Red Dog Ranch usually functioned as a summer camp for foster children. That was the reason why the dining hall had been built initially, but it was also where meals were served for the staff that lived on the property year-round.
Cassidy held the cumbersome front door of the dining hall open for Piper, then she followed her outside. Bright sunlight momentarily blinded her. She cast her eyes down. Positioned beside the small chapel on a hill that overlooked the ranch, the dining hall got blasted with sunshine in the afternoons.
A wall of heat slowed their progress. It was the type of uncomfortable warmth that made a person want to lie down and not move until it passed. Cassidy gathered her hair into a makeshift ponytail. Summer had quickly glided into the Texas Hill Country, driving the temperature into triple digits so early in the season.
“Cassidy? What are you... Why... I didn’t think... It’s you.” A man’s voice rocketed through her, making Cassidy startle. Her heart pounded loud and hard in her chest as she turned in the direction of the speaker. Her hands trembled and her throat went drier than the Texas dust.
She knew that voice.
Only one person had ever uttered her name that way. Wrapped three syllables in so much emotion, as if her name was a secret—the best secret—his lips had ever formed.
But it couldn’t be.
Her eyes landed on Wade Jarrett. Wild light brown hair and dark brows. Eyes a muted green like the underside of a leaf after a storm. A mouth with a constant quirk in it as if he was continuously on the edge of smiling, even when he wasn’t trying to.
She gasped and shuffled back on unsteady feet. Cassidy stumbled a bit and would have fallen if Wade hadn’t lunged forward and grabbed her arms, steadying her.
Strong. Solid.
“How?” she whispered. “When?” Unable to form a solid sentence, she shook her head. “This isn’t real. It can’t be.” He offered her a reassuring smile but it only made her shake her head more.
Because Wade Jarrett—the man who had been the love of her life—was dead.
She blinked, but he was still there, his touch sending tingles up her arm.
The man in front of her was very much alive.
Impossible.
“You’re here.” Wade’s voice was raw. “I never imagined... Didn’t think... But you’re here.”
Her limbs shook as black edged her vision. She forced herself to gulp in some air, but it was difficult to breathe beyond the wave of nausea pummeling through her body. “It’s really you?”
Wade nodded. “It’s me, Cass.”
No one had called her Cass for five years.
A loud sob lodged in her throat as she threw her arms around him. “You’re alive. I don’t understand. How are you alive?”
Wade hugged her back. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.” Wade’s voice was the same soft comfort it had always been.
There had been a boating accident and Wade had drowned in the Gulf of Mexico. A gravestone two miles down the road bore his name. Each week, Cassidy watered the black-eyed Susans she had planted there.
But here he was, back in her arms. God had answered the prayers she had stopped praying years ago.
“Mommy.” A small hand pressed against her thigh.
Piper. She had witnessed everything.
Cassidy broke away from Wade quickly, swiping at her eyes. Wade’s gaze locked with Cassidy’s. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He looked at Piper, then back to Cassidy. His dark brows formed a V.
Cassidy wasn’t prepared for the conversation she would have to have with Wade or her daughter when they realized who each other were. Not yet, not right this second. Cassidy needed her emotions to catch up—needed something to make sense before she could do anything.
She took a step back, finally slipping away from his touch completely.
They had held a funeral. She had mourned him these last five years. This was impossible.
Wade scrubbed at his jaw. “Mommy? You’re a mom.” He turned his head, focusing on the horizon.
“I know who you are.” Piper bounced on her feet, drawing his eyes back to her. “I’ve seen your pictures in the house. Grandma has them everywhere. Mom too. All over,” Piper said. “You’re my—”
“Piper,” Cassidy broke in. “Go to the big house. Find Rhett.” Cassidy jutted her chin toward the large ranch house where most of the Jarrett family lived. If Rhett and Shannon had been talking about going in the sprinkler with Piper, they were both there. And these days, Rhett’s fiancée, Macy, was never too far from him so she was probably there too. Piper would be safe with them while she talked with Wade.
Wade was alive.
All this time.
Where had he been the last five years? Why hadn’t he contacted them? Cassidy needed answers.
Piper scrunched up her face. “But, Mom, he’s—”
“I said inside.” Cassidy sidestepped, putting her body in between Piper and Wade. Made it so Piper had to stop gawking at him. She pointed toward the house at the bottom of the hill.
Piper’s eyes narrowed. “I know who he is.”
“Now, Piper.” Cassidy’s voice had never been as stern as it was in that moment, but now wasn’t the time for them to meet each other. Not yet. Not formally.
Piper took a few steps back, putting her at an angle where she could see Wade once more. She looked at him for another heartbeat before she obeyed. Cassidy watched her daughter pick her way across the expanse of green in her little cowboy boots, glancing back at them after every couple of steps. Cassidy didn’t say a word, even when Piper was long out of earshot. She watched Piper go up the porch steps and disappear into the house. It wouldn’t take long for her to alert Rhett and Shannon to Wade’s presence. His siblings would probably assume Piper was confused; they thought Wade was dead, after all. But Cassidy knew they would head outside to investigate. They would be here already if they knew.
Lord, help me. How is this possible? How do I navigate this with Piper?
Cassidy sucked in a deep breath. A drop of sweat skated in between her shoulder blades as she turned to face Wade. He worked his jaw around, rubbed at a spot on his neck. His gaze fixed on the door Piper had just vanished through.
Finally his green eyes found hers. “Piper. Is she... She’s... Am I...?” He cleared his throat, but his voice was still completely raw as he asked, “Am I her dad?” He glanced down at her hands, checking for a ring. “Or is there someone else in your life now?”
“She’s my daughter, Wade.” Cassidy laid her hand on her chest. Until now, she had raised Piper alone, after all. “Only mine.”
His left eyebrow rose. Always the left. “You realize in most cases that’s physically not possible.”
She would confirm Piper was his daughter soon enough, but not until they had a chance to talk. The Wade she had known five years ago had been a troubled young man, who had drowned his problems in copious amounts of alcohol. Even when he had been a teenager, he’d had fake IDs so he could go into gaming halls. Before she let him into Piper’s world, she had to find out who he was now.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you, but five years, Wade. Where have you been?” Her voice shook a little. “We thought you were dead.” She could hear the tears gathering behind her words.
He flinched.
“Cassidy.” His hand moved as if he was going to reach for her again, but it stopped mid-extension. He curled his fingers in slowly, his hand falling back to his side.