Chapter One
Present Day
Smokey pushed his cart through the grocery store, his mind more on getting what he needed and getting out of the store than paying attention to where he was going or who was around him.He was walking down the aisle, his eyes on the shelf as he searched for his favorite brand of tortilla chips and cursed whoever rearranged the fucking shelves.He wanted to knock shit down and yell but taking his shitty mood out on the manager and staff would do no good and possibly get him banned from the store, then he’d have to drive all the way to Billings to get groceries.
His cart ran into something and stopped cold, making him lean forward over the handle before he caught himself and straightened.Glancing around, he found that he’d managed to run into the cart of a woman with a small child in the front seat of the basket.
“I’m so sorry,” Smokey said, moving around his cart to check on them.“I wasn’t watching where I was going.Did I hurt you?”He glanced at the woman’s face for the first time.Her large sunglasses didn’t keep him from recognizing her as Tania.
“I’m okay.”Her voice was soft and hesitant in a way he’d never heard before.
Smokey tilted his head and watched her more closely.A hint of purple peeked from beneath her sunglasses.Without thinking, he reached up and gently slid the glasses down her nose.The deep blacks and purples of the huge shiner made him clench his teeth.If that fucker had done this to her, Smokey would find him and end him.
“What happened?”Smokey fought to keep his tone gentle and his voice calm.“Did you have a fight?”
Tania shook her head but pressed her lips together.Smokey knew that meant she wasn’t going to tell him.Her gaze flicked to the cart, to the baby sitting there watching them with big pale brown eyes.Smokey followed her gaze and found the baby blinking and laughing.For a moment, it didn’t register.
The baby was dressed in a blue top, jeans, and tiny boots.At the bottom of the cart lay a tiny, puffy coat.
“What’s his name?”he asked, glancing back at Tania.There was no missing apprehension in her blue eyes.
Wait.Blue eyes.That’s when he remembered the moment in the wedding when he’d thought about the babies she would have with the fucker she married.How could two blue-eyed people have a baby with brown eyes?
“Carter Edward Werner.”
Smokey’s gaze snapped back to her face.“Carter?”Why had she named her baby his middle name?It wasn’t like she didn’t know it.She’d known his full name since they were kids, just like he knew her middle name was Michelle.The guilt on her face was clear to anyone who knew her as well as he did.Smokey turned back to the baby, studying him more closely this time.“How old is he?”
“Eight months.”
Smokey didn’t take the time to do the math down to the day, but that sounded about right for when she’d shown up drunk.He started to lift the baby from the carrier, then froze, and turned back to Tania.“May I?”The words stuck in his throat.He wasn’t used to asking anyone for permission, but if this was his son, he wouldn’t want just anyone coming in and picking him up, so he asked.
Tania nodded, closing her eyes for a moment.
Smokey released the strap around Carter’s middle, hooked his hands under the baby’s arms, and lifted him out of the seat.Then he moved him to rest against his chest and inhaled the sweet baby powder scent as he searched the baby’s face.
Was that his mother’s nose?Smokey wasn’t sure, but now that he looked at the kid more closely, he definitely had Smokey’s chin, and that had come from Smokey's own father.
“He’s mine, isn’t he?”He turned his body so he could see Tania without having to turn away from his son.
