Texas_Winter (6 page)

"Riley." This time Jack's voice was more insistent and pushed along by the tempting scent of coffee. Riley managed to force open his eyes.

"Whattimeisit?"
"Just after six. I brought coffee." Riley groaned. He'd probably only been asleep a few minutes. Or at least it seemed like it. "I'm out with Taylors; she's restless again."
"Horses. Okay."
"Are you getting up?"
"Jeez," Riley muttered, and forced himself to scramble upright in the bed. "I'm up already."
Jack chuckled and then placed a gentle kiss to Riley's forehead. "Love you, het-boy," he said softly as he left the room.
Showered and dressed, Riley was in the kitchen by six-thirty brewing more coffee and standing at the window of the silent house. He wondered what time Hayley would be awake. He wondered if he should go and wake her up. Wasn't that what dads did for their kids? It was too early now, but should he go in at seven-thirty or eight and take her a drink? Not coffee, and water was too boring… Inspired, he rooted in the cupboard and located the tin of hot chocolate powder he remembered was Donna's favorite. Hot chocolate would be good; kids liked chocolate. Maybe one of Donna's cookies as well? With a cookie and powder in a mug sitting on the table, he realized he was done. He sat down. Then he stood up. He might as well get the breakfast stuff out as well.
That was how Jack found him. He came in through the main door, stamping dirt from boots and bringing with him the scent of the outside. He eyed the array of food and raised an eyebrow.
"How many are we feeding?"

Hayley woke a little after eight. With Eden back at her own apartment in the city and Donna with her vet at his place, Riley was left with a small child and absolutely no idea of what to do or say. Of course he was fully aware she needed to wash up, get dressed, brush her teeth and then come to eat breakfast. He wasn't stupid. He just didn't know how to tell her. In the end, they stood eyeballing each other uncertainly for a good ten seconds before Hayley took control.

"Morning," she said brightly. Hoisting her oversize PJs up, she clambered onto a tall stool next to where Riley was getting things ready to cook, sorting bacon and eggs into piles ready to cook.

"Morning, Hayley," Riley answered quickly. She leaned in and hugged him, and he responded quickly with his own hug. She sat back and pulled her knees up so she was perched precariously.

A girl after his own heart.
"We can. And we even have proper maple syrup." She wrinkled her nose. "Ewwww," she started,

"that's too sweet. I like lemon. Do you have any lemon?" "Lemon?" Riley tried to remember if Lexie had
liked lemon on her pancakes. Who the hell had lemon on
pancakes? There had to be some kind of rational
explanation that a child of his wouldn't like sticky sweet
syrup. "Lemon," he repeated and was completely aware he
was coming over like some kind of defective parrot. "We have lemon."
Donna's voice came from behind him, and he had
never been so pleased to hear it. He spun to face her then
placed a hand near Hayley as her stool wobbled.
"Why don't you wash up and get dressed, Hayley,
and let your dad take you to see the horses," Donna said
quickly.
Riley kissed Donna on the cheek affectionately and
waited as Hayley, cookie finished, climbed down and
disappeared out of the kitchen.
"Are you feeding that child cookies for breakfast?"
Donna teased. Riley squirmed inside.
"Just to tide her over," he said quickly. Donna
chuckled and peered out of the window to the yard beyond. "Is Jack out with Taylors again?" she asked. "She was restless apparently."
"She's in her sixth month; it's always a strange time
for them. Riley…"
"Yeah?"
"I know the timing is bad, but I wanted to ask
you—no—
tell
you something."
"Go on." This sounded ominous with a capital O.
Why did Donna want to tell him something when Jack
wasn't in the room?
"There's no easy way to say this, but Neil asked me
to move in with him, into the house attached to the clinic."
Riley could feel his eyes widen. Hell. Jack only tolerated
Neil Kendrick stepping out with his momma because he
thought it wouldn't last long. And now they were moving in
together? Why was Donna telling this to him? She should
be talking directly to Jack about it. She undoubtedly saw
the reaction on his face and shook her head. "I want to ask
you a favor, and you can say no if you like."
Riley's heart sank. He loved Donna. A slim,
irrepressible force of nature, his mother-in-law had been so
supportive about his problems and his relationship with her son, and now Hayley. He already had some idea what she might ask him, and knowing Jack's temper, it was going to
result in traveling down a very rocky road.
"What favor?" he asked. Even though he thought he
probably knew.
"Will you talk to Jack for me? I spoke to Josh
yesterday and Beth over the weekend, but every time I try
to talk to Jack, he closes down."
Riley listened to the words, but his head was filled
with Hayley and his own life. So what he said next was
said with no preparation and possibly verged on rude. "He's your son, Donna, and he's worried about you." "Neil is a good man."
"Neil is only a bit older than Jack."
"He loves me, Riley. I love him." She looked pale,
and he hated what he was saying. God, he was repeating
what Jack had said. He wasn't thinking about how he felt in
all of this. He liked Neil. Yes, the veterinarian was young,
but he was settled and educated, and he clearly adored
Donna. Seemed like the guy was moving out of his small
apartment and into the solidly built house attached to the
clinic—a good thing right? And it certainly indicated
permanence. The age gap was a little much for Riley to get
his head around, but who was he to judge? Who was Jack
to judge? Two men being married wasn't exactly the
normal way of going about things in the middle of Texas. "There's no rush," Donna pointed out. "I spend
every night with him but to actually make it permanent…
I'm not going to say it doesn't scare me after all this time on
my own. Still, Jack's opinion—all of my children's
opinions—mean so much to me."
Riley understood where she was coming from.
What Hayley thought of him now and in some nebulous
future—whether ex-playboy, blackmailer, and all round
people user—was something that had played on his mind
last night as he lay in bed.
"I'll talk to him," Riley finally answered, and Donna
smiled. She had a beautiful smile, and she certainly didn't
look like a woman in her mid-fifties. She looked happy and
rested and stunning.
"I'm ready," Hayley interrupted, and this one, Riley
was happy about.
"Come on," he said, and offered her a hand. "Let's
go scare, Jack."

Simple words, not spoken with anything other than an expected amount of shock. As far as Sandra had been concerned, she never thought she'd get grandchildren from him, and it seemed Jim was on the same wavelength.

"Hi," Hayley said softly, and Riley watched carefully as Jim,
his Dad,
sank to a crouch in front of her.
"Hello, Hayley."
Jim had been introduced as her granddad, Sandra as her grandmother, and she stood there and took it all in with a happy expression in her beautiful brown eyes. Jim held out his arms and pulled her in for a close hug, and she went willingly.
As far as Riley had been able to make out, Lexie's parents were no longer alive. This meant Jim and Sandra would be her first real contact with grandparents in at least a while. Riley observed the expressions flitting across his mom's face. Shock, disbelief and then an aching tenderness. She bent over from her waist—Sandra was not one to go to her knees—and extended the hug between Jim and Hayley to include her too.
Breakfast was lively, and it was a perfect start to the day. In deference to Hayley, he sat separate from Jack. He missed his husband's solid presence at his side. The adults listened to her lively chatter for the hour they ate and chatted and drank hot chocolate and coffee.
"Can I have a quick word, son?" Jim finally said. Riley looked quickly to Hayley, who was engrossed in talking about
Glee
with his mom and Donna. Jack caught his expression and inclined his head. Riley nodded back. Jack would keep an eye out for Hayley.
This was clearly going to be the lecture Jim didn't feel he could issue in front of Hayley. Following Jim out of the house and to the fence, Riley started to worry, but it seemed Jim was fixating on the technical aspects of the newest arrival to the ranch.
"I'm assuming you have someone looking at Hayley's paperwork?"
"She's mine," Riley instantly answered. What did Jim mean? Paperwork?
"I know, son, I don't doubt it for a single minute," Jim immediately responded. "What I mean is have you had a family lawyer dot the i's and cross the t's?"
"You're our family's lawyer, so I assumed you would do it."
"Someone else. Other than me. As the grandfather, it wouldn't be right."
"Not yet. Josh said he'd look it over—"
"Jack's brother is a criminal lawyer. Promise me you'll get an expert out here."
"Okay. I will. Thanks."
"That isn't what I wanted to talk to you about though."
Riley frowned. "It wasn't?" Surely Hayley's arrival was the most important thing for everyone to be concentrating on? Why was Jim going to broach another subject for him to think about? He already had an awkward discussion in his near future with his volatile husband about Donna and her younger lover. Why did people think he was capable of multitasking? Jeez, was Jim going to start talking love and sex with his mom? He didn't think he could handle that thought without the support of alcohol.
"Riley…" Jim paused. "Something at HayesOil from two thousand seven has come to light."
Dread flooded him at those simple words filled with such a heavy, ominous tone. But nothing compared to what Jim said next.
"It's missing paperwork, signed documents, proof of blackmail. It's about Jeff. Jeff and you…"

Jack sat patiently in the kitchen, perched on a stool, able to watch his husband with Jim. Riley's body language went from relaxed to tense to pissed and on to resigned in the space of ten minutes. Jack had intimate knowledge of every single one of those reactions, and he wondered what the hell Jim was throwing at him.

"So I'm thinking we should have a barbecue or something," Donna said.
"A celebration," Sandra said. "Would you like that, Hayley? You could meet your cousins, Luke and Annabelle." Sandra was animated with her excitement, but all Jack could do was groan as Riley's mom began to plan. Annabelle, fifteen and level headed, was fine, but her brother Luke? He was a twelve-year old chip off of Jeff's block. He'd thrown freaking big stones at Solo Cal in her stall, causing the horse to become distressed with no way to escape. The last thing Jack wanted was that hell spawn anywhere near his horses. Then, as soon as he'd thought it, he immediately felt guilt. Of course Luke's dad had died, his granddad as well, and his mom was working through chronic alcohol dependency. All of that probably played hell with his pre-teen hormones. Still, there was no excuse for what Jack had caught him doing to the horses last time they were here.
"Jack? What do you think? Should we have everyone over on Saturday? Get Josh and his kids and Beth and her family and Eden?"
"Whatever, Momma. It's your house," Jack offered distractedly. The kitchen was suddenly silent, and Jack blinked back to the here and now. What was wrong? Sandra had a look of disapproval on her face, and Donna looked close to tears. What had he said? In fact, Donna was up and out of the room, leaving Jack and Hayley exchanging looks of bemusement.
"What did I say?" Jack asked, and then shrugged.
"What is it with men?" Sandra said simply.
"What?" No really. What
had
he said?
"This hasn't been your mom's house since your dad died, Jack." Jack wondered who the hell his mother-in-law was to lecture him on his own mother. He didn't say that, of course. "It's always been yours," she continued.
"Sandra—"
"And now you have Hayley. A family. This ranch is a family home." Sandra sounded wistful and ran a hand across the solid wooden table marked by years of use. "She wants you to be a family. You and Riley and Hayley."
"It's a Campbell ranch."
"You aren't a Campbell anymore, Jack," Sandra interjected. Jack crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at the slip of a Hayes talking at him like she knew anything. "You're a Campbell-Hayes." Jack opened his mouth to talk but stopped when Hayley interrupted.
"Is that my new name? Hayley Campbell-Hayes?"
In a second any tension in the room dissolved. Hayley's expression was utterly innocent and devoid of guile.
"Yes, sweetheart," Riley said, and Jack looked over to his husband who stood at the backdoor. He looked shaken, worried, and pale even, despite his tanned skin. And a sure sign Riley was worried or upset? He wouldn't look Jack in the eyes. "If you want it to be."
Riley might look like he'd been run over by a truck, but he was showing consideration and giving Hayley a chance to say no.
"Momma said you might want to change my name and that I should do what you say."
Riley shook his head, just as Jim had done, before he went into a crouch at his daughter's side.
"We don't have to decide that now, Hayley. Your mom loved you, and her name is important. You'll always be Hayley Samuels even if you do change your name. And if you don't," he said with a soft smile as he touched the tip of her nose, "you can be a Campbell-Hayes inside." "In my heart?"
Jack caught a fleeting glance of something in Riley. Concern, fear? He wasn't sure. What the hell had Jim talked to him about? He resolved to ask as soon as they were alone. Riley pressed his fingers to the middle of Hayley's chest.
"In there," he said simply.

Eden arrived at lunch time, and it was at that point Jack realized just how much they had taken on. Or rather how much had been handed to them. There was no wind of what had happened yet in the press, but Eden rightly pointed out it wouldn't be long before the whole story hit the papers. Her insistence they do something before people blew it out of proportion was what they were discussing. Hayley was in her room with Sandra and Donna, and the three took the time to try and come up with something— anything—that would keep Hayley away from prying eyes for a while.