Page 65 of Winter Vows

“What the hell kind of twisted logic is that?”

“Accept it, Daddy, or I will hang up this phone right now and you’ll still be in the dark.”

He sighed heavily. “Okay, okay, just tell me where you are and I’ll come to get you.”

“I’m in Los Piños, staying with Jordan and Kelly Adams,” she confessed finally.

“Blast it all, I spoke to Jordan not three weeks ago. He never said a word.”

“Because he’s an honorable man and I had asked him not to. Don’t blame him.”

“Well, that’s water under the bridge now. Get your things packed. I’ll be over there to pick you up first thing tomorrow.”

Trish sighed. He still wasn’t listening to her. She tried again. “I am not leaving here, Daddy. Get that through your head right now. I would love it, though, if you and mother would like to come and meet your granddaughter. Her baptism will be in a few weeks. That would be the perfect time.”

“I’ll be damned if I’m waiting a few weeks. I’ll be there tomorrow,” he repeated, then hung up before she could argue with him.

She carefully replaced the receiver in the cradle, then turned to find Kelly observing from the doorway.

“Everything okay?”

“I just spoke to my father. He says he’ll be here tomorrow.”

Kelly nodded. “It’s good that you finally talked to him,” she said. “And I’ll make myself scarce in the morning, so you’ll have some privacy. Just remember that you’re an adult. He can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. You have a life here now and plenty of people who love you.”

Trish squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”

“Maybe you should tell Hardy that your father’s coming. I’m sure he’d be glad to stick around and prevent bloodshed. I doubt many men would want to tangle with him. He might be a more than even match for your father.”

Trish wistfully considered the idea, then dismissed it. “It wouldn’t be fair to drag him into the middle of this. It’s not his battle.”

“Oh, believe me, I suspect he’d be more than willing to make it his. He has a stake in what you decide, you know.”

Trish wasn’t entirely sure anymore that Hardy would care one way or another what she decided. He’d made himself scarce lately, which had left her wondering. The truth was, though, that the decision to stay had been made months ago, when her feelings for a certain cowboy had taken her down a path she’d sworn not to travel. She’d worry about his feelings another time.

“No, I have to handle this on my own, once and for all,” she said firmly.

Then she went up to her room and spent a restless night waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Her father arrived on her doorstep at midmorning on Sunday. Jordan and Kelly had left for church with a promise not to return until late in the day.

“Call us over at White Pines, if you need us to come back sooner,” Kelly had said, giving her a kiss on the cheek before they left. “Be strong.”

Trish remembered that advice as she stared first at her father, then at the man beside him. Trish wished she’d asked the Adamses to stay, after all. She hadn’t expected her father to drag Jack Grainger along, rather than her mother. Obviously he hadn’t given up on his scheme to see them married. She was only surprised he hadn’t brought a minister along.

“I want this settled right here and right now,” her father declared as if he had a perfect right to take charge. He pushed past her into the living room without pausing to give her so much as a hug.

“We’ll set a wedding date today,” he announced. “It will have to be a small, quiet wedding, of course. As much as your mother and I had hoped for something lavish for our only daughter, we realize we can’t have a huge blowout under the circumstances.”

Trish clenched her fists and stiffened her resolve. Not once did she meet Jack’s gaze. “No wedding, large or small. Not to Jack,” she said quietly, but firmly. “I’ve made a life for myself here, and this is where I intend to stay.”

“You’re being emotional,” her father said. “Let’s look at this reasonably. You and Jack have a child. You should be married and raising that child together.”

“If that child is so important to you, why haven’t you even asked to see her?” she shot back.

“There will be time enough after we get this settled,” her father responded. He drew a pocket planner out of the briefcase he’d brought along as if this were a business meeting, rather than a reunion with his long-lost daughter. “I have a free Saturday coming up the second weekend in June. That ought to give you and your mother time enough to make the arrangements. She’s already spoken to the florist and the caterer, so they’re on standby.”

“You’re not hearing me,” she said sharply. “I will not marry a man who was cheating on me when we were engaged.” Her gaze clashed with her father’s. “That is final.”

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