Jessie's Child

“And he thinks that’s a good solution?”

“He says Cody should share his brothers but he’s reluctant to agree to sharing his uncles.”

Margaret laughed out loud. “Sounds like a McCloud.”

“Yes,” Jessie agreed. “That it does.”

“Speaking of brothers, Luke told your father that Rachel’s brother, Zach, has returned to deal with the property he inherited from his grandfather. I think Rachel and Judith plan to combine their acres with his and he’ll manage all of the ranches together.”

Jessie flinched inwardly at the mention of Zach’s name but answered with relative calm. “I know, I heard the rumor in town and Rachel confirmed it.”

“Did she say if he’s here permanently?”

“I don’t think she knows for sure although she did say she hopes he’ll stay.” Jessie’s gaze followed Rowdy and Muttly as they wrestled and rolled on the lawn outside. “Her mom has the house in town and now that Rachel and Luke are living in his house, Rachel seems relieved to have her brother on-site.”

“That makes sense. I don’t know much about Zach except that he and Luke were involved in a few fistfights during high school. And he’s a Kerrigan, of course, which automatically makes me distrust him. For all I know, he could be as bad as his uncle and cousin.”

“You don’t think there’s a chance he might be more like Rachel?”

“It’s possible, I suppose.” Margaret’s expression turned thoughtful as she considered Jessie’s words. “But not very likely, given Zach grew up living in the same house as his grandfather and his Uncle Harlan. Zach’s dad died when he was quite young and he had only Harlan and his grandfather as male role models. Boys tend to grow up to be a lot like their fathers, or in Zach’s case, substitute fathers.”

“I know.” Jessie stared at Rowdy, chasing Muttly on the lawn outside the big kitchen window. “And I can’t help but wonder how that inescapable truth will impact Rowdy, growing up as he is without a father in his life.”

Margaret was silent for a moment, then she leaned across the table and covered Jessie’s hand with hers. “First of all, Rowdy has wonderful role models in both your brothers and your dad. Are you considering searching for Rowdy’s biological father to tell him he has a son?”

“Do you think I should contact Rowdy’s father?”

“I thought he should have been informed as soon as you found out you were pregnant. I know you had your reasons for concocting a fake marriage to explain your pregnancy to the family. However, unless Rowdy’s father was an ax murderer or something equally bad, I think he should be told. Not just for his sake, but also for Rowdy’s.” Margaret paused, her gaze searching Jessie’s. “Has something changed? Are you seriously thinking of trying to find Rowdy’s father?”

Jessie looked down at her mother’s hand over hers. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t, lie to her but neither was she ready to tell her the entire, complicated truth. “Let’s just say I’m wondering whether it’s possible, or fair, to keep Rowdy from his father forever.”

“Hmm,” Margaret murmured. “Is this man someone who would want a son?”

“We never discussed children or our views on being parents,” Jessie said truthfully. “So I don’t have any hard evidence to believe he wouldn’t want to be involved in Rowdy’s life.”

“So you are considering contacting him?”

“Yes.”

“Why now?”

A frisson of alarm shivered up Jessie’s spine. She didn’t want her mother to guess the truth about Rowdy and Zach before she was ready to explain. “What do you mean?”

“Did Rowdy say something to make you question your decision to keep his father out of his life?”

“I didn’t exactly decide to keep his father out of his life forever, Mom. Contacting him before Rowdy was born would have been possible but given his work and where he lived, it would have been beyond difficult to work out any kind of visitation,” Jessie said. “But Rowdy’s questions about Cody and his siblings did raise the next obvious question for me—what will I say when Rowdy asks me why he doesn’t have a daddy in the house like Cody has.”

Margaret nodded in sympathetic agreement. “He’s bound to ask, I suppose. He’s at the age where he’s becoming more aware of his surroundings, and family is a big part of his life. His own family, plus the families of his little friends, are the people he spends the most time with so it’s logical that his greatest curiosity centers around siblings, daddies and mommies.”

Jessie sighed. “That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking. Yesterday he asked me why Cody’s mommy lets him have hot dogs for lunch and I spent fifteen minutes trying to explain why a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is more nutritious.”

Margaret laughed, her blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

The sound of boots on tile interrupted them and Jessie glanced over her shoulder as her father walked through the hall archway and into the kitchen, followed by her oldest brother. The men were both well over six feet tall, and Chase’s black hair, light-blue eyes and handsome face was just a younger version of his father’s.

“Hi, Jessie.” John McCloud’s deep voice echoed the smile that lit up his weathered face. He crossed the room and bent to drop a kiss on her forehead before pulling out a chair. “Where’s Rowdy?”

“Outside, playing with Muttly,” Jessie said as her dad dropped into a chair next to Margaret.

John looked out the window, a grin curving his mouth at the sight of his grandson and the big dog together on the lawn.

“Are you drinking coffee or iced tea, Dad?” Chase’s voice was faintly gravelly but had the same deep timbre as his father’s.

“I think I’ll have cold tea.” He looked at his wife and shook his head. “It’s too damned hot outside for coffee.”

“John, no swearing.”

Jessie smiled at her mother’s automatic response and her father’s swift grimace.

“Sorry, hon.”

“What are you doing away from your office in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, Jess? Playing hooky?” Chase set a tall glass half-filled with ice in front of his father and an identical glass at an empty spot next to Jessie. He pulled out the chair and sat down before reaching for the pitcher of cold tea.

Jessie shrugged. “I decided it was too nice a day to spend inside a stuffy office. One of the perks of being self-employed.”

“True.” He deftly swiped the remaining cookie from her plate and took a bite.

“Hey. That’s mine.”

“Not now it isn’t.” He grinned at her and popped the rest of the cookie into his mouth.

Jessie frowned at him, shrugged and turned to her father. “Mom told me you have a new plane, Dad.”

John’s eyes lit up. “Yeah.” He launched into details while Jessie listened, nodding on occasion.

“Jessie,” Chase interrupted after several minutes, pointing out the window. “Did you tell Rowdy he and Muttly could dig a hole in Mom’s flower bed?”

“What?” Jessie followed his gaze and jumped up. “Oh, no! That boy…!”

The three left sitting at the table watched her run out of the kitchen and dash across the lawn to where Rowdy and the big dog were industriously removing rich soil from the flower bed to make a dark pile on the green grass.

“He reminds me of you at that age, Chase,” Margaret commented, laughing out loud when Rowdy looked up and grinned angelically at Jessie.

“You mean because he gets in trouble with his mother too often?” A rare smile curved Chase’s mouth before his eyes narrowed consideringly over the three outside. “Is everything okay with Jessie, Mom? It’s not like her to skip off work.”

Margaret sighed. “She’s worrying about Rowdy needing his father in his life.”

“Why the hell does he need his father?” Chase shot back, frowning. “The guy bailed on Jessie when she found out she was pregnant. That’s not the kind of responsible parent the kid needs.”

“You and Luke keep saying he abandoned her,” Margaret said. “But Jessie has told you repeatedly that she couldn’t reach him to tell him about Rowdy.”

“It’s all the same in the end, isn’t it? The bottom line is, the SOB didn’t make sure Jessie didn’t get pregnant. I’d like five minutes alone with him in a locked room. Ten minutes would be better.”

“If I ever find him, you’ll have to take a number and stand in line.” John McCloud’s face was set in hard lines.

“Men.” Margaret heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Why is it you all seem to think a fistfight will solve everything?”

“Not everything,” her husband corrected. “But sometimes, it can go a long way toward getting justice.”

“Who’s getting justice?” Jessie asked.

Chase looked over his shoulder. “Justice is the one thing everyone deserves.”

Jessie looked puzzled but Rowdy squirmed, tugging against her hold on his arm and distracting her. “Mommy, why do I have to wash my hands and face? I’ll just get dirty again when I go back outside to play with Muttly.”

“I’m sure you will. But before you get dirtier, we’re going to wash off the current layer of dirt. And what do you say to Grammy for digging in her flower bed?”

“I’m sorry, Grammy,” he said sweetly. “Don’t be mad at Muttly, either. We were looking for the bone he buried.”

“Muttly buried a bone in my flower bed?” Margaret asked, surprised. “How do you know?”

“He told me.”

“He did?”

John and Chase exchanged amused grins.

“Yup.” Rowdy nodded, his voice muffled as it disappeared under the damp washcloth. “Muttly talks to me a lot.”

“I see.”

All four adults hid smiles and listened with interest to Rowdy’s recital of prior conversations with the big dog.

Jessie spent the rest of the day at her parents’ house and finally drove home after seven that evening. She would have stayed longer but if Rowdy wasn’t in bed by eight o’clock he’d be tired and cranky throughout the following day.

There were no messages on her answering machine and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Don’t be silly, she chided herself. Did you expect Zach to call? He probably hasn’t given you a second thought since he boarded that plane nearly four years ago.

The idea didn’t console her and she wasn’t sure if she was relieved Zach hadn’t called, or disappointed that he hadn’t immediately tried to contact her. She decided to ignore the niggle of disappointment and told herself she was glad he hadn’t left a message.

Two days later, Jessie was halfway between town and her parents’ ranch, on her way to pick up Rowdy after work, when her cell phone rang.

She rummaged in her bag on the passenger seat beside her, found her phone, glanced at the caller ID and smiled as she lifted it to her ear.

“Hi, Mom. What’s up?”

“Jessie, I’m glad I caught you before you drove all the way out here. I wanted to let you know that Rowdy isn’t here.”

“He’s not? Where is he?”

“Luke and Rachel were by this afternoon and took him back to their house to show him the new miniature horse Luke gave Rachel.”

Apprehension filled Jessie but she chatted with her mother for a few more minutes before hanging up as she neared the turnoff for Luke’s ranch. She sped down the lane to the cluster of buildings that made up the headquarters of McCloud Ranch Number 6. A strange pickup sat on the far side of Rachel’s car, and Jessie’s nerves stretched tighter, fluttering with foreboding.

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