Cowboy Daddy (The Single Brothers 4)

In the worst timing possible, the toddler started to cry.

I winced, wanting to rush over to where he’d just been sleeping a moment ago, in his crib. But, the sound would only get louder, and I was still with Jason on the phone. I had kept my secret for so long, and whenever I thought about telling him, it was face to face. Either way, this was the worst timing ever.

“Rachel?” he asked hesitantly. “What is that I hear right now…?”

“I’m sorry, Jason,” I said instead of answering. “Something important has come up. I’ll talk to you later.”

The words were said hurriedly before he could ask anything, and I cut the call after that. Because I didn’t want to give him a chance to question me, and because I walked over to my son’s crib to pick him up.

“There, there, honey,” I murmured, holding him to my chest and rocking him gently.

He’d missed me. As soon as I picked him up, his loud cries softened to tiny sniffles. I just didn’t like hearing my toddler so upset.

“It’s just going to be you and me today,” I told him. “So there’s that at least, right?”

His response was to yawn at me. He was falling asleep again, and I knew in not too long, he’d be up again so I could feed him.

Out of nowhere, there was a knock on my door. It was so unexpected that I couldn’t help jumping. The sound wasn’t too loud to startle the toddler, though.

“Now who could that be?” I asked out loud, shifting the toddler into my arms as I went for the door.

I felt a tentative spark of hope when I thought it could be Mary. It hadn’t been too long yet. If she’d changed her mind about staying to help, I could still make it to the farm with plenty of time to do something useful.

But then, I opened the door, and the last person I expected to see was right there. Jason’s eyes fell on his son and I lost all thoughts, thinking that I didn’t want them to meet this way. How I had it planned out in my head was totally different to the way it was working out.

We were both frozen in place, me gaping up at Jason, him looking at my son with unreadable eyes. When those eyes eventually turned to me, my first instinct was to recoil.

“Rachel? Is he yours?”

Jack said, “Mommy.” He was so confused and I felt guilty for putting him through this, I felt as if I was going to lose my mind and I knew that as Jason was about to blow up. I had to do something and fast. I gasped. “Jason, please just listen to me—”

“Three years,” he bit out through gritted teeth. “A little over that, but still! Fuck it, Rachel. Why were you even at the ranch that day I got back if you have a child with you? What, did you want to brag about it? That it didn’t take you that long to move on as I’d thought?”

I flattened my lips, unable to say anything against his accusations. Because I found myself wanting to give him excuses, and why did I have to do that? In the first place, he was the one to walk away. And he no longer trusted me with all the accusations he was throwing at me without even hearing me out first.

“You know what?” he said with a sneer. “I changed my mind about asking you to stay. You obviously have ‘things’ to take care of, right?”

He gave me a mocking smile, then turned around and walked away.

I wasn’t sure how long I just stood there at my door, even after he’d been long out of my sight when I felt the tears start to trickle down my face. Once they started, they wouldn’t stop coming. It was all I could do not to make any noise to startle the kid.

Chapter Nine

Jason

Things were slightly hectic without Rachel there. The order we’d been building was slightly off. I knew it, but I was too stubborn to admit it and kept trying to make things work.

There was some paperwork I just had to get done before I could make my rounds in the fields, and even then, I had to have my phone on for emergencies, instead of leaving her to focus on it.

I didn’t want to think about it, though, how her absence was affecting the ranch and me. Because all I kept going back to, was how Rachel had a toddler, and I’d had no idea about it. I hadn’t gotten a close look at the boy. He was young, and she couldn’t have found someone so quickly after I’d left. Which meant, the child could have been conceived, while she was still with me.

Dammit, Rachel…how could you do this to me?

The feeling of betrayal was heavy on my chest.

Besides, I was getting the hang of it, and I was pretty sure the ranch could survive without her there for a bit. For a while.

“Hey, boss!”

I glanced up as one of the hands jogged over to me. I didn’t know much about him, but I’d worked with him for a few days, and I remembered him from before I’d left. I’d seen him around town at least, though I hadn’t known he was working at the ranch.

“What’s up, Brent?” I asked, bracing myself for something else that went wrong. “Did something else happen?”

He looked surprised. “What? No. I just wanted to ask you about something; there’s nothing wrong. Not really, anyway.”

I sighed in relief at that, just a little bit. My mind was already torn in several different directions; it would be bad if there were more for me to worry about.

“So?” I prompted. “What did you want to tell me?”

He shrugged. “I just noticed Rachel hasn’t turned up; I wanted to know if you’d heard something about it?”

I shook my head. “Good,” I bit out, turning away, feeling irritated.

Why did he have to come up to me and bring up her name, when I’d been trying so hard to put it out of my mind for the past several hours?

“What do you mean?”

I looked over at Brent, arching an eyebrow. He was frowning at me, looking confused.

“Huh?”

“I mean about Rachel. Do you know something about what happened? Because I don’t have her phone number, and I can’t cut work to go over to her place…”

“Rachel is doing just fine,” I said, voice thick with sarcasm. “She’s perfect, in fact. Probably spending time with her little family right now.”

I could tell Brent was only growing more confused. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean. What are you even talking about?”

I scowled at the other man. I didn’t want to say the words, but he was forcing me to.

“I’m saying,” I gritted out. “She had another man beside me while we were dating. Somehow, I was the jerk, but she was two-timing me.”

He blinked. “What the fuck would make you say that?”

“I just saw her with a toddler that I knew nothing about. What else could explain that?”

Brent just stared at me for a moment; then he burst out laughing. I didn’t understand or appreciate it, and I showed him just how much by glaring at him, hard. He waved a hand at me.

“I’m sorry, but fuck, Jason…are you blind or what? Don’t make things too complicated, all right? There was no other man. The kid is yours! You just didn’t know about him.”

Brent gave me a pat on the back, then walked away, still chuckling. I was left gaping at his back, feeling like a total idiot.

Well, shit. I’m still the jerk, then; an even bigger one.

I had to go back to Rachel’s. Fuck, I’d been an ass to her, when she’d tried to explain things to me. But, I hadn’t wanted to hear it, because I’d been mad.

Why the fuck was I so mad when I was the one who ended our relationship in the first place?

Whether or not Rachel had moved on shouldn’t have mattered to me. Less than a month ago, I hadn’t even wanted to see her. But I could feel the growing urgency in my chest as I walked back to the house in a rush to pick up my car keys.

Then, my phone rang.

“Hello?” I said impatiently, not stopping my strides.

“I’m calling to remind you we have the probate reading in half an hour. Will you be attending?”

Shit. That had to be the lawyer. I’d forgotten all about it. I still wanted to go and look for Rachel, but…this was something just as important. I sighed and cut the call without replying, but when I got in the car and drove, I knew I wasn’t heading to Rachel’s place just yet.