“We love you, Owen.” His mother’s voice was filled with apology. “We never meant—”
Owen held up a hand. “Is he here? I want to talk to both of you.”
“We’re just finishing lunch,” she said, and stepped back to allow him into the house.
He closed the door behind him, but suddenly he felt like even more of a stranger in this place. Blood roared through his head and his heart pounded, but as he followed his mom through the living room, it was like looking at unfamiliar furniture and photos. Who were those happy people, their lives encapsulated in the myriad of frames that sat on every surface?
His father was at the sink when they walked into the kitchen. He turned, glanced from his wife to Owen. “You are my son. You have always been mine.”
Owen’s mother let out an anguished sob and rushed forward into Hank’s waiting embrace. His arm wrapped around her waist as he tucked her against him.
“Sit down, Owen,” he said in the commanding tone that used to make Owen quake in his sneakers. “We have a lot to talk about.”
“No.” Owen shook his head, then placed a hand on the smooth tile countertop. He needed something to ground him as he felt his whole world tilting on its axis.
Hearing the words from Jenny and then seeing the truth in his mother’s eyes were nothing compared to the shock of facing the man he’d spent his whole life trying to please.
And knowing all of it had been in vain.
Hank stared at him for several long moments, as if taking his measure, then finally nodded. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of Karen’s head.
“Your mother and I had been friends since we were kids,” he said slowly. “I’d already been in love with her half my life when she found out she was pregnant.”
“By another man,” Owen added, forcing down his emotions. He knew it was a coping mechanism—to separate himself from the moment as if he was watching the action from above. There was no other way to get through it.
His mother let out another small cry and shifted to face him, still keeping her head on Hank’s shoulder. “A man who didn’t love me and never would have taken care of either of us.”
“My biological father, nonetheless.”
Tears streamed down his mother’s face, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away.
“You’re hurting her,” Hank said, his voice whip sharp.
Owen shook his head. “That’s not my intention, but I should have known the truth long before this.”
“You had parents who took care of you,” Hank snapped, tightening his hold on Karen. “A good life. Do you think that bum could have—”
Karen pressed her open palm to her husband’s chest. “He has a right to know.” She nodded to Owen. “I meant to tell you. I should have told you. But the time was never right. The truth was I didn’t want to think about the man who got me pregnant. He was a mistake I made when I was very young and very foolish.”
Owen couldn’t help flinching at that.
A mistake.
“Not you,” Karen said quickly. “Never you, Owen.”
He met her gaze but didn’t respond. What was there to say?
“I loved you from the moment I found out I was pregnant. You were mine.”
“Ours,” his father added. “I was honored to be your dad. I still am.”
“That isn’t how it felt from my end,” Owen told him, his voice sounding distant to his own ears. “I never fit in with you and Jack.” He laughed softly. “Even Gabby could keep up with your expectations better than me. I disappointed you constantly, and now I understand why.”
“I was hard on you,” Hank agreed, “but it was because I love you. Maybe I went overboard, but I never wanted to take a chance on you ending up like him.”
“Like my father,” Owen said, for the first time in his life intentionally trying to hurt someone.
He could see by the way a muscle jumped in Hank’s jaw that he’d succeeded. But it didn’t make him feel any better. He was more miserable with every passing second. But he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “What is his name?”
“Ed Bosch,” Karen answered slowly. “I don’t know what happened to him after he got out of jail. By that point, your father and I were married and you were almost a toddler.”
Owen swallowed. “Jail?”
She took a step toward him but still held tight to Hank’s hand. “I’ll answer any questions you have. But you need to understand that he was trouble for me, and not the kind of man I wanted as a father for my precious baby. I should have told you as you got older.”
She glanced between him and Hank. “I know things weren’t always easy for you in this family. But never doubt that everything—even the mistakes—were done out of love.” Her voice broke but she took a deep breath and said, “All I wanted was to protect you.”
The image of Jenny telling him something very similar about Cooper invaded his mind. Suddenly he understood how desperate she must have felt when Trent Decker came to her. As distant as his relationship with his mother had become, Owen knew she loved him. He looked at his parents, holding tight to each other as they dealt with this ugly secret, and thought about how Jenny had no one to hold on to.
His chest squeezed painfully. “How did Jenny know?”
His mother shrugged, then gave him a watery smile. “I guess being in love gave her some kind of sixth sense when it came to you. No one has ever questioned it before, but she had no doubt about her suspicions.”
A sixth sense? More like a perfect understanding of where to poke him so it would really hurt. He couldn’t totally blame her. He’d known better than to expose his soft underbelly. Hell, she’d given him the warning herself. But now wasn’t the time to discuss his ex-fiancée or the terms of their arrangement with his mother.
“I never understood why I wasn’t more like you,” he said to his dad. “It felt like I was a disappointment to you every damn day just for being me.”
Hank shook his head. “All I wanted was to make sure you weren’t like him. That’s how it started and then it became a pattern I couldn’t seem to break free from . . . even when it hurt you. It was my own fear, because even as a kid you were kind and damn smart, with the biggest heart of anyone. I was always proud of you, Owen. Don’t ever doubt that. You were meant to be the man you’ve become.”
“What about me not joining the marines?” Owen gave a harsh laugh. “Do you know how many hours of guilt I’ve had because I was the only Dalton man in the history of the family not to serve our country?”
Hank moved forward, releasing Karen’s hand to place his on Owen’s shoulder. “What you’ve created with Dalton Enterprises doesn’t just help the country, Owen. You help the world. There are lots of ways to serve your fellow man, and you’ve found the one that fits you best.”
Owen looked up at the ceiling, as if it held all the answers to the questions swirling around his mind. “You never said any of that.” He was unable to keep the bitterness from his tone.
“I’m sorry,” his father said, tightening his hold on Owen’s shoulder.
“Gabby was the baby and Jack was the golden boy.” Owen shrugged away from the touch, still needing space. “I was the oddball science geek.”
“You were brilliant,” Karen said.
“Which is why,” Hank added, “I gave Jack so much praise. It’s not easy being the younger brother of someone so clearly destined for success.”
Once again, Owen felt like he’d walked into an alternate universe. “Jack was the football star and the war hero with the military career cut short by the security breach on his last mission with MARSOC.”
“Wait,” his father interrupted. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know the details,” Owen answered. “It’s crap a highly elite, specially trained member of the corps can’t discuss with a civilian like me.”
“Oh, sweetie.” His mother’s voice was painfully gentle. “Did Jack tell you that?”
“Yeah
.” Owen ran a hand through his hair. “He seemed to take a lot of pride in whatever it was he’d contributed to the mission.”
“Owen,” Hank said slowly, “your brother will always be a marine, but he skated through his enlistment. He was only a grunt.”
“And he was never part of MARSOC,” his mother added almost apologetically.
The shock from this truth was almost as devastating as what Owen had learned about his birth. Why the hell would Jack go to the trouble of creating such an intricate web of lies?
“I’ve got to get out of here,” he muttered, more to himself than his parents.
“Don’t go,” his mom pleaded. “Not when you’re upset like this.”
“Let me call Jack and get him over here,” his father offered. “We need to clear the air.” Hank reached for him, and Owen felt the weight of his father’s hand as if it were made of lead.
“I can’t talk to Jack right now. I need . . .”
There were so many conflicting emotions churning through him right now, and he needed time before he could truly process what these new revelations meant for his life.
“I need to go.” He placed a hand over his father’s. “Give me some time.”
His father looked like he wanted to argue, but he nodded. “Call us when you’re ready. We’ll be waiting.”
“I love you,” his mother said quietly.
“You too, Mom,” he answered, then turned on his heel. One more minute in this house and he was going to lose the very thin grasp he had on his emotions.
He stalked through the house and slammed out the front door, heading toward the rental car. His instinct had been that this little family visit might go south, but he’d had no idea how bad it would get.
“Owen, wait.”
He was almost to the black sedan when Gabby’s voice rang out behind him. She was at his back a moment later and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry. I had no idea. You’re my brother. That’s all I know.”
“It will be okay, twerp,” he told her, using the nickname he’d given her as a young girl. “We’re all adults now.”
“Then why are you running?”
He encircled her wrists with his fingers and pulled away her arms, turning to face her. “I need some time.”
“But you’re not going away for good?”
Looking past her to the front porch where his parents stood watching, he shook his head. “We’re family. You’re stuck with me.”
She hugged him again. “I love you,” she whispered against his chest. “Even more now that I have an explanation for why you’re so much smarter than the rest of us.”
“You too, Gabs.” He smiled despite all the turmoil, which he knew was her intention.
She released him, and after a last wave to his mom and dad—a peace offering of sorts—he got into the car. He needed time to process what he’d learned, but they’d get through it. That’s what families did.
The question was if he could sort out the puzzle that was his current life, where nothing seemed to fit the way it should. It had sent him reeling to find Jenny snapping a photo of the Labyrinth Web documents in his office. But what if she’d been trying to tell him the truth and hadn’t planned to actually give them to Cooper’s father?
It wasn’t just their past that made him react so harshly to what he thought she’d done. In the deep, secret place inside him, it had been difficult to believe she could actually want him the way he wanted her. Owen had spent a lifetime feeling like he’d taken the scraps of his father’s love. Now he realized his wasn’t the only outlook on the dynamics within his family.
Jenny cut a wide swath of self-destruction with her reckless decisions, but she made him feel more than anyone had since he could remember. She was frustrating as hell, but could also be gentle and protective of the people she loved. She’d certainly done that for him in West Virginia.
As he drove toward the tiny airport outside Hastings, he realized that as disturbing as the truth about discovering the true origins of his family was, there was also a sense of peace in knowing where he belonged. If only he hadn’t pushed Jenny away in the process.
CHAPTER TWENTY
A week after Trent had come to her barn, Jenny sat at a table in the center of Union Station, the railway depot in downtown Denver. The historic terminal building and rail yards had been renovated to house a mixed-use development, with seating for several restaurants. She’d texted Trent to meet her at this public venue, refusing to invite him to her home.
Cooper was at the house with Kendall, Sam, and Sam’s niece, Grace, although he’d campaigned hard to come with Jenny when she confronted his father.
Jenny had told her son an abbreviated version of the situation. She’d made it clear that Trent’s actions had nothing to do with Cooper and everything to do with Trent being a spineless sack of . . . well, she’d had to make several deposits to the swear jar as she’d talked to Cooper.
Even so, it was a difficult truth to share, especially when Jenny understood the pain of feeling abandoned by a parent. But her friends had rallied around them, and Ty, along with Chloe’s husband, Ben Haddox, and Trevor Kincaid, who was now married to Sam, had descended on the house the following morning to invite Cooper on a guys’ fishing day with them and Ben’s nephew, Austin.
It wasn’t the same as having a father, but she knew it meant something that her son had men in his life to love and support him.
Chloe sat a few tables away and gave her a subtle thumbs-up when Jenny glanced over. Jenny wanted to have this conversation with Trent on her own, but appreciated the backup in case it was needed.
She tapped her fingers on the folded sheet of paper in front of her, the one that had the potential to change everything. It still terrified her to think that she might be giving Trent an opening to manipulate Cooper, but she was learning to have faith in the strength of her love for her son. No more secrets or self-sabotaging behavior. She was relying on the truth to set her free.
A mix of tourist families, young couples, and professionals on their lunch hour filled the converted train station. She watched a mother and father snapping photos with their two kids, and for the first time didn’t feel a pang of envy at the picture-perfect image. Her life might not be perfect, but it belonged to her and it was good. Happy. There was work to be done, messes to be cleaned up—but she finally believed she could handle whatever came her way.
She’d been waiting for Trent to come through the building’s main entrance and jumped slightly when he slammed his open palm onto the table.
“What did you do?” he demanded, his eyes burning as he leaned in close.
Jenny’s gaze darted to Chloe, but she shook her head when Chloe started to get up.
“I haven’t done anything yet,” she said, forcing her tone to remain calm.
“Bullshit,” he insisted. “I got fired today, and an hour later the company sent out a press release that they are partnering with Dalton Enterprises to bring the Labyrinth Web to market.”
She blinked, blindsided by his words as much as his anger. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“You cut me out of the deal.”
“I didn’t.” She held up the folded piece of paper. “This is what I have for you.”
He snatched the sheet out of her hand, his lips moving as he read, then pressing into a thin line. “What is this?”
She pushed back from the table and stood. “I think it’s fairly self-explanatory.” She tapped a finger on the top of the page. “If you’re having trouble understanding, the law firm letterhead might give you a hint. I’m filing for sole legal and physical custody, something I should have done years ago. You don’t give a damn about my son, and I’m not going to let you use him or me this way.”
He crumpled up the paper and tossed it to the table. “If I want to see him, then—”
“Then you’ll get your head on straight and do it for the right reasons.” She expected panic to flood her at what she was a
bout to say, but felt totally at peace with the decision she and Cooper had made together. “Cooper is a great kid, Trent. He’s curious about you, although he has a lot of understandable hurt and anger mixed up with that curiosity.” She arched a brow. “But I won’t be bullied or blackmailed. Owen isn’t a part of this. It’s between you and me. If you want a relationship with Cooper, you can start by paying twelve years of back child support, then we’ll talk about visitation rights.”
If steam could actually drift—cartoon style—out of a person’s ears, she would have expected Trent’s head to look like a teapot ready to boil. “You know that isn’t going to happen.”
“Then we’re finished here.”
“Why screw me over with my job?” he asked through clenched teeth. “You called my bluff. Isn’t that enough?”
“I told you it wasn’t me.”
“It can’t be a coincidence that the deal I was working was pulled out from under me.”
“Blackmail isn’t a deal,” she answered.
He grabbed her arm. “Did you have Owen—”
Suddenly Trent let out a grunt and released her, stumbling back several steps, then flopping to the floor in a quivering heap.
“Never,” Chloe said to him, holding a small, two-pronged black device, “put your hands on a woman in anger.”
He muttered an incoherent curse.
Jenny, along with half the people in the train station, stared wide-eyed at Trent. “Um, Chloe, did you Taser him? Is that even legal?”
Chloe tucked the stun gun back into her purse and took Jenny’s arm. “Of course,” she answered. “He’s not worth getting arrested over.”
“Of course,” Jenny repeated numbly as her friend led her out of the building, leaving Trent to pull himself off the floor on his own. “I knew you were a quiet sort of badass, but . . .”
“The stun gun was Ben’s idea,” Chloe told her calmly. “He thinks it’s important that I can defend myself.”
Jenny understood the sentiment since her friend had escaped an abusive marriage years ago and was now working with victims of domestic violence. Chloe might look sweet as pie, but she was one tough cookie. “Remind me to always bring you along when there’s some ass-whooping to be done.”
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