If she’d wanted to wound Jacob, she succeeded. Pain and disappointment flared in his eyes. “Did this past week mean nothing to you?”
Remorse came, but slowly. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right.”
“I think it came out exactly the way you intended.” He stood then. Cody stretched, hugged Jacob tighter, then fell back asleep.
He adores his father.
It was as if a glass wall slammed down, separating Mariana from Jacob and Cody. They were father and son. She was on the outside, looking in. Oh, she’d always have a place in Cody’s life. Jacob wouldn’t shut her out entirely. But her involvement would be from a distance.
All along, she’d been afraid that Jacob would fall for her because their living arrangement was too cozy. Too easy. Too much like a normal family. In hindsight, she should have been concerned about herself. What if her feelings for Jacob weren’t real? Merely a product of her fear of losing Cody?
She slumped against the stack of straw, no longer caring about damaging her suit or her suede coat.
Switching places, Jacob took up pacing.
“I’m not competing just because it’s fun or a way to pass time. I’m doing this to secure a future for myself and my son. As a vice president of Baron Energies, I can give him the kind of life he deserves. The best upbringing. A decent education. A place in the Baron family that I fought for and earned. If he wants to follow in my footsteps, great. If not, also great. I’ll support him regardless. He’ll grow up strong and smart and able to make his own decisions.”
It was quite a speech. Mariana felt his passion. His wishes for Cody weren’t so different from hers. Other than, she didn’t fit in there anywhere. Not once had Jacob mentioned her.
She tried reasoning with herself. Yes, his intentions were good. Admirable. Far loftier than her father’s. But Jacob did what was good for him. His position in the Baron family and at Baron Energies. His son. His rodeoing.
Not her.
“Let me take Cody home,” she said softly.
“Why?” He looked at her with uncertainty. Not deep and abiding affection as he had all this past week.
“You’ll be able to compete for the rest of the weekend with no distractions.”
“I’m not distracted. At least, I wasn’t.”
Another stab, intentional or not. She retaliated. “He’ll be happier at home.”
“He’s happy here.”
“Please, Jacob.”
She hoped he didn’t hear the desperation in her voice. Something told her if she didn’t take Cody with her right now, she’d lose him forever. The fear was perhaps irrational and unfounded but also real and unsettling.
Jacob appeared to consider for a moment, then shook his head. “He’s staying with me.”
“Hannah can’t possibly watch him all weekend.”
“I have this handled, Mariana.”
She’d taken her stand earlier. Jacob was taking his now.
“You’re being stubborn for no reason,” she said.
“I’m not the only one.”
“You’re also being selfish. You’re denying me Cody because you’re mad that I came here and made a scene.”
“I’m not that petty.”
“It makes sense for me to take him.”
He didn’t speak for a moment, giving Mariana hope that he’d come to his senses. It was quickly dashed.
“This argument of ours has nothing to do with Cody.”
“No? What, then?”
“Your issues with your father. Guilt over your sister’s death. You breaking your promise to her.”
“You’re way off base.”
“When you’re ready to level with me, then we can talk. Really talk. Not use Cody as the rope in an unnecessary tug-of-war.”
“If you won’t let me take him home, I’m leaving anyway.”
“That’s your decision.”
Her bluff had backfired. He was going to let her walk and do nothing to stop her. She’d been right. It was all about him. Him and Cody. He didn’t care one whit about her.
Mariana could have cried, except she refused to in front of Jacob.
Her cell phone rang, giving her a start. She’d have liked to ignore it but the ringtone identified the caller as Saul. He’d have a fit if she didn’t answer, and he was already mad enough at her. She pushed off the straw stack and onto her feet, then took a moment to compose herself.
“Hello, Saul.” Mariana felt Jacob’s eyes on her. Boring into her, to be precise.
“Trevor just called with an update on the deposition.”
“And?” Had Saul changed his mind? Decided to be more understanding about her family emergency? She could use a little good news.
“Frankly, it’s gone to hell in a handbasket.”
“That bad?” She gnawed on her bottom lip.
“You’re the expert on this case. The one who prepared all the briefs. We were counting on you to question the witnesses. Only you’re not there. Molinas’s attorneys were ready for us and blocked us at every turn.”
“I’m sorry, Saul. Look, I can—”
“You can get back there right now. Trevor has somehow convinced opposing counsel to take a break until two. You have one chance to redeem yourself. If not—”
She cut him off this time. “You’re going to take me out of running for the promotion.”
“I’d better hear from Trevor in the next ninety minutes telling me that your bright, shiny face is sitting across from him, or I’m going to do more than take you out of the running. I’ll fire your ass.”
Mariana cleared her throat. “All right.”
She ended the call, her fingers shaking as she re-pocketed her phone. It might have sounded as if she’d acquiesced to Saul’s demand, but in truth, she hadn’t fully decided.
Jacob must have heard Saul’s end of the conversation or read the expression on her face, for he said, “You have to go. You’ve worked too hard on this case to give up now. Your clients are depending on you.”
Work. He’d put that first because that was how Jacob thought.
It was how she thought, too. Didn’t she? Up until lately, anyway. It hadn’t seemed so important earlier when she walked out on the deposition. Her clients, however, did matter. She hadn’t given her all to the case solely for the glory of the win or a promotion. She genuinely believed Molinas needed to pay for his crimes and that his victims deserved to be recompensed.
“Your advice is appreciated but not necessary.” She tightened the belt on her coat.
“I’ll call you later.”
Would he? Probably. Did she want him to? That was another question.
“Goodbye.” Mariana went over to Jacob, pressed a hand to Cody’s back and kissed his cheek. “I love you, little guy. Be good.”
His only response was a soft sigh. It closed like a noose around her heart.
Turning, she walked away, ignoring the pebbles that seemed to leap into her shoes.
“Mariana. Wait.”
She kept moving, straight ahead, convinced she was leaving her entire universe behind but unable to stop. Jacob could come after her. Even carrying Cody, he’d catch up to her within seconds. Only he stayed put. What did that say about them and their relationship? Not anything she wanted to hear.
The walking out on the deposition, the scene with Hannah, the confrontation with Jacob, had all been for nothing. She’d let her fears get the best of her and cause her to make one bad decision after the other. She’d probably lost the promotion. Possibly lost her job. Definitely lost Jacob.
Mariana held back the tears until she reached her car. Not caring about the vehicle’s underside, she sped out of the parking lot, gravel and dirt flying. At the main road, she aimed the car in the direction of Houston, the deposition and the slim chance of salvaging her career.
Tomorrow when she arrived home, a day ahead of Jacob, she’d pack all her belongings and move out. When he and Cody returned on Sunday, it would be to an empty house
.
Chapter Fourteen Luck was on Jacob’s side. He made it to the finals in all three bucking events—only by the skin of his teeth. Unless he totally screwed up, he was going to Vegas for the National Finals.
Every muscle in his body strained as he waited for his turn at bareback bronc riding. He’d drawn a good horse, one that should give him a heck of a ride. Saddle bronc and bull riding were iffy. This event, however, his first of the day, was in the bag.
He hadn’t lied to Mariana. Cody was a champ all weekend. He slept through the night. Behaved for Hannah. No more tantrums.
It was Mariana who continually distracted him. She crept into Jacob’s thoughts every waking moment and into his dreams for the few hours a night he managed to catch some sleep.
He’d called her. Countless times. He lost track how many. Was she giving him a taste of what it had been like for her on Friday when no one answered her calls? Probably not. She simply didn’t want to talk to him.
There had been a total of two text exchanges. In the first one, she let him know she’d made it to Houston and asked after Cody. The second one, yesterday, informed him that she was home. When he’d texted back asking how she was doing, she hadn’t answered. Just like his calls.
He’d made her mad. Hurt her feelings. That was pretty clear. She’d made him mad, too, however. And, yeah, hurt his feelings. He’d done nothing these past weeks except to demonstrate his desire and willingness to be a good father. Yet she still didn’t trust him.
Then why tell him about Cody in the first place? Why not keep him a secret as was her dying sister’s wish?
Just one explanation made any sense. Mariana had assumed, before introducing him to Cody, that he’d be a deadbeat father like Zeb Snow and not give a flying fig about his child. She’d have been able to keep her promise to her sister while still satisfying her lofty principles.
Killing two birds with one stone. A neat trick if true. Thinking it might be made Jacob madder. Had he been played all along?
Possibly. She’d certainly blinded him. Though it didn’t really matter as the end results were the same.
“Hey, Baron,” his pal and sometimes rival Keith called. “Aren’t you listening? You’re up soon.”
“Be right there.” Jacob struggled to clear the mental fog surrounding him. Just because he was closest to qualifying in bareback bronc riding was no excuse to lose focus.
Adjusting his chaps, he strode over to where Keith stood, balanced his forearms on the railing and studied the competition. This cowboy lasted 4.7 seconds, taking a mighty spill when the horse executed a death-defying spin.
Keith chatted about the next cowboy’s chances as Jacob’s horse was brought forward and positioned inside the chute. His eyes went automatically to the stands, but Mariana wasn’t there.
Jacob ground his teeth together. Enough already.
“Mr. Baron.”
At the sound of his name, Jacob glanced up to see a security guard approaching. Confusion set in. Why was the man looking for him?
“Yes.”
“May I speak to you a moment?”
“Sure.”
Keith cast Jacob a curious look as the short and beefy uniformed man joined them.
Had Mariana come back and given Hannah a hard time again? Instantly, he berated himself for thinking that. Perhaps his truck had been broken into. Or something had happened at home. His next thought was of Daniel. Then Brock. Then Lizzie and the baby.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“First, let me say your son is all right.”
“All right?” Jacob’s gut clenched.
“There’s been an accident. He fell from the bleachers. Your babysitter is with him at the first aid station.”
“Is he hurt?”
“The EMT’s examining him now.”
EMT! Jacob didn’t hesitate. “Which way?”
“Come with me.”
“Jacob,” Keith called. “Where you going?”
“I’ll be back.”
Would he? Not until he knew for certain Cody was okay.
He heard his son’s wails long before they reached the first aid station near the rodeo office and experienced a little of the wild worry Mariana must have felt on Friday. Jacob covered the last twenty yards at a run, forgetting all about the security guard.
The boy sat on Hannah’s lap while the EMT tried to affix a temporary brace on his arm. Cody would have none of it.
“Nooooo.” He wrenched his arm free from the EMT’s grip. “Want Mama.”
Mama. Not Daddy. Only Jacob had sent Mariana away, more or less.
“Hey, buddy.”
Cody swung his head around. At the sight of Jacob, his wails intensified, and he tried to crawl down Hannah’s lap.
She hung on. “Mr. Baron. I’m sorry.”
“Daddy, Daddy.”
Jacob went over, and the babbling started as Cody tried to tell Jacob what had happened. The story was punctuated by hiccups and sobs. Jacob made out only a few words. Hurt. Arm. Migo. Mama again.
“Let me take him.” Jacob and Hannah traded places. He sat in the metal folding chair with Cody while she stood beside them.
“I looked away for just a second, I swear.” Hannah chewed on her stubby nails. “He didn’t fall but three feet. Maybe four. I wouldn’t take him that high up in the bleachers.”
“It’s all right, Hannah.” Now that Jacob was holding Cody and assured that, while hurt, he was in one piece, his worry was abating. “I know from experience he can move pretty fast.”
“You don’t have to pay me,” she insisted.
“Of course I’ll pay you.”
She broke down. Strangely, the sound of her crying quieted Cody. He stared at her with large damp eyes. That enabled the EMT to finish putting on the brace and apply an ice pack, which he secured with a long length of elastic bandage.
“Did he sprain his wrist?” Jacob asked.
“I’m pretty sure this little guy fractured his radial bone. Won’t know for sure until his arm is x-rayed. And he’s going to need some pain meds. That break has to hurt.”
A break! Pain meds?
“But he’s only two.”
The EMT, a guy younger than Jacob, gave him a look that said, “Hey, stupid, anyone can break a bone.”
Hannah’s mother appeared in the doorway, and Hannah ran to her. “Mom!”
“Sorry I didn’t get here sooner,” the woman said. “How is he?”
“A broken arm.” Jacob still couldn’t believe it. “Maybe.”
“That’s a shame.” Her arm around Hannah had a calming effect on the teen.
“On the plus side,” the EMT said, repacking his supply case, “children generally bounce back pretty quickly. Better than a lot of adults.”
There was a plus side to a broken bone?
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Hannah’s mother continued. “But your friend asked me to tell you that you missed your turn at bronc riding and were disqualified.”
At the moment, that was the least of Jacob’s concerns.
“He said you still have time to make the saddle bronc riding.”
And the bull riding after that, thought Jacob. Only two chances left to compete. If he didn’t, if he failed to qualify, there’d be no purchase of Starr Solar Systems and no new alternative energy division at Baron Energies.
He didn’t stop to consider his choices.
Holding Cody to his chest, he stood. “Do me a favor, will you? Tell Keith I won’t make it. I have to take my son to the emergency room.”
Cody refused to let go of Jacob’s neck as they walked to his truck. Hannah and her mother followed, bringing the stroller and diaper bag. While Jacob buckled Cody into his car seat, mindful of his injured arm, Hannah and her mother loaded the stroller in the back. A sippy cup of juice helped soothe Cody.
Hannah gave Cody a hug. “Sorry, little guy.”
Hannah’s mother offered directions to the nearest hospital.
; “Thanks for your help,” Jacob said, climbing into the cab.
“Good luck.”
He was going to need it. Especially when Mariana found out.
Another rodeo, another injury. Only this time, it was his young helpless son. What kind of lousy father was he?
*
“SEE YOU TONIGHT, Lucille,” Jacob said. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“I’ll call when we arrive. And before we leave after supper.”
He’d already loaded Cody into his grandmother’s SUV, along with the diaper bag and an assortment of favorite toys, among them the stick pony. By trial and error, Jacob was learning what to pack extra of and what wasn’t needed. Mariana had skipped that step in his daddy training.
He stood with his hand resting on the open driver’s side door while Lucille buckled her seat belt and donned her sunglasses.
Their relationship had come a long way recently. Frustrated at being unable to reach Mariana after Cody’s fall, he’d called Lucille instead. His reaching out to her seemed to have broken down the last of any barriers between them, for which he was glad.
“Leave a message if I don’t answer,” he said. “I might be at the drill site, and I don’t always hear my phone.” He’d traded mornings with Darius so that he could be here to see Cody off.
“Take care, Jacob.”
“You, too.”
He could only guess what Mariana had told her mother about their argument. Falling out. Breakup. Call it what you will. In Jacob’s mind, it had been the former. Clearly, it was much more to Mariana. Relationships survived arguments. Theirs had disintegrated.
Lucille glanced behind her at Cody, who kicked his feet and waved his casted arm in anticipation. She was taking him to visit Mariana, who had moved back to her duplex while Jacob was at the Valle del Sol Rodeo.
Without telling him. He still wasn’t over that.
When Jacob and Cody had arrived home on Sunday evening after the rodeo, it was to an empty house. That had surprised him. Shocked him, as she hadn’t known about Cody’s broken arm.
Looking back, he should have anticipated something was amiss when she didn’t text him asking when they were due home.
Once the shock wore off, her abrupt absence angered him. It took him a full day to acknowledge that his anger was an attempt to mask his pain. Her betrayal—there was nothing else to call it—had thrown him harder than any fall from a bull. He got that she was mad when she left the rodeo. But enough to move out? Enough to leave Cody behind?
The Texan's Surprise Son Page 17