A Daddy for Jacoby(60)

The man nodded from where he sat next to Leeann on the love seat, then spoke. “Ms. Steele, Mr. Dillon, let me get right to it. I’m Susan Ellsworth’s father. I’ve been told you know her as Zoe Ellis.”

Astonished, Justin sank to the couch, pulling Gina down beside him. As he gripped her hand, he flashed back to his conversation with Leeann about Zoe’s car being found in Reno. He tried to connect the obviously wealthy man in front of him with the ragtag girl who’d walked out a month ago leaving her son—their son—behind.

Gina’s touch warmed him as she covered their joined fingers with her other hand. He looked from her to Gage, and then to Leeann. “Does this mean you found her? You found Zoe, ah, Susan?”

Leeann nodded, but it was Richard Ellsworth who spoke.

“Yes, in a matter of speaking.”

Justin looked at him again, closely this time, and saw how much he looked like Jacoby. He also saw anguish in the man’s eyes.

“My daughter…” He paused and swallowed hard before continuing. “Susan is dead.”





Chapter Thirteen





“Dead?”

Richard Ellsworth nodded, then dropped Justin’s gaze and stared at his own clenched hands in his lap. “A car accident on a highway outside of Las Vegas. They identified her body with an expired driver’s license and called us. She also had a picture of her—of a child in her pocket.”

Justin tried to process what the man was saying, but confusion reigned. He looked to Gage and Leeann.

“That’s how Mr. Ellsworth found out about his daughter’s death,” Leeann explained. “And about his grandson.”

“My wife, Elizabeth, is devastated.” Richard pulled in a deep breath before he continued, drawing Justin’s attention back to him. “Susan was our only child. Growing up, she was so independent and creative. She loved to sing and draw, always talked about leaving our home in Boulder to go to Hollywood, to be in the movies. But by the time she was a teenager, she’d gotten involved with drugs and alcohol, skipping school and disappearing for days at a time.”

His voice broke, but he kept talking. “We tried to help her, got her enrolled in a treatment program her senior year of high school, but as soon as she was eighteen she checked herself out and disappeared. We went to the police, hired private investigators, but she was gone. Until we got the call…”

The man reached into his jacket and withdrew the photograph. He held it out, but Justin couldn’t move. It was as if he was frozen in place, until Gina nudged him to take it.

Worn with bent corners, the image showed a baby not even old enough to sit up yet, propped up against a blue blanket embellished with a baseball glove. With dark eyes and the familiar lopsided grin, Justin knew he was looking at his son.

“Elizabeth stayed at home to start making…arrangements. I plan to have Susan returned home as soon as the autopsy is complete.” Richard ran his fingers through his hair. “When I found out someone was looking for her, and why, I came to Destiny. Deputy Harris filled me in on what Susan did last month by showing up here…”

Justin knew the man was still talking, but everything faded as he stared at Jacoby’s picture.

His son. His family.

Jacoby, Racy and yes, even jailbird Billy Joe, were all the family Justin had in this world. But not Jacoby. His little boy had other people out there who shared his blood, his genes. People who cared about him. Grandparents. Why hadn’t Zoe, ah, Susan, gone home when she needed help?

“Justin?”

Gina’s voice broke into his thoughts and he realized the room was quiet. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”

“All these years, my wife and I never knew Susan had a child. Maybe if she’d come to us, we could’ve helped—would’ve had a chance to know our grand—” Richard Ellsworth stopped and cleared his throat. “I take it from your reaction when we arrived he isn’t here?”

Justin shook his head.

“I see. The sheriff’s report says Jacoby is seven years old. Do you have any recent pictures of him?”

He didn’t. Justin looked around the living room, comparing it again with the numerous framed pictures he’d seen last night at the Steele family home.

Despite his attempts, this place still lacked a feeling of home and family. With the fire in January that had destroyed the house he’d grown up in, he had no mementos from his past; not that there’d been anything in that old place he would’ve wanted.