Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Cadee had been so thrilled when she’d ridden to meet Camden at the bus stop and spotted Huck standing right outside the entrance to the ranch talking with his brother.
She’d been riding toward them when Dawson had shoved Huck.
Her protective instinct had kicked in and she’d urged the horse into a gallop.
But what she heard when she’d neared them had her reining in.
Even now, as she sat there watching Huck drive away, her heart refused to believe it.
She turned to Dawson. “Huck robbed Mickey’s Gas Station?”
Dawson picked up the tool pouch lying on the ground. “You’ll need to talk to Huck about that.”
“As you can see that’s impossible when your brother took off.”
Dawson sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Look, I didn’t mean for you to overhear our conversation, Cadee.
” He hesitated. “But maybe it’s good that you did.
You and your family are never going to accept Huck—especially now that you know about what happened that night at the gas station.
So you need to just let Huck go. I know you love him.
But you don’t value him. If you did, you wouldn’t still be hiding him like he’s a dirty secret.
And I don’t want my brother with someone who isn’t proud of him.
Because despite the stupid things he did as a kid, he’s someone to be proud of.
He’s kind and loving and loyal as hell. He has this positive attitude that has always seen the good in people .
. . just not himself. And I want someone who can teach him how to see that goodness.
Not someone who’s ashamed of him.” He turned to leave but then stopped.
“And please don’t let what you overheard make you keep him from his son. That would kill him.”
Cadee was a whirlwind of emotions as she watched Dawson climb into his truck and drive away. Stunned that Huck had done something so impulsive and stupid as robbing Mickey’s. Hurt that he had never told her. And angry that he ran off once again before they could talk things through.
Then there was everything Dawson had said to pick through.
A dirty little secret?
She didn’t think of Huck as her dirty little secret.
Except that’s exactly how she’d been treating him. While he had been building tree houses and attending soccer games and starting his own business, she’d still been keeping their relationship a secret. She hadn’t even had the guts to tell her family how she felt about him.
She’d done the same thing when they were teenagers, lying to her parents and then sneaking over to his house or Honky Tonk Heaven. Calling him her bestie when she couldn’t even acknowledge their relationship to the townsfolk.
She had told Huck that actions speak louder than words.
Her actions had loudly proclaimed that she was ashamed of him.
The release of air brakes pulled her from her thoughts. The school bus had stopped at the entrance of the ranch. With everything that had happened, Cadee had forgotten all about Camden.
As she waited for him to get off the bus, she thought about how much Camden had come to love Huck.
He talked about him nonstop and beamed with pride when he talked about his carpentry skills, or how much he knew about dinosaurs, or how many mini donuts he could eat.
She knew if Camden ever found out about what Huck had done as a stupid teenager, he wouldn’t hold it against him.
Because that irresponsible, compulsive teen wasn’t the responsible, kind man Camden had come to love.
A man who had more than proved himself.
A man any woman should be proud to call her own.
She came out of her thoughts when she realized the school bus was pulling away . . . and Camden hadn’t gotten off. The only one who had was Miles. He was heading down the road with his backpack dragging in the dirt behind him.
She urged her horse into a gallop. “Miles!”
He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened before he dropped his backpack and took off running. Cadee easily caught up with him.
“Miles, where is Camden?”
“How would I know? He didn’t get on the bus.” She might have believed him if he hadn’t suddenly taken off across an open field. She caught up with him, this time using her stern mama voice.
“Miles Lynch! Stop running right now, young man, and tell me where Camden is.”
“Leave me alone! I don’t have to talk to you.”
“Oh, yes, you do.” She rode in front of him and wheeled the horse around.
The cutting horse proceeded to do what he’d been trained to do with runaway cows.
He danced from side to side in front of Miles, cutting off any escape route until Miles finally gave up and flopped down on the ground in exhaustion.
“I didn’t mean to make him run off! I just repeated what I overheard my mama tell her friends.”
“What was that?”
“That any fool can see Camden has Hennessy Hooligan eyes.”
Cadee sighed. She should have known people would put two and two together once Huck started showing up at soccer games and on Sunday mornings at Grounds For Divorce.
Which meant she had no one to blame for Camden being upset but herself.
If she had been honest with everyone from the start, she wouldn’t be sitting there terrified about her son’s safety.
“Where did he go, Miles?”
“I don’t know. He ran off when we were getting on the bus.
” He gave her a sullen look. “Maybe he went to Honky Tonk Heaven to see his deadbeat daddy who doesn’t really want him.
Which is why he didn’t show up for eight years and why my mama says he’ll be leaving soon so I shouldn’t worry about any threats he makes. ”
Cadee stared at him. “Huck threatened you?”
“Yeah, and he cussed too. Mama told the sheriff, but he didn’t seem to care that Huck had called me a bully.”
It all made sense now. It hadn’t been the principal who had stopped Miles from bullying Camden. It had been Huck. Cadee’s heart swelled at the thought of him protecting their son. But she wasn’t surprised. Huck had always protected the people he loved.
Even if he thought leaving them was the best way to do it.
And hadn’t she contributed to that belief? Dawson was right. Instead of hiding their friendship, she should have stood up for Huck to her daddy and the townsfolk. Instead, she had hidden their relationship. Treated him like he wasn’t worthy to be publicly called her friend.
What a hypocrite she was.
She felt hurt and angry because he hadn’t confided in her about robbing the gas station, but why should he when all she’d ever done was try to hide him.
No wonder he’d run off after they’d first made love.
Why would he stay with someone who acted like she was ashamed of him?
Even after he left, she still hadn’t had enough guts to claim him as the father of her child.
If she loved Huck, truly loved him, she should be shouting that love from the rooftops.
Or just telling a big-mouthed kid.
“You are a bully, Miles Lynch. One day, someone is going to beat all that bullying right out of you. It’s called karma, honey. And it’s a bitch. And Huck Hennessy isn’t a deadbeat. He’s a good man who I love with all my heart. Tell that to your gossiping mama.”
She wheeled the horse around and took off for the house.