Free Cowboy Daddy by Carolyne Aarsen Page A

How are you?”
    Justin frowned, then said, “I’m fine. How are you?”
    She heard a faint cough, then her father replied that he was fine.
    Nicole let Justin chatter on about the puppies and hauling hay. Her father made a few responses, but he didn’t have to say much around Justin.
    â€œFather, this is Tristan. He wants to say hi,” Nicole said, taking the phone away from Justin.
    Tristan was more reserved, but soon he was giving out information as freely as his brother.
    The phone distorted her father’s voice but it wasn’t hardto hear the joy in it. Joy she hadn’t heard in her father’s voice since Tricia left home.
    â€œHey there, did you guys find the puppies?”
    Nicole jumped, startling the puppy, then she craned her neck backwards to see Kip standing in the doorway.
    What was he doing? Checking up on her?
    â€œWhat are you doing with Ms. Williams’s phone?” Kip asked, frowning at Tristan.
    Tristan looked up, his smile dropping away as soon as he saw his Uncle Kip.
    â€œWe’re talking to our grandpa,” Justin announced. “He said we are going to stay with him. In Toronto. Can we go, Uncle Kip? Can we?”
    Nicole’s heart dropped when she saw the thunderous expression cross Kip’s face.
    â€œI think you should give the phone back to Ms. Williams, then go back to the house.”
    â€œI want to talk to my other grandfather some more,” Justin whined.
    â€œTristan, please give the phone back to Ms. Williams and go with Justin to the house.”
    Nicole glanced at the little boy who was obviously listening to something her father was saying. Tristan looked from Kip to Nicole, confusion on his features.
    â€œDon’t go,” she heard her father say. “Don’t listen to him.”
    She had to put poor Tristan out of his misery.
    â€œI’ll take the phone, sweetie,” she said holding her hand out.
    â€œNo. Nicole. I need to talk to them.”
    â€œSorry, Father,” she said quietly. She turned the phone off speaker, then walked away from Kip. “The boys have to go.”
    â€œThose boys shouldn’t be there,” her father said. “They should be here with me.”
    â€œI know, but not everything is settled yet.”
    Her father started coughing again, then got his breath. “I’m phoning that lawyer first thing Monday morning. We shouldn’t have to wait for these DNA tests. We know Tricia was their mother.”
    Nicole glanced over her shoulder at Kip standing in the doorway of the barn watching the boys walk to the house. Obviously he was sticking around to talk to her. “We have to move slowly on this,” she said to her father.
    â€œThose boys have to come back to their home,” he said quietly. “You of all people know why Tricia’s boys need to come back.”
    As always, his words held a subtext of obligation that was never spoken directly but always hinted at. “Of course I do,” she replied. “I have to go.” As she said goodbye, she felt a moment of sympathy for her father, all alone back home.
    She couldn’t help comparing his lonely situation to Mary Cosgrove’s. Mary had one daughter with six grandchildren and she had another daughter and son and two more grandchildren under her roof.
    The boys weren’t Cosgroves. It was as if she had to drum that information into her mind. If she didn’t, then she would start to feel sorry for Mary.
    And for Kip.
    She pocketed her phone and turned to face Kip.
    â€œWhy did you do that?” he demanded.
    Any sympathy she might have felt for the man was brushed away in the icy blast of his question.
    â€œIf you’re thinking I deliberately brought the boys out here so they could talk to my father on the phone, you’re mistaken. He just happened to call while I was out here.”
    â€œAnd you just happened to let the boys talk to him.”
    â€œMay I remind