Almost a Cowboy (28 page)

“That hotel we passed on the way into town. I’ll be there.”

His eyes were sad. He didn’t understand. Hell, she didn’t, either. Some dark force was driving her to break free of him.

Because I lost myself in loving him again.

When she walked into the courthouse, she’d donned her invisible reporter’s mantle. Determination slid into place, and she was once again cool and composed. Ready to take on the world—or a little place called Franklin, Virginia.

•●•

Caroline charmed an employee, and together they set out to find a child born to a man named Hollis Davies in the area.

Maria, the older woman, sat at her desk, glasses magnifying her eyes to a large and humorous shape, poring through files. She’d exhausted her search of the computer system. As the records had only been recently added to the system, there weren’t many files to look through.

“This research could take days, Ms. Wilks.” The woman fluttered a dusty file in front of her face.

“I know. Let’s hope it doesn’t. Did you look in…” She pointed to a box that had a year marked on the side.

“Yes. You don’t suppose this Alexandria Davies is a minor?”

“It’s entirely possible.”

“Have you hired a private investigator?”

“No. We’d like to see if we can find her on our own first.”

“We?” The woman blinked at her.

Caroline swallowed the burning lump that jumped into her throat. “My, uh…friend.”

Maria looked at her for a few heartbeats. Caroline continued to rifle through files, skimming them for names beginning with
A
.

Even Maria thought she was an idiot for not calling Utah what he was—her lover. The woman knew nothing about it, but she’d guessed by Caroline’s silence.

She threw herself into searching files for another half an hour. At last Maria sat back. “I don’t think you’re going to find her here. Not in a day or even a week.”

“I’ll send for more records from the state.”

Maria stood and stretched. Her top bulged around her breasts. “I wish I could help more. I really do.”

Caroline gave her a smile. “You’ve been a fabulous help.”

“There’s only one other place I’d tell you to go.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know where the truck stop is? Just outside of town?”

Caroline jerked. An hour into their joined search for Alexandria, she’d confided that a truck driver had a child along this route. “No, I don’t.”

“I’ll call you a taxi. Just tell them you want the truck stop. The driver will know.”

Excitement wove through Caroline’s belly. “Would people know of this driver?”

“One person might remember him. She’s been there for many years. She started working there at, hmmm, let’s see. She might have been about sixteen, around my daughter’s age.” Maria nodded to herself. “Yeah, Cynthia started young and kept on working there. If anyone remembers this man, it would be her.”

Part of Caroline wished Maria had shared this information an hour ago. While digging through the files, she’d had a feeling they wouldn’t find Alexandria here.

Because I’d bet my life on the fact that she’s under eighteen.

Still, it was a longshot to actually speak to someone who might know of Utah’s sister.

After helping Maria pack the file boxes and replace them on the shelves, Caroline got into a cab and headed out of the city.
This kid could be anywhere. Virginia is 42,775 square miles.

When she arrived at the truck stop, she asked the driver to wait for her. She didn’t want to be stranded in a rough rest area in a strange city. After all, Cynthia might not even be working.

Inside, the scent of today’s meatloaf special assaulted her. The space was broken into three areas—convenience store, gift shop, and restaurant. Caroline kicked herself for not asking what position Cynthia worked…waitress? Clerk? Cook?

She revolved through the area, looking at big T-shirts sporting the town logo and past a wall of travel mugs. She went right to the checkout and read the woman’s name tag.

Randi.

“Excuse me, can you tell me if a Cynthia works here?”

“Cyndi Davies? Yeah, she’s in the back.”

Caroline’s heart leaped into her throat.
Davies, Davies. It’s her. What are the chances?

She clung to the edge of the counter, heedless of the grime under her fingers. “Can I…see her?”

“Uh, yeah.” Randi looked at her carefully, and Caroline wondered if she appeared as pale as she felt. “Hold on. I’ll get her.”

She disappeared, and Caroline swayed on her feet. Suddenly she felt as weak as her kitten Arial—her poor kitten she’d been away from too long. These thoughts led her to Utah.

Her mind barely had a moment to skim the surface of her Utah worries when a pretty woman who couldn’t be more than her own age came out.

She wore a truck stop T-shirt and simple jeans. Her blonde hair was pulled into a loose ponytail at her nape, and two diamond studs fitted into her perfect earlobes.

A gift from Hollis?

She gave Caroline a quizzical smile. “Can I help you?”

Caroline met her brown-eyed gaze.
No, not brown at all. Amber.
God, she was cracking up a little. Suddenly she wished for Utah very badly. Right now he and Gunn would be in the truck, headed where?

Without him, what did she have?

A cat and her mother. Both nice, but she craved a man’s touch—Utah’s touch.

She shook herself. “Can I please speak with you alone?”

Cynthia threw her fellow employee a look and wiped her hands on her backside. “Sure, let’s go outside.”

Caroline followed her through a maze of drink coolers and snack displays to a small picnic area outside. One truck driver sat a few tables away, reading a book and smoking a cigarette.

“Mind if I smoke?” Cynthia reached into her back pocket and withdrew a pack and lighter.

“No. Listen, my name is Caroline Wilks. I was told you might know someone. In fact, I think you did.”

Cynthia stood at the same height as Caroline. Their gazes met. She tipped her head to light her cigarette and then blew out a puff of smoke through her full lips. “Who is it?”

“His name was Hollis Davies.”

“Oh my God.” The color drained from Cynthia’s face. She took two steps back, her hip bumping into the edge of the table. “What do you know about Hollis? Is he…?” Tears sparked in her eyes.

Caroline reached out and clasped a hand over the woman’s forearm to steady her. “Yes, he passed away.”

“Shhhit.” She sat abruptly, cigarette dangling from her lower lip. She was so young to have been tangled up with a man of Hollis’s age.

Taking the bench opposite, Caroline said, “I’m sorry to tell you like this. What tie did you have to him?”

Cynthia slid a hand over her lower belly—the action of a mother protecting a child. Caroline’s heart flipped. “He used to drive through in his truck. For a few years, we’d just talk. Then one day…he bought me supper. And these.” She fingered her earlobe.

Caroline nodded, her stomach a twisted mess. “I’m going to come right out and ask this. Do you have a daughter named Alexandria?”

“Oh fuck!” Cynthia jumped up. Her cigarette fell from her lips and lay burning at her feet. “How do you know her name? Who are you, and what do you want?”

Caroline remained seated, seeking to calm her. “Hollis has left a will, and we need Alexandria to come for the reading.”

“But she won’t understand. She’s only nine years old!” She clenched her hands together.

Drawing a deep breath, Caroline fought her disgust with Utah’s father. If Cynthia was even thirty, that meant Hollis—a man in his late fifties—had slept with a woman of barely twenty. Odder things had happened, but his actions had never felt so seedy.

“Please sit down and tell me a little.”

Cynthia stared at her hands, and realizing she’d lost her cigarette, lit another. She sat, blinking in shock. Her face and throat were mottled.

“You aren’t very old,” Caroline noted.

“Thirty in a few months. Yeah, Hollis was older. But he had a way about him that was eternally young, you know?”

Caroline nodded but didn’t know. To her, he was now a dirty old man.

“He swept me up, and I got pregnant right away. Stupid, I know. It cost me college, and my parents kicked me out. I was old enough to be on my own, anyway, I guess.” She drew deep on her cigarette. “Alexandria was a blessing to me, though. I’ll never regret having her.”

“I’m sure.”

Cynthia’s hands shook. “You knew Hollis?”

“Yes.”
I’m in love with his son.
“Alexandria isn’t the only child Hollis had.”

“What?” Cynthia’s eyes took on a pained light. “He told me…he was a bachelor.”

“Were you married?”
Please say no.

She waved a hand. “I call myself Davies, but it’s not my legal name.”

“Cynthia, he has other children. He had a wife.”

“What? No!” She leaped up again and began to pace. “Why are you telling me this? Why are you here?”

Caroline stood.
Utah handles his siblings and their mothers much better.
“Hollis has passed away and left something to Alexandria. Her brother and I are searching for her, as well as the other members of the family.”

“How many others?”

“Fifteen children total.”

She dropped her face into her open hand and sobbed. “So dumb. God, I’m an idiot, just as my mother said I was! I fell right into some trap—had his kid and accepted that he wouldn’t marry me. I believed him the last time he said he’d be back for me and Ali.”

Caroline spread out her hands, wishing for Utah to come fix this mess. He’d probably hug the woman and make everything all right. “I’m very sorry.”

She sucked down the rest of her cigarette and crushed it under the heel of her sneaker. “I don’t like this. I don’t trust you.”

“That’s understandable. Just…meet us, at least. Come tomorrow to the park beside the courthouse and bring Alexandria to meet her brother. I think you need to talk to Utah about everything, and you’ll better understand.”

She gnawed on her lower lip, contemplating the invitation. At last, she nodded. With an unsteady hand, she lit another cigarette and took two quick hits before stomping on it. “I gotta get back to work.”

Caroline watched her go.

Cynthia hadn’t heeded her mother’s wishes and ended up in a bad place, a single mother with a head full of lies. And Caroline was the opposite—she
had
listened to her ma’s advice, but it hadn’t given her a leg up in the world. No, she’d sunk very low without Utah to love.

As she stood there, staring at the final tendril of smoke curling from the dropped cigarette, she wondered if she was now listening to her inner voice when it came to Utah.

When Gunnison got off the plane, a duffle in hand, he came forward and embraced Utah. “I’m sorry, brother. Clinton is as well, but he’s too damn stubborn to admit it yet.”

Utah pounded his brother on the back, heart fuller than he’d felt it since Caroline started to extricate herself from their relationship.

He pulled away and gave his brother a smile. “Let’s go get a beer.”

Gunn shook his head. “After that flight and all the turbulence, I need something stiffer than a beer.”

Utah led the way to his truck and drove them straight to a bar right outside of town. Where was Caroline right now? Had she found Alexandria? And what was Franklin doing right now?

Biting off a rumble of irritation that he felt far from in control of this situation, Utah ordered a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

Kicking back in his wooden barrel-back chair, Gunn leveled his gaze on Utah. “So talk.”

Utah flexed his fingers, unsure of how to begin. Then he decided right at the beginning, when he’d found his father with the photographs.

“That’s why you never came back.” Gunn’s voice filled with understanding.

“Yeah. I couldn’t look at the man again. Now I know part of me avoided it because I was afraid he’d start telling me about these other kids.”

Gunn poured a brimming shot of whiskey and downed it in one gulp. Utah knocked his back too. It burned so good, fortifying him for the conversation ahead, which was sure to become more emotional.