SomedayMyGoodOleBoyWillCome Read online

  “So you don’t know who he is?”

  “No, sir. Mama says I look like him. I have his eyes, his chin and smile.” A huge sigh expelled from the child as he began to pick at the hay. “Uncle Carson says you were a Marine.”

  “At one time, yes I was.” Derek looked, really looked at the boy he sat across from, willing him to meet his gaze. Dreading the second that he might do just that and reveal the truth to him.

  “I’m going to be a Marine.” That dark head flew up and he glimpsed determination in the eyes. “Just like my mama, then she will be so proud of me.”

  Derek stared into eyes that were the same color as his own. When he had looked at Caleb before, the eye color didn’t register to him. He had still been in shock over the fact that Jacey had a son.

  She wouldn’t keep a secret like this from him. Would she? A need to find Jacey and get to the bottom of this filled him like the tide rising. Wrenching his eyes away from the small boy, Derek found that the woman he sought was standing there overlooking them both.

  “Caleb, can you give me moment with Derek? I need to talk to him alone. Go inside and find grandma, please.”

  Intense eyes flickered between the two adults. Caleb got up without arguing with his mother.

  So with a small, “Okay,” he scampered off towards the farmhouse, followed by his ever faithful companion Shadow.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Derek rose to his full six feet, five inches, towering over Jacey. “Tell me he isn’t mine,” he growled.

  “I can’t do that.” Her words were soft and hearing them made him even angrier.

  “How in the hell could you keep this from me? I thought better of you than this.”

  “I just found out myself when I saw you at the diner. I was trying to find a way to tell you.”

  Derek looked at the woman he had loved for so long. At that moment he couldn’t stand her, and that showed on his face for she flinched back from the expression he wore. “You selfish bitch! I can’t believe you did this.” His voice was pure venom.

  “I know I was wrong and I should have told you right away, but I didn’t know how.”

  “Yeah, ya think? Like back when you were pregnant?”

  Jacey shook her head in denial. “No, we had a deal.”

  His arm shot out and clamped around her shoulder, squeezing hard. “Don’t you dare give me that shit. I never wanted just a one-night stand with you. Regardless, don’t you think I deserved to know that I had fathered a child?”

  Staring back at the narrowed slits, Jacey answered him, “You knew the risks. It’s not like we used protection that night. I only knew you as Eric.”

  He shook her. Hard. “Don’t give me that crap.” He ran his free hand over his face in exasperation. “I can’t believe you did this. You. Of all people.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” With a quick jerk she pulled away from his grasp.

  “Your father is in the CIA, you could have found me. Had you really wanted to.”

  “You’re absolutely right. I could have. I could have gone to him and asked him to find you. Could have hoped and prayed that I hadn’t slept with a married man. I could’ve done a lot of things. But I didn’t. I adhered to the deal we made…no strings. And a child is a very big string.” She reached out to him only to drop her hand back.

  “I am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner and made it so you had to find out like this, but it’s done. So go ahead, Derek…hate on me all you want. I deserve it. Just don’t take it out on Caleb.”

  “I can’t believe you would think I would take it out on my son.” My son, those words brought tears to his eyes. He had a son. “You kept me from knowing him, I don’t know if I will ever forgive you for that. I can’t believe you thought I might not want my own son. I hate for you for this.”

  The look of dejection that filled Jacey’s eyes shattered the block around Derek’s heart. There was more sorrow in her gaze now than there had been when he had shamed her in front of his friends and the town. As he stared at her he watched as a lone tear made its way down her beautiful face.

  With a slow nod, Jacey turned around and walked out of the barn, appearing to Derek as if she had just aged one hundred years. Her shoulders were hunched over and she shuffled her feet as if they were too heavy to pick up. For once she looked old, tired, and beaten.

  Derek was torn in two. On one hand he wanted to comfort Jacey, for he loved her to no end. On the other he was still angry at her deception. He sat heavily on a hay bale and ran over the knowledge he had just gotten. He had a son.

  “I have a son. I have a son!” he yelled to the empty barn. “And I just alienated his mother.” Putting his head in his hands, he thought about what he was going to do now. Being a part of his son’s life was a given, but the hurt on Jacey’s face was a whole different matter. He had told her he hated her. Dear lord, what did he do?

  She was right, they had agreed on a “no strings.” And they didn’t use condoms, so he should have realized that there was a chance she would have ended up pregnant. He hadn’t been able to pull out of her any of the times they had made love. Sweet love. The most intense sexual relationship he had ever had in his life.

  Silent, Jacey walked back into the farmhouse to find everyone watching her. A valiant smile crossed her face as she looked at the people that were her family. “What’s going on here?”

  “We were just wondering if everything is alright with you.” Her father rubbed his chin.

  “Fine.” She speared her dad with a glare. “Although, I do want a word with you.”

  “Mama, I’m tired.” A sleep laden voice reached her.

  Jacey looked and saw that Caleb was beginning to fall asleep on the couch with Shadow. “All right, baby. Let’s go put you to bed. Say goodnight to the Mosers.”

  Back at her old home, Jacey left her sleeping son in his bed and walked back down the staircase to confront her father. He was waiting for her, alone. Etta Mae was in the kitchen making something, or just staying out of their way.

  “Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with it.” She began trying to control her temper.

  “Would you believe me if I said I didn’t?” he countered.

  “Of course. Why would you lie to me?”

  “Cause it is in my job description.”

  “Lying to your daughter is in your job description?”

  “You know what I mean.” He waved her towards a chair.

  “Do I?” She ignored his silent instruction and remained standing.

  “Sit down.” His loud command filled the living room. Jacey did reluctantly. “No, I didn’t know that they were going to do that. I knew that they wanted to talk to you about working for them in the cryptology department, but I had no idea that they would pull off something like that. I told them that I wouldn’t do anything to help sway your decision and they would have to approach you themselves. What exactly did they do?”

  “They sent me two files via my CO, full of letters. Upon my examination of said letters I found a bunch of latitude and longitude coordinates that were interspersed all over the continental US. I give all I can to this stuff and then to find out it was nothing more than a cheap setup by your company…” Jacey trailed off, for she couldn’t express in words how it made her feel. Her father knew.

  “I’m sorry about that honey. Truly.”

  Jacey didn’t really know what to say. She was still angry but her father never lied to her. If he couldn’t tell her something, that was what he would say, “I can’t tell you.” So even though she still wanted to rant and rave about the injustices of the CIA, she would keep it to herself and let the two who set her up get the full wrath when she saw them.

  The trio sat in the living room of their old home and drank coffee and ate sweet biscuits. After a while, Etta Mae leaned back in her chair and looked directly at her only child. “So what did he say?”

  Jacey was not even about to pretend she didn’t know what her mother was talkin
g about. How she knew about it, well, Jacey had an idea but she wasn’t going to address it.

  “He thinks I’m about the lowest person on the planet for keeping his son from him. He said that I could have found out who he was because of who my father is. And he’s mad because I told him not to take it out on Caleb, and he couldn’t believe I would think him capable of doing such a thing. Oh yeah, and he said he hated me.” She paused to take a drink of coffee. “So all in all, I think it went rather well.”

  “Give him time to come to terms with everything. I mean, he did just find out he had a six and a half-year-old son,” her father said patiently.

  “I get it!” Jacey snapped. “I get it, there is no need to make me feel worse about not telling him sooner about his child. I know how old Caleb is and I have apologized repeatedly to him about not telling him sooner. I don’t need to hear it from you. It’s not like I have known myself much longer than that. Goodnight.”

  The tears spilled over as she bolted from the room and ran up the stairs to her bedroom, leaving her parents sitting in shock over her abrupt departure.

  * * * *

  Derek walked into the Moser farmhouse and found Honey and Carson waiting for him in the kitchen. He had been hoping that everyone would have already been in bed so he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. “What are y’all doing up?”

  “Waiting for you,” Carson answered the obvious. “How’re you holding up?”

  “I’m fine. Why do you ask?” Did they know as well?

  “Well, it’s not every day you find out that the woman you are in love with has a child,” Carson persisted.

  He coughed. “Yeah, that’s true.” Guess they didn’t know. “I won’t lie to you, it was a shock. But Caleb’s a very smart kid, and I think I’ll have a lot of fun getting to know him.”

  “He’s something else, isn’t he?” Honey asked.

  Derek pinned his eyes on his youngest cousin. “You knew. About Caleb I mean.”

  She blushed. “Yes, I’ve known all along about him. She didn’t want anyone here to know. To pass judgment on her and her son before they had a chance to meet him.”

  Which is exactly what he had done earlier in the night. Derek swallowed, he owed her another apology. “Do you know anything about the father?” He tested the water.

  Honey wouldn’t look Derek in the eye. “Only that he was a Marine. She doesn’t talk about him much.”

  “I see.” Derek looked over both his cousins. He wanted to tell them—hell, he wanted to shout it from the rooftops. He had a son. He was a father. Part of him was looking forward to seeing the look on Shelby’s face once she found out.

  “What are you smiling about, cuz?” Carson asked.

  “Nothing really. Just thinking how lucky I am. Well, I’m going to sleep. Church in the morning, you know.” With one last smile for his cousins, he walked away and got ready for bed and dreams filled with fatherhood and Jacey.

  The Thompson family sat together in the small church as the sermon filled the building. Honey sat with Jacey and the rest of the Moser family was on the other side of the church, nearer to the back. Honey had the aisle seat, Caleb was next to her, then came his mother. Next to Jacey sat Etta Mae, then Jacob.

  Shelby had situated herself next to Derek and Carson, acting like the girlfriend she so desired to be. Derek could hardly pay attention to the sermon for his eyes kept drifting up farther in the church to land on his son and his son’s mother. And he sure wasn’t paying attention to the blonde beside him.

  Derek wanted to be with them. He felt love as he looked upon his family. His. He wasn’t about to let Jacey go now. They belonged together.

  He knew she could feel his eyes on her as she sat through the sermon. To look at her, one would think she was totally into the preacher’s words. She gave a kind glance at her son as he sat beside her trying not to fidget.

  The service was over and everyone was walking out, talking to the preacher at the door. Derek made sure he was behind Jacey as she approached the door. Her low words reached him as she answered the minister. “It was a wonderful service. Thank you.”

  “Good to see you again, Ms. Thompson. It has been a long time. And who is this young man with you?”

  “This is my son, Caleb.”

  The older man offered his hand to Caleb. “It is an honor to meet you, young man. How did you like the service?”

  Caleb took the hand and shook it as he said, “It was really long.” His answer garnered laughter from all those close to them.

  Even Derek had to chuckle over that one. He still had a smile on his face when he looked up at Jacey and saw the blush on her face. But it was her brilliant smile that gave his heart a reason to keep beating, and she was smiling like that when their eyes met. Her smile faltered and she looked away quickly, an action that shoved a dagger deep into his heart. From his actions last night, Derek knew that he had hurt her deeply.

  “I was surprised to find out that Jacey had a child.” Shelby’s whine reached Derek as he watched the woman of his dreams walk away with their son.

  “I think we all were.” He looked down at the woman beside him. How could he have ever believed that she was the one for him? Well, now was the time to stop her fantasy. “Shelby, we need to talk.”

  “Ohh, Derek. Let’s go over here where we can be alone.”

  “Fine.” He followed her to the side of the church and leaned against the building. “Shelby, we need to end our relationship. It’s not going to work out.”

  Fire flashed in her green eyes. “What did you say? You want to end our relationship? Why? Does it have to do with that bitch, Jacey? She is obviously used goods. I mean, she is a single mom.”

  “Don’t talk about her like that. We just don’t have a future, Shelby. That’s all. It’s over.” He walked away without looking back and therefore missed the hateful look that filled her gaze as she glared at his retreating back.

  * * * *

  Jacey stood beside Susie Parker while their boys played off to the side. “You’ll have to bring them out to the house and we can let them play. I love to see Caleb getting along with other kids.”

  “He really is an adorable child. Smart too,” Susie said.

  “He is that. But I know sometimes he just misses being a boy, getting dirty and playing with other kids.”

  “Boys are something else, all right.” Susie watched as the boys played tag with each other and some of the other younger boys there. “I don’t know how you do it. I mean, Tyler is a handful for me and I am not sure how I would manage without Bubba. I don’t know if I could do it like you. You are an amazing woman, Jacey.”

  Jacey smiled and reached for Susie’s arm, squeezing it gently. “No more than any mother is. But thank you. Come out to the house soon. Please. Caleb,” she said. “Come on, we have to go now.”

  “Comin’, Mama.” His voice carried back to her.

  “Bye, Susie.”

  “Bye, Jace.” Susie waved as her son waved goodbye to his new friend Caleb.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jacey met Honey and they headed for her Jeep. “Didn’t you have a date with David today?”

  “I cancelled it. I needed some girl time today,” Honey said with a needful look in her eyes.

  “Well, sounds good to me.” Jacey made sure that Caleb was secured in the vehicle before climbing in the driver’s seat. She dropped Honey off at her home and they promised to meet up later for girl time, then headed back to change into something more comfortable.

  As Caleb ate his lunch the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” Jacey announced to the occupants of the house. She opened the door and found herself looking at a bouquet of wildflowers. And behind the flowers stood…oh God, it was Derek.

  “These are for you,” he paused before adding, “along with an apology.” He grinned at her. A little sheepishly and a little uncertainly. “I’m sorry for my reaction yesterday. I didn’t mean that I hated you, I was just very angry.”

  Sh
e was lost in his mesmerizing eyes. “I deserved it. Derek, I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I didn’t tell you sooner. I know I can never make it up to you—”

  “I know one way,” he winked roguishly at her.

  “Mr. Derek,” a small voice said. “Did you come to see me?”

  “As a matter of fact I did.”

  She opened her mouth to correct him when Caleb spoke once more.

  “Well, who are the flowers for? I don’t like them much.” Caleb said as his finger jabbed at the bouquet.

  “These are for your mother. Do you think she will like them?” Derek had gotten down on Caleb’s eye level as he asked these questions.

  “Mama loves flowers.” Caleb narrowed his gaze and asked, “Do you want to date my mama? Usually when she gets flowers from men they want to date her.”

  “Would it bother you if I did want to date her?” He flicked a look up to her.

  “Lots of men want to date her,” Caleb stated.

  Derek ran his gaze over her, igniting more than flames. He set everything off. “I bet they do. Your mother is a very beautiful woman.”

  “I know. They all tell her that as well. Do you want to date her?” He was not wavering from his path, an action that made Derek so proud.

  “Yes, I want to date your mother. Not only that I want to do things with you as well. Is that all right with you?”

  “I guess you’re not so bad.”

  With a smile Derek stood up again and held the flowers out to Jacey as she stood there speechless. “These are for you, princess. Would it be alright if I took Caleb to the river for some fishing?”

  “You really came here to see me?” Caleb interrupted.

  “I sure did, sport. I came to see you.” Derek ruffled his hair.

  “Can I go, Mama? I love to fish.”

  “Of course you can, Caleb. Go grab your shoes.” Jacey looked back at the man in front of her. Hesitantly she reached for the flowers he offered. “Thank you for the flowers.”