The Rancher's Surprise Son. Christine Wenger

sure is Cody, sweetie. He’s home.”

      Laura’s heart beat wildly in her chest. She felt warm, then chilled, then as if she was frying under the desert sun in spite of the shady roof overhead.

      She knew that this day would come sooner or later and dreaded it—yet she couldn’t wait to see Cody again.

      So many secrets. So many lies. So much heartbreak.

      Georgianna and Cindy took off at a run to meet the truck.

      Laura stayed in the shade, holding back. The scenario that she had planned when she first talked to Cody—really talked to Cody—seemed ridiculous now. She needed to think!

      The pickup slowed, and then stopped. Laura willed herself to run, to hide, but she was rooted in that spot. She needed to delay seeing Cody until she had a better plan—and it sure as hell had better be a great one.

      Procrastination might as well be her middle name.

      Holding back, she mentally called herself a supreme coward, and watched as Cody swung his long legs from the passenger side of the pickup, stood, then swept his mother into his arms. He swung her in circles as she shrieked in happiness.

      “Yee-haw!” Cody’s deep voice echoed across his mother’s little pie-slice of property that was smack-dab in the middle of the Duke holdings.

      Cody finally put his mother down, walked over to Cindy and hugged her close. “How’s my little sis?”

      “Oh, Cody! I’ve missed you. Have you been okay in jail? I mean, really okay? I can’t believe you wouldn’t let us visit you.”

      “It wasn’t a place for ladies, but I loved your letters. I looked forward to them every day. You’re quite the writer.”

      “I know,” Cindy said, grinning. “I want to be an author when I’m older.”

      Cody kissed her on the forehead. “You can do whatever you want, sis. Don’t you ever think you can’t.”

      Tears sprang to Laura’s eyes. She wished her family could be this close, but it never seemed that her father, the rich and powerful J. W. Duke, had time for her or her mother. The only one who he dropped everything for was her son.

      She couldn’t stop staring at Cody. He looked older and pale. The slump in his shoulders made him seem...defeated, maybe. Or sad. Or maybe he was just tired.

      The foreman of the Duke Ranch emerged from the driver’s side of the pickup. She’d always liked Slim Gonzalez. He was one of the few who could handle her father.

      “I’m supposed to take Cody straight to the Duke Ranch,” he said with a slight accent. “But I thought he should stop here quickly to see his family and get a change of clothes.”

      Cody clamped Slim’s shoulder. “Let me take a shower. I promise I’ll hurry. I need to get this jail stink off me. Por favor, mi amigo.”

      “Okay,” Slim nodded. “But hurry up. Remember that you and I have an appointment with J.W. and your parole officer in J.W.’s office.”

      Georgianna suddenly turned toward her. “Oh! I forgot. Laura is here.” She waved at her, and Laura lifted her hand in return.

      “Hi, Cody. Welcome home,” Laura said, trying to keep her voice calm and even, but she could hear her anxiety in those four short words.

      Cody turned toward her, and she knew the second his turquoise-blue eyes found her on the porch. Those eyes could turn as cold as the sky on a frosty day or as warm as a hot day in summer.

      Today they were warm.

      “Laura.” He smiled. “It’s really good to see you.”

      She knew she was staring at him, but he was staring at her, too. He didn’t move, and didn’t say another word.

      Laura remembered the shirt and suit that he was wearing now. He’d worn it on one of their last dates at the fancy restaurant in town and again on that horrible day in county court when he was sentenced and two burly deputies took him away in it.

      It was way too big on him now.

      Laura had never thought he was guilty, never. Her Cody wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was gentle with both animals and children, and he was sweet to Cindy and protective of Cindy and his mother.

      But the criminal justice system proved her wrong and had found him guilty. Maybe it was because he wouldn’t defend himself, even when his public defender pointed out that he couldn’t provide him with adequate representation. Cody remained mute throughout the proceedings, insisting that he just wanted to plead guilty and do his time.

      He’d gotten his wish. Now Cody was a felon. He’d been convicted of some kind of manslaughter for killing Georgianna’s second husband, Hank Lindy.

      The same smarmy Hank Lindy who hit on her during a shopping trip to his store while he was married to Georgianna.

      The slime. Of course, she never told Georgianna, but she had avoided Lindy like the Ebola virus.

      In her heart of hearts, she still believed her Cody would never kill anyone, but she wanted to hear it from him—and soon. He just had to be protecting someone, but whom?

      Just like before, Cody might not talk about what had happened that awful night when Hal Lindy had been fatally shot, even though Laura had begged him constantly to defend himself. All her pleas fell on deaf ears.

      But now that he was released, maybe she could talk him into giving up his secrets.

      Slim cleared his throat and broke the silence, along with their eye contact. “You’d better get a move on, Cody.”

      Cody nodded and slipped one arm around his mother and the other around Cindy. Everyone would have to go past Laura to enter the ranch house. She couldn’t escape now.

      Cody reached out and was about to touch her hair, but he stopped. “Laura, can you stay for a while? Can we talk?”

      It’d been years since the prison officials took Cody away. No matter how much she begged, he wouldn’t put her on his visitors’ list. She wasn’t much of a letter writer, but she’d sent him one a week at first, telling him about how Georgianna and Cindy were doing, hoping to ease his mind about them.

      But after a while, there was nothing she’d wanted to say, so she wrote less frequently.

      God help her. She wanted to run to Cody and feel herself in his arms again. She’d always felt safe with him and always loved.

      Safe? With a killer?

      Instead, she shook her head and prayed that Slim wouldn’t tell her father that she’d been at the Double M. “Sorry, I have to get going.”

      “Will I see you soon?” Cody asked quietly. “Our place?”

      She nodded. He did the same. That was all she was going to get for now, and that simple gesture was all she could give in return.

      Georgianna gave Laura a quick peck on the cheek. “Come and visit again,” she said, following Cody inside.

      Cindy turned back and waved to her as she walked on the squeaky, splintered boards of the porch. “Bye, Laura. See you on Friday when you drop Johnny off.”

      Laura’s breath caught in her throat at the mention of her son. She hoped Cody hadn’t heard what Cindy had said, not until she had a chance to think things through.

      She’d thought she’d had another two years before she had to worry about telling Cody about Johnny.

      But her time was up. Cody wasn’t stupid.

      She was hard-pressed to make something positive out of this situation that had suddenly been thrust upon her. It was easier to procrastinate and believe that Cody’s felony conviction and incarceration hadn’t happened.

      Laura waved goodbye to Cindy and noticed that Slim took a