at least another hour. If she hurried, she could get this all sorted out and have Gabe on his way before kindergarten was dismissed for the afternoon.
Twenty minutes later they pulled up in front of her grandfather’s old house. She couldn’t help contrasting its ramshackle appearance with the elegant, glossy glass-and-chrome condo Gabe had lived in seven years ago. Her battered brown half-ton sat rusting on the spot while his polished black and silver sport utility screamed money. Night and day.
Still, what did it matter? He’d always known that she wasn’t in his league, didn’t have money to burn. Her part-time job had been a good one, and she’d been comfortable sharing digs with Clarissa Featherhawk and Briony Green. But every extra cent she hadn’t needed for college went home to Mac and Willie, to repay them.
“Having second thoughts about introducing me to your family?” The mocking query brought her to the present.
Without a word Blair tripped up the stairs to the back door. She opened it, then moved back to allow Gabe in. He stepped out of his expensive boots first, then through the doorway and into the kitchen, his eyes curiously appraising the old farmhouse.
“Mac? Can you come in here? Now?”
Blair stepped out of her boots and grabbed the coffeepot. Without wasting any movements, she poured two mugs of the steaming black brew, set them on the table and motioned Gabe to sit down.
Gabe raised his eyebrows at her silent order, but took his seat without speaking. He took one sip of the coffee, coughed, then added a generous measure of cream and sugar.
Blair sat and pretended to ignore him.
“Hey, Busy Bee. You’re early. How were the hives?” Mac strolled through the hallway and into the kitchen, his eyes widening as he caught sight of Gabe. “Hello.”
“Mac, this is Gabriel Sloan. He thinks he’s bought the south quarter from you. Gabe, this is my grandfather. The infamous Mackenzie Rhodes of your letter.”
Her grandfather flicked an eyebrow at her acid tone, then turned his attention to their guest.
The two men silently sized up each other, shook hands and then sat. Blair glanced from one to the other.
“Well?” she demanded of her grandfather. “Aren’t you going to tell him that it’s a mistake?”
Mac smiled tenderly and reached out to fold her hand in his.
“No,” he murmured. “I’m not. I sold Mr. Sloan the land. It was mine, I had a right to and I did it.” His face showed no sign of repentance.
“But, Grandfather, you know that I depend on that land!” Blair felt the sting of his betrayal to the soles of her feet. “How could you sell it to him? Why not to me? I would have bought you out!”
She glared at Gabe, who kept his head bent, studying his coffee as if it would metamorphose into his favorite mocha latte. Blair switched her focus to her grandfather.
“Why?”
“You know why,” he returned evenly, his face stern. “We’ve discussed it before. I think it’s the right thing to do. It’s time. You know that.”
Blair pursed her lips, mindful of the heated arguments she’d had with him for months now. Mac believed she owed it to Gabe to tell Daniel’s father he had a son. She thought she’d made him understand how foolish it would be to expect Gabe to accept the boy, to believe Gabe could father his child the way Mac had fathered her.
Apparently none of her protests had touched him.
“How can you do this to us?” she said under her breath. “This is my business. You have no right to interfere in my private life.”
Mac didn’t back down, his dark eyes glossy with unshed tears. “I have the right of a man who loves his granddaughter more than life.” He reached out to pat her cheek. “I’m not young anymore, Busy Bee. I won’t be around forever. I want to know my family is okay.”
“And this is how you do it? By going against me, behind my back, selling this land out from under me? I can manage for all of us. Haven’t I done fine so far?”
A thin high-pitched voice wobbled out a few notes from a well-known hymn. The sound grew louder as Willie entered the kitchen.
“Ooh, what a handsome fellow!” Willie’s cooing voice spoke behind Blair’s right ear.
Blair sighed. Not now, she prayed. Please don’t let Willie blurt out the truth. “He’s yours, isn’t he, Blair.”
“He’s—”
“Mac sold him some land, Willie.” Blair broke in, desperate to keep her grandfather from spilling the beans. “The south quarter.”
“You sold our heritage, Mackenzie?” Willie coughed delicately into her lavender lace handkerchief as she fluttered around the kitchen. “Have things become so bad that we must sell off our birthright to live?”
Blair was about to set her straight, to add further explanations, when she heard a noise outside. Her grandfather sat up straight, her aunt collapsed into a chair and Gabe frowned at them all. Blair couldn’t move a muscle as her son came bounding through the door.
“Hi, Mom! The bus came early ’cause the school had a fire.” Daniel let his jacket, backpack and lunch bag fall where they would, his gaze fastened on the tall, dark-haired stranger who sat staring at him.
“Hey, you an’ me got the same hair,” Daniel declared, his mouth stretched wide in a smile. “My mom has a picture of you. Are you the answer?”
Blair gulped down a sob, unable to say a word, though her hands closed over her son’s shoulders as she hugged him close for one brief moment, prolonging what she somehow knew would change irrevocably from this moment on.
“The answer?” Gabe swallowed, his eyes swinging from Mac to Blair to the little boy. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Daniel wiggled himself free of his mother’s hold and went to stand in front of the big man. Two pairs of eyes, the same startling green, inspected each other.
“The answer,” Daniel explained, “to my prayer. For a daddy. I’m almost six an’ I really need a daddy. Are you gonna be him?”
Chapter Two
“Gabe, this is my son, Daniel. Daniel, I’d like you to meet Gabriel Sloan.”
Gabe almost laughed at the words. She didn’t want the boy to meet him at all. And he knew why. This child was his son!
Gabe stared at the mirror image of himself at five. The little boy in front of him solemnly shook his hand as the truth smacked Gabe squarely between the eyes. He had a child. He was a father!
“So I was wondering, Mr. Gabriel, are you the one?”
Gabe jerked back to reality with stunned surprise as a small hand carefully patted his arm.
“The one?” he repeated blankly. His eyes sought Blair and he swallowed
