A Texas Ranger's Family by Mae Nunn

and narrowed them like she was looking down the sight of a weapon. She was the windshield and he was the bug. This was not gonna be good. Dana pointed to the National Geographic on the bed. “How can you have that magazine just lying around the house like it’s a phone book? How can you treat something so casuallywhen it would be precious to me? And how could you know my mother’s whereabouts all this time and still lie to me about her?”
    â€œNow, hold on, little lady.” Daniel straightened on the edge of the chair but resisted the urge to jump to his feet, the preferable position a man takes when defending his honor. “I may have withheld the answers to your questions, but I’ve never lied to you.”
    â€œWhat about the time I asked if you knew what happened after she left us and you said you lost all touch once the custody papers were signed.”
    â€œThat’s true. We never had any further contact.”
    â€œMaybe she never had any contact with you , but you’ve been keeping track of her career. You’ve known where she was for years and you never told me.”
    â€œDana, that wasn’t his fault,” Erin intervened. “Your father is an honorable man. He stuck to the agreement I insisted upon.”
    â€œAgreement?” Dana’s voice climbed an octave.
    â€œYes, that’s right.” Erin took the heat. “At eighteen I was not emotionally capable to care for you, but being a father was what Daniel wanted more than anything. I gave him full custody and he gave me anonymity. I know that sounds cold and businesslike, but we were young and it was the only thing I knew to do. Daniel went along with me and I have thanked God every day for sixteen years that he did.”
    â€œLet me get this straight.” Dana’s voice wavered with youthful indignation. She tugged her fingers but Erin squeezed to maintain the contact. “Having a daughter was so horrible that you ran away.”
    Erin closed her eyes for long seconds. Danielprayed along with her. Abba Father, if this is the time, give her the words.
    â€œNo, baby. My family background was so horrible that I couldn’t risk exposing you to the person I was back then or the conditions I grew up in.”

Chapter Five
    â€œW hen do you think Erin might tell us the rest, Dad?” Dana spoke above the music piped through her ear buds.
    She perched on a tall kitchen stool, swirling the ice in her Coke with a plastic straw while Daniel dabbed butter on the top crust of his world-class cobbler. Okay, maybe he’d only competed once against the other men at Abundant Harvest, but he was proud of the blue ribbon taped to the refrigerator door.
    He looked first in the direction of the sun porch and then the laundry room before he motioned for his daughter to turn down the volume on her iPod.
    â€œThat’s up to her,” he replied, satisfied they couldn’t be overheard. “Erin obviously had a tragic childhood and can’t bring herself to talk about whatever happened. And if she wants to keep it that way, you’re gonna have to respect her wishes.”
    Dana nodded. “It must have been a drag growing up in foster homes.”
    â€œAnd she was only a year older than you are right nowwhen she was out on her own. Erin was on a work-study program at Austin Community College when we met.”
    He recalled how her eyes had caught his attention when she’d glanced up from a thick volume in the University of Texas library. He was nearly finished with his degree in criminology and she had victim’s eyes if ever he’d seen them.
    â€œDid you love her, Daddy?” Dana question was wistful, her amber eyes pleading for affirmation.
    â€œFrom the first time we met,” he admitted, knowing he’d behaved both foolishly and sinfully. And sadly, he’d fallen for a woman who could not return his emotions. “But Erin was just a teenager. She’d