Texas_Winter (11 page)

She had disappeared from the huge birthday spread Donna had prepared and the chaos of two families fighting for food and space in the small kitchen. It was loud and chaotic, filled with laughter and teasing and love. When he'd found her, she was with Red, a coloring book and some pens that Eden had given her lying out on the grass. It was a book full of horse outlines, and she had just stared at it for a long while. No one else but Riley seemed to notice.

She was on her tummy in the grass, the book open in front of her and the pens in disarray around her, but she wasn't coloring now. Instead she was staring ahead with her chin resting on her crossed arms. Her little legs were bent at the knee, and she was swinging them idly. Riley crouched next to her.

"Hi ya, Hayley," he said gently, and she glanced sideways at him. He could see she had been crying, her intense brown eyes red-rimmed. He sat the rest of the way down and hesitated. Maybe she needed alone time? Who was he to think he could understand her or make things better for her? He wasn't arrogant enough to imagine for one minute she needed him at this time.

"'M just a bit sad," she half whispered. "I'm sorry." "Why are you sorry?"
"I know I shouldn't be sad."
"You have every reason to be sad, sweetheart." "But I got a pony. Ebony doesn't have a pony. So I

gotta be happy."
Riley waited before he answered. Ebony was
Hayley's friend with the parents who locked their doors
sometimes. Maybe he should think of bringing Ebony here
for a visit. Hayley had been ripped from everything she
knew to be placed with him. Damn. Why hadn't he thought
of that for her birthday? He never even considered inviting
Ebony or Sarah or Aunt Sophie. And he called himself a
dad?
"Nope. You don't have to be happy, baby. You can be as sad as you want to be about your momma." Wait, should he be saying that? Hell, maybe he should be telling her about how her momma was in a better place, looking down from heaven, that she was a star or something. Jeez. He really had to hit the Internet when he got his next time
alone. Hayley sat up and scrubbed her eyes.
"Your daddy is dead. Aunty Eden told me. And
your brother—he's dead too."
"Yes, they are."
"Do you cry?"
Christ. A leading question if ever he'd heard one.
Did he cry? God no. Not for them anyway. He had cried for
what they had done to Donna and Jack and to Beth, but for
himself? He didn't miss either Gerald or Jeff and wondered
if he ever would. It didn't matter his dad had made some
grandiose gesture to make amends; the damage had been
done. He didn't want to lie to Hayley. Lying to kids was
wrong—that much he knew from his limited knowledge of
child psychology. It was best to try to stick to the truth. "I get sad," he said simply. The truth. In among the
hate and the denial and the disgust resided a kernel of
sadness. Of course it was wrapped in his own pity party for
one snuggled right next to self-loathing, but it was there.
Hayley climbed onto his lap, and instinctively, he caught
her and settled her close. Her small hands wrapped around his neck, and she was clinging, secure in his hold. She was crying again, noisy sobs that shook her frame, and all he could do was hold her and hope to hell he was doing the
right thing.
Jack found them a little later, and by this time, tears
had turned to talking, and Riley even felt like he might
have some control of the situation.
"Hey, guys," he said softly, and Riley caught his
concerned expression. There were questions in their blue
depths, but Riley didn't even know where to begin to
answer.
"Hi, Pappa." Hayley's voice was muffled against
Riley's chest.
"You okay out here?"
"We're fine," Riley began, "aren't we, Hayley?"
Riley hesitated to hear a response just in case she wasn't
fine now. Hayley turned in his hold and looked up at Jack,
and Riley could only imagine the puppy expression she was
turning full force on her Pappa.
"Is it time to do riding yet?" she asked hopefully.
Jack smiled and held out a hand to help them both to stand. "Sure is, li'l lady," he drawled in his best cowboy.
"Cake first then ridin'." Hayley skipped ahead to the house,
and Riley had only one thing to say.
"I don't know if I can do this right," he said
miserably.
"Yes,
we
can," Jack replied simply with a whole lot
of emphasis on the "we".

To see his daughter on Red, making all the rookie mistakes of a first time rider, was just really an excuse to stare at Jack as he led the pony and its precious cargo around the paddock. Hayley wasn't talking; she had her lower lip caught in her teeth, and she was concentrating about as hard as Riley had ever seen her. Jack was chatting about something, probably guidance on how to sit and how to guide Red to do what she wanted him to. Riley pulled out his phone and snapped a few pictures.

"She's so beautiful up there," Jim began conversationally.
"She is."
"A natural," he added, but Riley knew Jim was biased just as he and Jack were. "I left the papers you need to sign in the kitchen in an envelope." Riley looked at his dad with confusion.
"That was quick. Shouldn't there be more, I don't know, difficulty?"
"Not at all. You knew what you wanted, and I just need your signature to transfer the money."
"Am I doing the right thing?"
"You're a rich man, Riley. Most rich men have trusts set up for their children."
"What if…" How the hell was he going to explain the things that haunted him at night when he was trying to sleep? "What if we hadn't had all that money, if we had been a normal family?"
"Are you thinking about Jeff specifically?"
"Not just him, but Gerald and what he was like, and my mom, and what happened to you. All the things that were so wrong."
"Hey, Daddy, Grandpa! Look at me!"
Red didn't even react to the shout, bless him. He just kept on walking. When Jack said the pony was good with children, he hadn't been wrong. Hayley was close and looked like she wanted to wave but wouldn't let go of the death hold she had on the reins. Riley grinned over her and waved, as did Jim. Jack quirked a smile at them both and set off on another circle of the small training paddock.
"Quite apart from everything else, son, there was something very wrong with Jeff. He had evil inside of him, so ingrained it wouldn't have mattered if your family was a pastor's family from Ohio."
"How much is in the trust?"
"About seventeen million, give or take a few thousand."
"And it's safe?"
"All in Hayley's name and locked for her twentyfifth birthday. Eden, Beth, Steve, and Josh are trustees as you asked."
Riley nodded. The money was nearly three-quarters of everything Riley owned after investing in his consultancy, and now it couldn't be touched by him or by anyone else. He trusted Eden with his life and knew she would show Hayley how to enjoy the money. Beth would show Hayley how to be a good person and use her money to help others. Steve would show Hayley how to trust and have fun in life while still trying to be sensible. Josh was strong and stable—a family man. If something happened to Riley and Jack, then Riley couldn't wish for four better influences for his daughter. They had decided Eden would be guardian, and she had agreed instantly when they'd asked her.
"What about the other stuff? I want Jack to officially adopt."
"It's not looking good, son. We know state law allows single GLBT adoption, which in your case is irrelevant anyway as you are her father. There was a case not long ago where a step-father couldn't adopt without the express permission of the mother, but that is the closest I've come to precedent. Given Lexie is deceased, she can't give permission so there is a gray area there. Christ knows what a judge will drum up if pushed. Gay adoption is a political hot potato, and it is entirely up to you if you want to fight this."
Riley's chest tightened "I have to know she will be Jack's if anything happens to me. I don't want her going to Sarah and Elliot."
"I'm doing my best to find a legal solution."
"And what if we don't find one—"
"Riley, if anything happens to you, we can tie this up in courts until she reaches an age she is deemed capable of deciding for herself, but there is one other option."
"Which is?"
"Move to another state where the marriage and gay adoption petition are legal."
Riley didn't even hesitate. "I couldn't make Jack leave the D."
"Just a thought. Okay?"
"Thank you for doing this for us. I'll talk to Jack."
"Well, we need to call in the family law attorney dealing with all of this, but at least we have some idea of what we want here."
"Daddy! Grandpa!" Jack was helping Hayley off the horse, and as soon as her feet hit the ground, she was off running.
"Hayley, wait," Jack said firmly, and she spun on her heel. "You can't just run off. We need to be looking after Red now." Riley waited for the complaining, but instead, his daughter just threw him a bright wide grin and trotted back to Jack.
"Coming, Pappa." Together, the two of them led Red out of the gate and off to the stable.
"Jack's good with her," Jim commented, and placed a hand over Sandra's shoulders as she joined them at the fence.
"She called him Pappa," Sandra said.
"Yeah," Riley said simply. "It's cool."

The car that drove up to the D the next morning was, Jack imagined, some kind of FBI car. A dark sedan with blacked-out windows, there was no way of knowing who was inside. One person climbed from the passenger seat, an older guy with gray hair, wearing a dark suit and the shiniest black patent shoes Jack had ever seen on a ranch.

"I'm looking for Riley Campbell-Hayes," he said, and then stood with feet apart, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Can I ask who you are?" Jack planted his feet firmly. Feds on his land were not going to intimidate him. They stood in a battle of wills eyeball to eyeball until a cough separated them.

"Agent Jones, I assume?" Riley jumped the last two steps and offered a hand to the new guy.
"Mr Campbell-Hayes." The agent inclined his head.
"Call me Riley. This is my husband, Jack."
Jack narrowed his eyes at the casual introduction.
"I wonder if we could go somewhere to talk."
"We have coffee," Riley suggested conversationally, then turned to Jack. "We can use the good room, yeah?" Jack hesitated to answer. He wasn't sure he wanted Riley off in another room with someone who appeared armed and who was nothing more than a highlevel cop. "Jack is going to sit in on this." To give him his due, the agent didn't twitch one single muscle at this. "My daughter is at school…"
Riley was rambling, and Jack listened to him with half an ear. He indicated with a hand gesture that Agent Jones should precede him into the house, and after a few seconds of posturing, the man did as Jack wanted him to. Clearly, he didn't like having his back to anyone. Well, neither did Jack. Twenty years of bar fights had taught him one thing—you couldn't defend yourself if you couldn't see your opponent. That was why Jack was so damn good at bar fights, if he said so himself.
They settled in the room, three coffees in mugs on the table and an unopened box between them. Agent Jones opened it and pulled out a Rolex—very similar to the watch Riley already owned, all flash and platinum.
"There's no need for visible wires. There's a tracker inside the mechanics of the watch and a speech recorder. All you need to do is press the dial here—" He leaned forward and indicated the side of the Rolex, "—then get him talking."
"About what exactly?" Jack asked as Riley didn't seem inclined to do so.
"Two people have died, son," Jones began, and Jack bristled at the condescending tone in Jones's voice. "We have no leads other than the signatures of Jenkins, Jeff Hayes, and of course Riley, which he alleges isn't his—"
"It isn't his." Jack moved forward threateningly in his chair, and the tension inside him promised to jump out at any moment. The agent didn't even blink. Evidently he was semi-threatened by cowboys every day, and it didn't move him to react.
"We are fully aware of what is and isn't Riley's involvement in this case," the agent said, dismissing Jack with nothing more than an icy half smile. "We have set up the meet for today, midday at Cassis Allesandro." The agent named one of the most expensive, and equally discreet, restaurants in Dallas. "Get him talking about Jeff, about how you need to travel the same path, get names, anything, but get specific references to the documents and agreements from two thousand seven."
"I understand," Riley said.
He loosened his watch and dropped it to the table, a timepiece worth thousands of dollars sitting in between chipped coffee mugs. Jack realized, at that moment, he'd never felt so much dread pour through him. He looked on as Riley picked up the other watch and placed it on his wrist. He couldn't see much difference between the two.
"Nothing is going to happen there, Jack; I'm just going to talk."
Emotions trickled through him that Jack didn't want to begin to identify. Fear, resignation, and the utter desire to push Riley into a room and lock the door.
"He's talking, recording, and that's it? What then?"
"He pays the check and leaves. There will be surveillance on him at all times, but we don't actually think Jenkins is involved directly with the murders."
"You don't
think
?" Jack stood and began to pace. "You don't
think
he's involved with the murders?"
"Jack." Riley stood to join him. "All I have to do is a bit of acting, okay? They're recording from the watch, probably to some van outside. It's a quick in and out, and it will give them somewhere else to look for criminals away from Hayes."
"We can still just authenticate the documents they say you signed against your own handwriting—"
"It's gone past that. They're not forcing or blackmailing me—I want to do this. I want to close down all the doors that link me to back then."
"Just come home to me and Hayley safe. Promise me you will get your ass straight home," Jack demanded. He was completely ignoring the third man in the room. As far as he was concerned, it was him and Riley against the world.
Agent Jones cleared his throat. "I'm going now. If you have any questions you can call me." He handed a card to Jack and one to Riley and left. All Jack wanted to do was kiss Riley, brand him, keep him hogtied to the bed. He settled for drawing him closer and just keeping it to kissing.