The SEAL's Secret Daughter

by Christy Jeffries

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  The Rancher’s Return

  by Kathy Douglass

  Chapter One

  Everything looked the same. After ten years away, ten years when he’d wondered if he would ever see the ranch where he’d been born and raised again, Donovan Cordero was home.

  He was surprised that not one thing had changed. The large house was still painted the white color his mother loved. The shutters were still black. The simple backdrop was perfect for showcasing the flower gardens on either side of the stairs where his mother had spent hours each day. His earliest memories were of pulling weeds beside her, learning how to care for a variety of plants and flowers.

  When he’d gotten older he’d begun to trail his father around their one hundred seventy-five acre ranch. He’d felt guilty for turning his back on his mother, but when he’d apologize for leaving her behind and offer to stay with her, she’d only laugh and shoo him away. After spending the day learning how to care for horses and cows, he’d race into the house and to his mother, who would always give him a big hug and kiss. Later he’d begun hanging out with his three best friends, Tony Wilson, Billy Campbell and Jericho Jones on the Double J Ranch. No matter how late he returned, his mother was always waiting with open arms to welcome him home.

  Would she be as welcoming now? She’d spent the past ten years believing he was dead.

  Fearing for her life and those of others he’d loved, he’d let her go right on believing that. He’d been young and frightened back then, too afraid to think of any option other than running. After seeing Karl Rivers kill a man in cold blood, where could he turn? The sheriff? Not likely since the sheriff had been beside Rivers, watching the entire thing. No doubt he’d helped with the cover-up.

  To this day he still remembered the fear that had filled him when they’d spotted him. He’d pleaded for his life, promising never to tell a soul what he’d seen. He’d thought for sure they were going to kill him. Then Rivers had lowered his gun. Rivers had told Donovan that since he had always protected his son Carson from bullies, he was going to let him live. But there was a condition: Donovan had to leave town immediately and never come back. If Donovan stayed in town or breathed a word of what he’d seen, Rivers would kill not only him and his parents, but his girlfriend, Raven Reynolds, too. The dead body on the ground in a pool of blood left no doubt that Rivers was serious. He’d kill them all.

  Karl Rivers was a powerful man in the state of North Carolina. A big political donor to Democrats and Republicans alike and cousin to the governor and a US senator, he had reach that Donovan could only imagine. As a teenage son of a simple rancher, Donovan had been no match for him. So he’d run. He’d left his parents and Raven behind for their good as well as his own.

  Three days ago the major networks had carried the story of Rivers’s death from a heart attack. Donovan had watched in anger as politicians from one end of the country to the other gave tribute to Rivers, speaking of him in glowing terms. No one would ever know what a monster he’d been. But then a sense of relief replaced the anger. Donovan could go home without risking the lives of those he loved.

  So he’d quit his job on the ranch where he’d worked under a fake name for the past seven years. Though he liked Della and Gabe Turner, he didn’t give them the notice he would have if he were leaving for any other reason. He’d wanted to get home as soon as possible. He’d said goodbye to the men and women on the cattle ranch who had become his friends, loaded up his truck and driven east.

  He checked his watch. Five fifty-eight. He’d been sitting in his truck for the past three minutes. Now that he was home, his knees felt weak and his heart thudded in his chest. He’d been in the area for almost ten minutes but he’d driven around trying to get rid of his sudden anxiety. He’d been fine as he’d driven Interstate 20 across several states. But as he’d crossed into North Carolina, he’d gotten anxious. The closer he got to home, the more jittery he’d become.

  Dinner had always been at six o’clock in the Cordero home. Donovan’s mother had designated that hour as family time and it was sacred; Donovan’s father had never once been late, no matter how much work remained. So Donovan knew he was about to see both of his parents within a matter of minutes.

  Breathing hard, Donovan got out of the car and sprinted across the driveway and up the stairs. Never in the nineteen years that he’d lived in this house had he rung the doorbell and it felt strange to do it now. But after being gone all these years, he didn’t feel right strolling into the house and asking what was for dinner. As the doorbell pealed, his heart sped up. He heard footsteps. As they got closer, his anticipation grew.

  “Yes?”

  At the sound of his mother’s beloved voice his eyes filled with tears. He looked through the screen door. “Ma?”

  His mother gasped. Visibly shaken, she staggered back. For a second he thought she might pass out, but with a strength he remembered, she grasped the door and stared. Tears filled her eyes and ran down her smooth, brown cheeks. “Donovan. Oh, my sweet baby boy. You’re home. My baby boy is home.”

  He yanked open the door and pulled his sobbing mother into his arms. “I’m home, Ma. I’m home.”

  “Lena, who is that showing up at dinnertime?” Donovan’s dad asked, coming into the entryway.

  Donovan looked up, not releasing his mother from their embrace. “It’s me, Dad.”

  Donovan’s father stared at him for a moment. The look on his face was that of a man whose every dream had just come true. He gave a shout of joy then crossed the room in long strides, taking Donovan and his mother into his arms. “Son. You’re home. I’ve waited ten long years for this day to come.”

  As the family hugged, a sense of relief and joy that had been a decade in the making filled Donovan. They held on to each other for long minutes before separating. They didn’t fully break contact but rather leaned on each other as they walked into the living room and sat on the familiar striped sofa his mother had fallen in love with on sight at the store.

  Donovan took a quick look around the room. Everything was blessedly familiar. The furniture was in the exact same arrangement as it had been when he’d last seen it if a bit more worn. The same family photographs hung over the fireplace, freezing them in time.

  “I knew you would come home,” his mother said, dabbing at the corner of her eyes with the hem of her white blouse. “Everyone told us that you were dead and that we needed to move on, but I knew better. I knew you were alive. A mother’s heart knows.”

  “As does a father’s.”

  Watery laughter burst from Donovan’s mouth. Mario Cordero had always insisted that a father could love just as strongly as a mother and that a dad possessed the same intuition when it came to his children.

  “And you’re just in time for dinner.” Donovan’s mother rose and, grabbing his hand, led him to the kitchen.

  After washing his hands, Donovan sat at the familiar table in his usual seat. There was something comforting about having everything the same as he remembered. His mother had made a roast with vegetables, one of his favorite meals. He had to admit that no matter what she’d made, he would have been ecstatic. Over the years he’d eaten at many tables, but nothing compared to sitting down at this scarred oak table again.

  As they ate, they talked about everything and nothing. They were too emotional to have deep conversations an
d frequently wiped happy tears from their faces. When the meal had been eaten, they lingered into the night, sipping sweet coffee. Until finally they could no longer avoid the burning question that had so far gone unasked.

  “Why did you leave, son?” Lena asked quietly, heartbreak and confusion in her voice.

  Donovan had known this time would come. He’d prepared many answers that he hoped would satisfy them without bringing up the terrible past. Now that he was face-to-face with his parents, seeing the love in their eyes, he couldn’t lie to them. He respected them too much. Besides, after years of worry, they deserved the truth. “I saw something I shouldn’t have. A murder. The man who committed the crime threatened us and Raven if I didn’t leave town immediately. So I left.”

  “Oh my God,” Lena whispered.

  “Are you safe now?” Mario asked, rising. No doubt he was going for one of the guns he kept locked in a gun safe in his study.

  “I believe so. The murderer is dead now.”

  “I never heard anything about a murder back then.” Mario sank back into his seat. “Why didn’t you come to me? We could have gone to the sheriff.”

  Donovan shook his head then stared at his father. “No, we couldn’t have.”

  It only took a second for that to sink in.

  “I always knew that man was a snake,” Mario said, anger filling his voice. “No wonder he died under suspicious circumstances three years ago. There’s no telling how many crimes he covered up.”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” Lena said, patting Donovan’s cheek like she’d done when he was a kid. “You’re home and that’s all I care about.”

  Donovan knew that once the euphoria and shock of his return wore off, his parents would ask more questions. Even now Donovan sensed there was more his father wanted to ask but mercifully he held back. Emotionally drained, Donovan was grateful for the reprieve.

  A somber feeling settled in the room, taking some of the glow from the earlier joy and excitement of Donovan’s return. A few minutes passed before Lena jumped up. “You must be tired. Your room is all set.”

  Donovan was tired but he was much too keyed up to sleep. Nevertheless he followed his parents to his room. The door was closed but when he opened it, it was like stepping into the past. His room was exactly the way he’d left it. If not for the fact that he’d lived every single day, Donovan might have believed the past ten years had been a mirage. The only thing different was the bare mattress. His mother grabbed some sheets from the linen closet and headed for the bed.

  “I can do that, Ma,” Donovan said, reaching for the sheets.

  “I know you can. But I’ve come into this room for years, longing for the day you would return and sleep in this bed again. Let me make it for you.”

  When she put it like that, there was no way Donovan could say no, so he stepped aside and let his mother put sheets on his bed. While she worked, he moved around his room, touching mementos from his youth. He’d never been especially neat, and everything remained as he’d left it. His computer was still centered on his desk, along with a comic book, open to the exact page where he’d stopped reading.

  “Done,” his mother said, beaming at him.

  “Thanks, Ma.” He pulled his mother into a tight hug then walked with her to the door. She hadn’t tucked him in since he was about seven or eight, but he could tell she would be happy to do so tonight if he’d let her. Instead he kissed her on her forehead and told her how glad he was to be home again. “See you guys in the morning.”

  After they hugged him one more time, Donovan’s parents said good-night and he closed the door behind them. Once he was alone in his room, Donovan picked up a picture from his bookcase. Raven. His heart skipped a beat as he looked at the girl he’d loved from the time he was sixteen. With clear brown skin and large, dark eyes, she’d been a beauty. Her long, thick hair was a rich black, befitting her name.

  Her parents owned the neighboring ranch, so they’d grown up together. For the first years of his life, he’d thought of Raven as one of the guys. Their mothers had been close friends so he and Raven had played together from the time they could walk. When he’d been about nine or ten, he and his three best friends had formed a boys only club and Raven had been excluded. He could still remember the tears in her eyes when he’d told her that boys and girls didn’t play together so they couldn’t be friends anymore.

  When he turned sixteen, he’d seen Raven riding her horse along the fence that separated their property. He’d called out to her but she’d ridden away. He’d tried to catch up with her but she’d been a magnificent rider and left him in the dust. Captivated by her beauty, he’d been determined to re-establish their friendship. Two days later he’d gotten up the nerve to show up at her home unannounced. She hadn’t been impressed. In fact, she hadn’t even acknowledged his presence until he’d given her a bouquet of pink roses. Then she’d smiled and his heart had leaped.

  They’d sat on her front porch for hours that day. He’d accepted her mother’s invitation to dinner. When he’d gone home that evening, he’d been totally in love and known that she was the girl he’d marry. Raven hadn’t been convinced of his sincerity and he’d had to work hard to win her heart. By the time summer ended, he’d succeeded. They’d been inseparable until the day he’d been forced to leave her behind.

  Was she married now? The youngest of five children, she’d wanted a bunch of kids of her own. No doubt she had a family by now. Just because his parents appeared to have remained frozen in time waiting for him to return didn’t mean that Raven had.

  Donovan pulled back the curtains and stared out the window. The full moon and bright stars illuminated the night. Suddenly he yearned to see more of the ranch. Tiptoeing down the stairs so as not to disturb his parents, he grabbed his boots from the front hall and carried them until he was standing on the back porch. He quickly put them on and headed for the stables.

  He pulled the doors open and looked around then walked slowly down the center aisle. When he reached the third stall he stopped. Zeus. His horse. He’d gotten Zeus for his fifteenth birthday. Some kids liked dogs and treated them like family, but Zeus had been all he’d wanted.

  He reached out and rubbed his horse’s nose. Zeus snorted and then began stomping his feet, pawing at the floor in his excitement. Once the horse calmed down, Donovan led him out of the stall and quickly saddled him. Donovan put his foot into the stirrup and swung into the saddle.

  The night was quiet and Donovan relaxed as he started across the moonlit grass toward the open fields. He and Zeus had traveled this way many nights. When he and Raven had been dating, they’d had a special place where they’d meet at night. It was on Cordero land but close enough to the Reynolds’ ranch that Raven could ride there easily. They’d rendezvous beside a babbling brook then wander hand-in-hand through the meadow. Donovan had carved their initials on the trunk of one of the many large trees. He’d told her it was a sign that he’d regretted all the ways that he’d hurt her in the past and a vow that he’d love her forever. It hadn’t been an original idea, but Raven had been so moved that she’d actually cried.

  But then Raven had always worn her heart on her sleeve. There had never been any mystery to her heart or how she’d felt. She’d never played games so he had never felt the need to do so, either.

  As he neared the meadow, he heard the sound of hooves. The sound was faint, but he caught a glimpse of someone riding away. The rider was too far off for Donovan to tell if the person was a man or woman. When he reached his destination, he put it out of his mind. He was there to reconnect with a special piece of land and to see if he could recapture some of the joy he’d felt back then.

  Dismounting, Donovan walked to the tree. Though it had been a decade since he’d been here last, he could have found the spot where he’d carved a heart with their initials while blindfolded. He rubbed his hand over the letters and then sat. He’d
visit Raven’s family ranch tomorrow and find out how she was doing. He didn’t expect to rekindle their relationship after all this time, but it would be good to catch up with her.

  The horse neighed and Donovan rose. He needed to get back to the house. Ranch work started early and Donovan wanted to help out his dad the way he always had, so he mounted the horse and headed for home.

  * * *

  Raven Reynolds crept into the kitchen, hoping to get to her room without running into anyone. Not that she’d done anything wrong. She just didn’t feel like having a discussion with her mother about where she’d been. Marilyn Reynolds was nobody’s fool and she could put two and two together faster than anyone. And really, there was no mystery about where Raven had been. She’d been caught coming in from meeting Donovan many times when she’d been a teenager. They’d loved each other so deeply they couldn’t bear to be apart for an entire night.

  But then he’d vanished without a trace ten years ago. Every rancher in the area and citizen of Sweet Briar, the nearest town, had looked for him, but they’d never turned up a clue. It was as if Donovan had existed one day then ceased existing the next. Despite evidence to the contrary, she’d believed in her heart he was alive and would return to her. Even now she refused to believe he was dead.

  But even so, it was time to move on. She’d finally accepted that even if he was still alive somewhere, he was not returning home. As much as she loved him, it was time to say goodbye to him. She thought she’d done that when she’d accepted Carson Rivers’s marriage proposal five months ago. She’d been wrong. A part of her had still been holding on to Donovan and the future they’d dreamed of sharing. That future wasn’t going to happen. If she was going to be true to Carson and give their marriage a chance, she needed to actually say goodbye to Donovan for good.

  So tonight she’d ridden out to their special place on his family ranch and watched as the sun set and the moon rose. Memory after memory flashed through her mind and she’d shed more than a few tears. She’d ranted and raved at the injustice of it all, releasing the pain she hadn’t been able to get rid of in all these years. When she’d been worn out emotionally, she’d gotten on her horse and ridden home.