Caridad Pineiro - Soldier's Secret Child

“It’s early still,” he said, the tones of his voice a soft murmur in the coming quiet of the night.

“It is,” she said.

He leaned toward her and a lock of nearly jet-black hair fell forward onto his forehead as he said, “Too early to call it a night, don’t you think?”

She met his gaze, glittering brightly with interest, the color like new spring grass. Kicking up that erratic beat of her heart and making her want to reach up and brush away that wild errant lock of hair.

“Did you have something in mind?” she asked in a breathless voice she didn’t recognize.

“How about a drive? I’ll even put the top down on the CJ.”

She imagined driving through the night, Fisher beside her. The scents of the early summer wildflowers whipping around them as they sped along in the open Jeep through the Texas countryside.

“I think that sounds really nice.”

They drove through the open meadows and fields surrounding Esperanza, the scented wind wrapping them in its embrace while bright moonlight lit the road before them until Fisher took a dirt road to one of the few nearby hills. He parked the CJ so it faced the lights of town and the wide starlit Texas sky.

She imagined she could see the lights of San Antonio, well to the south of their hometown. She and Tim had planned on going to college together there until Tim had said he was reconsidering that decision. She gazed at the lights of Esperanza and noticed the cars parked around Bill’s house where Jericho and Tim would be with the rest of the baseball team. Where she might have been a few weeks earlier if things hadn’t changed recently.

“Penny for your thoughts,” he said and pushed back some strands of wind-blown hair from her face. The pads of his fingers brushed the sensitive skin of her cheek, sending a shiver rocketing through her body.

“Do you ever wonder if some things happen for a reason?” she asked.

“Meaning?” He arched one dark brow in question.

“Tim and me. His breaking it off.” She shrugged and turned in her seat to face him. “If it hadn’t been for that—”

“Being the nice girl that you are, you wouldn’t be here tonight.” He once again brushed the tips of his fingers across her cheek, then trailed them down to cup her jaw.

“Is that what you think I am? A nice girl?” she shot back, slightly perturbed, which was ridiculous. She was a nice gir,l unlike many of the women with whom Fisher had been seen around town.

“Don’t get so riled, Mace. There’s nothing wrong with being a nice girl.”

The words shot out of her mouth before she could censor them. “And boys like you don’t think about doing things with nice girls.”

“Boys like me?” he asked with another pointed arch of his brow and a wry smile on his lips.

Macy fidgeted with her hands, plucking at the seat belt she still wore. “You know, love ’em and leave ’em types like you.”

He chuckled and shook his head, but he never broke the contact of his hand against her chin. Instead, he inched his thumb up to brush softly across her lips.

“Let’s get something straight, Mace. First of all, I’m not a boy, I’m a man. A man whose daddy would tan his hide for the thoughts he’s having right now about the nice girl who happens to be sitting next to him.”

The warmth on the pad of his thumb spread itself across her lips and with his words, shot through the rest of her body. “Thoughts? What kinds of thoughts?”

He chuckled again, only with something darker and dangerously sexy this time. “You always were the daring type.”

“He who dares, wins,” she reminded him.

The smile on his face broadened and he leaned toward her until the warmth of his breath replaced that of his thumb against her lips. “Then I guess I should dare,” he said and brought his lips to hers.

The shock of his hard mouth against hers was quickly replaced by a sense of…rightness which surprised her considering that this was Jericho’s brother. That up until a few weeks ago, she had thought she was about to embark on a life with another man.

Another man who had rejected her. Who had never made her feel the way Fisher now made her feel.

The tip of his tongue tasted her lips, gently asked for entrance at the seam of her mouth. She opened her lips and accepted the thrust of his tongue. Joined it with hers until they were both breathing heavily and had to break apart for air.

Fisher turned away from her and clenched his hands on his thighs, struggling for control. This was Macy, he reminded himself, rubbing his hands across the soft denim of his jeans. Jericho’s best friend and Tim’s intended, he recalled as he held back from reaching for her again.

Only she wasn’t Tim’s anymore, the voice inside his head challenged and then urged, And now she can be yours.

He faced her and seeing the desire in her eyes, he asked, “Are you sure about this?”

She nodded quickly and he didn’t second guess her decision. Reaching into the backseat of the CJ, he grabbed a blanket he kept there and stepped out of the car. Swinging around the front, he met her by the passenger side door and slipped his hand into hers. Twined his fingers with hers as he led her a few feet away from the Jeep to a soft spot of grass on the overlook.

He released her only long enough to spread out the blanket and then he urged her down.

For long moments they lay side by side on their backs, staring up at the late May moon. Listening to the rustle of the light breeze along the taller grass and the profusion of wildflowers that perfumed the air.

Fisher rolled onto his side and ran the back of his index finger along the high straight ridge of her cheek. He had known her all his life and had thought she was the prettiest woman he had ever seen.

“You’re beautiful.”

Much like before, an embarrassed flush worked across her cheeks as she avoided his gaze. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Now why do you think I’m such a hound dog?”

“Because I’ve seen you around town with all those dangerous women,” she answered and the blush along her cheeks deepened.

“Jealous?” he asked, but then immediately confessed, “Because every time I saw you with Tim, I was jealous.”

A little jolt of excitement rattled her body before Macy turned onto her side and cradled his cheek. His five o’clock shadow tickled the palm of her hand. As she met his gaze, made a silvery green by the light of the moon, she detected no deception there, just honesty.

“Why didn’t you—”

“You were Tim’s girl and Jericho’s best friend. I wasn’t going to be responsible for breaking up the Three Musketeers,” he said and shrugged.

“And now?” she asked, mimicking his earlier move by bringing her thumb to trace the warm fullness of his lips which broadened into a sexy dimpled smile with her caress.

“He who dares, wins,” he said and brought his lips to hers.

“I’ve never seen a smile like that one before,” Buck Yates said as he signaled for the waitress, who immediately came over.

“I bet I know what you’d like, Buck,” she said as she picked up the empty plates from the table. “A slice of Miss Sue’s famous cherry pie and some coffee.”

“You know me too well, Lizzy. How about you, Fisher? Was it something sweet that put that smile on your face?” Buck teased.

Something sweet and hot, Fisher thought, recalling the taste of Macy’s lips and the warmth of her body pressed to his as they had made love that long ago night.

Shifting in his seat to readjust his increasingly tight jeans, he looked up at the perky young waitress. “I’ll take a slice of that pie with some vanilla ice cream, please.”

He needed the chill to cool down his thoughts.

As Lizzy walked away with their empty plates and orders, Buck once again resumed the earlier conversation. “So what had you smiling like the cat that ate the cream? A woman, and I hope a decent one at that.”

With some force, Fisher shook his head. “Come on, Pa. You know I can’t offer a decent woman the kind of life she’d want.”

“Nonsense,” Buck began and for emphasis, jabbed a gnarly index finger in his direction. “Plenty of military men have wives and families.”

He couldn’t argue with his dad, although he understood how difficult it was for such men. Being away from their families for months on end. The fears and dangers that each new mission brought for those left behind.

“I don’t think I could share my kind of life with a woman.”

His father was about to speak when Lizzy returned with the pies and coffee, but as soon as she left them, his dad continued his plea. “You could if you took that teaching assignment at West Point.”

For weeks since the offer had come, he had been debating between that and returning for another tour of duty in the Middle East. As captain of his squad, he had recently led his men safely through three tours. He couldn’t imagine leaving them.

“I don’t want to abandon my men. Besides, I like the military life. It’s orderly. Disciplined.”

“Lonely,” Buck jumped in. “At the end of the day when you hang up that uniform with all those medals—”

“I’ll know that I helped bring home alive as many men as I could. Their families will thank me for that,” he replied and forked up a bit of the pie and ice cream. The taste was wooden in his mouth because a part of him recognized that on some level his father was right.

At the end of his career, no matter how successful he had been, his uniform would hang in a closet empty of any traces of a woman or family. Despite that, he couldn’t picture himself as a father or husband. Solving a family’s problems instead of those of his men. He wasn’t sure how to handle such things.

While glancing down at his pie, he said, “I know you’d like grandkids to carry on the Yates name, Pa. Seems to me Jericho’s the one you should look to for that.”

“Hard to believe it’s only been a couple of weeks since he met Olivia and married her,” his father said.

“I admire that Jericho’s willing to claim Olivia’s baby as his own and if I know my brother—”

“He’ll be wanting more with her. I can see how much he cares for Olivia and it really makes me happy. I always worried after what happened with your ma—”

“Don’t blame yourself. You did what you could and we all know we were better off without her,” he said and yet a part of him acknowledged that her leaving had ripped away a piece of each of them. That for him and Jericho, it had made them leery of loving a woman for fear of being abandoned again.

Like Macy had abandoned him, he thought, recalling how despite their one night of incredible passion she had walked down the aisle with Tim Ward just over a month later.

His dad must have picked up on his upset. “You shouldn’t let your ma leaving eat away at your gut like that. Neither you or Jericho had anything to do with that.”

“You’re right, Pa,” he said, wanting to foreclose any further discussion. Wanting to forget anything and everything relating to Macy Ward.

He wasn’t meant for women like her or for a family kind of life. The military was what had brought order and happiness to his life eighteen years earlier.

It was what would bring order and happiness to his life for the future.

For the first Friday night in too many months, Macy felt like she could actually just kick back and relax.

The change in T.J. in a little over a week was a welcome surprise. He had clearly bonded not only with Joe, but with Sara. She hoped that friendship would help the young girl come out of her shell and talk about her problems. The Hopechest Ranch policy was not to press for details, but offer refuge. She knew, however, that she did the most good when the children were finally able to talk about their traumas.