Along Came a Cowboy (5 page)

“Rough day?” Allie asks softly.

I shake my head. “Just busy. Like any other.” I slap the table lightly. “And long. I'm going to call it a night.” Before they can protest, I push to my feet. When I realized our monthly get-together was going to fall on this date, I'd almost asked to reschedule but figured that would draw more attention than just leaving it. I probably should have gone with my first instinct.

“Sure you don't want to stay and talk?” Lark asks.

“Sorry we forgot.” Victoria reaches over and touches my hand.

I sit back down. Because our number one Pinky Rule has always been honesty above all. And thanks to my hesitation to confront situations head-on, this talk is years overdue. “Actually, I'm glad you forgot. Y'all have remembered this date for long enough.” I squeeze Victoria's hand. “I appreciate your support. But let's try something new and forget from now on, okay?”

“We will if you will,” Allie says.

I chuckle. “I kind of have to remember, but y'all have my permission”—I raise an eyebrow—“my encouragement, actually. . .to forget.”

“Duly noted,” Lark says. “So if we do, will you stay for a while?”

Since there's no one to rush home to, it would be silly not to, wouldn't it? “Sure.”

By ten thirty, I'm home and settled in bed with the dogs and a good book. My two labs are the perfect companions. Really. Satisfied to just rest at the foot of the bed and snore softly. No demands for bedtime stories or back rubs. I reach out to scratch Cocoa's head, and the doorbell chimes loudly. I jump, and Cocoa and Shadow come awake instantly, bounding off the bed in a chocolate and ebony blur before I can even register what the noise is. They run down the hall, barking loud and fast.

I follow, more cautiously. I've always enjoyed living alone—and my cute little bungalow is perfect for my bachelorette life. Small kitchen, a master bedroom, and two tiny guest bedrooms—one which I turned into an office with a sofa hide-a-bed—a bath and a half, and expansive windows that overlook my groomed lawn—thanks to Allie and her landscaping service.

The dogs are good security, but I can't remember ever having a visitor so late, which is probably a sad commentary on my humdrum life. When I get to the front door, I call out, “Who is it?”

“Rachel, it's Jack Westwood.”

I peek out the side window. There are two figures standing on my doorstep. I can't see the second one in the shadows, but the one nearest me is indeed Jack. I cinch up my floor-length, hot pink fleece robe and swing the door open a crack, nudging the dogs back with my foot. “What's wrong?”

“I'm on duty tonight, and I picked up a hitchhiker coming from the bus station. She says she's your niece.” The person in the shadows is still hanging back, but Jack reaches and pulls her forward.

I gasp and yank open the door. “Jennifer?”

“Hey, Aunt Rachel,” she says softly. Cocoa and Shadow descend on her, wagging all over and sniffing.

“What are you doing here?”

Jennifer casts a sideways glance at Jack and purses her lips.

He frowns. “So you really are her aunt?”

Cocoa sits and barks once, as if chastising him for such a silly question.

I force a choked laugh and reach out to draw Jennifer into the house. “Yes. Remember my older sister, Tammy? This is her daughter, Jennifer. Thanks so much for bringing her by.”

He nods. “Sure, I remember Tammy. So she's not a runaway?”

“Apparently she wanted to surprise me by visiting earlier than planned. And it worked.” I give him a little wave. “Thanks again for getting her here safely.”

“No problem,” he says, sounding unconvinced. He glances back at me. “Nice robe.”

I close the door behind him and lean my back against it, then stare at my niece, her long strawberry-blond hair disheveled and her face pale. “Jenn, honey, what are you doing here?”

Tears pool in her big green eyes, and she throws her arms around me. “I had nowhere else to go.”

I stare over her shoulder at the dogs standing motionless now in the doorway to the living room. They appear as puzzled as I am by this sudden arrival. “Nowhere to go? What about Lissa's? When I called your mom earlier tonight, she said you were spending the night there.”

Her answer is muffled against my robe.

I gently push her away from me a little. “What?”

“She's not really my mom.”

My heart stops beating in my chest and moves to my ears where it pounds so loudly I can't hear myself think. “What do you mean?”

Jennifer throws herself down on my entryway bench. “I'm adopted.”

I sink down beside her because my legs won't hold me up another second. “How did you find out?”

“Lissa told me yesterday. She overheard Aunt Jo and Uncle Kevin talking about this being Mom's first pregnancy.”

I nod. My brother-in-law's sister, Jo, and her husband, Kevin, are two of the few people in Georgia who know that Jennifer's adopted, so I'm not surprised the news came from their daughter. “What did your mom say about it?”

“I didn't ask her.”

“Why not?”

“The doctor put her on bed rest to keep her from losing the baby. I didn't want to upset her.”

I push her long curls back away from her face.
So you ran away instead? I'm sure that won't upset her.

She shrugs as if in answer to my unspoken thought. “Besides, I needed to talk to you.”

“Me?”

“Aunt Rach, you have to help me find my biological mom.”

I stare into the earnest green eyes of the child I gave birth to fifteen years ago today.

Babies aren't the only ones who can complicate your life.

T
ammy?” I whisper into the phone and take a step backward to peer at the bathroom door where I can hear the water running. I hope Jennifer takes long showers like Tammy always did when she was that age.

“Rachel?” Tammy's voice is groggy. “What's wrong?”

Where do I start? “Is Russ with you?”

“Yes. He's right here. Do you need to talk to him?” Her puzzlement is obvious.

“No, no. Listen, don't panic. She's perfectly fine, but Jennifer's here.”

“What? How?”

“The bus.” I hold the phone away from my ear until her hysterical tone calms down. “Tammy, I'm so sorry, but she found out she's adopted.”

Silence.

“Tammy?”

“Let me talk to her.”

“Wait. She's in the shower. I volunteered to call you because I thought we needed to talk before you two do.”

“Is she crying? I know she's devastated. Oh, I can't believe
I let this happen.” My sister is blubbering, and I can hear Russ in the background trying to figure out what's going on.

“She's got a good head on her shoulders, and she's processing this. She's had a long bus ride to get over the initial shock.”

“Does she hate me?” Tammy's voice sounds small and frightened.

“No! Her first concern was for you. She didn't confront you because she was worried about your pregnancy.”

“How did she find out about the adoption?”

“Well, Lissa apparently overheard her parents talking about this being your first pregnancy.”

“Oh no, Rach. How did this happen?”

“I guess Lissa thought that Jennifer should—”

“No, that's not what I mean. I mean how did we get here? To this point? I always meant to tell her she was adopted.”

I rake my fingers through my hair, wishing my sister were here so we could figure this out in person instead of long distance.

“I should have explained that she was adopted, that we chose her. I knew she'd find out someday. She grew up faster than I thought she would.” She gasps. “I can't breathe.”

“Tam, calm down. Maybe you were afraid that if you told her she was adopted, she'd find out all of it. This is my fault, really.”

“No, it's not. It's mine. Time just got away from me.”

Suddenly Russ's deep voice breaks in. “Okay, enough kicking yourselves, girls. There's plenty of blame to go around. Including to Jennifer who shouldn't have run away. How are we going to handle this?”

“I'm going out there,” Tammy squeaks.

“No, you're not,” Russ replies, and for a minute I envision them standing in the same bedroom speaking into different phones, their gazes locked. His voice gentles. “The doctor said
bed rest, and we both know that doesn't include a five-hundred-mile round-trip to Arkansas. I'll leave now and be there in the morning.”

One of the things I love about my brother-in-law is that he's levelheaded and filled to the brim with common sense.

“Wait. You need to stay with Tammy. I can bring her home. I have a half day tomorrow and then the weekend. We'll leave right after I finish seeing patients.”

They confer for a minute in muffled voices, so apparently they both have their hands over the mouthpieces of their respective phones. Then Tammy comes back. “Rachel, we have a favor to ask.”

“Anything.”

“Can Jennifer stay with you awhile?”

My stomach churns. “Why? Don't you think she needs to see y'all?”

“I want her home right now more than anything, but we have to think about what's best for her. She was going to visit this summer anyway. She's been talking about coming for years, remember?”

I remember. But even then the thought had made me nervous. What if she figured it all out? And now, as a precocious fifteen-year-old, hot on the trail of her birth mother, how much bigger is the chance? I brush my hair back from my clammy forehead. I can't think.

Shadow nuzzles my arm, and I look down into her worried face. Cocoa sits on the other side of me and presses her head against my leg. I know they can tell something's wrong.

“We'll talk to her, of course, but we think maybe she needs some time to accept this without having to actually face us. If we bring her back right now, she might just run away again.” Her voice breaks. “Maybe to somewhere we can't find her.”

My heart pounds in my throat at the thought. “She can stay here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Definitely,” I squeak, then take a deep breath and will myself to sound calm. “Why wouldn't I want my favorite niece to stay with me a few weeks?” Other than the fact I'm terrified she won't love me anymore if she finds out the truth.

Tammy sighs. “If you're sure and she wants to stay, I really think it's the best thing.”

“You might not when you hear what she said to me tonight.”

“What?”

“She wants me to help her look for her birth mother.” I give Tammy a second to absorb that bombshell. Which is more than I had. I don't even remember how I responded to Jennifer earlier, but shortly after her request, I do know I suggested a long, hot shower to wash off the bus grime.

“Oh boy. Just stall. Do whatever it takes to distract her. Introduce her to Allie's daughters. Take her out to see the horses. And to visit Mama and Daddy. I'll call them in the morning and explain the situation so they don't give anything away.”

“Okay.” In spite of tonight's drama, I feel the same twinge I always feel when she talks so easily about “Mama and Daddy” and her communications with them. When I left home all those years ago, I left Mama and Daddy behind. From then on they became Mom and Dad in my mind. I even considered Alton and Daphine, but my Southern upbringing wouldn't let me go that far.

So now I live in the same zip code as they do, but Tammy, five hundred miles away, talks to them more often. My choice, I know.

She hesitates. “You're going to have to try harder with them
if Jenn's going to stay for a while. They're her grandparents.”

“I know.”

“Adopted
and
biological.” Her tone is gentle, but she couldn't have said it plainer if she'd just said, “They're your parents, too.”