Karen Rose - Their Child?

But she had crossed it. And from that morning on, things only got worse. Tucker came to the door to beg Lena to take him back—because of the night before, Lori knew it.

Lena sent him away and told Lori, “It’s the best thing. And he knows it, too.”

By the next night, with all the turmoil inside her over the forbidden things she’d done and the lies she’d told everyone to cover those forbidden things up, she was a complete wreck.

“And then, the next night,” Lena said, eerily echoing the direction of Lori’s thoughts, “you took Daddy’s car and, pouf, you just disappeared.” Lena sent her a reproachful look. “You never did tell me what happened, with Brody’s dad that night. You never told me how you met him, how you—”

Lori put up a hand. “I can’t. Not right yet.”

That was another promise Lori had made herself. She was going to tell Lena the whole truth, too. But it only seemed right that she should tell Tucker first. Just as it only seemed right to wait until after the wedding to break the news to Tucker.

The wedding meant so much to Lena. If word got out beforehand that Tucker Bravo was Brody’s father, there was going to be talk. A lot of it. Lena’s big day would be thoroughly overshadowed.

Lori refused to let that happen. Tucker had gone all these years not knowing he was a dad. What difference could it make if he waited two weeks more?

“Did you hear yourself?” Lena let out a whoop. “You just said, not right yet. Lori darlin’, I do believe this is progress. Always before, you refused to tell me, period.”

“Well, I am working up to it.”

Lena gave her a full-out, blinding sunny smile. “Oh, Lori. It’s about time.”

Tuesday, purely by accident again, Lori met up with Tucker on Center Street, in front of his law office. They exchanged greetings and he asked her how she was enjoying her visit to town.

“I’m having a great time,” she told him. “Just great.” And before he could ask her another question, she glanced at her watch. “Oh. I really am running so late.” Late for exactly nothing—but he didn’t have to know that. “I have to get going.” She zapped him with a toobright, fake smile.

“See you later, then.”

“Yes. See you…” And she hurried on by.

She couldn’t believe it. She’d run into Tucker four times in her four days in town.

It was beginning to feel as if fate itself were taking a hand here. As if her own guilt and cowardice were conspiring to throw him in her path at every possible opportunity—maybe to give her the chance to say what needed saying.

Well, too bad for fate. She would tell him when she planned to tell him—in two weeks, after the wedding—and not a day earlier.

Wednesday, Lori and Lena and Brody spent a lazy afternoon out at nearby Longhorn Lake. Lori watched her son play in the sun at the edge of the water and knew the day of reckoning was swiftly approaching.

How much time was Tucker going to want with Brody? Would she and Tucker end up in an ugly custody battle? How would Brody deal with finally learning who his natural father was.

Those questions, and the thousand more that haunted her, wouldn’t be answered until she talked to Tucker. And that wasn’t going to happen until after the wedding.

Lori decided she’d put all thoughts of Tucker out of her mind.

For now.

There was no point in second-guessing. The moment of truth would be on her soon enough. And after that, she’d get plenty of answers—whether she wanted them or not.

Thursday morning, as Lori lingered alone in her mother’s kitchen enjoying a second cup of coffee, the phone rang. She snatched the cordless handset off the wall without giving it a second thought. “Hello?”

“Just the woman I wanted to talk to.”

Her mind went totally blank. “I…uh, Tucker?”

“That’s right. And this is Lori, isn’t it?”

“Uh. Right. It’s me.”

He chuckled. The sound terrified her. What was he after? Why was he calling? She clutched the mouthpiece in a white-knuckled grip and resisted the urge to shout into the mouthpiece: Not now! Go away! I will talk to you — soon. Very soon…

The frantic, fearful thoughts tumbled over each other inside her head—and then spun to a stop.

She had a moment of terrible, absolute clarity.

How many ways were there to say coward? At that moment, Lori Lee Taylor knew them all—she was them all.

Gutless. Yellow. Gun-shy with cold feet. Lacking a backbone. Weak-kneed. Lily-livered. Scaredy-cat. Big baby. Chicken…

The list went on and on. And every word in it had her name on it.

If she wasn’t going to tell him until after the wedding, so be it. That didn’t mean she had to jump like a spooked rabbit every time she saw his face or heard his voice.

The man was her child’s father. In the end—which was coming up very soon now—she was going to have to learn to deal with him.

When she did tell him the truth, she didn’t want him thinking back on how she’d run away shaking every time he came near. He wasn’t going to be happy with her, when he found out. But until then, the least she could do was to treat him with courtesy and carry herself with a little damn dignity.

“I was wondering,” he said. She thought, Omigod, he’s going to ask me out. And then he did. More or less. “How about you and Brody coming on out to the ranch tonight? For barbecue. Brody can play with Fargo. And out at the stables, we’ve got a real sweet, mild-mannered pony he might like to try riding. I’ll make it my business to see he has a good time.”

Lori felt that awful stillness again, the one with the weight of all her lies carried in it. How had he known to make Brody the focus of his invitation? Was it possible he’d somehow guessed the truth? Her heart lurched in a sick, rough way.

But no. Nobody knew. Except Henry. She had told him, and only him, before they were married.

Only Henry knew. And Henry was gone.

So why did Tucker make it seem like it was all about Brody?

She knew why.

She was a single mom. And if a man wanted to get close to her, he had to make it clear he understood that Brody was a big part of her life—and would be a big part of the life of any man she took seriously.

Lori shut her eyes and drew in a long, slow breath.

“Lori. You still with me?”

“Uh. Yes. Yes, I’m right here.”

“So, what do you say?”

She swallowed and dared to ask, “It’s all about Brody, huh?”

He laughed then. “Well, not quite all. There’s also you…and me.” Something within her warmed and softened at those words. And she remembered…

His lean arms around her as they danced the last dance that fateful night, his voice a velvet whisper in her ear…

“I don’t want tonight to end…”

She had sighed and snuggled closer, her—Lena’s—pink satin gown rustling softly against the dark fabric of his tuxedo. And then she’d lifted her head from the cradle of his shoulder, tipping her face up to show him the yearning in her eyes. “I don’t either, Tucker. I want tonight to last forever…”

He looked down at her, his dark eyes shining with desire—for her, for Lori, though he didn’t even know it. “We could…go somewhere. Be alone. Just you and me…”

She lowered her lashes, rested her head once more against his shoulder, felt the hungry beating of his heart beneath her ear and the answering clamor of her own.

“Lena…” he whispered, breaking her pounding heart into a thousand tiny pieces.

And still, she dared to lift her head again and smile up at him. “Yes. Let’s do that. Let’s go somewhere…”