The Rancher's Secret Son

She nodded.

Nick placed his arm around her. “I have longer arms—why don’t I take the picture?”

“Go ahead,” she said, and from the somber sound of her voice he wondered whether she would even smile. She sounded as if she was headed for disaster instead of just taking a picture with him. He held out the iPad. “Try to look happy, Claire. Think about Cody.” Nick took their picture.

He pulled up the picture and smiled. “Thanks, Claire. That looks good.”

“He’ll want to see what you look like.”

“That hasn’t ever come up? He hasn’t asked about a dad?”

“No. We don’t talk about you and he isn’t in school yet, so he isn’t with other kids a lot.”

“Doesn’t he have any little friends?”

“Oh, sure, but they play. There isn’t a lot of discussion. He’s three, Nick. Besides, kids take things as they come.”

Nick continued looking at pictures of Cody, of Claire or her family with Cody as he went from being a baby to a toddler.

“I can’t wait to meet him,” he said. “I can fly to Houston Friday, so can we spend time together this weekend?”

She ran her hand across her forehead. “I didn’t even think this through when I told you tonight. I was so shocked today to learn about your loss that right then and there I decided I had to tell you about Cody. But I—I need time. I’ll have to break the news to Cody.”

“A child accepts life as it comes. You just said that. So he’ll accept meeting me. Would you prefer to bring him to Dallas? I just want to meet him as soon as possible.”

“It’s a complete upheaval in all of our lives, including yours,” she whispered, wringing her hands.

He nodded. “Not just meeting him.”

She looked stricken and he tried to hang on to his patience. His request wasn’t unreasonable in his opinion. Why couldn’t she see that?

“All right. Do you want to come Friday night?”

He opened his phone, checked his calendar and nodded. “Yes. After we meet, would he like it if I take everyone to dinner? This includes your grandmother, of course.”

“That’s nice, Nick.” But as much as her words were gracious, he could hear her trepidation in her voice and see it in her eyes. She gazed up at him solemnly, with a touch of fear in their depths. He knew she was worried that she would have to give up her child permanently, yet he couldn’t feel much sympathy for her since she had kept knowledge of his baby from him all this time.

Verifying his interpretation, she took a deep breath and said, “Nick, my grandma is elderly and frail now. Since Mom died, Cody and I and Grandpa are her whole world. She’s older and vulnerable. Please, think of her before you take any action. She doesn’t have that many years left.”

“I will, Claire. I won’t spring anything on you without discussing it.” He paused a few minutes and silence fell. Finally, he asked, “Does Cody have a favorite place to eat?”

“We really don’t get out a lot, but there’s one place he loves—a restaurant made to look like a rainforest. He thinks it’s very special and a lot of fun.”

“I’ll make reservations.”

“He’ll love it.” She smiled. She’d been so worried, so tearful in the last while that her smile caught him off guard. He took a moment to look at her. She really was a beautiful woman, with her smooth skin and big, dark eyes fringed with thick lashes.

“Does he resemble you at all?”

“Not in looks, as you saw. Actually, probably not much in temperament, either. He has a ready smile the way you used to, and he’s a little charmer and very social. If I take him to the office, he’s all over the place talking to everyone and they talk to him.”