Gambling On a Heart. Sara Walter Ellwood

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СКАЧАТЬ to Zack, he was severely lacking, but he wasn’t necessarily a bad father. He wasn’t a deadbeat dad. He never hit their son, nor had he lacked interest in Bobby. Sure, Jake lost his temper and said things that hurt him, but in Jake’s mind, he was better than his old man. Jake’s father had been physically abusive and cruel.

      Her mother shook her head and lifted her cup to her lips. “Jake Parker has been bad news ever since you let him into your life. What in God’s name did you see in him to make you do what you did? Zack has turned into such a wonderful young man. He’s such a doting father too.”

      Tracy tightened her grip on the mug until her knuckles whitened. Her mother knew the story, every disgusting detail. She didn’t need to be a mind reader to know her mother wished Zack was her grandson’s father.

      Tracy set her cup down with a thump, angry at her own stupid foolishness as much as her mother for bringing up the past. “I don’t know, Mom. I thought Jake loved me.”

      “But you never loved him. Just like you probably didn’t love the man you left Jake for.”

      She pinned her mother with a glower. “You really haven’t a clue, do you?”

      “About what?” She lowered her mug.

      Tracy stood and fisted her hands by her sides. “I didn’t leave Jake for another man.”

      “But everyone knows you lived for almost a year with someone in Waco before moving back. You haven’t even told me his name.”

      “That’s because I wasn’t living with anyone!” When her mother’s brow puckered, Tracy sighed and relaxed her hands. “It was Logan.”

      “Zack’s brother?”

      Tracy would have laughed at her mother’s widened eyes if her total lack of faith didn’t slice right through Tracy’s gut. “Yes. Logan gave me a loan to move away from Jake and helped me get a job with a friend of his at a salon in the city. Over the years, Logan became my best friend.” Tracy shook her head and looked away. “At first, we kept our friendship secret because he was Zack’s brother. Now we do because of the hideous rumor I left Jake and shacked up with some guy in Waco. We never wanted people to wonder. If Winnie Cartwright didn’t like me so much, I’m sure that little rumor Jake and his mother put out there would have flamed as out of control as a brush fire in August.” She faced her mom again and winced. “I’ve never slept with Logan. It would be like being with my brother.”

      “I had no idea.”

      “Of course not.” Tracy crossed her arms. “You haven’t had much interest in anything concerning Dylan and me since high school. And the fact you’d believe a rumor started by my ex-husband to drag my reputation further into the dirt really hurts.” She spun away.

      “Your father and I have always cared about you and your brother.”

      Tracy faced her mother. “Right. If it hadn’t been for Maddie–”

      “Stop right there.” Mom scowled and held up a finger. “I’ll admit I wish I’d been here when you found out about your first pregnancy, but you were supposed to be a responsible adult by then, too. You were supposed be working toward your medical degree. Not–” She swallowed and shook her finger. “Don’t you dare compare me with my stepmother.”

      The French doors opened and her father, following two noisy ginger-colored Yorkies, stepped into the kitchen. Retired General Robert Quinn looked from Tracy to Eileen. “Am I interrupting one of those mother-daughter talks?”

      “Yes.” Her mother glared at her.

      “No,” Tracy said at the same time as her mom.

      “Okay,” her father drew out in his East Coast accent and started moving across the kitchen. “I’ve been a soldier long enough to know to stay out of no-man’s-land. Goodnight, ladies.”

      “Sit down, Dad.” Tracy looked at her mother. “Mom and I are finished.”

      “Alright then.” Her father looked again from her mother to Tracy, obviously unconvinced. “Where’s Bobby?”

      “Sleeping. He’s worn out.” She retook her seat across from her mother.

      Tracy cringed when her dad chuckled and took a chair beside her mother. A team of interrogators couldn’t be more intimidating than her mother and father. “He and Cartwright’s little girl seemed to get along well.”

      She jumped out of her chair and headed for the teakettle on the stove. Was there no escaping the topic of Zack Cartwright and his little girl? At first, Bobby hadn’t wanted to have anything to do with Amanda when she’d approached him while the adults danced and mingled after the wedding dinner.

      “I think it was a combination of boredom on Bobby’s part, and Amanda’s determination in showing Bobby she wasn’t a sissy.” Tracy went about making her father a cup of the god-awful instant coffee he drank from the hot water still in the teakettle.

      She returned to the table with the cup of the so-called coffee and asked her mother if she wanted more tea. Despite their tiff, Eileen was still Tracy’s mother, and she’d been raised to respect her parents. Her mother declined. Tracy refreshed her cup, set the kettle back on the stove, and returned to the table.

      Her father took a sip of his coffee. “I enjoyed watching the kids. Amanda’s definitely a tomboy under the lace and frills.”

      Once her mother finished her tea, she raised her brow and smirked at her husband. “You and Zack seemed to get along well.”

      Dad shrugged and lifted the lid on a cookie jar in the middle of the table. “Zack’s came a long way from the days he played cowboy. He’s a good man.”

      He removed five chocolate chip cookies, and her mom held up three fingers. He sighed and dropped one of the cookies back into the jar. “Damn shame about his being wounded, then losing his wife, but he seems to have bounced back and settled into civilian life. He told me he and his cousin Lance are seriously getting into the cattle business.” He dunked one of the cookies into his coffee and popped it into his mouth. “I guess when it’s in the blood, the ranching bug can’t be fought. Look at my own son. The Quinns have a military history going back to an aide de camp to General George Washington, but Dylan’s damned Texas blood is too strong. I’ll never understand the whole cowboy allure.”

      “That’s because you’re a damned Yankee,” her mother teased in her best southern drawl and leaned toward him. She kissed him on the lips and winked. Then she took one of his remaining cookies, but he took it back by grabbing her wrist and plucking the cookie out of her fingers. She narrowed her eyes at him. “But I’ve never held that against you.”

      He held up the cookie and popped it into his mouth around his smile. Her father’s gray eyes twinkled. He loved his wife with his entire being.

      What Tracy wouldn’t do to have a man–have Zack–look at her that way, especially after thirty-eight years of marriage.

      He swallowed the cookie with a sip of coffee. “Well, I’m glad that’s the only thing you haven’t.”

      Tracy groaned and covered her ears with her hands. “Ugh! I’m gonna be scarred for life soon.” She loved her parents and admired their СКАЧАТЬ