All The Way

He knew because he remembered every word.

“I never had your wings,” she said. “I just plummet to the ground again when I try to fly.”

No. She belonged in the sky with the sun, Hunter thought, burning bright while he flew. Why couldn’t she see that? “Who?” he rasped. “Who is he? Who had you?” His fists hurt, cramped tight, ready to kill.

“No one.” She brought her chin up to challenge him. “Yet.”

“You’re going to marry someone you’ve never even been with?”

“Sex isn’t everything.”

He laughed, and the reflex was flame-hot sand in his throat.

“I need a picket fence, Hunter. Will you give it to me? Stay here? Get a job?”

“I’ve had jobs, Livie! I’ve always had a job. Is that what this is about? What do you think I’ve been eating with and buying gas with to drive back here all the time?”

Her eyes said it was the wrong answer. They went to charred black. “Go to hell, Hunter Hawk-Cole.”

He was reasonably sure he was already there.

“I called Flagstaff City Hall for your marriage license,” he said now, watching her expression. “About a year later.”

Liv felt bony, white knuckles grab her heart and squeeze. “Apparently, you never bothered checking for the divorce decree, too.”

“I figured you had enough grit to make it last. But I was wrong about a lot, wasn’t I, Livie? Did he know the baby wasn’t his?”

Johnny had known. It was why he had married her. Johnny had been her knight in shining armor. He’d loved her and was decent enough to try to give her what she’d needed most—a father for her child. “That,” she said hoarsely, “has no bearing whatsoever on this conversation.”

She saw him clench his jaw. “I really have a keen interest in finding out whether or not you passed my daughter off as someone else’s.”

She’d never done that. “You have a really rock-bottom view of my integrity, don’t you?”

“Why should my opinion be higher?” He saw her flinch and was glad. But Hunter had always loved the way she could recover.

“He knew.” Her chin came up. Her eyes narrowed haughtily.

“Does she?”

“She has a name.”

“Victoria Rose. I looked that up, too.” He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but the words were out before he could stop them.

“When?”

“Two weeks ago. Just to check. She was born eight months and twenty-nine days after the last time you and I were together.”

“Bingo.”

“You’ve still got that attitude, don’t you? The world can kiss your butt and you’ll give them directions to find it. Why that name?”

He wanted to know everything, he realized, and that surprised him. He had never wanted a child. He knew what adults could do to a kid. His Anglo relatives had dragged him to their churches when he was little. He’d been caught between three cultures—Christian, Hopi and Navajo. But all three of them had one theme in common. The sins of the father…

He had never intended to visit his own shortcomings upon progeny. He was damaged, baggage-laden, and he had always craved anything that would make him forget that for a while. Speed. Alligators. Spitting in death’s face. But whether he’d looked for her or not, Victoria Rose was here.

And he wanted to know about her. Every detail.

“The name,” he said again when Liv didn’t answer. “It’s not in your family, it’s not in mine. Was it his? Guenther’s?”

Liv hesitated, then she got that glint in her eyes. “Desert Rose was a little avant-garde for the life I envisioned for her.”

“So it was supposed to be Desert Rose.”

Again she hesitated. “Yes. But Victoria was more traditional.”

“Was she ever one of those kids who hated her name?”

He watched her expression spasm. “You don’t need to know this.”

“I do.”

“Damn you, Hunter, just go away again!”

He could do that, he thought. Maybe. Maybe. Because letting himself love the daughter meant being near the mother. But he needed to put more pieces together. “Tell me, damn it.”

He watched her gasp for breath, then the words tumbled out. “She always liked the Hawk bit better than Slade. She never took Johnny’s name.”

Hunter sat back suddenly, though there was no part of the stool to support the reflex. Something punched him, something unseen. “Then she does know.”

“She hasn’t watched racing. She makes no connection to you.”

“She will.”

“Over my dead body.” Liv felt things riot inside her. “Leave her alone. What do you have to gain by any of this?”

“I need to see her.”

“Why, Hunter, why?” Liv played her last ace card. “Is what you think you want more important than what she needs?”

“Yes. Because I’m the adult here. Her father. And I have a right to decide what’s best for her.”

“You’ve been gone her entire life!”

“Not my choice.”

There was that, Liv thought. Oh, bless her, he’d never let go of that. “Please. Trust me.”

“Never again.”