The Texan's Surprise Son. Cathy McDavid

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СКАЧАТЬ and her sister had never agreed on a father’s responsibility toward his children. Leah believed as their mother did: a man was unnecessary and would ultimately break your heart. Mariana felt the complete opposite. Fathers had a moral responsibility to their children as well as a fiscal one. Her profession only reinforced that in her mind.

      Shortly after the memorial service, she began accumulating information on Jacob. No way would she allow him visitation, much less share custody of her nephew, should he be unfit.

      Jacob certainly had the means to support a son. He was from a wealthy family, was college educated, held a good position as senior safety manager at Baron Energies’ largest drill site—though she was surprised he wasn’t further up the food chain—owned his own home and was, by all accounts, an upstanding citizen.

      He had only one fault in her opinion, and it was a doozy. Rodeoing. Besides the frequent nomadic lifestyle, there were also buckle bunnies. A man with Jacob’s good looks was bound to have a vast following, though from Mariana’s research, he didn’t avail himself.

      Except, apparently, for her sister. Though by her own admission, Leah had misled him.

      Mariana’s sense of right and wrong had eventually prevailed, and she decided to approach Jacob. She just hadn’t planned on it being today. Maybe she should have curbed her impulses when those signs for the rodeo appeared.

      “Please don’t feel that I’m pressuring you into anything,” she said to him. “We’ll take this one step at a time at whatever speed you’re comfortable.”

      “If he is my son, I’ll do the right thing.”

      “Good. We’re in agreement on that.”

      Mariana didn’t jump for joy. She’d heard fathers make similar statements before, then go back on their word. If that happened, she was prepared to raise Cody herself. More than prepared, she was happy to. She loved her nephew.

      She turned from the road onto the freeway. It had grown dark since they left the rodeo grounds. Jacob’s face was cast in shadows. Mariana allowed herself to relax. She wouldn’t be distracted by him for the remainder of the trip home.

      “What’s the first step?” he asked, the edge in his voice unmistakable. “Meeting him?”

      “We start with the DNA testing. I can give you the name of a facility my firm uses. It’s downtown, not far from Baron Energies’ offices. Or we can use one of your own choosing.”

      “Is there one in southwest Dallas? The farther south and west the better. I can drive over at lunch tomorrow.”

      He wanted a facility near the drill site where he worked. That made sense.

      “If you give me your phone number when I drop you off, I’ll research a location and text you the info tomorrow morning after I arrange for the testing. You can go in at your convenience. But if you’d be kind enough to let me know when you do, I’d appreciate it.”

      “Okay.”

      “It’s a very simple and quick procedure.”

      “How long? For the results,” he clarified.

      “Five to seven business days. You’ll be notified by email when the results are available and—”

      “Okay,” he said again in a tone that clearly implied he was through discussing the testing.

      Again, she cut him some slack. This was an enormous amount to process. She must be patient.

      Several minutes of silence followed, after which he asked, “Then what?”

      “If the results are positive, we can set up a meeting for you and Cody.”

      “Who’s taking care of him now? Seeing as you’re here.”

      That wasn’t a question she’d expected from him. “He’s in day care during the week when I’m at work. Today, my mother’s watching him. She lives in Austin and drives up every other weekend.”

      “How does she feel about this? You telling me.”

      Another unexpected question. Mariana relied on the skills she acquired as an attorney to maintain her composure and smiled. “She doesn’t know.”

      “She doesn’t approve.”

      Jacob was obviously more astute than she’d first thought.

      “She loves Cody very much, and he’s all she has left of Leah.” The painful lump returned, forcing Mariana to wait before speaking. “I decided not to tell her until you and I had talked and the DNA results are in. Why upset the apple cart for no reason?”

      Several more minutes of silence passed. Mariana was ready to spend the remainder of the ride with only her own thoughts for company when Jacob spoke softly from the darkness.

      “Tell me about him. Cody. What’s he’s like?”

      For the first time since she’d approached him on the rodeo midway, she began to think Jacob might have an interest in Cody.

      She described her charming yet headstrong nephew until the next exit on the freeway, when Jacob’s lack of response caused her earlier doubts to return. If he turned out to be like Mariana’s father, then poor little Cody would be the one to pay the price.

       Chapter Two

      The noise was constant and nearly deafening, even with earplugs. Jacob didn’t remove the small foam devices until he was far from the drill site, stuffing them into the front pocket of his work shirt. He could still hear the rig and the generators grinding in the distance. Sometimes, he thought he could hear them in his sleep.

      His hard hat came off next, and he ran fingers through his perpetually damp hair. The drill site was in a constant state of sweltering, summer, winter, spring and fall. In addition to noise, the massive drill gave off enormous amounts of heat. Today, Mother Nature added to their discomfort by providing unseasonably warm weather for early November.

      Jacob opened the door to his truck, tossing his hard hat and fluorescent-green vest onto the passenger seat. His aim was good—or bad, depending on one’s perspective. The hat hit a stack of papers and hand tools, knocking them onto the floorboard. He didn’t bother straightening the mess.

      I’m a father. Could be a father, he amended. He’d find out for sure when the test results came back in roughly a week. As Mariana mentioned, he’d receive an email with a link to the lab’s secure website where he could log in and view the results.

      One email, and his life could be forever changed in ways he had only begun to imagine.

      Jacob lived twenty minutes from the drill site and twenty-five minutes from Baron Energies’ headquarters in Dallas. Convenient. He’d bought the house last year, planning on being promoted from the field to an executive position. That had yet to happen.

      Brock refused to consider transferring Jacob. Not until he’d “gained more experience.” In truth, Brock had been waiting and hoping for Jet, his biological son, СКАЧАТЬ