Hattie sipped the hot liquid and smiled. “I’m getting spoiled. Once I’m back to normal, I don’t think I’m going to like getting up before the sun.”
“There’s no reason for you to wake up early,” Jack pointed out. “It’s not like you have kids to get ready for school or ranch hands to feed.”
“All true,” she admitted. “But I’ve spent my life on a ranch, and getting up early is part of the routine.”
Morning sun poured through the big windows. Hattie was in a robe, with her hair in a braid. He could see the lines on her face more clearly when she wasn’t wearing any makeup, but she was still a lovely woman. Yet she’d chosen to live her entire life on the ranch.
“Did you ever want anything else?” he asked her suddenly. “A different world than this?”
She looked around the kitchen. They’d remodeled it just two years ago. Hattie had picked out the colors and the appliances. Jack didn’t care what she did with the house. He had his own place on the other side of the barn. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was going to bring a bride back who would want to put her own touches on the old house.
“Where would I go?” she asked quietly, her dark eyes studying him. “I grew up in this house, Jack. Don’t forget, I’m the Darby, not your father. Russell had to change his last name and become a Darby because my family had the heritage and the land.” She sipped her coffee, then sighed. “I always wondered if that was one of the reasons he left. He used to talk about getting lost in being a Darby. Perhaps he needed to find himself again.”
Jack’s mouth twisted. He doubted his father had run off for any reason that noble. Jack suspected that Russell had simply grown tired of having a wife and children, not to mention the responsibility of running a successful ranch. Leaving had been easier than staying, even when staying was the right thing to do. Jack had fought hard to make sure he didn’t make the same mistake.
Hattie eyed her son. “If you’re asking me if I have any regrets, the answer is no. If you’re trying to get me to move away from the ranch to give you privacy, you’re going to have to be a whole lot less subtle than that.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want you going anywhere, Mom. Besides, I don’t know how to be subtle.”
Anything but, he thought, remembering the kiss he and Katie had shared a few days before. He’d been overwhelmed by desire, but instead of holding back and keeping the information to himself, he’d given in to the need with a passion that had shocked them both.
“Just checking,” his mother said. “I don’t want to be in the way.”
Jack grinned. “You’re annoying at times, but rarely in the way.”
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “I’ve been thinking of inviting Katie and Shane to dinner again. Is that all right with you?”
“It’s fine,” he said, trying to sound noncommittal. In the past couple of days, he’d done his best to avoid Katie. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to her. He wasn’t sorry about the kiss, but he knew that repeating it would be a mistake for both of them.
“I worry about her,” Hattie said. She picked up a piece of toast and nibbled on the corner. “Aaron isn’t making things easy for her,” she said when she’d swallowed. “He’s so stubborn about everything. I had hoped things would settle down at the ranch, but Aaron pressures her about Shane all the time. I don’t understand it, because Shane is a wonderful boy.”
Jack tensed at the thought of Aaron Fitzgerald bullying a nine-year-old kid. “There’s nothing wrong with Shane,” Jack said gruffly. “He wasn’t raised on a ranch, but he catches on quick and he’s willing to try. If Aaron would talk in a normal tone of voice instead of yelling all the time, things would go easier for both of them.”
“You want to be the one to share your thoughts with him?” Hattie asked, sounding amused.
“There’s no point,” Jack said. Aaron didn’t listen to anybody-he sure as hell wouldn’t take advice from a Darby. As far as Aaron was concerned, Darbys were dirt.
“Katie does the best she can,” Hattie told him. “But I think she’s been fighting her father since Shane was little. The boy’s father ran out before he was born, and Aaron wanted her to move back to the ranch. Katie insisted on finishing college then setting up a life for herself in Dallas. I don’t think Aaron can forgive that.”
“Sounds like him,” he said, wondering how much Katie had confided that his mother
“No.” Hattie’s dark gaze settled on his face. “It seems the man was never interested in the boy at all. It must be hard for a child growing up, knowing his father never wanted him.”
Jack kept his expression impassive, but his mother’s comment hit its target dead center. Jack knew exactly what it felt like to be rejected by a father. He and his siblings had lived that over and over when Russell had walked out on his family. And like Shane, he’d had a mother who had made it clear she adored him.
“Shane’s a good kid,” Jack said. “It’s his father’s loss.”
“I believe it generally is.” Hattie made a great show of putting jam on her toast. “I’m sure Shane appreciates all the extra time you take with him. Between dealing with moving to a new place and having to live with Aaron, the child has to feel pressured.” His mother looked at him. “You continually make me proud of you, Jack. This is just one more example.”
Jack squirmed in his seat. “I’m not taking time with Shane for any reason other than I like spending time with him.”
“I know. That’s what makes me proud.”
He grunted and took another sip of coffee.
“Katie has grown into a beautiful young woman, don’t you think?” Hattie asked.
He set down his mug and rose to his feet. “That’s not subtle, even for you. I’m willing to take time with the boy and be a good neighbor, but that’s it. I’m not interested in finding another woman to leave me, and I have no desire to tangle with a Fitzgerald.”
His mother didn’t look the least bit impressed. “Don’t try to convince me that you care one whit about the feud. And not all women leave.”
“Whatever,” he said, carrying his cup to the sink and rinsing it. “I’ll see you later,” he said and left the kitchen.
When Jack stepped out on the back porch, he tried to dismiss his mother’s comments, but he found they weren’t easily dislodged. Both Katie and her son had captured his attention. Shane because he was a bright, funny little boy who deserved to be surrounded by people who cared about him and made him feel safe. And Katie because…
He swore under his breath. He didn’t know why he was thinking about Katie. He wanted to tell himself it was just because of the kiss and the fact that he hadn’t been with a woman in a long time. That it wasn’t anything about their shared past or the fact that he’d once been in love with her.
As he walked to the barn, he found himself remembering long conversations he’d had with Katie about what they both wanted to do with their lives. Having a baby had changed her plans. She’d had to adjust her goals, just as he had.
Jack paused and looked around the ranch. For years he’d felt trapped here, but with time he’d made peace with his destiny. This was where he belonged. He was able to look at the dreams of his youth and know that they would never come true. He wondered if Katie still struggled with what was, instead of what should have been. And was he any part of her regrets?
“I was talking to Jack yesterday,” Shane said as he and Katie drove across the bridge leading to the Darby ranch.
Katie smiled at her son. “Gee, and I thought you talked to Jack every day.”
“Mom,” her son said impatiently. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Oh, my mistake. Because that’s what you said. That you’d talked to Jack yesterday.”
Shane sighed. “Would you listen?”
“Absolutely. I’m listening. You’re looking at me, and I’m sitting here driving and listening. Driving and listening, uh-huh. That’s what I’m doing.”
She bit back a grin. From the corner of her eye she saw Shane’s lips twitch as he tried to do the same.
He’d been chattering about school and his special Web site project from the moment she’d picked him up. Her heart ached. Shane was intelligent and charming and outgoing just about everywhere but at her father’s house. Aaron was not a positive influence for her son. If anything, her father was destroying the boy’s confidence.
“I was talking to Jack yesterday,” Shane said again, “and I asked him to teach me to ride. He said he would. We’re gonna start today.”
