Tina Radcliffe - Oklahoma Reunion

“Out in Granby, at the old house.”

“Have you got a phone?”

“I have a cell.” Digging in her purse, she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote the number for him.

When he took the paper, their fingers brushed. Kait stilled for a brief second before pulling away quickly.

“I’ll give you a call.”

“Okay.” She looked to the child by her side.

Jenna stared curiously at Kait and then at the tall cowboy.

“Hey, there. I’m Ryan Jones. This young lady is my niece, Faith.”

Faith released a squeal of childish delight at being included in the conversation, while Jenna hesitantly accepted the hand Ryan offered.

Jenna’s soft-spoken words as she leaned toward Kait were loud enough that Ryan could hear. “Momma, is he—”

“We’ll talk about it later, sweetie.” Kait cut off the question and turned to leave.

“Kait.”

She glanced over her shoulder at Ryan, her emotions whirling.

“I’m glad you’re back.”

“He’s my daddy?”

Kait backed up the compact car and pulled away from the curb. She sensed the bubbling anticipation in her daughter. After all, Jenna had been waiting her entire life to meet her father.

“Yes.”

“Does he know he’s my daddy?”

“No.” Kait released the word with caution.

“How come?”

“Seat belt on?”

Jenna complied but remained undeterred. “How come, Momma?”

“I wish I could explain. For now, you just have to trust me. Everything is going to work out.”

Kait spoke the words and prayed she was right.

Jenna mulled the answer for a bit. Beaming, she turned to her mother. “Faith is my cousin.”

“That’s right.”

Without skipping a beat, Jenna continued. “Do you think he already has a family?”

“What?”

“Do you think Ryan is married? Maybe he already has a little girl. He might not want another one.”

Kait glanced at Jenna’s stricken expression and inhaled sharply. She reached across the seat to touch her daughter’s hand. “Oh, sweetheart, any daddy would love to have a beautiful and smart girl like you for his daughter.”

In truth, Kait had the same questions as Jenna, along with a million others she’d considered on the long drive from Philly to Tulsa.

Jenna sighed, a pleased smile on her seven-year-old face. “Soon I’ll have lots and lots of family, won’t I?”

“Yes, but remember what we talked about? We have to do this in the Lord’s timing. Some people have a hard time with change. It’s scary, and the last thing we want is to scare them. So until it’s time, this will be our secret.”

Kait chewed the inside of her cheek.

If only she hadn’t run into Ryan just yet. Again and again she had replayed the possible scenarios in her mind, knowing coming home meant coming face-to-face with the past.

When she looked into Ryan’s eyes and he began to speak in that deep, smooth voice laced with a dash of Oklahoma twang, she was lost.

The years melted away.

Yes, it was still there, that feeling between them. It was far more powerful than chemistry—it was a connection.

And he was right. They did have unfinished business.

Kait turned onto 31st Street and shook her head.

Ryan was a vet.

She was no less than astounded to learn he had found the courage to stand up to his family. He’d actually bucked his mother?

Despite his claims to the opposite, she knew firsthand that opposing Elizabeth Delaney Jones simply wasn’t done. Time and again Kait wished she’d had the courage to stand up to the woman eight years ago. If she had, things would be so different.

For a brief moment, the what-ifs taunted her. Anger, regret and sadness vied for control.

Kait pushed it all aside.

She was here to close the door on yesterday, to say goodbye to her father and to tell Ryan the truth.

Her hands trembled on the steering wheel. No matter what the consequences were, she had to face them. Besides, what could Ryan’s mother possibly do now?

Jenna turned from the window and smiled. “This is where you grew up?”

Kait turned left and guided the car down picturesque Lewis Avenue. They were definitely taking the scenic route to Granby.

The stately residences on Lewis were a throwback to the oil-boom days, when T-town was considered the oil capital of the world. Huge trees whose leaves had begun to turn autumn shades of gold and burnt umber flagged the curbsides, shading the large old homes and expansive lawns.

“Yes. I grew up here in Tulsa, and then we moved into my grandmother’s house in Granby after she died.”

“How old were you when you left Oklahoma, Momma?”

“Nineteen.”

“And you went on an adventure.”

“I did.”

“Why didn’t you come back?’

“Oh, Jen. That’s … complicated. ”

Over the years, Kait had become proficient at sidestepping the issue of Jenna’s paternal heritage, offering vague generalities, quickly changing the subject or gently redirecting the conversation. But the older Jenna got, the more difficult it had become to change the subject once her daughter began tenaciously delving for answers.

With the death of Kait’s father six weeks ago, everything had converged, and she realized it was time for that overdue heart-to-heart with her daughter.

Ready or not, the time had come to return to the town that had shown her the door eight years ago.

“Can we stay?”

“Stay?” Kait blinked, tuning back in to her daughter’s words. “Jen, Philly is our home.”

“Does it have to be? Tulsa’s so pretty. Why can’t we live here?”

Kait inspected the passing scenery, as if seeing it for the first time through a child’s eyes. “I’d forgotten how beautiful Tulsa is.” She sighed. “Can we talk about this more after we get to the house?”

Jenna nodded, a half frown on her face as she glanced back out the window. She knew she was being deterred.

“Momma? Are you sad that you aren’t going to marry Steven anymore.”

Kait rubbed her naked ring finger. Steven would have solved all her problems. But she couldn’t, wouldn’t take the easy way out. It wasn’t fair to Steven. She didn’t love him.

“No, honey. That’s all over.”

“Well then, I was wondering.”

“Now what, Jen?” Kait asked, distracted as she checked over her shoulder for oncoming traffic.

“When can we tell Ryan Jones he’s my daddy?”

Startled by the question, Kait turned to her daughter. “Soon,” she said. But was Kait ready for soon? She hoped so.

“May I go outside?” Jenna asked.

Kait looked up from where she sat cross-legged on a braided rag rug in the middle of the parlor. She’d spent most of the last hour going through the paperwork from the Realtor.

“Isn’t it raining?”

“I won’t get wet. I’ll sit on the porch and read until lunchtime.” Jenna held up a well-worn paperback.

“Okay, but wait a minute.” Kait closed the folder in her hands and got to her feet. She pulled Grandmother Redbird’s colorful, fuzzy afghan off the huge oak-trimmed sofa that took up much of the room and wrapped it around her daughter’s shoulders.

Jenna gave an excited smile as Kait opened the screen door. The clean, earthy scent of rain greeted them.

“I lo-o-ove this porch,” Jenna exclaimed with a dramatic flourish.

“When I was younger, I used to sit out here and read just like you.” Kait stood in the doorway and watched the moisture hit the pavement in fat, crowned droplets.

“I wish we could live here forever.”

Forever was much too far down the road to think about. One step at a time was pretty much all Kait could handle right now. She had a good job with health benefits in Philly—a job that they needed.