Читать книгу The Texan's Secret Daughter - Jolene Navarro - Страница 15

Standing alone, Elijah tried to clear his brain. The hum of the commercial refrigerators gave him something safe to focus on, anything other than the curve of her face. The rust colored freckles that dusted her cheeks over soft mahogany skin. The need to reach out and touch her, to make sure she was real had been a punch to the gut. He buried his fingers in his hair and dropped his head.

For over five years, he had practiced his apology, holding each word tightly in his mind until the day he could tell her. He had written letter after letter, flooding her parents’ mailbox with them. Not that she had seen any of them—her parents had made that clear—but he had been desperate to make things right. And now the day had come, and he hadn’t uttered a word of his apology. He’d blown it. Anger soured his stomach.

Because she had stolen his child. Digging his fingers into his scalp, he dropped into a crouch, elbows dug into his knees. Did she actually believed he was homeless? He laughed. Alone in the pantry, he laughed out loud.

And then he stopped. Took a few deep breaths. Right now, he needed to be calm and steady. He couldn’t afford to lose his grip.

The Daniels were powerful people in the state of Texas. Elijah couldn’t imagine Judge Nelson James Daniels III ever being weak. The man ruled his world with an iron fist. There was only one person Elijah knew with a stronger will—Azalea Daniels, his wife, Jazmine’s mother. She and her husband had hated him from the first moment he had stepped on their porch to take their daughter to a beach party to kick off the summer season.

He was only two years older, but at the time, his twenty to Jazmine’s eighteen was too big of a gap for them. He wasn’t in school or planning to attend. Plus, they knew his uncle.

Frank had stood in front of Judge Daniels’s bench more times than Elijah wanted to think about.

The Daniels family had faced their own tragedy, losing a young son to a drunk driver. Elijah was an idiot. Leaning his forehead against the door, he planted his fist against the wall. This was 100 percent his fault. Why had he tried to overstep and reach for something he didn’t deserve?

With his program and counseling, he’d finally been in a place to let it go, to let her go. Making amends and apologizing was all he’d had left, but everything had just changed.

Jazmine, the Daniels’s only surviving child, had had a bright future. Even before her senior year had started, she had been accepted to three Ivy League schools on the East Coast. Elijah, on the other hand, had barely gotten out of high school.

He preferred the outdoors. On a horse, working with cattle, or on a boat out in the Gulf fighting the elements. Both of those were a thousand times more fulfilling than sitting behind a desk at the job Judge Daniels had gotten him.

He closed his eyes. That job had taken all the life out of him, but instead of talking he had started drinking.

Needless to say, her parents had not been happy when Jazmine had decided to stay and attend the local college, so she could stay close to him. They had done everything but disown her when they had gotten married.

Then his stupid De La Rosa weakness had to ruin it all, giving her parents the perfect opportunity to take her away from him.

He had never hurt Jazmine. Not physically. A hollow thud hit his gut. At least, he didn’t think he had.

The night she had left was a foggy mess of impressions. No matter how hard he focused, that night, like so many others, was a blur. All he remembered was the bang of the thunder and blinding flashes of lightning.

When he had woken up, she had been gone and had never returned. Until today.

The huge ornate mirror her parents had given them had been smashed into hundreds of razor-sharp shards. There had been traces of blood on both the frame and his knuckles. He hoped the glass was the only thing he had broken. The thought of touching her in anger made him sick to his stomach. Even at his worst, he wouldn’t do that. Would he?

The token in his pocket had a strip of paper wrapped around it. He pulled it out. This morning his meditation verse had been Second Corinthians 5:17. Old things are passed away; behold, all thing are becoming new.

When he had read his daily meditation scripture before the sun had risen over the Gulf this morning, God knew what this day would bring.

One of the first lessons he’d had to learn was that in order to control his life, he had to control his anger. Getting angry was never going to help. He had to focus on today and what he needed to do going forward.

He wanted to show Jazmine that they had all been wrong about him. He had become a successful businessman. Just a few months ago, he and his partner had added the Painted Dolphin to their line of restaurants here along the coast. They just added another boat to their recreational fleet. With God, he had become a new man.

Becoming new. But, boy, did that take on new meaning today. Elijah closed his eyes and rubbed the sobriety token between his thumb and index finger.

If he was going to get through this day, he couldn’t go into the past. It would be like those long lines of dominoes he had loved setting up as a kid. One negative thought would trigger another until a tidal wave of guilt sucked him under. The alcohol used to help him silence the voices, but he couldn’t give in now. He couldn’t go back to that dark place.

There was a little girl who needed a sober father. The man he had been for the last five years could be that father. He would give her what his uncle had never given him.

Anger flared again. They had stolen five years of his daughter’s life from him. Elijah took out his phone and called his best friend and business partner. One of the people who had helped him stay sober.

“Hey, Miguel. I need to talk.”

“What’s up?” The casual question was lined with concern. A door closed and the background noise vanished.

Elijah knew he had his friend’s full attention. His throat went dry. He couldn’t believe the words he was about to say.

“I just saw Jazmine. She’s in town.”

“Oh, wow. That had to be a surprise.” There was a short pause, as though Miguel was struggling for words. “How are you doing?”

“That’s not all.” He took a deep breath. “I’m a father. She was pregnant when she left. I have a five-year-old daughter.”

Silence fell.

“Miguel?”

“Yeah, I’m here. You didn’t have a clue?”

“Nope.” Suddenly his throat burned, and he beat back the tears. “I know I have to take responsibility because my drinking drove her away from me. She couldn’t trust me, and she thought she was protecting our baby. But Miguel, every time I think about what I’ve missed the last five years, I want to explode. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this angry at someone, not even my mother or uncle.”

“Yeah, losing people is one of the reasons you stopped drinking, right? So the people you love can trust you. I have to say you also have a right to be angry, but that’s not going to help. Are you at the ranch? I can be out there in the next fifteen minutes.”

“No, I’m at the mission. I’ll come to the pier. Are you there?”

“Yep. Come straight over, okay? I’ll be waiting.”

“I won’t stop.” Elijah disconnected the call. Lord, You’ve gotten me through the darkest times. I trust You have a plan in all this. Give me the wisdom to know the right thing to do and the patience to wait for Your timing.

He was going to need more wisdom and patience than he’d ever thought possible.

* * *

On the drive back to Port Del Mar, Rosemarie had chatted away about her new doll and the horse she wanted to get her. All her dolls had their own horses. She was oblivious to the silent tension between her mother and grandmother.

Driving down Shoreline Road, Jazmine didn’t even take the time to appreciate the beautiful beach that lined the tiny coastal town. There were two main roads that ran parallel to each other. In some spots, the strip of land between the bay and the Gulf was less than a mile wide.

Her father had inherited the beachfront home that had been a staple of Jazmine’s childhood. It was one of her favorite places on Earth. But her parents had kept her away since that night, not allowing her anywhere near Port Del Mar.

It had been six long years since the sounds of the waves and the feel of the salty breeze filled her senses.

This was her daughter’s first trip to Texas.

She pulled into the long, bricked driveway lined with tall palm trees and large fuchsia flowers. The soft blue house trimmed in pristine white stood three stories tall. By the time Jazmine parked in the carport, Rosemarie was climbing out of her booster seat.

“Momma, unlock the door so I can show Becca to Papa.”

“Remember he needs to be resting.” She turned to her daughter. “Don’t wake him if he’s asleep. Can you be quiet?”

Rosemarie’s dark curls bounced as she nodded. “I can be as quiet as a mouse.” In a heartbeat, she jumped out of the SUV and leaped up the stairs.

Jazmine waited for her daughter to disappear inside the house before turning to her mother. “Thank you for not making a scene in front of Rosie. Go ahead. Out with it. What have you been champing at the bit to tell me?”

“First, I don’t champ. Second, this is a mistake. She does not need that man in her life. You need to pack up and go back to Denver.” Azalea’s arms were crossed, and her face was set like stone.

“His name is Elijah. Not saying his name will not make him go away. She’s his daughter. The least I can do is talk to him.”

Jazmine looked at the organized walls of the garage. Everything fit in a perfect space. If it didn’t, it was tossed out. No room for anything undesirable. “I’m not leaving you alone with Daddy. He’s not a good patient. In less than a week, he will drive you crazy. You need me as much as he needs you. With Rosie around, he might be easier to handle.”

“There is nothing easy about your father.” The perfectly lined lip quivered.

Jazmine reached across and placed her hand over her mother’s. “He’s going to be fine. Dr. Brent feels good about a full recovery. It is going to take all of us to keep him from overdoing it. I’m not going anywhere. I can be just as stubborn as you.”

With a harsh exhalation, her mother rolled her eyes. “You get that from your father. We can’t tell him that Rosie...that...her father...” She shuddered. “I just don’t like this. What if he causes problems? He was always good at that.”

“Mother, what we did was wrong. He had every right to know about Rosemarie. I know I had to leave, but we should have told him.” She pressed one arm over her middle, trying to ease the sick feeling. “I have to meet him. We should have never done it.”

“Your father and I did exactly what we needed to do to keep our daughter and our granddaughter safe. I would do it all over again, with not a single regret.” She rubbed the edge of her purse.

“That night you came to us, you were so scared, and you had that nasty cut. I can’t get the blood-soaked towel you had wrapped around your arm out of my head. There is no reason for me to say his name.” Her shoulders squared.

“I told you. He never hurt me. I got cut trying to pick up the shards of glass. My hands were shaking.” Jazmine relaxed her grip on the steering wheel, revealing her scar again. “If you had been able to stop us from getting married, we wouldn’t have Rosemarie.”

Azalea sighed and dropped her head. “Okay, so I wouldn’t change that part. But I would still send you and Rosie away. I’m not sure I believe the story about the glass. You had a habit of making excuses for him.”

She dug into her purse and pulled out her gold tube of lipstick. Lowering the visor, she used the mirror to reapply the bronze color. “Sweetheart, it doesn’t look good. I mean we found him eating lunch at Esperanza’s Kitchen. You know that’s for homeless people. He’s fallen further than even I would have guessed.”

Jazmine wanted to beat her head against the windshield. “We don’t know why he was there. His family still owns the Diamondback Ranch.”

“His family might own land, but they have major issues. If he’s been kicked out of that family, he’s really sunk low. You shouldn’t go alone. We’ll arrange to have him come to the law office. He can be reminded who he’s up against.”

“No. I’m not going to have this turn into a legal battle. That would just drag it out. Rosie doesn’t deserve a messy court battle between her parents.”

“What if he hasn’t changed?”

Jazmine took a moment to stifle the words she wanted to scream at her mother. “Rosemarie’s older. She’ll be able to call me if she needs to. She—”

“You’re not going to let him be alone with her!”

“Not right now, but when she’s older. Keeping them apart is wrong.”

“What he put you through was wrong. What would you do if Rosie was in the same situation?”

Jazmine bit her lips to hold in words of frustration. There was really no arguing with her parents. “They don’t know each other, so any meetings we set up now will be with me. I’m not going to just drop her off with a stranger and leave.”

“We need to get something in writing, some sort of legal agreement before you allow him to talk to her. We have to protect her and make sure he can’t—”

Jazmine’s fist hit the steering wheel. “Stop. She has as much right to know about her father as he does to know about her. We’re meeting tonight, and I’ll make a plan from there.” She twisted and faced her mother. “You’re going to have to trust me on this. Okay?”

Her mother sighed. “I’m not sure I trust you when you’re in the same room as him.”

“That love-struck girl has grown up. I’m not going to allow anyone to hurt my daughter. If he is sober, we’ll come up with a plan that protects her.”

“If I can’t change your mind, then please be careful. I don’t want to see you hurt again. And you have to think about that innocent little girl.” She looked out the window. “With your father down, I just can’t...”

Jazmine reached across the center console and threaded her fingers through her mother’s. “I know. But if nothing else, this has reminded me that our lives can change in a blink. I can’t put this off any longer.”

“Rosemarie is so trusting.”

“I won’t let anyone hurt her. That includes her father.” She gave her mother a hard look. “And her grandparents. Have you thought about the questions she’ll have in a few years when she learns we kept her father from her?”

With a quick nod and a deep sigh, Azalea got out of the car and headed for the stairs.

Jazmine rested her forehead on the steering wheel. Her heart wasn’t so sure she would be fine with Elijah being in Rosemarie’s life, but for her daughter’s sake, she couldn’t hide behind her parents any longer.

Elijah was going to find how much she’d changed. The meek girl was gone. She was a full-grown mama bear now, and if she thought he would hurt Rosemarie in any way, she was walking out. Even if she left behind another piece of her heart.