The Secret Truth at Dare Ranch (21 page)

"Your
mother was crazy about Mason. But she was also needy and craved attention.” He
glanced toward the window as if looking into the past. "She wanted more
from him than he could give I suppose. She needed him to listen to her hopes,
her dreams.” Tommy shook his head slightly. "Mason wasn't good at
listening to anyone except maybe Parker.”

He
paused for a moment and ran a hand through his hair. "Sometimes I think
the only reason he married her was to get a son, an heir for the ranch. He
neglected your mother badly after Parker's birth.” His voice rang with old
resentment and anger. Lexie never knew that Tommy had known so much about her
parent's marriage.   

He'd
neglected his daughter too. Some of the more vivid memories drifted through her
mind. Mason giving her nothing more than a smirk before turning his attention
elsewhere whenever she brought him a paper from school with a big red A on the
front. Or the time she'd worked and worked in art class to paint him a picture
of the house with the mountains as a backdrop. He'd only criticized her work
and hadn't given her as much as one word of praise.

"He
showered all of his attention on Parker and there was none left for your mother.”

Tommy's
words brought Lexie back to the present. "You talk as though you knew my
mother long before I was born."

He
nodded. "I did.” He leaned against the back of the sofa and laid his arm
across the top. "I met Maureen at a cocktail party right after I moved to
Chimney Rock. She came alone. Mason was too busy to bother I guess.” He exhaled
and smiled. "She was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen. Right after that
we started seeing each other."

Surprise
rolled through Lexie. "Wait a minute...are you saying that you and my
mother had an affair?"

"Yes.
First we'd just arrange to casually bump into each other in town but soon that
wasn't enough and we started sleeping together."

Lexie
felt a rush of trepidation begin to build inside her like the wind when a storm
flies in over the mountains and pushes the clouds and rain ahead of it. She
wanted to tell him to stop, not to say another word, but deep inside she knew
she couldn't ask him to stop. Her mother and Tommy flowers sleeping together. She
never would have guessed. It all sounded so romantic yet tarnished since her
mother was married.

He
paused and looked down at his hands. "I'm not proud of what we did, but if
there's any excuse for our actions, we did it because we were both
lonely," he said in a low voice. He turned and looked at her, his brown
eyes sharp and clear. "Please try to understand, Lexie. We needed one
another if only for a few precious months. Inevitably, our affair ran its
course and we stopped seeing each other."

He
rose from the sofa and walked over to the window with his hands jammed in his
pockets. He turned his head slightly and spoke over his shoulder. "One day
she showed up on my doorstep and told me she was pregnant.”

A
kind of buzzing started in Lexie's head and the chill she always felt after
waking from a disturbing dream crawled over her skin.

He
chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "I can remember how I felt
when she told me. You could have knocked me over with a feather."

Oh
no, this can't be.
She
squeezed her eyes tightly shut then opened them again as her heart thudded in
her chest.
Stop, please don't say it.

He
turned from the window, walked to the sofa and sat down. He took her hand and
held it between his own. "I'm your father, Lexie."

His
words echoed through her brain as she fought to breathe. Everything she thought
about herself, her father and her life was a lie. She'd worked to save
something that was never really hers to begin with. The ranch belonged to
Parker. She'd done everything in her power to please the man she'd always
thought was her father. And now in the span of a few minutes she'd discovered
why he never loved her.

Tears
stung her eyes but she blinked them back even as pain stabbed her heart. She
swallowed against the lump of grief building in her throat. Despite knowing
that Mason wasn't her father, she still loved him. For her, until the day she
died, Mason Dare would always be her father.

"Look
at me," Tommy said softly.

She
raised her gaze to his and stared into her father's eyes. "I didn't have
any money," he continued as if he hadn't just blown the bottom out of her
world.

"It
wasn't until after you were born that Maureen confessed the affair. She told me
that Mason was shocked that she would have the gall to play around on him.” He
laughed without mirth. "I guess he thought she was just supposed to take
whatever he dished out. Then he grew angry and the anger toward her never
seemed to leave. He needed control over everything and everyone in his life and
her actions had wrenched some of that control from him."

Lexie
pulled her hands away from his and folded them in her lap. She gazed toward the
window at the sky and the land that had always been such a part of her. Toby must
have sensed her mood because he came over from his spot in the sun and placed
his front paws on her legs with a look of hopeful expectation on his face. She
lifted him up from the floor and buried her nose in his fur. His warmth and the
softness of his fur gave her a kind of anchor to hold on to.

"He
told Maureen if she left him she would have to leave you behind and she
wouldn't get a dime. Everyone would know she had made a fool of him by bearing
another man's child. So, she stayed."

Lexie
looked up at him. "You didn't want me either. Did you?" she asked in
a broken whisper.

He
laid his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. His eyes searched
her face. "Of course I did. But by then I had met Emily and we were
getting married. She already had two kids from her previous marriage and didn't
want to raise anymore.” He squeezed her shoulders. "Please try to
understand. Mason would never admit you weren't his. He had too much ego and
too much pride for that. I had no choice. Mason wouldn't hand over custody
anyway.” He paused as if gathering his thoughts. "Do you think you can
ever forgive me?"

She
thought she could forgive Tommy, but she wasn't sure if she could ever forgive
Mason for making her take the blame for his wife's indiscretion. Lexie put Toby
on the floor, walked to the bay window and looked out toward Mason's grave. She
still felt anger at his indifference but she also felt pity. He'd lost so much.
His wife, his son but most of all he'd lost the love of his daughter. If only
he had been able to reach out to her and accept her for his own, everything
could have been different.

It
wasn't her fault she wasn't his biological daughter but she was still his child
wasn't she? Legally and morally at least. People adopted children all the time without
them being their biological children. But knowing her father like she did, once
something or someone was his he never let it go. And he never considered Lexie
his in the first place.

She
heard Tommy step up behind her and turned. Worry and hope creased his face. She
smiled and clasped his hands. Relief seemed to wash over him. "How can I
not forgive you? You're one of my favorite people in the whole world and
besides that...I love you. People always forgive those they love."

He
smiled and put his arms around her. "I'm glad. I'm so glad, Lexie."

After
he left, she stood at the window for a while thinking about everything Tommy
had said, then she slipped on her coat and headed outside.

# # #

Mitch
watched Lexie wave goodbye to Skinny Martin as he drove away from the barn in
his battered truck. Behind it he pulled a horse trailer and Mitch could see the
tail of Skinny's horse hanging over the door of the trailer.

A
cold wind had blown away the warmth of the morning. He watched Lexie as she looked
up and studied the sky. Fat, gray clouds were beginning to bunch. She zipped up
her coat and started for the house.

He
knew the instant she saw him. Her head lifted, along with her chin and she
stopped dead in her tracks. Her shoulders grew tense and straight beneath the
worn, leather jacket she wore. He leaned against his car and waited while he absorbed
her into his mind and heart.

When
had he fallen in love with her? Had it been the day he'd put his feet back on
the ranch after being away for seven years? Or had it been much sooner like the
night Dani was conceived?

Lexie's
hair was down today instead of in the usual braid. The wind played with the
black strands teasing her neck and cheeks that were flushed with cold.

She
wore sunglasses and Mitch wished he could see her eyes then he would know if
she still cared about him at all.

Lexie
stared at him for a moment then turned her nose toward the house and continued
walking. Damn it, she was going to ignore him all together. Angry, he took a
couple of steps toward her when she stopped suddenly at the base of the porch
steps. Without looking at him she turned her head to the side. "What do
you want, Mitch?" she asked over her shoulder.

Her
tone was as cold as the wind whipping around them. She was still hurting and he
was terrified she wasn't going to give him a chance to explain--much less forgive
him. "I want to talk to you--no I
need
to talk to you," he
said firmly.

"Too
bad 'cause I don't feel like talking," she said and marched up the stairs
toward the front door.

Panic
gripped him. "Please, Lexie. Will you at least give me a few minutes to
explain a few things before you toss me out on my ear?"

His
words stopped her. Lexie spared him a glance then gave one tiny shrug of her
shoulder signaling him to come inside and walked up the remaining steps.

When
she went through the door she left it standing open and headed straight down
the hall without even checking to see if he followed her. Mitch stepped over
the threshold and closed the door. He heaved a deep breath at conquering the
first hurdle--getting inside the house.

As
he walked down the hallway to the kitchen he remembered the first time they'd
walked this hall together just a few short weeks ago. He'd been confused and a
little nervous with an edge of anger glossing over all of his emotions. Today,
his feelings were totally different. He was just plain scared.

Toby
trotted into the kitchen ahead of him and made a beeline for his water dish
where he lapped at the water.

Without
saying a word, Lexie yanked off her jacket and draped it over a chair before
going to one of the kitchen cabinets. "I'm making tea. Want a cup?"
she offered in a stiff voice. She didn't even ask him if he wanted to sit down.

 "Yeah,
thanks," he said quietly. "Mind if I have a seat?"

"Suit
yourself," she answered in an excruciatingly polite tone.  He balled one
hand into a tight fist then willed himself to relax. Getting mad wouldn't get
him Lexie. He listened to the quiet noises she made as she prepared the tea. When
he couldn't stand the silence any longer he said, "Where was Skinny off
to?"

She
set the kettle on a burner to boil, turned and leaned against the counter. "He's
gone for good."

He
wasn't surprised. Skinny had always resented working for a woman. Good riddance
as far as Mitch was concerned. He raised a brow and looked at her. "I
thought so. What happened?"

Lexie
shrugged and gripped the edge of the counter until her knuckles turned white he
noticed. "You know--too much water under the bridge and that sort of thing.
I won't need a foreman anyway since the majority of the land isn't mine anymore.”
She speared him with an angry gaze. "Thanks to you."

She
wasn't going to make it easy for him. "Are you planning to stay mad at me
forever?"

"I
can manage 50 acres just fine by myself," she stated ignoring his
statement. "What did you
need
to talk to me about?"

He
strolled to the bank of windows in the kitchen and looked out over the ranch. He
felt her gaze boring into his back like the sharp point of a knife. Mitch
turned and looked at her straight on. Her blue eyes were clear and beautiful
but full of resentment and gleaming with sadness.

He
wanted to go to her and smooth the tension from her shoulders, to make
happiness bloom again in her eyes, but he knew she wouldn't let him touch her. "I
know you feel that I betrayed you, Lexie and I'm sorry. You have to believe me."

Angry
tears glimmered in her eyes. She licked her lips and swallowed. "You're
sorry. Why? You got everything you wanted," she said in an icy, exacting
tone.

He
shook his head. "No...I didn't get everything. I didn't get you...or Dani.”
The resentment in her face and eyes faded and the grim line of her mouth
softened. He took it as a sign and took one step forward. "The bank planned
to take every last acre, all of the ranch's equipment plus the house."

"I
know all that," she said in a controlled voice.

"Let
me finish," he said fighting for calm, fighting for her. Her shoulders
relaxed and she blinked her eyes a couple of times against the tears that
pooled in their depths. Mitch took another step toward her. When she didn't
back away, the panic inside him began to ease. "I didn't want you to have
to sacrifice
all
of the land
and
the house. I know how much this
place means to you and Dani. There's more to the deal I made than just the land.
If you'll let me, I'll explain it to you."