Chapter 19
“ S o, what’s this all about?” Tate looks around the stable where I’ve gathered everyone together. Garrett looks concerned as he props his shoulder against one of the pillars, while Cole rests back against one of the paddock doors like he’s got a good guess at what's coming.
“I just thought I’d get ya all together to bring ya up to speed. Most of ya know that for some time I’ve been livin’ in the cabin up on Grid 3 with a young woman who’s been through some tough times.” I swallow thickly when I notice the look that Wade and Finn give each other.
“Well, me and that woman. We have… erm… Well, we’ve…We’re together now… I think.” I hate how my words are coming out so weak and unsure.
“That’s what you called us all here to announce?” Wade laughs.
“Well, you know me and how I feel about whispers.”
“Mitch, I think we all knew about you and that girl before you did.” Finn takes his hat off his head so he can run his fingers through his thick brown hair.
“I…What… How?” I shake my head in disbelief.
“That girl’s changed ya. We’ve all been seein’ it,” he informs me. “It’s about time you owned it.”
“Well, then, I guess you can all get back to work.” I gesture my head to the door, and once they’ve all dispersed, Garrett pushes himself off the pillar to make his way over.
“This is good to hear. It’s about time you focused on somethin’ other than this place.” He slaps my arm.
“I feel outta my depth. Way outta it,” I admit, shaking my head at him. I spent most of last night watching Everleigh sleeping. Before that, we spent the whole night just kissin’ on the couch. It felt like the most intimate thing I’d ever done. I can feel myself getting swept away in all the goodness she expels, and I can’t lose sight of all the real-life things we have to face.
“It’s scary, but it’ll be worth it,” Garrett assures me. “You need this, Mitch. For years you’ve been tellin’ me and my brothers to trust our instincts and follow our hearts, now's the time to be takin’ your own advice.” He grips my shoulder and smiles.
“She’s gettin’ better every day and as beautiful as it is to watch, I got no experience in how to handle these kindsa things. I’ve never had a woman of my own. I don't wanna let her down,” I admit, hating how helpless I feel.
“Mitch, you ain’t gonna let her down, you're the most reliable guy I’ve ever met. You managed to raise half-decent men outta us three, so you can do anythin’ ya put your mind to. Any woman who’s loved by you is a lucky one.”
We both turn our heads when the stable door slams and when it rebounds off the hinge and opens back up again, it’s Hunter we see storming across the yard toward the bunkhouse.
“What the hell was that all about?” Garrett frowns as he watches him disappear inside and slam another door behind him.
“I don’t know, but I’m findin’ out.” I quickly march across the yard to go after him and when I fling open the door and see Hunter pulling his holdall from under his bunk, I stand back and watch in confusion.
“Plannin’ on goin’ somewhere?” I ask, folding my arms and keeping calm.
“Looks that way, don’t it?” He keeps his eyes focused on the clothes that he’s packing.
“What’s gotten into you, boy?” I step closer and when he turns to face me I see the pure, aggravated rage on his face.
“I came here wanting to impress you. I wanted to prove that I can do this.”
“And ya have. Everyone out there is singin’ ya praises,” I point out, still confused as to what all this is about.
“I thought you’d be the one teachin’ me. I thought…” He silences himself then shakes his head and continues to stuff all his possessions in his bag.
“What are ya talkin’ about, kid? Look, I don’t know what's got ya so triggered but?—”
“I’m wondering if my mother was one of those lucky girls who got to be loved by you?” He stops what he’s doing and stares at me blankly.
“You're what, now?” I stare hard, trying to understand what I’m hearin’.
“Did she mean anything to you?” He stands a little taller and steps toward me. “Do you even remember her name?” The smirk on his face looks as if it comes from disgust.
“Hunter, I don’t even know who the hell you're talkin’ about.” Now I’m the one starting to get mad because nothing this boy is saying is making any sense.
“I’m talking about the woman who you knocked up twenty-five years ago.” He pulls a piece of paper out from his bedside drawer and shoves it into my chest. Watching me with narrow eyes as I open it up. It's a birth certificate. A birth certificate that has my name written beside the word ‘Father’.
“Hunter… I…” I read it over again to be sure.
“Were you the reason she put me up for adoption?” he asks. “Were you not ready to settle down and be a man, then?”
“Hunter… I had no idea about this.” I study the mother’s name, trying to recall her. I’m ashamed to say over the years there's been more than a few women who have encountered the Mitch Hudson charm, but I’ve always been careful, and never have I heard from any of ‘em that I’d become a father.
“You’re trying to tell me you didn't know about this?” Hunter laughs as he snatches it back off me.
“That’s exactly what I’m tellin’ ya, son.” I grit my teeth together because this is getting more and more confusing by the second.
“Don’t fuckin’ call me that!” He points his finger at me warningly, and seeing that his eyes are full of tears is the only thing that holds me back from teaching him a lesson on it.
“You can’t just put a random name on a birth certificate, I looked into it. If the parents of the kid ain’t married the father either has to be there or sign some consent form,” he informs me, looking unconvinced by my defense.
“Well, I can assure you that I didn’t sign or agree to anythin’. You must have the wrong Mitch Hudson.” I shake my head.
“I don’t think so.” He delves back into the drawer and pulls out a photo. It’s old and a little worn, but it’s undeniably me, and the girl I have my arm wrapped around, I do happen to remember.
“That’s Naomi Hollins?” My head starts spinning. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her face.
“My mother.” He snatches it back off me and looks down at it fondly.
“Well, you better get hold of your mother and tell her I want to talk to her.” I shake my head and try to cast my mind back to a time that seems so long ago.
Naomi was the daughter of the preacher of Fork River back when that photo was taken, and I recall her having a wild streak. There were a few nights where she’d ended up back at the bunkhouse with me, but even in my youth I always played it safe.
“I would if I could, but I can’t find her.” Hunter stares back at me with all the anger in his eyes broken down to sadness. “I’ve been looking since I was twenty-one. I managed to track down her family, but the only person still living was her sister. I visited her, showed her the birth certificate and she remembered you from when they lived here,” he explains.
“She was the one who gave me the photo.” He looks down at it again, as if it’s his most treasured possession.
“And this sister, does she know where Naomi is now?” I take a seat on the bunk beside him, trying to find some resemblance between us.
“She didn’t even know her sister had had a baby, told me her folks sent Mom away pretty much as soon as they left this town. They moved on to her father’s next parish without her. I’m guessing that was because of the trouble she was in. Being knocked up ain’t exactly a good look for a preacher's daughter.” Hunter shrugs sadly.
“She wasn’t a little girl, Hunter, she was a woman.” I shake my head and stare at the picture in his hands. Naomi was a fun girl. Pretty too. She knew me well enough to know that if she’d come to me and told me she was in trouble, I’d have helped her.
“No, she wasn't, she was barely seventeen.” He defends her again.
“What?” I stand back up in horror. “No, there's no way. I met her in a bar outta town and gave her a ride home. She told me she’d graduated college.”
“Well, then she lied to you because I spoke to her sister and she told me she hadn’t even graduated high school.”
I slump back down onto his cot feeling sick to my stomach.
“How could you not know her age, she was the preacher's daughter?” he questions me.
“And do I look like the kinda man who goes to church?” I yell back at him, wanting to tear my hair out. “Back then I worked hard and played hard. The only places I ever went beyond this ranch were bars. I swear she told me she was a college graduate.” She may have lied to me, but I still can’t help feeling sorry for the girl. She must have been so scared. No wonder she didn’t come to me for help.
“Why didn’t ya tell me this as soon as ya got here?” It suddenly dawns on me that this kid has been here for a whole week.
“I wanted to suss you out first, and maybe I was a little scared of rejection. It ain’t every day a guy shows up and tells a man he’s his son. I assumed since your name was listed that you’d always known about me.”
“Well, I can promise ya that I didn’t. If I had…Well, I don’t know what I’da done, to be honest, but we sure as hell wouldn’t have been meetin’ like this.” I let it sink in that, for twenty-five years, I’ve had a kid out in the world that I’ve played no part in raising.
“We’ll have to do tests or somethin’ just to be sure, and I understand if now that you know who I am you don’t want me workin’ here, but?—”
“What? Why would I not want ya here?” I look back at him as if he’s crazy. “Hunter, all this has come as a shock. A fuckin’ huge one. But that don’t mean I don’t wanna to get to know ya. If all this is right and you are my son, you're exactly where you're supposed to be now.” I see the relief on his face when his lips lift into a smile. “I think we need to up our game on findin’ your mother. I sure want some answers, and I know someone who can help.” I immediately take out my cell and call Jessie, back in Manitou Springs.
“Mitch, it’s good to hear from ya. Is everythin’ okay with Everleigh?” he asks.
“Everythin’s fine, great in fact.” I move on from that subject because I’m not gonna go into details on just how good it really is. “I was wonderin’ if ya could get your old lady workin’ on findin’ someone for me.”
“Sure, she can, she’ll just need a name and whatever you already know,” he informs me.
“Appreciated, I’ll get a text sent to ya so she can get to work. And, Jess, you know we’re here, right? If you need anythin’.” I know things back in Colorado must be tough right now. I want Jessie to know that he has our full support.
“I appreciate that too, you just keep takin’ care of Addison's sister, she’s eager to be reunited with her.”
I feel a twist in my gut as I hang up and look back to the kid who’s claiming to be my son. I wonder if deep in my subconscious, I knew that he was mine the first moment I set eyes on him. My instincts had instantly told me to trust him, and that ain’t something that happens often.
“Maddy’s on it, and she’s good at what she does,” I assure him, hoping that she doesn’t take too long in doin’ it.
“So, your life before you started lookin’…” I gesture my head toward the piece of paper that says this kid belongs to me. “Was it kind to ya?”
“It was great.” He nods his head. “The couple who raised me always made me aware of the fact I was adopted. When I reached twenty-one they gave me all the information they had which was this, and they said it was my choice what I did with it. I’ll be honest, at first I wasn’t interested. I wanted to focus on the people who wanted to raise me rather than the ones who didn’t.” He twists up his mouth awkwardly.
“I get that.” I nod my head, understanding his logic. “So, what changed your mind?”
“Some girl I went to high school with got herself into the same kinda trouble as my mom did. She decided to do the same and put her baby up for adoption. Speaking to her put some things into perspective for me. People get themselves into all kinds of situations. She knew she wasn’t the best option for the baby she was having, but she still wanted him or her to have a good life with everything it needed. I guess I wanted to know if that's how my mom felt about me.”
“Listen, kid. I didn’t know your mom all too well, but I got the impression she was a good person. She would have wanted you to have everythin’.” I think back to the Naomi I vaguely knew. I remember her smiling, and making people laugh.
“We’ll find her,” I assure him, standing back up. “In the meantime, you just keep doin’ what you're doin’. We’ll look into gettin’ them tests done, and until we know for sure we’ll keep this to ourselves.”
Hunter nods back in agreement.
“You should have told me.” I point my finger at him. “Take that as your lesson of the day. Never, ever assume. Ya ask anyone around here who knows me, I don’t shy away from responsibility. I took my nephew in when he was just a kid. If I’da known I had a kid of my own out there things would’ve been different for you.”
I can sense by the way he half smiles back at me that he trusts in what I’m telling him.
“I gotta get back and check on Everleigh, she had a therapy session today. You know where I am if ya need me.”
“I’ll keep workin’ on that mare,” he assures me, standing up himself and starting to unpack his clothes.
“Keep up the good work, son.” I tap him on the back before walking back out the door. Once I'm out in the fresh air, I’m surprised to find the yard still running the same as it was before he dropped the huge grenade on me. I take a few minutes to get my head around all the information I’ve just been given.
“The kid okay?” Garrett asks as he rides past me toward the gate.
“Yeah, he’s fine.” I shrug it off because I’m not ready to share the fact I could have a son who I’ve let down his entire life just yet.
“Good, hard workers like him are hard to find. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.” He digs his heels into Thunder’s belly and takes off, while I head for the stable to get JD so I can go home.