He wanted to kick himself into next month for not paying more attention to the wedding plans when they were discussed. But when the women had started talking colors and flowers, he’d tuned out. Now it was too late to prepare himself for the shock of seeing Regan again. She was here and ready or not, he had to deal with both her and the memories she’d left with him.
Arms folded across his chest, his hip resting against the newly tiled kitchen countertop, Cody felt separate from the group huddled around the table, talking. An outsider. It seemed he’d always been on the outside, looking in.
He’d all but grown up with Harley and Regan. His family, if you could call them that, had lived less than a mile from the Kerrs’ ranch. With no one at home but an alcoholic father, Cody had spent most of his time at the Kerrs’, preferring their company to that of a drunk. The Kerrs had welcomed him to their home and hearts, a gesture Cody would be eternally grateful for, but he’d always been careful to remind himself that he wasn’t truly a member of the family, merely an outsider who had gained entry out of pity.
Even so, he’d grieved with them when Harley’s mother had passed away. Celebrated when Harley’s father had brought a new wife and stepdaughter to live with them. He’d accepted big-brother responsibilities for Regan right along with Harley and tried his best to honor them even when his feelings for Regan changed to less than brotherly ones.
He’d grieved again when Regan’s mother had died. He’d even served as a pallbearer when Harley’s father had been killed in a freak farm accident less than a year after his second wife’s death.
But the pain of those losses paled in comparison with the pain he felt now. Regan. She was home. But for how long?
Though he didn’t belong there, didn’t feel he had the right to sit in on what should be a private family reunion, he couldn’t bring himself to leave, not when there were so many questions to be answered, questions he didn’t have the guts, or the right, to ask. Instead, he stood on the sidelines and listened while the answers unfolded before him.
“I thought you would come for me and drag me home by my hair,” Regan was saying as she shot a teasing glance at her stepbrother.
Harley chuckled. “The thought did cross my mind.” He shook his head, remembering, his smile turning wistful. “But I knew I had to let you go. By law, you were old enough to be out on your own. Besides, you were unhappy here. Forcing you to come back would have only made things worse.” He sighed, reaching to gather Regan’s hand in his larger one. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it easier for you here. I was so damn busy trying to make this ranch pay that I was blind to how bad things were between you and Susan.”
He squeezed her hand. “After I discovered what you’d done, my biggest concern was for your safety. When I found out that you had gone to the bank and withdrawn all the money your mother had left you, I knew that at least you wouldn’t be living on the streets.” He lifted his gaze from their joined hands, his eyes filled with the love and the pride that she remembered. “You were always headstrong, independent. I never doubted that you could take care of yourself, but damn, I missed you.”
Regan’s eyes misted. “And I missed you. You’ll never know how much.”
Harley squeezed her hand again. “And now my little sister is all grown up.” He studied her, his gaze growing thoughtful. “When Mary Claire mentioned her friend Reggie, I never put the two together. Giles, isn’t it? Reggie Giles?”
At her nod, his forehead wrinkled. “Did you change your name to keep me from finding you?”
Reggie felt heat creep into her cheeks and she stole a glance at Cody, wondering what he’d think when he heard that she’d married. But he didn’t seem interested in the conversation taking place. He seemed more fascinated with something on the tips of his boots. “Reggie just seemed to fit and Giles was my married name,” she murmured.
Harley glanced around as if expecting to find a husband lurking somewhere in the kitchen. “Where is he?” he asked, returning his gaze to hers.
“Living in Spring, Texas, with his new wife and baby.”
Cody’s head snapped up at that. Divorced? Regan was divorced? Unlike Harley, he’d known Regan had married. More than a year after she’d left Temptation, he’d decided to hell with Harley and his willingness to just let Regan go without putting up a fight. He’d traced her to Houston and discovered from the court records that she’d married. Though he’d made the trip to try to persuade her to come home with him, he’d left without ever contacting her.
“You’re divorced?” Harley asked in surprise.
“Yes. Our marriage lasted less than a year,” she explained. “It was a mistake.” She could have told Harley the mistake had been hers, that she’d married Kevin Giles for all the wrong reasons, the biggest of which was her hope of forgetting Cody. “But we’re still friends,” she added.
Still friends? Cody felt a stab of anger. She’d maintained a relationship with her ex-husband, but not with him. He guessed that pretty much summed up her feelings for him.
Mary Claire slowly shook her head, still dazed by all that had transpired. “After all these years of friendship, I can’t believe I never knew you were Harley’s sister.”
“Stepsister,” Regan clarified, smiling at Harley.
Harley reared back in his chair, his chest swelling in brotherly pride. “Step or full, you’re still our little sister.” He cocked his head over his shoulder to peer at Cody. “Right, Cody?”
Cody stiffened. The feelings he had for Regan hadn’t been brotherly since she’d turned sixteen, and at the moment, even those were dampened by a blinding anger he couldn’t have explained if he’d tried. One thing he knew, though—he didn’t like hearing others call her by his special name. “Yeah, right,” he mumbled.
Leighanna dabbed at wet eyes. “This is all so—so, heartwarming.”
Hank rolled his eyes. “Here we go again,” he mumbled, pulling out an already damp handkerchief.
With an indignant sniff, Leighanna snatched the cloth from his hand. “I can cry if I want. After all, it isn’t every day a person gets to witness a reunion like this.”
Hank snorted. “You obviously don’t watch much TV. Stuff like this happens on ‘Oprah’ all the time. Father reunited with daughter he’s never seen. Twins reunited after being separated at birth twenty years before.” His eyes took on a teasing glint as he glanced at Cody. “Maybe we should call up Oprah, huh, Cody? Milk this for all its worth. It would give you another chance to sing the praises of Temptation on national television and maybe draw a few more folks our way.”
Cody’s face reddened at Hank’s reference to all the media attention Temptation had received after Cody had suggested at a town meeting a few months back that they should advertise for women to move to Temptation to save their dying town. “Back off, Hank,” he muttered.
Hank chuckled good-naturedly as he looped an arm around Leighanna’s shoulders and pulled her to him for a hug. “Just a thought.”
Mary Claire let out a long sigh. “Well, it just proves that life is certainly stranger than fiction.”
“It does for a fact.” Harley pushed away from the table. “I think this calls for a toast.” He quickly filled flutes with the champagne left from the reception and passed them around. Positioning himself behind Regan, he placed a hand on her shoulder and lifted his glass. “To Regan, my sister, whose homecoming is the best wedding present I could ever ask for.”
Regan’s eyes widened and she bolted from her chair, setting her glass aside. “Oh! I almost forgot!”