Page 93 of Roaring Fork Wrangler

It was after seven by the time Decker returned, and when he came inside, Pete wasn’t with him.

“Everything all right?” I asked when I was the first to greet him.

“Come with me. This is better done at the cottage.”

I followed him out the front door and down the trail.

“You got anything stronger than beer in there?” he asked when we were close.

“Bottle of whiskey.”

“That’ll do.”

In the time I’d known him, I never saw Decker beat around the bush, so the longer he remained quiet, the more worried I got about what family secret was about to be uncovered next. I poured two shots and handed him one. He drank it, then asked for another.

“Fuck,” I muttered. “Must be pretty bad.”

“It is.” He shook his head when I offered him a third, then took a seat at the kitchen table.

“Should I have another?” I asked before joining him.

“Nah. You’ll be okay.”

“Is there someone who won’t be?”

“A couple of people.” He took a deep breath. “Sorry, interrogations take a fuck of a lot out of me. Just give me a sec, and I’ll fill you in.”

When he rubbed the back of his neck, rested his elbows on the table, and leaned forward, I got up and pulled two beers from the fridge. He might not want one, but I was getting the impression I would.

“Brianna Wilkins made a full confession, not just to coercing her son to commit murder but to everything stemming back to when your mother left New York,” he said when I took a seat and cracked mine open.

I got up again and grabbed the whiskey plus the rest of the six-pack. If whatever he was about to tell me about my mama required two shots of whiskey for him, it was gonna take a whole bottle for me. “Go on.”

“What the hell. I’ll have another.”

I poured for both of us, then rested against the chair.

“First, according to Brianna, Buck is her husband’s child. Joe, on the other hand, was blindsided.”

I sat and listened to the rest of the story, chugging my beer.

As I’d figured, my mom got pregnant in her senior year of high school. According to Brianna, Joe was the father, but even she hadn’t known Patricia was pregnant until the night she saw her for the last time.

“Apparently, your mother asked Brianna to meet her, saying it was urgent and to come to Hamlin Park, where she’d be waiting near the tennis courts. Once there, Patricia said she didn’t have much time and that she was leaving town that night. She gave Brianna a letter addressed to Joe, telling him about the baby and how sorry she was. The other thing in the letter was a phone number Brianna didn’t recognize.”

“She never gave it to Joe, did she?”

“She did not.”

“So Joe had no idea my mom was pregnant.”

“None whatsoever. And, according to him, he also had no idea she’d left town. It wasn’t until a few days later, after being unable to reach her, that he showed up at JD’s place, where Patricia had been living. JD told him your mom wanted nothing to do with him and to get the hell off his property. Now, here’s the part where I admire the guy. He didn’t stop there. By that time, he worried something might have happened to her, maybe even that JD had hurt her. So he paid Miss Cena a call.”

“Shit.”

Decker nodded. “She told him Patricia was fine but had decided to leave East Aurora and start her life over somewhere else. Joe, of course, was devastated.”

“And Brianna was more than happy to console him.”

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