Lone Star Father. Marin Thomas

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       Chapter One

      Becoming a father was not something Reid Hardell had ever imagined for himself, especially twelve years after the fact.

      The social worker’s voice echoed in his ear. Mr. Hardell, I realize this situation caught you by surprise, but you’re the only family Jessie has left.

      Family.

      His stomach churned as the word reverberated inside his head.

      At half past midnight, he flipped on the blinker and took the exit for Stampede. He could only imagine the looks on the faces of his grandfather and brothers when Reid introduced them to his daughter. He should have warned the family that he was returning home to Texas and why, but he’d barely kept in touch with them since entering the military after high school.

      Reid had always felt like an outsider in his family and had never figured out why his father had come down harder on him than his two brothers. His jaw tightened at the memory of the old man shoving him to the ground, then kicking dirt in his face, after Reid had asked for the keys to his truck so he could take a girl to the movies. Later that night his older brother, Logan, had driven off in the pickup with his friends.

      When Reid’s enlistment in the marines was up, he hadn’t returned to Paradise Ranch. Instead, he’d chosen to settle in Albuquerque. It hadn’t made sense to go back to a place which held few good memories.

      He glanced across the seat at his daughter—the reason Reid was making this trip. Six months had passed since he’d met Jessie in September, but her name still rolled off his tongue like a boulder. He was floundering in his role as her dad and he was looking to his siblings to help him navigate fatherhood.

      Any day now Reid’s younger brother, Gunner, was going to become a first-time father and Logan had recently married a single mother with twin boys. Surely they could give him a few pointers on parenting.

      Reid’s gaze shifted to the urn propped on the seat next to Jessie. Her mother was making the eight-hour drive with them from El Paso to Stampede, an hour south of San Antonio. He’d suggested spreading the ashes before they’d left Jessie’s foster home, but she hadn’t been ready to say goodbye to her mother. He understood. Sort of.

      His father’s sudden death had cheated him out having the last word. A few weeks after Reid left for boot camp, a hit-and-run driver had killed Donny Hardell while he changed a flat tire on the side of the road. Reid remembered the phone call from his grandfather as if it had happened yesterday. First, Reid had been numb with shock, then he’d felt weightless—as if the heavy sensation resting on his chest most of his life had broken apart and vanished. His grandfather hadn’t revealed the funeral arrangements and Reid hadn’t asked. They both knew he wouldn’t be paying his respects to a man who’d treated him with contempt.

      His gaze flicked to the rearview mirror, where the corner of the glass displayed the outside temperature—fifty-nine СКАЧАТЬ