Reckless Love (Cowboys & Angels 7)

“I was a charmer even back then, huh?”

She rolled her eyes. “Very much so. You kissed her forehead and told her not to cry, that you couldn’t stand to see her cry because it made your stomach feel really bad.”

I laughed. “It still does.”

Her brows rose. “I’m sure it does.”

“What did I promise her?”

Setting her book to the side, my mother stared into my eyes and said, “I’ll never forget it.”

My heart was pounding, the memory coming straight back. All these years, all the times I’d been with Scarlett, and I hadn’t remembered. Until now.

“You kissed her forehead and then said…”

With a whispered voice, I said, “I’ll love you forever.”

She nodded. “I knew you were only eight, but the way you said those words to her, Trevor… It was as if you meant it from the bottom of your soul. When I saw you kiss her outside of Lilly’s Café, I knew you still meant it. I’m sorry if I pushed you two together but it seems that Fate intervened a long time ago and I was just helping out.”

My breath caught, and I leaned back into the sofa. When I was finally able to speak, I stood up, walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek.

“I’m not, Mom. I’m glad you’re a busybody.”

She hit me in the stomach and laughed.

“Your father is in his office. I’m sure that’s who you were hoping to find.”

“I’m glad I found you first. I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, darling. Now let me get back to my book. It’s getting to a steamy part!”

I grunted. “Gross, Mom. Gross.”

Quickly escaping before she told me what she was reading, I made my way to my father’s office. I tapped lightly on the door, and he looked up from his reading.

“I figured you’d be making your way to me either tonight or tomorrow.” He leaned back, made his fingers into a steeple under his chin and said, “Come on in.”

“Do you just keep getting wiser the older you get?” I asked, making my way to the large, leather chair opposite his desk.

“I think so. It’s a power I don’t take lightly, but it is fun. Especially when I get to use it against my children.”

I dropped into the seat and let out a breath.

“Thank you for not getting angry with me.”

“Angry over a child? Never. Am I upset how it all went down? Yes. I’m not here to judge you, though, son. That’s not my job. My job is to make sure you do what is right for both Scarlett and your baby.”

“Dalton pulled me to the side tonight and demanded to know when I planned on marrying Scarlett.”

My father rolled his eyes. “I never did like that asshole.”

“What?” I said, my brows lifted. “Mom and Joyce are best friends.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to like the guy. Let me ask you something, Trevor, why do you think a man insists that his only child be sent off to a boarding school in Boston?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, a better education?”

“You don’t think there are good boarding schools in Texas? Closer to home?”

My brows pulled in tight. “What are you saying, Dad?”

He lifted his eyes past me, to the door, then focused back on me.

“What I’m about to tell you stays between us, do you understand me? You don’t even tell Scarlett. Understood?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”

Standing, my father walked to his office bar and poured us each a whiskey.

“Dalton Littlefield is not Scarlett’s father.”

It felt as if the entire room emptied of air.

“What?”

He handed me the drink and sat in the chair next to me.

“Dalton and Joyce dated off and on through high school. Things broke off in college, but when she came back, they struck up a friendship. Dalton asked her out, and Joyce told him she was three months pregnant. It was the reason she came back to town. The guy she was dating didn’t want the baby and told her to never contact him again. He signed away all rights as a parent. Dalton told her at the time he didn’t care and that he would marry her. They had a quickie marriage, but after Scarlett was born, Dalton changed. He started to resent the fact that Scarlett wasn’t his. When he and Joyce tried for a baby of their own, it never happened.”

“Can he not have kids?” I asked.

“Don’t know. He would never find out even though Joyce begged him to. Dalton never treated Scarlett badly. He just couldn’t accept that she wasn’t his. The older she got, the more she began to look like her birth father. Dalton demanded that Joyce send Scarlett off. She held off as long as she could, until high school.”

“Why didn’t she just tell the fucker no?”

My father looked at his drink and then back to me. “He told her he was going to tell Scarlett the truth, and Joyce didn’t want to break her daughter’s heart.”