He sighed, took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. “Look, I know I was rude to you earlier in the café, and I’m sorry for that. We’re overloaded right now, and with all the additional nightmares with trying to find Cinco’s kid, my fuse is a little short.”
She spied more of the vulnerability she’d seen on his face in the café, and wondered if maybe she’d judged him too harshly. That, and the mention of Cinco again made her wonder...if Ricky was likely her grandfather, could Cinco have been her father? Her mother had always told her that her father was a good-for-nothing cowboy who’d spun pretty tales and made a lot of promises he’d never intended to keep.
And maybe some of her mistrust of Ty was that he, too, was a cowboy. A cowboy lawyer. Two strikes, which made it impossible for her to give him the chance at a third.
“So what’s the story with Cinco and his kid?” Rachel asked, trying to sound casual. He might have been worthless in her mother’s eyes, but sometimes she dreamed of having a father. “You’ve mentioned a story there, but not fully.”
Ty shrugged. “Cinco was Ricky’s son. Ricardo Ruiz the fifth, Cinco for short. He was a famous bull rider, killed doing what he loved best, riding bulls. Ricky didn’t like that his son endangered himself, so they fought about it and eventually became estranged. When Cinco died, his wife was pregnant, but she wanted nothing to do with Ricky because of all the bad blood. Ricky let her go, thinking he didn’t deserve a family after pushing away Cinco. But now that he’s older, he knows it was a mistake, and he wants to make it right.”
Sighing again, Ty looked at Rachel. “We went public when the investigators couldn’t turn up anything. Which means we’ve had a lot of crazies showing up, claiming to be Cinco’s child. They’re all charlatans, and it breaks Ricky’s heart a little more each time to get his hopes up, only to find it’s a lie again.”
In a way, Rachel could understand what that felt like. So many times she’d hear from the doctors about potential matches, and they’d either not work out, or someone sicker would need the kidney. No one had ever lied to her about that, but when you were faced with the end of your life, with so many unmet dreams, to have your hopes dashed was particularly painful.
She wasn’t a charlatan. The results on the DNA website didn’t lie. She was related to Ricky, with a close enough match that he was likely her grandfather. So why couldn’t she just spit it out and tell Ty about their relationship?
Even though she’d only come to find other relatives who might be willing to give her a kidney, maybe Rachel could also help this old man right the wrongs of his past. Maybe they could even be the family to each other that they’d both been longing for.
“That’s sad to hear,” she said. “Ricky seems like a nice guy.”
“He’s the best,” Ty said. “Which is why I make it my personal mission to make sure no one hurts him.”
The warning in his voice told her exactly why she wasn’t going to tell Ty. He still obviously suspected her of being someone who wanted to hurt Ricky.
Ty put his hat back on and entered the shed, turning on a light as he did so. The space was neat and orderly, and it was set up for people to check out various things to do on the lake in the summer.
Katie pointed out a picture of a unicorn float. “I want to do that.”
Ty turned to see what she was pointing at. “The lake is too cold to go swimming right now, but maybe in the summer you and your mom can come back.”
He had no right making promises he couldn’t keep to her little girl.
“Are you going to let us?” Rachel asked, knowing she sounded testy, but she also didn’t know if she’d be well enough to come back this summer.
He shrugged. “If there’s room. I’m not turning away a paying guest. I recommend you bring Katie back to experience all the seasons. The snow has finally melted and it’s warming up, so you’re barely getting a taste of the spring season. It’s a great place for a child.”
She didn’t need convincing. But there were so many variables right now, she couldn’t plan on next week, let alone next month or later in the year.
“It seems like it,” Rachel said. “That would be a great angle to capitalize on for your ad campaign. It seems like the Double R is very family oriented, and even though the website mentions wanting to carry on the ranching tradition, it’s not the same level of encouragement for children that I’m getting from you today.”
Ty opened a locker and pulled out some fishing poles. “It’s a hard balance. Kids these days want amusement parks, and we can’t provide that. There are places on the ranch you can’t even get a cell signal. Even though we do have satellite TV and Wi-Fi, it’s only available in certain buildings. So how do you sell them on something they don’t know they’ll love?”
He didn’t know it yet, but she had him right where she wanted him. All along he’d been trying to disarm her, to find out her weakness so he’d have something to use against her. But here he was, giving her exactly what she needed to get him to see how useful she could be to the ranch.
Which meant he’d trust her enough to spend some time alone with Ricky.
Sneaky, but she did intend on getting this ad account. The extra money would be helpful with her medical expenses. And if Ricky could see what a competent, capable woman she was, one who wanted nothing more than to find a family connection, he’d know she intended him no harm.
Rachel smiled at Ty. “And
