A fresh wave of irritation rippled down Mitch’s spine. He waved a hand through the air. "She already gave me that song and dance. I want to know why you kept my daughter’s existence a secret from me."
Judson tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at Mitch. "Watch it, boy. I’m still your father.”
He huffed. “I meant no disrespect, but I’m not a kid anymore, Pop.”
Judson huffed. “I knew how impossible it was for you to stay in Chimney Rock after everything that had happened. You needed to put the past behind you and make a life for yourself."
Bafflement twisted through Mitch. "I deserved to know I had a daughter!" He shot up from the glider and paced over to the porch screen where rain pattered with a soft ticking noise against the mesh. Pictures flashed in his mind. The shape of Dani's face and the color of her eyes. Pain stabbed him deep inside as his heart broke. God, she looked just like him and he never knew about her until today.
His father strolled to his side. The rain fell harder now, blurring the grass and trees in a watery curtain. He listened to the wind whistle around the house. The sky had turned darker and the deeper shadows echoed his misery.
"I realize that now. I’m sorry."
Mitch whirled. "You’re sorry?"
His father gripped his shoulder and gave him a light squeeze. "I can't change what happened. I wanted her to tell you, but in the end it was up to her. I didn’t have the right to go behind her back."
Mitch shrugged out of his hold. "Don’t talk to me about rights. The fact is, Pop, what you and Lexie did was wrong."
He frowned. "You're as unforgiving and willful as I used to be. Let me give you some advice. Forgive her. Don’t keep prodding or she and Dani will walk out of your life for good."
Judson moved to his chair and sat down. Without another word, he reached for his tobacco and pipe. Mitch stared at it.
"Don't say anything. I need a smoke right now."
He filled the bowl of the pipe, lit it and inhaled several puffs. The rich, sweet fragrance of the tobacco drifted out into the rain scented air. "Your mother never wanted to live in the high country."
Mitch remembered a time when he was young that his parents seemed distant. Their words had been loud, harsh, even cruel. Words he wished he'd never hear again. He didn't know what was wrong. For a while, he thought whatever had happened had been his fault, but after a time his parents stopped fighting and a cool, polite distance settled between them.
His father looked down at the pipe in his hand. "She was a city girl. I convinced her to give the mountains a try, but she was never happy here. She begged me to move back to Denver and try the city, but I planted my feet and refused."
"That's why she left?" Mitch asked. "I never really knew.” After their divorce, Mitch still saw his mother on weekends, holidays and spent extra time with her in the summer but it was never the same. He missed having her around and listening to her gentle understanding of his problems.
"I loved her very much, still do, but I never even tried to see her side of things. It was always me, what I needed and wanted.” He laid down his pipe and looked at Mitch. "I know Lexie hurt you but try and understand why she kept Dani a secret."
She’d wounded him all right. Lexie had skewered him all the way to his soul. Mitch grabbed his jacket from the back of the glider. "I need to get out for a while."
Aggie trotted over and bumped against his hand asking to be petted. He smoothed a hand over her head.
"Try to find a way to forgive her," Judson pleaded. "She's been through a lot in her young life already. Don't add to it by ripping at her."
His emotions bubbled to the surface. He shrugged into his jacket. "She’s had her say. Now it’s my turn."
Chapter Three
Shaken by Mitch's unexpected visit and bone tired from working since dawn, Lexie rolled her shoulders to ease her knotted muscles.
"So you gonna spill it or what?"
Lexie smiled and glanced at Vivian Palmer, her closest friend who sat at the kitchen table. Vivian wore jeans, a bright red sweater and black boots. Her blond hair was twisted into a messy knot on top of her head. Her skin appeared rosy from the sun and her lips glossy. She sipped coffee and looked at Lexie over the rim of her cup. Her green eyes filled with concern and her brows rose in anticipation waiting for her answer.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Lexie liked this time of day when the world seemed to snuggle in for the coming night. "Spill what?"
"You and Mitch. What happened?"
Lexie turned back to the sink and rinsed another plate before placing it in the dishwasher. She gazed out of the window at the mountains in the distance. Gray clouds scudded over their peaks bringing with them the promise of more rain. "He was frosted when he found out about Dani.” Guilt over keeping their daughter a secret settled hard and heavy in the pit of her stomach. "It’s like I’ve betrayed him all over again.” She lowered her chin and stared at her hands gripping the edge of the sink.
Vivian patted the seat of the chair next to her. "Come sit down.”
Lexie walked to the table and slid onto the chair. She signed in relief at being able to sit after such a long, trying day.
Vivian laid a hand on her arm. "What did you tell him?"
"Everything.” She brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. His bitter voice echoed through her mind and remorse weighed heavier on her heart. I should have told him the truth a long time ago. "The more I talked the veins popped out on his neck.”
Lexie slumped against the back of the chair and gazed at Vivian. They had such an odd friendship. Vivian was the attractive, successful accountant and Lexie the average hen in the yard scratching for what she could get.
She told Vivian about Mitch’s plan to buy the ranch and turn it into a rehab facility.
"So, what's your plan? How are you going to handle things with Dani and Mitch?"
Lexie crossed her bare feet at the ankles. "I’m not exactly sure."
"Mommy, I can’t sleep. The thunder’s too loud.”
Dani shuffled into the kitchen with her best I-can’t-possibly-go-to-bed-right-now look on her face. But when she saw Vivian all thoughts about the storm fled. "Aunt Vivian!"
Dani scooted into the kitchen, breezed around Lexie and made a beeline for her favorite person. She wore her Smurf pajamas with matching slippers. Her hair was still a bit damp from her bath and she happiness beamed in her eyes.
Lexie wanted to keep her that way, but with Mitch showing up out of the blue anything could happen. Anxiety swirled through her blood and a headache pounded at her temples. How would she keep Dani from being hurt?
With a bright smile, Dani crawled into Vivian’s lap. She wrapped her small arms around her neck and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek.
"Hi there, Priss," Vivian said. "When are we going to have another girls' day out?"
Dani’s eyes widened and excitement lit her face. "Tomorrow?"
Vivian laughed and tweaked her nose. "You’ve got school."
In a practiced move that Lexie had witnessed many times, Dani turned, dropped her chin and gave her mother a pleading, heartfelt look. "Could I stay home from school tomorrow?" she asked in her sweetest voice.
Lexie laughed. "To go shopping and out to lunch? I think not."
"I figured you’d say that."
"Now off to bed.”
With Dani settled back in her bed, Lexie walked Vivian to the front door and gave her a hug. "Thanks for stopping by."
"That’s what friends are for.”
Her tender words eased Lexie after her long, emotionally draining day. Vivian gave Lexie a half smile and opened the door. A damp breeze blew in chilling Lexie's skin. Winter was just around the corner. There was still so much to do before the first snowfall.
"Don’t worry about Mitch. He’ll come around. Headlights swept through the misting rain and illuminated the front door. “Maybe sooner than you think."
Mitch’s car halted in front of the house.
<
br /> Lexie's brief moment of composure shattered. Why couldn't he leave her alone for one night? She just needed a little time to shore up her center of strength before she had to face him again.
Mitch slid from a bright red sports car that looked as though it were moving while standing still. He sauntered through the light rain and up onto the porch.
Vivian breezed around Lexie. "Hi, cowboy.” She stopped long enough to kiss him on the cheek. "Drop by the house sometime. I’ll buy you a drink.” She trotted down the front steps at a fast clip. "Lexie, call me," she yelled and ran to her car.
Lexie tried to muster some dignity. She’d had a bath then pulled her hair up into a pony tail before donning her favorite nightshirt and ratty old chenille robe. He’d changed into a faded pair of jeans that hugged his hips and thighs and topped them off with a gray sweatshirt and leather jacket.
Raindrops sparkled in the brown strands of his hair under the porch light. She inhaled a whiff of his aftershave and had a sudden urge to sidle up to him. "Mitch, I’m tired. Haven’t you had enough for one day?"
"Is Dani still awake?"
"No, she’s already gone to bed."
Mitch paused for a moment. "Okay, but plan on me being here for dinner tomorrow evening. I want to tell Dani I’m her father."
# # #
The next evening, Lexie picked at her food and eyed Mitch across the table. She'd worried all day about Dani's reaction to finding out Mitch was her father. Last night her mind had whirled with every possible outcome of this new unexpected revelation in Dani's life and robbed her of valuable sleep. In an effort to look her best, she had even changed clothes several times as if what she wore would make one iota of difference in how Dani might react to the news.
The moment Dani found Mitch in the house she'd started a stream of chatter as if she'd been given a wonderful gift.
Was she doing the right thing by allowing Mitch to tell Dani the truth? She had to because for the first six years of Dani's life Mitch didn't know about her existence. She owed him at least that. Didn't she?
"Mr. Quinn, I’ve been learning how to take Morning Star over the jumps," she said around a mouthful of rice.
"Don’t talk with your mouth full," Lexie admonished and patted her mouth with a napkin.
"Great. You’ll have to show me sometime." Mitch smoothed a hand over Dani’s head.
"How about tomorrow?" Dani asked. She picked up her glass of milk, took a sip then set the glass down. A white mustache was left behind over her upper lip. Her eyes, so like her father’s, gazed at him full of hope and expectation. Mitch’s gaze shifted to Lexie. He studied her face as if asking her permission. He lifted his brows in silence. Dread settled in her chest. The moment of truth had come at last. Words caught in her throat. All she could do was nod.
"Dani." Mitch covered her small hand with his. "Your mother and I have something to tell you."
Lexie studied Dani’s face. Her eyes widened and fixed on Mitch. She was so innocent. In a few moments, her world would be shattered. Lexie's heart squeezed in her chest.
"I knew your mother a long time ago," Mitch continued. "Before you were born."
Swallowing hard, Lexie found her voice. "That’s right." "Sometimes people can’t be together no matter how much they want to.” Her words were strained and unnatural even to her own ears.
"Yeah," Mitch agreed. "Things happen sometimes."
Dani shrugged. "I know. She said my daddy had to go away before he knew about me."
Lexie’s heart pounded harder and her palms grew sweaty. She twisted the napkin in her lap.
"That’s right," Mitch answered in a soft voice. "But I know about you now.” He paused and smiled at her. "I’m your daddy."
Dani’s mouth popped open. Her eyes blinked like a baby owl. Lexie’s chair was a board full of nails while she waited for her reaction.
"You are?" A mixture of confusion and wonder blanketed her face.
"Yeah. How do you feel about that?"
Dani took a bite of her pork chop, chewed then swallowed. "I don’t know. Does this mean you and my mommy will get married?"
She should have seen this question coming but it hit Lexie broadside. Of course Dani would think this. How could she not?
Mitch cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. Dani’s eyes stayed glued to Mitch’s face waiting for him to answer. "Your mom and I are just friends. Two people usually get married when--"
When they're in love, Lexie thought as regret racked her insides. She wanted to bundle Dani in cotton wool to protect her from the disappointment of not seeing her parents get married.
Dani jerked up straight in her chair. "When people have children they’re ‘sposed to be married. It’s the law," she said staring him in the eye.
Mitch’s mouth eased into a brief smile then faded. He looked spooked, ready to bolt like a horse shying away from something unexpected. Uncomfortable with the idea of marriage and family, Mitch? I’ll bet.
Despite her perverse enjoyment at watching Mitch squirm, Lexie couldn't leave him twisting in the wind. Besides, Dani's feelings were at stake and she needed to make her understand. "Grownups like to think about things first," Lexie added.
Dani’s little brow furrowed in concentration, her lips pursed. She dropped her chin, batted her lashes and looked up at Mitch, a hopeful glint in her gray-green eyes. Her mouth curved in a smile. "Will you get me a baby sister?"
# # #
An hour later, with the dishes cleared away and Dani settled up in her room, Mitch sat on the back porch. Cool evening air washed clean by the afternoon rainstorm wafted through the screens surrounding the porch.
He rubbed his palms over his thighs. He was a father. A chill swept through him. His gut twisted. A cold sweat popped out on his brow. He was glad he knew about Dani, but at the same time he knew having a family brought a major risk that he never planned to take.
Lexie strolled onto the porch and sat down on a rocker beside him.
"I still can't believe she's mine," he said. Mitch glanced at Lexie. "I’d like Dani to have my name."
"I'm sure she’ll have no objection.” Her voice was cool.
She stared straight ahead not looking at him. With her right foot she pushed against the light gray floor and rocked back and forth.
"Do you have an objection?"
Lexie stopped rocking, turned her head. Her eyes were full of uncertainty. "You’re thinking only about yourself, Mitch. What about Dani? One day her name is Dare and the next it’s Quinn. How will she explain that to her friends and the kids at school? Children can be very cruel. It’s obvious you know nothing about them." She bolted from her chair.
He gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw. When she'd allowed him to tell Dani he was her father, Lexie's acquiescence had been unexpected. He was grateful to her for that but if she'd told him about her pregnancy in the beginning, he wouldn't have had to introduce himself to his own daughter. "I know nothing about kids because you didn’t bother to tell me about Dani."
Lexie whirled and glared at him. "I couldn't tell you. My father threatened to ruin you and Judson and disown me," she shouted. "I cared about you, Mitch.” The harsh tone in her voice softened. "I still do."
Mitch pushed out of his chair and walked over to her. He didn't believe her for a minute. "Is that why I found you in Jake Ellis's arms less than two days after we made love? Because you cared so much?"
Even as her face blanched, Lexie threw her hands up in the air then let them fall to her sides. "Fine, believe whatever you want. You don’t deserve to know the truth.” Her words grated through the air.
"I know what I saw.”
"You know nothing," Lexie snapped. She crossed her arms over her chest. "But let’s put that aside for the moment. How do you feel about being a father?"
Terrified. He had no idea how to be a father or if he would make a good one. But he wanted a chance to try. "I never thought about having a family. I was never sure I wanted the responsibility.
"
He looked at Lexie's tight face, rigid body and the doubts gleaming in her eyes. He’d convinced himself all he needed was his work. Until he saw Lexie again and found out he had a daughter. Then in the span of a few days, his life had changed from simple to complicated.
"And now?"
He couldn't lie to her. She deserved to know his true feelings. "I don't know. I'm used to dealing with clients not kids. I’ve enjoyed living a totally independent life with only myself to consider.”
Mitch rubbed a hand over his forehead. "To be honest, I never thought about being a father and what that means.” He turned his head and fixed his gaze on her. His hurt over Lexie keeping Dani a secret receded for the moment and his pride at being a father took its place. "I do know that I want a relationship with my daughter and make sure she has everything she needs."
Lexie paused and studied him. "She needs love and a stable environment. And if you're going to be her father, she needs someone who will be around. You said yourself you aren't sure about being a father. Why don't you wait until you decide how you feel?"
Hurt at Lexie's deception reared again in his chest. "I already know how I feel. I want to be a father to my daughter. As far as Dani is concerned, she needs a loving home and you’ve given her that...not this ranch.”
"It’s because of this ranch that she has a nurturing environment.” She glanced outside where a few stars winked out in the twilight sky. "Without the land, the horses and this house we'd be living in a dirty city full of strangers. Chimney Rock is a close knit community where neighbors pitch in and help one another. I don't know what I would have done without them.” She turned and looked at him with a solemn expression on her face. "You have no idea how hard it is to be a parent much less a single parent." Her voice was low and firm.
"You never allowed me the chance.” It wasn't his fault he was clueless when it came to kids.
She straightened her shoulders. "It’s about walking the floor all night when they have colic or when they’re sick with a high fever and their ear is throbbing." Her voice rang with frustration. "It’s about trying to comfort them while you’re waiting for the medicine to kick in even though they won’t stop crying.” She shrugged. "Then you end up crying yourself because you can’t stand seeing your child in pain," she concluded in a ragged whisper.
The Secret Truth at Dare Ranch Page 3