Part 16 (1/2)
”I don't know. She never said. I never asked. But the last thing I want is for Jackson to open that old wound.”
”That's why you came to the restaurant tonight,” Katherine said, remembering the earlier byplay between the two men. ”He forced your hand.”
”Yes, but I also came to warn you.”
”At the risk of him telling the Stantons about your theft?”
”Well, I don't know if it would matter anymore. It was a long time ago.”
”Of course it would matter. It was a risk you took for me. You saved me, Zach.”
Zach stared at her for a long minute. ”I couldn't let him play you for a sucker, too.”
She s.h.i.+vered at the intensity in his voice, the look in his eyes. ”One might think you actually care what happens to me.”
”I know you're desperate to find your father. Desperation makes for an easy mark.”
”Are you sure that it's a lie?” She hated to ask, but she had to ask.
”Do I have DNA proof that he couldn't be your father? No. But he's unwilling to take a blood test, which is a sure sign he's hiding something. It's also my understanding that he had a vasectomy shortly after my birth.”
”Really?” She felt a huge weight slip off her shoulders.
”He told me so once, something along the lines of 'I'm going to make sure I don't have any more brats like you.'”
”I wish we could be sure.”
Zach thought for a minute. ”My father has a woman friend in Louisville, Veronica Lacey. She's known him forever, slept with him on and off for probably thirty years. She's been his confidante in the past. Maybe she could verify the vasectomy. I have to go to Louisville tomorrow anyway,” Zach said. ”We sent Rogue down there today and I want to check on him. I can stop in at Veronica's before I come back.”
”Can I go with you?”
”It would be better if you didn't.”
”I have a stake in this, too, remember?”
”All right, but I'm leaving at four-thirty.”
Her jaw dropped. ”In the morning?”
”I want to catch the morning workout at six.” He smiled at her look of discomfort. ”Too early for a city girl?”
She rose to the challenge in his eyes. ”Not at all.”
He nodded, sliding out of the booth. ”I'll take you back to the hotel now. I want you to lock your door and don't open it, no matter who comes knocking.”
She got to her feet. ”I'll be fine.”
”I hope those won't be your famous last words.”
Chapter 10.
Four-thirty in the morning was too d.a.m.n early for anyone to be up, Katherine decided grumpily as she drew her heavy red sweater around her shoulders. It was still dark outside, the air cold and crisp, the streetlights casting menacing shadows on the empty sidewalks.
She was thankful she'd dressed for comfort in heavy blue jeans and tennis shoes along with a pink long-sleeve T-s.h.i.+rt under her red sweater. She'd pulled her hair into a no-nonsense ponytail and only glossed her lips with a bright pink lipstick. It wasn't her most glamorous outfit, but she was more intent on fitting in than looking beautiful. Besides that, she simply couldn't be bothered getting up a second earlier to fix her face. She yawned again as Zach's truck pulled up in front of the hotel.
Zach kept the motor running as she walked down to the truck and got in. ”Mornin',” he sang out with the most cheerful smile she'd ever seen on his face. Wearing his trademark black jeans and a burgundy and gold jacket, he looked far too happy for this hour of the morning.
”Beautiful day, isn't it?” he said. ”I love this time right before dawn when the sun is creeping up over the horizon.”
She looked at him through narrowed, irritated eyes. You've got to be kidding. I don't see any sun.”
”Uh-oh, I'm sensing that you're not a morning person.”
”Why would you say that?”
Zach pointed to a thermos on the seat next to him. ”I brought hot coffee guaranteed to give you a jump start.”
She reached for the thermos as if it were a lifesaver and poured some coffee into a mug. As she lifted it to her lips, she saw the picture on the side of a cartoon figure sitting behind a desk stacked with papers and the words, ”Are we having fun yet?”
”No,” she said.
”Huh?” he asked, as he drove down the highway.
She held up the cup for him to see. ”I'm not having fun yet.”
”Take a few more sips,” he encouraged.
”I don't suppose you have a nice fluffy omelette and some hash browns stashed away somewhere.”
”Cereal bars in the glove compartment,” he said. ”Will that help?”
”Barely, but I'll take it.”
After drinking half a cup of coffee and downing a rather grainy, far-too-healthy cereal bar, Katherine felt marginally better.
Zach turned on the radio, and she settled back in her seat, content to listen to the early morning news. It seemed odd to hear reports from around the country. In Paradise, she felt isolated and somewhat protected. Now, back on the highway, she began to feel the way she'd felt on her drive into town, edgy and unsure of herself. She just hoped their trip to Louisville would put an end to Jackson Tyler's insinuations about her parenthood.
”Did my father bother you last night?” Zach asked, as if he had read her mind.
”No.”
”Mm-mm.”
”That doesn't sound good.” She sent him a quick glance, but his hard profile was unreadable.
”It's a little too easy,” Zach said. ”He's up to something.”