Dad in an Instant

by Lori Wilde

  Nothing good, it was clear. He leaned closer to the boy, who instantly grabbed the points of his collar with both hands and tugged, putting all his strength into it, and glared ferociously at Jake.

  “You think I should have tried harder? You think I should have figured out a way for her to stay with us and still have a professional life? You think I should have told her we’d wait for her, that we’d be grateful for any time she could give us?”

  Still glaring, still keeping a stranglehold grip on Jake’s collar, Lucas yelled, “Da.”

  Jake felt stunned. “Did you just say Da?” Did he dare to hope? “You said Dad?”

  Without thinking, he reached into his pocket for his cell and punched in Abbie’s number. She answered, her voice as beautiful, as musical, as appealing as ever.

  “Lucas just said Da,” he blurted out. Realizing what he’d done, he pushed the End button with his thumb, then turned the phone off.

  His first thought had been to call Abbie. Of course.

  She was the first person he wanted to know that this stupendous thing had happened. Even before he told Rafe or Clint.

  Lucas was trying to take the phone away from him, protesting, babbling, and still glaring at Jake. Jake gazed at him, feeling something warm and bubbly rise up inside, stirring his heart, tightening his throat, making his eyes feel hot.

  All at once, he knew what it was. He was consumed with love for this determined child, the love he hadn’t wanted to admit to himself until now. He no longer cared why his father had left Lucas to him; he cared only that Thomas had done it, and for that, Jake was grateful.

  Loving Lucas had dimmed his resentment toward his father. He could read that letter, and whatever it said, he could survive it. He could leave that dark side of himself behind, forever.

  “That’s right, Lucas. I’m your dad.” He picked up his baby and hugged him close. One day he’d have to explain to Lucas that they were brothers, but for now, he was his son. Jake loved him and wanted Lucas to love him in return. He wanted Lucas to have the best life any boy could have. He didn’t even care if Lucas learned to cook. He just wanted him to be happy.

  And he loved Abbie. Really loved Abbie. And she loved him, and Lucas… What had he been thinking?

  “You’re right,” he said to Lucas, putting him back into the stroller. “I’ve been a complete idiot.”

  Lucas, having no idea what he was talking about, looked up at him and smiled. Jake grabbed the handles of the stroller and ran to the Jackson’s house, with Lucas shrieking, this time in delight.

  Elaine Jackson wasn’t at home, or if she was, she wasn’t letting him in. Disappointed, he said to Lucas, “At least we tried.”

  Now he didn’t feel like running. His feet felt like lead as he went back to the diner. “We’ll find Abbie eventually,” he assured Lucas. “It won’t be long before I run into Elaine on the street, or maybe she’ll come to lunch.”

  Back in the diner, he went directly to his office where the fax from Ritter caught his eye. He put the cover sheet behind the note—the original had been handwritten—and began to read.

  Dear Jake:

  I write this letter knowing you may tear it up without reading it, and I wouldn’t blame you. When Lucas was born, when I saw how much Celine loved him, how much time she spent with him, how she thought of our nanny as a babysitter for when she had to go out, not as a replacement mother, I realized how empty of affection your childhood was, and I felt ashamed.

  Jake’s eyes widened. What was this?

  I hired a private investigator, found out where you were, and learned what you’d accomplished in spite of the lonely childhood your mother and I gave you. I felt such pride in the man who’d always been inside you, a strong man with a good heart, and again I felt that shame, shame that I hadn’t worked harder to bring that out in you when you were just a boy. Your life would have been so different.

  It is for all these reasons that I’m appointing you guardian of Lucas in the unlikely event of Celine’s and my death. Somehow, in spite of your experience with neglectful parents, you’ve learned to love and care, and if I can’t love and care for Lucas, I trust you to do for him what I should have done for you.

  Please forgive me.

  Your father,

  Thomas Galloway

  Stunned, Jake read the letter again. “A person he trusted,” Lilah had said, and he’d laughed at her. Hot, burning tears blurred the words he stared at.

  Hearing a commotion in the kitchen, he wiped his eyes, put down the fax, and picked up Lucas, who’d begun to fuss again, from his playpen. Together, they went out to see what was going on.

  What was going on was Barney, smiling sheepishly, with Elaine Jackson, who was holding her left hand to Colleen and Becky while they shrieked with delight.

  “Look at her ring,” Becky crowed. “She and Barney are getting married.”

  Jake glanced at the ring. “Very nice. Congratulations, Barney. Elaine. That’s wonderful.”

  After a few minutes of chatter, he asked Elaine, “Where’s Abbie? Has she left Falling Star already?”

  The kitchen fell into silence, and Elaine’s smile turned knowing. “She’s staying at a friend’s apartment in Lubbock while she investigates the Clinical Psychology program at Texas Tech.”

  “Where in Lubbock?”

  “She didn’t want anybody to know where she was until she got things settled.” Elaine looked longingly at Lucas, who reached out for her.

  “I can’t wait until she gets things settled,” he said, “I have to talk to her now. In person.”

  “I promised her,” Elaine said. “She has to have time alone to work things out.”

  “Elaine,” Jake said, calming down enough to look her straight in the eyes, “do you want me to find Abbie?”

  Her gaze dropped to the kitchen floor. Then she looked back at Jake and put her finger to her lips. Reaching for one of his order pads, she scribbled on it and handed it to him.

  On it was an address.

  Jake gazed at her. “I get it,” he said softly. “You didn’t tell me.” He threw his arms around her and hugged her, because, after all, she was going to be his mother-in-law, sooner, he hoped, rather than later.

  “I have to leave,” he told his surprised staff. “We may be serving scrambled eggs at the benefit tomorrow night, but I have to leave.”

  A few minutes later, he and Lucas were in the SUV heading for the freeway, where he drove as fast as he thought fathers should—exactly at the speed limit.

  Abbie stared at her phone. Jake had called her. But he’d hung up after telling her what Lucas had done.

  Hoping he’d just lost service, she called him back but got his voicemail. Maybe he didn’t want to talk to her. He might have called her by accident—had her number programmed and pushed the wrong button; maybe it was Rafe he wanted to tell.

  She missed them so much she hurt. Could she stand to see them tomorrow night at the benefit?

  For the past several hours, she’d been alternating among crying, filling out endless application forms, and blotting the tears off the application forms. She stood to pour another cup of tea and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror over the sink. She was a wreck, her hair hanging lank and uncombed, no makeup and wearing the gray sweatsuit from her high school days, her comfort symbol. I’ve turned into a slob.

  But who did she have to dress up for?

  Still, she knew she was right to go back to school. With each bit of information she’d gathered, she was more sure of her career choice and less sure she could stand being away from Jake for even another hour, much less the time her coursework and training would take. But it would be worth it, she told herself stubbornly. And then immediately she thought, “Worth leaving Jake and Lucas?”

  And she went back to crying.

  The banging on the door startled her. Swiping madly at her eyes, she opened it. On the stoop stood Jake, Lucas squirming on his hip, smiling, burbling and trying to reach out for h
er.

  She wouldn’t let herself reach for him. “Jake? What are you doing here?”

  “We’re here to stay,” Jake said, barging through the door, “if you can love a man as stupid as I am.” He faced her. His eyes were wild, and she wondered if he realized he was still wearing his white chef’s jacket.

  She was too shocked to speak. She could only stare at him.

  “I was an idiot,” he said. “But hopefully no longer. I have to admit, I was afraid to be any closer to you, afraid my wall would fall down—”

  “Your wall? Jake, what are you talking about?”

  “I’ve lied to you, to everybody in Falling Star. Rafe and Clint aren’t just my best friends. They are my fellow inmates in juvenile detention.”

  Abbie blinked. “What?”

  “My father abandoned me when I was a teen,” Jake explained. “He’d dumped me in a boarding school near Dallas, and when I got into trouble with the law, he washed his hands of me. I went to juvenile detention for two years, which is where I met Rafe and Clint. When we got out, we joined the rodeo for a few years. Then Rafe got into college and vet school, and Clint and I sent him money to pay for it.”

  She could only listen silently as the story spilled out of him, his childhood, his time in juvenile detention, his bond with Rafe and Clint.

  “Once Rafe settled in Falling Star, Clint and I moved there. Clint started his ranch, and when my mother died and left me a small inheritance, I opened Jake’s Place.”

  Before Abbie could say anything, Jake blurted, “They’re the only people I trust, the only people I haven’t built walls against. But the wall I’d built between you and me, well, I felt it starting to crumble, until I realized what you would be giving up for me and Lucas.”

  “Oh, Jake—” Tears overflowed her eyes. She had made the wrong decision. She knew that now, from her own misery and his. “You have my love. More love than you’ve ever had in your life. But I didn’t know how we could work this out. It wouldn’t be good for Lucas to have me popping in and out of his life. Not good for us, either, so I—” She couldn’t hold back any longer and threw her arms around him and Lucas, who still clung, wide-eyed, to Jake.

  “I have it all figured out,” he said, not returning her hug, just barreling on, not giving her a chance to say no. “I’ll franchise the diner, so money won’t be a problem. Maury and Barney will keep the restaurant going in the right direction under new management. Lucas and I will move here”—he glanced around Suzy’s tiny apartment—“well, not here but to Lubbock, and start looking for a larger place, maybe a house with a yard. You’ll go to school; I’ll take care of Lucas and cook spectacular dinners for you. Every night you’ll come home to us. That’s all we want, whatever time you can give us.”

  He gazed at her pleadingly. Relief that the saddest time of her life was coming to an end, plus a fierce and passionate love for both of them welled up in her heart. “I don’t know,” she said.

  “Don’t know what?” Now he looked desperate, but she hadn’t fooled Lucas. He was chortling and doing his best to clap his hands.

  “Don’t know if I like your plan.”

  His face fell. “No?”

  “No. You’re not certain you want to franchise the diner. So what I was thinking…”

  The way he was looking at her made her so sorry she’d hurt him that she hugged him tighter. Now that she was close enough, Lucas took the opportunity to grab her hair and hang on to it as if it were a tree limb at the edge of a gorge.

  They needed her, both of them, and depended on her. It was an effort not to burst into tears and throw herself at Jake’s feet, begging for forgiveness. Instead, she forced herself to sound casual, as if the conversation hardly mattered to her at all.

  “We should stay in Falling Star, and you can stay with Jake’s Place, whether you franchise it or not.”

  She felt the jolt that ran through him. “I found out I could arrange my classes so I’d only have to be here two days a week, and I’m sure Mom would take care of Lucas while I’m gone. In fact, I think you’d have to tie her to a tree to keep her from taking care of Lucas.”

  She guessed it was her turn to talk nonstop. “When you think the diner’s under control enough for you to leave town, the two of you could be here with me, in a fairy-tale cottage with a picket fence or in an igloo. I don’t care.”

  His face was so full of tentative hope that she felt that surge of love again. “Abbie, are you saying…”

  “Yes,” she said crossly while snuggling her head into his shoulder. “I’m saying I was wrong. I’m saying that after I’m certified, I can’t think of a place I’d rather set up a practice than in Falling Star. I’m saying—”

  He cut her off with his kiss. With Lucas’ burbling sounds in their ears, they kissed as if they’d been apart for years and had just now discovered each other again.

  Jake put Lucas down on the floor and surrounded her with his strength and goodness and his love for her. If anybody could make it work, they could, because they couldn’t make anything work without each other.

  Jake had a couple of questions on his mind, and as soon as he was able to let go of Abbie, and as soon as they got Lucas snuggled up for a nap, he decided he’d better address them before they went home to the furor of getting ready for the benefit the next night.

  “How do you feel about children?” he asked her. “We’ve never talked about it.”

  She smiled. “As soon as I’m out of school, I’d love to have a baby with you.”

  “What about a linebacker-sized child, right now?” He kissed her forehead and nuzzled her hair and was startled when she leaped out of his arms.

  “You want to adopt Maury,” she said breathlessly. Her eyes were shining. “Oh, Jake, I was so hoping you would. He loves you so much. He already loves Lucas, and Lucas worships him. Oh, yes, yes, I would love to be Maury’s mother. And Lucas’ mom. I’ll adopt them both.”

  He knew she would feel this way. “Great. I want to formally adopt both of them too.”

  “You should. You’re a perfect daddy.”

  “And about to be a husband, I hope,” he said, the idea setting off a wave of desire he’d act on as soon as he could. “One more thing,” he said. “What shall we do about franchising the diner?”

  She leaned back to look into his face. Those luscious brown eyes glowed at him, and a smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “That’s completely up to you,” she said.

  “Up to us,” he said. “From now on, we make all major decisions together.”

  The recreation room glowed with candlelight and fall color. Dressed in their best, residents of Falling Star and surrounding towns filled the tables to capacity. The sounds of their conversations and laughter filled the space with warmth and friendship.

  Elaine was there, with her left hand extended. Abbie smiled. Her mother had paid her back big-time. Her engagement to Barney, even the fact that they’d been seeing each other, had come as a total surprise.

  “Planning to run away to Vegas?” Abbie had asked, teasing her.

  “Not this time, sweetheart. I’ve been thinking about Barney for three years.”

  Between dinner and dessert, Rafe gave a short speech, thanking everyone for his or her support. Lilah spoke next, thanking the volunteers for their work. One by one, her committee heads came to the podium to thank their own volunteers.

  It was Abbie’s turn. Glowing inside with happiness, she took the stage, thanking people for flowers, plants, and setting the tables. While she spoke, she scanned the room. It looked beautiful. The string quartet had only missed a few notes and broken one string. The meal had been amazing.

  Now was the glorious moment she would get to thank the most important people in her life. “Lilah, would you bring out the chefs?”

  Lilah was already tugging Jake and Maury, both of them protesting, out of the kitchen. Abbie observed that it was Maury who held Lucas—exactly as Jake did, on his left hip.

  They stood
together on the dais, the four of them, while the audience gave them a standing ovation. Abbie glanced at their faces. They knew. They knew they were looking at a family, and it hadn’t even been a family until yesterday.

  She shook her head. As Barney would say, in a small town, news traveled fast.

  Dear Reader,

  Readers are an author’s life blood and the stories couldn’t happen without you. Thank you so much for reading!

  If you enjoyed Dad in an Instant Leigh and I would so appreciate a review. You have no idea how much it means to us! You are the best!

  If you’d like to keep up with our latest releases, you can sign up for Lori’s newsletter @ https://loriwilde.com/sign-up/.

  Please turn the page for an excerpt of the next book in the Lone Star Dads series, Dad by Design,

  To check out our other books, you can visit us on the web @ www.loriwilde.com.

  Love and light,

  Lori and Leigh

  Excerpt for Dad by Design

  “How’s Sally?”

  “Fine. Her lamb’s up and running.” Clint Bolton leaned back against the fence and gazed into the distance. In Texas, the distance went a long, long way. All this was his and had been for five years, the massive acreage, the sheep that dotted the grass. It was a miracle.

  A few words went a long way too. Men friends like Jake Galloway were easy to be with. You didn’t even need to talk. With women, you had to say something, and that something had to be interesting. For him, that wasn’t easy.

  “Close one,” Jake said. “Glad they’re both okay. Well, there’s the mail truck.”

  Clint watched the truck for a second or two. “Better see what I got,” he said. He left Jake at the fence and ambled down to the end of the drive that led to his ranch house. He waved at the post…? Woman? Person? Sheila was new, and he hadn’t figured out what to call her. Probably mail carrier. That sounded right.