The Heart of a Cowboy. Trish Milburn

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      “Hey, Dad.” Somehow she managed to force some chipper light into her voice as she sat and placed her hand over his gnarled one.

      He tried to squeeze her hand but obviously didn’t have the strength to do so. Sadness swept over her, not so much that his life was ending but that so much of it had been wasted. All the times he’d made her mad, embarrassed her, caused her to question why she hadn’t been born into another family tumbled through her mind. It all could have been so different if he hadn’t been trapped in an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

      “I’d like to talk to Natalie alone.” He took a shallow breath, as if only a small portion of his lungs remained functional.

      Natalie tried to figure out why he’d want her mother and Allison to leave the room, but then she caught a glance between her parents, an understanding of some sort. What was going on?

      Her mom ushered an equally confused Allison from the room and closed the door behind them. When Natalie looked back at her dad, his eyes were closed, and for a split second she thought he was gone. But then she saw the faint movement of his chest.

      “Do you remember when I took you fishing the first time?”

      Her forehead wrinkled at the out-of-nowhere question, and she wondered if his mind was going before his body. When he opened his eyes and focused on her, she realized she hadn’t answered him.

      “Yeah. The first and only, if I recall.”

      The edges of his mouth lifted in a weak smile, and she forced one in return though she’d never felt less like smiling.

      “You always did love animals of all kinds, couldn’t stand to see them hurt,” he said. “I can still see the tears in your eyes when you realized the hook was stuck in the fish’s mouth.”

      Even though she’d been sad at the time, as she looked back it was one of her favorite memories of her dad. They’d still lived in Texas then, and that day he’d seemed to be totally sober, the kind of dad she’d always wanted. Though it’d been many years since that day, she remembered the hope that had surged within her. Sometimes hope was cruel when it led you down a path toward even more hurt.

      His smile faded away, and she wasn’t sure if it was because it took too much energy to maintain or a darker thought had shoved aside the happy memory.

      Despite everything, she searched for a way to make him smile again. “I remember we sat beside the lake and had chicken-salad sandwiches and bread-and-butter pickles from the Primrose Café.”

      The barest hint of a smile tugged at his lips. “I can’t believe you remember all those details. You were so small.”

      She’d liked living in Blue Falls and the fun she’d had with her best friend, Chloe. But she also remembered how her heart had broken when her dad said they had to move to Kansas. She’d watched the lights of Blue Falls fade away as she stared through the back window of their old Buick sedan, fat tears streaming down her face.

      Her father turned his hand so that he could hold hers. “I’m sorry I wasn’t the father you and your sisters should have had. I wanted to be, but...” He shook his head on his pillow. “There’s no excuse.”

      She wanted to tell him it was okay, to let him be able to slip into the next life knowing he was forgiven. But the words got stuck in her throat, and all she could manage was to squeeze his hand. He looked so haunted, more so than she’d ever seen him.

      “What was it that made you drink so much, Dad?” She’d asked before, many times, but he’d never had an answer. The intensity of her need to know felt as if it was burning a hole inside her. This time, when his eyes met hers, she could tell he was finally going to tell her. Suddenly, she was scared to know the truth. Had it been better all along not knowing?

      No, she needed this answer, whether or not it proved satisfying.

      “There was a reason we left Texas. I...I was in an accident.” He paused, and she wondered if he was reconsidering telling her the truth. “I hit someone, and then I ran.”

      “You were in a hit-and-run?” For some reason, it took a moment for her to realize he’d fled because he was driving drunk, that he could have ended up in jail.

      “Yes. I hit another car. I stopped to check on the driver, but...there was nothing I could do.”

      Natalie’s stomach churned. Surely he wasn’t saying what it seemed, that he’d... “Dad, no.”

      “I knew the moment I saw her that she was dead.”

      Oh, God, this couldn’t be happening. Without thinking, she slipped her hand out of her father’s grasp. “You’re confused, not remembering things correctly.” That was a symptom of late-stage liver failure, right? This couldn’t be a horrible deathbed confession.

      “I wish that was true.” He shifted his eyes to stare at the ceiling, and she got the impression it was so he wouldn’t cry. “But the truth is that your father is worse than you ever realized. I killed someone and I never owned up to it, not even when I realized who I’d hit.”

      “You knew her?” Her question came out as a strangled whisper. But in the next breath, the true horror of his confession slammed into her. “No. Please tell me you’re not saying what I think you are.”

      His bottom lip trembled and he lost the war against his tears. “It was Karen Brody.”

      Natalie stood so quickly that she knocked the chair over and nearly followed it to the floor. Karen Brody, Chloe’s mom, the woman who had been like a second mother to Natalie. As if the mere mention of her name pulled a sense memory from Natalie’s mind, she suddenly smelled fresh sugar cookies straight from Karen’s oven.

      She paced across the room, hoping that she was having a nightmare and the movement would make her wake up. But when she finally stopped and looked at her dad, any hope that she was dreaming disappeared like water down a drain.

      For what felt like hours, she simply stood searching for something to say. But what did you say when your father admitted he’d killed your best friend’s mother?

      “Mom and I went to her funeral. Chloe clung to me and cried so hard I thought she would fall to pieces.” She shook her head slowly, her heart breaking in so many ways she couldn’t count them all. “Why didn’t you come forward?”

      “Because I was scared, a coward. And we thought they’d take you away from us.”

      It took a few beats for Natalie to process all the information coming toward her like poison-tipped arrows. “We?” Then the way her parents had exchanged that glance a few minutes before caused a lump to form in her throat. “Mom knew? Oh, my God. She knew and she still walked into that funeral home and hugged Karen’s kids.”

      Her stomach churned so violently she was afraid she was going to vomit.

      “We were so scared. We couldn’t lose you and your sisters.”

      “Chloe, Owen and Garrett lost their mother!”

      A sob shook her father’s failing body, and she did her best to rein in her anger.

      “If I could go back and do things СКАЧАТЬ