Oklahoma Reunion. Tina Radcliffe

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СКАЧАТЬ for spring break sophomore year, as I recall. Some legal internship your parents had arranged in D.C.”

      Ryan’s jaw tightened, and the muscle in his right cheek twitched. “It was a week and a half. You couldn’t have waited for me? The father of your child?”

      “My father kicked me out.” She took a deep breath. Suddenly she had no energy to defend herself. Once again, she was convicted before she began. “I was homeless. Nineteen and pregnant with nowhere to go. I was scared, and I didn’t have any options. I had to make decisions very fast.”

      There was more to the story. Oh, yes, much more. But Ryan certainly wasn’t ready to hear everything tonight. She held back to protect him, and because deep down inside she doubted he’d believe her anyhow. What chance did her word have against Elizabeth Delaney Jones’s?

      For several long moments, neither of them spoke.

      “Did you think I wouldn’t be a good father?”

      Surprised, Kait jerked back at his words. “Where did that come from? No. I hadn’t even thought that far down the road, Ryan. I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. I called Molly Springer, and she helped me. Molly has family in Philly. She found a place for me to stay and was there when Jenna was born.”

      Again Ryan’s face became a twisted mask of anguish. His words were raw with pain. “I missed the birth of my daughter. Dear Lord, I’ve missed so much.”

      Aching for him, Kait considered his words, not sure how to comfort him. Suddenly he was very quiet, his face stony. His eyes moved from her ringless hand to her face. “You were going to let someone else be Jenna’s father before giving me a chance.”

      “It wasn’t … I didn’t …” Her eyes pricked with emotion. “That wasn’t how it was at all, Ryan.”

      “How was it, Kait?” He blinked and looked away. “You had years to call me. Years. That’s what hurts most of all.”

      How could she ever explain? Time and again she had tried to pick up the phone. With each passing day, the bridge to her past crumbled further. It was easier not to look back and to convince herself Ryan wouldn’t be waiting anyhow.

      “I’m sorry, Ryan. I’m so sorry.”

      “Sorry isn’t going to cut it, Kait.”

      “Ryan, I—”

      “No. I’m pretty sure this conversation is over.” Swallowing, he straightened and glanced at his watch. “For now. It’s late, and I’m functioning on an empty tank. I don’t want to say something we’ll both regret.”

      Kait nodded.

      Arms crossed, Ryan met her gaze head-on. His eyes flashed cold and dark.

      She shivered. She’d never seen this side of Ryan before.

      “I want to get to know Jenna. I want to get to know my daughter.”

      He turned from her and walked slowly to his pickup, head bowed with the weight of his burden.

      “That’s what I want, too,” Kait whispered as he drove away.

      Pointing the pickup toward Tishomingo, Ryan drove. The three-and-a-half-hour trip took considerably less. It was after ten when he pulled up the long dirt-and-gravel drive and parked outside the rambling farmhouse. Twilight had long since disappeared, and a dark blanket of a country night covered everything.

      The tension that held his shoulders tight and his jaw clenched finally eased. He released a deep breath and got out of the truck. Stones crunched beneath his boots as he approached the porch. The creaking of a rocking chair accompanied a chorus of cicadas.

      “You know what time it is?” His grandfather’s voice reached him.

      Ryan glanced at his watch. “Way past your bedtime.”

      “Guess I must have been waiting up for you.” Gramps glanced over at the truck. “You still driving that old piece of tin?”

      “Gets fair mileage and keeps the women away.”

      Gramps laughed loud and hard.

      The small porch light was enough to detail his grandfather’s rhythmic motions in the chair. As usual, Gramps wore a clean white T-shirt and pair of well-worn overalls. His remaining tufts of white hair stood straight up on a shiny scalp. Nearing eighty-four, Harlan Lukas Jones never changed. Ryan thanked God for that. The man was his rock, his sanity in a crazy world.

      “Everyone okay?” Gramps asked.

      “Yeah.”

      The older man lifted a glass of lemonade to his lips. “There’s more in the house. Help yourself.”

      “I’m good.”

      Gramps looped his foot around another rocker, the twin to the one he sat in, and pulled it close. “Then have a seat.”

      Weariness settled on Ryan as he eased into the chair and leaned against the smooth slats. “Nice weather for the first week of October.”

      “Bit of a breeze but nice. Frost coming soon. That’ll quiet those cicadas.”

      Ryan nodded.

      “Good chili-cooking weather, too, but I’m guessing you didn’t come out here to discuss the weather or cooking. What’s on your mind, son? You look like you’ve gone a few rounds with the devil tonight.”

      Ryan inhaled, steadying his emotions. “She’s back.”

      They were silent for a while, chairs slowly moving in unison.

      His grandfather gave a thoughtful shake of his head. “Time changed her?” he finally asked.

      “Not really.” If anything, Kait was more of everything that tugged at his heart and soul. As a woman, the emotions she stirred in him were more powerful than ever.

      “What are you feeling?”

      “No different.” He paused, relieved at the admission. “The trouble is, I’m not sure if I’m still in love with her because that’s all I know or because that’s all I want to know.”

      “Little of both, I imagine.” Gramps set his glass on the ground. “She married?”

      “No.” Ryan glanced down.

      “Your folks never cared for Kait. You know that.”

      “I didn’t let that stand in the way, Gramps.”

      “You’ve never gone nose to nose with your folks, either.”

      “I’m not a lawyer, am I?”

      “This isn’t like choosing veterinary medicine over law school, son. If it’s change you’re looking for, you’re going to have to quit straddling the fence.”

      Ryan shook his head. He knew his grandfather was right. He rarely СКАЧАТЬ