Almost Home (26 page)
"Well, your husband did deny knowing my mother. I
have no reason not to believe him." Katherine watched Leeanne closely,
wondering if Jimmy's wife had more reason to disbelieve him than Katherine did.
"He's a very truthful man," Leeanne said. "At
least, that's what I've always thought."
"Perhaps you're searching in the wrong place
entirely," Mary Jo said. "
know each other. We all trust each other. It's hard to believe someone would be
harboring such a secret."
It was a long, somewhat desperate speech, Katherine
thought, noting how close Leeanne and Mary Jo had drawn together, their
shoulders practically touching. They were drawing a line between them and her,
pointing out, just as Zach had done, how unwelcome she was in
questioning their men, threatening their lives.
"You
know, I was just on my way up to my room to make a
phone call." Katherine stood up, and Leeanne jumped up along with her.
"Now, don't rush off, Miss Whitfield. I know Mary
Jo didn't sound too helpful." She sent Mary Jo a pointed look. "But
as she said, we've lived here all our lives. Perhaps we can help you. Are you
sure you don't know anything else about your father?"
"Not really, no, although I did find a cuff link."
"What did it look like?"
"Black and gold with a horse on it."
"How interesting." Leeanne's gaze fastened
on Katherine's face in a way that made Katherine want to run for the elevator. "You
do remind me of someone, but I can't think who. Mary Jo?"
Mary Jo looked up from the napkin she was twisting and
studied Katherine's face. "Someone," she murmured.
"I think I just have that kind of face,"
Katherine said, unnerved by their scrutiny. She felt young and insecure and way
out of her league.
"It's a pity your mother never told you about
your father," Leeanne mused. "I wonder why that was."
"She died when I was young. We never had a chance
to have that conversation."
Both women murmured appropriate apologetic responses,
but neither one seemed sincere.
"I should go," Katherine said.
"If there's anything we can do to help you, I
hope you'll let us know," Leeanne replied. "We'd hate to see a young
woman like yourself, a stranger in town, get herself into an embarrassing
situation. How long did you say you'd be staying?"
Katherine couldn't imagine being any more embarrassed
than she was at this very moment. Leeanne and Mary Jo had made it quite clear
she was an interloper, unwanted in their little corner of the world. "I'm
not sure yet."
"You'll be wanting to speak to J.T., I assume,"
Mary Jo said, rising to her feet. She looked into Katherine's eyes. "I can't
stop you, but I'd ask you to think about it first. Think about all of it.
Leeanne has children who adore their father. And J.T. and I, we
…
well, we have a life that doesn't need any more
trouble." Her eyes grew teary. "Oh, dear. I can't do this." Mary
Jo grabbed her purse and practically ran out of the restaurant.
Leanne muttered a good-bye and hastily followed, leaving
Katherine alone in the lobby, wondering why the heck she'd ever thought coming
to
* * *
Monday
morning, Katherine
awoke feeling refreshed
but still doubtful
about her quest to find her father. She'd dreamed about the people she'd met,
wondering how she could fit into any of their lives. And when she wasn't
dreaming about them, she was dreaming about Zach, feeling his arms slide around
her, tasting his mouth, hearing his voice. How had it all gotten so
complicated?
After having breakfast in her room, the safest way to
prevent any more unexpected encounters with suspicious wives, Katherine got
dressed and walked down to Golden's just before noon. She wasn't sure Zach
would come, but even if he didn't, she needed the chance to look through the
photos and see if she could find something.
But after yesterday, Katherine realized that she hadn't
ever considered all the angles. Would her discovery tear apart a happy family?
"Katherine," Justin said with a wave. "I
was hoping you'd come in before it got too busy." He set down a wet cloth
on the counter top and stepped around the bar. "The office is in the back."
"Thanks, I really appreciate this."
"No problem."
Justin led her into a room that was stuffed full of
filing cabinets and one paper-laden desk that stood in the corner. "Photos
in the bottom two drawers of the cabinet," he said. "After you go
through those, let me know. There are a couple of boxes down in the basement."
"Wow. You do have a lot of pictures."
"My father was a shutterbug."
"Well, I hope he captured my mother in one."
"For your sake, I hope so, too."
Katherine walked over to the filing cabinet and opened
the bottom drawer. "I'm almost afraid to look at these."
"For fear you won't find your mother—or you will?"
She saw the twinkle in his shrewd eyes and smiled. "I'm
that transparent?"
"Being a bartender, I'm pretty good at reading
people." Justin stopped as Zach walked into the room. He raised an eyebrow
in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Zach's expression was hard, and his frown spoke
volumes about his disposition. "I'm paying off a bet."
Justin looked from Zach to Katherine and back to Zach.
"You must have lost."
"The bet was a riding lesson," Katherine
reminded him. She turned toward the filing cabinet so she wouldn't have to look
at Zach. She tried to sound casual, because seeing him again had already set
her nerves on edge.
She couldn't look at his lips, because his mouth
reminded her of their passionate kiss in the truck the day before. And she
couldn't look at his eyes, because if she saw even a hint of desire, she'd
probably throw herself into his arms in front of Justin and embarrass both of
them.
"You said either or," Zach replied, coming
up behind her. He slid his hands around her waist and pulled her against his
chest. Her heart skipped a beat as his warm breath teased her earlobe.
"Zach, Justin—"
"Is gone," he said. "It's just you and
me." His tongue snaked a hot line around her earlobe.
She gasped. "Zach, don't."
"You
don't
like it? Because I love your ears. They're so perfectly shaped, so delicate.
Did I tell you I love long, dangly earrings like the ones you're wearing?"
She swallowed hard. "I
didn't wear them for you."
"I like your dress,
too, shows off your legs. Did I ever tell you how much I like legs?"
"I think you just like
women," she said, turning in his embrace. She'd thought she'd unsettle his
hands from her waist, but he simply rearranged his grip.
He was smiling now, looking
far more pleased than when he'd walked in the door.
"What's so funny?"
she asked.
"You're so easy to
shake up."
"And you enjoy it so
much."
"I do. I really do."
"Are you going to help
me look at photos or—"
"Or spend my lunch hour kissing you senseless?
Hmmmm, I'm not sure."
She gave him a playful swat on the chest. "I think
I have a say in who's kissing me."
"And I think you'll say yes."
Katherine couldn't help a grin. "Probably,
because where you're concerned, I'm very, very weak. But I came here for a
reason. So let's get to it." She reached over to the cabinet, retrieved a
stack of photos, and set them on the desk.
Zach pulled up a chair in front of the desk as she
picked up the first photo. It was of another couple at Golden's, but judging by
the sixties clothes, it had been taken years before her mother would have been in
ordinary, just as unrevealing.
"What am I looking for?" Zach asked a few
minutes later. "I don't know what your mother looked like."
"Well, maybe you could look for photos with J.T.
or Justin or Jimmy and see if there are any women that you don't recognize."
Katherine walked around the desk and sat down.
"All right," Zach replied.
He sounded doubtful, as hopeless as she was beginning
to feel. Thirty minutes later, they'd picked out a few photos of J.T. and Mary Jo
as well as a couple of Justin and his wife, but nothing of Jimmy and no one who
reminded Katherine of her mother.
"Maybe I should quit," she said, sitting
back in her chair with a weary stretch. "What am I trying to prove anyway?"
"Hell if I know," Zach said, studying a
photo. "This is Jeff Ridgeway. I don't recognize the woman with him."
"Who is Jeff Ridgeway?" Katherine asked.
"He works over at J.T.'s farm. Take a look."
He handed her the photo? "Do you recognize her?"
The woman had blond, almost white, hair down to her
waist, and she was looking directly at the camera. She looked nothing like her
mother, and Katherine felt her heart sink once again. "It's not her,"
she said with a shake of her head. "I'm thinking about quitting, Zach."
"Well, these pictures may be a waste of time,"
he agreed. "You might be better off talking to people directly."
"No, I mean quitting everything."
He looked at her in surprise. "Why?"
"Yesterday, after you dropped me off, Leeanne
Callaway and Mary Jo Baker were waiting for me. They were polite, but they made
it clear I wasn't welcome. Mary Jo wanted to know if I'd thought of all the
people I might hurt, like Mrs. Callaway's children."
"Leeanne's children are grown and gone from the
nest."
"They might still be hurt to find out their
father had a love affair all those years ago."
"They might also be your siblings," Zach
pointed out.
Siblings? She'd never considered siblings. And yet she'd
longed for brothers and sisters. How wonderful it would be to find some now.
But would they want to know her? They were probably happy as they were.
Zach rested his elbows on the desk and stared at her
with what looked like disappointment. "You can't just give up."
"Why not? You've been telling me to do that since
I got here."
"I know, but I didn't know then what I know now.
You want this, Katherine. You want it more than anything."
"I
thought
I did. I believed that my
father didn't know about me and that finding him would make him as happy as it
would make me. I know that was naive, but it's the way I felt."
"It still could make him happy. You won't know
for sure until you find him."
"Or he might be furious that I've tracked him
down. And what about all the people I might hurt? How can I just walk in and
upset everyone's life?"
"You're too damn soft," Zach murmured.
"I care about what people think. I do."
"I know you do. But dreams come with costs.
Nothing is free. And people get hurt even when you don't want them to." He
reached across the desk. "Give me your hand."
"Why?"
"Because you need someone to pull you out."
"Pull me out of where?"
"Out of the hole you've thrown yourself into.
Give me your hand."
Katherine put her hand in his, feeling energized by
his strong warm grip.
"You said you wanted to walk on the high wire,"
he reminded her.
"And you said I might fall—and if I did, you
wouldn't be there to catch me. Maybe I just realized I need a safety net."
"Then you've got one."
"You?"
"Why not?"
She studied his face, seeing the compassion in his
eyes, an empathy she would never have expected to see in Zach. "Why the
sudden change in attitude?"
He shook his head as if unsure of the answer himself.
Finally he spoke. "You
got a bum
deal, not knowing your dad, losing your mom when you were a kid. I do remember
what it was like to be alone. If it were me, I'd leave the past in the past,
because I have a father I'd like to get rid of, but I'm not you. And I think if
you give up now, you'll be sorry for the rest of your life. I know a little bit
about impossible dreams."
Zach got up, walked around
the desk and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. "Now I need to get
back to work. Call me later and tell me if you find anything."
She looked up at him. "That
wasn't much of a kiss."
"If I start kissing
you now, I won't stop, and I'm not sure Justin would appreciate us rolling all
over his paperwork."
"You are bad."