The Calamity Janes: Cassie & Karen: Do You Take This Rebel?

The ice cream distracted Jake for maybe five minutes before he began to badger her again.

“If you don’t drop this right now,” Cassie said finally, “you won’t see him at all.”

“But—”

“I said to drop it.”

Tears welled up in Jake’s eyes, but he fell silent, shoving the rest of his sundae away in protest. Cassie’s appetite disappeared, as well. Only her mother continued to enjoy her sundae, or at least pretended to.

Was this what it was going to be like living in Winding River, a constant tug-of-war with her son over his hero worship of a man he didn’t even realize was his father?

By the time they left for home, Cassie had a splitting headache and a knot the size of Wyoming in her stomach. At this rate she was going to wind up in a hospital bed right next to her mother’s.

* * *

Naturally Jake didn’t take her decision as final. Nor did the concession she made, allowing him to attend the parade and fireworks, appease him. She had to admit that had gone well enough. If Cole had been around, she hadn’t spotted him. And Jake’s delight had been worth every second of nervousness she’d experienced.

But by the next morning the treat had been forgotten, and Jake was back on the subject of going to see Cole. Her repeated warnings that she didn’t want to hear another word about it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

He continued to pester her for the rest of the week about going out to the Double D. He’d gotten his stubbornness and willfulness from her, no doubt about it.

She steadfastly continued to refuse to take him to visit Cole, making up excuse after excuse, but Cassie could see that they were wearing thin. Even so, she was stunned when Jake disappeared on Saturday morning. She searched high and low, but finally had to admit there was no sign of him.

“Mom, have you seen Jake?”

“Not since breakfast. Why?”

“He’s not in the house. He’s not working on the bike, and nobody on the block has seen him. I’ve looked everywhere I can think of.”

“You don’t suppose he’s gone out to Cole’s ranch, do you?” Edna asked, as aware as Cassie of her grandson’s obsession.

That was exactly what Cassie feared. “How would he get there, though?”

“I imagine it wouldn’t be all that difficult to get somebody to give him a lift. Half the ranchers in town on a Saturday take that road back home. All the boy would have to do is ask one of them.”

“Should I call out there?”

“Why not ride around town first and see if anyone’s seen him,” her mother suggested. “No point in getting Cole involved if the boy’s just wandered off to get an ice cream cone or something.”

But no one in town had seen Jake. Cassie was about to reach for the phone to call Cole when it rang.

“You looking for Jake, by any chance?” Cole asked without preamble.

“Oh, my God,” Cassie murmured. “He is with you. Is he okay?”

“He looks fine to me, but I thought you might be worried. He was pretty evasive at first when I asked how he got here and whether he had your permission to come. I got the feeling he didn’t tell you before he hitchhiked out here.”

“He what?”

“Pete gave him a ride on his way back from Stella’s,” Cole explained. Then he assured her, “He’s okay, Cassie.”

“That’s not the point. I’m going to wring his scrawny little neck. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Take your time and cool off a little. Keep reminding yourself that there’s been no harm done.”

“Don’t tell me what to do where my son’s concerned,” she snapped, and slammed down the phone.

“He’s with Cole?” her mother asked.

“Oh, yes.”

“Should I come with you?”

She shook her head. “No. Cole was right about one thing. I do need to calm down before I get out there. No telling what I might say.”

Cassie made it to the Double D in less than the twenty minutes it usually took. The front door was standing open as if she were expected, so she went straight in. Oblivious to the grandeur of the antiques that generations of Davises had collected over the years, she went in search of her son.

When she finally found the two of them in Cole’s office, heads bent over the computer keyboard, her blood ran cold. Jake looked happier than she’d seen him in ages. Just thinking about the bond the two of them were obviously forming made her knees go weak. She had to lean against the doorjamb for support.

“Look right natural together, don’t they?” Frank Davis remarked, slipping up quietly to stand at her shoulder in the doorway.

Something in his voice alerted her. She stepped away from the room and turned to study the man who had probably come between her and Cole.

Frank Davis had a powerful build. His shock of dark-brown hair was streaked with gray now, but there was still plenty of spark in his blue eyes, and he wore that same arrogant, superior expression that had intimidated her as a girl. Oddly she discovered that he didn’t scare her now. She met his gaze without flinching.

“What are you saying?” she asked in a cool, deliberate tone.

Her reaction seemed to amuse him. “I’m saying I know.”

“Know what?”

He smirked. “One look is all it takes to know that boy is my grandson. Even if your mama hadn’t told me the truth years ago, I would have seen it right off.”

Despite her determination not to let the man get to her, Cassie felt faint for the second time in just a few minutes. This time she had to will herself not to lean against the wall for support.

“My mother told you?” Her mother had never said a single word to Cassie about her suspicions, but she had discussed them with Cole’s father? What had she been thinking?

“She thought I had a right to know.”

More likely her mother had been desperate for advice from the one person she’d assumed had as big a stake in keeping the secret as she did. Oh, Mom, what have you done? Cassie thought as she stared into that confident gaze. And why didn’t you warn me?

“Does Cole know?”

“Not unless he’s figured it out in the last half hour.”

“Why haven’t you told him?” Understanding dawned. “You haven’t hold him because even now you don’t think I’m good enough for him, because you don’t want him to know that I had his child. You’re afraid he’ll insist on marrying me. That’s why you came between us years ago, sending him back to school, then getting someone to write him a note saying I was breaking it off for good. That was you, wasn’t it?”

Color rose in Frank’s cheeks, but he didn’t deny the accusation. “You two were way too young to get involved. Your mother and I did what we thought was best.”