A Texas Kind of Cowboy by Delores Fossen
CHAPTER THREE
LORELEINOLONGERcared if anyone saw her crying. No longer cared if the gossips had a field day with speculation as to why she’d screeched to a stop, bolted from her car and was running toward her sister’s glass workshop in the center of town.
She needed family, and she couldn’t go to Stellie like this because it might upset her to see her mom crying and near hysterics. No. She had to get control of herself and then she could go home and be with her daughter.
Herdaughter.
The words repeated like a mantra in Lorelei’s head as she hurried into Nola’s workshop. “Shut the door,” her sister called out without even glancing back to see who’d come in. It was her standard greeting/scolding when she was blowing because it was the heat from the furnace that kept the glass from cooling too fast.
“My timer’s about to go off,” Nola added, still not even giving Lorelei a glance. “Doctor’s orders that I can only be in the heat for ten minutes so I have to hurry to finish this.”
A very pregnant Nola was seated on a small stool in front of the roaring glory hole furnace. She was turning a pipe, shaping the hot glass at the end. If this had been different circumstances, Lorelei would have oohed and aahed at seeing the beautiful azure blue sculpture that was coming to life right before her eyes. But this wasn’t different circumstances, and she burst into a fresh round of tears that she couldn’t hold back another second.
Nola’s head whipped up, her gaze zooming across the workshop to land on Lorelei. Instant alarm went through her sister’s eyes. She dropped the pipe, the sculpture shattering, and she hurried to Lorelei.
“What’s wrong?” Nola demanded, taking hold of Lorelei’s shoulders. “Did something happen to Stellie?”
Lorelei tried to answer, tried to tell her that Stellie was okay, but she couldn’t speak through the sobs. Obviously, Nola was shocked because she’d never seen her big sister like this. That’s because Lorelei had never been like this, and that was saying something, considering everything she’d been through.
As much as her pregnant belly would allow, Nola wrapped her arm around Lorelei and led her across the workshop to an area set up with industrial-sized cooling fans. Again, that was part of the doctor’s orders since the prolonged heat wasn’t good for the baby. Her sister got a cup of water from a cooler and handed it to her.
“Drink,” Nola instructed, having a cup herself.
Nola didn’t press her with more questions. She just waited until Lorelei had had a few sips of the water and put some semblance of a chokehold on the emotions that were threatening to crush her.
“It was Dax’s butt in the picture,” Lorelei blurted out.
She could instantly tell from the blank look in Nola’s eyes that she had to back up again as she’d done with Dax.
Lorelei sighed and gathered her breath. “When I was doing research for the Last Ride Society on Dana Smith, I found this picture.” She pulled it out of her purse to show Nola. “It’s Dax. He confirmed that. He also confirmed he was with Dana. Except her name wasn’t really Dana. It’s Valerie Ford Marcel.” Lorelei’s voice cracked. “God, Nola. She was married and has parents.”
Nola looked at the picture, and her face definitely wasn’t blank when she lifted her gaze to meet Lorelei’s. “Well, crap.” She paused, obviously trying to wrap her head around this, and she muttered those same two words several more times. “What’s going to happen?”
Lorelei knew what the worst-case scenario was but she couldn’t go there, not yet, anyway. For now, she just focused on what she did know. “The sheriff is calling her next of kin to notify them of her death.” She had to pause and take another sip of water before she finished. “The husband might be Stellie’s bio father.”
Lorelei left it at that, but Nola was no doubt mentally filling in the blanks. The parents and the possible bio father would almost certainly come rushing to Last Ride. Well, they would unless they were horrible people who hadn’t cared about their wife and child.
But Lorelei rethought that.
Maybe Valerie/Dana had been the horrible one and her family had been glad to see the last of her. Even if that were true, though, that didn’t mean they’d feel the same way about the baby. All three of them could want Stellie.
“Oh, crap,” Nola repeated, her voice coated with her own experiences with adoption.
That’s because when Wyatt and Nola had been sixteen, they’d had a baby together, a daughter they gave up for adoption. Then, seventeen years later, just as Nola had found out she was pregnant with the baby she was carrying now, the daughter, Marley, had arrived in Last Ride so she could get to know her bio parents. That was a good thing for Wyatt and Nola, but Marley was practically an adult who could make her own decisions about such things. Stellie was just a baby.
Her baby.
Lorelei couldn’t even bear the thought of losing her to someone solely because they shared DNA. Heck, she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, period.
“All right,” Nola said as if trying to steady herself. Trying to steady Lorelei, too. “So, the husband might be the biological father, might,” she emphasized, “but it’s possible that Dax is?”
Lorelei nodded. “The timing fits.”
And Lorelei didn’t know what to wish for. That Dax was the father or the husband was. Of course, it was possible neither was, and that was about the best Lorelei could hope for here. That another man would be Stellie’s bio father and that he wouldn’t want to make any kind of claim on her.
“The adoption is final,” Nola reminded her. “We’re celebrating it when we have Stellie’s first birthday bash.” Their mother, Evangeline, and Lorelei had spent weeks planning it.
“Yes, the paperwork is final, but what if Valerie’s family accuses me of withholding info that would have prevented the adoption?” Lorelei asked. “I didn’t know they existed, but they might not believe that.”
Nola didn’t immediately dismiss the possibility of such an accusation. “You should talk to Sophia Parkman since she was your lawyer for the adoption. She might be able to put your mind at rest.”
Lorelei had already considered that. She liked Sophia, but going to her would feel as if she’d taken a step to fight for Stellie. She didn’t want to have to fight. She just wanted the life with her baby that she’d had before she’d found that blasted photo in the purse.
The door practically flew open, and their sister, Lily, came rushing in. She was wearing her usual ranching clothes. Jeans, a work shirt and mucky boots. And her gaze zoomed across the sprawling industrial space to locate them.
“What’s wrong?” Lily immediately asked. “I was at the feedstore, and I got three texts and two calls saying that Lorelei came running in here and that she was crying.” Lily looked at Lorelei. “You are crying,” she said in disbelief as she hurried toward them. “What the heck happened?”
Since she was, indeed, sobbing now, Lorelei motioned for Nola to fill Lily in. “I’ll bottom line this,” Nola volunteered. “Dana Smith was a woman named Valerie, and she had a husband and parents. Also, Dax might be Stellie’s father.”
Lily’s mouth dropped open. Nowhere near her usual expression, either. Along with being a rancher, she was the single mom of a teenager, and she didn’t shock easily. Or curse. But that was what she did right now.
“What the hell is going to happen?” Lily asked.
“Nothing for now,” Nola assured her, but Lorelei saw right through Nola’s calm, steady voice and the empty assurance. Yes, it might be nothing for now, but it could be a Texas-sized something after the sheriff did the notification to Valerie’s husband and her parents.
Which he was probably doing at this very second.
The door opened again, and this time it was their mother who hurried in. As Lily and Lorelei had done, Evangeline had to pick through the dim lighting in the workshop before she located them. She ran toward them, taking hold of Nola.
“Bright blessings,” Evangeline said, throwing out her usual greeting. A greeting that was laced with worry that their mother was almost certainly trying to tamp down. “I thought you’d gone into labor.” She was breathing hard and had likely run here after getting multiple calls and texts that something was wrong.
“No,” Nola assured her, and she gave their mother the same bottom-line explanation as the door opened for a third time.
It was Wyatt.
He certainly didn’t issue any “bright blessings” greetings, and while he wasn’t running exactly, he didn’t waste any time getting to the little huddle they’d created. He brushed a kiss on Nola’s mouth before turning to Lorelei. Not a kiss of relief. It seemed to be one of reassurance for Nola, but it was still coated with worry for what he no doubt realized was some kind of trouble.
“I would ask if you’re okay, but I can see you’re not. Dax called me,” Wyatt tacked on to that.
So, no bottom-line explanation was needed for Wyatt. Of course Dax had called him. Had probably phoned his other brother Jonas as well because this had almost certainly knocked him for a loop just as it’d done to Lorelei.
“Oh, dear,” Evangeline muttered. “How is Dax?”
Evangeline slipped right into her counselor’s voice, which was pretty much her norm since she was, indeed, a counselor. One who worked long hours with little pay and would give anyone the shirt off her back.
Lorelei dearly loved her mother, but she didn’t think she could handle Evangeline’s eternal “rose-colored glasses” approach right now. She needed to wallow in the sickening dread for a little while to try to get it out of her system before she went home to see Stellie who was there with the nanny. She definitely wouldn’t be going back into the shop today. No way. The gossips would just show up wanting tidbits and their questions would hash and rehash everything she was feeling.
“Dax is, well, Dax,” Wyatt said in answer to Evangeline’s question. “In other words, I don’t know how the hell he’s doing, but I suspect he’s trying not to panic right about now.”
Panic. Yes, Lorelei was dealing with some of that, too, but she thought hers was a whole lot different from Dax’s. He might be in the mindset of “get the heck out of Dodge” or “deny it until he had proof.” Whereas Lorelei wanted to take Stellie and run far, far away from anyone who might think they had a claim on her.
“Well, we can talk this through,” Evangeline said, causing Wyatt, her sisters and her to groan. “Or not,” her mother amended. “I just wanted to try to reassure everyone that all of this will work out.”
Yes, Lorelei silently agreed, it would work out, but whatever happened might not end up in her favor.
Lily checked her watch, muttered some more profanity that caused Evangeline to give her a scolding glance. “I’m supposed to pick Hayden up from school to take her to a dental appointment, but I can cancel,” her sister offered.
“No,” Lorelei insisted. Hayden was Lily’s fourteen-year-old daughter, and Lorelei knew the girl had been having trouble with a loose filling. “Go, I’ll be fine.”
All of them knew that I’ll be fine was a lie, but thankfully Lily also knew there was nothing she could do to help at this moment. Lorelei had no doubts that once the dental appointment was finished, Lily would be back to lend whatever support she could.
“Go,” Lorelei repeated, kissing Lily on the cheek.
Lily issued an apology, muttering about texting her as soon as the dental appointment was done, and she hurried out.
Since it would likely take more than a loose filling to get the others to go back to their normal day, Lorelei searched for her “big girl” panties and mentally started putting them on. She also dried her eyes, again, and took out her small cosmetic bag from her purse to repair her makeup. One look in the mirror, however, and she ditched that idea. It was unrepairable, but at least she wasn’t still sobbing.
“Thank you,” Lorelei told them. “After I check on Stellie, I’ll call Sophia to let her know what’s going on.”
“I can go with you,” Evangeline immediately volunteered.
But Lorelei shook her head and muttered a heartfelt thanks for her mom’s concern. She probably hadn’t run completely out of tears, but she was going to hold it together for Stellie. However, Lorelei had barely made it a single step when the door opened yet again.
And Dax came in.
The first thing Lorelei noticed about him was that he’d zipped his jeans and buttoned his shirt, but he was still sporting the same harried expression as when she’d left his house over a half hour ago.
Dax definitely wasn’t doling out any of his customary cocky grins or speed sprinkling any testosterone. Well, maybe some testosterone but nowhere near his usual levels.
His gaze skirted past the pile of broken glass in front of the furnace, and his attention focused on Lorelei. He held up a blue and white box, and as he walked closer, she saw the picture of the man and a little boy on the front. Saw the name, too.
Dependable Paternity Results.
Mercy. There went the hold she’d managed to clamp over her roller-coaster emotions. This was moving way too fast.
“It’s not a blood test,” Dax quickly told her. “Just a cheek swab. I’ve already done mine, and I want to go with you to do the swab on the baby. On Stellie,” he added as if speaking her name around a sudden lump in his throat. “Once I have her swab, I’ll have a courier pick it up and take it to the lab in San Antonio. I’ve already called the courier, and he’ll be here in just a few minutes.”
Lorelei couldn’t answer. That’s because her throat had clamped shut. She’d never had an anxiety attack, but she thought she might be on the verge of one now. However, no one else in the workshop must have realized that because they didn’t rush toward her. Maybe because they had their attention nailed to Dax and that little box he was holding.
Dax was the only one staring at her, and she thought they might have that anxiety attack together. Still, he managed to look, and sound, a heck of a lot stronger than she felt.
“Once the test is at the lab,” Dax went on, “it’ll take twenty-four hours to process. By tomorrow morning, we’ll know whether or not the baby is mine.”