Rosie hugged her again. “Oh, Mari, I’m sorry for all that you had to go through.”
Another person called her Mari, but he pronounced it Merry. Sometimes late at night she’d hear his voice in her head and she hated that she couldn’t forget it. That she couldn’t forget him.
Maribel hugged her back. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you when you needed someone.” She brushed Rosie’s hair from her face. “Do you sometimes resent our mother for not helping us?”
“I did for a while, but I know she did the best she could.”
“Every day our mother would say, ‘I love you,’ over and over, but it had no meaning when it counted. When Dad would hit us, she would just cry and wring her hands. Not once did she try to stop him and not once did she take up for us. The day he found out I was pregnant he hit me so hard I fell against the wall. I was afraid I was going to lose the baby. I grabbed my stomach, trying to protect it, and I knew in that moment that I wanted the baby. I guess I’ll always remember Mom standing there with tears in her eyes, wringing her hands and not lifting a finger to help me. I stopped believing in love that day. As I drove away, something inside me died. Later, I knew what it was—my ability to love.”
“Oh, Mari.”
“I would protect Chase with my dying breath if someone was trying to hurt him.”
“Mom gave you money, as she did me. Doesn’t that count for something? She tried to help in her own way. She was just weak and didn’t know what else to do.”
“No, it doesn’t mean a thing. Shoving me off on Mrs. Peabody was not a motherly thing to do, even though it probably saved my life.”
“You can’t say that you don’t feel love. You love Chase. You love me.”
“Yeah, but I’ll never say those words to anyone again. They’re meaningless. That’s the way I feel now and I can’t change it.”
“That’s not healthy.”
“Mama. Mama. Mama,” Jake called as he ran into the room in his pajamas. “I’m hungry.”
Rosie kissed her son. “Aunt Maribel will fix you something.”
“’Kay.”
Maribel took the boy’s hand. “Come on, hotshot. Let’s see what we can find for breakfast.” Jake was almost four and he would be going to school in the fall. Rosie would have her hands full with a child in school and one in her arms. That was Rosie’s life—the one she wanted, filled with all the happiness she deserved. It wasn’t for Maribel. Maybe she was jaded. Or just smart. She would never get hurt again, though.
As she poured milk into a glass, she wondered what was happening at Rebel Ranch.
* * *
ELIAS SAT IN his truck outside his mom’s house, trying to come to grips with everything that had happened during the night. He had a son. He and Maribel had a son. Fast on that thought came one that he had to deal with: Did his mother know? There was just no way she would deny a Rebel grandchild. The only way to find out the truth was to walk into the house and ask her, which would probably be the hardest thing he’d ever had to do besides burying his dad.
Phoenix drove up and ran into the house, not even noticing Elias in his truck.
Showtime, he thought, as he got out and made his way into the house. A ball of dread wedged in his throat. Most people thought that was an alien emotion to him. He felt fear just like everyone else, even though everyone called him tough as leather. Today, he would find out how tough he really was.
Everyone, even Grandpa, was sitting around the big kitchen table eating breakfast. His mom sat at the head of the table and he could see her clearly, making sure everyone had enough food, making sure her sons were well-fed before a long day’s work.
Grandpa noticed him first. “Where have you been? You usually call when you’re gonna stay out all night.”
“Sorry, Grandpa, I didn’t have time.”
“You’ve been out all night and you plan to work today?” Falcon joined the conversation. “I hope you got some sleep along the way.”
“No, I didn’t get a wink.”
“You look strange,” Quincy added. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I spent most of the night in Wyatt’s office.” He wasn’t sure how to start the conversation so he started with the basics.
“Did you get arrested?” his mother asked.
“No. It’s a long story so I’ll try to shorten it as much as I can.” He told them about the stolen beer and the kids and Maribel’s son. “I went to the jail with Wyatt because I wanted to see what was going to happen to the boys. He let Billy Tom and Brandon go with their parents on the condition that they would be there for the hearing on Monday. And since he doesn’t know Maribel, he was going to hold her son until the hearing. Maribel asked for my help and I told her she’d have to give me a good reason to help her keep her son out of jail. She gave me one I wasn’t expecting.” He looked directly at his mother. “She said Chase was my son.”
“What!” echoed around the room.
Grandpa pointed a finger at Elias’s mother. “I told you it was going to bite you in the butt one day.”
“Shut up, Abe.”
All his hopes that Maribel had somehow exaggerated the situation died in that moment. His mother had rejected his child. That left a bitter taste in his mouth. All his life he had looked up to his mother. She was rock solid with family loyalty and love. How could she have done this?
“I guess that answers my next question. Maribel did come here to find me. What did you say to her?”
His mother clamped her lips tight in indignation.
“I’ll tell you what she said.” Grandpa was eager to take up the story. “She said to get out of her house and if Maribel spread that lie around Horseshoe she would call the sheriff.”
His mother got to her feet, her face a mask of fury. “The child is not yours, Elias. She’s playing you. I thought you, of all people, would see that. When she came here with that story, I told her my son would not betray his family. And he didn’t. I know him.”
Betrayal. Was that how she saw it?
His stomach hurt as if someone had tightened barbed wire around it. But he had to face the truth and he had to face his mother.
“I’m sorry if you see it as betrayal. It was two teenagers with raging hormones. It was a one-time thing and we knew it was wrong and we never saw each other again. We used protection but she still got pregnant and I never knew until tonight. I would have known if you had seen fit to tell me.”
“That child is not yours. How many times do I have to tell you?”
Elias pulled out his phone, tapped the screen and walked over and laid Chase’s picture in front of her. She refused to look at it. Falcon picked up the phone and stared at it.
“Oh...”
Quincy took it from him and passed it around the table. “Mom...”
“That is not Elias’s son, Quincy.”
“Mom...”
“Stay out of this, Phoenix.”
“Maybe you need to get a DNA test done,” Falcon suggested.
“I don’t need a DNA test. I know Chase is my son.”
“He is not your son, Elias,” his mother repeated in a