Texas Mum. Roz Fox Denny
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She hesitated again, then quickened her step to come up beside him. He’d set a booted foot on the lowest rung of the wood-railed corral, flagrantly male and heart-stoppingly good-looking. The confident, sexy stance reminded her of their brief but passionate affair and drove Delaney’s carefully crafted speech away. She couldn’t control her thoughts. “You left me pregnant,” she said and watched his body stiffen and his foot slip off the rail with a thud. She wanted to snatch back her words. Instead, she continued. “It’s true. After you left Texas, I gave birth to your son. His name is Nickolas. Right now he’s in a Lubbock hospital battling leukemia for the second time in his life.”
Dario balled and un-balled his hands, yet said nothing, so Delaney talked faster, explaining how Nick had blessedly gone into remission after weeks of treatments during his first brush with the illness. “I assumed he was cured. Everyone did. But two months ago his fevers came back. He needs a bone marrow transplant. In a quirk of fate, I’m not a match. Nor is anyone currently in the national bone marrow registry. All of my friends and many of the people I work with as a vet have been tested. The problem is that kids with mixed blood present special difficulties. We need someone of Hispanic descent, and we’ve signed up and tested as many people as we can. I brought a packet of information if you’d like to study it. Or, you can go online.” Delaney pursed her lips, wishing he would say something. “I wouldn’t have bothered you, but Nick’s doctors say he’s out of options.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say to the stone-faced man staring so coldly at her that Nickolas might die without a match. Wishing she didn’t feel so desperate, she wound down, continuing, “I’m here to ask you...beg you to be tested. The doctors in Texas can arrange for you to have blood drawn in Buenos Aires. You’d only need to fly to Texas if you are a match. Even though I don’t have the necessary blood markers, Nick’s doctors think you or someone in your family might.”
“This is all bullshit, Delaney. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull.” He threw up a hand. “We only had one night together. But something I am sure of, I used protection that night. So your kid’s not mine,” he said, slapping his hand against his chest.
“I don’t know what went wrong with our protection, but something did. You know very well you were my first, Dario. And there’s been no one since. Not since you left me without a word.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know why I left. Your dad made it very clear when he caught me sneaking downstairs from your room at dawn. He ordered me to leave the ranch and to never contact you again, and he threatened to see that Estancia Sanchez never sold another bull to the Southwestern rodeo stockmen. Which he did anyway, by spreading lies about our bulls being diseased. We had a hell of a time regaining our reputation.”
She stopped a moment. “Wh-what do you mean my dad ordered you to not contact me again, and held sway over stock contractors?” She drew back, narrowing her eyes.
“He said he’d spent a fortune on your education and you weren’t going to throw away his dream of you being a veterinarian on some oversexed foreigner. He followed me as I rounded up my crew, making sure we left the ranch. He swore if I tried to reach you, Estancia Sanchez would never sell another bull in Texas or surrounding states. That’s the bulk of our US business. I held up my end of the bargain, but he did all he could to ruin us. On top of that, we had to eat the cost of transporting home eight expensive bulls at a terrible time for my family. It’s only recently that Vicente was able to get anyone from the Southern rodeo circuit to consider our animals. If you don’t believe me, ask your father.”
Delaney massaged the suddenly icy skin of her upper arms. “I can’t ask him. The week after you left, he was out on the range, miles from the house, and his appendix ruptured. A neighbor saw buzzards circling late in the day and rode over to investigate. He found my dad on the ground, his horse watching over him. The medical examiner said gangrene had poured through Dad’s bloodstream, killing him. The weeks that followed were the worst of my life. For one thing, I had no idea he’d mortgaged the ranch to pay for my schooling. The banker said that rather than sell off land, Dad floated a second lien to buy the bulls. I didn’t even know Dad had become involved as a rodeo stockman. The bank ordered the bulls to be returned to you, not my dad. I had no home, no father and no practice to go with my new doctorate when what I thought was the flu turned out to be morning sickness.”
Dario’s eyes widened. “If what you say is true, Delaney, I’m sorry.”
“It is true. Every word,” she said huffily.
“But why didn’t you get hold of me then? Why wait so long?”
“My God, Dario, you had dropped out of my life. A woman has her pride.”
“You wait years, then spring this kind of news on me? Bah! So, who spread the word to other stockmen that our bulls were flawed?”
“I’ve no clue. Maybe my dad didn’t trust us, and called people anyway. He could see how badly I wanted to hear from you.” Delaney’s voice gave out.
Dario threw up his hands. “I tell you what, Delaney. Bring the boy to Buenos Aires. I’ll arrange for our family physician to do DNA testing. If that proves my paternity, I’ll undergo the other tests you want me to take.”
Gazing into his unyielding eyes, Delaney didn’t know where the kind, playful man she’d fallen in love with had gone. He could send off a swab to be tested. “You’re an ass, Dario Sanchez. Nickolas is too sick to travel.” Blinking back tears of frustration, she caught the eye of Dario’s sister who had ridden closer, and she beckoned to the girl. “If Maria Sofia will take me back to where I left my rental vehicle, I’ll go home and do all I can to increase the circle of potential donors. I’ll cast a wider net in the Texas Latino community.”
He met her glare for a moment, then shifted his gaze to the bull pens.
Maria Sofia barged between them on her horse. “Dayo, go to Texas to have the tests. I’ll go with you. I’m bored here at the estancia,” she said, tossing her long golden curls over one shoulder. “You all refuse to let me help with the business. While you’re at the hospital, I’ll explore Texas. We had a visiting professor from there, and I’d love to see the state. But Papa will never let me go unescorted.”
“Stay out of this, Maria Sofia.” Dario’s exasperation was evident. He ran both hands over his hair. He began to speak, excluding Delaney as if she wasn’t standing there. “Take Dr. Blair back to where you found her and get a phone number where she can be reached tonight. When I decide on a course of action, if any, someone will contact her.” He turned and walked away, dismissing Delaney completely as he called to the men lounging around the chute. “Bring in the next bull for tagging. Ahora mismo!”
Delaney’s heart sank lower. She’d failed Nickolas. She didn’t believe Dario would go through with the tests, but what more could she have said? Maybe she should have begged harder. Somehow she doubted if even crawling on her hands and knees to Dario would have made a dent. “He’s angry at me for things I had no part in doing,” Delaney said.
Maria Sofia stared after her brother. “This is so not like Dayo. Of all my brothers, he’s always the most thoughtful and reasonable. Maybe he needs time. You shocked him,” Maria Sofia said, gathering the reins and mounting her horse. She kicked out of one stirrup and offered her hand to Delaney to help her to swing up behind again.
“I suppose. I’m not sure how I would react if our positions were reversed,” Delaney said, wanting to look back as the girl clucked to the palomino and they trotted off. But she didn’t. Instead she wondered whether her father had gone to the lengths Dario claimed. Perhaps. He’d raised her alone from the age of three after her mother had drowned. She and Dario had loss in common. He’d told her his mother had died of a pulmonary embolism shortly after his youngest brother was born. And now his stepmother—killed in a car accident. They’d all suffered. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Nickolas.
* * *
IGNORING THE PAWING, snorting bull his two helpers dragged toward him, Dario tracked the retreating