Love Inspired June 2014 - Bundle 2 of 2: Single Dad CowboyThe Bachelor Meets His MatchUnexpected Reunion

by Brenda Minton

  He raked his fingers through his hair and leaned back in the hard extra chair. Why wasn’t the furniture more comfortable? Made no sense to him.

  “Yeah, we’ll miss her.”

  “Go by and see her later, would you do that for me? Just check and make sure she’s okay.”

  He leaned forward and saw Doris smile a knowing little smile. “What is it, Doris?”

  “She got a call about her birth mother living not far from here, in Missouri.”

  “So she’s going alone?”

  Doris bit down on her bottom lip. “I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t want me to tell everything.”

  He grinned at that. “Doris, I love how you suddenly decide not to say anything. I should probably go.”

  “Yes, you should.”

  He hugged her goodbye and minutes later he was pulling up to the house at Cooper Creek. He had argued with himself all the way back to the ranch. He’d told himself that if Harmony wanted him to go with her, she would have asked. Then he told himself that Harmony didn’t know what she wanted. Then again, he didn’t know what he wanted, either. He knew without a doubt that she shouldn’t go through something like that alone. He got that she was trying to put distance between them for the sake of the kids, but there were times that a person just needed a friend.

  When he walked through the front door, Cash tackled him. He was wearing a cowboy hat, chaps and boots. And no pants.

  “Where are your clothes?”

  The little boy giggled and ran off in just his little-boy underwear. Dylan shook his head and walked into the living room where his mom was sitting in her favorite chair reading a book to Callie. It was a sweet sight.

  “You’re back earlier than I expected.” His mom looked over the top of her reading glasses as he approached.

  “Yeah, well, I need some information and figured you could get it for me.”

  “What’s that?” She put the book down on her lap. Callie gave him a narrow-eyed look that led him to believe he’d interrupted a pretty good story.

  “Pow, pow.” A toy shotgun poked him in the back of the leg. Cash laughed and ran off.

  “Buddy boy, I’m going to have to do something with you.”

  “Yes, like put him in a time-out once in a while, Dylan. He’s becoming quite a handful.”

  “Yeah, I know. Mom, I need some information.”

  “Okay, what do you need?” She slid Callie off her lap. He smiled as Callie wrapped strong arms around him, giving him a hug. His mom had brushed her hair and pulled it into pigtails. Unlike Cash, she was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. She had a smudge of chocolate on her chin.

  “I need to find out where Harmony is heading.”

  “Ask Harmony,” his mom said with a sweet smile.

  “She isn’t going to tell me. And she’s too stubborn to ask a friend to go with her.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on and then I’ll see if I can help.”

  He sat on the sofa. Cash climbed up on his lap. Dylan cringed, lifting the little boy off his lap. “He’s wet.”

  “We’re potty training, Dylan. That’s why he’s dressed like that.”

  “I’ll get him some clean clothes. Where’s his bag?”

  His mom pointed to the bag on the hall tree near the front door. “Have at it. I’m just glad he saved it for you. Also, I think there’s a puddle.”

  Dylan headed for the kitchen to get paper towels and cleaner. He held Cash under his arm and the little boy made airplane noises. Dylan laughed. Kids.

  After the floor and Cash were cleaned up, he headed back to the sofa. “Mom, I need to find out where Harmony is heading. She’s going to see her birth mother. That isn’t something she should face alone.”

  “I’ll call Olivia Cross, but you need to realize she might not want anyone there.”

  “I’ll take that into consideration,” he agreed.

  “Good, because I know you, and you’re thinking you need to charge to the rescue.” She shot a pointed look in the direction of Cash and Callie, who were playing on the floor.

  She had a good point. He did have a tendency to take over. To rescue. And Harmony obviously didn’t want or need to be rescued.

  “This isn’t about rescuing,” he finally said, his mom’s brows arched in disbelief. “I want to be with this woman. I want to help her get through this.”

  This situation wasn’t the same as Katrina, or Cash and Callie. He might have started out rescuing Harmony Cross, but now he realized she’d become the person he wanted to spend time with. A lot of time.

  He also knew that if he showed up in Missouri, she would think he was charging to the rescue.

  Common sense told him to stay home and let her face this on her own. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d ignored common sense.

  “You’re going, aren’t you?” his mom asked.

  He nodded and stood, “Yeah, I’m going.”

  He had a feeling she wouldn’t thank him for it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Harmony knocked on the door of the single-wide trailer on a parcel of land a short distance from Joplin, Missouri. The place was old and rundown. The porch had missing boards and steps that leaned. No one answered the first knock. She knocked again. Her heart hammering fast and hard. Her stomach clenching as she waited, replaying for the millionth time what it would be like to see Patricia Duncan again.

  It had been twenty-three years. What would her mother look like? Would she be angry? Would she tell Harmony to leave and not come back? Her palms began to sweat. She knocked again and waited. Inside a dog barked and someone told it to be quiet.

  The door flew opened and a woman looked her up and down, then glanced past her to the car in the driveway. This was the woman who had given birth to her, this woman who looked enough like Olivia Cross that a person could tell they were related. But unlike Olivia, this woman was worn. Her skin was sallow. Her blond hair had grayed. Curly blond hair. Harmony’s hair. Dark blue eyes. Harmony’s eyes.

  “I’m not buying whatever you’re selling,” Patricia Duncan growled with a smoker’s raspy voice.

  “I’m not selling anything. I’m here to see Patricia Duncan.”

  “I’m her. What do you want?”

  “Can I come in?” Harmony’s leg shook, partly from pain, but mostly from nerves.

  “I’m not about to let a stranger in my house.”

  “I’m not a stranger,” Harmony said through the glass door that separated them.

  Patricia Duncan gave Harmony a long look. Then she shook her head. “You don’t look like anyone I know.”

  “Yes, I do.” Harmony saw it in the other woman’s eyes, the recognition and maybe fear.

  “No, I can’t say that I know you.”

  Harmony reached for the door handle. She was surprised that the other woman backed away and let her open it. A dog, a tiny dust mop of white fur, came out of nowhere. It barked until Harmony picked it up. It licked her face.

  “Well, she doesn’t usually like anyone.”

  “I’m not just anyone and you know that.”

  She had to face this woman. She needed this closure, this moment to face her past and to settle her future. Harmony knew that from this moment forward, her life would be forever changed.

  Patricia pointed to the plaid upholstered sofa where a big gray cat glared at her with bright green eyes. Harmony sat on the edge and waited for her mother to sit on a wood-framed chair that matched.

  “I guess I didn’t expect you to find me.” Her mother finally spoke, lighting a cigarette and blowing smoke up in the air. “Looks like you turned out okay. I heard about the wreck.”

  Her mother knew about her life. She wondered how this person could pretend to know her and yet she�
�d never called, never sent a letter.

  “Yes, I had a wreck.”

  “It was a shame about your friend. It wasn’t your fault, you know. I read the gossip papers and they were pretty hard on you.”

  It wasn’t her fault. She’d been told the same in counseling, in rehab and even in group meetings at Back Street Community Center. It had been a tragic accident. A truck had run a stop sign. Amy had been the casualty. But if Harmony hadn’t called her, she would still be alive.

  Last week in group someone had asked how she knew that. It had made her angry to hear such a callous statement. She still didn’t want to think it through. She would save that one for a rainy day in the distant future.

  “Well, why are you here?” Patricia puffed on the cigarette and leaned back in the chair.

  “You’re my mother.”

  “Honey, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m no one’s mother. I’m a woman who gave birth and abandoned her child. My sister is a mother. I knew she’d love you and she did a real good job. I’m not a bad person, I’m just not a mom. I’m barely able to take care of myself.”

  Harmony felt the sharp edges of anger rise to the surface. Anger at this woman.

  “You left me alone in a parking lot. You could have called my mom. You could have taken me somewhere safe. You left me, not caring what happened to me.”

  “I...” She shook her head. “I know. Drugs do that to a person. I guess you understand that now.”

  “Do not compare me to yourself.”

  Patricia laughed. With bloodshot eyes and hands that shook, she laughed. Harmony knew the telltale signs of an addict: jerky arms and legs, those nervous, darting eyes, the way she tapped her foot.

  “You’re not me?” Patricia shook her head. “But you are. And here’s a news flash, kiddo. I almost ended your life before it began. Almost. But then I couldn’t do it.”

  The room spun, and Harmony hugged herself and stared at the woman sitting close enough to touch. She wanted to run. She wanted to fight. She shook her head and refocused on her mother. On a woman clearly in need of a fix.

  Patricia Duncan must have seen the look.

  She moved again, scratching sores on her arms. “I’m not clean. I’ll never be clean. They say I probably won’t live another year.”

  “Why?”

  “Hepatitis. I should have got help years ago, but I didn’t do the program. Didn’t want to. I wanted to forget everything. Wanted to forget you.”

  Harmony knew how it felt to want to forget. But she now knew the danger in that. Because a person had to face their pain, their mistakes. She shook her head as the realization hit.

  “I’m not you.”

  “No, I guess you’re not. You were the lucky one. You got help and you’re clean. And you’re real pretty.”

  “What can I do to help you?”

  Patricia reached to put out her cigarette. “Not much you can do. Go live your life and be happy. That’s what I always wanted for you. That’s why I disappeared.”

  “I could get you help.”

  She gave Harmony a long look before shaking her head. “I have friends here that I won’t leave, friends that don’t judge me. You would judge me. And besides, you’ve been through enough.”

  Harmony watched as her mother began to scratch at her neck and face. “Please.”

  Patricia stood up and walked to the door. “No, you should go now. You need to leave. You need to understand the difference between us. I never wanted to be clean. There was no rock bottom for me. So go, now.”

  Because she needed a fix. Harmony knew how it worked, she knew the look. If she stayed she might delay it for thirty minutes, maybe an hour. But Patricia Duncan was a lifelong addict who didn’t want to stop using.

  And wanting to stop meant everything.

  Patricia turned from the window. “Do you know that cowboy standing out in my yard? He looks like he’s waiting for someone.”

  Harmony walked to the window and stood next to her mother, the closest they’d been in twenty-three years. She felt compassion, maybe love, but she knew this woman didn’t belong in the role of mother. That position belonged to Olivia Cross.

  She wasn’t surprised to see Dylan standing next to his new truck. He nodded and raised his hat, but he didn’t walk toward the trailer. He waited.

  “That’s one good-looking cowboy,” Patricia whistled. “Are you going to marry him?”

  “No, we’re just friends.”

  Patricia turned to look at her and she smiled. “I don’t need an invitation to the wedding, but I’d appreciate pictures from time to time.”

  She walked back across the width of the room and reached into the table next to her chair. Harmony watched as she pulled out a box and lifted the lid.

  “This is my scrapbook.”

  Harmony saw her name across the top. She looked inside the box of mementos. There were birth pictures of her, then there were photos cut out of magazines.

  Emotions welled up that took her by surprise, but she managed to nod. “There won’t be a wedding, but I will send pictures. Hopefully you won’t see me in any more magazines.”

  Patricia patted her arm. “I hope not, too. But it’s been real nice talking to you and I hope you’ll tell my sister that I think she did a fine job with you.”

  Harmony hugged her mother, holding tight for a minute, until Patricia pulled back. She cleared her throat and looked away from Harmony. After a minute she reached down and grabbed the white fluff of a dog.

  “Will you take him?” She handed the dog to Harmony. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me in the next year. I have a friend who’ll take the cat. But I’d like for you to have the dog. I don’t have anything else to give you.”

  “You don’t have to,” Harmony wanted to say, but instead she took the dog that was shoved into her hands.

  “Go now. I guess you know you have to go.”

  Harmony nodded, and with tears blurring her vision, she made it down the steps and across the yard. She stumbled and strong hands reached out, grabbing her, pulling her close. Big hands smoothed her hair and a familiar voice told her it would be okay.

  “Don’t you ever listen?” she finally blubbered into his shoulder, the material soaked from her tears.

  “Never.” He brushed a hand through her hair.

  “You didn’t have to do this.”

  “Yes, I did. And if you hadn’t been so stubborn I could have driven you up here.” He pulled back a foot. “Did you know you’re holding a fluffy white rat?”

  “It’s my dog.” She sobbed into the fluffy fur. “She gave me a dog.”

  “You should have told me, Harmony. You didn’t have to do this alone.”

  “Yes, I did. I came here to face the truth of who I am and I didn’t want you to see.”

  “I am looking at the person you are. The person who takes a rat dog and hugs a lady that abandoned her.”

  “I’m also the person who hated her and had to work hard to forgive her.” She looked up into hazel eyes that melted her resolve. “I didn’t want to take you on this trip with me.”

  There, she’d said it. He’d been through enough. She couldn’t let him go through all of this with her. But she could see from the look in his eyes that he wasn’t going to let her off the hook so easily.

  * * *

  “You’re in no condition to drive,” he said, reaching for her hands as they trembled. She tried to pull free but he didn’t let go. He wouldn’t let her go. Not without fighting for what he knew they could have together.

  “Dylan, I’m fine. I promise, I’m completely sober.”

  “That isn’t what I mean and you know it.” He led her to her car. “You’re still shaking. Let’s go get some coffee. I think I saw a diner a mile or so back.”<
br />
  “I saw it, too.”

  “I’ll follow you.” He opened her car door and when she was behind the wheel with the dog on her lap, he closed it.

  He didn’t know what to say to her when they got to the café. He didn’t know how to tell her he’d been worried about her. Worried that her mother would break her heart again. He didn’t want her to go through that. But what could he say, when it was obvious she planned to leave soon.

  They took a seat in a far booth of the bare-bones little diner. The booths were orange vinyl, the tables black Formica. A waitress walked out of the back looking surprised to have customers.

  “Two coffees, please,” Dylan ordered then looked at Harmony. “Are you hungry?”

  “Pie would be nice.”

  “We have cake.” The waitress looked at her. “Do you want cake?”

  Harmony nodded, her eyes wide. When the waitress walked away, she looked at him, grinning. “She isn’t Vera.”

  “No, she isn’t,” he agreed.

  “So, do you want to know?”

  He shrugged. “What do you want to tell me?”

  She told him everything, spilling it all, including the continued fear of becoming Patricia Duncan. But he saw that the fear had lessened. Something had changed.

  “Dylan, what if DNA is stronger than the love my parents had for me? What if I slip?”

  “You’re what, 170 days clean and sober? Do you think Patricia has ever gone thirty days without using?”

  “I’m not sure. I just don’t want to be her. I don’t want to be the kind of woman who leaves a child behind.”

  He hadn’t expected those words to hurt, but they did. “I think women don’t always choose to leave their children behind, Harmony.”

  She looked down, her hands clasped together on the Formica table. “No, I know they don’t and I’m sorry. But I can end this pattern of behavior.”

  “What, by staying single? By not having children?” He was angry now because she still didn’t see. “Harmony...”

  She looked up. “What do you want me to say?”

  “I guess I want you to see the person I see. I want you to have some faith in yourself.”