Page 17 of A Reckless Memory

“I know where it’s at, Mommy!” a little brunette girl yelled as she raced in.

I turned just as she barreled into my knees.

“Whoa there.” I chuckled as big brown eyes blinked up at me.

“Hey—you look like my daddy. Mommy!”

Her words froze me in place. This town couldn’t be that damn small. My shitty luck couldn’t be roaring that strong today.

“This guy looks like Daddy.” Her tiny finger pointed toward me, and as a short, blonde woman entered with a toddler on her hip, the girl started jumping up and down.

The new arrival frowned and tilted her head to study me with piercing blue eyes. “Yeah, he does.”

She looked familiar. I’d been sent pictures that I’d barely paid attention to. All I’d seen was my brother looking stupidly happy with everything I wanted, and that had been enough to get me to never look at them again.

The door opened again and a tall man stepped through, wearing clothing opposite of the tailored suit I’d last seen him in. The mix of emotions quarreling in my chest were hard to identify, but excitement lost to panic and dismay.

His gaze fell on me, and I barely registered that everyone around us had fallen silent, watching how this weird interaction played out.

“Ansen?” Archer’s disbelief rang through the store.

Fuck.

“I, uh, just got to town.” My lame answer was the best I could do. I should’ve prepared for this, but I’d had several other issues to work through and very little time. Goddamn, it’d been a long day.

The little girl ran to Archer and hooked her hand in his. “Do you know him, Daddy?”

Archer wasn’t smiling. Hurt mingled with his disbelief. “This is your uncle. Ansen.”

The woman who must be Archer’s wife, Delaney, looked between the two of us, her mouth open.

Aggie crossed to my side, her expression just as stunned as I felt.

I dropped my gaze to my niece. Was today the day I met all the girls I’d let down? I gave in to the rising delight of meeting the girl who outed me and crouched down. “Hiya. I haven’t met you yet.”

“Daddy said you like to do your own thing.” She was smart.

“Guilty. You must be Emmaline.”

She grinned and showed off a missing bottom tooth. “Do you know how old I am?”

I pretended to think. “Almost six years old.” I earned another grin from my niece, and I pointed to the toddler. “And he’s Vaden. Just turned two.”

“Where you been?” she asked.

Kids and their blunt questions. Guilt might as well stay on simmer. “Busy getting in trouble.” I straightened and faced my brother. Eyes a few shades darker than mine stared back. “I wasn’t sure how this job was going to turn out.”

And if it had fallen through, I had planned to leave as stealthily as I arrived.

He either didn’t ask questions because Dad had told him about Kansas or because we had a rapt audience. We grew up in a small community and knew better than anyone how quickly rumors spread.

His wife stepped to his side. “Hi, Ansen. I’m Laney. Only Archer calls me Delaney.”

I stuck my hand out. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“Sure is,” she said as if she realized this situation was more uncomfortable for me than anyone else. Her grip was strong, confident, like she didn’t have time for shit from anyone. The brusque handshake reminded me of when I was introduced to Aggie.

Emmaline tugged on Archer’s hand. “Daddy says you like horses.”

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