The Rancher's Surprise Daughter

“Nope.” Luc dropped to the sofa, his body no longer functioning with coherent thought or movement.

He hadn’t seen Ruby or Cate since last Saturday because he’d decided the most logical course of action was to wait until he knew for sure that she was his daughter. Though Cate hadn’t shown any doubt, she’d agreed to his suggestion that they not say anything to Ruby until they had the paternity test results back.

But waiting was as easy as living with a broken toe.

In the short time he’d spent with Ruby on Saturday while she’d ridden Buster, he’d quickly come to the conclusion that his possible daughter was captivating. Entertaining. And bubbled with as much energy as her little body could harness.

The only other time Luc had been smitten so fast was with one other female, who, when he and Ruby had returned to the corral after twenty minutes instead of ten, had been spitting mad.

Luc could admit he had fully enjoyed Cate’s disgruntled state. Currently, his guilt meter regarding anything she thought rested solidly at a zero.

Hers should be shooting through the roof.

“What’s she like?”

“Ruby’s...” How to narrow it down? “Sweet. She talks nonstop. The kind of girl who would make friends with a fly.” He’d gathered that because she had, in fact, talked to the fly that had ridden on Buster’s saddle horn for part of the ride. And she’d befriended Luc instantly, jabbering the whole time. He’d learned that she had a best friend at day care and that her mom didn’t let her do more than an hour of “lectonics” in a day even though some kids got to do bunches more.

That one had made him smile. He’d found himself silently agreeing with Cate.

Ruby had told him her mom read “lots” of books to her every night, announcing it as though she was the most special girl in the world and their reading time only confirmed it.

That information had created an uncomfortable surge of sympathy in Luc, flooding him with images of Cate juggling everything on her own. Ruby and her condition. Work. Bills. How had she managed it all? From what he knew of her parents, he couldn’t imagine them stepping in to help when Cate had found out she was pregnant. But he’d quickly stomped out the rush of concern that came with imagining Cate doing everything on her own.

He was not going to feel bad for her. Not after the decision she’d made to keep Ruby from him.

Luc had gotten a DNA test done in town first thing Monday morning. They’d sent in his sample, and Cate and Ruby had gone to the testing place in Denver. Now it was ticking toward five on Friday, and he was tormented to think he’d spend the weekend without knowing the results. So much felt undecided. And on top of his questions, Cate had texted him the date of Ruby’s procedure. One week from today.

“So Cate didn’t explain why she never told you about Ruby?” Gage’s dark hair looked as rumpled as Luc’s. At least he could count on sympathy and understanding from his friend. Gage had been through a horrible ordeal when his wife left. Sometimes Luc wondered if the man would ever recover.

“Nope. But I really didn’t let her. What does it matter? What’s done is done.” Anger boiled under the surface. Those last two comments were lies. He both wanted to know what Cate had been thinking and felt so wounded and aggravated that he didn’t believe any answer she gave would help.

“Luc.” Gage’s voice snapped with concern, but Luc wasn’t sure he could handle any more girl talk—problems that didn’t have solutions were his least favorite subject. “Your phone just buzzed.” Gage motioned to the coffee table.

Luc snagged it and opened the new email, relief tingling through his limbs when he saw it contained the results. Sawdust coated his mouth, saliva running for the hills. He clicked to read the report, the letters swimming before him. Not Excluded was typed across the top of the page in bold print. The testing facility had coached him on what this meant.

He was Ruby’s father.

The phone slipped from his grip, bouncing lightly on the sofa cushion.

“I’m a dad.”

It was as though he’d taken a horse kick to the chest, the air in his lungs instantly gone. He and Gage stared at each other. Frozen.

Unable to stay still, Luc pushed up from the couch, his strides quickly covering the small cabin’s living room. He ended up at the back window that faced open ranchland, seeing the grass-covered hills in a new light. Yesterday it had been land passed down to Luc and his sisters when their parents had moved to a warmer climate in order to accommodate his mom’s health. Today a new generation existed. A little girl with silky hair and a nonstop mouth and adorable brown eyes who was his. His.

“I have to see her.” He crossed the space and rummaged for his keys in the kitchen junk drawer.

Gage followed him. “Don’t you think you should wait? Calm down first?”

Why did he have so many scraps of paper in this stupid drawer? Items tumbled over each other as he searched for the simple metal key ring. “I don’t see a real possibility of that happening in the very near future.”

“Guess not.” Gage nudged Luc to the side, then found the truck keys in a much calmer, more methodical manner.

But then again, Gage hadn’t just found out he was positively a father.

His friend offered up the keys on the palm of his hand. “Do you want me to go with you?”

Luc appreciated Gage’s support, but he needed some time to clear his head. Maybe the drive would help, though he wasn’t confident anything would at the moment. “Nah. Thanks, though.” He snatched the metal ring that held three keys and proceeded to the front door, snagging his boots.

“What are you going to do? About custody?”

He paused to glance at Gage after yanking on the first boot. “What do you mean? What can I do?”

“File for it.”

“I don’t know.” He couldn’t think beyond seeing Ruby right now. Couldn’t deal with logistics. “I’m angry, but I’m not sure that’s the answer.”

“You need to protect yourself. She’s already kept Ruby from you for years. Who’s to say she won’t take off and disappear to another state and you’ll never see your child again?”

Red flashed, and Luc pulled on the second boot with heated force. Cate wouldn’t...would she? But the same thought had entered his mind. When they’d readied to leave on Saturday, Luc had wondered if he’d ever see them again. Cate had written down her address and phone number, almost as though proving to him she wouldn’t do anything of the sort.

Still, how could he trust her after what she’d done?

“Do you want me to look into it? See what your options are? I know someone who deals with these situations. I can ask.”

Gage was the only man Luc knew who ranched as a later-in-life choice. He’d been a smarty lawyer at some big firm until he’d inherited a ranch from his uncle. Gage and his wife, Nicole, had moved to the nearby ranch just over a year and a half ago. And then Nicole had decided a different life looked better, and she’d been gone in a blink. Gage had been on his own ever since. He ran the ranch, very quietly helping the church or people in the community out with legal matters when they required it.

Luc just never imagined he’d be in need of that advice.

“I don’t know that I have any other choice.” A stampede of hooves vibrated inside his skull. “I’m not sure if I have any rights and if she can control letting me see Ruby. So, yeah. Check it out.”

“I will.”

“Good thing I have you on retainer.”

Gage chuckled. “You don’t. You couldn’t afford me. This friend business really works in your favor.”

“True.”

Luc grabbed the piece of paper with Cate’s address from the kitchen counter. He’d left it there as a reminder to pray for Ruby—not that the trigger had been necessary. The girl and her mother hadn’t left his thoughts all week.

He’d need the details if he planned to show up on Cate’s doorstep unannounced.

It wasn’t very considerate of him to plan to ambush her at their home. But then again, he hadn’t expected Cate to show up on his doorstep with a daughter he never knew he had.

Turnabout was fair play.

* * *