Page 11 of Defending Casey

Chapter 3

Hale didn’t mind getting up early.During his time in the Army and later as a Green Beret, he got up when the job required him too. It didn’t matter what time of day or night. He was always ready to go.

What he wasn’t used to is lack of sleep.

And since he’d met the daughter he’d never known he had, he hadn’t slept.

After he left the feed store, he’d had plans to go and see his father.

Had.

Casey said that his father knew.

At first, he’d balked at the idea. He was sure his father wouldn’t keep that kind of information from him.

And then he’d realized that he would do exactly that.

His father was so damn determined to get him to go to college and play football, he’d hounded him over and over until Hale had agreed to go just to get some peace and quiet at home.

Casey pregnant?

As much as he hated to think it was true, he knew that was the last information that his father would have given him.

But when did Casey know?

He had his ideas about that. He’d spent the better, or worst, part of the night pacing and mulling over those ideas.

Anger, pain, disappointment. All of those darker emotions had ridden him hard for hours.

Grief, loss, emptiness. They’d tied his stomach up in knots and turned his life upside down again and again. Zeke and Stone had called him, inviting him out to the Watering Hole for some beers, but he begged off.

Beers made him maudlin when he was upset. And hard liquor? No way. Not when he was angry.

It probably would have been helpful to talk to them, but not yet. He was still trying to understand how he’d managed to get her pregnant.

He’d used a condom. Not because he didn’t want to have a baby with her, but not when they were still in high school.

So he’d planned for protection, but he’d also planned to keep things secret. He’d driven all the way to Colorado Springs to buy the condoms.

Scrubbing his hand over the back of his head, he swore a blue streak and almost launched himself off of the old couch in the living room.

The first light of dawn was just creeping through his windows when he headed for the bathroom.

Hale reached back over his shoulder and peeled off his t-shirt and dropped it on the floor. His pants were next, falling into a pile of flannel just shy of the shower curtain. It was a measure of his frustration that neither garment made it into the hamper along the wall.

He didn’t even bother to turn on the hot water, making do with the harsh spray of cold that rained down on his shoulders. Hands braced on the wall, he took the pain knowing it would wake him enough to get on the road.

He needed answers, but he wanted… no, he needed to see Casey and Nora again.

Sonora.

There had to be a story behind that name. It had Casey’s father written all over it.

Shaking his head, Hale heard the water splash against the tile and the shower curtain. David Jones certainly had a way with names.

He still remembered the way Casey cringed the day he got up the courage to talk to her for the first time.

Sitting at the end of the lunch table, Casey had been alone, as she almost always was. With the others grouped together at the other end, there was a clear gap between the main group of students and Casey.

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