Always a McBride by Linda Turner Read Free Book Online

your book.”
    Stunned, Taylor couldn’t believe she’d given him so much information so quickly. Were the McBrides she spoke of his father’s family? His mother had said his father was a cowboy. How was he related to Merry, the vet? And how did Phoebe Chandler know so much about the family?
    Curious, he pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and asked her just that. “How do you know the McBrides? Are you friends with them or what?”
    She smiled. “I’ve known them all my life. My grandmother and Sara McBride are best friends.”
    â€œAnd Sara McBride is…”
    â€œMerry’s mother. She and Myrtle have known each other forever. They were in first grade together, went to college together, and were in each other’s weddings. I can’t think of any major event in my grandmother’s life that Sara wasn’t there for. They’re like sisters.”
    â€œSo what about Mr. McBride? What’s his name?”
    â€œGus.”
    She said his father’s name so casually and didn’t have a clue what she’d given him, Taylor thought. He’d found the son of a bitch! And he hadn’t even been in Liberty Hill an hour. Never in a million years had he dreamed finding his father would be this easy. Now he just needed his address.
    He couldn’t, however, come right out and demand it, not without raising Phoebe Chandler’s eyebrows. So he swore silently, clamped a lid on the anger that always boiled in him whenever he thought of Gus McBride, and reminded himself that he had a role to play. “If Sara’s your grandmother’s age, Gus must be getting up there in age, too. Is he still ranching? Or don’t ranchers retire? What’s his story?”
    Surprised, she blinked. “Gus? Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t I tell you? He died years ago.”

Chapter 3
    S tunned, Taylor stood as if turned to stone. Gus was dead? He couldn’t be, not now that he was so close to finding the jackass. God couldn’t be so cruel.
    But even as he tried to convince himself that Phoebe had to be mistaken, he only had to look at her face to know that there was no question she was telling the truth. She knew the McBrides. She had no reason to lie.
    And that’s when it hit him. There would be no revenge; Gus wouldn’t have to account for his misdeeds. The bastard had used his mother, then walked away from her, leaving her pregnant and alone, with nothing but years of hardship and poverty ahead of her. And what punishment had he received for that? A life of wealth and privilege on one of the largest ranches in the area, a wife and children who’d never known what a skunk he was, happiness.
    Bitterness coiled like a snake in Taylor’s stomach. It just wasn’t fair, dammit! He didn’t care for himself somuch, but for his mother. She’d come from a well-to-do family who’d lived by high standards. When she’d gotten pregnant without the benefit of a wedding ring on her finger, they’d shunned her, thrown her out, shut the door in her face. She’d never seen her parents again, never had any contact with her family at all. All because of Gus McBride.
    â€œWhat do you mean…he died years ago?” he asked harshly. “When? Five years ago? Ten? He must have been a young man!”
    â€œOh, he was,” Phoebe assured him. “If I remember correctly, it seems like Joe had just graduated from high school, so Gus was probably in his mid forties—I was just a kid at the time, so I don’t really remember the particulars, except that he had a heart attack. It was a shock to everyone. He just dropped dead out on the ranch one day.
    â€œThe whole family was devastated, especially poor Sara,” she continued. “She was devoted to Gus—from what I remember, they had a wonderful relationship. No one thought she would ever marry again, but I guess time really does heal all wounds. She and Dr.