The Cowboy's Claim

It was just before seven when Mary walked over to her. “You can go home now. Thanks for filling in at the last minute. This flu bug that’s going around seems to be getting people down.”

Courtney nodded, but she wondered if the two waitresses who had called in sick had really been sick or had been afraid to come in after the latest murder of one of their own.

She’d heard through the grapevine that Shirley’s funeral was set for next Wednesday, and as far as Courtney knew everyone from the Cowboy Café planned to attend. Mary had already said she intended to close down the café for several hours that day.

“I’ll see you Monday at noon,” Courtney said as she handed Mary her order pan and pen. “Good night.”

She’d almost made it to the door when a firm hand wrapped around her arm and stopped her. “We need to talk.” Nick’s voice simmered with barely controlled emotions just behind her.

She slowly turned to face him and realized she hadn’t imagined that moment earlier when his eyes had flamed with anger. Now they were a cold, icy blue, and she knew if she didn’t think fast on her feet, he’d know the secret she’d planned on taking to the grave.

Chapter 4

Nick held tight to her arm, not wanting to release her until he could bend her to his will, force her to tell him what he wanted to know.

“I told you before, we have nothing to talk about,” she replied, her face taking on an unhealthy paleness.

“Oh, I think we do,” he said, his voice deceptively soft and calm. “I think we have a lot to discuss.”

She glanced around frantically and jerked her arm from his grasp. “I can’t imagine what you’re talking about. I’m tired. I just finished up a busy dinner shift. Leave me alone, Nick.”

He watched as she stormed out the door, and he sensed his brother moving to stand just behind him. “Problems?” Adam asked.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Nick said as the two left the café. “Drop me off at the motel.”

“At the motel? Why? You want to tell me what’s going on?” Adam asked as Nick tossed him the keys to the truck.

“I think Courtney and I have a little unfinished business.” Was it possible? Adam had told him he thought Courtney’s baby was about ten months old, but Mary had mentioned she couldn’t believe that Courtney’s son was already fifteen months old. Was she mistaken?

Fifteen months? Was it possible the child was his? They’d always been so careful about birth control, except that last night when he’d come to her consumed with grief.

There had been no thought of birth control that night. There had been no thought in his mind except his need for Courtney’s arms around him, his need for her to swallow him, to engulf him so as to somehow take away at least a little bit of his pain.

“Unfinished business? I didn’t know you had any starting business with her,” Adam said as he got in behind the wheel. He didn’t start the engine but rather turned and looked at Nick in the passenger seat. “Again, you want to tell me what’s going on? And this time, be a little more specific.”

“At least start the engine so we can get some air-conditioning going,” Nick replied. He drew a deep sigh and stared out the window, his brain whirling with suppositions. Was it possible she’d gotten pregnant that night?

If that was the case then why hadn’t she called him? Why hadn’t she let him know immediately? That was a question that had haunted him even before now.

In the time that he’d been gone he’d never changed his cell phone number, and even though he’d decided not to contact her, to let her go, he’d been surprised and more than a little hurt that she’d never attempted to call him.

Now there was a part of him that was infuriated that she hadn’t called to tell him she was pregnant with his child. Slow down, he told himself. He couldn’t be sure about the facts. He couldn’t be sure that the child was his.

As the interior of the truck began to cool, Nick turned to look at his brother. “Before Cherry’s death, Courtney and I were sort of seeing each other.”

Adam frowned. “Sort of seeing each other? You mean like dating?”

Nick gave a curt nod of his head.

“Why didn’t I know about it? I never heard anything about you and Courtney Chambers.”

“That’s the way we wanted it. We kept our relationship a secret. Her parents would have freaked out if they had known she was dating a no-count rancher like me.” A small burn set off in the pit of his stomach. Had the truth been that she’d been ashamed of their relationship and had only used the disapproval of her parents as an excuse?

“So, what’s the unfinished business?”

“Courtney’s baby.”

Adam raised a dark eyebrow. “What about the baby?”

“Didn’t you hear Mary mention that Courtney’s boy was fifteen months old?”

“Fifteen months...” Adam’s voice trailed off as he did the mental math. “The kid is yours?”

“I can’t be positive.” Nick’s gut churned. “But, I intend to find out. Just take me to the motel, and I’ll find my own way home from there.”

Adam left the café parking lot and shook his head ruefully. “You and Courtney, it’s hard to wrap my mind around it. You just don’t seem like her type.”

“I wasn’t. We were just having fun together for a while.” The words felt like a lie as they left Nick’s lips. “We had no contact after I skipped town.”

“What are you going to do if the boy is yours?” Adam asked.

A child.

A son.

“I’m not sure.” Nick’s head whirled at the thought of the child, but he couldn’t find any real emotional purchase. He was numbed by the very idea. At the moment the thought of him having a son was merely a theory, and until that theory was proven he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it.

Adam pulled up in front of the motel. “It doesn’t look like she’s here.”

Nick opened the passenger door to step out. “She’ll be here.” Sooner or later she had to come home, and he wasn’t about to leave here without answers.

“You want to call me when you’re finished here and I’ll come back for you?” Adam asked. Nick frowned as he saw his brother lick his lips and look in the direction of The Corral.

“Adam, go home and I’ll call you when it’s time to pick me back up.”

For a long moment Adam stared at him, then with a weary sigh of resignation, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll go home and wait for you.”

“I’ll call you for a ride home,” Nick agreed. Nick got out of the truck, and as he watched Adam drive away he admitted to himself that he had momentarily worried that Adam would leave here and drive directly to The Corral for a few drinks. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for Adam drinking and driving.

He moved to the side of the motel and stood beneath a stand of trees, half-hidden by the deepening shadows of the night.

If she saw him waiting for her she might just turn right around and drive away as quickly as she could.

He figured she’d gone to pick up the boy from wherever he went when she worked. The boy. He didn’t even know his name. But, he still didn’t know if he even had a right to know his name.

He’d known in some part of his grieving heart when he’d left here that he’d hurt her, but he’d thought it was best for both of them. She’d been ashamed of him. He’d convinced himself that she’d needed her parents’ approval more than she’d ever needed him.

He’d been stunned when he’d realized he was her first lover. But, there was no reason to believe since that time that he’d been her only lover.

He tensed as he saw her car pull in and park in front of her unit. He didn’t immediately approach her but instead remained where he was and watched as she got out of the car and then opened the back door to retrieve the baby.

She hurried inside as if afraid somebody might see her, as if somehow afraid that he would see her. He’d certainly seen enough to know that the baby wasn’t some wee little thing she carried in one arm. He’d been a little chunk who had to be older than a year.

Timing was everything. He needed to know the timing of her pregnancy. And the time to find that out was right now. He didn’t want to go another minute without knowing the truth.

Drawing a deep breath, still more than a little bit numb at the possibility of what he might discover, he approached her door and knocked firmly.

A curtain shifted slightly and then dropped back in place at the window. “Go away,” her voice said through the closed door.

“I’m here now, Courtney, and I’m not going away,” he replied.

“I’ll call Sheriff Evans,” she replied.

“I have a feeling with two murders on his hands you’ll have a hard time getting his attention.”

His comment was met with silence, and for several long moments he thought she intended to ignore him. But he wasn’t going to be ignored tonight.

Just as he was getting ready to knock on the door once again, she opened it and slid outside into the hot night air, pulling the door halfway closed as she had the last time he’d shown up here.

“I’m curious about your son,” he said, cutting to the chase. He noted that her full, lush lips tightened into a thin slash of irritation. The flash of the nearby red neon sign advertising the Grady Gulch Motel cast a faint blush over her features.

“Why would you be curious about him?” Her entire body language was one of intense defensiveness, but her gaze met his boldly.

A tight pressure filled Nick’s chest, a pressure that was both severe and painful. He knew what the pressure was...it was the question that begged to be answered, and he somehow knew that the answer might change his life forever.

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