Page 25 of Wyoming Heart

“No, he won’t, the way your book is selling,” Bill said with quiet pride. “You’re on your way to fame.”

She wrinkled her nose. “As long as it’s distant fame, I don’t mind. I’d hate to be one of those people who’s on magazine covers and tabloid covers all the time, so they’re recognized everywhere they go. It would be like living outdoors in the city, with people watching everything you do. I’d go nuts. I love it here.” She looked around at the towering distant mountains with their snow-covered peaks, the buttes closer to the ranch that curved gracefully on the horizon. “This has to be the most beautiful place on Earth.”

“I’d agree,” he said. He frowned. “Jake McGuire’s a great catch,” he began.

“Money isn’t enough. I’m holding out for a man I can love.”

“Yes, Miss Mina, but you don’t date anybody,” he returned gently. “Never going to find a husband that way.”

“Not sure I want one.”

He turned his attention back to the corral. “Had a call from your cousin Rogan earlier today.”

“Was he looking for me? I had my phone cut off while I was at the Simpsons’...”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“He’s heard from your father,” he said.

Her face tautened. Once, when her mother was alive and she was younger, she’d wanted badly to keep in touch with her parent. But her mother had told her father that Mina hated him for leaving and never wanted to talk to him again. As the years passed, however, and she suffered her mother’s incessant lovers, the lie had become truth. Her father had deserted her, left her to the torment her mother had given her. She blamed him, because his desertion had caused most of her pain.

“I don’t want to hear from him,” she said flatly. “Not ever again.”

He hesitated for just a minute. “You sure? It’s been fifteen years, you know.”

She bit her lower lip.

“There’s something he wants to tell you,” he said finally.

“He can write me a letter.”

He shook his head. “He wants to see you. He’s in Billings.”

Her heart jumped.

“You should think about it,” Bill said gently. “When he’s gone, there’s nobody else who knows anything about your background. About your extended family. I know your mother never talked about her parents or their parents. History is important.”

She knew that. Still she hesitated. She hated even the memory of the past few years, hated the anguish her mother had caused her.

“It might be your last chance, to find out why your mama was so mean to you,” he finished. “He’s the only person alive who would know.”

She drew in a breath. “Okay, I’ll think about it.”

He smiled. “I’ll tell your cousin.”

SHESLEPTONthe request. But after a sleepless night, reliving old nightmares, she decided that Bill was wrong. She didn’t need to see her father. It was tempting, to tell him what he’d subjected her to by running off with another woman. That alone might help her to let go of the past. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The pain went too deep, even after fifteen years. She could hardly even remember what her father looked like. His job as a police officer had kept him away most of the time, and there were hard memories in the way after he left. She wasn’t sure she’d recognize him if she saw him on the street. But then, she didn’t want to, either.

So she called Cousin Rogan and told him about her decision.

“I understand how you feel,” he said, his deep voice soft and calming. “But people aren’t just good or bad, honey,” he added softly. “They make bad decisions and act on them. That’s what your father did. His fancy woman dropped him flat the second month he was with her. He tried to get custody of you, but your mother got a lawyer and threatened him with lies that made him into a monster. He could have gone to jail if he’d persisted. He deserted your mother. He never deserted you.”

She was quiet. She didn’t answer him.

He sighed. “Okay, honey. It’s your decision.” Rogan had always liked him, but he didn’t press it. “How are things going with you?”

“Jake McGuire is flying me up to Billings next Friday for a steak dinner,” she said.

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