Colton's Secret Son

His anger eased at thoughts of his youngest sister, Jade. Despite the nine years difference in their ages, he’d always been particularly close to her.

A smile curved his lips as he turned into Hill Country Farm, Jade’s home. Ahead of him was her house, but around the house were her passions. Vegetable gardens were just beginning to awaken with what would be summer bounty. Stables and a riding arena were on the right, and a barn with chickens, goats and pigs was on the left.

The house itself was small, but exuded a sense of stability and welcome. Pots of purple pansies sat on the porch, dipping and waving their heads in the light spring breeze.

Before he’d stopped his car, Jade stepped out on the porch, a wide smile of greeting on her pretty face. He parked and got out of the car and she raced toward him, her dark brown ponytail bouncing as her sweet laughter filled the air.

She jumped into his arms and he picked her up and spun her around. His cowboy hat flew off his head before he deposited her back on the ground and gave her a firm kiss on the forehead.

“Oh, Knox, I’ve missed you so much,” she said.

“And I’ve missed you,” he replied as he picked up his hat and plopped it back on his head. “You look terrific, Jade.”

She stepped back from him and eyed him. “You don’t look half-bad yourself, big brother.” She gave him a playful punch in the stomach. “At least you haven’t gone to seed in your old age.”

“Hey, I’m only thirty-three. I’m still in my prime,” he retorted.

She linked her arm with his. “Come on inside. I’ve got the coffee on and I made a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls.”

“Hmm, nothing better on a Saturday morning than cinnamon rolls and time with you,” he replied.

Minutes later the two siblings sat across from each other at the round oak table in the kitchen that smelled of spices and sunshine. Yellow curtains fluttered at the open windows as the sweet scent of new grass and budding flowers drifted in.

“So, how’s Ranger life?” Jade asked as she set a small plate with a cinnamon roll the size of the palm of his hand before him.

“It was great until two weeks ago.” He frowned down into his coffee cup and then looked up and met his sister’s gaze. “And then day before yesterday I was told rather forcefully that a sabbatical might be a good idea right now.”

Jade’s brown eyes darkened. “Because of Mother’s escape from prison.” Knox gave a curt nod of his head. “How long are you on sabbatical for?”

“An undetermined amount of time,” he replied. “I have become somewhat of an embarrassment with a mother who plotted and succeeded with an elaborate escape from Red Peak Maximum Security Prison. I was told to lie low until she was no longer a hot news item and was caught.” The burn of anger was back in his stomach.

“I can’t believe she managed to pay off so many guards and got into the infirmary and through two more security checks before cutting a hole in the floor and slithering down into the sewer system.”

“A new sewer system that she somehow arranged to be built,” he added drily. “And you’ve probably heard that in the construction site she was picked up by a white van outside the prison walls.”

“And the van had no plates or distinguishing marks when it was found abandoned near the Mexican border,” Jade added. “I watch the news, too.”

What had been kept out of the news was that there had been blood found on the side of the van, blood that hadn’t belonged to Livia Colton, but Knox wasn’t telling that to Jade or anyone else. Knox had been told this by his boss before the upper brass cut him out of the information chain.

The information was being intentionally held back by the authorities. Someone had been at the scene at the Mexican border with Livia and that someone had apparently been hurt. Knox had a feeling the identity of that person was already known to somebody in law enforcement, but it was a piece of information that hadn’t been told or leaked. By now, the blood left behind at the van would have been analyzed and he couldn’t help but believe DNA had been matched to somebody.

“Then you know the latest is that she was spotted in Mexico, and that’s where I hope she stays until she burns in hell,” Knox said forcefully.

Jade reached across the table and grabbed his hand with her much smaller one. “Knox, you need to release some of that anger. It knots up in your veins and makes me believe the Hulk could pop out of you at any time.”

A wry grin curved his mouth. “Maybe what I need to keep the Hulk inside is a couple of bites of this magnificent cinnamon roll.”

She flashed him a beautiful smile. “Dig in.”

As he enjoyed not one, but two of the breakfast treats, Jade caught him up on her business. She ran a rehab center for off-track Thoroughbred horses, hoping to give them second careers as pleasure riding mounts or hunter-jumpers.

It was obvious she loved what she did; it shone from the happiness in her eyes, in the flush of her cheeks as she spoke about the horses. Knox had loved being a Texas Ranger, but his mother had stolen that from him, at least for now.

At least Jade seemed to be thriving, despite the fact that their mother had been in prison for drug charges and murder.

“So, where are you staying while you’re in town?” Jade asked.

“I was going to see about staying in the apartment at Mac’s, but Thorne insisted I bunk with him, so I’m at his place.” Mac Mackenzie was the closest thing to a father figure that Knox knew; Thorne was his son with Livia, although all of Livia’s children shared the Colton last name. Thorne had a ranch not too far away from Jade’s. “Wht’s new with everyone else?” he asked, wondering about the rest of their Colton siblings.

Jade shrugged. “Nobody has heard anything from River lately, so we’re all assuming he’s still a marine and someplace overseas. Claudia is apparently living her dream in New York and Leonor is still in Austin.”

“Or helping Mother stay hidden in Mexico.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Jade protested. Knox raised an eyebrow and Jade continued. “I know Leonor was the last to believe that Mother was guilty of all the charges against her, but she would never aid her in an escape.”

Knox didn’t reply. He wasn’t sure what his sister might do to help their mother. She’d clung to her belief in Livia’s innocence far longer than any of the other siblings and had been the only one who had visited Livia in prison.

“Why don’t you take me outside and show me around,” he said, suddenly tired of thoughts of their mother.

“I’d love to,” she replied. He grabbed his hat from a nearby chair and together they walked out of Jade’s door.

It was with great pride that she pointed out the vast gardens and the area that was a petting zoo where local schools often brought their classes to visit.

“I love it when the children come,” Jade said. “And these animals love all the attention they get on those days.”

They reached a pasture fence, beyond which were several of the horses she’d devoted her life to giving a second chance at a different kind of life.

He turned to look at her. “You’re happy here.” It was a statement, not a question.

She smiled. “I am.” The smile faded away and her eyes darkened. “And I’ll feel a lot happier when our mother is once again behind bars. I worry that she knows I helped put her there in the first place.”

Knox pulled her into an embrace. “Don’t worry, Jade. It would be stupid for her to show up here, and we both know that she isn’t a stupid woman.”

No, Livia definitely wasn’t stupid. She was a cunning, manipulative sociopath who had seen her children only as tools to be used to gain her wealth and power. She trotted them out for photo ops when it served her purpose and then handed them off to a nanny and forgot about them until the next time they could be useful to her. And that had been the very least of her crimes.

“You’re right,” Jade replied as he released her. She stared out into the distance for a moment and then laughed. “You remember her lacy handkerchiefs?”

“How could I forget? She thought carrying one made her look all high society, and God forbid if she couldn’t find a particular one in her drawer. She’d have all of us searching high and low for a pink-or lilac-colored hankie. But enough about her, let’s go see your stables.”

As they walked toward the stables, Jade told him about the racehorses that came to her, many of whom might otherwise have been headed to the glue factory, or sadly sold for meat.

“The first thing I have to do is make sure they’re healthy,” she explained. “And then they have to be socialized with both people and the rest of the herd.”

They entered the stables and Knox immediately spied a young boy sweeping up. “Cody, come and meet my brother,” Jade called out to him.

The boy set the broom aside and approached them with a friendly smile on his face. “This is my brother Knox,” Jade said. She placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “And this is Cody, the best nine-year-old helper and horse lover I’ve ever met.”

“It’s nice to meet you, sir.” The boy stuck out a hand to shake.