Tracey shifted in her seat. “I thought I was in love with Mike.”
Luke thought about what he knew about Mike. He was a couple years older than them, a big guy with an easy smile, everybody’s friend, but he’d had a short fuse. He’d been a great football player, with a lot of penalties accumulated. “And you married him?”
She nodded shortly. “Look, I knew you weren’t long for this valley. I did you a favor.”
“Excuse me?” Luke’s heart was hammering hard and fast. “Stealing my daughter from me was a favor?”
She stared at her clasped hands. “You went out and conquered the world. I’ve watched how successful you’ve become. You couldn’t have done that married and saddled with a baby at eighteen.”
“That should’ve been my choice,” Luke said between clenched teeth.
“I know. I was young and stupid. You broke up with me after … that night, so I assumed you didn’t want me, possibly hated me. Then, when I told you I was expecting, you got all pale and didn’t say one word. I assumed you didn’t want the baby.” She hugged herself and studied the vehicle that held their daughter. “Mike begged me to marry him, promised he would always adore me and my child, no matter if he wasn’t the father, and I agreed. I’m sorry.”
Luke was so angry and confused that he really had no response for her. If she was telling the truth, she’d taken nine years of Lacey’s life from him. She’d let another man, a man with a possibly volatile temper—at least a yeller, if not worse—raise his daughter. He jumped to his feet and paced the porch. He could hardly stand not to yell his frustrations at her, but his dad had raised him with more self-control than that.
Suddenly, he wondered if Lacey was watching him from inside that vehicle. Would she be scared that he looked angry? Stopping abruptly, he whirled to face Tracey and asked, “Where’s Mike now? You said he’s your ex?”
She didn’t meet his gaze. “In prison.”
Luke shook his head. This kept getting worse and worse. “For what?”
“Assault.” She bowed her head and admitted, “He thought I cheated on him.” She tilted her chin up and met his gaze; he saw a glimpse of her old feistiness. “I didn’t. He wouldn’t believe me, and he tried to kill the guy.”
Luke didn’t know how to respond. Did he say he was sorry her ex-husband was in prison, or sorry she’d married the guy in the first place? He wanted to grab Lacey and Mar and get them both far from here, far from Tracey and her messed-up life. “Is that why you’ve finally come to me?”
“Sort of,” she admitted. “It isn’t easy to admit this to you.” She tilted her chin to the house. “And your beautiful girlfriend … wife?”
“Girlfriend,” he said.
“She looks like someone who’s successful and accomplished.”
“She is,” he said proudly.
“I’m not.” She bit at her lip and admitted, “Mike had a handyman business and did pretty well. He provided, and I was able to be at home with Lacey. I’d never trade that time with my girl but now I have no money, no husband, no education. I don’t have a job, and I don’t want to leave Lacey to find one, especially in the summer when she’s not in school. I was stewing about what to do, and then I got a phone call about Holly seeing you. I thought it was a sign from above.”
Luke’s jaw clenched. So because he’d happened to be in that restaurant—or, more accurately, because of Mike’s mistake of being irrationally jealous and trying to kill some guy—Luke might get to know his daughter. There was no way to rectify the past, but he could see through the questions and anger that he could make a difference in Lacey’s life now. “So now you’ll let me spend time with my daughter because you need money?”
She shrugged. “I know what an honorable and good person you are, and I thought you’d want to be part of her life. If you want to meet me at Jerkins Law Office at four this afternoon, we can work out child support and visitation.”
Luke was reeling, but he was willing to do anything to be part of his daughter’s life, even forgive the woman who’d kept her from him. He’d forgive and forget if it would make Lacey’s life better. “Okay,” he finally said.
Tracey gave him a radiant smile. “Thank you. I’ll see you then.” She stood and hurried to the vehicle, slamming her door quickly and spinning away.
Luke lifted a hand as he watched them go, in case Lacey was watching him. He wished he could’ve at least talked to her longer, maybe hugged her and asked her what her favorite subject in school or hobbies were. He could just imagine her playing with Paisley, interacting with his parents, all of his siblings, Jade, Cosette, and … Mar.
He wanted to go inside and get Mar’s take on all of this, but his strength had fled. Sagging against the porch railing, he stared at the thick forest of pine trees. A daughter? He had a daughter. He had no clue what this might mean for him and Mar, for his life and businesses, but there was no way he would turn his back on Lacey.