Kate's Secret (Bluegrass Spirits Book 2)

by Kallypso Masters

  Lidia shook her head. “I’d say there isn’t much chance of any kind of romance developing between you two now, but it’s not about you and Travis anymore, Kate. You need to make amends to Travis and Chelsea and do whatever it takes to bring them together as father and daughter.”

  “I know.”

  When Kate’s chin quivered, Lidia stood and closed the space between them, wrapping her arms around her. “Don’t worry. He’ll do the right thing.”

  “I have no doubt that he’ll be back, once this all sinks in. He shoulders responsibility like a general. Earlier today, he asked me to text him a photo of her.”

  “Did you send one?”

  Kate shrugged. “Of course.”

  “Okay, that’s a good start.”

  “I just don’t want him to take her away from me, Lidia.” She choked on the words. Kate returned Lidia’s hug and buried her head in her friend’s side. After giving in to tears for a few moments, Kate nudged her away and drew a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Lidia. I didn’t mean to lose it like that.”

  “Maybe it’s time you let out some of those pent-up fears you’ve let rule your life. Besides, I’d have been insulted if you hadn’t come and talked to me. You can’t keep shit like this bottled up, amiga.”

  “You’re the best friend a girl could ever have. Thanks for listening.” Kate might not be able to look her friend in the eye for a while, but she’d needed to hear these things before Chelsea came home tomorrow.

  Lidia rubbed Kate’s arm before returning to her seat. “Now, back to business. Let’s practice what you’re going to say to Chelsea.”

  She sighed, shrugging. “The truth, I guess.”

  “Which is…” Lidia prompted.

  She met Lidia’s gaze despite her recent weak moment. “I suppose I have to tell her my reasons for sending Travis away, selfish though they might have been.”

  “Mierda, Kate. What’s selfish about wanting to let a guy follow his dream? However, what you need to admit is that it was awfully presumptuous of you to decide you knew better than Travis did about how he’d handle the situation.”

  “Well, nothing turned out the way I thought it would. He didn’t stay in New York City. Didn’t even complete his civil engineering degree. Instead, he joined the Army National Guard and served three tours in Iraq. Then in between deployments, he started what appears to be a successful contracting business in or near Nashville.”

  “Three tours? That’s intense. What’s his temperament like? Is he someone you’d want Chelsea to be around?”

  That sounded like Lidia’s polite way of asking, without coming out and saying it directly, if he had post-traumatic stress issues. “He seems to have it together.” More so than I do at the moment. “He even helps other vets get back to work and regain control of their lives after deployments. I can’t think of a single negative thing to say about him.”

  “Remember, you barely know him anymore. Spending a couple of days with someone isn’t enough time to reveal their true character.”

  “Actually, he was here since Monday—five days.”

  Lidia leaned forward. “We won’t go into how miffed I am that you didn’t call me over for coffee to share a little of that eye candy.”

  Kate smiled. Lidia has certainly lifted her spirits. “Anyway, you know how you can get a vibe about someone, positive or negative, the first time you meet them?” Lidia nodded. “Well, I don’t have a single negative feeling about him. He’s a genuinely nice guy, as far as I can tell.”

  “Good. Then go ahead and tell Chelsea. Expect for this to be hard on her—harder than it is on you and even Travis—but in the long run, she’s going to love getting to know her dad. I think half her problems are that she doesn’t have one to straighten her out.”

  “Hey, I’ve done okay as the disciplinarian.”

  “Yeah, but a girl just needs her dad sometimes. Moms are too close to what they’re feeling, if that makes sense.”

  But talk of turning Chelsea over to someone else to parent her threatened to send Kate into another tailspin. “What if she decides she’d rather live with him than me? I can’t lose her. She’s my whole life.”

  Lidia grinned. “That kid loves you. She’s just being a typical tween. She’ll come around once the initial shock wears off.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Kate said. Soon after, she said goodbye and left Lidia’s kitchen. She still didn’t know how she’d broach the subject with Chelsea, but she probably needed to do so almost immediately after the bus dropped her off at church tomorrow.

  After returning from Lidia’s, Kate found herself in Chelsea’s bedroom. She put the room back to rights after the mad dash she’d made through it Monday. Needing to feel close to her daughter, she crawled onto the twin bed and hugged a stuffed dragon to her chest.

  “Oh, Chelsea, please don’t hate me for what I didn’t do.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Travis parked his truck in Katie’s drive and sat staring between the house and barn a while, not sure why he’d decided to surprise her this time rather than call and tip her off. But here he was. He glanced at the seat beside him and the five-foot stuffed pink and purple unicorn he’d purchased on a whim for his daughter. Hell, was this one taller than she was?

  Man, I hope Chelsea likes stuffed animals. Giant ones. Otherwise, I’m going to look like a damned fool.

  Already he regretted the impulse buy. A twelve-year-old was probably into boy bands and jewelry more than stuffed animals. How would he know? He was going into this cold. But he didn’t want to screw it up, either.

  Opening the door of the truck, he left the critter there until after he asked Katie about it. Right now, he needed to find out more about his daughter. He knocked on the kitchen door. No response. After a few minutes, he headed toward the arena. Sure enough, he found Katie working with a young student and decided to watch.

  Katie’s love of the horse, rider, and the sport showed through in every gesture, every encouraging word.

  He wished he hadn’t noticed, but Katie had a body that became hotter with age. She’d always turned him on, but at a time when he ought to have more self-control, she totally did a number on his libido. How was he going to come to terms with his feelings about her—and the secret she’d kept from him—if he couldn’t separate one head from the other?

  He tried to imagine what Katie had looked like with her belly swollen with his child. Lordy mercy, I’ve missed out on so much. Before he let the anger boil up inside him again, he checked out her ass instead. Yeah. That should help him separate the carnal from the maternal.

  Keep it carnal.

  Because anytime he thought about her mothering his baby, his daughter, without him, he had a tough time suppressing intense feelings of resentment toward her. Would he ever be able to forgive her for the years of knowing Chelsea she’d robbed him of?

  One thing Travis had learned a long time ago was not to waste time worrying about things he couldn’t change or control. He needed to focus on the present and try to carve out some kind of future with Chelsea.

  “That’s it, Melissa! Just like that!”

  The girl rode down the long side of the arena, glancing his way as she passed, smiling, and saying, “Hi!”

  With his cover blown, he came out of where he’d tried to remain hidden. Katie glared at him one hot moment before studiously ignoring him for the next ten minutes as she finished the lesson. The student was a few years older than Chelsea. She drove herself here. He tried to imagine what Chelsea would look like riding. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize Katie had dismissed the girl. He watched her dismount and lead her horse to its stall.

  Without missing a beat, Katie’s boots squeaked on the rubber-mulch as she made a beeline for him. “I thought I told you Chelsea wouldn’t be back until tomorrow evening.”

  So that’s going to be the way of it. What did she expect him to do, just show up at the door and introduce himself to Chelsea cold turkey?

 
“You did. But we have some things to discuss before she returns.”

  She narrowed her gaze, but remained silent. What the hell did she have to be angry about? Without another word, she turned to follow the student. At loose ends, he walked up into the kitchen that also served as the trophy room and found himself drawn to the case filled with ribbons and photos of horses and riders competing. Were any of them pictures of his daughter? With their helmets on and the focus being more on the horses, it was hard to tell. These looked like bigger shows than at a county fair.

  But…her mom can’t afford a competitive show horse, or the costs of competing at the level she deserves.

  He remembered talking about Chelsea with Katie before he’d realized she was referring to herself. Was the farm not quite as lucrative as it would seem? Was she in debt too far to give Chelsea the things she should have?

  And still she hadn’t tried to get in touch with Travis to help?

  He drew a deep breath and blew it out, trying to get a handle on his anger once again. He’d been cheated out of something he couldn’t get back. And what about his folks? They had a half-grown granddaughter they didn’t know about. His parents weren’t getting any younger. What if one or both had died before Travis had introduced them to Chelsea?

  The number of check marks in the column of Katie’s unforgivable deeds would have continued to grow exponentially if that had happened, but he needed to stop thinking that way.

  I can’t change the past.

  Lord knew he wished he could on a number of fronts. But one thing he could do was be a part of Chelsea’s life—for the rest of her life—if she wanted him there.

  That might be a big if. What if she thought he’d abandoned her? Katie had a lot of resentment toward her own mother and definite conflicting feelings about finding her. If what Shania and Emmy found wasn’t too devastating, he’d share it with Katie.

  First things first. The time had come to learn more about Chelsea in preparation for their first face-to-face tomorrow.

  He drew in a deep breath. I hope I’m ready for this.

  * * *

  Kate said goodbye to Melissa in the stall after her horse had been rubbed down, but couldn’t bring herself to go back to the arena and face Travis just yet. The cowardly part of her had hoped he’d stay in Nashville rather than choose to become part of Chelsea’s life. No such luck. Not that she really expected anything less.

  What did he want to discuss, beyond the obvious?

  You aren’t going to find out hiding in this barn.

  She blinked and looked around, expecting to see Daddy standing there. He’d always been one to say what he thought in life, so was he now encouraging her to pursue Travis? She chuffed. That would be the day, especially after all the unflattering things he’d said about him when she was dating him in college.

  Walking into the kitchen and waiting area of the arena a few minutes later, Kate found Travis staring into the trophy case. Perhaps this could be common ground. “This one’s of Chelsea competing at the academy level at a show on the Shelby County Fairgrounds in May. She’d been begging me to compete so I let her enter some beginner’s academy classes that Saturday morning.”

  So he’d been looking at her all along and didn’t know it. She looked a lot more professional than some of the riders in more advanced shows. “How’d she do?”

  “Blue ribbon in one class and a red in another.”

  “First and second. Not bad.”

  “She was fabulous. You should have seen her.” The words were out before she could halt them. She cringed inside, but tried not to groan outwardly. He didn’t say anything. “She earned both of those ribbons under a tough, but fair, judge.”

  “Impressive. I’m sure having you as her trainer made a big difference, too.”

  She shrugged. “I work hard and demand that my students, including my own daughter, do their best at all times.” Sometimes Chelsea accused Kate of pushing her harder than the others, but she tried to be fair. “She’s been wanting to do another show, but, well, we haven’t found the right one yet.”

  “What other things does she enjoy doing?”

  “Typical middle-school stuff—lip syncing to her favorite songs, being on her phone chatting or texting with friends, reading voraciously, and playing softball when she’s not riding her horse, Jasmine. Temperamentally, she’s mostly sweet. Likes to get involved in charity projects at school and stands up to bullies. This past school year, she volunteered with kids in elementary school to tutor them in math.” Kate paused, turning her body fully toward Travis. “She definitely didn’t get math skills from me.”

  “I’ve always loved math.”

  I know. On more than one occasion, Kate had thought of Travis when she’d watched Chelsea quickly figure out some complicated math problem.

  “I should warn you that she’s also in the midst of raging hormones. She can be giggling one minute and bursting into tears the next.”

  His smile widened. “Man, I go from not being able to wait to meet her to being terrified, all in a matter of seconds.” He paused a moment before asking, “Would you mind showing me her room?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to invade her space without her permission. If she wants to invite you in to see her room, fine.”

  The light faded from his eyes. “Yeah, I understand. My sisters were super private at that age, too. I just want to know everything about her and don’t know how to go about it.”

  That he had taken an interest in Chelsea should please her. Travis hadn’t asked for any of this, but he appeared ready to accept his role as Chelsea’s father.

  “Have you had dinner yet?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Can I take you out somewhere?”

  “Thanks, but I’m having trouble controlling my sugar levels today, so I need to eat here tonight.” The stress she’d been under had totally spiked her glucose. “But there’s enough for two if you’d care to join me. We can talk more about Chelsea over dinner.” She hoped they’d be able to stick to that topic and not venture into discussions about their future. For now, it appeared that the only future they’d have would be sharing the parenting of their daughter.

  The smile reached his eyes again, and they lit up. “I’d like that.”

  She led the way to the house and washed up before beginning to prepare the chicken cacciatore while he chopped vegetables for the tossed salad. She’d put some dinner rolls in the oven for him, too.

  “Would you prefer penne or rotini pasta with your chicken?”

  “Either sounds great. Whatever you’re having is perfect.”

  Kate found being amicable took a lot less energy. She intended to make this a stress-free meal. Afterward, perhaps she’d show him some of the photo scrapbooks she’d made of Chelsea over the years.

  * * *

  So his kid took after him in math, huh? Hearing that there might be some of him in Chelsea, other than the family resemblances, made him feel like a king. He wanted to know more.

  While he chopped the carrots into disks, he cast sidelong glances at Katie. The lines around her eyes had relaxed some since he’d first arrived. Maybe she’d come to realize he wasn’t the enemy.

  “Is she a good student?”

  Katie shrugged. “She’s not consistent. She can go from straight As to mostly Bs and Cs from one semester to another. Getting her to do homework can be a chore worse than mucking stalls.”

  He nodded, grinning. “Sounds a lot like me at that age. Maybe she’ll outgrow it once she starts to think about college and her future. What does she want to be when she grows up?”

  “A medical researcher. She wants to find a cure for diabetes.”

  “Wow.” Clearly, Chelsea cared about her mother’s illness. Just how much did she know about it and how had it affected her?

  “Yeah, tell me about it. But at her age, kids change their minds every other month. Last year, though, she wanted to be a doctor. So there seems to be a theme here.”
>
  Over dinner, he continued to ask questions about Chelsea until Katie said, “After dinner, why don’t we sit in the living room and go through some of my photo albums?”

  “I’d like that.” In some ways. He also dreaded watching his secret daughter growing up before his eyes, knowing he’d missed out on so many years already. “Mom and Dad are going to be over the moon when they find out about her.”

  She glanced away. “When do you plan to tell them?”

  “Not ’til after I meet Chelsea and see whether she wants to have anything to do with me and my family. I’d rather they not know she exists than find out Chelsea wants nothing to do with them.”

  Katie reached across the table and squeezed his hand. When he met her gaze, what looked like tears welled in her eyes. “Chelsea needs grandparents in her life. Trust me. She’ll want to get to know them.”

  He sat back in the chair, and she pulled her hand back. “Hope so.” But what about getting to know him? Before he sank in the deep end of the bitterness pool, he reined himself in. “What has she said about wanting a dad, though?”

  She stared down at her plate. “When she first went to school and found out other kids had a mommy and a daddy, it was hard for her. But she hasn’t really asked much about her own dad in the last few years.”

  “What does she know about me?”

  Her gaze met his again, fierceness in her eyes. “That you didn’t abandon her. That was really important for me to make her understand. I told her you just didn’t know about her.”

  “Why didn’t you give me a chance, Katie? What did I ever do to make you cut me off from your and Chelsea’s life like that?”

  She drew a ragged breath. “It wasn’t you. It was me.” Without explaining further, she stood and began clearing the dishes from the table. “Let’s clean up in here, and you can start going through my photo albums.” After loading the dishwasher, she poured him a sweet tea and herself a flavored water and carried them into the hallway. He followed her into the living room where he’d slept that first night he’d shown up here. Seemed like a year ago. His entire life had changed since then.