The Rancher's Fake Girlfriend - Leslie North Page 0,62

they loved to tell the story of picking him up from the adoption agency and how thrilled they’d been to have a child.

He’d never been curious about his biological parents because he loved his adopted ones unconditionally. Zoe and Edmund Pierce had married late in life, too late to have a child of their own, but plenty young enough to love Cal and his adopted sister Jennifer. His attachment to his family had almost been enough to keep him in one place, but both he and his parents knew he wouldn’t have been happy with that. He’d been itching to see more of the world—and the rodeo had been calling him. So they’d supported him throughout his career. And he’d loved them for that, too.

But did he want to ask the question that formed in his mind? He leaned forward and snatched the phone, hitting the button for Zoe’s number.

“Howdy, Mom,” he said when she answered.

“Cal, so good to hear from you.” His mom’s voice brought instant calm to him. He settled back and let the conversation run its usual course where he checked up on everyone in the family and told his mom what he’d been up to since their last call a week earlier.

He considered just letting his question about the adoption go. Learning whether or not he had a biological brother wasn’t going to change who he was and might just stir up a hornet’s nest for him, his family, and the people of Darby Crossing. But something in him had to know.

“Mom, what do you know about where I came from?” he said when there was a lull in the conversation. He could imagine the expression on his mom’s face. It would be a little shock and a whole lot of sympathy.

“What do you want to know?” Zoe asked.

“Do you have a name for my birth mother, or a town where she lived?”

“I have some information. Just give me a minute,” she said.

He heard a tap as the phone was laid down, and he wondered if he’d made a mistake. But it was too late to take it back, and damn if he wasn’t curious.

“I don’t have a lot,” Zoe said, coming back on the line, “but I do have your original birth certificate. Your mom’s name was Laura Cooper. No father’s name is listed.”

“A birthplace?” he prompted, hoping that would fill in at least one of the gaps.

“You were born in Austin. Cal, why are you asking me this now?” It was a legitimate question since he hadn’t worried about it for thirty-two years. So he told her the story of what had happened in Amy’s office and on the street in Darby Crossing. Zoe listened until he was done. “Well, that must have been a shock for the poor woman. And for you, too. Are you all right? What do you plan to do?”

Cal was more curious than concerned. Once he had confirmation either way of whether he had biological family here, he’d decide how he felt and what he’d do.

“Maybe an online search will tell me something about her,” Cal said, knowing there was no “maybe” about it. He was going to start digging. “If I find anything, I’ll figure out the next step.”

“You know your father and I are always here for you.” If love could be heard, Cal picked it out in the tone of Zoe’s words.

“I know, Mom. Love to Dad and Jennifer. Call you soon,” he said and hung up. Without pausing, he reached for his laptop and typed the name Laura Cooper Thorne into the search box. Over the next hour, he learned plenty about the woman who—he became more and more convinced—was likely his mother. She’d married into the Thorne ranch family, the most prosperous ranchers in the area, and had raised three sons. Luke had been born four years after Cal, and there were twin boys, Jake and Brian, born two years after Luke.

He had brothers. Half-brothers. Who probably had no idea he existed. Then he came across the reports of the car accident that killed Luke Thorne and his father. Amy hadn’t said that it had been a double tragedy for the family or that Luke had caused the accident. Cal read more about Luke. The newspaper accounts and obituary made it clear that he was the town’s golden boy. High school athletic star and heir to the ranch, loved by everyone and sorely missed by all, including his widow and young son.

And, God almighty,