Second Chance Rancher

by Patricia Thayer

  Gus shook his head. “I’d heard rumors. Maybe we should go and check it out. All Jake’s horses are registered stock.”

  Kase hesitated. “I’d like to.”

  His father studied him with a cautious eye. “What’s on your mind, son?”

  “Just hate all this waiting. I want to move forward, but I’m not sure I can. Not until I find out about the custody case. I might have to move back to Denver.”

  “Dammit. They can’t take Addy away from us. Any judge has to see that little girl loves you, and you’ve done nothing that would jeopardize losing her.”

  Kase wasn’t so sure. “I wasn’t the best father in Addy’s early years. I worked all the time, trying to build my career. I left her with a drug-addicted mother.”

  “From what you said, Addy had Mary Beth looking out for her.”

  “Maybe the judge thinks that having a woman in her life is better instead of a single dad.”

  “Bah.” Gus waved his hand. “Then ask Laurel to marry you. She loves both you and Addy. And from what I can tell whenever she’s around, you feel the same way. What are you waiting for, son?”

  “If I lose Addy to the Chappells, I’ll have to move back to Denver just to be there for her. How can I ask Laurel to give up her family and life here?”

  Gus took off his hat and scratched his head. “Don’t think for her. Give her the choice.”

  He wanted nothing more than to include Laurel in his life. But everything was such a mess.

  His father went on to say, “I made that mistake, and I couldn’t undo it.”

  “Are you talking about my mother?”

  Gus nodded. “She wanted me to move to the city. I refused, and she left me. I feel I cheated you out of your mother.”

  “No, Dad, you can’t make excuses for Liz Rawlins. She left me, her child, all on her own. If I’ve learned anything in the past four years, you have to think about your child first. You were always there for me, and I know I haven’t said it in a long time, but I love you.” He blew out a breath. “Now I just pray that the judge doesn’t side with Ben because of their social ties. I want the chance to be the father that Addy needs.”

  His dad’s eyes welled with tears. “I pray that, too. That little girl has stolen my heart.”

  Before Kase could say any more, his cell phone rang. He saw the familiar number of his lawyer. He answered it reluctantly. “Sam, what’s up?”

  “Good morning to you, too.”

  “Sorry, good morning, Sam. Now please give me some good news.”

  “It’s not good, it’s not bad. I received news that the judge will render his decision.”

  “When?”

  “Tomorrow afternoon. Four o’clock. Can you make that?”

  Kase sighed, trying to slow his racing heart. “I guess I have no choice. Yes, I’ll be there.”

  Sam paused, then said, “My instructions were to have you bring Addy, too.”

  Kase’s heart sank into his stomach. Oh, God, no. They wouldn’t take her away. “Okay, we’ll be there.”

  His father saw his pain. “Not good news.”

  Kase shrugged. “Not sure what the judge decided, but they want me to bring Addy along to court tomorrow.” He shook his head. “I can’t give her up, Dad. What am I going to do?” He raked his hand through his hair. “If the judge sides with the Chappells, Addy will think I deserted her.”

  Gus caught his son in a tight hug. “Oh, son, Addy knows you love her,” he whispered, his voice laced with emotion. “But hey, don’t give up, the judge could decide in your favor.”

  Kase nodded. His dad was right. He needed to stay positive.

  “Hey, we better pull ourselves together,” Gus said. “Addy will be home anytime now.”

  “Yeah, I don’t want to upset her.” Kase rubbed the mare’s nose one last time and he and his father walked out of the barn.

  They were headed toward the house when Laurel’s truck came up the road. “Looks like your ladies are home.”

  Kase put on a smile and pretended everything was fine. Laurel shut off the engine and climbed out.

  “Hi there,” he greeted her.

  “Hi, yourself,” she answered.

  “Thanks for bringing Addy home.”

  “Not a problem.” She smiled. “I need to talk to you anyway.”

  Kase nodded and opened the truck’s back door and smiled at the sight of his daughter.

  “Hi, Daddy. I had the best day at school. I made a new friend. His name is Michael, but he likes to be called Micky. And I colored a picture of you and Papa Gus and Laurel. And baby Chris on his new horse. It’s in my backpack.”

  Kase swallowed. “Looks like you’ve been busy.” He lifted her out of her seat and held on to her a little longer and a little tighter. He inhaled that sweet scent that was so uniquely Addy.

  “Daddy, don’t squeeze so hard.”

  He loosened his grip. “Sorry, sweetie, I just missed you so much today. Dr. Matt came out to see Honor and said the foal is growing in her tummy.”

  Addy grinned. “I can’t wait to see the baby when it’s born.” Her blue eyes widened. “Can I name the new horsey?”

  He nodded. “You bet.” He handed her the backpack. “Now, you better go inside and see Papa. He’s fixing you a snack.”

  The child took off, and once she was through the door, Kase reached for Laurel and pulled her into an embrace. He needed her to anchor him, to feel her support and strength. “I’ve missed you since last night.”

  She pulled back. “I missed you, too.” She turned serious. “We need to talk, Kase.”

  He didn’t like this. “Sure.”

  “Could we go into Gus’s office?”

  He nodded.

  She took his hand. “Don’t worry. For a change, this could be good news.”

  Laurel took his hand and walked into the house, where they found Gus and Addy seated at the kitchen table eating peanut butter crackers. “We’ll be back in a minute or two. Laurel wants to discuss something with me.”

  His father gave him a wink. “Take your time, we’re fine here.”

  Kase led her down the hall and into the den/office. After shutting the door, he took her in his arms. “First, I need this.” His mouth lowered to hers, in hopes of escaping their troubles for a little while.

  Laurel pulled away. “As much as I love your kisses, you’re distracting me.”

  “Sounds like a great idea.”

  He hated to burden her with his problems, but he had to share. “I received a call from my lawyer right before you got here,” he said. “The judge has made his decision. I have to go back to Denver tomorrow.”

  Laurel walked to the desk, set her purse down and took out a piece of paper. “I need to tell you something, Kase.” She paused a long time and he got worried.

  “Just tell me, Laurel.”

  “When I went into the office today, your financial file was given to me by mistake.”

  He shrugged and sat on the edge of the chair. “I don’t mind if you saw it.”

  “Well, I didn’t look anyway,” she admitted. “But if you don’t mind, could you tell me how much money Addy has in her trust?”

  He wasn’t expecting this question. “I’m not exactly sure.”

  “Just a round number would help.”

  He thought back to the last time he saw her trust account. “Okay, the last time I saw any documentation was right after Johanna died about a year ago. It was over two million, but of course with her mother’s trust money added in from the heritance, I’m going to say a rough estimate would be five to six million according to how good the stock market is.”

  Laurel’s eyes widened. “Oh, my. That much?”

  He nodded. “None of it’s my money. It�
�s all safely tucked away for Addy when she turns twenty-five. Can I ask where this is going?”

  She raised a hand. “Okay, I’ll admit when your file was in front of me I was tempted to look at your worth. I guess I wanted to know how successful you were in Denver.” She blushed. “Then I was distracted by a Post-it note from one of the senior accountants. The note was addressed to Mr. Allen saying there wasn’t as much money in Addy’s trust as you had told him.” She unfolded the paper. “I’m not sure if this is unethical or not, but since Cleve Allen is out of town all week, I wanted you to have the news as soon as possible. You don’t have time to wait, especially when you’re going back to court tomorrow.” She handed him the paper. “I brought you a copy of the spreadsheet that Mr. Allen would give to you anyway when he returns. Here is the amount of money in Addy’s account now.”

  Kase took the paper and went straight to the bottom line, and saw the amount was just under $300,000. “Whoa. Something’s wrong. There’s a mistake. I have paperwork upstairs that shows a year ago the account had several million.”

  “Who else has access to the trust?”

  “Not me. Ben Chappell is the executor.”

  Laurel’s gaze locked on his. “This might be out of line, but do you think it’s possible that your father-in-law has been illegally taking money from the trust?”

  A flash went off in Kase’s head. “Damn, that bastard. That has to be why Ben wants Addy. He stole her money.” He finally grinned. He couldn’t care less about the money, but with this information, he could keep Addy. He walked over and pulled Laurel into his arms and kissed her. “Thank you. Thank you. You have no idea what this means.”

  Laurel grinned, too. “You get to be Addy’s full-time daddy?”

  For the first time in months he had hope that he could have a life with his daughter. He looked at Laurel. Was it possible to have it all?

  * * *

  LATER THAT EVENING, an exhausted Laurel had finished her training with Ruby Ridge and was headed upstairs to her apartment. She’d been invited back to Kase’s house for supper, but she’d declined, knowing how busy her day had been and how badly she needed some sleep.

  Before she left Kase, she had him call Allen and Jacobs to get the official documents on the account. Then she’d be off the hook.

  There was no doubt that Ben Chappell was involved, along with the bank that held the money. No one else had access to the funds. Now Addy didn’t have to leave her father, and Kase didn’t have to leave Hidden Springs. Maybe they all could have a future together.

  Her cell phone rang. Her heart sank when she recognized the number. “Hello.”

  “Hello, Laurel. Did you get the money?”

  She stiffened. “Jack. Where are you?”

  “I just wanted to say I’m sorry and I hope you’ll forgive me.” Then the connection ended.

  Great. She didn’t need this today.

  She heard a knock on the door and her heart pounded in her chest. “Oh, God, no. Please don’t be Jack.”

  She looked through the peephole and was relieved to find Kase on the porch. She unlocked the door, opened it and didn’t give him a chance to say anything before she launched herself into his arms.

  “Wow, I like the greeting.”

  She was trembling. “Sorry. It just...” She held out her phone. “I got a call from Jack.”

  He stepped inside the apartment. “What the hell? When?”

  “Just now. When I heard the knock, I thought it was him. He only said ‘Did you get the money?’ and ‘I’m sorry.’ Then he hung up.”

  Kase checked the number, then walked to the kitchenette and made a call to his PI to give him the information. “My guy is going to try to trace the number.”

  Laurel hated that her past kept causing trouble. “I’m sorry, Kase. You have enough on your mind right now.”

  He shook his head. “What are you talking about? It’s thanks to you, for pointing out the deficit in Addy’s account, my problems could be over. I don’t think Ben can explain his way out of this. Even if he can, just my investigating into the loss of Addy’s trust money will have his clients questioning his ethics. That could mean the demise of the law firm.” Kase frowned. “I got a hold of Jacobs and he sent the entire account information to my lawyer. So we’ll be prepared for court tomorrow.”

  “Was Mr. Jacobs upset that I gave you the information?”

  “He doesn’t know, Laurel. Even if he did, you didn’t do anything illegal by giving me the account records. You caught the oversight. I wouldn’t have learned about it until next week. By then, Ben could have been awarded custody of Addy.”

  She finally smiled. “I’m glad I could help.”

  He gave her a quick kiss. “Me, too.”

  “Now, I still have to go to Denver tomorrow. Sam and I plan to meet with the Chappells and their lawyer. I want you to go with me, Laurel, mainly because I don’t want Addy to be afraid. If you can watch her, I’m planning to confront Ben. What he did was embezzle money, and at the very least he could be disbarred and lose his law practice.”

  Laurel was curious. “I thought the Chappells were wealthy. Why would he need to take Addy’s money?”

  Kase shrugged. “First of all, Judith comes from money. The Kirsch family struck it big in gold nearly a century ago and invested wisely in many more enterprises over the years. Ben built his law practice himself, and he’s done well for himself. But it’s a large firm. You lose clients and their hefty retainers, and that can be a game changer. When I wanted to make partner, I was told over and over to bring clients into the firm. There’s a lot of overhead with a high-rise downtown office.”

  “So are you going to send Ben to jail?”

  Kase pulled her close. “I don’t want that, but if I have no choice, I will. No one messes with my family.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next day, Laurel got up at 5:00 a.m., did a few chores, let Chet know she’d be gone for the day and asked him to take over her training schedule.

  She could see her foreman wanted to question her, but he only nodded and went on with his business. She knew she was putting her business second, but all she could think about was that Kase and Addy needed her. Everything else would have to wait.

  After a quick shower, she dressed in dark jeans and a blue oxford cloth blouse. She doubted she had to do much more than watch Addy, so this outfit seemed the most practical. After grabbing a lightweight sweater, Laurel was waiting on her apartment steps when Kase drove up at six thirty.

  When she heard Addy’s fussy cries, she climbed in the backseat and kissed the child hello.

  “Now, let’s get you and your dollies comfortable.” Laurel arranged the child’s favorite blanket around the safety seat to support her head. She stroked Addy’s arm and hummed one of her favorite songs until the child went back to sleep. Then there was silence in the car.

  Kase reached a hand back and touched Laurel’s knee. “Thank you,” he whispered. “You’re a miracle worker.”

  No, she just cared about this child. She leaned forward and said, “Addy is just afraid. She can see your worry.”

  “I guess I didn’t do a very good job of hiding it, or preparing her for this trip. Damn Ben,” he hissed. “How could he put her through this?”

  Laurel placed her hand on Kase’s, loving the connection to this man. She hoped he knew how much she loved his child. “Hopefully, today will put an end to that worry and you can move ahead with your lives.”

  His gaze met hers in the rearview mirror. “I hope you know I want you involved in those decisions, too.”

  Laurel wanted that, too. She wanted to dream about a future with Kase and Addy. But there were still many things that needed to be resolved. “Why don’t we table this discussion? You need to concentrate on today.”

 
“Not for too long, Laurel. I’m tired of living in limbo.” He turned his attention back to his driving.

  Laurel tried to nap like Addy, but she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about a possible future with Kase. Could it really happen?

  There were things still standing in her way. She needed to repay her parents and Trent. Although Trent and Rory both told her she wasn’t responsible, she knew she was the one who’d given Jack the password to the escrow account. Her father entrusted her with the finances of the project, and she screwed up big-time.

  * * *

  ONCE THEY ARRIVED in Denver, Kase took them to Emma’s Café, just walking distance from the courthouse. Best part, Addy was happily distracted coloring the picture on the kids’ menu. He looked across the table to watch Laurel avoid eye contact. Maybe he was conjuring up problems, but something was bothering her.

  “Laurel, what’s wrong?”

  She shook her head, then glanced down at the child next to her. “Just want this over with. I think we’d all feel better.”

  Kase blew out a breath and glanced at his daughter. He wanted Addy’s happiness above everything else. For the first time since this custody battle began, he felt they might be able to start building a life in Hidden Springs.

  He took her hand in his. “I want that, too.” His cell phone went off. “It’s Sam.” He read the text. “He wants to meet with me.”

  Kase texted him back. At Emma’s Café.

  Sam replied, B there in 5 minutes.

  “He’s coming here.” He glanced at Laurel. “I don’t want to take Addy to the courthouse just yet. Maybe I should have gotten a hotel room.”

  Laurel shook her head. “We’ve only a few hours to wait,” she said, keeping her voice in a quiet tone. “If it takes longer, I can always take Addy shopping, or even go visit the aquarium again.”

  “Yeah, Daddy, I like the aquarium. I like to color, too. See my picture?” She held it up. “I was careful to stay inside the lines.” She smiled. “At school, my teacher said I did a good job and she gave me a star.”