That Night in Texas

Cam didn’t know. He just knew that he wasn’t there yet.

He closed his eyes, remembering his father tossing out his newest plan, his latest scheme to make money. None were legal, and none made money. Jack had no qualms about ripping off an elderly lady of her savings, stealing the social security checks of unemployed mothers and forging their signatures. Breaking into houses with his son to scoop up anything that he could flip for a profit.

Yet, despite their many scores, their standard of living had never changed. They still bounced from crappy apartments to squats to rented rooms; Cam still wore clothes that were too small and was constantly expected to miss school to pick pockets so he could feed himself and his father.

Would life have been better if his mother had stuck around? From what he’d heard about her, probably not. Fantastic genes he’d passed on to Clementine.

Cam gripped the steering wheel to anchor himself. How could he ever tell Vivi, and eventually Clementine, that his parents lived on the fringes of society, that they’d been criminals and cons? God, he should drive away, stay out of their lives.

He might have money and respect but it didn’t change the fact that he was a product of the streets, the son of two people who had all the education and impulse control of a puppy. He didn’t have a nurturing bone in his body because he’d never been nurtured. How could he be the father Clem deserved?

Terrified of being a dad and of Vivi finding out about his past, Cam touched the ignition button with his index finger. He was about to start the car when the front door of the house opened and Vivi stepped onto the porch, a little girl on her hip. Cam dropped his hands and stared, his heart bouncing off his rib cage.

God, she looked like him, a feminine version of the child he’d been. Her hair, held in two high pigtails, was the same color as his when he’d been a child, a lighter shade of brown than it was now. She had his nose, his chin and, yeah, his light blue eyes. She had Vivi’s fine, dark eyebrows and long lashes and her mouth, but essentially she was a McNeal.

Cam was vaguely aware that Vivi was talking to her sitter, saw hugs and kisses being exchanged, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off Clem. This was his kid. His DNA had helped formed her, his blood flowed in her veins. She was his.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t walk away. Because how did one walk away from love at first sight?

Five

Please let him like her...

Please don’t let this be weird...

Please let me do and say the right thing...

Conscious of Clem’s chattering in her ear—something about Charlie and a cake—Vivi pulled in a deep breath and watched Cam exit his car and walk around the hood to meet them on the sidewalk. Vivi had always thought that Clem looked like Cam, but now she noticed how close the resemblance was. Vivi stopped a yard from him and met his eyes, suddenly tongue-tied. She wanted to hold Clem out to him, wanted to show her off like a toy. Look what I made. See what I did. Don’t you think I did a good job?

Cam’s eyes, deeper and more intense, bounced between her and Clem, and a small smile touched his lips. He jammed his hands into his pockets, and Vivi saw him swallow and heard him clear his throat. “She’s—” he hesitated “—she’s beautiful, Vivi.”

Vivi turned her head to look into Clem’s curious eyes, brushing the back of her hand across her cheek. “She really is.”

Clem, suddenly noticing her mother’s cuts and scrapes, placed both her hands on Vivi’s cheeks and stared at her. “Owie, Mommy?”

“Not so bad, sweetheart,” Vivi told her.

“Kiss better?” Clem asked.

“Absolutely.”

Vivi closed her eyes as Clem’s small lips gently kissed her cut, then her scrape and her bruise. Vivi thanked her and squeezed her, her love for this child threatening to drop her to her knees.

“Where Mommy car?” Clem asked, looking from Cam to his big car.

“My car isn’t working,” Vivi told her, hitching Clem’s bag up higher on her shoulder. She smiled her thanks when Cam slid the bag off her shoulder and easily held it in one hand. Right, time to get this done. “Clem, this is Cam. He’s going to take us home.”