Читать книгу Destined to Be a Dad - Christyne Butler, Christyne Butler - Страница 9

Chapter Three

Casey was ready to tell her real father what he could do with his suggestion about a new DNA test, and knowing her daughter’s temper, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Not that Missy blamed her. After his veiled remarks concerning her parenting skills, she was ready to tell him what he could do with his demand for another test herself.

“I think he’s right,” she said instead, before Casey could speak. She read the surprise on Liam’s face at her like-mindedness, but her focus at the moment had to be on her daughter.

Missy reached for Casey’s hand, hating that it was ice-cold. A quick squeeze got her attention. “We should have an up-to-date test done. For his sake, sweetie, and ours.”

Casey’s bravado crumbled and the fire left her eyes. “Why did Granddad do this to you? To us? To Dad?” She bit hard at her bottom lip, and her gaze swung over to Liam. “I mean...you know, my other...”

“It’s okay.” Liam’s voice was gentler now. “Things are a little mixed-up at the moment.”

To say the least. The hurt and confusion reflected on Liam’s and Casey’s faces—feelings that shone brightly in matching sets of dark blue eyes—shook Missy to her core.

Almost as much as the realization that the two of them shared the same eyes. Same shape, same color. A deep cerulean blue she’d once told Liam matched the river-fed lake back behind the Murphy family home. A color she always told Casey was her favorite.

How had she never noticed that before now?

Because you believed the lie you were told years ago. The scared girl deep inside you clung to those test results, filled with righteous indignation that this man didn’t deserve to be the father of your precious baby girl.

Missy blinked away that sudden insight, not willing or able to deal with that bitter pill of truth. Not tonight. “I think we should—”

“How did you two hook up anyway?” Casey blurted out. “It’s a long way between London and Destiny—oh, wait! I overheard Grandmum say letting you go to America was a mistake. You’d turned nineteen just before you had me...bollocks, don’t tell me I’m a souvenir from a one-off during a spring break trip.”

“No!” Liam and Missy spoke at the same time, their voices united.

“You were not the result of a one-night stand,” Missy continued, aghast that the idea had popped into her daughter’s head.

“You never told her?” he asked, taking a step closer. His broad shoulders blocked out the porch light behind him, casting his face in shadows, but the tightening of his jaw was unmistakable. “About your time in Destiny? About us?”

Missy shook her head, surprised at the nuance of hurt in his tone. No, that was impossible. The man had married someone else less than a year after she’d left sixteen years ago. A lifetime ago.

“That’s right. You said a few minutes ago you remembered his family!” Casey’s voice grew excited again. “So you two were a couple? And you lived here in Destiny, Mum? For how long?”

“A year,” Liam said.

“It was more like eleven months.” Missy spoke at the same time, overriding him. “As part of a student exchange program when I was in my sixth form. The twelfth grade in an American high school, and yes, Liam and I dated during that time.”

“I’d say you did more than date, Mum. A lot more.”

Liam let loose a snort that changed to a clearing of his throat, one hand fisted against his mouth, when Missy glared at him. Still, he remained silent, only tilting his head in her direction.

She sighed. She wanted nothing more than to sink up to her nose in bubbles and then collapse into bed, but some private time with her daughter was needed first.

“Sweetie, it’s been a long day. For all of us. Right now, I could use a hot bath and we—” she gave Casey’s hand another quick squeeze “—need to have a long talk. About everything. Including your clandestine adventure getting to America, which, despite everything, you’re not off the hook for.”

Her daughter’s gaze again flickered to Liam.

“A talk with just the two of us,” Missy added, this time looking fully at Liam, half expecting him to argue with her over this as well. “If that’s all right with you?”

He returned her stare for a long moment, and then nodded. “If you think that’s best.” He dropped his hand to his side. “For now.”

Meaning Casey and he—or more likely the three of them—would be talking about their shared past, and where they all went from here, during the next few days. At least his anger about their planned holiday seemed to have disappeared, probably because of Casey’s vocal objections to leaving Destiny.

Not that agreeing to another test meant anything had changed.

Still, things had gone better than Missy had hoped for tonight. Considering the merry-go-round of memories, emotions and questions that she’d been riding since that night in her father’s study, Missy was proud of how she’d handled things so far.

Once she and her daughter started talking? All bets were off.

Casey had never been one to back down from what she was feeling, and like most teenagers, she could get a bit cheeky when her emotions were riled, not holding back whatever she might be thinking. Missy was used to it, even if she did have to pull in Casey’s reins from time to time. The truth was she’d encouraged her daughter to always speak her mind and be honest with what she was feeling. A trait that often exasperated Casey’s grandparents, especially her grandmother.

It was time to end this evening before she went into memory overload. “Liam, if you could arrange for a car to take us to the closest hotel, perhaps that quaint bed-and-breakfast in town, we’d greatly appreciate it.”

Her heart stuttered when he gave a quick shake of his head. “No can do. The inn is full. So are the two hotels out by the highway. With the rodeo in town, there isn’t an empty room anywhere. People are staying as far away as Laramie. Even Cheyenne.”

“Well, we have to stay somewhere. I doubt we’ll be able to do anything about a test until Monday.” She released Casey and turned back for the phone she’d left on the table. “Let me do a search and see what I can find—”

“How about we stay here? Who’s living in those?”

“Cassalyn Dobbs!” Missy spun back around, surprised by the boldness of her daughter, who was pointing at the nearby log homes. “How cheeky of you.”

“She’s not being cheeky, just curious.” Liam again shook his head, this time with a slight smile on his face. “Sorry, but those are only model homes. They have electricity, as you can see, but no plumbing. Since your mother mentioned wanting a bubble bath—”

“I didn’t say anything about bubbles,” she cut him off, her gaze on her phone, positive she hadn’t spoken that desire aloud. “And we can’t stay here.”

“Of course you can.” Elise Murphy’s voice carried from the doorway as she came back out to the porch. “You’re more than welcome.”

Stay here in the Murphy family home? Not bloody likely!

Now it was Missy’s turn to shake her head. “Oh, we wouldn’t want to impose—”

“It’s no imposition, dear.” Elise hurried to join them. “We’d love to have you. Now, we do have an empty guest room in the main house, but it only has a queen-size bed. Much too small for the two of you. Nolan’s place is out—what with the four of them, it’s already crowded and why he turned his guest room into an office I’ll never understand.”

“He likes to work late,” Liam said. “Really late.”

“And he can’t walk across the yard to his office here in the main house?” Elise harrumphed. “Bryant and Laurie’s cabin is too small. And you—” she paused to swat at her son’s chest “—if you’d bother to furnish any of the rooms in your new place beside the master suite—”

“My place has furniture,” Liam interrupted his mother. “Just not in the bedrooms.”

“And aren’t you sorry about that now?”

The flash of awareness in his gaze caused Missy’s already hastened heartbeat to race out of control. Pressing a hand to her chest, as if that would ease the wild thumping, she tried to put a stop to this. “I appreciate your offer, but we’ll be fine in a hotel.”

“Wait, I have the perfect place!” The older woman’s eyes lit up as she clasped her hands together. “You can stay in the boathouse.”

“The boathouse?” Casey asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s down back, on the lake. Above where we store the boats and canoes and stuff. It used to be a storage area, but a few years ago I came up with the idea of...”

Missy’s gaze locked with Liam’s, his mother’s chatter fading to a dull buzzing. The boathouse. A private sanctuary in the middle of the Murphy family madness she and Liam had often sneaked off to whenever they wanted to be alone.

They’d discovered the secluded setting by accident one cool and stormy spring afternoon after hurrying back from a canoe ride, soaked to the skin and looking for shelter.

Filled with cast-off furniture, old toys and boxes and trunks filled with everything from books to clothes to holiday decorations, the place had had a faint musty smell, but it’d been warm and dry. After realizing no one had found out where they’d gone off to, they’d returned often. Just being together, away from everyone, had been wonderful.

Of course, the intimacy of the space had lent itself to kisses...and so much more. It’d been the first place they’d made love. On a warm night with moonlight streaming through the windows, both unsure of what they were doing, but secure in their feelings and what they wanted.

A wanting that deepened and grew—

“Missy?”

Liam’s husky voice broke into her memories, but it was his heated touch on her arm that jolted her out of the past.

She jerked away, refusing to look at him or accept the wild beating of her heart. Thankfully Elise was still going on about the design of the apartment, and her daughter was so enthralled with the description neither one of them had noticed how she had zoned out.

Liam had. Of course he had. He knew exactly why she was about to refuse his mother’s generous offer.

“Us dropping in unannounced like this isn’t fair to Liam...or to your family.” Missy prayed her words didn’t sound as distressed as she felt. “We really don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble, dear. We were expecting a visit from friends of Alistair’s for the rodeo, but they had to cancel at the last minute. The place is ready with fresh linens and a fully stocked kitchen.”

“It sounds perfect.” Casey offered a pleading look. “Please, Mum?”

It was late and the constant memories were draining, both emotionally and physically. Besides, after all this time, what did it really matter?

Hating the lump of desperation in her stomach at that thought, she forced a smile. “Thank you. We appreciate your hospitality.”

Elise smiled and handed a key ring to her son. “Here, perhaps you should take them around through the backyard. There’s still a group of people in the living room. We’ll see you both in the morning.”

His mother gave Casey a quick hug, which her daughter easily returned, surprising Missy again. She’d be hard-pressed to remember the last time she saw her mother exchange affections that way with Casey.

After the woman went back inside, the teen hurried to the stairs, grabbing Missy’s two small suitcases along with a duffel bag she recognized as belonging to her daughter.

“Blimey, Mum...only two cases? I thought you took a whole store full when you departed for California.”

“Most of which is still in LA,” she quipped, joining her daughter after getting her purse. “I only brought enough clothes for a weekend trip.”

“But we aren’t—”

She lightly tugged at her earlobe—a familiar gesture between them that had the desired effect of stopping Casey from arguing. For the moment, at least. Her daughter’s expression said she was clearly gearing up for round two.

Oh, a tub full of bubbles was sounding better all the time.

“Here, you take the key and let me carry those.” Liam relieved Casey of the luggage and gestured for them to head down the stairs first. “Let’s get you two settled. Casey, you know the way.”

As she followed her daughter, Missy wondered what Liam meant by that last statement.

“We came home earlier for dinner,” Liam said, falling into step beside her as they strolled down the lighted stone path that led around the side of the house. “Dad barbecued and then everyone headed back to the rodeo.”

Missy nodded, a bit mystified that he’d known what she’d been thinking. “Everyone but you.”

“I had a business emergency to deal with.” His voice turned low. “And I was waiting for you.”

A pang of...something she didn’t wish to label hit her right in the chest. She wrapped her arms across her middle against the chill that danced over her skin, raising goose bumps. The silky blazer and tank top she wore underneath were perfect for southern California in August, but the nights were cool here in Wyoming.

Yes, that had to be the reason for her body’s reaction to Liam’s words.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t look anywhere near the same.”

Again, meant for her ears only, and she knew exactly what he was talking about. “It’s fine.”

“A lot has changed since you were here—”

“Yes, of course, it has.” She secretly hoped the attic space had been redone as extensively as Elise Murphy described. “As I said, it’s fine. Wait—what is—” She stopped short and pointed at the dark object just outside the reach of the outdoor lighting. “Is that a helicopter on the other side of the lot?”

“It’s for the family business,” Liam said. “A couple of my brothers and I are the pilots.”

She now remembered seeing something about it on the company’s website, but she’d had no idea... “You fly, too?”

Liam grinned, gesturing with her suitcase, and Missy started walking again, her heels clicking against the stones. The sturdy pathway continued through the large grassy yard and forest of trees at the back of the house.

She wondered how far it went. Years ago there’d been only a dirt trail that led from the oversize backyard down to the river. When they rounded the corner of the house, Missy stumbled to a stop. “Oh, my.”

“I told you things have changed a bit.” Liam’s voice flowed over her shoulder. “And I wasn’t just talking about the boathouse.”

She turned to him. “I can see that. I wasn’t expecting—”

“Isn’t it neat? You should see it in the daytime.” Casey spun around, coming dangerously close to the edge of an oversize in-ground pool. “They’ve got their own neighborhood back here!”

Yes, Missy could see that. The transformation of the yard was stunning.

“You might remember all we used to have was a simple wooden deck, but my folks wanted a complete outdoor entertainment space. Over the years they added the stone patio, fire pit, pool and the connecting pathways,” he said as he led the way. “We boys built the gazebo back there to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary a few years ago. Mom said it was the perfect final touch.”

Missy tried to take it all in. The care and thought that had gone into renovating the acreage was evident. Outdoor lights offered a soft glow, making it easy to see everything from the landscaping to the entertainment areas. Lighted pathways veered off in different directions through clusters of trees that gave each of the log homes a sense of privacy despite their relative closeness to each other.

“And the log homes,” she said. “I’m guessing from what your mother said, you and your brothers all still live here.”

“Not all of us. Adam has his own ranch down the road and Ric is currently stationed overseas, but yeah—” Liam grinned, and then shrugged. “I guess the rest of us figured the Murphy ranch was as good a place to settle down as anywhere else in town. At least we’re not all still in the main house.”

“Well, it’s certainly big enough for everyone,” she said, eyeing the house more closely.

Missy listened to him describe who lived where as they passed his brothers’ homes, Casey a few steps ahead of them. The path sloped downward and led to the lake, and the trees got closer together. When the boathouse with its familiar wooden dock came into view, her stomach clenched.

“So that must leave this one as yours, right?”

Casey’s question pulled Missy’s gaze from the boathouse to a two-story log home that sat a bit farther back into the trees.

“Yes, that’s my place,” Liam said.

“Wow, it’s big for one person. Since no one’s mentioned it, I’m guessing you’re not married.”

“Casey!”

“It’s okay.” His gaze lingered on Missy for a moment before he looked at their daughter. “And you guessed correctly, I’m not. I was—twice, actually—but neither one stuck.”

Twice? He’d married again? Not an unusual occurrence, but the news still surprised her.

“So do I have any younger half siblings running around?”

“Nope, just a handful of cousins, I’m afraid.”

“Bugger, I always wanted a little sister.” Casey shrugged and headed for the boathouse. “Used to bother my mum for years over that. Of course there was little chance of it happening. She rarely, if ever, dated after my father died.”

Missy gasped and pressed a hand to her forehead, embarrassed at her daughter’s directness but also to block out Liam’s dark gaze as he turned to look at her. “Cassalyn Elizabeth—”

“Oh, it’s never a good thing when she brings out the full name.” Reaching the end of the boathouse, Casey jerked her thumb around the corner. “Your mum said stairs would lead up to the flat. Is this them?”

“Yes, a light should come on when you get to the top...” His voice trailed off as Casey disappeared, her footsteps echoing up the stairwell. “Is she avoiding me all of a sudden?”

“No, it’s me she’s trying to get away from.” Missy couldn’t stop from stealing glances at the beautiful front porch on Liam’s home, so close now that it seemed to tower over them as they walked along the back side of the boathouse. “I apologize for her rudeness.”

“Like I said, it’s okay. I have a feeling she’s going to have quite a few questions for us in the coming days.”

“You’re probably right.” She followed him around the corner of the building, surprised when she saw a second-level porch had been added to the front of the boathouse that faced the water, creating a covered area over the three boat slips she remembered. “My, more changes.”

“I told you.”

“Yes, you did. Well, I should—” She stopped when the glow from the outdoor lighting suddenly disappeared, leaving them in darkness except for the light coming from the upper landing. “What—what just happened?”

“It must be ten o’clock. The lights are on a timed system with the majority of the accent features going off for the night. Don’t worry—the outside lights on everyone’s homes, as well as the pathways, are motion activated, in case you need anyone for...well, anything.”

Meaning she was to go to him? The queen would give up the throne first. “Well, as I was saying, I should get upstairs and answer some of those questions.”

Liam studied her in silence. Was he going to insist on being part of this discussion? Missy honestly didn’t think she had the strength to include him, as terrible as that sounded.

Not after everything that had happened today.

Being back in Destiny, staying in the boathouse, standing so close to him she could reach out and touch—

“Yes, I guess you should,” he finally said. “Let me take the bags up for you.”

“I’ll take them.” Casey reappeared, clomping down the stairs. “Sorry for popping off like that. I think the time difference has me a bit knackered.”

“If memory serves, that means tired, right?” Liam asked with a grin, handing over the luggage. “And apology accepted.”

Casey smiled, and then turned to head back upstairs. “You coming, Mum? Wait until you see the loo! There’s a giant claw-footed tub that sits in front of a huge glass window looking right out over the water.”

Missy faltered, grabbing at the handrail as she started to follow. She swung her gaze back to Liam, even as she called after her daughter’s departing figure. “There—there is?”

Liam retreated, the shadows not completely hiding the way his mouth lifted at one corner. “When I said it didn’t look the same, I wasn’t talking about the entire space. Some things are exactly how they used to be.”

* * *

It was after midnight and she should be lost in dreamland, but Missy couldn’t slow her mind enough to allow sleep to come.

Her talk with Casey had gone surprisingly well, her daughter handling the story of what happened all those years ago between Missy and Liam with ease. Of course, her anger with her grandparents was palpable, mixed with even more tears over her grandfather’s recent death, leaving the poor girl confused about what she should be feeling.

Still, she seemed more interested in what had happened sixteen years ago here in Destiny. Missy shared some of what her time here had been like. But after one too many yawns from Casey, Missy had pleaded exhaustion herself and shooed her daughter off to the smaller of the apartment’s two bedrooms.

After checking and finding her daughter sound asleep, Missy then took that bubble bath she’d been longing for, memories be damned. So what if the tub stood in the exact same spot it had sixteen years ago?

The antique hadn’t been in working order back then. Not that they had let that stop them on a stormy afternoon, lining the tub with old quilts and sharing a picnic there, the roomy fixture big enough to fit both of them comfortably. So comfortably that they’d—

Okay, so the bubbles did little to relax her. Nor did the cup of Earl Grey tea she’d made after finding a selection of loose teas and a darling little pot in the cozy kitchen.

Setting the empty cup in the sink, Missy crossed the parlor, drawn to the French doors that led to the covered porch. She hoped a few moments in the fresh air would clear away her whirlwind thoughts as she slipped outside, closing the door behind her.

She tightened the sash on her dressing gown. The air was cool as she walked to the porch railing, drawn by the full moon lighting up the night sky and dancing over the gentle current of the river-fed lake.

Leaning forward, she gazed up at the stars shining overhead, so clear and bright. Not a sight she saw often from her London neighborhood. Years ago, her first glimpse at a Wyoming sky at night had made her feel much as she felt right now.

Lost and alone. Small. Insignificant. The same emotions that had swamped her the day she’d discovered she was pregnant and had no idea who the baby’s father was.

She’d prayed it was Liam. Hoped and prayed for weeks, even after her parents and Stanford had learned about the pregnancy. She’d debated constantly over getting in touch with Liam while having no idea how to explain the crazy situation.