by Kate Pearce
“Maybe a couple of them. You did help out at the Brysons’.” Danny grinned and held up the beer. “Although you might prefer this.”
“I see you’re trying to cover all your bases.” Dave took the beer. “But it’s okay, Danny. I’m over trying to murder you. I think I’ll leave that to Faith.”
They entered the kitchen and Danny had a moment to appreciate the sight of Faith as she rushed around the kitchen waving a spoon, her back turned to the door.
“Dave? Where did you go? You were supposed to be watching the sauce!”
“I was opening the door to this weirdo.” Dave jerked a thumb in Danny’s direction. “He seems to think we asked him to dinner.”
“Shut up. We did.”
Faith smiled at Danny and something happened to his heart. He didn’t care if they were at odds, he just knew that there would never be another woman who would mean the same as Faith did to him. It didn’t even matter what happened between them, he just knew it was the truth. Maybe it was time to take a stand and find out whether there was any hope for them having a future together and not just a past.
“Hey.” He held out the bouquet. “Dave thinks they are for him, but that’s up to you.”
“He’s not having them.” She took the flowers and hugged them to her chest. “I love them.”
“It’s okay, I got the beer.” Dave set it in the refrigerator. “That’s much more important.”
Danny offered Faith the bottle of wine. “I brought this, too.”
“Thanks. It’ll go nicely with dinner. I’m making bacon, pea, and cheddar pasta carbonara.”
“It smells great,” Danny said appreciatively.
Faith smiled. “I know you usually make carbonara with ham, but I’ve got a load of really good local bacon from Roy up at Morgan Ranch and it goes great in it.”
“I bet it does. Can I open the wine for you?” Danny asked.
Dave’s phone buzzed and he groaned. “I hope this isn’t who I think it is.” He read the text and grimaced. “I’ve got to take this call. Don’t wait for me to eat.”
Faith frowned. “Is it something I can help with? I’m supposed to be doing the night calls for the rest of the month, remember?”
“Nah, I’m good. It’s not work. You enjoy your dinner with lover boy.” Dave walked out of the kitchen, the phone to his ear as he listened intently.
Faith sighed and turned back to the stove. “I cooked enough for a family of eight, but I suppose it will keep.”
Danny cleared his throat. “I can go home if you’d rather do this another night?”
“Don’t you dare go anywhere.” She pointed the spoon at him. “I’m not eating alone after I made all this effort.”
“Then I’ll stay. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“You can put the salad and the wine on the table, and then I think we’re good to go.”
* * *
Faith watched Danny pull apart a piece of garlic bread with his strong fingers and remembered how they felt on her skin. He seemed to be enjoying the food and was making easy conversation, but there was something distant about him, like his mind was on other things.
“I think we can safely say the scours outbreak is now contained,” Faith said, just in case that was what was worrying him. “No new cases even at the Brysons’.”
“That’s great.” Danny wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I guess we still don’t know whether the Brysons are coming back.” He twirled his fork in his spaghetti and chewed slowly. “Ben asked me if I’d be interested in running the place if he and Silver bought it for their foundation.”
Ah, maybe that was what was on his mind. Faith tried to look neutral. “What did you say?”
“I told him I’d need to think about it.” He looked up at her. “Did you put in a good word for me?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t need to. Ben was already on it.”
“I’m not sure it’s what I want,” Danny continued. “With Dad’s health, Adam needs all hands on deck up at our place to keep things going. I think I have the tools to make us more efficient and profitable and that kind of appeals to me.”
“More than owning your own place?” Faith asked.
“You know as well as I do that running a ranch is damned hard work and how easy it is for a place to fail. Owning one outright is even worse.”
“I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t happen to you.” Faith held his gaze. “You’re more than competent.”
His smile was warm. “Thanks for that. I guess I’m finally beginning to believe that’s true.”
“It’s about time.” Faith finished the last piece of bacon in her bowl and sat back with a sigh. “I’ll definitely make that again. It’s awesome.”
“As you’ve probably got three more meals there, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about making it for a while.” Danny reached across the table and took Faith’s hand. “I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.” Faith set her fork down and braced herself for just about anything.
“I’d like to speak to your dad.”
She immediately tensed. “Why?”
“I think it’s time we cleared a few things up, don’t you? Neither of us can move forward until we understand what happened back then, and your dad has all the facts.”
“I’ve moved forward,” Faith said.
“You’ve certainly done a great job of telling yourself that, but Faith, our parents made a whole series of decisions for us that we’re only finding out about now. We don’t even know whether Marcus was adopted in California or Nevada. Someone knows and my bet is it’s your dad.”
“Is this about you wanting Marcus to find us?”
“No, that’s not on the table.” His usual smile had gone, and his expression was uncompromising. “I’ll never lie to you. If we don’t both want that then it doesn’t happen, okay?”
Faith swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
He nodded, reminding her more of his father with every second. “You don’t have to talk to your dad if you don’t want to. Leave it to me. I just need you to make the connection.”
Faith listened to the ticking of the kitchen clock as her thoughts chased each other around her head like spring lambs. Danny was patient enough to wait her out without any signs of irritation.
She sucked in a breath. “I think we should do it together.”
“You sure?” His fingers tightened around hers.
“Yes, because you’re right. We do deserve to know the truth.”
“Okay.”
She liked the way he didn’t attempt to change her mind.
“In fact, why don’t we try and get hold of him right now? They should be up by now.” She rose to her feet. “Help me clear the table and make some coffee and we can call him.”
* * *
Half an hour later they were sitting in her dad’s study, her laptop open on his desk, staring at the screen which suddenly showed her father.
“Hey, Dad!” Faith smiled even as she realized she was trembling. “How’s Paris?”
“Trey Bonnie.” He smiled back. “Not much golf around here, but your mom’s enjoying the culture and I’m partial to the food. She’s out shopping for breakfast right now. How’s it going with you guys?”
“Well, we think we’ve contained the scours outbreak, which is awesome, so things are pretty much back to normal.”
“Great! Is that Dave back there? Not like you to be so quiet, Son. Has your big sister got you running scared?”
Faith drew Danny forward. “It’s not Dave.”
“Hey, Mr. McDonald,” Danny said. “Faith and I thought it would be a good idea to talk to you together about what happened when Marcus was born.”
Her father’s face sagged. “Really? Why, Faith? Why now?”
“Because Danny and I need to move past this, and you can help with that,” Faith said firmly. “This isn’t about you, Dad. It’s about us. Please just listen for a minute.”
Danny took
his cue. “We just want to know whether Marcus was adopted in California or Nevada because each state has different rules about adoptions and what information can be shared or kept secret. Basically, we want to make sure we’re ready if Marcus tries to contact us through the state adoption agencies.”
Her father sighed. “He won’t do that.”
“How do you know?” Faith asked.
“Because we didn’t go through the state. It was a private adoption. I guess they must have sent in paperwork at some point to change his birth certificate and all that stuff, but—”
“Hold up a minute, sir,” Danny interrupted him. “What do you mean by private?”
“Well, your mother and I knew a family who were looking to adopt a kid and when all this happened, we decided the easiest way to give Marcus a good home was with them.”
“You knew them?” Faith’s voice rose with every syllable.
Her father’s eyebrows rose. “How do you think we got all the pictures?”
“Through the adoption agency agreement,” Faith said. “Are they local?”
“Not anymore. They moved a couple of years ago because their eldest was off to college on the East Coast. The mom’s family were from there and she decided it was time for her kids to get to know that side of the family.”
“Are you saying I could’ve bumped into this kid anytime in the last fifteen or so years?” Danny asked. “I coached Little League, I helped out with Bridgeport High football.”
“Yup, I suppose you might have done.” Faith’s dad nodded. “Imagine that!”
“You’re not helping, Dad.” Faith grabbed hold of Danny’s hand. “Does Jeff Miller know about this?”
“No, I didn’t trust him not to go around there and start telling them how to raise his grandson. You know what Jeff ’s like. And he might have told Danny, sorry, son, which wouldn’t have been good.”
“Did Mom know?”
“Yes, of course.”
Faith struggled to think what to say next. She was way beyond anger and into middling panic.
“Why didn’t you tell me all this?” Faith asked.
Her dad frowned. “Because up until now, you never wanted to know. We thought you were okay with everything and that the less said the better. When we tried to broach the subject after you recovered, you said you wanted to get on with your life and go to college. We took you at your word.” He paused. “Is Danny pressurizing you to do this?”
“No, not at all,” Faith answered. “It was a joint decision.”
Danny’s arm came around her shoulders and she leaned back to hear as he whispered in her ear. “Do we want to ask for the name of this couple?”
“I’m not sure.”
He nodded and turned back to the screen. “Thanks for sharing all this information, Mr. McDonald. We appreciate it.”
“Just remember we found that baby a loving home with parents who were grateful to receive such a gift. Maybe we should’ve insisted and told you earlier and then we wouldn’t have to be having these discussions today.” He leaned forward. “We tried to do what we thought you wanted, Faith. I hope you know that.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Faith leaned forward and abruptly turned off the screen before getting to her feet and walking over to the window to stare out into the darkness.
“You okay?” Danny asked softly.
She glanced over her shoulder at him.
“Not really.”
“We know more than we did before, right?”
She swung around. “Why aren’t you angry?”
“At what exactly?” He frowned. “Marcus grew up in a family who loved him and who had a connection with your parents. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“I wasn’t talking about that.” She raised her chin. “Why aren’t you angry with me? Apparently, I’m the one who shut down any attempt by my parents to tell me what was going on back then. I’m the one who decided it was more important to go to college than come home and face what I’d done.”
“Faith . . .” He slowly stood up and held out his hand. “Don’t—”
“Don’t what? Weren’t you the one saying I compartmentalized everything? That I locked things away because I didn’t want to deal with them? Well, you were right, weren’t you? I did that to my own son. I don’t know how you can bear to even look at me.”
His brow creased. “Because you’re beating yourself up about something that isn’t your fault.”
“It was my fault!” She only realized she was shouting when he backed up a step. “I didn’t want to hear anything!”
“You nearly died, you’d just had a baby, and you were seventeen. You were hardly in a good place emotionally, physically, or mentally,” Danny said evenly.
“Didn’t you also tell me that I didn’t have the right to use that as an excuse to avoid things?”
“Now you’re just twisting my words.” Danny’s expression tightened. “And, I’m not the enemy here. I’m on your side.”
She turned away because she couldn’t bear to see the compassion and understanding in his eyes. Things she definitely didn’t deserve.
“I think you should go.”
His breath hitched. “What?”
“You’ve got what you came for. You know where Marcus is, you also know your family had nothing to do with that, and you know I let you down. Isn’t that enough?”
The silence behind her grew like a living thing so much so that she braced herself for impact.
“I’ll go, but I want you to know something before I do,” Danny said slowly. “I don’t blame you one bit for what you did or didn’t do back then. I didn’t exactly cover myself in glory either and I have too many regrets to count. You did the best you could at the time, Faith. We both did, so please forgive yourself, okay? And if you want to come find me and talk it through, this time I promise I’ll be there for you whatever it takes.”
He waited but she couldn’t turn around even as his words sunk into her soul. She didn’t deserve them. She didn’t deserve him.
Eventually she heard the door click closed behind him and she finally gave in to her need to cry.
Chapter Nineteen
Danny set out the water glasses and napkins on the table, which Daisy had decorated with vases of vibrant flowers, and went back to get the silverware. The house was full of Millers including his mother, his half sister, all his siblings and their better halves, and even a kid. Adam and Leanne were cooking in the kitchen and Danny was doing whatever he was told. The problem was it didn’t matter how busy he kept himself, all he could see was Faith’s back turned to him and her complete dismissal of everything he’d tried to say to her.
He got that she’d been shocked to hear that she’d been the one refusing to hear any details about the adoption, but he also knew she’d been in a bad place for a seventeen-year-old. And he bet her parents hadn’t pushed that hard to make her change her mind. Less said soonest mended was probably the McDonald family motto. He even understood her father’s reluctance to lay that on her, but she’d asked, and after prevaricating for weeks he’d finally answered her honestly.
What really frustrated him was that he couldn’t make things right for her and that at this point she wasn’t even letting him in to try.
“Danny?”
He looked up as his mother set a pan full of roast potatoes on a trivet. “Can you call everyone in for dinner?”
He went outside and shouted toward the barn where Roman was proudly showing off his calf to as many people he could persuade to go and see him. Then he went back into the long connecting hallway and shouted down there as well. Within seconds, Millers appeared from everywhere and converged on the table. Of course, Daisy was a Lymond now and Leanne and Ellie had a different last name, but they still counted.
To his surprise even before they all sat down, Daisy banged on the table for attention.
“Hey! We have news!”
“You pregnant already?” Kaiden asked, and received a death glare that didn�
��t deter him in the slightest. “Fast work, Jackson. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Shut up, Kaiden,” Daisy said. “The first thing is that the coins Cauy and Jackson found in the old Morganville Mine on their property were sold at auction yesterday!”
“That’s taken a while,” their father commented. “Did you make any money?”
“Yeah.” Jackson grinned like a fool. “A whole shitload. Enough to fix up our place and then some.”
Everyone whooped and banged on the table as Kaiden shouted, “Drinks are on Jackson for the next year, okay?”
“Sounds good to me.” Jackson turned to Daisy. “Now tell them the most exciting part.”
“You’re having triplets?” Kaiden yelled.
Daisy ignored her brother. “My company’s being bought out!”
“Is that good?” Jeff looked dubious. “I thought you were planning on going public or something.”
“Well, we were, but one of our big competitors came in with a bid to buy us outright. It was a good bid.” She swallowed hard. “Like a multimillion-dollar bid.”
Silence fell around the table as they all stared at Daisy. As usual, it was down to Kaiden to break the spell. He looked across the table at his girlfriend, Julia.
“Hey, I think we need to up our game here, honey, don’t you?”
“Shut up, Kaiden.” This time there was a chorus of voices.
“That’s wonderful, Daisy,” Leanne said. “We’re all so proud of you.”
“Well, we’ve got to pay Chase Morgan’s investment back and the rest gets split between the four of us, but none of us will ever have to worry about money again,” Daisy said.
“That’s awesome! You two will have so much cash you’ll be swanning around like Silver and Ben and forget all about us little people,” Evan, who was seated next to Danny, said.
“Hey,” Ben called out. “We don’t swan, we fly.”
“On your own private jet,” Evan countered. “Are you going to get one of those, Daisy? You could keep it here.”
“So not happening.” Daisy sat down, her face flushed, her hand tucked tightly into Jackson’s.
For a second Danny almost resented their happiness and togetherness before he shut the feeling down. Daisy and Jackson deserved everything they had. The real issue was his lack of satisfaction with his own life, not them.