Taming the Legend (24 page)

Chapter Twenty Four

Ash’s soft, deep exhales ruffled Camila’s hair as she lay awake and stared out the window at the moonlit pine trees. He curled around her from behind, his heavy arm crossed over her chest. At some point in the night, his hand had sneaked under the neckline of her nightgown to cradle her breast. Completely unconcerned by his own nudity, he slept soundly and nakedly
behind her, leaving her to her insomnia and rambling thoughts.

Her daughter had a name. A face. A personality—a
big
personality.

And problems.

Her daughter’s father also had a big personality, a forceful one that Camila had never fully recognized. Or maybe it hadn’t been this well developed when she’d known him before. Perhaps years of leading big, tough men had made him one himself.

Yet he still showed signs of the sweet boy she’d known. No matter how distressed she’d become, he hadn’t left her. He’d rolled with her torrent of emotions and comforted her. He’d held her all night long. Her emotions hadn’t frightened him away.

And that was good, because she didn’t want him to leave.

When the day’s first rays of sunlight peeked through the pine boughs, Camila finally
gave up on sleep and tried to extricate herself from Ash’s embrace. But his arm tightened around her, and he snuggled closer. “Where you going?”

“To the dock. I need to journal.” She was a little surprised the urge hadn’t hit her until now. When she’d faced other crises, her journal had been her safe haven. Last night, that role had fallen to Ash.

He pulled her hair away from her neck
and kissed her throat. “You okay?”

“As okay as can be expected.” Giving up on escaping for now, she rolled to face him. His heavy-lidded eyes were sleepy but alert, seeming to weigh her words for truth. “How about you?”

“As okay as can be expected.” He kissed the tip of her nose, and a comforting warmth rushed through her. She realized they’d spent most of the evening discussing her
feelings, and his had gotten lost in the swamp of hers. “It must be so strange, finding out you have a daughter and meeting her all in a few weeks.”

“It’ll take some getting used to, that’s for sure.”

“Are you angry with me?”

His brows shot up. “For what?”

“I don’t know…not trying harder to reach you?”

“You wrote to me at home and work. What else could you have done?”

She chewed her lip. “I wish I’d written you when I had my car accident a few years ago. But I was still so angry, anything I said would’ve just been hurtful. Hateful.”

“And how do you feel now?”

She drew in a deep breath and tried to see into her own heart. “Hating you isn’t what I’m afraid of now.”

It took him a second to react, as if he’d been protecting himself from something
he hadn’t wanted to hear. But then his shoulders relaxed, he pulled her closer and kissed her sweetly for several long, tender moments. “I don’t want to keep you from your journal.”

“Really?”

“Course not. Why are you surprised?”

“One of my ex-boyfriends dumped me because I was, quote, too unbending in my morning ritual, unquote.”

“Jesus. Was that Cock-in-a-Sock?”

She snorted
and pressed her palm to her lips to keep any more little-piggy noises from escaping. “No. Different guy.”

“Sweetness, you need to meet some real men. Oh, wait.” He spread his arms and grinned as she gave him a playful shove. “Anyway, I know how important it is to have activities that keep you mentally balanced. For me it’s running, playing, working out—anything active. Personally, I can’t
imagine anything worse than sitting still and writing, but I’m glad you have that. It’s important.”

Camila stared at him a long while. No man she’d known well enough to wake up with had understood her need to journal. Some of them thought it was interesting or cool, but they’d all considered it a hobby she could drop if it inconvenienced them. She had half an urge to test him, but he shifted
suddenly and, before she could blink, tipped her back into the pillows and leaned over her.

“Maybe we could kill two birds, so to speak.”

She could barely speak with him hovering so close. “Wh-what?”

“Do something physical and give you more to write about.”

“I think I’ll have enough to write about today. But thanks for your selfless offer.” She gave his cheek a patronizing
pat but grew distracted by the rasp of morning bristles against her palm, sending tingles down her arm.

He rolled off her, stretched and yawned. “Anytime. There aren’t any other cabins around yours, are there?”

“No, everything else is in front of the lodge. Why?”

“Didn’t want anyone to see me do the walk of shame. I’m sure as hell not climbing out the window.” He pulled on his boxer
briefs and the short rugby shorts he’d been wearing when he’d busted into her office yesterday. It hit her that he was trying to protect her reputation, not his.

“Maybe you should spritz your face with water before you go so anyone who sees you thinks you’re sweaty from running.”

He twisted to look at her over his shoulder, his brows raising. “Excuse me, but a gentleman never sweats.”

She pressed her lips together.
No more pig snorts. No more pig snorts.

“We glisten.”

She snorted. “Damn you.”

As he pulled on his T-shirt, his face lost some of its teasing and he rounded the bed to lay his hands on her shoulders. “You going to be all right today?”

“Yeah.” She would be. Last night’s shock had been tempered, thanks to Ash’s comfort. “I really appreciate
you staying with me last night.”

“I really appreciate you asking me to.” He kissed her softly, slowly, then reluctantly pulled away and gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “Take it easy today.”

“I can’t. I want to stay busy. Once I’ve gotten everything down in my journal, I don’t want to have time to think. No good can come of it.”

He nodded as if he understood, and of course he did.
He gave her another kiss goodbye and left her to get ready for her day.

She sat on the dock and journaled for a good hour, purging her brain and her heart. When her hand cramped and she’d wrung out every last emotion, she went back to her cozy cabin—which seemed empty now that Ash had taken his big personality back to his own—and showered, dressed and ate breakfast alone. Weird how quiet
it seemed. She’d lived here for five years. She’d had a boyfriend for two of those years, but since some of the staff she managed also lived on the grounds she’d made a rule that she would never bring anyone home with her. Ash was the first man to sleep in her bed, the first to sneak out at dawn. And he’d left an impression deeper than the one in her mattress.

She’d always enjoyed her solitude,
but now she felt lonely without him here.

A few minutes before nine, she wandered down the dirt path to her office. Most of the morning passed in a flurry of routine, paperwork, spreadsheets and meetings. But she couldn’t ignore the girl at the forefront of her mind. She needed to see Hannah but didn’t trust herself not to fall apart. She needed to talk to someone, but she hated to lean on
Ash again.

Gabriel. She needed to talk to her brother.

Her cell phone rang and she picked it up off her desk, smiling when she saw the caller’s name. “Twin brain strikes again,” she said when she answered.

“Oh, shit. I had a bad feeling like I needed to call you, but I was hoping I was wrong. What’s going on?”

Though he was a thousand miles away in Montana, his voice came through
as clearly as if he were right next to her. So did the sound of a zipper being pulled. She grimaced. “You’re not releasing the beast while talking to me, are you?”

He laughed. “What the hell, Mila?”

“I just heard something unzip.”

“My suitcase, numbnuts. And I was zipping it. I’m going away for a little while.”

She gripped the phone tighter. Her brother had been through some
really tough times recently, and she’d thought he’d finally started reconnecting with life. “Why? What happened?”

“I found out about a camp in Washington for kids with disabilities. I’m going to go check it out.” A thump told her he’d probably lifted the suitcase off his bed and set it on the floor. “Now enough about me—”

“Is the camp for Josh?” Gabriel’s new girlfriend Molly had a ten-year-old
son. Back in September, Gabriel had risked his life to rescue Josh from a disused copper mine he’d fallen into, but Josh’s spine had suffered serious damage, leaving him wheelchair-bound. When Camila had gone home to Montana for Christmas, Gabriel had been eaten alive by guilt and shut himself away in his remote cabin in the woods. He’d grown a beard and developed a surly don’t-fucking-talk-to-me
face that probably led mothers in Marietta to tell their children the Grinch lived on Copper Mountain. Molly, though, had thought him a hero for getting her son out alive, and had managed to pull him back from the brink of despair.

“Maybe. Molly’s nervous about it, so I told her I’d look into it.”

“Gabriel Ángel Morales, you are such a softie.”

“Don’t spread that rumor. You’ll ruin
my reputation. But there’s another reason I’m going, and I might need your help.”

“Anything. Tell me.”

“I’m thinking about opening something similar here, showing kids like Josh they can do things they never thought possible. I’ve started looking into the costs for equipment, but I don’t know anything about how to start something like this.”

Her heart melted all over the place.
“I’ll totally help. Anything you need.”

“Thanks. Really appreciate it. Anyway, I’ve got three hours before I have to be at the airport in Bozeman, and I’m meeting Molly and Josh for lunch at their school. So talk to me. What’s going on?”

The fact he’d listened to his sense that something was wrong with her and called when he had so much of his own crap to worry about filled Camila with
a rush of love. “I found her.”

“Found who?” He sucked in a sharp breath. “Holy fuck.”

“Her name is Hannah. Hannah Ashley Revell.”

“Oh my God. That’s…that’s beautiful.”

“
She’s
beautiful. Gabri, I think I’m in shock.”

“I’m not surprised. So am I. Tell me everything.”

“I don’t want to keep you from Molly and Josh.”

“I’m getting my hands-free set and I’ll talk to
you while I’m driving.” He rustled around and she could picture him dragging his suitcase out of Molly’s house and clattering down the wonky wooden ramp he’d made so Molly wouldn’t have to carry Josh up and down the porch’s stairs. A minute later, his truck’s ignition roared awake. “Okay, spill.”

She told him everything Ash had told her the night before, leaving out the fact they’d been in
bed for much of the conversation.

“How do you know he’s right?”

“I checked her birthday. It’s the right day. And… I can’t really explain it, but as soon as he said he thought one of the girls was our daughter, Hannah popped into my mind.”

“Mila, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. The birthday thing is weird, but it could be a coincidence. The fact she popped into your mind
could just mean that she’s the only one who looks part Latina.”

“But she doesn’t.” She swallowed hard. “She looks nothing like me. She’s blonde.”

He swore.

“What?”

“I’m going to rip that guy’s nuts off. I can’t believe he got your hopes up over a kid who can’t be yours. I know what he looks like, remember? You mooned over his picture for months. His hair is even darker than
yours.”

“It’s genetically possible.”

“Possible doesn’t mean probable, and it definitely doesn’t mean true. Mila, I know you want this girl to be the one, but your baby was born with black hair.” The sound of his engine changed, slowing down before cutting off.

“Are you at the school?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll let you go.” She hung her head and picked a bit of lint off her skirt,
wishing she’d never called him.

His voice softened. “Look, I’m really sorry. Just
please
do me a favor. Listen to your head on this one. Your heart’s too big. It’ll lead you down the wrong road, and you’ll get hurt all over again.”

Her shoulders stiffened. “Are we still talking about Hannah?”

“Who else would we be talking about?”

Ash.
“No one.”

But she couldn’t fool her
brother. “His selfishness destroyed you once. Men don’t change easily.”

She snorted. “I think you need to adjust your rearview mirror and take a good, long look at yourself. When I saw you at Christmas, you looked like you sacrificed kittens for giggles. Now you’re parked outside a kindergarten waiting for your lady love to come out.”

“So you should trust me when I say men don’t change
easily.
Hey, I gotta go. Molly’s noticed me through her classroom window. Promise me you’ll keep an open mind about the likelihood this girl’s not your daughter.”

“I promise.”

“And if that asshole tries to seduce you again—”

“To be fair, I seduced him the first time around. His seduction technique was pretty rudimentary.”

“Really not something I want the details of. Just promise
me you’ll protect your heart.”

Her eyes stung as she lifted her gaze to the ceiling. “It’s what I do best.”

“Good. I’ll contact you when I can.”

“Take care of yourself. And tell Molly I’m glad she has atrocious taste in men, because she’s good for you.”

“What’s that? You think I’m a god among men? That’s a bit weird coming from a sister, but I’ll be sure to tell her.
Te amo,
‘manita.
”

“Love you too, freak show. Be safe.” She said goodbye and hung up. Collapsing back in her chair, she stared at the ceiling. Her brother had always been the one person she could depend on. He’d been born in the same shitty boat she had, and throughout their childhoods they’d plugged holes to keep from sinking. Now he had his own fledgling love affair to worry about. But his pleas
hit her already bruised heart.

She had to protect herself. And she had to figure out if Hannah was really her daughter.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ash glanced at his watch for at least the tenth time in the past half hour. Camila was late for practice. Other than yesterday, when she’d missed because of her cramps, she’d never been late before. She’d set a steady example for the girls. But today she was a no-show.

The girls had finished their warm-up run—surprisingly quickly too—and he’d put Hannah
in charge of running them through some drills before they continued their work on tackling. The tournament was in one week. One fucking week. And all he could do was stare at the girl he was convinced was his daughter and drink in every detail.

Without Camila here to balance him, he would turn into a babbling mess any second.

A movement at the edge of the pitch caught his attention,
and he turned to find Camila striding toward them.
Thank God.

Something frantic settled down inside him, as if reinforcements had just arrived. He let out a deep breath and whistled for the girls’ attention. “All right, gather round.”

He waited for them to jog over and stand in front of him. Camila finally made it to his side, but she stood with her arms crossed protectively over her
chest and kept her gaze firmly on him.

“We’ve got one week before we leave for San Diego.”

“San Diego, baby!” Tori shouted, and Ash was hit with gratitude that the girls’ parents would be joining them.

Hannah’s parents too. Shite.

He cleared his throat. “Every day we’ve ended practice with a fun four-on-four game of touch rugby. I wanted you to focus on developing your basic
skills before we added in the skills that could get you hurt. But this week’s going to be all about practicing those skills. Today we’ll practice tackling at speed. We’ll watch some videos of the pros in action, and we’ll end today’s session with some full-contact rugby. From here on out, we’ll play the way we mean to next Saturday. So who’s ready to start?”

No one raised their hands.

“I said, who’s ready to start?”

A few murmured, “Me.”

“Fucking pathetic. That’s more like Trenton’s Lukewarms than Trenton’s Legends.
Who’s ready to start?
”

“Me!” they shouted.

“Better. Grab a partner and get ready to make her eat grass.”

The girls wandered a few meters away, and Ash angled his body toward Camila. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Sorry I’m late. I was talking
to Gabriel.”

“And?” He could tell from her closed-off posture that she was fighting hard to keep her emotions in check.

She hesitated. “And I… I need to see her up close. To be sure.”

He tried to keep the frown from his face. “You’re not sure?”

“I want to trust your word, but it’s a big thing to wrap my brain around.”

He could understand that. “And now that you’re here?”

She dropped her voice so low he had to tip his head forward to hear her whisper, “I can’t bring myself to look.”

Uncertainty ate at him. Should he stand with her as long as it took to work up the courage? Or walk away and let her face reality in her own time? What did she need from him right now?

“Hey, Coach!” Hannah shouted over at him. “How do I do this without breaking Jen’s ribs?”

Camila grimaced. “Please don’t let them hurt each other.”

“I won’t. I’ll go help them. You just…take your time. Let me know if you need anything.”
If you need me.
Because broken ribs weren’t the kind of hurt he was most worried about right now.

* * *

Camila managed not to look directly at Hannah for about five minutes while Ash coached the girls on how to tackle. They’d paired
up, facing each other in two rows. Hannah faced Jen, who held the ball and did a slo-mo run toward Hannah, allowing her to practice the motions of tackling before doing it for real.

“Much better! Much better!” Ash paced behind the tacklers, stopping at each one to give her pointers. “Crouch lower. Don’t bend at the waist—see how that curves your back? Bend at the knees and keep your back
straight, elbows at your side. Now power through your legs, wrap your arms around her chest, clasp your hands, hug her tight. That’s it! Excellent!”

When he got to the end of the line, he paused behind Hannah and met Camila’s gaze over the girl’s head. “Camila, come here a second.”

Hannah glanced up, and Camila’s breath caught in her throat. Ash and Hannah both watched her, Hannah with
curiosity about why Ash had called her over, and Ash with a hint of challenge.
It’s time to face the truth. Look at the two of us together.

And dear God, but they were similar right down to their body shapes. Both shorter than average, both bulky and muscular. Hannah almost looked like the female version of a young bull, not overweight or chubby but powerfully built with a body that would
probably never look at home in a dress and heels. As Camila forced herself to smile and plant one foot in front of the other, more similarities popped out at her. Their eyes, a deep, rich chocolatey brown. The shape of their faces, with strong jaws and a naturally sardonic tilt to their lips.

Their daughter had inherited so much more than her father’s name, but all of it was so subtle that
Camila wouldn’t have seen it if she weren’t looking for it.

Camila pressed her trembling lips together and clasped her hands to try to stop them shaking. She feared her knees would give out.

Why did I do this here? Why in front of all these people?

She hadn’t intended to. She’d meant to watch from the sidelines, but she’d been drawn to Ash like a bear to a beehive.

Awareness
flickered in Ash’s eyes, and he stepped away from Hannah. “Don’t stop. You’re doing great.”

Had he said it to her or to Hannah? Camila shook her head, struggling to catch her breath. Ash was at her side in an instant.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered so softly that only she could hear.

She shook too hard to respond.

“It’s adrenaline. It’ll go away quickly, but it’ll leave you feeling
wrung out. Let’s go sit down.” He wrapped his arm around her and led her away from the group of curious girls. “Keep going,” he shouted to them. “Camila’s not feeling well, so we’re going to sit down for a bit.”

Camila collapsed hard onto one of the metal bleachers and dragged in a few deep breaths. Ash kept his arm around her, murmuring encouragement as her panic dissipated.

“I’m sorry,”
he said again. “I thought you’d be better prepared for it, since I’d told you.”

“Nothing could’ve prepared me. It’s just…it’s her. It really is. I don’t know what to say, how to act.”

He sat sideways on the bench, facing her, leaning so close she could smell his deodorant. The heat and scent of him wrapped around her like the hug she desperately needed but couldn’t ask for. “I shouldn’t
have shocked you like that. I should’ve let you take your own time to see it.”

She couldn’t answer. Yes, seeing him and Hannah together had been shocking. But he’d done nothing more than force her to acknowledge what was right in front of her face. He’d refused to let her live in the land of Denial, giving her a shove toward Reality instead.

He patted her knee, gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“Do you want to go back to your cabin, have a rest?”

“No. I don’t want to take my eyes off her. Not for a second. I just want to sit here and absorb everything.”

He squeezed her knee. “Are you sure?”

“Totally.” She took another deep breath and let out a sigh, a million years of tension easing out of her on the exhale. “Why is she here? It can’t be a coincidence. Why is she
here?
”

His brows had drawn together, a deep line forming between them. He didn’t answer, simply sat next to her probably thinking similarly confused thoughts.

“Go back to them,” she said. “I’ll be okay.”

For the rest of the training, Camila soaked in every detail of her daughter from a distance. When Ash demonstrated a tackle, Hannah managed to copy his actions almost exactly. When he called
the girls to gather around him, Hannah’s brief jog looked just like Ash’s. The mimicry couldn’t have been intentional. At a cellular level, the girl belonged to him.

And at a cellular level, Camila longed to squeeze Hannah tight and never let her go again. She longed to spill all of her explanations. She longed to immerse herself in Hannah’s stories about what her life had been like these
last seventeen years.

But she had no right to do any of those things. She’d given up the privilege of parenthood the day she’d signed the adoption papers. And that knowledge made her struggle not to weep.

The team huddled together, wrapping their arms around each other and bending their heads close as Ash gave them what appeared to be a passionate, rousing speech. Then they broke up
with a fierce shout, punching their fists into the air. “Legends!”

They began making their way slowly toward the lodge, till Ash shouted, “Last one to the video room will do a dozen line sprints!”

They bolted. And, to Camila’s amazement, they laughed the whole way.

Ash wandered over to her. “How are you doing?”

“My whole life just got dumped on its head. I’m as okay as can
be expected. I have to call her parents, you know,” Camila said softly. “Now that I’m almost positive, I can’t put it off. I have to tell them.”

He grimaced but nodded. “When should we phone them?”

We.
Making decisions for the baby she’d carried and birthed was no longer solely her responsibility. The easy way he said it made her heart well up. “After practice. I want to get it over
with.”

“All right.” He gestured toward the lodge. “We’re going to watch some tackling highlights. Want to join us?”

“Maybe tomorrow.”

He smiled softly. “I understand. I’ll have a shower after practice and then we can phone them.”

“Sounds good.” She returned his smile. “You’d better hurry.”

He tilted his head. “Why?”

“They’re almost at the video room. Do you really
think they won’t make you do those sprints you threatened them with?”

He cursed and sprinted after the girls, Camila’s rusty laughter following him.