Free Her Secret Sons by Tina Leonard Page B

what?”
    “Like maybe I’ve got something to live for now.”
    Maybe they both did. “Pepper would want you to take care of yourself no matter what. Once you’re her patient, I think it’s your will against hers.”
    His dad arched a brow. “You like that girl?”
    Luke sighed. “I’m too mad, too shocked, to even think about that.”
    His dad shrugged, leaning back again. “If what you say is true, you might consider it.”
    Luke looked up. “Why? What do you mean?”
    “You have a family now. Might as well act like it. In a few years, the boys’ll go off, just like you did, and—” his father made a slashing motion through the air “—all those chances to get to know each other are gone.”
    Luke’s breath caught in his chest. Did he hear regret in his father’s words?
    “She’s a cute little thing,” his father continued. “You could do worse. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to do better.” He chuckled to himself. “Wonder what ol’ Sheriff Forrester thinks about his new relations?”
    “He likes his nephews a lot, from what I could tell.”
    “And you?”
    “Me, not so much.” Luke laughed ruefully. “Hedoesn’t seem too sure about me yet. I wonder how long he’s known.”
    “Not long, I’d bet. Probably not much longer than you, because he and that rascal brother of his would have dragged you back here kicking and screaming to marry their sister shotgun-style. If I had to guess, I’d say that’s why the big secret. She lived up north for years, you know.”
    “I really don’t know much about Pepper,” Luke murmured. “We went our separate ways after high school.”
    “I’d think your first reaction will be anger,” his dad said, “but you’ve gotta admit she didn’t try to tie you down.”
    “That doesn’t excuse her not telling me.”
    “Would it have mattered, Luke?” his dad asked. “Or would you have been angry at being tied to Tulips?”
    Luke didn’t want to hear that, though the truth rang deep inside him. “I’m in too much shock to know what I would have wanted differently. What I have to do now is play the hand that’s been dealt to me.”
    His father shifted in his recliner. “You’ve always been a lucky man. You’ll manage.”
    It was time for a question he’d always wanted to ask. “When you say I’m lucky,” Luke said, “you sound critical. Are you ashamed of me, Dad?”
    His father looked at him. “At times I was.”
    They were silent for a long time. And then his dad spoke again. “Of course, if you’re going to bring me grandkids, I’d probably be the proudest man on the planet.”
    Luke perked up. “Really?”
    “Oh, hell, yeah,” his father said. “I’m ready to get out of this damn chair. Grandkids will certainly do the trick.”
    Luke nodded, welcoming the healing seeping into the cracks of their relationship.
    But starting over with Pepper—that was going to take a miracle.
     
    P EPPER CURLED UP on her bed, worrying about Luke. Worrying about her boys. How would they take the knowledge that their father lived in this town—and that they’d just met him? She’d expected a lightning strike of recognition, but the boys didn’t seem to suspect anything, and Luke hadn’t pressed the issue of his fatherhood with them, for which she was grateful. Toby and Josh were making a smooth transition to life in Tulips. To throw a surprise father into the mix right now seemed like it might be too much at one time.
    But Luke wasn’t going to wait forever for them to know, and she didn’t want him to. She just hoped she’d be ready when the moment happened.
    She heard the doorbell chime. Throwing on a robe, she crept cautiously downstairs, wondering who might be visiting that wouldn’t call first.
    In the glow of the porch light, she could see Luke’s broad shoulders. A powerful feeling shook her, but it didn’t seem quite like relief, since she knew exactly why he was here. She opened the door. “Hi.”
    He nodded, his face drawn.