A Cowgirl's Secret - By Laura Marie Altom Page 0,31
down-home advice to take the bull by the horns and make her son and Luke spend time with her.
Though it’d been years since she’d been on a picnic, Daisy figured that’d be as good a way as any to start the lengthy process of regaining their trust.
“Hey,” she said when Luke answered his cell on the second ring.
“What do you need? I’m in the middle of something.”
“Sorry. I’ll make it quick.” She doodled a series of stars on a yellow legal pad. “Are you free tonight? I thought we might build a fire down by the pond and roast hot dogs. Make s’mores.” Talk.
“Sounds nice,” he said, “but I already made tentative plans with Kolt and Cash and Dallas.”
“Oh?” Nice of him to include her.
“I was going to call and run it past you, but Dallas said there’s some pretty decent catfish in the pond by the Peterson place. We’re riding horses over just as soon as Kolt gets home from camp.”
Snapping her pencil in half, Daisy managed a count to three in her head before she blew. “While I’m thrilled that you’ve jumped right into parenting, Luke, you seem to have forgotten the fact that I’m Kolt’s primary care-giver. As such, it’s customary for you to—”
“Stop right there,” Luke said, tone lethally low. “Don’t you dare lecture me on how much time I’m allowed with my boy. Within reason, I will see him whenever, and wherever I’d like. As I’m sure you and any right-minded judge would agree, we have lots of lost time to make up for.”
Daisy gulped.
“Speaking of which, my mother is throwing a party in Kolt’s honor Saturday. A sort of welcome to the family, ten-year catch-up on birthdays and Christmases. My parents didn’t want to invite you, but I insisted. After all, it’s the neighborly thing to do.”
SEATED ON HIS FOLKS’ SOFA Saturday afternoon, Luke had mixed feelings watching his son open a mountain of gifts. On one hand, he was so proud of the well-mannered, funny, likeable little guy that he was about to burst. On the other, Luke realized he’d had nothing to do with how Kolt had turned out beyond donating some DNA.
The living room was so crowded not only with the Montgomery clan, but with relatives from his mom’s side of the family that Daisy had been forced to the dining-room table. Watching her brought on a whisper of nostalgia for happier times. Blotting that out, however, was the screaming reality of what she’d done. He and Kolt might be pals, but would they ever have the bond a father and son should? When Luke thought of what Henry had done, rage seized him, but so did his inherent mistrust of Kolt’s mom. At a time when she should’ve run straight to Luke, she’d run away from him as fast as she could.
As if feeling his stare, Daisy looked up. Their gazes locked. Their connection was so undeniably strong his stomach tightened. She half smiled and on autopilot, he smiled in return before hastily focusing his attention on his son.
The day wound on with ten flavors of birthday cakes and an assortment of Christmas pies. Kolt and all other kids present were on obnoxious sugar highs.
“Nice party.”
Luke glanced up from his third piece of cake to find his efforts to avoid Daisy had failed. At least they were in the quiet kitchen. The last thing they needed was an audience. “Yeah, uh, Mom and Dad went all out. They’re excited about finally being grandparents.”
“If that was another subtle dig at me, again, I’m sorry. I get that my actions hurt an awful lot of people.”
Ignoring her, Luke finished off his cake.
“Are things ever going to get back to normal between us?” She’d softened her voice, in the process filling him with an asinine desire to turn back the clock. If lives were road maps, how many wrong turns had it taken to land them in their current position?
“What do you consider normal?” Luke didn’t mean to be cruel, but seriously, the woman had vanished for ten years, didn’t bother telling him he had a son and now expected everything between them to be hunky-dory? “We don’t even have a baseline for what normal would look like.”
“For starters,” Daisy said, “we could talk. Share a meal. Discuss our son’s future.”
“We could do all of that,” he agreed, “but what’s the point? It’s not leading anywhere. Do you honestly think we even have a shot at being friends?”
Her complexion paled. “I-if that’s the