He shot her a wry smile. “Maybe you should let the Calhoun family tell you that.”
Chapter Four
W
ondering if she was being led into a den of wolves, Sassy moved along with the Calhoun men until they reached a furniture grouping placed strategically near the roaring fireplace.
“Sit here, Sassy.” Clancy, the tawny-haired one, maneuvered her over to a big armchair covered in cream-colored leather. “It’s real comfy and you’ll be nice and warm.”
“Not there, Clancy!” Rafe quickly protested. “If she sits there none of us can sit next to her.”
Clancy shot a droll look at his younger brother. “Precisely. She doesn’t need you or Finn cozying up to her.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Finn protested. “Sassy’s here because of me. I should get to sit next to her.”
“Sassy is here tonight because I brought her,” Jett suddenly reminded the group. “Maybe the whole bunch of you ought to remember that.”
Standing near the fireplace hearth, Orin leveled a pointed look at Jett. “I don’t think you’ll have to remind Bart of that fact.”
From the corner of her eye, Sassy watched one of Jett’s brows arch with speculation and though he said nothing in response to Orin’s remark, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. From what Jett had told her, he’d worked exclusively as the Calhoun family lawyer ever since he’d passed the bar. If her coming here had jeopardized his position, she’d feel worse than terrible.
Sassy glanced around the group of men until her gaze stopped on Orin. “I honestly think it would be best if I leave.” She cast an apologetic look at Orin. “Your father clearly doesn’t want me here and I don’t want to spoil your evening any more than I already have.”
“Forget about Granddad.” Finn spoke as he elbowed his way closer to Sassy’s side. “He’s been acting like an angry old bull lately.”
“That’s right,” Rafe added as he took Sassy’s elbow and gently but firmly eased her down into the armchair. “Besides, he doesn’t speak for the rest of us Calhouns. If he did, our friends would be few and far between,” he said jokingly.
Sassy tossed a questioning glance at Jett, but he merely smiled as though to say they might as well stay and make the most of the situation. It wasn’t exactly the encouraging sign she needed from him, but she had to remember that these men were his friends. He probably wasn’t feeling any of the angst that was gripping her.
Drawing in a deep, bracing breath, she forced herself to settle back in the chair, and for the next few minutes, the brothers were intent on making her comfortable by supplying her with a footstool, a huge hunk of German chocolate cake and a cup of decaffeinated coffee, delivered especially for her from the kitchen.
Eventually everyone took a seat, and knowing the personal questions were about to start, she was greatly relieved when Jett drew a chair close to hers.
“Finn tells us that you were Barry Landers’ girlfriend,” Orin stated. “I didn’t know the lad personally, but I was sorry to hear about his death. Finn said it was a freak incident. That a horse tossed him into a fencepost and he hit his head.”
Strange, Sassy thought. For a long time, Barry’s death had monopolized her thoughts. But since she’d arrived in Carson City, Barry’s accident was steadily being pushed behind her. Now she was seeing the future without imagining him in it. The realization told her she was healing and moving forward, which was a good thing. Looking backward with regret never helped anyone. Now she had a child to plan for, and that was definitely lifting her spirits.
“By the time I heard the news of his death, he was already buried,” she explained. “It was a shock.”
No one close to Barry had even known to contact her about his death. But it hadn’t been as though everyone on the rodeo circuit he traveled had been aware he had a girlfriend. And from what he’d told her, the only relative he stayed in contact with was his father, who lived in Colorado.
Across the way, Finn cleared his throat. “Well, I just want you to know that Barry was a great friend, Sassy. The best.”
She smiled at the man with the auburn hair, blue eyes and features that eerily resembled hers. “Thank you for saying that.”
An awkward moment of silence passed, and as it did she could feel Jett’s arm slipping across the back of her chair as though to remind her that he was close and ready to protect her. She was more than grateful for his support.
“Well, I’ll say one thing,” Rafe, the darker-haired one of the brothers spoke as his gaze slipped back and forth between Finn and Sassy. “If Finn and Sassy were the same age, I’d say they were identical twins.”
“Identical twins are the same sex,” Evan corrected Rafe.
From the short rundown Jett had given her of the Calhoun brothers, she remembered that Evan was a lawman, which probably explained why he was reciting facts.
Rafe frowned at him. “I know that, Detective Calhoun. So can you tell me another reason this woman is the spitting image of our little brother?”
“No. But she also looks like a grown-up version of Darci,” Evan said.
“Who’s Darci?”
Sassy’s innocent question caused Orin to suddenly clear his throat and Finn to shift uncomfortably in his seat.
“She was our sister,” Rafe awkwardly explained. “But she was born with a heart defect. She died when she was only two.”
Sensing that Darci Calhoun’s death was not something they often discussed, Sassy simply said, “Oh. I’m sorry I asked.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Evan told her. “It’s nice for me to imagine her here, looking as you do now.” He turned to his father. “So what do you think, Dad? Is there any chance Sassy might be related?”
Orin gave his chin a thoughtful stroke. “Ever since Finn showed us Sassy’s picture and Jett explained about her being adopted, I’ve been trying to think of what branch of the family tree she might have descended from, but I can’t come up with anything.” The older man turned a pensive gaze on Sassy. “I had an older brother, Dave. But he was killed in the Vietnam War long before you were born. He was never married, and as far as I know he didn’t have any children.”
“Well, my guess is Aunt Arlene,” Clancy declared. “She’s not too old to have a daughter Sassy’s age. And when she was younger, she looked a whole lot like Finn and Sassy.”
Beside her, Jett said, “Someone told me Arlene could never have children.”
“That’s not exactly right,” Orin corrected him. “In the early years of her marriage, my sister had a baby boy, but it only survived for a few days. After that, she couldn’t bring herself to try for another child.”
“Aunt Arlene always was a little different.” Rafe tossed out his opinion. “After that creep of a husband left her for a younger woman, she had a breakdown. She hasn’t been the same since.”
Orin shot his middle son a pained look. “That ordeal has nothing to do with her decision not to have children.”
Rafe rose from his seat on the couch and carried his empty dessert plate over to a nearby table. “I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “That kind of trauma can damage a person in plenty of ways. Anyway, she never wanted to stay close with any of us. She could be keeping all kinds of secrets from her family.”
“Not that deep of a secret,” Orin said flatly, then turned his attention back to Sassy. “Jett explained to us that the orphanage you were adopted from can’t give you any information about your biological parents. Do you have any other information to go on?”
Sassy glanced at the faces that were all looking directly at her, then around the richly furnished room. Signs of family were everywhere. From the photos on the wall and perched upon the fireplace mantel, to a shelf full of trophies collected from years of school events. No one in this group of guys had to guess or wonder where they came from or who their parents might be. How would that feel, she wondered, to have such solid ground beneath her feet, to have the support of a family always surrounding her and her baby?
“Not any more than the obvious, Mr. Calhoun. Twenty-four years ago in the middle of the night, I was left on the doorstep of an orphanage in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There was no identification with me. Nothing to hint at where I’d come from.”
Lowering his wineglass, the deputy studied her thoughtfully. “Could the orphanage determine how old you were?”
“I’d just been born.”
“Aww, hell.”
The soft exclamation came from Finn, and she favored him with a faint smile. Along with features that resembled hers, he appeared to have a tender heart. Obviously, he’d not taken after his grandfather, Sassy thought dourly. The damned old man. Instead of letting his outburst hurt her feelings, she should be angry.
“So you were eventually adopted after that,” Clancy said. “Did your adoptive parents know anything about the circumstances of your birth?”
The question had Sassy reflecting on her parents, the two people who’d chosen to love and raise her as their own. She’d trusted them implicitly, but now she was faced with the fact that they hadn’t been exactly what they’d seemed. The revelation had left her feeling betrayed, confused and wondering who she was.
The touch of Jett’s hand on her arm brought her out of her thoughts and encouraged her to share her past with these men. No matter how wretched it sounded.
“A couple from Ruidoso, New Mexico, adopted me. They both died in a house fire when I seventeen, and up until a few weeks ago, I’d always believed I was their biological daughter. Then I applied for a birth certificate to replace the one that had been destroyed in the fire, and that’s when all of this about the adoption came to light.”
Frowning thoughtfully, Rafe walked over to the fireplace and turned his back to the flames. “Maybe we’ve been looking at things all wrong,” he said to no one in particular. “Could it be that Sassy might be related to Mom in some way?”
“That would be a logical deduction, brother,” Evan said. “But you’re forgetting that Sassy looks like a Calhoun. She wouldn’t have inherited that from Mom.”
Rafe let out a good-natured groan. “It’s pretty evident why you’re the detective and I’m the ranch foreman.”
Orin turned a smile on Sassy. “One thing is very clear, Sassy, we’re glad you came and we hope you enjoy your stay in Carson City.”
“Thank you, Mr. Calhoun,” Sassy replied, while thinking she’d traveled all this way to Nevada hoping she’d learn something about her real parents. Instead, she’d learned she was going to
be
a parent. Her life had taken a wild U-turn since she’d left the Chaparral and she had the odd feeling that the ride wasn’t over yet.
During the next hour, the subject of her being related was dropped and the conversation moved on to lighter things. The men entertained her with stories relating to the ranch and even included some of Evan’s experiences as a deputy. It didn’t take Sassy long to figure out that each of the Calhoun men had his own personality, and it was very easy to like them all. Especially since each man seemed genuinely glad to have her company.
Eventually, it was Jett who put an end to the evening, by rising to his feet and announcing that it was getting late and the two of them needed to be leaving.
After exchanging goodbyes with the Calhouns and assuring them they could find their way to the door, they were walking through the huge house when Jett said, “I hope you’re not annoyed with me for ending the visit. But you’ve had a long day. I don’t want you to overdo it and faint again.”
“I’m not about to faint,” she assured him. “But I am getting a bit tired.”
“I expect you’re disappointed, too.”
She glanced up at him. “You mean because they couldn’t tell me anything about my parents?”
He nodded. “I understand you considered it a long shot, but you must have held out a tiny glimmer of hope that they might have some good clues as to where you might start looking.”
She shrugged. “A glimmer, nothing more. You said you were a realist, Jett. Well, so am I. And the fact is, I might never find my biological parents.”
“I wouldn’t give up on the notion.”
She squared her shoulders. “I don’t give up on anything.”
“That’s good to know. Because after this evening...I’m not so sure we can cross the Calhouns off your family list.”
By now they had reached the entrance to the foyer. As Jett opened a small closet to retrieve their coats, Sassy asked curiously, “What do you mean?”
Easing out of the closet with the coats tossed over his arm, he opened his mouth to answer, but was suddenly distracted by an older woman hurrying toward them. As she grew nearer, she placed a shushing finger against her lips and motioned for them to follow her.
Jett helped Sassy into her coat, then shouldered on his own jacket before they joined the woman in the secluded entrance to the house.
“Greta, what are you doing?” he asked comically. “Playing spy tonight for the old man or something?”
The heavyset woman appeared to be somewhere in her fifties. Short, mouse-brown hair flopped in disarray around a face that bore wrinkles at the corners of her gray eyes and thin lips. At the moment, her plain features were creased into an impatient frown directed at Jett.
“Jett, you know me better. I’d never do any snitching for the old codger. The only reason I stay around here is for the boys.”
Sassy supposed “the boys” meant the Calhoun brothers and the old codger had to be Bart.
Greta turned her attention to Sassy. “I’m the Calhouns’ cook,” she introduced herself. “I’ve worked on the Silver Horn for more than thirty years and I don’t miss much that goes on around here.”
“I’m Sassy. It’s nice to meet you, Greta.” Sassy politely greeted the other woman.
Jett quickly put in, “Any other time, we’d come to the kitchen and gab a few minutes, Greta, but Sassy has had a long day and I want to get her home before the snow gets any deeper on the roads.”
The cook shook her head in a frustrating way. “All right, all right. I’ll get to the point.”
“And?” Jett prompted.
Greta glanced over her shoulder toward the open doorway leading into the house, giving the impression she wanted to make sure no one overheard her. “Jett, you’re wasting your time talking to the boys or Orin about things. You need to question the old man about Sassy. If anyone knows about an extra Calhoun baby being born, it’d be Bart. Why else do you think he had such a fit when he laid eyes on her?”