kingdom and saving the lives of little children. But can You tell him I said hello and that I’m having a birthday party and it’s not even my birthday and if he wants to come, he can ride his dragon here real quick, and I won’t tell anyone I’m a princess because he’s my father and—”

The pain finally passed enough for Cat to speak, so she quickly finished the prayer in a strained voice. “In Jesus’s name, we thank You for all Your bounty. Amen.”

Cat sat there for a moment with her eyes still closed. A better mother would have taken Lara to a child’s psychiatrist by now. She should have found the money to pay somehow. It couldn’t be natural to believe so strongly in something like that. Especially not the tale she’d made up about her father.

When Cat finally opened her eyes, she saw that Jake was looking straight at her, his eyes glowering.

She looked over at Lara. Her daughter was absorbed in eating her macaroni.

When she glanced back at Jake, he’d turned to stare at Lara, too.

“Have you ever seen a picture of your father?” he asked the girl.

She shook her head. “But I know what he looks like. He’s a handsome prince with clothes that shine in the dark and he has a beard and he rides a dragon when he takes toys to little kids who don’t have any. And I think he invented pizza because everybody loves pizza.”

“He’s very busy,” Jake muttered.

Cat thought he looked a little stunned.

“That’s why he can’t come to my parties,” Lara said somberly. “I wish he would. Just once.”

“I’m sure he would come to all of your birthday parties if he knew where you lived.” Jake’s voice was pinched and maybe a little angry.

She couldn’t blame him, but she didn’t want him to go further so she shook her head at him. The effort cost her as a burst of tiny pains radiated from her neck.

She noticed Jake’s eyes deepen again.

“Problem?” he asked quietly, his eyes measuring her.

“Nothing to worry about.”

She hoped that was true. She looked down. Jake saw too much when he wanted to. He’d always known when she was hiding something. Except for those first two months when she was pregnant with Lara. She knew he hadn’t known anything about the baby they had created back then. They were too young to get married, and she knew he’d insist on that.

She forced herself to focus on the food that had been placed on platters or in bowls. Everyone was silent for a good ten minutes while they ate.

“Maybe your brother should spring for crab cakes at his wedding,” Max said with a sigh as he ate the last one on his plate. “That should fit in his budget, even if he and your mother are fixing up the ranch.”

“I doubt anyone makes crab cakes in Dry Creek,” Jake said.

“They might if they tasted these.” Cat lifted the last bite to her mouth. “They’re delicious.”

“I don’t suppose there’s time to get any crab cakes made up before Saturday night, anyway,” Max said.

Cat stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth. “The wedding’s this Saturday?”

Her timing always had been bad. It was Wednesday. That must have been where Jake had been going when she stepped inside the lobby here.

Jake nodded. “When you said you could stay through the weekend, I called my brother and told him that I can’t make it. He threatened to disown me, or at least have our mother call me back, but he knows he needs to get someone else to stand with him.”

Cat had never considered that she would come all this way and Jake might not be here. She had thought about calling, but she didn’t have a phone number and figured she’d have a better chance of convincing him to spend some time with Lara if he could actually see her.

“You have to still go,” Cat said, trying to keep the despair out of her voice. She didn’t want him to resent her and Lara. “You’re the best man.”

“Thank you,” Jake said with a grin.

He looked like a carefree rogue and her heart almost stopped. He was the Jake she remembered.

She forced herself to focus. They weren’t teenagers anymore. “No, seriously. You have to go. Maybe I could get a room until you get back. I have the whole week off and I can ask for some more days if I need to—that is, if you’re coming back soon.”

Dear Lord, I need help, she prayed in panic.

“You’re welcome to stay here if you want,” Max offered immediately. “We don’t have a pool, but there’d be no charge for the room. And there’s a vending machine on the—”

“Don’t get her started on vending machines,” Jake interrupted. “She should come with me. I’ve got lots of room in my pickup.”

She thought he looked a little startled at his invitation, as though he hadn’t planned it before he offered. She wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to worry about them, but pride was a luxury she couldn’t afford any longer. “Lara and I would be happy to go with you.”

Max pushed his chair back from the table. “Well, as sorry as I am not to have you both staying here with me, that’s the perfect solution. I’m going to get some matches so we can light the candles on the cake.”

Fortunately, Jake didn’t ask any more questions. She half expected him to withdraw his suggestion, but he didn’t.

Thank You, Lord. Cat almost said the words aloud, she was so relieved. There would be time for Jake to get to know their daughter. Please, help him love her like I do.

Chapter Three

Something wasn’t right, Jake told himself for the second time that day as he drove his pickup under the overhang in front of the hotel and pulled it to a stop. An hour had passed since he left. He watched the rain drip off the side of the awning as he struggled to figure out what was wrong. The same sense of unease had been niggling away at him all the way to the airport and back, but he didn’t know what was causing it.

Everything seemed to be in order, he finally told himself as he turned off his windshield wipers and then the ignition. The sky was still overcast and the air felt damp inside his cab. Nothing seemed out of place.

He’d gotten the claim tickets from Cat to retrieve her luggage so he knew he had the right suitcases. He’d even stopped at the dealership where he’d bought his pickup several months ago and they had given him a special child’s safety seat for the back of his extended cab. They’d strapped it in and he had picked out a green frog-shaped lollipop from the ones they offered and left it for Lara on the seat. He hoped it was close enough to a toad to make her giggle.

Then he’d filled his vehicle with gas. His duffel bag was tucked behind the passenger’s seat. His suit was in a garment bag, hanging on the hook by the rear window. He had a wad of cash in his pocket and a credit card in his wallet.

He thought a minute longer. Check and doublecheck. Everything was ready. Nothing was out of place or forgotten. He opened the door on the driver’s side of the pickup and stepped down to the slick pavement. At that moment, Cat pushed open the hotel door and stepped outside. Strands of her brown hair trailed across her face and she looked tired as she took a step toward him.

Jake turned so he could open the rear door to his pickup. Then he stepped toward her. “Have you been sleeping okay lately?” he asked.

She nodded, her teeth chattering. She was wearing the same green sweater she’d had on earlier and it didn’t look thick enough to keep anyone warm. He was surprised she hadn’t planned better for the trip. A quick check on any of the weather sites would have told her rain and cold were forecast for this area. He didn’t think she had even a heavy coat with her.

He suddenly realized what was troubling him. Nothing had been planned about all of this. His intuition was right. A man should never count on random luck. There was always a reason for everything. And Cat coming to him now had no reason that he could see. She hadn’t even written to tell him they’d had a baby four years ago. What had changed in all that time? Why had she come now?

Jake looked at her. “Anything I need to know?”

She stood there, her face damp from stray raindrops and her hair limp.

Even as worn out as she looked, she was beautiful. He didn’t want to wonder why she was here. He’d love to believe his charm had brought her back after all of these years. Her eyes were not looking at him, though, and that meant something was wrong.

“I haven’t been sending you enough money,” he finally said, making a guess as he reached for the bills he’d just put in his pocket for the trip. She was too proud to ask, but she must need something. He pulled out a wad of fifties. “I can stop at my bank again on the way out of town for more. Just let me know how much.”

“I’m fine,” Cat said with no emotion in her voice. “You’ve already sent me more money over the years than I could have expected—so, thank you.”

Then she looked up at him and smiled.

“Still, you must need more,” he insisted, watching her. She was too pale. “I refuse to let you live on those noodle cups. They wouldn’t keep a bird alive.”

After she’d run away from her first foster-care home, she had lived on the streets of Fargo. Sometimes she had jimmied vending machines in the bus station and stolen the noodle packets if she was really hungry. Then she’d gotten hot water from the coffee machine and had dinner. She only permitted herself to steal the noodles if she hadn’t eaten for a few days and then she went back as soon as she could and left the payment in the suggestion box at the station, saying it was for the vending-machine guys. He wondered how long she’d gone this time without eating.

“You do remember those noodle packets?” he prodded further, because she hadn’t answered.

The Cat he remembered would tell him to mind his own business about now. But she just kept smiling. She was trying too hard to show him that everything was all right. If he didn’t know her so well, he would believe her act. But she had a little too much blush on her face. And her smile was too wide. And she moved as if her body ached.

“Had the flu recently?” Jake tried again. Obviously Cat wasn’t anxious to tell him what was wrong, but something was. Maybe she hadn’t been able to work for a while and was short on money. Or maybe Lara needed braces or ballet lessons.

Cat shook her head and just stood there.

Jake had learned a few things from playing poker. He knew how to recognize a bluff in all its disguises and the emotion flashing on her face might as well have been a scarlet letter. There had to be a reason why she was here. She just didn’t want him to know. And she felt bad about it all at the same time.

“You want a new life,” Jake finally guessed in defeat. What else could it be? The day wasn’t so grand after all. It was starting to rain heavy again and he felt foolish for having rushed around getting them ready for a trip that might not happen. “You wanted me to meet Lara because you feel I have a right to that much, but you’re getting ready to marry some man you’ve met and you’re not planning to give me much more than today. So this is my one shot at seeing her.”

“Huh?” She was huddled just outside the backseat of the cab and she had one hand on the bars of the car seat. The rain was beating steady on the overhang above them.

“Who is he?” Jake demanded to know. Even if Jake couldn’t be a proper father to Lara, it still rankled that some other man would be standing in his place.

Just then a streak of lightning flashed across the sky and there was a loud clap of thunder.

“Who is who?” Cat repeated with a frown. “What are you talking about? I hope you have a heater in this pickup.”

“It’s brand new. Right off the lot,” Jake assured her, and all of the fight went out of him. He was going to mess this up; he knew it. But it certainly wasn’t Cat’s fault. And every girl deserved a father. No one would have to look far to find a better one than him.

“It’s nice.” Cat reached over and ran her hands across the leather seats.

Finally, he let his bitterness fade away as he remembered. “Not like that old pickup I used to have at the home. I had to put an old blanket over the front seat so the springs didn’t poke through quite so much. You’ll be comfortable in this one. I promise.”

She smiled at him and he knew she could still picture the beat-up old thing, too. Of course, how could anyone forget it? The red paint had been scraped off one whole fender before he even bought it. The side window hadn’t rolled up for the previous two owners and the heater barely worked. But he’d been proud as could be of that old pickup. He’d driven Cat into town for dinner the day he closed the deal and the pickup could have been a Jaguar the way it made him feel.

“I wonder if Millie’s Café is still there,” he said, lost in the memory of that night long ago.

She nodded. “I ate there a few months ago. They still have those barbecue beef sandwiches we used to like. The ones with the dill pickles on the side.”

“You were at the home?” Now, that surprised him. They’d both vowed never to go back there once they managed to leave.

She nodded. “I wanted to get some of my records from when I was a resident.”

“They must have told you I was looking for you.” Jake found he couldn’t let the subject go. The only reason he’d gone back to the home was to try and find her. “Why didn’t you come see me then? Or call even. I made sure they had my phone number at the home.”

“I was …” She started and stopped. She looked so miserable he felt sorry for her. Then she continued. “It’s not what you think. There isn’t a man in my life or anything like that. I wouldn’t keep you from seeing Lara even if there was.”

The elastic band around Jake’s chest relaxed. He didn’t know how they’d resolve this, but he was glad she hadn’t already replaced him. He stepped closer and lifted her chin so he could look her in the eyes. She smiled at him now and her eyes deepened. This was the Cat he knew.

“I want to be in your life.” He could hear the rain hitting the awning overhead and for the first time it sounded gentle as it fell. “And Lara’s life, too. Just a little bit. I know we can’t tell her. And I know you’re probably worried that I’ll turn out like my father, but I promise I would never raise a hand to either one of you. I—”

“Oh, I never thought that,” Cat said. She looked genuinely horrified. “I never thought you were like that. I know you would never do anything to harm someone.”

Her eyes looked at him with a sincerity he couldn’t question.

He nodded in relief. “Anything else we can handle, then.”

She didn’t answer him, but he figured they had settled the big questions. She was letting him be a part of Lara’s life. And hers in some way. For now, that would be enough.

He cleared his throat to say how grateful he was, but she was already turning.

“Speaking of Lara, I better go get her,” Cat said, as she started walking back to the hotel lobby.

Jake looked through the glass windows and saw Max bringing the girl to the door. She was carrying a white box that he guessed held what was left of her birthday cake. Knowing Max, he had packed some plastic spoons and napkins in the paper bag he was carrying out to them, as well.

“Now you call me when you get to Dry Creek,” Max said as he led Lara to the pickup.

Jake figured he was talking to all of them even though he was looking at the girl.

“We’ll probably call you before that,” Jake said as he held up his cell phone to remind Max. “You won’t even have time enough to miss us.”

“See that I don’t,” Max said as he turned to the backseat.

“You got your own special chair there,” the older man said to the girl as he lifted her up to the car seat. “I’ll let your fa—I mean, your mother buckle you in.”

Lara squealed when she saw the lollipop and grabbed it. Then she looked at Jake and grinned.

“A frog for you to kiss,” he said, feeling more pleased with himself than he should.

Lara giggled at that. “I’ll make him a prince.”

“You sure will,” Jake said.

Max stepped back and Cat moved close to the door where she could reach the car seat.

“Don’t open the lollipop yet,” Cat said as she started buckling the girl in. “You just had all of that cake.”

Max shifted beside Jake. “Sorry about my slip.”

“Don’t worry,” Jake assured him. It was hard to keep the news contained. It was like fizz in a bottle that had been shaken up and was looking for someplace to go. Then he leaned closer to his friend. “They’ll visit us again.”

Max nodded. “Good, because I can’t think of anything else.”

“I won’t be a real father, of course.” Jake felt obliged to tell the older man.

“Why not?” Max demanded.

Jake shook his head. “We’ll talk about it when I get back.”

He looked at the frown on his friend’s face. Maybe he needed to say more.

“I’d be a terrible father,” he added, his voice low so that no one but Max would hear. “And, you know, Lara thinks her father is a prince somewhere who rides on a dragon taking gifts to poor people. Even a mortal with a normal childhood would have a hard time competing with that. So, it’s best this way.”

“I don’t think—” Max started and then stopped when Jake raised a hand in caution.

By that time, Cat had finished adjusting all the straps on the car seat so Lara was both safe and comfortable. Cat closed the door on the backseat and started walking around the pickup to the passenger seat.

“We’ll be back in no time at all,” Jake said, trying to keep the tone of his voice even.

“You should have good roads to Salt Lake, at least,” Max said as Jake opened the driver’s door. Then the older man put his hand in his back pocket and pulled out an envelope. “I almost forgot. You won’t need a stamp for this now.”

“Thanks.” Jake took the envelope and threw it into the passenger seat as Cat opened the door. He looked up at the older man and saw him smile before he stepped away from the cab window.

“What’s this?” Cat said as she slid it over so she could climb in and sit on the seat.

“It’s yours,” Jake replied.

Cat didn’t pick up the envelope, but she did move it so it didn’t fall off the seat.

Jake settled himself behind the wheel. He figured she knew what was in the envelope since her name was on it.

By then, Max had stepped back to the lobby door and had turned to wave at them as Jake started the pickup.

“It’ll be dark by the time we get to Salt Lake,” Jake said to Cat as he started driving. He turned onto the street in front of the Starling. “We should make good time, though.”

The leather on the seats was softer than Cat had thought when she’d touched it earlier. The warmth of the blankets made her drowsy. She’d been so tired lately. First it was all the doctors and then flying here with Lara. Being with Jake made her feel as though she could let go of some of the burden and, before she knew it, her eyes drifted closed. The next time she opened them it was dark outside. She saw the red taillights of a string of cars ahead of them.

“Where are we?” She was groggy but tried to sit up straight.

“We passed Salt Lake City a half hour ago. It’s about seven in the evening.”

Cat had only meant to close her eyes for a moment. She turned to glance in the backseat and saw that Lara was soundly sleeping in her car seat.

“She’s fine,” Jake said. “I asked her to be quiet so you could get some rest.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” Cat protested, still facing the back. She studied her daughter’s peaceful face. “Lara’s my responsibility.”

“Not completely. Not anymore.”

Cat turned around and sagged against the seat at his words. Relief flooded over her. She hadn’t even had to ask. He was accepting their daughter.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You don’t need to thank me.”

The lights from a passing car shone in the cab for a second. Shadows lifted from Jake’s face and she felt the urge to reach over and touch his cheek. His expression was so solemn, though, that she didn’t dare.

“I still appreciate it,” she said quietly, wondering if he would remember this conversation later.

“It’s my duty,” he added, and she felt her heart squeeze. “Just let me know how much you need.”

“You mean money?”

“Of course.”

Money would never be enough. She could not leave Lara with him unless he came to love her. Duty wasn’t enough. Not when her daughter had just started to believe in happy endings. As she faced her possible death, only one thing was important. She wanted her daughter to live with hope and love in her life. She wanted her to have something as close to a fairy-tale life as possible.

“I’ve been thinking about it.” Jake turned to her and smiled. “Like Max mentioned, my mother and brother are both living on the family ranch now. How do you want me to introduce you to them?”

“What?”

“An old classmate? Someone from the home?”

“Do we need to say?”

“My brother will pester you to death if he thinks there’s any chance you would marry me,” Jake continued with a grin. “I’m not sure I would wish that on anyone. He has this fantasy about me getting married and settling down on the ranch. He’s even got a hill picked out with a place to build my house.”

A shot of pure longing went through Cat. “Would that be such a bad life? To live in Dry Creek?”

Jake was silent for a moment, the darkness hiding any expression on his face.

“Years ago I would have said it would be a fine life.” His voice was strained. “But after all that happened to my family there, I’m not sure I could live in the community.”

“You’re not responsible for your mother killing your father.”

“Oh, but she didn’t.” Jake turned to look over at her. “I forgot you didn’t know. She thought my older brother, Wade, had done it and, when the prosecution wanted to call him to the stand, she confessed to stop them. She didn’t want him going to prison if she could help it.”

“Oh, my.” Cat let that sink into her mind. She could understand how a mother would do that. “You always said you didn’t think she had killed him.”

Jake nodded. “No one listened to me.”

Another minute went by before he continued. “Those people sent my mother to prison and she hadn’t even committed any crime except trying to look out for her son. They heard the Stone name and just assumed she had done it.”

“But she told them she had. And Wade—did he?”

“No, he didn’t do it, either,” Jake said curtly. “That’s why it’s so upsetting. Those people couldn’t see past their prejudices. If they had worked harder on looking at the evidence—or the lack of it—our family would have stayed together and everything would be different now.”

The cab was completely dark. There were no lights from cars pulling up behind them. But Cat reached out anyway and ran her fingers softly down Jake’s cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

He reached a hand up to capture hers and turned it so he could kiss the inside of her palm. Then he curled her fingers around the place where his lips had pressed. “You’re a good friend to me, Cat Barker.”

He released her hand and she brought it back to her lap.

“That’s what I’m going to tell Wade,” Jake announced suddenly. “You’re my best friend and he’ll just have to let go of his curiosity.”

Cat nodded and blinked. She had no right to tears. She didn’t even want him to say she was his girlfriend. She had nothing to offer Jake except Lara, anyway. It had to all be about their daughter.

“My mother is going to love Lara,” Jake continued, as though he could read her mind. “She won’t need to think she’s related to make a fuss over her …” Jake stopped. “It could have all been different. I should have never let you run away from that home. I should have made you marry me.”

“And what would we have done then?” Cat asked. She had been through all that in her mind over the years. “Neither one of us had a job. Or any reason to think we could get one. We hadn’t even graduated from high school. All you had was that old pickup and it didn’t run half of the time. We didn’t have a way to make a life together. Besides, you didn’t want to get married.”

She thought she had buried the anguish of those days, but it still vibrated inside her. She had never been as scared in all of her life as she had been when she realized she was pregnant.

“At least I could have taken care of you better,” Jake replied, his tone tense. “I could have found some kind of a job. I have a strong back. I could have dug post-holes or something. Even if we didn’t stay together, we should have made it legal. What did you do alone?”

“Mrs. Jenna—you remember the nurse at the home—she sent me to another home for unwed mothers. I had a doctor’s care. And learned how to take care of a baby. It was the best thing.”

“And did the home suggest you not tell me about the baby?”

Cat nodded her head in the dark. “I’m sorry if that hurt you, but one of the conditions of staying was that I couldn’t talk to you. It was a silly rule they had at the home.”

“You could have told me later.”

Cat closed her eyes and whispered, “By then, I thought you knew. When I got the first envelope of money, I figured you had to have been told by someone. And you never sent a letter. I thought you didn’t want to hear from me.”

“I always had a return address on those envelopes.”

Cat heard a rustling in the backseat.

“Mommy.”

“We’ll talk later,” Cat whispered to Jake before turning to their daughter. “How are you, pumpkin?”

“I’m hungry.”

“We’ll stop someplace,” Jake said, passing an exit.

“We could just get something at a gas station. I don’t feel like going into a restaurant and sitting down.”

“Usually a gas station only has hot dogs at this time of night.”

Cat shrugged. She didn’t have the energy to persuade him otherwise. She just hoped her money held out until she could get back to Minneapolis. She was determined to not open the envelope of money he’d laid on the seat before they began. She had moved it to the cup holder between their two seats. If it was charity, she didn’t want it.

He pulled off at an exit that had a fast-food sign.

“I’m going to meet your mother,” Cat finally said, suddenly realizing what that meant. “And I didn’t bring a dress.”

One thing she knew about Jake was that he loved his mother. He’d written to the woman often from the home and Cat had envied him having someone. She couldn’t even remember her mother. She had a grandmother who had taken care of her until she died. Then Cat had been out on her own.

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