by Karen Rose
He just plain liked her. And for now he wasn’t going to analyze it any further than that.
Maggie walked to the back door and peered through the curtain. ‘He’s parking his truck now. His wife and daughter are with him. Dry your eyes, Taylor. It will be okay. We’ll stay if you want us to, or we’ll go. Your call.’
Taylor drew a breath and let it out, pressing her forehead to Ford’s chest so that she could hide her face while she cleaned up.
Ford tipped up her chin, unsurprised to find she was just as pretty with a red nose and puffy eyes as she’d been earlier. ‘Try to relax. Do you want us to go? Either of us?’
‘No. Stay. Please.’ She tried for a smile. ‘And thank you. You are a good listener.’
She pulled away as the door opened. Straightened her spine and squared her shoulders as Ford had seen her do in the barn. He took her hand and gave it a little squeeze, and when he tried to pull his hand away, she wouldn’t let him.
Clay came through the door like he always did – big, strong and confident. Because he was all those things. Stevie was right behind him, leaning heavily on her cane. Cordelia followed her in, giving Ford a sunny smile of greeting.
‘What’s this all about?’ Clay asked when he saw Ford. ‘The camera?’
‘No,’ Maggie said. ‘I think that was a ruse. Ford’s way of getting you over here.’
‘Why?’ Stevie asked.
‘Because of me,’ Taylor said quietly, and all eyes swung her way.
Maggie cleared her throat. ‘Clay, I wanted to introduce you to our new intern. Her name is Taylor Dawson.’
‘It’s nice to meet you, Tay—’ Clay had taken a step forward, his hand extended in greeting, but now he stumbled, going statue-still. His expression went from polite confusion to wary recognition to all-out shocked disbelief in a matter of seconds.
For a long, long moment, no one said a word. It was like everyone was holding their collective breath. Clay’s gaze locked on Taylor’s face. His mouth was open, his throat working to speak.
‘Oh my God,’ he finally whispered weakly. ‘Oh my God.’
Stevie moved behind him, resting her hand on his back, just like Ford had done to Taylor minutes before.
Taylor let go of Ford’s hand and rose from her chair, gripping the edge of the table for support, her gaze locked on Clay’s.
He came closer, lifting his hand slowly, almost fearfully, then touched her cheek with one finger as if he’d needed to prove she was real and not a dream. ‘Sienna,’ he whispered, hope flaring to life in his eyes, so like hers. ‘It’s you. Isn’t it? Is it really you?’
Taylor nodded once, then blinked, sending new tears streaming down her cheeks. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her voice tortured. ‘I’m so damned sorry.’
In a rush, Clay pulled her into his arms, his big shoulders shaking, and for the first time Ford saw his friend cry. Not just a tear or two, but deep wrenching sobs that tore Ford’s heart out. He couldn’t have held his own tears back no matter how hard he tried.
Happy tears for the reunion Clay had sought for so many years. Sad tears for the years they’d lost because of a lie. Anguished tears for the apologies that Taylor was repeating over and over.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she kept saying. ‘I never meant to hurt you.’
Stevie stood, her hand over her mouth, tears rolling down her face too. Maggie was holding it together, but only barely. Ford wiped his eyes without apology.
Cordelia was clearly concerned and confused. But she stayed where she was, never disrupting the scene playing out before her. Ford gave her an encouraging smile and got a tentative smile back. ‘It’s okay,’ he mouthed, and the little girl visibly relaxed.
‘Sshh.’ Clay’s voice was harsh, breaking. ‘It’s all right, baby. You’re here now. It’s going to be all right. You’re here and that’s all that matters.’
‘Don’t hate me,’ Taylor pleaded, sounding like the scared little girl she must have been, and Ford wished her mother weren’t dead so that the woman could see the devastation she’d caused her own child. ‘Please don’t hate me.’
Clay cried so hard that his whole body shook. ‘I could never hate you. Never. I’ve searched for you for so long. Lost hope so many times, but now you’re here.’ Lifting his head, he cradled Taylor’s face tenderly, staring down at her as if she were a miracle. ‘I could never hate you. You’re my daughter.’
Hunt Valley, Maryland,
Saturday 22 August, 5.15 P.M.
Clay sat at the head of Maggie’s kitchen table clutching Stevie’s hand, the first wave of shock and tears past. He couldn’t take his eyes off the young woman sitting to his right, her face as tear-streaked as his own.
She was simply beautiful. And he wasn’t being biased because she was his daughter. Based on the way Ford hovered at her other side, the kid thought so too. She’d been clutching Ford’s hand when they’d come in, and now that things had quieted down, she clutched it again.
He wondered what was going on between them, then let it go. This was a moment. Their moment. I’ve waited so damn long . . . and here she is. Right under my nose.
She’d come to find him, and that made his heart swell. But she’d come under an assumed name, and that made his heart want to break in two. Why? Why had she come here using a fake name? How had she passed the background check? Because Joseph didn’t make mistakes.
She said her name was Taylor, but in his mind she was Sienna. The child he’d been cheated of. But he couldn’t let bitterness eat at him. Not tonight, with her sitting next to him.
Finally. Thank you, God.
Maggie was at the other end of the table, Cordelia sitting in her lap. Cordelia’s face was carefully blank, the way it got when she became upset and didn’t want anyone to know because they’d worry. This had come as a shock to all of them, but Cordy was only nine years old and didn’t trust easily. But she trusts me. Clay wasn’t going to sacrifice that miracle for anything.
‘Just a minute,’ he said to Sienna. He walked to Cordelia’s end of the table and went down on one knee. ‘You know this changes nothing between us, right?’ he murmured, and watched his littlest girl’s shoulders relax ever so slightly. ‘You’re still my daughter and will always be. You’re stuck with me. Forever.’
‘I know,’ Cordelia said softly. But he could tell she wasn’t yet convinced, so he pulled her into a hard hug.
‘You’re mine,’ he whispered in her ear fiercely. ‘I would have searched for you to the ends of the earth if you’d disappeared away from me. You know that, right?’
She hugged him back hard, her little body trembling. ‘I know. It’s okay, Daddy. You can love her too.’
Clay swallowed hard. It had taken Cordelia several months, plus the sight of an engagement ring on her mother’s finger, before she had called him ‘Daddy’ for the first time. She did it all the time now, but it still took his breath away.
‘I will, but I could never love you any less. Like I said, you’re stuck with me.’ He kissed her forehead and returned to his seat, aware that Sienna had watched the interchange closely.
‘I didn’t come here to make trouble for you and your family,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry.’
Clay reached for her hand that wasn’t clutching onto Ford Elkhart’s and held it tightly. ‘You aren’t making trouble. I . . . still can’t believe you’re here. Just this afternoon I was wondering if you were dead.’
‘I’m not,’ she said quietly.
‘You hid, though,’ Stevie said, just as quietly, which did not bode well. But Stevie had ridden this roller coaster with him for the year and a half they’d been together, and he figured he owed her the opportunity to get her questions answered, too. ‘You pretended to be a student at the community college near your house to throw us off the scent,’ she accused.
Sienna’s nod was shaky, but she met Stevie’s gaze squarely and said, ‘I did. That was before I knew the truth.’
Clay closed his eyes. He could only imagine what Donna had told her. ‘What do you know to be the truth?’
Sienna glanced around the table tentatively, pausing a long moment on Cordelia before returning her gaze to Clay. ‘I know you didn’t do any of the things my mother accused you of. She told me, hours before she died. I know she lied to you and about you and manipulated everyone around her. Including me. And my dad.’
Clay flinched. He couldn’t help it. ‘Your . . . your dad?’
‘Yes,’ she said calmly, but her lips trembled. ‘His name is Frederick Dawson.’
Clay knew the name. ‘He married your mother when you were nine years old. But they divorced when you were eleven and your mother moved back in with her aunt outside of Oakland. You lived there until your mother died. That’s when I lost the trail.’
Sienna shook her head. ‘No, that’s not what happened. That’s just what they let everyone think. Dad wanted Mom to marry him for years before they actually did, but she was afraid of you finding her if she left a paper trail – a marriage license. Dad convinced her that it would be okay, but then realized that she was right. At least he thought she was. They did get a divorce when I was eleven, so that they’d leave a fake paper trail you could follow. Then my father took all of us – my mother included – to Northern California. He was a partner in a big law firm, but he gave it up to live in the country and raise cattle. My mother’s aunt continued to live in her house outside of Oakland and they pretended that my mother and I lived there too. Mom had her mail forwarded from a PO box in Oakland to a UPS box near the ranch. Anything that made it through to her aunt’s house, her aunt would forward.’
Clay frowned. That didn’t mesh at all with what he’d discovered over the years. ‘I checked Dawson out. I never found a ranch.’
‘My father made sure of it. He bought it in the name of a corporation. His name is never tied to anything. We kept a low profile for years. Hardly ever went into town. I never went to a real school. We never even went to church.’ Her shoulders sagged. ‘Because we didn’t want to draw your attention.’
Clay’s jaw clenched, fury swirling inside him, expanding to push at his chest from the inside out. That man took my child. Hid my child. Stole her from me.
‘He thought he was doing the right thing,’ Sienna whispered. ‘He’s a good man, too.’
Too. Clay forced his jaw to relax and tried to see it from Dawson’s standpoint, for Sienna’s sake. What the man had done had kept Clay separated from his child, but he had to admit that Dawson had done a damn fine job hiding her. I would have done the same, given the same lie.
It was a hard truth to swallow.
‘I never caught a whiff of the corporation. I figured he’d had enough of Donna and walked away. Which was exactly what he wanted me to think.’ He shook his head, unable to comprehend it all. ‘I got played by a lawyer.’ He couldn’t hide his disgust at that.
Her swallow was audible, her voice grown small. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Clay gave her the best smile that he could. ‘You were just a child.’ My child. Grief rose from the fury, closing his throat until he could barely breathe. My child that I never got to know. I never got to hug. Never got to read a bedtime story to or tell her I loved her. Never got to hear her say she loved me.
Goddamn you, Donna. I hope you’re burning in hell for what you did. To all of us.
Stevie squeezed his hand and he found his strength when he looked in her eyes. But he still couldn’t speak. Couldn’t get past the pain that was shredding his heart.
‘I know,’ Stevie murmured. ‘But she’s here. You need to put all that away, for now.’
He nodded. ‘I’m trying,’ he whispered. ‘But this is hard.’
Stevie brought their joined hands to her lips and kissed his knuckles. ‘I know. You can work through the anger later. For now, I want answers.’ She turned to Sienna. ‘Why did Mr Dawson do something that drastic?’
Mr Dawson. Clay preferred that to your father. Every time he heard Sienna say my father, it was like a kick in the nuts.
Stevie had asked the question, but Sienna responded to Clay. ‘Because of the PI you hired to watch me. My mother was so scared that she had the man arrested, had him charged as a pedophile. That’s when my father decided we needed to disappear. He knew you’d never give up trying to find me.’
Clay’s lungs emptied on a weary sigh. ‘Dammit.’
‘Was the PI a pedo?’ Ford asked.
‘No,’ Clay said firmly. ‘I hired him to make sure that Sienna had a good home. That Donna was a good mother. Once we’d proved that I’d hired him, the charges were dropped against him. I knew your mother lied about me.’ He held Sienna’s gaze. ‘I had to be sure she wasn’t mistreating you.’
Sienna’s eyes had grown wide. ‘You knew about the lie she’d told?’
‘Yes. Her aunt finally told me.’
A rapid blink. ‘She did? When?’
‘You would have been about thirteen by then. I’d gone out to her house to try to talk to you, and I was simply devastated when your mother told me that you didn’t want to see me. Her aunt followed me out to the car and told me what your mother had told her parents. Apparently your mother had confided in her when the two of you first came to live with her. Your aunt told me about how Donna had lied to get their blessing for her divorce and how she couldn’t tell the truth because her father would have a heart attack. But your aunt also said that she’d never admit she’d told me any such thing, and if I tried to take legal action against Donna or to get you back, the two of them would make sure that everyone believed that I’d . . .’ He glanced at Cordelia. ‘That I’d done the things Donna accused me of. They’d ruin my career and make sure that you were hidden somewhere I could never find you. Donna’s aunt also said that she was the only one who knew. So no one could corroborate the true story.’
Sienna looked as exhausted as he felt. ‘What my aunt told you was true, I think. But not complete. My mother really didn’t want my dad to know. Maybe she thought he wouldn’t love her anymore. Maybe she’d have been right. All these years I’ve thought that PI was spying on me.’
‘Well, he was,’ Clay said, ‘but only because I was afraid to approach you myself. You’d run screaming from me the only other time I’d seen you.’
‘That day on the playground,’ she said, so softly he almost didn’t hear her.
His eyes stung with new tears. ‘Yeah.’ He had to give himself a minute. ‘That was a bad day.’ Which was the understatement of the century. He’d been crushed, the memory of her running away screaming revisiting his nightmares ever since. ‘I did find your mother because of her marriage to Dawson, but I didn’t want to scare you and I didn’t think I could handle it if you ran from me again like I was a monster. So I hired the PI to make sure you were okay. And to gather any evidence I could have used in a custody battle. You were only six that day on the playground. The PI watched you for months when you were eleven. But I didn’t get the full truth from your aunt until two years after that.’
Sienna’s eyes grew wide. ‘You were going to sue for custody? Legally?’
Clay’s jaw tightened as he imagined the things she’d heard about him. ‘I wasn’t going to grab you and run, for damn sure,’ he said roughly. ‘But my PI said you seemed healthy and happy, that you had a home with a picket fence and a dog.’
‘Rufus,’ she said with a fond little smile that tugged at Clay’s heart. ‘He was a good dog. My first pet. I never knew you wanted to keep me,’ she added wistfully.
‘Then why the hell did you think I was looking for you?’ Clay demanded, then sighed when she flinched. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout. What did your mother tell you? Although I’m afraid to
know.’
Sienna glanced at Cordelia again, hesitation written all over her face. ‘She said you were furious that she’d gotten away and that you’d promised you’d kill her before you let her live with anyone else. She told me that you were looking for me to get to her, and that when you found me, you might kill me too.’
‘That’s a lie!’ Cordelia shouted. ‘My dad would never hurt you. Never.’
Sienna turned in her chair and met Cordelia’s angry gaze head-on. ‘You’re right. It was a lie. And because of her lies, I was scared every day of my life. My father was afraid to let me out of his sight. Until this trip, the farthest away from home I’d ever been was the college I attended, and that was only because my middle sister, Daisy, went there too, and because it was close enough that we didn’t have to live on campus. We were college-aged, but he dropped us off in the morning and picked us up in the afternoon like we were little kids. We carried Mace and knives in case we were ever attacked and tracking devices in case we were abducted. We even had a bodyguard who signed up for the same classes we did – the ranch foreman’s son. I’ve never been on a vacation. I’ve never had a sleepover. I’ve never had a school picture taken. I was homeschooled all the way through high school. My first day of college was the first time I set foot in a classroom and I just knew Clay was going to pop up and steal me away. Or worse. So you’re right. It was a lie. But I can’t confront my mother about it because she died.’
‘But why?’ Cordelia asked plaintively. ‘Why’d she lie about my dad that way?’
Damn good question, Clay thought bitterly. To his knowledge, he’d never been anything but kind when they were married. He’d only been eighteen when Donna got pregnant, but he’d wanted to do the right thing. And for that, his ex-wife had made his life hell.
Sienna sighed. ‘She told the first lie so that her parents wouldn’t stop her from getting a divorce, because she wanted to marry someone else, and—’