Page 34 of Deceit & Desire

Zoe’s expression darkened for a moment as we passed Tanner’s Hollow Farm, where we’d rescued the abused colt from. “You don’t think the cops are going to let David Michaelson take the colt back, do you?”

I shook my head and snorted. “I’d like to see him fucking try. That check we wrote the asshole for the colt has already been cashed, not that the ranch could really afford an expense like that right now, but we’ll figure all that mess out later on, I guess. I just couldn’t leave the horse there.”

“I don’t blame you at all.” Zoe’s whisper was hoarse, but full of fierce conviction. “You did the right thing. And don’t you worry about the money. We’ll get all of that straightened out just as soon as we get properly settled in at the big house and we get dad home from the hospital.”

I pressed a quick kiss against her temple, making sure to keep my eyes on the road as I did. “I’m glad you’re home, baby. It finally feels like something might start going right around this place, now that you’re here again.”

We pulled through the arched gates of Twisted Creek Ranch just as those words left my mouth, and I spotted an unfamiliar sedan parked in front of the big house. I frowned and shot a sideways glance at Zoe.

“Do you know who that car belongs to?”

Zoe shrugged. “Not a clue.”

I pulled to a stop next to the little maroon sedan and put my pickup in park, staring at the presumptuous woman sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch. She was rail thin, with long, dark, curly hair and something about her seemed strangely familiar, like maybe I should have recognized her, but I didn’t know the woman from Adam’s house cat.

Putting on my best polite face, I clambered out of the truck and forced a stiff smile. “Can I help you, ma’am?”

The woman stood up and brushed off her ankle-length denim skirt. “Yes, I’m here to see Roman York.”

My gut tied itself in a cold, hard knot for some reason I couldn’t define as I held her gaze and hooked my thumbs in my belt loops, trying to look at ease as I leaned a shoulder against one of the porch posts. “Well, you came to the right place. I’m Roman York, and you’re here to see me regarding what, exactly?”

The woman offered me a tentative smile and took a half-step toward me, her hand stretched out for a handshake. “I was just wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes. My name is Sarah... Sarah York... and I’m your mother.”

Chapter13

Always Have Your Back

PLAYLIST: “PIECE BY PIECE” BY KELLY CLARKSON

ZOE

My heart racedas I stared at the woman who claimed to be Roman’s mother. Roman invited her inside the big house, and I followed the two of them into the living room. After twenty-eight years of radio silence, this woman suddenly crawled out of the woodwork, and on our wedding day of all days? Something about it didn’t sit right with me, and I couldn't help but feel a surge of anger and suspicion toward her.

What could she possibly want now, after abandoning Roman here at the ranch when he was only two years old?

I paused by my father’s empty recliner, crossing my arms and taking a long moment to look the woman over from head to toe. She could be anybody. What was to say she was who she claimed to be?

She was way too thin and bony, her wrinkled skin looked like a weathered leather couch, and her teeth were yellowed and cracked, but there were telltale signs that she was, in fact, Roman’s mother. They had the same dark hazel eyes and dark curly hair, and their mouth shape was vaguely the same, though hers was far more wrinkled. It looked like she sucked on two packs of cigarettes a day, and maybe some kind of drug pipe for a whole lot of years, too, if I had to guess by the state of her front teeth.

I turned my gaze to Roman, and the puppydog-like hope in his big, hazel eyes ripped my heart out of my chest and shattered it to pieces on the hardwood floor at my feet. Operating on pure instinct, I stepped close to him, resting my left hand between his shoulder blades and rubbing it in a soothing circle, momentarily distracted by the afternoon sun filtering through the window and glinting off my engagement ring and wedding band.

“You okay, honey?” I blurted the words out before I could stop myself.

Sarah cut a slow sideways glance at me, but didn’t say anything, her gaze tracking back to Roman as she wrung her hands, her dull hazel eyes wide and glistening with unshed tears.

Roman reached over, resting his hand on the small of my back, gently stroking his trembling fingers against the base of my spine.

“I’m fine, baby.” His strained, husky voice told me otherwise. “I’d like to hear what she has to say.”

Call me cynical, but I wanted to punch the heifer in the face for having the gall to show up here after twenty-eight years of never showing up for him, and then having the audacity to show up on our wedding day, of all days.

Still, I nodded, swallowing my ire out of deference to Roman. “Do you want me to stay, or would you like some privacy while you talk to your mother?”

“You’re my wife, Zo. There’s nothing my mother could possibly have to say to me that she can’t say in front of you.” Roman’s arm slid around my waist a little tighter, pulling me flush against his side, and he motioned for her to speak with his free hand.

“Roman, my darling boy,” Sarah began, her voice steady and eyes glistening with well-practiced tears, if I was any judge. “I’ve spent every day of the last twenty-eight years regretting my decision to leave you here at Twisted Creek Ranch to be raised by your grandfather. I was really messed up on drugs at the time, and I thought I was protecting you, but I realize now how wrong I was.”

As she spoke, I couldn’t help noticing Sarah’s hands trembling slightly, her fingers twitching involuntarily. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and she kept licking her lips, her eyes darting nervously around the room, as if scanning for escape routes by force of habit.

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