Texas_Winter by RJ Scott Read Free Book Online

Hayley's room, Riley slumped in his chair in the kitchen and buried his head in his hands on the table. He couldn't do this.
    "You can do this," Jack said. Riley cursed his husband for knowing exactly what was going through his head. "There are just a few things you need to do. The lawyers say they need a DNA test on record."
    Irritation bloomed inside Riley. "She's mine, Jack, even a complete stranger can see that."
"It's an official thing. Stops anyone from trying to put a claim on Hayley."
"Lexie's sister, Sarah, you mean."
Jack sighed and shuffled through the papers in front of him, pulling out the relevant page. "This is kind of sad reading. No parents, just a sister, Sarah. Sarah's married but has no kids. Couple of cousins and this great aunt, Sophie McGuire from Abilene, but as far as I can make out, it was Lexie and Hayley mostly on their own."
"Shit, Jack." Riley couldn't believe Lexie had chosen to isolate them away from him. Had she really hated him that much? Grief welled inside him at how much he had missed with Hayley. He was determined to fix it all. She had him and Jack and Eden, and God, all of Jack's extended family, and Sandra and Jim.
"Hayley has some money in an account," Jack continued, "her mom's account balances put into one. There's just over seven thousand dollars with some kind of deduction for lawyer fees and a burial."
"Those lawyers used Hayley's inheritance to bury her own momma?" Riley sat up, horrified, and Jack nodded.
"We can replace it for her," he said gently.
"Fucking leeches."
"I called Josh," Jack started, and Riley could have smacked himself. He'd forgotten Josh was a lawyer and therefore tacitly included in the leech analogy.
"I didn't mean Josh was a leech," he said quickly.
"I know you didn't." Jack brushed the words away with a quirk of his lips. "Anyway, he's coming over a bit later to check out all the papers and give us some advice."
"That's good." Riley pulled the pile of documents towards him and looked down at the jumble of legal words that swam on the paper. Jack cleared his throat in that I'vegot-something-to-tell-you way Riley had grown to hate.
"What else?" he asked. He decided he didn't really want to know as Jack couldn't exactly look him in the eyes. This was clearly something serious.
"There's not much else here. Except the birth certificate and um…"
"Um?"
"School transfer papers."
"Shit," Riley sat upright. "School. We need to get her to a school. Or do we have to get a private tutor? God Jack, what am I… What do normal parents do?"
Silence. Jack passed the school reports over. Riley glanced at them and certain words jumped right out at him. His kid—Hayley—well, she was bright.
"Okay, schools. She's eight. We can ask around about schools, and we can afford the best." He began pacing the small kitchen from scarred counter to oven and back again.
"We can worry about schooling later." Jack held out a hand to stop the pacing. "Let's just get Hayley settled."
"Riley?"
Eden's voice broke into his thoughts, and he looked up to see Hayley was standing at Eden's side and holding an envelope out to him. Eden's expression held a sadness he hadn't seen in a while, and Riley was instantly worried. What was wrong? Was there something wrong with Hayley? Jeez, he couldn't do this. He wasn't a dad. He was a grown man who had no experience with kids other than his brother's kids. The nanny looked after them. A nanny? Maybe he needed to get a nanny?
"Riley?" Eden's voice interrupted his musings, and he snapped back to the here and now. "Hayley says this letter is for you from a box of her mom's stuff," Eden explained.
He took the plain white envelope from his daughter carefully, like she was offering him a grenade. He pulled it into his chest.
"Mom said to tell you that you should read the letter," Hayley said as if from memory.
She subtly moved to stand at Riley's side, her small hand touching his arm. Riley turned in his chair to face Hayley. "She wrote letters to me too.