Mac, content to be in Cole’s arm, was more interested in the soot covering Cole’s face than old lies. “Dirty.”
“That’s right, partner,” Cole said softly, his voice full of emotion. He touched the boy’s face, inspected his hands, his body. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
Rebecca’s heart shattered. “I was going to tell you.”
Cole’s eyes glittered with raw anger. “But you didn’t, did you?” He studied the faces of the people around him. Collectively, people stepped back and pretended interest in the ruined livery. “Did the whole town know?”
Tears streamed down Rebecca’s face. “Yes.”
“All of them lied for you?”
“Yes.” She reached out and took Mac’s foot in her hand but Cole stepped back, breaking the contact.
Wade laid his arm protectively on Rebecca’s shoulder. “She’s done right by the boy, Cole. He couldn’t have asked for a better mother.”
Cole snorted. “Mac has a right to know his father. I have a right to know him. How could you all lie to me?”
“We thought we was doing right by the boy,” Mrs. Applegate said. “You never seemed the kind to settle down and a child needs a steady home.”
“I was going to reopen the mine! What the hell more commitment would it have taken to make you happy?”
Mrs. Applegate flinched. “We were hoping you and Rebecca would get together, marry one day. Everyone would have won then.”
“He is my child, damn you! You had no call to make such a judgment.” He glared at Rebecca. “How did you end up with Lily’s child—my child?”
Rebecca stepped closer to him. “Can’t we talk about this in private?”
He jerked away. “The town knows our business so there’s no reason to hide anything now. How did you get Mac?”
“Lily came to me when she was pregnant. My husband had just left me and I was expecting as well. She knew I needed money and offered to pay me if I wrote you a letter.”
“What happened to her?”
“She stayed on with me at the Shady Grove. Two months after she moved in, she went into labor. She died hours after Mac was born.”
He stood silent, absorbing all she said.
“I did everything I could to save her, but there was so much blood. Days earlier I’d lost my baby. My breasts were full of milk and my heart ached from my loss. It seemed only natural to nurse Mac. I promised myself it would only be temporary because I thought you’d come any day. But it felt so right to hold him in my arms and then you never came. After a time, I couldn’t imagine my life without Mac.”
“So you decided to keep him for yourself.”
“He’s not my son by birth, but he is in my heart.” She pressed her clenched fist to her chest. “I love him.”
“Mama,” Mac said, grinning at her.
She reached out to him and he leaned forward, ready to return to her arms. Cole held on to him. “He is my son.”
Rebecca’s arms ached for her child. “You can’t just take him away.”
Cole turned and started to walk away from the party. “The hell I can’t. Come on, Dusty.”
Mac started to whimper and squirm. “Mama.”
Rebecca followed. Dread tightened her chest. “Where are you going?”
“Back to the Shady Grove.”
Hope glimmered. “Then we can talk. Thank God, you’re starting to see reason.”
Cole kept walking. “The time for talking is over. I’m going to pack bags for me and the boys and then we’re leaving.”
Her throat burned with tears. “You can’t take my son! And this is Dusty’s home now.”
Mac, sensing his mother’s fear, reached out to her. “Mama.”
Dusty hurried to keep pace with Cole. “I don’t want to leave.”
Cole stopped. He shoved out a sigh as he stared into the boy’s face pinched with worry. “We have to.”
“You don’t have to leave,” Rebecca wailed.
Mac started to whimper. “Mama.”
Cole faced Rebecca. Pain mingled with anger. “If you’d told me the truth, likely I’d have worked out some kind of arrangement with you. But you lied to me. You told me my son was dead. And I will never forgive you for that.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. “I did what I thought was best for Mac.”
“Thank you for your help, but I’ll take over from here.” His voice, deadly calm, carried so much force he might as well have been yelling.
“You can’t take them!”
“Mama!” Mac cried.
“Yes, I can.” With that, he stalked away from her with Mac crying in his arms and Dusty hurrying to keep pace with him.
Cole’s mind, full of colliding emotions, couldn’t focus. He hugged his crying son close to his chest. Gravel crunched under his boots as he crossed the inn’s drive path in quick, purposeful strides.
He was vaguely aware of Rebecca’s cries and Dusty’s valiant attempt to keep up with his hurried pace as he strode up the front steps of the Shady Grove. But he didn’t stop.
Mac squirmed in his arms. “I want Mama!”
“Later, partner.”
“Cole what are we gonna do?” Dusty asked. Worry filled his young voice.
“For now, we’ll get cleaned up. I need to think a spell.”
Think. He didn’t know where to begin.
All the years he’d dreamed of a life with Rebecca. He’d never taken his fantasies too seriously, until today when they’d danced and he’d thought that they had a chance. But it had all been a lie.
Cole squeezed Mac closer. The boy felt small in his arms and an overwhelming urge to protect him welled inside him. He knew he’d sacrifice his life for Mac.
He strode with the boys through the door, climbed the stairs and retreated to his room. Unmindful of the soot on his clothes, he sat on the peach-colored quilt smoothed neatly over the brass bed he’d used this last week.
Mac squirmed to get down. Fussing louder he arched his back and tried to slide out of Cole’s grasp. “Mama!”
“Hold on, partner. Stay here a bit longer and let me get a look at you.” He tried to hold the boy up so he could study his features.
“No!” Mac wailed.
“I’ll give you a silver dollar,” he said, desperate.
Mac slapped Cole’s hand. “No! Mama!”
Cole dug a silver dollar out of his pocket. He held the shiny coin out for the boy to see.
Mac’s crying slowed, but his expression remained mutinous. He stuck his thumb in his mouth. “Dollar.”
&n
bsp; Cole flipped the coin in the air, catching it easily. “It’s mighty nice.”
A ghost of a smile touched Mac’s lips. He tossed the coin again, then pressed it into Mac’s meaty little fingers. “Have a look at that, Mac.”
The child stared at the silver coin, fascinated by the way it caught the light. He hiccuped. “Money.”
“That’s right,” he said, grateful the child’s cries had stopped.
As Mac studied the coin, Cole stared at the boy, marveling. He’d seen the child dozens of times but now he looked at him as if for the first time. Lily’s eyes—bright, brown, full of questions stared up at him. He looked at the curve of the boy’s lips and the set of his jaw. Masculine pride welled inside him. That was pure McGuire.
How could he have sired such a perfect child?
Cole touched the top of his son’s head. Tears welled in his eyes. “I’ll do right by you, boy. I swear.”
“Coin,” Mac said.
“That’s right.”
Dusty sat next to Cole on the bed, his young mouth drawn tight. “What are you gonna do?”
Cole wrapped his arm around Dusty’s narrow shoulders. “Everything’s gonna be fine, Dusty. Don’t you worry.”
Dusty’s lip trembled. “That’s what Pa said right before he left me in town.”
Cole hugged the boys tight. “I’ll never desert you or Mac. You can stake your life on that.”
Dusty’s eyes brimmed with hope and worry. “Are we gonna leave here?”
“Yes.”
“I like it here.”
Cole sat stiff. “I did, too,” he said honestly. “But we can’t stay anymore.”
“Because of what Miss Rebecca did.”
“Yes.”
“What if she says she’s sorry? Then can we stay?”
“Sorry isn’t enough.”
Bitterness tightened around his heart. Rebecca had betrayed him and ruined any chance for them. Damn her! If she’d been honest with him it could have been so good.
The inn’s front door opened and closed with a bang. Rebecca. Her hurried footsteps clomped up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. After a moment’s pause, he heard her soft knock. “Cole, are you in there?”
“Mama!” Mac shouted. The coin clutched in his hand, he jumped off the bed and ran to the door.