The Baby Truth

“Well, why won’t she?” his sister asked. “Bart is going to blow a gasket when he sees her. Especially when the family starts asking him who he was squiring twenty-some years ago.”

Jett glowered at her. “Damn it, Bella, that’s a crass thing to be saying in front of Sassy.”

“I’m not a child,” Sassy interrupted. “I’m twenty-four, to be exact. And if I do look like this Finn person, as you’re both saying I do, then I expect I’ll hear all sorts of nasty innuendoes from the Calhoun folks.”

Bella shot her brother a sly smile before she opened the refrigerator. “I knew she was a smart girl the moment I laid eyes on her.”

He moved over to the sink and washed his hands. “Well, I don’t know why you’d think she belongs to Bart. What about his sister up in Reno? Or could be that Orin wasn’t always totally faithful to Claudia.”

Bella slapped the salami between two pieces of bread, then sliced it diagonally. “That’s hard to imagine. Orin thought Claudia hung the moon. He was devastated when she passed away from a blood clot.”

Jett dried his hands on a paper towel. “That’s true. But Orin has always traveled around the Southwest buying horses and cattle. If he had straying on his mind he had plenty of opportunities.”

Heaving out a breath, Sassy said, “Look, before you two say any more about this, I want to make something perfectly clear. I’m not here to cause trouble. And I certainly don’t want anything from the Calhoun family. I’m going to visit with Finn—that’s all. If the family does happen to have any clues they might be able to give me about my parents, then that would be wonderful. But I’m not here to stir up any trouble.”

Jett ambled slowly toward the table and Sassy couldn’t help but notice how his presence filled up the room, prompting her gaze to follow his every movement.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that simple,” he said.

Bella placed the sandwich in front of Sassy, then returned to the cabinet and brewed a quick single cup of coffee.

“Neither do I,” Bella agreed. She carried the cup over to the table, then went after cream and sugar. “The family is going to be stunned when they get a look at you. And if, by some chance, it turns out that you are related to the family, then you might have a claim on the estate. Isn’t that right, Jett?”

Sassy felt sick to her stomach and the nausea had nothing to do with her pregnancy. “Oh, God, this is awful. I would never do something like that. I don’t own anything of value now and it’s doubtful I ever will. That’s not important to me.”

Jett pulled out the chair Bella had vacated and eased into it. “Eat your sandwich, Sassy. This isn’t anything you need to be worrying about.”

“Not worry? I didn’t come here to cause family upheaval!”

Because she thought it would help her queasiness, she picked up the sandwich and forced a bite down her tight throat.

He studied her closely. “Surely that concern entered your mind before now.”

Sassy shrugged as she spooned sugar into her coffee. “Sure it did. But not in a materialistic way. My mind doesn’t work in those terms. If these Calhouns are more worried about what they own than who they are, then I’m not sure I’d want to be related to them.”

Reaching across the table, he covered her hand with his and Sassy didn’t know if she wanted to jerk away from his touch or thread her fingers tightly through his and hang on.

“They’re not exactly like that, Sassy,” he told her. “If they were, I wouldn’t be working for them.”

Returning to stand at the side of the table, Bella looked at her brother. “Why are you lying to her? Bart probably has the first penny he ever made.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Jett argued. “But family means even more to him.”

Sassy looked from brother to sister. She already had these two disagreeing. What would happen once she met the Calhouns? Nothing, she tried to reassure herself. They’d probably laugh the whole resemblance thing away. She’d have a little visit with Finn and then go home to New Mexico and pick up her life where she’d left off. Except that, in seven months or a little less, she’d have a baby, a tiny being to love and nourish. The notion still seemed incredible to her. Yet already she was feeling protective of the life growing inside her.

“So, when do you plan to see the Calhouns?” Bella directed the question at Sassy.

Blinking, Sassy shook away her rambling thoughts and looked at Jett’s sister. “After what you two have told me, I’m not sure I want to.”

Sinking into a chair on the opposite side of the table, Bella looked regretfully at her brother. “Look what we’ve done. We’ve scared her with all this talk about Bart.”

Frowning, Jett corrected his sister, “She was scared before we said a word about the Calhouns.”

Not appreciating the sound of that, Sassy squared her shoulders. “I’m not scared. I’m disgusted. And who is this Bart?”

“The oldest Calhoun,” Jett explained. “The father of Orin and grandfather to Orin’s five sons.”

“Aren’t there any women in the family?” Sassy asked.

Jett answered, “Bart’s wife, Gilda, died many years ago. Orin’s wife, Claudia, died about five or six years ago. And none of the sons are married. The only women around the place now are the cook and a couple of maids.”

“Thank God for the maids. At least there will be someone around that I can relate to,” Sassy said wryly, while thinking she might as well find what humor she could in the situation. Crying certainly wasn’t going to help.

A groove of amusement creased Jett’s cheek. “I told the Calhouns we’d be over tomorrow evening. After everyone has finished with dinner.”

“That late?” Her gaze went from Jett to Bella and back again. “Tomorrow is Saturday. Surely you two have plans for the weekend and—”

Before Sassy could go on, Bella interjected, “I’m driving over to Truckee to spend the day with our mother. She’s having some friends over for dinner. Jett is staying home and feeding the cows.”

Sassy turned a questioning look on Jett. “You’re staying here because of me?”

He shook his head. “That was my plan even before I knew you’d be flying in today. I love Mom, but her parties bore me to death. I’ll catch up with her later. Besides, I gave my ranch hand the day off tomorrow, so I have to be here to take up the slack.”

That meant she’d be spending the day alone with Jett. It wasn’t anything remotely close to how she’d planned to spend her first weekend here in Nevada. She’d envisioned herself having a leisurely morning, then viewing some of the local tourist sites. Now she no longer had a hotel or a rental car. Somehow she’d allowed this man to take over and make her entirely dependent on him. This behavior wasn’t like her. Not at all. And as soon as tomorrow was over, she was going to do something about getting herself back in control.

* * *

Later that evening Jett was in the barn, spreading alfalfa hay for the horses, when his cell phone rang. Checking the display, he shook his head. It wasn’t like Finn Calhoun to call this late. Being the manager of the ranch’s broodmare and stallion operation, Finn rarely had a spare moment for anything more than work. And at this time of the evening, when the mares were brought in to the barns, inspected and fed, Finn was always there to make sure each and every horse was in its best condition.

Stepping out of the horse stall, Jett used one hand to carefully lock the gate behind him. “Hey, Finn, what’s up? Anything wrong at the Silver Horn?”

“Not that I’m aware of. But you know how it is with me, Jett, I’m the last one around here to be told anything.” After a slight pause, he went on, “I was actually calling to ask if Sassy Matthews had arrived? You did say she’d be flying in today.”

Of the Calhoun bunch, Finn was the one who’d been a close friend of Barry Landers. Several years back, the two men had traveled the rodeo circuit together, with Barry riding saddle broncs and Finn roping steers. And even after Finn had retired from competition, the pair had remained friends. But Jett could tell that Finn’s interest in Sassy really had nothing to do with his late friend. It had everything to do with her looking like a Calhoun.

“Sassy did arrive,” Jett told him. “She’s staying here at the house with me and Bella.”

“Still planning to bring her over to the Silver Horn tomorrow evening?”

“That’s the time Orin and I agreed on. Why? Are you calling to put the meeting off?”

“Shoot, no! I’m excited to meet her. Now that you’ve seen her, what do you think? Does she look as much like me as she does in the picture?”

When Jett had first walked up to Sassy in the airport terminal, he’d initially been shocked by her resemblance to Finn. But after a moment, he forgot all about that connection. He’d been taken by the vibrant color of her hair and the creaminess of her pale skin. Her eyes were the color of a cloudless sky and they’d sparkled like sunlight dancing across a pool of water. Her wide, rosy-pink lips had been smiling, and as he’d touched her hand he’d immediately felt her warmth and sincerity. And then she’d fainted and he’d never been so terrified in his life.

Shaking away his wandering thoughts, he said, “I’ll wait and let you be the judge of that.”

For one brief moment, Jett considered telling Finn about the baby that Sassy was carrying, but he pushed the urge aside. It wasn’t his place to reveal such private information. That was her business and hers alone. Even so, ever since she’d told Jett about her pregnancy, he’d not been able to get it out of his mind. She seemed so young and alone, so vulnerable. But then, not all women were as helpless and insecure as his ex-wife had been. Sassy might be perfectly capable of caring for herself and her baby without a man to support her. At least, he wanted to think so.