Chapter 2
God Almighty, how had he gotten himself into this? Clark asked himself for the hundredth time as the car seat was fitted into his truck.
This was bad in about a hundred different ways, and here he was, doing it anyway.
He had no idea what to do with a baby.
And he’d never known what the hell to do with Ellie Parks.
In truth, he knew now, as he’d always done, exactly what he wanted to do with Ellie.
From the moment he’d first met her, he’d wanted to kiss her senseless.
But he’d been Clark Porter from the wrong side of the tracks, and she was Ellie Parks, from the nicest gated community in town, and there was just no way she’d have ever looked twice at him.
Unfortunately for everyone, her younger sister had done more than look twice at Clark’s younger brother, Ty.
So had begun the fifteen-year hell of that toxic relationship descending into addiction, and all the reasons Ellie had been off-limits back then were even more complicated now.
Now their siblings had thrown a baby right into the mix.
He could’ve walked away. He could’ve left the baby with Ellie, and that might’ve been the more virtuous thing by a mile. But the minute he’d seen her, that little squirt, lying in the bassinet, abandoned by both of her parents, he’d known that she was his.
His responsibility, if nothing more.
He’d never been able to help his little brother straighten his life out. Ty had been hell in cowboy boots from the moment he was born, and what had been cute for a long time had turned into something reckless and dangerous, and he’d taken Melanie down with him.
Now Clark was responsible for this little girl. And bringing her home with him. At two in the morning.
The hospital had stocked them up with things like diapers, formula, bottles, and some extra onesies. And Ellie was going to follow him back to his place.
“God Almighty,” he muttered again as he got into the truck. “Just follow me,” he said before closing the truck door.
Ellie disappeared from view, and a few moments later, a small sedan emerged from a parking space, and he pulled out in front of her, making sure to signal as he left the parking lot so that she could follow him.
He was exhausted. And completely lost in thought on the way back home. So much so that he almost missed the turnoff to his own driveway. He put his blinker on quickly and cranked the wheel, with the car behind him making the same abrupt maneuver. She was going to be mad at him about that.
This outcome felt right, almost, as much as it felt wrong and broken. His new house was finished. Now he felt like there was a purpose to it. Like this place existed for her.
For that little baby. Who needed a name.
He pulled up to the front of the house and turned the truck off slowly.
Then he opened the driver’s side door. By the time he got around the truck to open up the back and get the baby out of the car seat, Ellie was there.
“I’ve got her.”
He nodded. He opted to gather the baby supplies, including a little bassinet that had been gifted to them by the hospital, and carry them into the house.
The place still felt so new. It was barely lived in at this point. The entryway was bright, clean. Everything was immaculate. He was proud of that.
His heart clenched tight. His brother’s decision to surrender his rights made him sad.
But it was also heroic. He and Ty had grown up in the middle of the hell of their parents’ addictions, and his brother hadn’t come out unscathed.
Their parents had passed it all on to him, and the one thing he’d done to break the cycle was to make sure his own kid didn’t get caught up in it.
Their parents hadn’t been able to do that for them.
Clark really appreciated that his brother had done that for his daughter.
This was why he had a nice house. It was why he was clean and sober, not even indulging in so much as a beer, even though that had been unpopular on the rodeo circuit.
It was for this. Because he couldn’t save Ty.
But he could save this little bundle.
That mattered.
“I don’t know much about babies,” Ellie said softly, unbuckling the car seat right there in the entryway, and taking the little girl out of it, cradling her in her arms.
Goddamn. Ellie had always been pretty.
But pretty was a dime a dozen. There had always been something about her that appealed to him specifically. Something that made his breath catch every time he saw her, even in moments like this when he shouldn’t be thinking about her that way at all.
But it was always like this. He’d lost track of the number of times they’d shown up at the same location to bail Mel and Ty out—sometimes literally.
Ellie was a lot less angry with him this time than she normally was. But maybe he could credit the baby with that.
Harder to call him names with a child present.
And with such high stakes.
Funny, now she was rooming with their old biology teacher, and he was the one with the big fancy place.
Life had a way of changing fortunes.
He wouldn’t say he felt superior, though. She was a teacher. In his life, teachers had made a difference. Whether they were his teachers in school, or mentors at the ranch where he’d worked in high school.
They were the only adults he’d had positive interactions with.
“I thought you had to have a degree in … children in order teach.”
“Sure. Kids that are old enough to be in a classroom.”
“Fair enough. I have a guest room.”
“Right. I don’t know if I can sleep. I’m exhausted but …”
“Yeah,” he said.
She followed him into the living room, and he sat down on the couch, looking at the grand wall of windows that overlooked the valley. She sat on the love seat, a decent distance away from him, holding the baby.
“I thought they were calling to tell me Melanie was dead.”
“Yeah. I kind of thought the same thing.”
“Didn’t your call come from Ty?”
“Yeah. He called me, but I’ll admit I kind of thought maybe some cops had picked his phone up.”
“You had his number.”
He nodded. “I’ve had it. Just in case.”
“Melanie doesn’t keep in touch with me. I’m shocked that they were able to contact me.”
“Maybe she remembered your number.”
She laughed. “Well, then she opts never to call it.”
“I imagine for the last nine months she’s been pretty scared.”
“I bet. I wonder if this was their plan all along, or if they were trying to get into a better place before the baby was born.”
“I expect they wanted to do better. They’re not bad people. They’re just … broken.”
“I’ve always blamed him.”
“Fair enough. But why?”
She looked up at him. “I’ve always blamed your brother, but that’s not really fair. Mel has a stake in her own life. Especially after all these years. At this point she has to take responsibility for her choices.”
“They can’t quit drugs or each other, unfortunately.”
“Yeah.”
She laughed, though it wasn’t a very cheerful sound. “I just can’t believe … She’s had a more long-lasting relationship than any of mine. So, maybe that’s what I’m missing.”
“Well, God knows I don’t have any romantic relationships to show for the last fifteen years.”
There was nothing funny about the situation. But the truth was, you either learned to laugh, or you cried all the time.
“I’m sorry,” Clark said. “That my brother got your sister tied up in all of this.”
“You don’t need to be sorry for that,” she said. “The one thing we can do is make sure this innocent child doesn’t suffer.”
“That’s for damn sure,” he said.
“You hear that, little one?” Ellie asked. “We’re going to take care of you.”
He’d known when his phone rang that his whole life was about to change. He’d just had no idea how.
Now he did. Tonight he’d become a father.