She looks like you, Julia whispered. She has your hair, your dark skinyour eyes. Just as she said the words, the baby blinked up at him with dark orbs, already losing their baby blue for the ink-black so typical of the Thunder Horse familys Lakota heritage.
Tucks chest squeezed so tightly, he could barely draw in air. The baby did look like him. So, she has black hair. He fought the urge to reach out and touch the babys rosy cheek. That doesnt mean shes mine.
Shes four months old. Julia stared across the baby at him. You do the math. His ex-wife reached around her neck with one hand and fumbled with the knot holding the sling, while balancing the baby in her other arm. When she had the sling loose, she handed the child across to Tuck.
He hesitated and drew back, his hands dropping to his sides.
Hold her. She wont bite. Julia shoved the baby at him, giving him no choice but to take the squirming bundle.
He grasped the baby, holding her out like an alien being. Then Tuck stared at the infant girl, who stared back at him, her dark hair and dark eyes so very much like his own.
Then she smiled, the mere quirk of those tiny lips and cherubic cheeks nearly bringing Tuck to his knees.
His hands shook. Rather than drop the baby, he brought her close to his body and cradled her against his chest. Are you sure? Tuck glanced up at the woman standing across from him.
Julias lips trembled, her eyes glistening with tears. Never more certain.
Why didnt you tell me?
She sighed. I didnt know I was pregnant until two months after we metand then it snowballed, all happening so quickly. She gulped, her head dipping low. One minute I was a single woman with no cares in the world, the next I was scrambling to find a place big enough for a baby. The school semester started. I was working teaching kids. A lot of things were happening at once.
And it just slipped your mind? You never thought for a moment that I had a right to know?
Yes, you did. Her belly twisted with her guilt. I didnt know whether or not youd want to be a part of her life. It was just an excuse, but it was the one shed clung to, so that she wouldnt have to get back in touch with the man shed married and then run away from. So shed made the choice for him.
And you made the decision not to tell me. He shook his head.
After what happened between us, I thought it would be unfair to saddle you with a child you might not want. She sighed. I was wrong.
Shed been wrong about so many things.
Marrying Tuck in the first place had been a mistake. Even now, she could hardly believe shed done it. It was so unlike her to get carried away, swept off her feet. Jillian had always been the spontaneous onenot Julia. Julia was the thinker, the planner, the one who calculated cost and consequence for every decision she made.
If shed taken the time to stop and think, she never would have gone to that little wedding chapel. Shed have taken the time to get to know her husband firstat least well enough to know what he did for a living. If shed been aware before saying her vows that he was an FBI agent, then she would have realized that a relationship between them could never work.
Julia knew all too well what being an agent meant. Her father had spent most of her formative years away from home as a member of the bureau. She recalled how her mother had waited by the telephone every time he was on assignment, expecting the call that her husband had been injured or killed in the line of duty. Sadly, shed gotten that call when Julia and Jillian were twelve years old.
Jillian had followed their father into the FBI.
Julia still couldnt understand why her sister would do such a thing, knowing the dangers. Hadnt losing a parent shown her how dangerous it was?
Julia had never considered joining the FBI or having anything to do with it. The job hadnt just taken her father away from herit had ruined her mothers life, as well. Julia had seen the way the stress and anxiety of being an agents wife had weighed on her mother. It was a strain Julia refused to bear. Bad enough that she had to worry about her sister on the job. She refused to worry about a husband, too.
When shed found Tucks badge in the hotel room, shed lost it. Images of her mother trying not to cry as she sat by the phone had flooded her memories, bringing her to her knees on the bedroom floor of the hotel. She couldnt get away from Tuck fast enough. She refused to be one of those wives who waited night and day for the call.
All Julia had wanted was a safe home with someone who would be there to love her. A father who put his family ahead of his work. A man who wasnt destined to die of gunshot wounds earned in the line of duty.
Just a glimpse of that all-too-familiar badge had been enough to make Julia run. Shed departed the hotel, leaving a note that she was sorry and that their marriage had been a mistake. Annulment papers had been easy to obtain, and within forty-eight hours she wasnt married.
Of course, there were still consequences she never could have anticipated. Consequences like the precious baby girl cradled for the first time in her fathers arms.
For a long time he stared down at the baby. I have a daughter. He shook his head, his eyes widening. I have a daughter. What did you say her name was?
Lily. Lily Amelia. She looked down at her hands. You said your mothers name was Amelia. I thought it was pretty.
Shed named his daughter after his mother. Tuck touched a finger to the babys rounded cheek, marveling at how soft and smooth her skin was. You had no right, he whispered. The baby had been born four months ago. Four months he could have been getting to know her. You had no right to keep her from me.
Agreed.
Anger and regret made a resurgence through him. Then why? He glared at her. Why now? There must be something you want, or you wouldnt have contacted me.
Julia stepped forward. Like I said, we need your help. Were in trouble.
The same trouble that took your sisters life?
She flinched, her lips trembling. Yes.
Who was behind the murder?
I dont know. My sister and I had gone to the casino. She was on vacation, visiting me. Julia swallowed hard before she could continue, her words coming out in a rush. Jillian was making a video of me on the path outside the casinothe one that leads to the marina. She wanted to get the lake in the background. I was turning to get in a better position when I saw movement by the docks.
She pressed a hand to her mouth, her eyes widening. When I looked closer, I could see a man being held at gunpoint and then shot in the chest down by the water. Jillian caught it all on her camera without realizing what was happening. I was too shocked to say anything. It happened so fast. She stared up at Tuck, all the horror she must have witnessed reflecting in her watery blue eyes. But then the murderer glanced our way. I dont think he saw Jillian, but he definitely saw me.
Tucks hands tightened around the baby. What happened?
I told my sister. Julias head moved back and forth as if she were in a daze. She went after him.
Where were you?
She made me promise to go home and wait for her. To take care of Lily until Jillian came for me. She stopped talking, tears dripping down off her chin. My sister never came back. Julias words thickened. God, I shouldnt have let her go. Her eyes filled with tears and overflowed, rivulets of grief running down her face.