Candy Halliday – A Ranch Called Home (страница 5)

“WHERE’S UNCLE GABE?” Ben hopped off the cot when Sara entered the storage room.

Sara’s heart sank.

She knew Ben was starved for male attention. Had she not watched more men than she could remember drift in and out of her mother’s life, she might have been more receptive to dating after Ben was born. But having Ben get attached to someone only to have the guy eventually move on was not a chance Sara had ever been willing to risk.

Ben was not going to grow up the way she had.

But that was a lifetime ago, Sara reminded herself.

And she wasn’t her mother.

Kneeling beside him, Sara pulled Ben to her chest for a fierce hug. She’d allowed her own fears to rob Ben of knowing his father, and she’d always regret that. She’d planned to avoid Billy only long enough to find a better job and get a decent place to live—something more suitable than the welfare-assisted housing project she’d been living in when Annie first told Billy about Ben. Then Sara would have contacted Billy on her terms—even agreed to let him meet Ben after she was positive no court of law could say she wasn’t able to take care of Ben properly.

But Billy was dead now.

And Gabe Coulter had no claim on her son.

“Mom, you’re squishing me.”

Sara released him and forced a smile. “Your uncle Gabe had to go back to Colorado, sweetie.”

The disappointment on his little face made Sara wince.

“But as soon as Dessie gets through serving lunch, you and I are going to go visit Aunt Annie,” she said. “Won’t that be fun?”

Ben nodded, but he didn’t look convinced.

“You remember how much you like staying with Aunt Annie and her dog, Coco,” Sara reminded him. “And remember how much fun you have going to the pool at Aunt Annie’s apartment complex?”

Ben frowned. “But I wanted to see Uncle Gabe’s horse.”

“But sweetie,” Sara said patiently, “Uncle Gabe didn’t bring his horse. His horses are on his ranch in Colorado.”

Ben’s face brightened. “Can we go to Col-dorado and see them?”

Thankfully, Sara was saved from an answer when Dessie walked in. She leaned over and whispered in Sara’s ear, “Coulter’s on his way to jail.” Then Dessie straightened and sent Ben a big smile. “Ready for lunch, little buddy? I fixed you a big hamburger with extra, extra cheese. Just the way you like them.”

The promise of a juicy cheeseburger sent Ben running.

As soon as Ben left, Dessie looked at Sara and said, “Before I take you to Houston, I think you should stop by the jail and talk to this Coulter man.”

“Absolutely not!”

“You heard him yourself, Sara. He isn’t going to stop chasing you until you talk to him.”

Sara’s chin lifted. “Then I’ll—”

“Keep running?”

Sara refused to answer.

“And what about when it’s time for Ben to start kindergarten in the fall? Are you going to spend the rest of your life dragging Ben from one town to another? From one school to another?”

“Don’t you think I’ve thought about that? That’s all I have thought about, Dessie. But this man wants more than just to talk to me. I could see it in his eyes. He wants Ben!”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Dessie said. “You won’t know for sure until you talk to him.”

Sara slumped onto the folding cot. “And what if I’m right?” She looked up at Dessie for an answer. “What if he wants Ben and he threatens to take him away from me?”

“Then you threaten him with a restraining order if he doesn’t stop harassing you,” Dessie said. “You’re a good mother, Sara. Don’t you ever doubt that.”

“No, Dessie,” Sara corrected, “I’m a struggling mother who can barely provide for Ben. All it takes is one call to Social Services. And I should know. That’s how I ended up in the system.”

“But there’s one thing you have that your mother didn’t,” Dessie said.

Sara looked up again. “And what’s that?”

“The courage to stand up and fight for your son,” Dessie said. “You march over to the jail right now and you tell that cowboy he picked the wrong mother to mess with.”

CHAPTER THREE

THE LAST PERSON Gabe expected to see again was the very person who walked up and stopped in front of his jail cell. Arms folded stubbornly across her chest, her pretty nose was held high in the air, and the expression on Sara’s face was deadly serious.

“You have exactly five minutes to say what you came to say,” she said with authority. “Then I want you out of our lives. If you ever come near us again, I’ll get a restraining order against you.”

So that’s how she’s going to play it.

He’d caught her off guard at the diner, and it scared her. She’d reappeared now to prove she was in complete control of the situation.

He rose slowly from the cot and took his time walking the short distance across the cell. He’d rehearsed the speech he planned to give his nephew’s mother a thousand times. Now, all he could think about was Smitty’s “she’ll scratch your eyes out” warning. It made Gabe thankful for the iron bars separating them at the moment.

She glanced at her watch. “Four minutes and counting,” she warned.

“I know my brother had his faults, but turning his back on his own child wasn’t one of them. It isn’t the Coulter way of doing things.”

“Well, here’s a news flash for you,” she said. “I’m not interested in the Coulter way of doing things. I have my own way of doing things. And I made the decision not to tell Billy about Ben because there wasn’t any reason to.”

“He was Ben’s father,” Gabe reminded her. “He had the right to know he had a child.”

She looked him straight in the eye. “I disagree. DNA doesn’t give you the right to be a father. You earn the right to be a father. I was eighteen and stupid when I met your brother, but I wasn’t too stupid to realize Billy wasn’t father material when he didn’t even consider me worth a goodbye when he left Houston.”

“People make mistakes,” Gabe said.

“True. But it doesn’t really matter now, does it? Billy is…” She faltered for a second, unable to say the word.

“Anyway,” she said, “I’m sorry about your brother. But as far as I’m concerned any connection Ben had with your family ended with Billy.”

Gabe frowned. “And that’s where I disagree. Blood kin is blood kin. We Coulters have always taken care of our own.”

He pulled the check from his shirt pocket, unfolded it and held it up for her to see.

“Take Billy’s insurance money,” Gabe urged. “Use it to start a new life for yourself. But let Ben come to Colorado with me. Let me give Ben the home and the heritage Billy would have given Ben if my brother had lived long enough to find Ben himself.”

Her reaction, however, wasn’t what he’d hoped for. She stared at the check as if it were a coiled rattlesnake ready to strike.

“We’re done here,” she said.

She whirled around and walked away.

“I didn’t come here to play games,” Gabe called after her. “You go ahead and get your restraining order. But I have five years’ worth of information on how well you’ve been able to provide for Ben alone. I don’t think you want me to use that information against you in court.”

She marched back to his cell.

“Now you’re threatening me?”

Gabe stepped back from the bars. She was so angry she was shaking. And the expression on her face said threatening to counteract her in court was the wrong thing to do.

“Take me to court,” she challenged. “I dare you. If I cared a flip about your money, I would have shown up on your doorstep a long time ago. But a court of law might have a different idea. Force the issue and you may end up selling your horses and your ranch and giving Ben half of the proceeds.”

The slam of the door at the end of the corridor as Sara left punctuated her words.

“Dammit!” he cursed, feeling like a first-class jerk.

He never should have offered her the money. And he definitely shouldn’t have threatened her just because she threatened him. He could see that now. But put a woman in his path, and he never had a clue what to do next.

That’s why he’d never had a woman in his life—at least not a full-time woman. Women were too complicated. Too temperamental. Too damn hard to please.