Cathy McDavid - The Texan's Surprise Son

Okay, he was that transparent. “Do you miss rodeoing?”

“Sure I do. Once in a while.”

“Would you go back if you could?”

“Probably getting a little too long in the tooth.”

Jacob understood. At twenty-eight, the majority of men he competed against were younger than him.

“You’re not thinking of quitting?” Luke asked.

Jacob shook his head. “Not this year. Now, if I win a title or two...”

“You’ll be too busy pushing papers at Baron Energies to ride bulls.”

“I hope to do a lot more than push papers.” Like take the company into the next decade.

“Brock softening any?”

“He’s hinted that he might be willing to look at a new proposal after the first of the year.” Which translated into after the National Finals Rodeo. “I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground. Rumors are circulating that Starr Solar Systems is coming up for sale.”

Luke chuckled. “The accident must have had more of an effect on the old man than we thought.”

Brock had suffered a terrible fall earlier in the year while competing in a senior pro rodeo. The injury to his leg had confined him to a wheelchair for months, and he’d been forced to relinquish the day-to-day running of Baron Energies to Lizzie, his oldest daughter.

Savannah and Carly supervised his care at home, an arrangement that had driven everyone crazy. Brock had always possessed a bigger-than-life personality and the physical stamina to match. Luckily, he was well on the path to recovery and had very recently returned to Baron’s boardroom on a part-time basis.

“That,” Jacob mused aloud, “and his kids are all getting married.”

What were the odds the Baron siblings had each recently found their match?

“Don’t forget Lizzie,” Luke said. “Grandchildren can change a person. It did my parents.”

Grandchildren! Lizzie had just delivered Brock’s first, and he crowed his delight to anyone who’d listen.

Except if Jacob was Cody’s father, then, technically, the boy would be Brock’s first and oldest.

Adoptive grandchild. Not the same. Jacob had no reason to believe Brock would treat Cody any differently than he’d treated Jacob and Daniel their whole lives. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“I wouldn’t trade my life for anything.” Luke flashed his previously missing smile. “Nothing is more satisfying than coming home to Rosie and Carly. Not work, not rodeoing, not anything.”

“I’ve never given much thought to getting married and having kids.” Tired of holding his boots, Jacob set them on the ground and laid his clothes on top.

“You need to make your mark in the world first.”

Less making his mark and more proving he was as good as any Baron, regardless of his start in life and his father’s criminal history, though Jacob didn’t say it out loud.

“You must still miss your mom.” Compassion filled Luke’s voice.

“Every day.”

Seven years ago. Peggy Burke Baron had gone into the hospital for a routine appendectomy and come through the surgery with flying colors. She’d died a week later from a staph infection, leaving her two sons without a mother and her second husband a widower.

Jacob still felt the loss keenly. Brock not so much. Less than two years later, he remarried. Julieta was thirty years his junior and the mother of a little boy. Jacob’s adoptive siblings all adored Julieta and her son. She was nice enough, and the kid was okay, Jacob supposed. But that was the extent of his feelings.

He wasn’t jealous exactly. He might have been only nine when Brock and his mother wed, but he’d figured out soon after that their marriage was based on convenience and affection. Not love. But marrying so quickly after his mother’s death and to a significantly younger and beautiful woman felt like an insult.

Luke squeezed Jacob’s shoulder. “She was a fine lady with a heart of gold. She’d be proud of you.”

Jacob had a sobering thought. If Leah’s son was his, the boy would never meet either of Jacob’s parents. Only Brock.

“Do you remember Leah Snow?” he asked.

Luke scratched behind an ear. “Vaguely. A barrel racer, right?”

“She died a few months ago. From breast cancer.”

“Oh, man. That’s a shame.”

“She and I dated a few years ago.”

“You never said anything.”

“It was brief. A weekend.” Jacob gathered his courage. He’d decided not to tell anyone about Cody until the DNA test results were in and only if they were positive. Suddenly, he wanted someone to know. “Her sister, Mariana Snow, approached me at the Louisiana State Fair Rodeo. It seems Leah has a son.”

“Really.”

“She told Mariana before she died that I was the father.”

“Wow.” Luke looked as stunned as Jacob had felt upon hearing the news.

“Yeah.”

“Are you?”

“I’ll know for sure soon.” Jacob exhaled a long breath. There was both relief in the telling and increased anxiety. “But it’s pretty likely.”

“What are you going to do?” Luke asked.

“Mariana wants me to be a part of the boy’s life.”

“What does that mean?”

“Not sure, she didn’t say. Visitation. Custody maybe.”

“And you’re not sure how you feel about that,” Luke stated.

“I can barely handle work and rodeoing. How am I supposed to take care of a two-year-old? Even part-time. I don’t know the first thing.”

“No parent does in the beginning. But we learn.”

“You’re a natural father.”

“And you’re worried about the sacrifices you’ll have to make.”

Jacob squeezed his eyes shut, feeling completely out of control and at the mercy of the fates.

“I’ve worked so hard for years to get ahead. Finally, I have a chance at a championship title and a promotion. Now this.” He stopped abruptly. “I sound like a selfish bastard.”

“There isn’t a parent alive who doesn’t wonder about the impact children will have on their future.”

“What if I’m not cut out to be a dad? It’s not like I’ve had the best examples.”

“The better question might be what if you are?”

Though Jacob admired his friend greatly, he couldn’t conceive of sacrificing everything he’d worked so hard for.

“What if I just offered financial support? At least until after Finals? That’s only six weeks away.”

Luke didn’t hide his disappointment. “Now you sound just like Brock.”

Nothing his friend said or did could have made a bigger impact on Jacob. He did sound like Brock and his biological father.

Disgust filled him. “I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“It does.” Luke leaned an elbow on the stall door, his gaze direct. “You aren’t like either Brock or your father. At least, you don’t have to be.”

Cody’s photo, tucked in his wallet, burned a hole in Jacob’s back pocket. The boy deserved a better father than he’d had. The best Jacob could be.

“I always swore if I ever had children, I’d do right by them.”

Luke grinned. “Here’s your chance.”

“I’m still waiting for the DNA results.”

“That’s wise.”

The hour ride on Zeus helped to further clear Jacob’s head and give him purpose. After returning the gelding to its stall, he started for his truck. At the door, he paused and took out his cell phone. Mariana had given him her number yesterday. He dialed it now.

“This is Jacob,” he said when she answered. “I want to meet Cody. Tomorrow.”

* * *

“WE’RE HERE,” Mariana announced in a singsong voice as they neared Jacob’s house.

She’d been driving down the street at ten miles an hour, peering at address numbers posted above garage doors or on wrought iron gates. It was a nice, middle-class neighborhood. Most of the attractive homes were on large lots with drought-resistant natural landscaping.