Even as her heart leapt with joy at his confirmation of her own gut-deep assessment of Luke’s feelings, Jessie denied Cody’s claim. “You’re wrong,” she insisted.
Cody shook his head, clearly amused by her protest. “I’m not wrong. Why do you think he’s not here?”
“I explained that earlier. It’s because he’s feeling guilty about Erik’s death.”
“He’s feeling guilty, all right, but it’s not because of Erik’s death. At least, that’s only part of it,” he told her emphatically. “Luke’s all twisted up inside because he’s in love with Erik’s widow.”
Jessie practically snatched Angela out of Cody’s arms. When she would have run from the room, when she would have hidden from Cody’s words, he stopped her with a touch.
“Please, Jessie, I didn’t mean to upset you. I, for one, think it would be terrific if you and Luke got together. Erik’s gone. We can’t wish him back. And if you and Luke can find some kind of happiness together, then I say go for it. Jordan agrees with me. He seems to be looking for happy endings these days. Don’t say I told you but I think the confirmed bachelor is getting restless,” he confided. “He needs you and Luke to set an example for him.”
Once more, Cody had startled her, not just with his assessment of the undercurrents that she thought had been so well hidden in the past, but with his blessing.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” she said quietly, the words as close to an admission about her own feelings as she could make. “But I will always be grateful to you for speaking to me so honestly.”
Cody draped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Hey, Luke might be stubborn as a mule, but he is my big brother. I want him to be happy. As for you, the whole family lucked out when Erik found you. We want to keep you. And there’s Angela to think of,” he said, touching a finger gently to the baby’s cheek. “She deserves a daddy and I think Luke would make a damned fine one.”
Only after he had walked away did Jessie whisper, “So do I, Cody. So do I.”
11
Luke could see only one way to push Jessie out of his life once and for all. If she had chosen Erik because she wanted a family to call her own, if she clung to him now for the same reason, then he would give her one. Not his, but her own. Her biological family.
He’d been awake half the night formulating his plan. First thing in the morning on the day after Christmas, he was on the phone to a private investigator he’d used once when he’d suspected a neighbor of doing a little cattle rustling from his herd. He supposed finding a long-lost family couldn’t be much trickier than tracing missing cattle.
“Her adoptive family’s name was Garnett,” Luke told James Hill, dredging up the surname from his memory of the first time Jessie had been introduced to the family, practically on the eve of the wedding. Erik hadn’t risked exposing her to too many of his father’s tantrums or too many of his mother’s interrogations. It was probably one of his brother’s wisest decisions. Jessie might have fled, if she’d realized exactly what she was getting into. The surface charm of the family disintegrated under closer inspection.
“What else can you tell me about her?” Hill asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Where was she born? Where did she grow up? Her birth date? Anything like that?”
Luke listened to the list and saw his scheme going up in flames. For the first time he realized how very little he actually knew about Jessie. He’d fallen in love with the woman she was now. It had never crossed his mind that he might want to be acquainted with the child she had been or the lonely teenager who’d longed to discover her real family.
“I don’t know,” he confessed finally.
“You’ll have to find out something or it’ll be a waste of my time and your money,” the private investigator informed him. “With what you’re giving me, I can’t even narrow the search down to Texas.”
Luke sighed. “I appreciate the honesty. I’ll see what I can find out and call you back. Thanks, Jim.”
“No problem. If I don’t talk to you before, have a Happy New Year, Luke.”
“Same to you,” he said, but his mind was already far away, grappling with various ideas for getting the information he needed about Jessie without her finding out what he was up to. He didn’t want her disappointed if he failed to find answers for her.
To his deep regret, he could see right off that there was only one way. He would have to follow her to White Pines. The only way he could ask his questions was face-to-face, dropping them into the conversation one at a time over several days so she wouldn’t add them up and suspect his plan. If the thought of seeing her again made his palms sweat and his heart race, he refused to admit that his reaction to the prospect of seeing her had anything at all to do with his decision to go. The trip was an expediency, nothing more.
For the second time that morning, Luke made a call he’d never in a million years anticipated making.
“Hey, Daddy, it’s Luke.”
“Hey, son, how are you?” Harlan asked as matter-of-factly as if Luke initiated calls to White Pines all the time. If he was startled by Luke’s call, he hid it well.
“I’m fine.”
“What’s up?”
He drew in a deep breath and finally forced himself to ask, “Can you send the plane for me? I’m coming home.”
Dead silence greeted the announcement, and for the space of a heartbeat Luke thought he’d made a terrible mistake in calling, rather than just showing up. It had been less than twenty-four hours since he’d flatly declared he wouldn’t be coming to
