Page 8 of Secret Baby
"Please, Colt." Her voice shook. "She's my baby too."
His nose was itchy. "You gave up all rights to her. I have the paperwork."
"That's not what happened." Vicki's voice had a singsong edge to it that burned his ears. "You left home and slept with Belle the first week of basic training."
"That's nonsense, and not an excuse for what happened."
"I couldn't live under my father's house, but if I knew you had Clara, I'd have come straight to you."
She could have come to him with or without their baby. He bit his lower lip, and the fury in his blood grew. "You abandoned her. I kept our daughter."
She took a deep breath, but then her voice had a melancholy sound to it. "You were once sweet and understanding, Colt. I was lied to. I never had a father like you. Mine demanded I do what he say."
Colt lost some of his steam. "I remember your old man."
Vicki repeated facts he remembered: "He held a shotgun to your head that summer he found out about us in Paris. You'd ruin his plans for me, and he said that before I even knew I was pregnant."
"He had seen us naked at the lake." Colt crossed his arms. "I'd shoot any boy that came near Clara."
"It's not the same thing. My father sought to control."
His collar grew tight. "You could have called me. If you were in trouble, I could have kept you safe too."
"You're talking about my father and my family. He was all I had, all I knew." Vicki sobbed for a second then composed herself. "I don't want to fight with you. I'm happy my baby had you to keep her safe."
His entire body tensed. "Don't call her that. Clara is nothing but gum under your shoe until the second a new idea pops into your head."
"No." She almost broke into sobs. He rubbed his neck again to find some relief, but her voice haunted him. "I've not lived a day in six years, one months, two weeks, one day, and twenty-two hours. That was when the doctors told me she died."
Her numbers added up, and he hated hurting anyone. He dared not believe her, but his gut told him to. He shook his head, but her shaky numbers chipped away at him. With his lips sealed, he tapped his tongue to his cheek, and depended on his logic. Finally he opened his mouth and said, "Where were you?"
"It doesn't matter." She was right. Not that he said that. He stayed silent.
She sniffled. "I should have told you. I should have called. Dad talked me into being quiet while he stole my life. You know as well as I do that my father could pay anyone to get them to say what he wanted."
A memory flashed in his mind of her father. He had snidely told Vicki, "The Collins are too boring for the likes of you. Daughters end up married to men like their dad, and your crush on middle-class values will end." His nostrils flared again.
"And you would do anything to please that man who stole more money than most countries' entire GDP," he said.
"I should have trusted you, not him." Her pleading voice hit more buttons in him, and he defused. "What daughter doesn't want her father's love? I didn't know he'd go this far. He ruined my life."
Not one word came out of his mouth. He couldn't close his jaw, but then he gazed down the hall toward his daughter's bedroom. "It's not about you. It's about Clara."
He hadn't known what else to say. He went to the fridge and found the bottle opener for a second beer. The day his mother handed him his daughter changed him. One day after he came out of boot camp, he was a full-time father. Colt had still hoped against reason that Vicki would come back soon. He had wanted an explanation, but the years had been silent.
In sobs, she begged him, "Colt, are you still on the phone?"
"Yeah." He sipped his second beer. He shouldn't believe her. He glanced at the wall to his engagement picture. Belle wasn't weak, and didn't need him. Belle's blue eyes could turn a man cold, and she'd never cry, not like Vicki. Vicki's baby-blue eyes and blonde hair still had left the impression of soft and innocent. He let out an audible sigh. "Look. Let's meet tomorrow. I'll get a sitter. Meet you for coffee at that shop we all went to after high school."
"Thank you. See you at eight a.m. I'll bring proof he lied."
"Give me time to get the babysitter. Eleven is better." Excitement wasn't what he wanted from her. But if he believed her, then he'd be a jerk to stand in the way.
"Okay. Colt, I'm sure you are a great dad."
Tonight he slept on it. "I don't want to get your hopes up, Vicki, but this conversation shouldn't be over the phone."
Her pitch grew higher, and so did his heart when she answered, "I can't wait for tomorrow. Colt. Thank you."
