Wilson's heart sank as he nodded. He glanced at Will. "I refuse to deny you one more second, but I don't want to interfere with what you have going on here."
"Don't most news stories blow over after a couple of weeks?" Will asked. "I mean it's not like you having an illegitimate son is big news. It happens all the time. How long could they be interested?"
"It's not the reporters who jump on the initial news that you have to be worried about. That fades out as soon as the next big news story hits. It's the ones who grab onto the story and refuse to let it go who are the problem. They'll dig up every piece of dirt they can get their hands on and splash it all over the front page over and over again."
"Oh." Will's face paled as he turned toward Hector.
"Did I say something wrong?" Wilson asked.
"We had a bit of trouble here not too long ago," Hector explained.
"You mean when those FBI agents were killed?" Wilson had heard the story when Agent Darcy reported back to him. He'd been too excited about the prospect of meeting his son to pay attention to what else the agent had told him. "Something about hidden diamonds?"
"The previous owner of the place hid away a fortune in diamonds down in the basement. A couple of guys heard about the diamonds and wanted them. Things grew complicated for them when I bought the place and moved in."
Wilson barely suppressed a snort. "I'll bet."
"There's more," Will whispered before burying his face in Hector's chest.
Wilson frowned as he scooted closer. He nodded his head toward Will. "What's he talking about?"
"When Will was younger, he had a bout of bad luck. Things got pretty desperate for him. At one point, the police got involved. Unfortunately, the officer who arrested Will turned out to be a homicidal maniac. A lot of shit happened because of him, and Will ended up doing some community service for his part in it."
"Is he still on probation?"
Hector shook his head. "No, he's all done with that, but if someone starts digging into Will's past, a lot of this is going to come up. There was a shooting—"
Will sniffled. "Hector got shot because of me."
"Honey, I was shot because Officer Wilson was a jackass, and don't forget that you were shot, too."
Wilson gasped. "Will was shot?" Why wasn't that in the report the FBI had provided him?
Hector nodded. "He's okay now. No lasting damage to either of us."
Wilson dropped his face into his hands. He could have lost his son before he even found him.
"Officer Wilson was a homophobe who wanted his son to give up being a DEA agent and go work with him as a beat cop. He shot me and Will and almost killed his son's lover. Dan was able to disarm him and arrest him, but by then, the damage had already been done."
"He's in jail?" Wilson asked. If he wasn't, Wilson would use his clout as a senator to make sure he was.
"Yes, and he won't be getting out for a very long time," Hector replied. "Sheriff Riley got the judge to seal Will's court file, but that doesn't mean someone won't find out what happened if they dig deep enough."
That was true, and Wilson wasn't quite sure what to do about it.
"I don't want to deny my son," he finally said, "but I don't want to cause you any more grief either. It seems to me you've been through enough." And Wilson felt like beating himself up over that. Once again he was being shown how different Will's life could have been if his bastard father hadn't interfered. "I just don't know what to do."
Hector's arm tightened around Will when he sniffled again. "I have an idea, but it'll take a couple of phone calls and a lot of luck."
"Yes, anything."
"We have some friends who have a cabin hidden in the woods behind their ranch house. If you were to"—Hector made quotes in the air—"visit them, you could sneak out back to the cabin and visit with Will."
"Wouldn't it be better if he used the cabin then went through the woods to the Blaecleah ranch? No one would think anything of us visiting the Blaecleahs or the good senator taking a few days of rest at a friend's country cabin. It's only a ten-minute walk between the two."
"Who are the Blaecleahs you keep talking about?" Wilson didn't know what to think when both men grinned. "What?"
"Back forty some odd years ago," Will began, "a young Irish girl from an affluent family in Ireland fell in love with a poor stable hand. They were forbidden to have anything to do with each other, but they loved each other. When the young girl showed up pregnant, her family arranged a marriage to her, but her stable hand had other plans. He convinced the love of his life to run away with him."
