"What did I say?" Jack asked, and then shrugged.
"What is it with men?" Sandra said simply.
"What?" No really. What had he said?
"This hasn't been your mom's house since your dad died, Jack." Jack wondered who the hell his mother-in-law was to lecture him on his own mother. He didn't say that, of course. "It's always been yours," she continued.
"Sandra—"
"And now you have Hayley. A family. This ranch is a family home." Sandra sounded wistful and ran a hand across the solid wooden table marked by years of use. "She wants you to be a family. You and Riley and Hayley."
"It's a Campbell ranch."
"You aren't a Campbell anymore, Jack," Sandra interjected. Jack crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at the slip of a Hayes talking at him like she knew anything. "You're a Campbell-Hayes." Jack opened his mouth to talk but stopped when Hayley interrupted.
"Is that my new name? Hayley Campbell-Hayes?"
In a second any tension in the room dissolved. Hayley's expression was utterly innocent and devoid of guile.
"Yes, sweetheart," Riley said, and Jack looked over to his husband who stood at the backdoor. He looked shaken, worried, and pale even, despite his tanned skin. And a sure sign Riley was worried or upset? He wouldn't look Jack in the eyes. "If you want it to be."
Riley might look like he'd been run over by a truck, but he was showing consideration and giving Hayley a chance to say no.
"Momma said you might want to change my name and that I should do what you say."
Riley shook his head, just as Jim had done, before he went into a crouch at his daughter's side.
"We don't have to decide that now, Hayley. Your mom loved you, and her name is important. You'll always be Hayley Samuels even if you do change your name. And if you don't," he said with a soft smile as he touched the tip of her nose, "you can be a Campbell-Hayes inside." "In my heart?"
Jack caught a fleeting glance of something in Riley. Concern, fear? He wasn't sure. What the hell had Jim talked to him about? He resolved to ask as soon as they were alone. Riley pressed his fingers to the middle of Hayley's chest.
"In there," he said simply.
* * * *
Eden arrived at lunch time, and it was at that point Jack realized just how much they had taken on. Or rather how much had been handed to them. There was no wind of what had happened yet in the press, but Eden rightly pointed out it wouldn't be long before the whole story hit the papers. Her insistence they do something before people blew it out of proportion was what they were discussing. Hayley was in her room with Sandra and Donna, and the three took the time to try and come up with something— anything—that would keep Hayley away from prying eyes for a while.
"Her mom just died," Riley said as he argued against Eden's idea for a press conference.
"So we don't take her anywhere for a while," Eden offered. "'Cause if we do, there'll be photos and speculation. How about we select one journalist and do some kind of spread here at the ranch?"
Riley groaned and hid his face in his hands. Jack sympathized with his husband. Everything post-Jeff's murder had finally begun to settle down, and now the controversial Campbell-Hayes needed to present a child in the mix from before Riley settled with a man. The journalists would have a field day.
"I do know someone." Eden interrupted Jack's thoughts, and he looked at her gratefully. If Eden could get a handle on this, then it was one less thing for Riley to have to focus on. "He's my—His name is Sean Harris. Do you want me to call him?" Riley responded with some lowpitched sound Jack couldn't make out, and so it was Jack that agreed Eden should get this Sean Harris out to talk about interviewing the Campbell-Hayes family.
"What about school?" Eden then said, and Jack felt his insides churn.
Where would Hayley be safe? Where could the two men keep Riley's daughter away from the shit that circled them? Jeez, how did they stop her from becoming a spoiled brat? Jack had no real idea how much Riley was worth, but it would be so damn easy to ruin Hayley by showering her with money and gifts. When Riley mentioned she could have anything in her room, a certain level of anxiety had started to build inside him.
"There's boarding school," Jack said with every single best intention in his words. Not that he really meant the idea at all.
Riley lifted his face from his hands with a horrified, "No." Jack held up a hand to indicate he understood, but Riley continued. "I'm not finding out I have a daughter only to dump her in some damn boarding school."
"A private tutor then, at least until college?" Eden said.
"Yeah, that worked so well for us," Riley snapped instantly.
Jack hadn't been aware Riley had received the rich version of home education, and he shuddered at the thought of his other half locked in that mansion of hate to learn. No wonder Riley had gone so wild at college.
"So what do we do?" Jack tried to look supportive but was probably coming across as irritable. He could hear it in his own voice.
"Other people have kids all the time." Riley knuckled his eyes. "We'll see what Hayley wants, and we'll do the right thing."
C
HAPTER
9
Riley couldn't get over how grown up Hayley appeared to be next to his niece and nephew. Losing her mother must be the hardest thing ever for an eight-year-old girl, but she was brave and strong and confident among kids she didn't know well. Jack had lost his dad at an early age, but his mom had always been there for him. He watched her as she played with her cousins, those related by blood and through his marriage to Jack. His mom's barbecue idea had been a good one—it was an informal setting for everyone to meet Hayley and get to know her better. If only he could get his head clear of what Jim had shared with him about HayesOil. Maybe then he could relax. Two beers in and he still wasn't relaxing.
"How have you been, Riley?" Lisa's voice held a nervous edge, and Riley tensed when he heard it.
He wasn't avoiding talking to his dead brother's wife. After all, despite the drinking, Lisa was trying very hard to be a good mom to Luke and Annabelle. He turned to face her and felt an instant stab of pity that always accompanied every time he really took the time to look at her. He had no excuse for not seeing what had happened to her at Jeff's hands. He'd just put her moods and her inappropriate come-ons as nothing more than the alcohol talking. She looked tired but well. She had a smile on her face, and Riley pasted a matching smile on his own face. He evidently hadn't put enough of an effort into the smile because a brief flash of uncertainty crossed her face. Shit. Covering the moment, he pulled her into a close hug, which was obviously sufficient as her smile had returned when he released her.