Blackbird Lake (16 page)

Forty minutes later in the Sage Ranch kitchen, Travis and Rafe stared at their youngest brother as if he’d just informed them he’d dropped in from Jupiter and was headed to a rodeo on Mars.

“Tell me you’re joking,” Rafe bit out, his face frozen in shock.

“You only found out today?” Travis, the security specialist and former FBI agent, looked skeptical and seemed intent on pinning down the facts. “Are you saying she never so much as hinted—”

“I never saw her again after that night. Not until…well, last night.” Jake paced to the stove and back, not even noticing the platter of peanut butter brownies on the granite countertop, or the sounds of horses nickering out back in the Sage Ranch corral.

“She says she almost told me when she found out she was pregnant. She came to find me at some rodeo and then changed her mind. Damn it, all this time, I could have—”

“Stepped up?” Travis eyed him coolly. “You would have, right?”

“Of course. What the hell do you think?” Jake took an ominous step forward, his eyes narrowed on his brother, but Rafe stepped between them with the ease of a big brother who was used to calming things down.

“That’s enough. Both of you.” He clapped a hand on Jake’s broad shoulder. “No one’s saying you did anything wrong. But what happens next, Jake? You going to marry Carly?”

“I guess. If that’s what she wants,” he replied tersely, trying to ignore the roiling in the pit of his stomach.

Marriage
. To think that at Travis and Mia’s wedding, he’d laughed off the notion, sworn he’d never walk down the aisle. And he’d believed it.

But now, here he was, ready to tie the knot with a woman he barely knew. And he’d do it, too, if he could talk her into it. It would be like swallowing a dose of horrible-tasting medicine, but he wasn’t about to have his daughter grow up without a father, without every legal protection he could offer her, and offer to her mother.

“You seem to be good at getting women to fall into bed with you—now let’s see how good you are at getting one to marry you,” Travis muttered.

“Not helping, bro.” Rafe shot him an exasperated glance.

“Look, I know I messed the hell up.” Jake glared from one brother to the next, his jaw tight. “But I’m going to fix this. Carly isn’t all that keen on letting me get close to Emma right now. Or to her. She’s downright skittish. Maybe the most skittish woman I’ve ever met. I have to respect that and take things at her pace. But believe me, I’ll make this work. I’ll take care of both of them. You know that, right?” He shot both his brothers a challenging glance, one that had made many other men take a step back.

But Rafe just nodded and let out a sigh. “Oh, man. Wait ’til Sophie hears. There’ll be no holding her back from running right over to Blue Bell Drive. And Ivy and Aiden have a cousin who’s never been invited to Thanksgiving dinner—or given a Christmas gift.”

“I’ll fill in Mia and Grady straightaway. Zoey’s way too young to understand, but she’ll know Emma is her cousin in time. Now, who’s going to tell Lissie?” Travis asked, taking a turn around the kitchen as he contemplated the sudden enlargement of the Tanner family.

“I’m headed over to see her and Tommy next.” Jake squared his shoulders. “But Carly doesn’t want Emma to know I’m her dad yet, so no one can say a word to Emma—or to anyone else outside the family—not at this point. Not that I think Emma would actually understand. I don’t have a clue how much kids that age do understand—” He broke off and raked a hand through his hair.

“It will all come together,” Rafe said.

But Jake paced right past the brownies and then back again, the knots in his neck tightening.

“Easy, bro.” Rafe’s tone remained steady. “Like Mom always said, one thing at a time.”

“Yeah. Forget what I told you before. I know you’ll make this work, Jake.” Travis stepped in front of him, held out his hand to shake. “It’s lucky you found out now—and not when Emma was any older. You have time to put things right before she even notices she was missing a father for a while there. And we’ll help, all of us, however we can.”

Somehow Jake managed a rueful smile. “You want to help me? You can start by saying a prayer that Lissie doesn’t skin me alive.”

“If you’re lucky, Tommy and little Molly will hold her back.” Travis fought a grin.

Jake almost smiled before he remembered that his life had just been turned upside down and inside out. There was a great deal to do, so much ground to make up with Emma. Stuff to work out with Carly.

By the time he left Sage Ranch to head to his sister’s place on Old Creek Drive, he felt a little sick inside. But from somewhere came a memory…his father’s voice, on the banks of Blackbird Lake one summer day. They’d gone fishing, just the two of them.

Life throws us a curve now and then, son, but you just have to ride it out best you can. The trail always straightens out in time and it usually leads you where you’re meant to go.

The words rolled through his head and steadied him now. He thought of his daughter’s face. He’d never seen anything so beautiful and sweet. A portrait of pure innocence. And she’d been completely oblivious to his existence for the past year and a half.

Then his thoughts shifted to Carly. Gorgeous, sexy, guarded Carly. She was harder to read than a book that was glued shut. As wary a woman as he’d ever met.

She reminded him of someone who’d been snakebit and wasn’t about to stretch out her hand again ever—not without a very thick leather glove.

He never blinked an eye at sliding onto the back of a bronc or a bull, never felt a single thread of fear as the chute opened and the wild ride began, but he’d done both so many times he knew exactly what to expect.

Tonight, on the lonely starlit road, with a hint of winter in the air blowing through his open window, he had no idea what tomorrow or the next day would bring.

He only knew as the night and the open road flashed by that this would be no eight-second thrill ride. He needed to be all in for this. All in for the long haul.

Whether he liked it or not didn’t matter. He was all in for Emma—for good.

And Carly?

He’d be here for her, too. Whether she believed it or not.

Shortly before one o’clock the next day, Carly waited nervously beside the picnic table where she’d set out a lunch of tuna wraps, potato chips, cole slaw, and fruit cups from A Bun in the Oven.

She hadn’t unwrapped the chocolate fudge cookies yet.

If Emma saw them first, she might balk at eating her sandwich. There were three of everything—cookies, sandwiches, fruit cups. One for her, one for Emma, and one for Jake.

Just like any cozy little normal family, she thought as a September breeze ruffled her hair.
Except we’re not any of that. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

She had her doubts about this getting-to-know-Emma lunch. But at least she’d set a time limit on it. Any moment now, Madison would show up with Emma in tow, and then at one thirty, she’d return to take her home for a nap. Carly would go back to the quilt shop.

And Jake? Who knew where he would go? And she knew she shouldn’t care. She couldn’t afford to care. Her job right now was to protect Emma and keep all contact with Jake
low-key and minimal until—and if—Carly became convinced he was serious about being part of Emma’s life.

What she dreaded most was the possibility that Emma would become so fond of Jake she’d cry when he had to leave.

And the whole time he was gone.

Because he
would
be gone. Often…and for lengthy periods.

Her stomach ached just thinking about it. She had to find a way to protect Emma from expecting her father to be a real dad, one who was around on a regular basis, one who stayed put in the same town where she lived. Short, not-too-frequent visits might help keep her from getting too attached. Because after this initial, impulsive burst of fatherly duty and responsibility, the rodeo life would call to Jake. She knew it would. And then he’d remember who he really was and what he really wanted.

Freedom.

He’d start going away for longer and longer periods of time.

To be fair, she had to admit she was surprised by the commitments he’d voiced yesterday. She hadn’t expected anything like that from him.

But she wasn’t counting on them, either. For all she knew, Jake might have sprung out of bed that morning and decided that being part of his daughter’s young life was a burden he didn’t need. He might backtrack.

The only way to get through this while protecting Emma as much as she could was to take things nice and slow.

Speaking of slow…

She’d been keeping an eye on the time, watching the seconds tick by, and it was now three minutes past one and there was no sign of either Madison and Emma—or Jake….

But just as she sank down on the picnic bench, Madison’s Silverado rumbled around the corner and cruised to a stop just outside the park.

“I’m sorry, Carly. We couldn’t find Bug,” Madison explained as Carly hurried over and unbuckled Emma from
the car seat she’d transferred to Madison’s car early that morning. As always, Madison was wearing shapeless sweatpants and a sweatshirt along with high-top sneakers. Her long, shiny hair was pulled into a low, messy ponytail, but as always, she still looked pretty. “Finally Emma found him—he’d fallen beween the sofa and the ottoman.”

“Bug!” Emma announced proudly, waving the stuffed dog in the air. Her cheeks were pink from the cool breeze whisking down from the mountains, but she looked warm enough in her puffy little pink down jacket with the white shearling collar.

“Hungry, sweetie?” Carly asked, setting her down gently on the grass as an elderly couple strolled past them toward the park benches flanking the town square.

Emma shook her head, murmured, “No,” and took off running, clutching Bug as she raced toward the baby swings. “Push, Mumma!”

“Should I come back in half an hour or do you need more time?” Madison asked as Carly started toward her daughter.

“Half an hour is perfect. I need to—”

Suddenly Jake’s truck zoomed into view and whatever she’d been planning to tell Madison vanished from her mind. He drove the way he looked, and probably the way he rode those bulls—with authority and confidence and ease. Sliding into the spot directly behind Carly’s Jeep, he cut the engine.

At this time of day, all of the high school kids had returned to class and the park was nearly deserted. Carly’s heart jumped a little—with trepidation, she told herself—as Jake vaulted out of the truck. He wore faded jeans and a black shirt and he looked lean and strong and good…too damned good. To her surprise, that big scrawny dog of his leaped out of the truck after him.

Great, just great. The dog wasn’t on a leash, but he trotted closely behind Jake, who waved one very ripped arm at Carly and headed toward her with long, easy strides that could make a woman’s mouth water.

“See you in a half hour,” she told Madison, unable to tear her gaze away from Jake.

“Got it…. Um, Carly, that’s Jake Tanner, isn’t it? Delia told me he was back in town. Everyone’s hoping he’ll stay for the auction. Delia says she’d die of happiness if he bid for a date with her—”

Madison’s voice faded as she suddenly seemed to notice that there were three of everything arrayed across the picnic table. “Are you and Emma having lunch with him?”

“Yes. We are.” Carly flushed, hoping Madison wouldn’t ask any more questions. Glancing over, she saw that Emma had veered away from the swings and was now scampering toward the slide.

“Awesome. I didn’t realize you had a date.”

“It’s not a date.” She started toward Emma, but not before she caught Madison’s grin.

“’Course not. Just a picnic. Think I’ll pop over and pay my grandfather a visit.” Madison seemed to be trying to wipe the smile from her face. “See you soon.”

“Tell the sheriff hi from me.” Carly watched Emma drop Bug in the grass, then toddle to an unsteady halt and turn around to snatch him back up. “That little tornado of mine thinks she can climb up that slide,” she muttered, quickening her pace.

She heard Madison laugh. “Tell me about it. She excels at keeping me on my toes every second.”

As the babysitter struck off toward the town square, Carly called to Emma, shaking her head as her daughter ignored her and continued running full tilt toward the slide.

“Time for lunch, Emma,” she called again. “We’ll save the swing and the slide for later.”

She might have saved her breath for all the notice Emma took.

With a sigh, Carly broke into a jog and caught Emma just as she was starting to wiggle herself onto the base of the slide. Scooping her daughter safely into her arms, she turned back toward the picnic table as Emma gave a shriek of protest.

“Hey, look who’s having lunch with us. It’s Jake,” she said casually, and Emma stared, distracted. They reached the picnic table at the same time Jake and his dog did. The big mutt might have been glued to the heels of Jake’s boots.

She noticed for the first time that the animal had a sad, gaunt face, but his tail was slowly wagging, and at least today he wasn’t howling.

Emma had stopped protesting, but she ignored Jake completely, leaning out of her mother’s arms, enchanted, trying to grab the dog.