Page 22 of Rancher's Pride
“He is. Come with me.” She nodded, and I kicked my boots off. I wasn’t going to track dirty boot prints through the house.
“Fred, Nash is here to see you,” she basically sang as I followed her into the living room.
He turned and his frown changed to what looked like happiness. “Well, son, this is a surprise.”
“Got a minute? I need to talk to someone.” I rubbed my hands on my jeans, unsure of what I was supposed to do. Did I sit? Did we stand across the room from one another? My father and I had drifted apart since I’d left with the private security business, and that was my fault. It was easier to be gone and avoid the issues that were happening in his life with my mother.
“Absolutely, have a seat.” He pointed at the sofa across from his chair.
“Can I get you boys anything to drink? Beer, coffee?” Wanda stood behind my dad, her hands resting on his shoulders.
“Coffee sounds great, darling,” Dad said, looking up at her and smiling.
“I’ll be back.” She patted his shoulder and left the room.
Turning the chair, he looked directly at me, like he was taking stock of the man before him trying to realize that he wasn’t a little boy anymore. “You being here looking like you’ve been dragged through the mud must mean the rumors around town are true.”
“Rumors?” I asked, leaning back into the couch cushions.
“The one about Fallon Miller being back.” Crossing his arms, he waited for me to answer.
“Yeah, she’s back.” He wasn’t one to dance around a subject and I’d come here to talk about this, so why did I want to keep her being back to myself? I didn’t wantpeople talking about her, but they were and would be for a long time to come.
“And how is she?” His quiet question was filled with concern.
“All right.” What was I supposed to tell him? “She showed up during the blizzard last week.” Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on my knees and let my head fall into my hands and sighed.
Wanda quietly came back into the living room and set the tray of coffee down. “I’ll let you two talk.”
“No Wanda, stay. You’re part of my dad’s life. This will affect you as well.” She glanced over to my father, who nodded and she took a seat beside me, poured the coffee and handed the mugs around.
Holding the warm cup in my hands, I stared into the dark liquid. “She’s got two kids, the second born out at the ranch the night she showed up. Dad, she had a black eye and a split lip.” I looked up at him and while he’d never been an angel, and he had a tendency to be inappropriate when he talked to women, but he’d never lifted his hand to one.
I saw his jaw clench and his knuckles go white around the coffee he held.
“Her oldest, Josie, is mine.” I looked up and watched him process the information that came spilling out of my mouth.
He arched his brow, and his eyes began to twinkle. “Are you telling me I’m a grandpa?” Wanda reached over to him and he took her hand.
“Yes, sir, I am. She’s two.” Watching the grin cross his face made me smile. I had a daughter, and I was proud of it.
“Do you have a picture of Miss Josie?” He leaned forward in his chair as I dug the phone out of my back pocket. Scrolling, I found one I’d taken of her in the barn this morning and handed it to him.
His expression changed and a smile bigger than I’d ever seen appeared on his face. “How did you not know the second she walked into the house? She looks just like you when you were little Nash.”
He handed the phone to Wanda, and she looked at Josie and then at me. “Yep, no doubt there. I’ve seen a lot of kids look like their parents over the years, but Nash, she’s a carbon copy.” Wanda laughed and handed me back the phone.
“So what’s the trouble?” Dad asked, shifting in his chair. I scowled at him, and he chuckled. “One thing hasn’t changed. Over the years, when you’ve got something on your mind, you need to talk it out. I’m guessing Kipp isn’t an objective party, and I’d have to lump Julie in that category, so that leaves me.”
He wasn’t wrong. It’s how I processed, and I needed to make sense of my conflicting feelings. But he’d been the first person I'd thought to come to. How could I be so angry and happy with the same person at once? “I missed two years, Fallon’s pregnancy, seeing my daughter take her first breath. Her first steps, her first word.”
I couldn’t sit, my legs were going to bounce off my body. Standing, I walked to the fireplace, where photos of me were on the mantle. They'd been on the fireplace at my house and now they were here, minus the ones with Mom in them. “Josie was living in a house with a man that would hit her mother.” My voice cracked, and I took a deep inhale as I tried to calm my emotions.
I didn’t hear him get up, but his hand landed on my shoulder and I blinked back tears that were forming. “Let it out, son. You can’t bottle everything up all the time.”
“Dad, I have a daughter I didn’t know about and I didn’t keep her safe. She calls someone else Dad.” The tears fell, and he pulled me into a hug. It was the first time he’d hugged me in years. The first time I’d been vulnerable enough to let him.
“Boy, there’s nothing you can do to change the decisions Fallon made. Lord knows we all make stupid decisions in this life, but the next one you have to make is what you’re going to do about it.” He wrapped his arms tighter around me. We stood in our silent embrace, and I heard Wanda leave the room.
