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“We’ll leave so you don’t have to hobble off somewhere else,” Chance offered. He stood and helped his wife up while shooting a curious look at Lucky. “That is, if you want to speak with—”
“Yeah,” Lucky cut him off. The situation was awkward enough without introductions having to be made. “Can you stand outside and make sure no one enters?”
“Sure. Clearly, most people like the other waiting room with the snack and drink machines in it better so I’ll redirect any stragglers over to that one.” Chance led Kenzie over to the door, nodded his head politely toward the woman who’d just intruded what had been their own private waiting area for the past few hours, and pulled the door closed behind them.
“Do you know who I am?” the woman asked.
“I’ve seen your picture, but never bothered to learn your name,” Lucky answered honestly.
“No, I suppose you wouldn’t care to know it,” she replied, and tilted her head toward the chairs Chance and Kenzie had just vacated. “Would you care to sit?”
“No thank you. My family’s been trying to get me to sit all day, but I can’t seem to do it.”
Her mouth lifted a little at the corners. “You must care about your wife very much to be so worried.”
“I imagine any husband would worry about his wife going through such a major surgery.”
“Not any husband.” Her tone cooled considerably. “My name is Marlena Johnson. I suppose, in a way, I could be considered to be your stepmother.”
Lucky sucked in a breath, which caused the woman to chuckle.
“Yes, I know. Let me guess. My darling husband bought your silence at the price of one kidney?”
Lucky didn’t respond. He owed Roy Johnson no loyalty, but he’d made a deal to stay silent about his paternity if Roy found a kidney for Cammie and paid all costs of the procedure left after insurance did its part. The man had offered his own kidney, so he’d fulfilled the major part of their deal already. Lucky would do the same.
“So he did. Fine, then.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand and walked over to the windows that gave a view of the parking lot. “You don’t have to confirm the deal that was made between you two. I already figured it out myself.”
“How did you know?” Lucky asked. He might have promised to never reveal his paternity to the press or his father’s family, but he’d made no deal barring him from talking about it to the man’s wife once she came to him, already aware of it.
She released a laugh, a tinkling sound somewhere between haughty and disgusted. “Roy Johnson is not the type of man to offer an organ to a friend of the family. The press has eaten that story up, however, so you can expect them to hound you if your names ever leak out. Of course, Roy has very good reason to do his damnedest to make sure your names are never revealed. They might have fallen for the good guy act, but I didn’t.” She angled her head to the side and studied him. “If I hadn’t already had my suspicions, I would have known with one look at you that you are his son.”
Lucky grimaced. “Do me a favor, lady. Don’t tell me I look like him.”
She laughed again, this time with a trace of actual humor to the sound. “Your eyes are much kinder. They are the window to the soul, after all. I didn’t expect to see you in this condition, though. Are you all right?”
Lucky looked down at his arms. Most of the bruising on his body and face had healed along with the minor scrapes, leaving a light, sickly green behind in the areas that had taken the most damage, but there were still some deeper cuts healing, and of course, his rib fracture and broken leg were going to take more time. Maybe more than normal considering he couldn’t seem to sit his ass down somewhere and rest like he was told to do despite the burning pain just breathing caused him.
“My truck tussled with a deer, and the deer won,” he explained. “Well, the deer didn’t win, exactly. Anyway, I’m healing just fine.”
She shook her head. “I can see the pain in your eyes. If you will not rest in a bed, at least sit down.”
“I’m fine. Honestly, sitting in these chairs would hurt my ribs a lot more.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Your ribs too? Maybe we should get you a bed. I’m sure I could arrange for a room for you while you wait.”
“Thanks, but I’m not taking a hospital bed from someone who might actually need it a hell of a lot more than I do.” Lucky glanced out the window at where his brother and Kenzie stood in the hallway outside the room, giving him space to speak with the woman. “Not to be rude, ma’am, but why exactly did you want to speak with me? It sounds like you already know everything I could tell you if I were free to.”
She frowned. “Not everything. I’ve suspected my husband of straying for many years, or decades, I should say. It was to be expected, I suppose. We come from fine families and when you come from fine families, you marry someone who matches or raises your family’s level in the community. I had no illusions that Roy loved me, and I suppose he knew I didn’t truly love him, which was why our prenuptial agreement included a stipulation that neither of us would get a penny of the other’s money unless we could provide proof of infidelity.”
“And I’m a great big lump of proof of Roy’s infidelity.”
“Yes.” Her gaze narrowed. “How old are you?”
“Thirty-one,” Lucky answered. The cat was out of the bag now, so he saw no point withholding his age. He wasn’t the most computer-savvy, but he figured it would be easy enough to find out on the internet if she needed to.
“Three decades.” She clucked her tongue and Lucky saw genuine anger fill her eyes. “When did you learn he was your father?”
He opened his mouth to respond, then thought better of it. “Look, I have no love for the guy, but I made a deal with him that I wouldn’t talk to the press or track down you or your children to out him. He’s giving my wife a kidney as we speak and there will be bills to pay for after. Even if I wasn’t a man of my word, I couldn’t afford to go back on this deal.”
“You haven’t spoken to the press, and you didn’t find me. I found you. As I stated earlier, you wouldn’t have to say a word to reveal who you are. As much as you don’t want to hear it, you look too much like him not to be his son.”
“If I look that much like him, I’m surprised he never thought of the fact you’d see me here and instantly catch on.”
She laughed. “He doesn’t know I’m here. I’m supposed to be back home having a spa day. When I questioned why he was donating a kidney to a stranger while running for mayor, he said it would get votes. As true as that is, I knew there was more to the story, so I hired a detective who looked deeper into his travel history. When he flew to Colorado and rented a room for the night in a little town called New Hope in Cook County, an area where he had no business, we knew something was amiss. It didn’t take my detective much time at all to learn of a scene he’d caused at some bar near there, in a more rural area called Swashbuckle.”
“Silver Buckle,” Lucky corrected her. He remembered the incident at Hell’s Belle and how little Chance had cared about others overhearing.
“Yes, that’s it. That’s how we learned your name, but once my detective tried to dig for deeper details about you specifically, they clammed up. Protecting their own, I suppose. Even the sheriff was tight-lipped, although my detective got the sense he knew you well.”
Something stirred in Lucky’s chest, and for once that day it wasn’t pain or fear. Despite all the grief he gave Rho, despite all the times Nash had thrown him in a cell for fighting, they still had his back against outsiders. They still considered him one of them, even if he’d always been a pain in their asses. Then again, he wasn’t just hot-headed, beer-guzzling Lucky Masters anymore. He was Cammie’s husband. He imagined that despite whatever anyone thought of him, they respected her enough to look out for the both of them. “So you had my name and a suspicion.”
“Yes. The decision to donate a kidney out of the blue had to be linked, so I made an appointment for a spa day with no intention of keeping it. I had to fly out here and see who my husband was helping. One look at you, and I knew I’d found the way to get out of this loveless marriage without losing everything.”
“I wish you luck, but please know that I can’t help you directly.”
“I understand. You won’t have to go back on your word with Roy. My detective discovered you after following a trail of travel receipts, and the bar patrons gave him enough information for us to have reason to track you down. The court will order a paternity test, which will confirm you are Roy’s son. You will have kept your word. Should my husband go back on his arrangement with you, however, I will be glad to take care of any financial part of the arrangement that was made.” Her mouth turned up into something that might be considered a smile if it weren’t so sad. “You never knew he was your father until he showed up at that bar, did you?”
Lucky shook his head. “No, ma’am. He scared my mother into staying quiet.”
Her eyes darkened. “Scared her? He didn’t buy her silence?”
This time it was Lucky who released a bitter-sounding laugh. “No, ma’am. He never gave her a dime and apparently, he thought her asking him for money to help raise the child he’d helped her create was going too far. Let’s just say he made sure she’d never ask again, or find you.”
Marlena Johnson closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she reopened them, Lucky knew that Roy Johnson’s days of screwing people over were numbered.
“My children have been spoiled rotten their entire lives. They went to the finest schools, drive the flashiest cars, and have never worn a thread of clothing that wasn’t designer. They eat well, sleep well, and have never wanted for anything. All the while, you... That bastard deprived you of what was rightfully yours. I’ve heard rumors of his less-than-honorable dealings in business. I can imagine what he did to ensure your mother never bothered him. I’d like to meet her.”
“She passed away not that long ago.”
The anger in Marlena’s eyes simmered as she walked over to stand directly in front of Lucky and placed her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry she passed without seeing Roy Johnson pay for his sins, but you will, Lucky. You will.”
Lucky looked down at where her hand rested on his arm before he met her gaze again. “I gotta say, you’re not reacting like I’d expect a woman to react after learning her husband has hidden a secret child for over thirty years. Roy said he did what he did because he didn’t want to hurt his wife. Something tells me—”
Roy Johnson’s wife threw her head back and laughed until tears formed in her eyes and she had to gasp for breath. “Ooh, sorry,” she got out before falling into another fit of laughter. “That was just too much.”
Lucky shifted his weight, having stood in the same spot too long, not all that comfortable while on crutches, and glanced out the window at his brother. Chance and Kenzie stared at the woman as she cracked up, both of their facial expressions showing their curiosity.
Marlena eventually straightened and wiped her eyes. “I might have been foolish enough to marry him, but those naïve days of my youth have long passed. Whatever methods Roy used to ensure your mother didn’t talk, he did so because of the prenuptial agreement. The man cares about no one but himself. Even the children I bore for him are nothing but photo ops to him.”
A spark of jealousy had formed when the woman had listed all the things Roy’s other children had that he’d never had, but what little remained of it completely fizzled out after her last comment. “That’s pretty sad.”
“Yes. Yes, it is.” She grew serious again. “I have friends at the bank and one of my friends has a daughter who could hack into the Pentagon for the right amount of money. Roy has no idea how much I know about his financial transactions. I know he hasn’t paid out one cent to you yet. Please tell me your arrangement with him included something for yourself.”
“My wife is getting his kidney, and he agreed to pay what insurance doesn’t cover on her medical bills. That’s all I need.”
The woman smiled. “You really love her, don’t you?”
“More than anything.”
She nodded. “I can see that loud and clear. She is a very fortunate woman, and you are a good man. It’s hard to believe Roy had a hand in making you. Not having him in your life may have made you a better man, Mr. Masters, but if I know my husband, I know he wouldn’t have had an affair with anyone of means. Being a single mother must have been hard, and I imagine it must have been even harder to grow up without a father in your life. Did your mother eventually marry?”
“No, ma’am, but we got by. I don’t want anything from Roy Johnson. If my wife’s life didn’t depend on that kidney, I’d have nothing at all to do with him.”
“That’s for her. He owes you something. I’d like to give you something, Lucky, a settlement from the money I collect after I take him for everything he has. You can buy a house, take your wife to Paris, or just put something aside for your future, or your children’s future. You’re owed that much.”
“No, thank you.”
Marlena sighed. Disappointment shone in her eyes as she shook her head. “Pride is a good thing, but you must learn there is a time and place for it. This is not the time or place for pride. The man owes you, and if you can’t bring yourself to take anything else from him, accept a gift from me. I do not make the offer out of pity, Mr. Masters. I would simply like to right a wrong.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m good.”
“I hope your wife knows just how blessed she is, and that your children take after you. You might look like your father, but you lucked out on missing any of his character.”
Marlena turned and walked toward the door. As she did, her words replayed in Lucky’s mind, reminding him that although he’d grown used to not having things he wanted, he never wanted Cammie to go without what she desired. “Mrs. Johnson?”
“Marlena, please.” She turned. “Yes?”
Lucky bit his lip as he thought about how to phrase what he wanted to say. “Your husband threw some money around and got this surgery moved up pretty quick, and from speaking with you, it sounds like you both have friends in high places and enough money to make things go your way when needed.”
She frowned. “Yes, I suppose... What are you getting at?”
“My wife and I don’t have children. We’re newlyweds and, as you know, she has health issues.”
Realization dawned in the woman’s eyes. “She can’t have children.”
Lucky nodded. “Even if she could get pregnant, I’ll never let that happen. I’ll never risk the chance of her dying trying to have a child.”
“And here I was going on about your children. I apologize, Lucky.”
“You don’t need to apologize, but if you want to right a wrong, maybe you could help me get something.”
Her eyebrows lifted, interest piqued. “I would be glad to. What do you need?”
Lucky glanced at his brother through the window before answering. “I have a great brother, but the rest of my family wasn’t much to brag about. Cammie’s an only child who lost her parents while she was still pretty young. Both of us would love the chance to have a family. Mother, father, two or more kids, like the families we grew up watching on TV. We’d like to adopt, but I’m afraid that between Cammie’s health issues and my reputation for being a hothead who’s gotten into more than his share of bar fights—I’ve quit drinking so that’s no longer an issue—I don’t think our chances of being approved to adopt are looking too hot. Maybe you could throw some of that money and influence you have around? I’ve been a loser most of my life if I’m being honest, but I promise you, no child of mine would ever want for anything. Definitely not love.”
“I’m not getting the loser vibe, Lucky, not from the man who negotiated a kidney for his wife out of his scumbag father.” Marlena opened the Louis Vuitton purse slung over her shoulder as she walked back over to him and fished around for a bit before pulling out what looked like a business card. She slipped the card into the breast pocket of his T-shirt and smiled. “Luckily, I have a niece who works at an adoption agency. Call me when you’re ready to start a family.”
Lucky blew out a breath, pushing through the pain it set off in his chest. “Thank you, Marlena.”
“You’re very welcome.”
The waiting room door opened, and they both looked over to see the doctor who’d performed the transplant surgery.
Lucky’s heart leaped into his throat. “How is she?”