Small Town Romance Collection: Four Complete Romances & A New Novella

by Brown, Carolyn

  “Is this blackmail?” He asked bluntly and leaned his head back to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Because if it is, young lady, I’ll have no part of it.”

  Was I going to have to get out a set of alphabet blocks and spell it out for him? I overcame the nagging desire to pinch the bridge of my own nose. “Blackmail has never entered my mind. I just came down here to see you. To actually look at you.” I fought back tears of angry mixed with sadness.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Because you are my father.”

  Edward’s eyes squinted down to small slits as he looked at me. “Just who told you that?”

  “Mama did even though she was already buried. Read this last letter that she wrote you.” I dug around in my tote bag and brought out the right stack of letters. I handed him the right one. “Evidently she had that one written and was ready to mail it when your box arrived with all the letters and cards she’d mailed you through those three or four months you were seeing each other. It had a stamp on it and was sealed. I opened it.”

  When he finished reading it, he folded it and handed it back to me. “I had no idea. What is it that you want or expect of me?”

  “Not one thing.” I slipped the whole stack back into my bag. “You haven’t got a thing I want or need. I got what I came after. To see the man who fathered me. Ashley begged me not to come down here. I probably should have listened to her, but I had to satisfy the curiosity. Good-bye, Mr. Rollin. I won’t bother you again.” I picked up my things and left without looking back.

  I stopped by a sandwich shop and opted for a loaded foot long sub, two bags of chips and half a dozen macadamia nut cookies. It’s a good thing that my metabolism is high and that I’m tall or I’d have to buy my clothing from Omar the Tentmaker.

  Still too angry to cry when I got back to my condo, I stripped out of my clothing and put on my bathing suit. Tossing the room key into the paper bag with my food, I grabbed a beach towel on the way out the door. The sand was hot as I made my way through sunbathers to the less populated far end of the beach.

  I flopped down, opened my beach bag and took out a foot long submarine sandwich, a liter of Coke and a bag of chips. I was determined not to even think about the law firm of Rollin, Smith and Rycroft. I’d forget all about those people, especially that egotistical, know-it-all Rocky Rycroft and his condescending eyes. In two weeks I’d go home—relaxed, ready to dive into work with my sister again.

  Two bites later, tears flowed down my cheeks and I couldn’t swallow past the lump in my throat. Finally, I gave up and rolled the sandwich back up in the paper, stuffed it into the bag and stretched out on my back. This was going to be my routine for the next two weeks. Lay out on the beach everyday and choose a different restaurant every night for supper. Tonight it would be Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. But the planning didn’t stop the tears or the occasional sob. If I had another bottle my three wishes would be that Mama wouldn’t have gone out to show that house that day, that I’d never found those letters, and that I’d listened to mama when she told me that I was better off not knowing about my father.

  Mama poured out her heart in that unopened letter. She told him that it was nothing short of a miracle that she was pregnant, since after Ashley was born the doctor said she’d never have another child because of the complications. More tears spilled out over my cheeks when I thought about the last one he wrote to her. There she was pregnant with me and reading that his girlfriend of many years was pregnant and they would already be married when the letter arrived. He even mentioned that he was taking the coward’s way out since he couldn’t bear to hear the disappointment in her voice if he called like he usually did several times a week.

  “You’re going to burn,” a soft voice said.

  I wiped my cheeks and sat up. “I wasn’t asleep.”

  “You’re Jessica, aren’t you?” She was wearing a pair of shorts and a maternity top. She looked like she might have the baby right there on the sand bar in the next five minutes

  “Yes, I am. How’d you know that?”

  .“I’m Tamara,” the woman said. “Tamara Rollin Rycroft.”

  “Oh, you’re married to—Rocky?” So he was married and expecting a child.

  “No, ma’am, I’m married to Stephen, Rocky’s brother,” she smiled. “Daddy said Rocky was there when you told him that you were the daughter.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Daddy came home ago and called a family conference. Me, mother, Stephen and him. Quite an upset, emotional experience for him. Mother knew that he’d been seeing another woman during the time they were dating. I guess they’d had an argument and were kind of split up when he and your mother were together. But Daddy promised Mother that it was over before they got married. Neither of them expected the daughter of that little fling to come walking into our lives all these years later. Mother wanted to know if you were blackmailing him but he said you denied that.” She laid a hand on her bulging baby bump.

  “I didn’t come here to make a problem for anyone. I never gave monetary things a thought. I just wanted to see him. You know when I was a little girl, I used to think someday I would come home from school and there would be a car in the driveway and it would be my father.” I sat up and picked up a hand full of warm sand, let it sift through my hands and then went on. “He would have a grand story why he wasn’t there when I was a baby, and Momma would be smiling, and we’d all live happy ever after. Then I got into high school and convinced myself he’d died a hero’s death in some fantastic deed. Ashley’s father died in some kind of mission when he was in the military. So mine died while trying to save an orphanage full of children from burning and died in the fire. Or whatever other dramatic thing I could think up at the time. Then Mama died about a month ago and I found the letters. All I wanted to do was see him. And I wouldn’t have ever gone to your mother and made a scene. It’s not what I came down here for. You wouldn’t understand.”

  I thought there would be more emotion involved if and when I met my half sister but the person sitting next to me was a stranger. There was no pull on the heart strings to hug her. Other than the red hair and that huge baby bump, we could be sisters. She was tall but not as much of a giant as me. We shared the same face shape, brown eyes and long legs but I felt more for Ashley, who looked nothing like me.

  “I think I do,” Tamara said after an awkward silence. “I called your sister. Daddy told us your mother owned the Graham Real Estate Agency. So I just called there and told her who I was and what had happened today. I asked her if she knew where you were staying, and I came down here to scream and yell at you. I was going to tell you to go straight to hell and never come around and upset my family again.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I sat down beside you. Figured it was you, because Daddy said you were a tall blonde and you’re the only one on this stretch of beach. So I tried to think about how your mother must have felt. I’m pregnant. How would I feel if Stephen didn’t even know? If I’d loved him with my whole heart and he wrote me a letter saying it was over, and then there was a baby. God, I don’t know what changed my mind. I guess I’m sentimental because of this baby. Usually my red haired temper takes hold of me, not my better sense.”

  “Natural red hair, huh?”

  “Yep, just like my mother’s hair,” Tamara said. “Baby hasn’t got a chance. Stephen is a red head, too. Do you realize we’re sisters?”

  “Yes, I do,” I got up and walked the deck and Tamara waddled along behind me.

  “So you met Rocky?” she asked.

  “Three times,” I answered.

  She cocked her head to one side—just like I did when I was puzzled.

  “He fell over my legs last night when he was jogging on the beach. I saw him at the park at noon. Then this afternoon at your father’s office. If I never see him again, it will be too soon. What do you want, Tamara?” I asked abruptly when we reached the de
ck.

  “I don’t know,” the woman said. “My curiosity isn’t satisfied just yet. When is your birthday?”

  “November one, nineteen eighty eight,” I answered, wondering why she’d want to know that tidbit of information. “I’m twenty eight years old.”

  “Mine is December fifteenth of the same year. I’m also twenty eight years old.” Tamara said. “Kind of blows my mind to know I’ve practically had a twin all these years.”

  “Anything else?” I asked. “We’re too old and this situation is too complicated for us to be sisters, Tamara. Good bye and good luck with the baby. I have two nephews and I love them dearly.”

  Tamara smiled. “Well, this is a girl so I guess you’ll have a niece now. But you’re right. With the situation like it is, she’ll never know an Aunt Jessica. I probably won’t ever tell Mother or Daddy I saw you.”

  “Don’t worry. If the world shrinks and our paths should happen to cross, I won’t mention it, either.” Without turning around I knew that I’d never forget the tall red haired lady with the big, round brown eyes, and a full mouth, so much like my own.

  My phone rang the moment I opened the door and I wasn’t surprised to hear my sister’s voice when I answered.

  “Did that woman who said she was Edward’s daughter call you, yet? Lord, I told you to leave this alone. He’s married and has another daughter.” Ashley’s voice went all high and squeaky when she was nervous. Right then, it sounded like Minnie Mouse was on the other end of the phone. “I remember when he was dating mother. I was nine years old and he was very nice to me.”

  “And you didn’t tell me?” My voice went all high and squeaky.

  “I didn’t know that he was your father, honest,” Ashley protested. “He wasn’t in the picture very long and she didn’t mention him after he was gone. When I was having pancakes down at the café this morning with a client, I remembered eating there with him and Mama. He was tall, blond haired and brown eyed. So did she find you or not?”

  “Yes, she did. I thought she might tell me to go to hell. Ended up having a fairly decent talk and then we said good-bye.”

  “Probably the best thing. Well, now you’ve seen him, come on home. James is going to slip right though your fingers, girl.” Ashley changed the subject abruptly.

  “I hope he does.”

  “I can look for you to be back to work day after tomorrow then?”

  “I’m staying gone the full two weeks. Don’t worry about me Ashley, I’m fine. Like a smart man said centuries ago—I came. I saw. I conquered. I came down here, saw him and conquered all those crazy mixed up biological emotions. I’m fine, really.”

  “And if you really believe that sister, then join me inside the pearly gates for a keg party at noon tomorrow. Then just lie out on the beach and fry all this nonsense out of your heart and brain. We made it just fine without a father—both of us,” she said.

  “Thank you. I’ll call every day or two.” I hung up and went back out on the deck about the time that Rocky Rycroft went running down the beach. There was no mistaking him with that body and those long strides. There were no little skinny wires running from his ears to a player tucked away in his pocket. And when he saw me looking at him, he veered toward the balcony.

  “What are you still doing here?” He acted like he owned the whole ocean and I was trespassing. “You might as well go on back to that podunk town you’re from and get out of my part of Florida.”

  “So you own the whole panhandle? No one told me that. But for your information I don’t care what you think or like or anything else about you. And there isn’t a sign on the outskirts of town that says I can’t stay here, so get out of my world Mr. Rycroft. Don’t threaten me. If you don’t like to see me around then run some where else the next few days.”

  “I’ll run any where that I please, and if you’re planning on another visit to the office, you better think again.”

  “I told you and Mr. Rollin that I wouldn’t bother any of you again. I keep my word.” I turned around and went into the condo.

  I turned on the television and watched an old movie on television. I cried at the end when the heroine walked away from the hero. Not everything ended with a happily ever after like in the books. But it would have been nice if I’d gotten one—just this one time. I picked up the newest mystery book by my favorite author but mental exhaustion of the day took effect and I laid it aside and pulled the bedspread up over me.

  My stomach awoke me, demanding to be fed immediately. I grabbed a quick shower and dressed in a light yellow sun dress and sandals. That night I was dining at Margaritaville—alone but that didn’t matter. Mama always said that a woman should always look nice when she went out to eat.

  The crowd was young; the waiters lively; and the music loud. I requested a seat in the back corner so I could watch the people and ordered a margarita to sip on while I looked over the menu.

  “Be right out,” the waiter, a cute kid that barely came to her shoulder, smiled brightly. “Maybe some appetizers? The crab cakes are to die for.”

  “Yes, that would be great,” I nodded.

  “Will get them and your margarita while you look over the menu.”

  When I looked up again, I locked gazes with Rocky Rycroft sitting not ten feet from me. He was at the table with a small dark haired, Edward and a tall red haired woman. Even though no one else could see the sparks I felt them sizzling all around me.

  Not in my wildest imagination did I think he would rush over and offer to let me sit with their party. More likely he’d figure out a way to have me thrown out of the place. I opened the menu and kept my eyes on it. Whether he liked it or not, this just so happened to be a public place, and I was eating lobster.

  “Your drink and order of crab cakes.” The waiter set both on my table.

  “Thank you. I’ll have the lobster dinner with a loaded baked potato and the salad with your house dressing.” I handed him the menu.

  He laid a paper coaster in front of me. “Gentleman over there asked that I give you this.”

  I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it’s over. You lost. Get out of here before there’s a problem too big for you to take care of. R.R

  “Do you need to return something?” The waiter asked.

  I quickly picked up a coaster from the other side of the table. “Take him a Texas Iced Tea with extra liquor in it and this note.”

  I wrote: Have a Texas drink on me and then go straight to hell.

  Rocky turned scarlet when the man set down the coaster and a drink. I held up my margarita and winked, then ignored him as I watched Jimmy Buffet on the big screen in the corner.

  Movement in their area caught my eye and I glanced that way. Edward said something and they all laughed, then pushed back their chairs, tossed their napkins on the table and filed out, without ever seeing her. All but Rocky, who left his wallet laying on the table and in just a few seconds came back to reclaim it. He picked up the billfold in a sweeping motion without taking his eyes off my table.

  As he left he put a hand on the back of my chair and leaned down to whisper, “Stop stalking me.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. If I was into stalking, believe me I wouldn’t choose you.” I looked up into his eyes and flashed a fake, sugary sweet smile. “Thanks for the joke. I needed a good giggle today.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Two days later, I was back in Jefferson—so much for fourteen days on the beach. I wanted to be home in familiar surroundings away from any café or beach where I might run into Rocky again.

  “Well look what the cats have drug up and the dogs wouldn’t have.” Ashley crossed the office to give me a big hug.

  “That’s not a very nice welcome home.” I hugged her back tightly. “What’s happening in town? What did I miss?”

  “James didn’t get married so you’re still in the running,” Ashley teased.

  “Oh, hush.” I stepped back and air slapped her on the arm. “It’s quittin’ time.
Let’s go get a banana split.”

  “Danny is grilling steaks, and Graham is bringing his girlfriend. Want to join us? Remember the preacher’s daughter, Roseanna? They’re getting thick as thieves. They’ll both start high school in a few weeks. I still can’t believe I’ll have a child in the ninth grade.” Ashley turned off her computer and picked up her purse.

  “Sounds great but I’m tired. Would you ask Danny to drive Peeta over to my place after supper, please?”

  “Since you said please.” Ashley grinned. “Peeta told me last night he was going to live at my house since Trey pets him more than you ever did. I might let him, if he’d catch that pesky mouse that’s been raiding my bread box.”

  “Oh, no. You can’t steal my cat. Momma rescued Peeta from the neighbor dog last year and I will not give him up.”

  The next morning I was sitting behind my desk sipping my first cup of coffee when James breezed into the room with a box of doughnuts in his hands. “Did the prodigal return home?” he said tartly.

  “Oh, hush your mouth.” I rounded the desk and wrapped my arms around him. He barely came to my shoulder, and had begun to loose his thin, brown hair this past year. “You missed me and you know it. Are these maple long johns? You are a sweetheart!” I opened the box and stacked three on a paper napkin. “Well, don’t just stand there pouting, tell me what you’re doing today? Got any murder cases in Choctaw County? Any divorces, adoptions? Did you get married or laid while I was gone? We’ve got a lot of catching up to do even though it’s only been a few days.”

  “I’m not pouting.” He sat down in a chair in front of my desk.

  “So what has happened?” I asked.

  “I didn’t get married,” he said tersely. “You were gone less than a week, for God’s sake!”

  “You got laid. I can see it in your eyes.”

  “That is private and confidential between me and Colleen. Besides you went running off and didn’t even tell me you were going. You don’t deserve to know anything that’s been going on.” He picked a blueberry donut from the box.