Texas Daddy

He understood her frustration. Needing help was never a fun place to be in when you were used to taking care of yourself. “No worries—we’ve got her. You can visit anytime you like. Consider it an open adoption.” He chuckled. “Glad I was here. Hope there’s not too much damage to your knee.”

The diesel engine roared to life. Bergmann tipped his Montana Brand tools baseball cap. “I’ll see you at the store Monday if not before.”

Adrian gave a slap to the door and stepped back. He waited for them to disappear around the curve before heading to the shed. With a hind leg cocked, Zeta looked to be sound asleep. “Hey, wake up, lazy. We’ve got a fence to fix.” After calling Nikki’s dad, he had called George to let him know he’d be late to dinner.

Ears forward, she raised her head. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were just waiting on me.” After checking the gear, he picked up the fawn and tucked her inside his duster, close to him. “We have a guest, so mind your manners.” He let the horse smell the baby deer then patted her withers before swinging up into the saddle. With a nudge of his knees, they started down the dirt road at a more leisurely pace than a few hours ago.

At the downed fence, he saw a Childress work truck with the cutting-horse logo on the side. His brother, George, pulled fencing from the back. Mia started jumping and waving.

She was trying to jump, anyway. She looked a bit awkward with the new brace. He’d be so happy when he didn’t have to see a brace again. Mia’s gear looked twice as long as Nikki’s. She never did tell him what kind of injury she suffered.

“Mia, careful. We just got your cast off. Where’re your crutches?” Dismounting, he dropped the reins to the ground. “You shouldn’t have brought her out here. She’s going to end up back in the wheelchair.”

“Hey, you were the one who left her at school without calling, so don’t lecture me, little brother. Anyway, I remember someone with a busted ankle refusing to use his crutches.” George and Mia moved to the fence. She carried the fence ties as she limped next to his twin. “Then you cut the thing off so you wouldn’t miss another ride. She’ll be fine, Papa Bear.”

Adrian popped his jaw. He was not in the mood for his brother’s ribbing. He moved to the back seat of the Silverado 2500 and used a blanket to wrap the sleeping fawn. He’d surprise Mia with it on the way back to the ranch. “My injury was different. She’s a ten-year-old girl and could get hurt again.”

“You need to relax. What has you so uptight? What are you doing in the truck?”

“Nothing. And you’re not a father, so you don’t get it.”

George stopped what he was doing and straightened. “I can’t believe you said that to me. Are you looking for a fight? Because I can give you one right here and leave you in the mud, little brother.”

Mia rolled her eyes. “Tío George, it’s okay. He just freaks out easily since I fell off the horse. It all worked out. And, Daddy, if I sit at home any longer I’ll scream. Please don’t get mad at Tío.”

“You didn’t just fall off your horse. You were dragged across an arena.”

George narrowed his eyes and scrutinized his twin. Adrian glared back for a moment, but quickly turned away, studying the blue sky that had been heavy and threatening an hour ago. If anyone could see his discomfort over seeing Nikki again, it would be his twin. “Weather changes fast around here.”

“Sure.” George started unrolling the wire. “Hold this, mija. Changing the subject won’t work. When you called you said the oldest Bergmann sister was hurt. Didn’t know she was back in town. Still as stunning as when she was in school?”

Adrian scowled at his brother then back to his daughter. Was his brother that dense to talk about women in front of Mia? He followed the glare with a shrug. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. She was hurt, and I helped her. She’s in a brace too, and was doing stuff she shouldn’t have been doing.” He took the coiled wire fencing from Mia. “Go put the tailgate down and sit with the dogs. The ground is too wet and uneven for your injured leg.”

“Daddy! Tío said I could help.”

“Go or I’ll have your tío take you home.”

With a heavy sigh, she limped back to the truck. Beast and Belle, George’s blue heelers, got excited and sat next to her. Those were the kind of names you got when a six-year-old girl named your dogs. She hugged the pair and let them lick her. He sighed.

Now she’d probably name any new dogs after some boy-band crush. She was growing up too fast, and there was nothing he could do to stop the changes.

He checked his watch. Sitting still was hard for Mia. Who was he kidding? He’d go crazy not being able to work. He knew she thought he was too stern, so did his brother, but he couldn’t deal with her being hurt again. “How about I take you to the store when we finish? You can get a couple of new coloring books and markers. I need to pick up some groceries anyways.”

Her face lit up. “Thank you, Daddy!”

When she smiled, he automatically felt guilty for being upset with her. Seeing Nikki all grown up, but hurt and refusing help, had put him in a bad mood.

Tuesday, they had the first physical-therapy session with the new brace. The therapist only came to Clear Water twice a week. Nikki would probably be there.

He sighed and pulled the wire tight. The high school girl he obsessed over no longer existed. Life had taken them in different directions. She took on the world, and he was happy living within the borders of Clear Water, raising his daughter.

* * *

“Nikki, don’t be stubborn. I can cancel my appointment and go to The Mercantile for you.” Her father kept looking straight ahead. He hated conflict and would avoid it at all cost.

She pushed the door open. “I just need a few things. I can walk over to the hardware store when I’m finished. I need to work out the kinks.”

The muscle in his jaw popped. “It’s the walking part I’m worried about.” The wrinkles at the edges of his eyes and the gray in his hair marked the time she had been away. If she allowed herself to put a number to the years, she might start crying...and never stop. So many regrets that couldn’t be undone.

“I’ve got this, Daddy. I’m used to being on my own.”

“You are not alone. You’ve never been alone. We’ve been here the whole time, waiting. I never asked you to leave. I...” He took a deep breath. “I understood why you left, but once your stepmother was gone, why didn’t you come back? The door was always opened for you.”

“Sheila was never any kind of mother, step or otherwise.” This was exactly the reason she never came home. Adjusting her ponytail, Nikki pulled it tight. “I know I would be welcomed home. I just needed to move on from Clear Water.” She jerked the handle harder than necessary and stepped out onto the golf-ball-sized gravel. “If you don’t leave now you’ll be late, and a Bergmann is never late. Love you.”

As she tried to walk away with a straight spine, the uneven concrete steps slowed her down. She paused on the top one. She had never been good at being truthful with herself.

It was not the four lopsided steps that stopped her, but the thought of going in the store and seeing people she hadn’t seen in years. Maybe she should have let her dad go for her so she could keep hiding in the house.

A couple more steps and she forced herself to open the glass door. The tiny bell rang and the few people in the store turned and looked at her before going back to their business, everyone except Victoria Lawson. Well, Miller since she married Tommy. Barbed wire tightened around her spine.

Vickie was one of the people she didn’t want to see. The one person she never dreamed would be working in a small-town grocery store. The one person she owed the biggest apology to. She didn’t think Vickie even knew. Maybe she had been wrong keeping silent. At the time, she thought telling everyone would just cause more hurt all around.

The former head cheerleader and class president came around the counter and hugged her. “Nikki Bergmann, it’s great seeing you. Danica told me you were in town. Welcome back.” In high school, she’d been the perfect girl dating the perfect quarterback. There was a petty, dark part of Nikki that was disappointed her secret high school rival was still as beautiful, maybe even more so. Last she heard, Vickie and Tommy were at Baylor University together and had a son a year after she had her... Stop it, Nikki!

Shifting from one foot to the other, she tried to come up with something polite to say. People made small talk. It was normal. Be normal.

She hated chitchat. Forcing a smile, she returned Vickie’s hug then stepped back. “Thank you. So you and Tommy moved back to Clear Water?”

“Where have you been? I can’t believe your sisters didn’t tell you. I moved back to Clear Water without Tommy. We’re divorced and he’s, well... He’s not around.”

For a moment, her brain shut down. Not a single neuron fired. “Oh, I...I’m sorry.”

Vickie laughed. “Don’t be. Jake Torres and I are married now. Coming back was the best thing that ever happened to me. Maybe God has something great in store for you too.” She smiled, a real smile, not the smirk she used back in high school. “I finally got smart. So what brought you in today?” She glanced down at Nikki’s leg. “Anything I can get for you?”

“I just need a cart.” She tried smiling again, but it felt tight. Between the pain traveling from her leg to her spine, and the emotions of guilt, her lungs burned from the lack of air. Vickie was married to Jake, not Tommy. All the horrible feelings when she was a teenager started crowding out the person she worked hard to become while she was away from Texas. Another reason she didn’t want to ever step foot in Clear Water again.

The wood floors under her feet had to be over a hundred years old. How many people had walked through here, taking care of their families? People that didn’t run away. She needed painkillers. She needed them over an hour ago.

Vickie brought a small wobbly wheeled shopping cart over to her. Leaning into it, Nikki almost cried from the relief of taking pressure off her leg.

Stomping off from her dad had been a bad choice. Her whole leg throbbed, and it was her own fault. Yeah, that’s her, a living, breathing, limping example of pride cometh before the fall.

The shopping cart pulled to the left again. She growled and yanked it back. Great, she had a lame basket too.

“Nikki?”

She dropped her head before plastering a smile on her face and turning to Adrian. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were stalking me.”