Do You Take This Rebel?

“Yes, I’m sure you’re right. It’s just that…”

Cassie met her gaze evenly. She had known they were going to have to face this. Now was as good a time as any. “What?” she asked, prepared for battle.

“He looks so much like his father now.”

That was the last thing Cassie had expected her mother to say, but it was true. Jake did look like Cole, from his sun-streaked hair to his blue eyes, from those freckles across his nose to the shape of his mouth. Even the glasses were a reminder of the ones Cole had worn until high school, when he’d finally been persuaded to trade them for contacts.

Cole had been a self-described skinny, awkward geek until he’d gone away to college. There he’d begun to fill out, his body becoming less awkward and lanky. And after a summer at home working the ranch, his lean body had been all hard muscle by the time they’d started dating in earnest. Cassie imagined the same thing would happen to Jake one day, and that he would be breaking girl’s hearts just like his daddy had.

The shock, of course, was that her mother could see all that. “You know,” Cassie said flatly.

It was her mother’s turn to look startled. “Did you think I didn’t?”

“You never said a word.”

Her mother shrugged. “There was nothing to say. What was done was done. No point in talking about it.”

Cassie sank down on the bed, her thoughts in turmoil. All this time her mother had known the truth. She met Edna’s gaze.

“Is Cole…?” Her voice trailed off.

“He’s here,” her mother said tightly. “Has been ever since college. He came back to help out when Frank had a heart attack. If you ask me, the man talked himself into getting sick just to manipulate that boy, but they seem to be getting on well enough out there.”

Another secret kept, Cassie thought, just as she’d kept Cole’s identity a secret from Jake. Why did it surprise her that her mother could be reticent about something so important? Edna had always kept her own counsel, never saying more than the situation required for politeness. Even now she didn’t elaborate. If Cassie wanted to know more, she was going to have to ask directly.

“Is he married?” she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

“No.”

Relief warred with surprise. Cole must be the county’s prize catch. How had he managed to elude all the single women of Winding River and their ambitious parents, especially with Frank Davis no doubt pressuring him to produce an heir?

It didn’t matter, she told herself sternly. It had nothing to do with her, except that it complicated her situation that Cole was still living right here. How could she possibly keep him from finding out that Jake was his son if he was practically underfoot? And if he did figure it out, what would his reaction be? Would he pretend ignorance or would he want to claim his son? She wasn’t sure which thought terrified her more. Explaining to Jake that his father was here when she’d always been so elusive about his whereabouts wouldn’t be any easier.

“Hey, Mom, can we eat? I’m starved.”

Jake’s voice cut into her thoughts. Struggling with the unexpected taste of fear in her mouth, Cassie stayed silent a minute too long, drawing a puzzled look from her son and an understanding one from her mother.

“I’ll get him his sandwich,” her mother offered. “You spend a few minutes unpacking and getting settled.”

She followed Jake from the room, then turned back. “Give some thought to what I said. The Davises are powerful people, and Cole’s got a streak of his daddy in him—no matter how you once thought otherwise. They take what’s theirs.”

Cassie understood the warning and all its implications. If Emma, now an attorney was coming to the reunion, Cassie would talk to her the second she arrived. Surely Emma would be able to give her some advice on how to protect her rights where Jake was concerned.

And if what her friend had to say wasn’t reassuring, Cassie would take her son and leave. Perhaps she couldn’t go back to work for Earlene, but they could move someplace entirely new. Cheyenne, maybe. Or Laramie. Maybe all the way north to someplace like Jackson Hole. A fresh start in a whole new town wouldn’t be easy, but if it was necessary to keep her son away from Cole, Cassie would do it and never look back.

Just then the phone rang, and a moment later her mother poked her head into the bedroom. “It’s Karen. She heard you were back. Somebody in town must have seen you drive through.”

A smile spread across Cassie’s face as she walked down the hall to the little alcove where the old-fashioned black phone still sat on a rickety mahogany table. The first of the Calamity Janes was checking in.

“Hey, cowgirl, how are you?” she asked Karen. “And how’s that handsome husband of yours?”

“Working too hard. We both are.”

“But you’ll be here for the reunion?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

“And the others? Have you heard from any of them?”

“They’re all coming. In fact, that’s why I’m calling. Lunch tomorrow at Stella’s. I’ve told her to put a reserved sign on our favorite table in the back. Can you be there at noon?”

“I can’t wait,” Cassie said truthfully. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you guys.”

“Same here,” Karen said. “And we’re counting on you to think of something outrageous we can do to make this reunion as memorable as all our years in high school.”

“Not me,” Cassie said fervently. “I’m older and wiser now.”

“And a mother,” Karen said quietly. “How’s Jake?”

“He’s the best thing I ever did.”

“And Cole? He’s here, you know.”

“I know.”

“What will you do if you run into him?”

Cassie sighed. “I wish I knew.”

“Maybe it’s time to tell him the truth. I always thought you were making a mistake in not doing that in the beginning. He loved you.”

“He used me.”

“No,” Karen said. “Anyone who ever saw the two of you together knew better than that. How you could miss it is beyond me.”

“He left me without a word,” Cassie reminded her.

“A mistake,” Karen agreed. “But you compounded it.”

“How?”

“By giving up on him. By never asking what happened. By running away. For a girl who had more gumption than anyone I knew, you wimped out when it really counted.”

It was an old argument, but it still put Cassie on the defensive. “I had no choice,” she insisted.

“Oh, sweetie, we all have choices,” she said, sounding suddenly tired.

The hint of exhaustion was so unlike the ex-cheerleader that it startled Cassie. If she’d been a ringleader, Karen had always been her most energetic sidekick, always eager for a lark.