A Piece of Texas Trilogy Page 28

  He made me promise him something that night, while we were talking. He made me promise that I would send you the piece of paper I’ve enclosed. Maybe I had better explain how he came to have this piece of paper. The night before we left for Vietnam, we were in a bar in Austin having a few drinks. We met a man there who had lost a son in the war. Since he no longer had anyone to leave his ranch to, he said he wanted to give it to us. He wrote out a bill of sale and tore it into pieces, giving each one a piece, then had a notary public witness each of our signatures.

  I don’t know if this will ever be worth anything, but Tony said he had nothing of any value to leave you, if something should happen to him, and wanted me to send you this.

  I had hoped that I’d never have to fulfill my promise to him, and it grieves me that I have to now. I found your address among Tony’s personal effects, and I’ll hang on to it. I’ll contact you after I get home and tell you what you need to do in order to get Tony’s share of the ranch. Like I said before, there’s no guarantees, but for Tony’s sake, and that of his child, I hope this piece of paper turns out to be the inheritance he would’ve wanted his child to have.

  Sincerely,

  Sgt. Larry Blair

  With tears streaming down her face, Addy stared at the letter, a hand pressed over the ache in her heart.

  “Do you think this means he loved me?” Swiping a hand over her cheek, she lifted her head to look at the baby. “I mean, think about it. He told this Larry person he felt bad about leaving Mom to raise me alone and wanted to help support me. Even asked him to send Mom the piece of paper, in case he was killed, because it was all he had to give me.”

  Johnny Mack’s lower lip quivered and he let out a wail.

  Addy jumped up, stuffing the paper and envelope into the pocket of her robe. “Oh, baby, don’t cry,” she soothed, as she pulled him from the swing. “Just because Mommy’s sad, doesn’t mean you have to be sad, too.” She tucked his head in the curve of her neck and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You’ve got a daddy,” she told him. “There’s no need for you to cry. You’ve got Mack, and you’ll always know that he loves you.”

  Mack parked his car in front of Addy’s, then sat there for a minute, studying her house. The front windows were dark, but there was a light on in the rear of the house. It was late, probably too late to be making a social call, but he hadn’t come this far to turn back now.

  Drawing in a deep breath to steady his nerves, he climbed from his car and smoothed a hand over his hair, as he strode up the walk, knowing he probably looked like something the cat dragged in, after driving all day, first to Houston, then to Dallas. But he hadn’t wanted to stop and shower and clean up. He’d wanted only to see Addy. He rapped his knuckles twice on the door, then waited. Unlike the last time he’d knocked on Addy’s front door, her response was almost immediate. The porch light blinked on, nearly blinding him, and he heard her uneasy call of “Who’s there?” from the other side of the thick wooden door.

  “It’s Mack. I need to talk to you.”

  A long stretch of silence followed his pronouncement, making him doubt his chances of getting inside. But then the door opened a crack, revealing a narrow slice of her face.

  “Mack? Why are you here? It’s late.”

  “I know and I’m sorry, but we need to talk.”

  She hesitated a moment, then asked, “About what?”

  He bit down on his frustration. “Addy, would you please just let me in.”

  Though he could tell she’d rather not, she opened the door wider.

  Relieved, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. When he turned, he saw that her feet were bare and she wore a robe cinched at the waist. He glanced at his wristwatch and bit back a groan when he saw that it was past midnight. “I woke you,” he said with real regret.

  She eased back, as if wanting to keep a safe distance from him, and shook her head. “I wasn’t asleep.”

  Biting down on his frustration, he glanced around. “Is there somewhere we can sit down? It’s been a long day.”

  She hesitated a moment, then gestured to a doorway at her left. “In here.” She led the way into the living room that opened off the entry, paused to switch on a lamp, then sat down in the chair opposite the sofa.

  Willing to honor her need for distance—for the moment, anyway—he seated himself on the sofa.

  “Did Zadie give you my message?”

  He lifted a brow. “About the annulment?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yeah. She told me.”

  “Have you notified Lenny?”

  “Didn’t see the point.”

  Her jaw sagged. “But you promised! You said if I ever wanted to end our agreement, you’d grant me an annulment.”

  “Annulment is no longer an option,” he informed her. “If you’ll remember, we consummated our marriage. An act that was your idea, if I recall.”

  She dropped her gaze, her cheeks reddening.

  He wondered if she was remembering the night she seduced him. He did. Every detail. From the damp towel she’d dropped to the floor to the exquisite feel of her tight warmth surrounding him to the peace and contentment of having her body curled against his, as they’d slept.

  “Why did you leave, Addy?” he asked quietly.

  She snapped up her head, her eyes wide with surprise, then dropped her gaze to her lap again and began nervously pleating the ends of the sash that cinched her robe. “I…I thought it would be best.”

  “For who? You? The baby? It sure as hell wasn’t for me.”

  She caught her lip between her teeth, but kept her head down. “F-for everyone.”

  “Come on, Addy,” he chided. “I deserve more of an explanation than that.”

  She whipped up her head, her eyes filled with anger. “What is it you want from me?” she cried. “You got the heir you wanted. That’s why you married me.”

  He wanted to deny her claim, but to do so would be a lie. He had wanted an heir, had offered her marriage, in order to get one.

  “That’s true,” he admitted. “Or at least it was in the beginning. But things changed. I changed.”

  Desperate to convince her, he slid from the sofa and knelt at her feet, closing a hand over those she gripped so tightly on her lap. “You were happy living with me, weren’t you?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face away. “Mack, please,” she begged. “Don’t do this.”

  The tears in her eyes, her inability to answer his question proved to him that she loved him.

  “Addy, look at me.” When she stubbornly kept her face turned away, he cupped a hand at her cheek and forced her to face him. “Addy,” he ordered gently. “Look at me and tell me that you weren’t happy with me.”

  She flipped open her eyes. “Yes, I was happy with you!” she cried, tears now streaming down her face. “I fell in love with you! That’s why I left. I couldn’t let him hurt you, and if I’d stayed, he would.”

  He peered at her in confusion. “You mean Ty? Addy, Ty can’t hurt me.”

  “He could’ve if I’d stayed!” She swept an angry hand across her wet cheeks. “He was going to use Johnny Mack as bait to extort money from you. He said that if I didn’t help him get what he wanted, he would claim Johnny Mack and I’d be back in Dallas scrubbing bed pans again.”

  He blinked, unable to make the leap from extortion to bed pans. “But how did you think your leaving was going to protect me from him?”

  “Don’t you see?” she cried in frustration. “It isn’t Johnny Mack Ty wants, it’s your money! If I’d stayed, Ty would have taken you to court and proven his paternity and you would’ve lost everything you’ve worked so hard for. By leaving and ending our marriage, I take you out of the picture and there’s only me for him to deal with. Once he realizes the only thing he can gain out of a child custody battle with me is a child, he’ll back off quick enough.

  “And if he did try to fight me for custody, he’d lose. No judge in his r
ight mind would turn a child over to a loser like Ty. Either way, I’ll have full custody of Johnny Mack, and you can see him as often as you want. I know how much you love him, and he loves you. You’re his father, Mack. I’d never try to keep the two of you apart.”

  Though he didn’t understand her logic and found it impossible to follow, he wasn’t about to question her further. She’d told him all he needed to know to convince him that she still loved him.

  His smile tender, he cupped a hand at her cheek. “Oh, Addy. Though I appreciate the sacrifice you were willing to make, it isn’t necessary. Ty can’t hurt us. Not you, or me, or Johnny Mack. I’ve seen to that.”

  She went as still as death. “But…how?”

  “He signed the papers.”

  She shook her head, refusing to believe him. “No. That’s impossible. He was at the house with me when he was supposed to be meeting you in Houston.”

  “That’s true, though I didn’t know why he didn’t show up until later. When I returned home and found you gone, I figured he had something to do with your leaving. I wanted more than anything to leave right then and there and come after you, bring you and the baby back home, but I knew I couldn’t do it until I’d settled things with Ty once and for all. I spent yesterday getting all the legal documents ready that would sever my relationship with him, then drove to Houston this morning and had him sign them.”

  Eyes wide, she stared, as if afraid to believe what he was telling her was true. “And that’s enough? His signature, I mean. That makes it all legal? He can’t ever challenge the documents’ validity?”

  Mack snorted a laugh. “I’d like to see him try, considering he’d be questioning the integrity of the men I brought along to witness his signature.”

  She gulped, swallowed. “I…I don’t know what to say,” she said helplessly. “What to do.”

  He shifted to gather her face between his hands. “I do,” he assured her. “Remember earlier when you asked me what more I wanted from you?”

  She gulped again, nodded.

  He swept a thumb beneath her lashes, catching a tear that shimmered there. “You, Addy. Only you. I love you more than life itself.”

  She closed her hands over his, going all but limp with relief. “Oh, Mack. I didn’t know. You never said.”

  He looked at her curiously. “That I love you?”

  She sniffed, nodded.

  “Well, shame on me, then, although I’d swear I had.”

  She shook her head. “No. I’d remember something as important as that.”

  Chuckling, he bussed her a quick kiss. “Yeah, I’d imagine you would.” He frowned thoughtfully, then shook his head. “I don’t recall the exact moment I realized I’d fallen in love with you. It was before the night you seduced me, that much I know for sure. But I can’t put my finger on exactly when, as it kind of slipped up on me, unexpected like. Kind of like the way we met. Unexpected, I mean. Seems we’ve done everything bass-akwards. Having a baby. Getting married. Falling in love.”

  He hauled in a breath. Released it, wanting to do this right. “When I proposed to you before, I offered you a marriage of convenience. I’d like to propose again, but this time I want the whole ball of wax. I want us to be husband and wife, in every sense of the word. I want us to be a real family.”

  “Oh, Mack,” she whispered tearfully.

  “Wait a minute,” he said and stood, catching her hand to draw her to her feet, as well. “I nearly forgot something.”

  He stuffed his hand into his pocket and fished around for the ring he’d taken from the safe in his office before he’d left home that morning. Finding it, he took her left hand and placed the ring at the tip of her finger, then held it there while he met her gaze.

  “This was my mother’s wedding ring. The one my father gave her,” he clarified, “not the one she wore when she was married to Jacob Bodean. After my mother passed away, I put the ring in my safe and that’s where it has remained until this morning. Though it seems odd, now that I think about it, I never thought about giving it to my first wife. Maybe I somehow knew that it was meant for someone else. You.”

  He drew in a shuddery breath to steady his voice, then went on. “The love my parents felt for each other was strong, so strong that sometimes I was jealous of it. Mostly, though, I envied the relationship they shared. Especially after I became an adult. That’s the kind of love I feel for you, Addy, the kind of relationship I want you and I to have. This ring symbolizes family for me, the love a man holds for his wife. Will you wear it as a physical reminder of my love for you?”

  “Oh, Mack.” She glanced down at the ring. “It’s beautiful.” When she looked up at him, her eyes were filled with tears. “I’d be honored to wear your mother’s ring.”

  In her eyes he saw the same depth of love he’d seen in his mother’s eyes when she’d looked at his father, the promise of a lifetime together. As he looked deeply into her eyes, he felt a distinct quiver in his heart, then a flood of warmth that spread slowly throughout his body, and knew it was a sign from the wife and son he’d lost, letting him know that they were glad that he’d found happiness again. At that moment he knew that his life had come full circle. An ending of one, a new beginning…and a son to carry on his family’s legacy.

  He pushed the ring all the way onto her finger, then raised her hand and pressed his lips to it, sealing the promise of his love. “I love you, Addy.”

  She lifted her face to his. “And I love you, Mack.”

  He kissed her deeply, wanting to show her with more than words the depth of his love. When he withdrew, he gripped her hand tightly in his. “I want more children. Sisters and brothers for Johnny Mack to grow up with.”

  She released a shuddery breath, then, laughing, threw her arms around his neck. “Me, too. I want that, too.”

  Hearing the crinkle of paper between them, frowning, Mack pushed her to arms’ length and looked down. “What’s that?”

  She followed his gaze to the slight bulge in the pocket of her robe. “Oh, my gosh!” she cried and stuffed her hand into the pocket. “I forgot to tell you.” She pulled out an envelope and held it up for him to see. “I found it! The piece of paper that my father sent my mother. It was inside the trunk, all along.”

  He took it from her to examine it. “This is from your father?” he asked, scanning the return address.

  “No, it’s from a soldier he served with. In fact, it’s from the father of the woman who called and told me about the piece of paper.”

  He lifted his gaze to hers. “And…” he prodded.

  She looked at him in confusion. “What?”

  “Is it valuable?”

  Taking the envelope from him, she slipped it back into the pocket of her robe and shook her head. “Not like you’d think.” Smiling, she wrapped her arms around his neck again. “But to me it’s worth millions.”

  PEGGY MORELAND

  The Texan’s Honor-Bound Promise

  Published by Silhouette Books

  America’s Publisher of Contemporary Romance

  This book is dedicated to all the wives, children

  and families of soldiers listed as Missing In Action

  while in the service of our country.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Prologue

  I can’t promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear before you and before Almighty God: that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field and I will be the last to step off and I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me God.

  —Lt. Colonel Hal Moore

  (from the movie We Were Soldiers)

  July, 1972

  The mood around camp was subdued. Those
soldiers who had ventured from their sleeping quarters sat in silence, their heads down, their expressions somber, their thoughts focused on the previous day’s events and their chances of making it home alive. For some, this war was a joke, a part in an elaborate play they acted out each day, under the direction of their supervising officer.

  Not so for Jessie Kittrell.

  To Jessie—or T.J., as he was called by his friends—this war was his one chance to escape poverty, to give his family the kind of life he’d never known. With a wife and child to support and another baby on the way, enlisting in the army had seemed the only way out of the financial rut he was trapped in. Besides the training it provided, once he fulfilled his years of service, the army would pay for his college education, courtesy of the GI Bill.

  If he survived this hell, he thought grimly. Like most of the men he fought alongside, before arriving in Vietnam, he hadn’t given survival much thought. He’d been too caught up in the we’re-gonna-whip-some-butts mentality ingrained in them all during boot camp. He’d carried that cockiness with him into his first battle…and left it there, along with the contents of his stomach.

  Desperate to block the images that pushed into his mind, he reached inside his shirt pocket for the photo he kept close to his heart. Dirty and creased from frequent handling, the photo was his anchor, his reminder of what he fought for, his reason for being here, his need to survive.

  Tears burned behind his eyes as he stared down at his wife and daughter. God, he missed them. Three months was a long time for a man to go without seeing his family. Leah had turned two last week, a birthday party he’d missed. Would she remember him when he returned home? Would she wrap her arms around his neck and plaster a wet kiss on his cheek when she saw him, as she had in the past? Or would she cringe away and cry for her mommy?