Meeting his secret daugh.., p.1
Meeting His Secret Daughter, page 1
Praise for USA TODAY bestselling author Marie Ferrarella
“The most exciting thing about this book is how the author knows how to create a splendid setting that makes you get involved in the daily lives of the inhabitants of Forever.”
—Harlequin Junkie on A Ranch to Come Home To
“It is sure to make longtime fans of Marie Ferrarella happy and garner her some new ones.”
—Harlequin Junkie on The Best Man in Texas
“Ferrarella delivers a fabulous couple. Wonderful storytelling expertly delivers both lighthearted and tragic story details.”
—RT Book Reviews on Her Red-Carpet Romance
“An easy-read modern romance with a creditable and self-possessed heroine to steal your heart.”
—Fresh Fiction on Mendoza’s Secret Fortune
“She has a genuine knack for keeping the reader interested and involved in the characters and their emotional feelings.”
—Fresh Fiction on His Forever Valentine
“Expert storytelling moves the book along at a steady pace. A solidly crafted plot makes it quite entertaining.”
—RT Book Reviews on Cavanaugh Fortune
“Master storyteller Ferrarella has a magical way of spinning feel-good romances that readers can lose themselves in, and her latest is no exception.”
—RT Book Reviews on The Cowboy and the Lady
Dear Reader,
So here we are, back to revisit Forever, Texas, to see how the second of the Robertson triplets is doing.
We happen along into Riley Robertson’s life at a rather bad time. Riley, a nurse practitioner, is unable to do anything for Breena, her best friend, who is dying. But she has a dying wish, which she asks Riley to fulfill once she is gone. It seems that Breena’s four-year-old daughter, Vikki, is the product of a summer romance and the man involved was only here shortly. He went back to his home in Arizona to continue his work. His attempts to get in contact with Breena bore no fruit and eventually he just gave up (she didn’t want to tell him that she got pregnant and had his baby).
Breena wants Vikki to know who her father is and Riley is more than willing to find him. Once Breena passes away, Riley has the help of her mother, her grandfather, Mike, and her sisters, Raegan and Roe, to help Vikki adjust and to watch her while Riley goes in search of the little girl’s father, Matt Logan.
To say that Matt is stunned is a vast understatement, but slowly he gets over his shock and Riley gets over her animosity and they find common ground in taking care of the little girl that Riley loves and Matt comes to really care for.
Want to know how that happens? Come, read and find out.
As always, I thank you for reading one of my books and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.
Marie Ferrarella
Meeting His Secret Daughter
Marie Ferrarella
USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author Marie Ferrarella has written over three hundred books for Harlequin, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, marieferrarella.com.
Books by Marie Ferrarella
Harlequin Special Edition
Forever, Texas
The Cowboy’s Lesson in Love
The Lawman’s Romance Lesson
Her Right Hand Cowboy
Secrets of Forever
The Best Man in Texas
A Ranch to Come Home To
Matchmaker on the Ranch
Furever Yours
More Than a Temporary Family
Matchmaking Mamas
Meant to Be Mine
A Second Chance for the Single Dad
Christmastime Courtship
An Engagement for Two
Adding Up to Family
Bridesmaid for Hire
Coming to a Crossroads
The Late Bloomer’s Road to Love
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
To
Edy & Tiffany Melgar
A Truly Special Couple
With Lots of Love,
“Mama”
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Excerpt from The Rancher’s Baby by Kathy Douglass
Prologue
Riley Robertson struggled to hold back the tears she felt welling up within her. She had known for a while now that this day was coming closer, but somehow she had still refused to allow herself to fully believe it was actually happening. That her best friend, Breena Alexander, was really dying. That she would not be alive much longer.
Stubborn, despite the toll her illness was having on her, Breena had steadfastly refused to go to the hospital. Either the new one built in Forever or the older one located some fifty miles away.
Despite Riley’s endless pep talks—including this one—to try to make Breena see things in a positive light, her friend, sensing that she had next to no time left, had decided that what there was of it, she would spend it with her four-year-old daughter, Vikki. Even though, at this point, regardless of what she might want, her ill health was forcing her to spend most of her time in bed.
“They wouldn’t let Vikki come visit me in the hospital, much less stay with me,” Breena pointed out. “No, I’m going to be home for as long as humanly possible. Do you think you would still be able to look in on us from time to time?” Breena asked Riley hopefully.
Shaking her head, Riley, the first nurse practitioner the small town of Forever, Texas, had ever had, held her friend’s hand. “Just try and stop me. I’ve got some time off coming to me. I can spend it with you and Vikki—” Riley began.
But Breena cut her off. “No, don’t do that,” she protested. “I don’t want to take you away from your work. Just come by the house whenever you can.”
Riley sighed. That was so like Breena, not wanting to put anyone out.
“You plan on arguing with me to the very end, don’t you?”
A small, weak smile curved Breena’s lips. “There’s no fun in being agreeable. You taught me that.” And then her friend paused. “Riley, I need to tell you something,” she said.
Riley gently squeezed her friend’s hand, not sure just what was coming. Breena looked so serious. Did her friend want her to adopt Vikki? She knew that she would in a heartbeat.
“Go ahead,” Riley urged. “I’m listening.”
Breena paused again, taking a shallow breath. Breathing hurt and talking was growing harder and harder for her these days. “It’s about Vikki’s father...” she began.
As friends, Breena and Riley had shared everything. Consequently, Riley was the only one who knew who Vikki’s father was. He hadn’t been a local, but a man who had come out on vacation from Arizona one summer five years ago. Matt Logan and Breena had hit it off instantly. They had spent every moment together until he’d had to leave to finish up his last year of college.
When Breena had found out she was pregnant, Riley had urged her to tell Matt, but Breena had totally refused to even entertain the idea. Moreover, she’d forbidden Riley from contacting Matt to tell him. She’d felt that since he was just starting out in his career, if he found out that she was having his child, he would give up his long-range plan and take a job to support her and the baby. Breena had absolutely refused to allow that to happen. To that end, she had sworn Riley to secrecy.
But now that she was dying, circumstances had changed.
“Go on,” Riley encouraged quietly.
“He doesn’t know...” Breena prefaced her words with another hesitant breath.
She couldn’t believe that Breena had never attempted to tell Matt about his four-year-old daughter.
“Doesn’t know you’re dying?” Riley questioned uncertainly.
Breena shook her head and then said hoarsely, “No. He doesn’t know he has a daughter. I never told him.”
For one of the few times in her life, Riley found herself almost too stunned for words. When she finally found her tongue, she asked, “How could you not tell him? I know that in the beginning you had your reasons. But now...?”
Breena seemed to almost fade into her bedsheets right before Riley’s very eyes. “The time never seemed right. This isn’t something that you can just casually drop into a sentence,” Breena insisted.
“But you didn’t tell him?” Riley cried in total disbelief. It didn’t seem possible—or right.
“It was a summer fling,” Breena explained. “He went back to Arizona after summer was over and when I found out that I was pregnant, I couldn’t find the words to tell him.”
All sorts of words sprang into Riley’s head, but she kept them to herself. All but one sentence. “How about, ‘Guess what, honey? Know that perfect summer we spent? Well, it got a little more perfect.’”
Breena made no comment on Riley’s summation. Instead, she had just one request.
“After I die, could you get in contact with him for me? Vikki deserves to be with her father. Or at least to get to know him. His name is Matt Logan.”
“I know what his name is, Breena,” she reminded her friend, wondering if the illness was taking a toll on Breena’s mind.
All sorts of objections regarding Breena’s mindset occurred to Riley, but she wasn’t about to voice them, not now, not when Breena was dying. Instead, she asked, “Do you have a current address where I can reach him?”
Breena nodded. “Yes. But don’t reach out to him until...well, you know,” she emphasized, unable to bring herself to say the words.
She didn’t need to.
Riley’s heart ached and she felt tears all but choke her as she nodded. “I understand.”
* * *
“Until” came faster than either woman had expected. Breena died only two and a half weeks later, leaving a hole in a great many hearts. A lot of people loved the kind, soft-spoken, young elementary school teacher who had died much too soon.
“I’m going to bring Matt Logan back to Forever, Breena,” Riley said as she stood in her friend’s bedroom, holding the woman’s lifeless hand. It was already growing cold. Riley’s mother, Rita, had come with her and had taken Vikki into another room to spare the little girl. “Even if I have to wrap him up in plastic and sling him over the back of a horse, I’ll bring him back here so he can meet his daughter.”
Riley swallowed a deep sigh as tears began to gather again in her eyes. For a moment, she was unable to speak.
“I’m really going to miss you, Breena,” she finally whispered, her heart lodged in her throat as she brushed her friend’s soft red hair back from Breena’s face.
As she stroked Breena’s hair, Riley finally allowed her tears to fall freely.
Chapter One
Riley could feel the tiny fingers closing tightly around her own. It only served to reinforce just how really small the four-year-old girl actually was. At the moment, dwarfed by the double doors she was standing in front of, Vikki scanned the surroundings, her eyes open wide. Breena had once remarked that her redheaded daughter’s eyes resembled light blue saucers.
Tugging on Riley’s hand, Vikki had motioned for her mother’s friend to come down to her level. Riley obliged and bent her knee.
“Am I going to live here now?” Vikki whispered to her in awe.
Riley smiled at the little girl who had lived in the heart of town itself her entire life. This ranch and the house they were standing in front of had to seem like some sort of a kingdom to Vikki, Riley thought. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been there on many other occasions before, but losing her mother seemed to have shaken everything up for the little girl.
“Yes, you are,” Riley answered the girl with affection, “along with my mother and grandfather, as well as Rosa, their housekeeper.”
“‘Their housekeeper,’” Vikki repeated. Riley was just about to explain what a housekeeper was when Vikki concluded, eyes full of wonderment, “They must be very rich.”
Riley thought back to the stories she and her sisters had heard growing up and she smiled. “No, not really. I was told that my grandfather and great-grandfather built this house with their own two hands many, many years ago.” She smiled at the little girl. “Things cost a lot less back then.”
On a hunch, Riley tried the doorknob. It should have been locked, but the handle gave. Riley walked in through the open door, holding Vikki’s hand in hers.
For the first time ever, Vikki seemed rather shy. Riley found herself praying that this phase would pass quickly or at least once she grew comfortable with the new people in her life.
Closing the door behind them, Riley caught herself frowning. Despite all of her and her sisters’ friendly lectures to the contrary, her grandfather had left the front door unlocked.
Again.
Their grandfather, Mike Robertson, just never learned, she thought. Or at least refused to.
The man had some serious explaining to do, Riley silently vowed.
“Wow,” was Vikki’s comment in response to what she had just been told. The little girl looked around as if she had just walked into some sort of magical fairyland. The ranch house was a two-story building and the ceilings were exceptionally high, making anyone who came in seem very small.
The little girl turned to Riley. “Your grandfather really built this?” she asked in wonder. “And he and your mom and that Rosa lady live here?” It was obvious that she was trying to absorb the information. “Mama and I shared one bedroom,” she volunteered as if this was news to Riley. “Or we did,” she added sadly.
And then, the next moment, Vikki seemed to realize that it wasn’t news to her mother’s friend. She sighed sadly. “You already know that, don’t you?”
Riley never ceased to be fascinated by the fact that Vikki talked like a little old lady instead of a four-year-old child.
Breena had maintained that was because she had talked to her daughter from the moment the child had been born, addressing Vikki as if she had complete command of the language. It had never occurred to Breena that Vikki might not understand what was being said to her. Her friend had just assumed that her daughter understood everything, that sometimes it just took her a little longer than other times.
“Yes, I do,” Riley replied. “And to answer your question, my grandfather and mother live here on a permanent basis and my two sisters stay here occasionally. Raegan is married,” she went on to tell Vikki, “so when she stays over, she comes with her husband.”
Ever curious, Vikki asked, “What’s his name?”
“Alan White Eagle,” Riley told the little girl.
“But your other sister isn’t married, right?” It was an astute guess on Vikki’s part.
Riley could only smile. The way she saw it, Vikki was beyond incredibly bright. “No, she isn’t.”
Vikki cocked her head as she looked up at Riley. “And you’re not married, either, right?”
“No, honey, I am not,” Riley confirmed.
It struck her as rather a serious conversation to have with a four-year-old, but she was desperately attempting to avoid the more hurtful topic—the one involving Breena’s funeral. She had quietly buried her friend with only a few people in attendance. She was trying to spare the little girl so Vikki wouldn’t be haunted by the memory of her mother’s interment.
“And neither is Rosa,” Riley added.
Vikki turned up her face toward Riley, curiosity in her eyes. “Rosa? Who’s that?” It was obvious that Vikki had forgotten. It gave Riley hope that the little girl could be normal after all.
“Rosa is my grandfather’s housekeeper and cook,” she told the child, reminding Vikki of her previous explanation.
“The house needs keeping?” Vikki asked. Turning around in an inclusive circle, she was trying her best to assimilate what she was looking at as well as what she was being told.
Riley laughed, putting her arm around the four-year-old’s small shoulders and drawing her closer to her. “Oh, that it does,” she assured the little girl.
Mike Robertson, Riley’s grandfather, chose that moment to walk in from the kitchen. A tall, muscular man with a very full head of gray hair, Robertson could still hold his own, putting in long hours working alongside his ranch hands. He immediately zeroed in on the small child standing in his living room.
“And who is this lovely young lady?” he asked, feigning ignorance as he took Vikki’s hand in his.
Vikki giggled. “You know who I am, Pop,” she said to Riley’s grandfather.
It was a sweet sound, Riley couldn’t help thinking. This was the first time that she had heard it in a while.
“Why, yes, I do,” Mike declared. “You’re Vikki, right?”
Vikki nodded her head. “Right!”
