A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,131

know that now.”

He didn’t answer. He was too mesmerized by the sight of his father, so she stopped trying to reason with him. “Get off my property,” she said to Robert, “before I call the police. And don’t ever come back.”

“I thought you were good Christian people!” he snapped. “How can you turn me away, treat me like trash?”

“After what you did, you have no business being here,” Dallas said.

“You heard him. You need to leave.” Ryan went down the steps and Taylor, Liam, Bentley and Seth fanned out behind him.

Seeing that they weren’t going to relent, Robert cursed. “I should’ve killed you, too,” he said under his breath to Dallas and that was all it took to ignite the powder keg of emotion that was rippling through the entire family. Aiyana managed to grab Dallas and hung on for dear life, stopping him only because he wouldn’t risk hurting her, but the porch quickly emptied as the rest of her sons went after Robert.

“Call a taxi,” she yelled to Cal and let go of Dallas long enough to get in between Robert and her other boys.

“No,” she told them. “I won’t have this. His life will be difficult enough. Why do you think he’s here? He’s looking for a place to land, people he can live off of, but he can just keep on moving.”

Although it wasn’t easy, she managed to get Seth to help her stop the others, and by the time she felt she had things under control, Robert was walking as fast as possible toward the road, where she hoped the taxi would find him and deliver him to the bus stop so he could get out of town.

“Good riddance,” she said, and tried to herd her boys back into the house before someone decided to run after him. She was so glad things hadn’t gone any worse. But the moment she saw Dallas’s face, she stopped. He was staring after his father with such a bereft expression her heart broke for him.

“Dallas, we have to go,” Seth said gently. “You’re going to miss your flight.”

Finally, Dallas pulled his gaze away. But he didn’t get in Seth’s car. “Who am I kidding?” he muttered. “It’s not going to work.”

Leaving his suitcase on the porch, he stalked to his van, revved the engine and drove off.

“Damn Robert Ogilvie.” Aiyana wished she were the one who’d seen him coming so that she could’ve chased him off before Dallas encountered him.

“Should I go after him?” Seth asked, obviously concerned and eager to do so.

She briefly considered letting him, but decided against it. “He’s an adult. There’s nothing we can do,” she told Seth and the others, who were offering to go, too. “Just give him some space. This is something he has to come to terms with on his own. At least he knows we love him,” she added, and hung all her hope on that.

30

Dallas thought his lungs would burst. He’d never run so hard in his life, but he had to get away from the town, the valley and the people—especially his father. How dare Robert Ogilvie reappear in his life, especially on Christmas! What did the bastard expect would happen when he arrived? Could Robert really have imagined, after what he did, that Dallas could embrace him and move forward?

Never! Robert had killed that possibility when he pulled out a gun twenty-three years ago. Any normal person would know that.

Although he was quickly growing weaker, Dallas forced himself to keep going. Not only did he need to outdistance the town and the people, he had to outdistance the images in his head.

Except that was impossible. He’d never forget the casual way his father had approached the house, as if it was just another day and what he’d done was no big deal. As if Dallas could ever want to see him or associate with him again. As if Dallas would ever betray Jenny like that.

His heart pumped hard and fast as he gulped for air and jumped over a rock, pivoted around a tree and continued up the narrow trail that led to the summit. He was somewhere in the Topatopa Mountains, but he didn’t know where. He hadn’t paid any attention. He’d just abandoned his van somewhere it probably didn’t belong and taken the shortest route he could find to higher ground.

It almost felt as though Robert were chasing him. He’d always imagined avenging his mother and Jenny, if given the opportunity. And yet he’d