Page 75 of Mister Cowboy
“Your father always did right by me.” Louisa chuckled softly. “Hate our decision to keep it from you and Henry if you want, but don’t hate your father for something he didn’t do.”
“But he married my mom while you were pregnant!”
“Mm-hmm. And I was there that day. It was a beautiful wedding, and I was happy for them even when I had no idea what I was going to do with my life.”
“Why? I mean didn’t you want him to be there for you and his child?” He pictured what it would be like telling Nadia that he was going to marry January. A chill of dread ran up his spine at the wrath that would incur. How was it possible that Louisa didn’t feel that anger for his father?
“It was my choice to leave. You’ll have to blame me for that. I didn’t want to marry someone I didn’t love, and I certainly didn’t want to stop your father from marrying someone he loved. We both agreed it was best that way. He didn’t come by that decision lightly. I’m fairly certain it haunted him every day of his life.”
“I don’t get it. How could he have a child and want no part of his life? And living down the road and working at the ranch doesn’t count. He should have done more than watched his son grow up from a distance.”
“Let me show you something.” Louisa stood and walked to a small desk just outside of the kitchen, pulling open a drawer with a creak of the old wood.
Returning to the table, she dropped a stack of envelopes in front of him. He lifted the top envelope up and flipped through the others, stopping when he got to the last one.
“What are these?”
“Letters. After my parents were less than thrilled that their eighteen-year-old daughter was pregnant and unwed, I left Colorado and moved to New Mexico. I got a job at a bed and breakfast cooking and cleaning, which was where I met Stephen. Anyway, your father wrote me every week, begging me to return.”
“And this one?” He turned up the letter with his mother’s beautiful penmanship and ran his finger across her neat lettering.
“That’s the letter that finally convinced me. Even after I realized it wasn’t fair to your father or Henry to keep them apart, I worried about what it was going to be like for her knowing her husband had a child with someone else. Of course, she knew from the start, but it’s one thing to know and another thing completely to have to face that child every day.”
“So she asked you to come back?”
Louisa nodded. “She wrote to me when she found out she was pregnant with you. Said she wanted you and Henry to be a part of each other’s lives.” Louisa placed a hand on top of his. “Take them and read them yourself if you want. Maybe they’ll help you see that, although we may have screwed up by keeping it a secret, there weren’t any ill feelings between your parents and me. I loved them very much. And your father may not have been a father to Henry like he was to you, but he made sure he was taken care of. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have done for Henry and me.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
Louisa stood and placed her mug in the sink. “It isn’t necessary. It’s a lot, I know.”
She opened a closet between the living and dining room and pulled out a quilt. “It’s late. You can stay on the couch and we can talk more in the morning if you feel up to it.”
Brecken stood. “Oh no, that’s okay. I don’t want to impose any more than I have.”
“Bah!” Louisa shoved the quilt into his hands. “If you’re aiming to be less like your father, then you can start with not being so stubborn.”
41
Brecken
“Morning, little brother.”
Brecken opened his eyes to find Henry dressed in a pair of Levi’s and a cowboy hat, leaning over him with a big, chipper grin on his face. “You really gotta stop calling me that.”
“Get up. I got the horses all saddled up.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Come on. You look like shit. The fresh air will be good for you. You do remember how to ride?”
His words were a dare and Brecken sat up with a scowl. “You’re one to mock,DoctorDulce. Do a lot of riding between surgeries, do you?”
Henry chucked his coat down on top of him. “Hurry up. We have fifteen minutes before first light.”
When he stepped outside only a few minutes later, he stopped short at the sight of Master and Sable standing together in the early morning darkness. Still and quiet, the crunch of the gravel under Henry’s feet the only sound.
“You brought the horses here? Exactly how long have you been up?”
