My Cowboy, My Hero

Chapter Forgiveness

Rhye

Rhye sat on the outside of Kat's door while Joe sat on the right. Katrina's pitiful sobs filled the silent hallway pulling at each man's heart.

"We should have told her the night we found out." Rhye mumbled as he rested his head back on the wall. His day went from good to great very quickly, and poor Katrina had wound up crying more than just this morning.

"Yeah." Joe mumbled back.

Neither man said anything else until the front door open and Lexi walked down the hall with her hands on her hips.

"What have you done?!" she demanded as she looked at Rhye.

"I hurt her feelings." Rhye admitted.

"and broke her trust." Joe added.

Lexi didn't respond she just kicked Rhye in the knee as hard as she could. Rhye winced. He would have found her temper funny if it hadn't been such a serous situation.

"Lexi, why don't you go help Kat love." Max suggested as he sat on the floor across from Rhye.

Lexi walked into the room after giving Rhye a death glare.

Just as she entered Kat's bedroom Caitlin and Taylor walked in.

"How could you do this?!" Caitlin demanded. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I hurt her feelings." Rhye repeated.

"and broke her trust." Joe added again.

"I can't believe you!" Caitlin said as she walked past her brother. "I am not sure if I am more angry that you kept it from her, or more angry you kept it from all of us. How could you let this happen Rhye?!" She asked before she slammed the bedroom door.

"So, I see you resorted to calling both women." Max commented after a long moment of silence.

Rhye nodded.

"That bad huh?" Taylor said as he sat beside Max in the floor.

Joe nodded.

"Did you try explaining why you waited to tell her?" Max asked.

Rhye nodded.

"I am confused. What did you tell her, all Caitlin would say in the car was how dumb you two are." Taylor said. "And cry." He added.

"Joe is her biological father." Rhye mumbled as he rested his hands in his knees. "We have known for a few days, but we wanted to wait until she was more settled to tell her. I asked her if she could get some tools from Joe's console today once she got out of class. She opened his truck looking for it and found some pictures Joe had kept."

"I dug them out hoping to share them with her once she knew the truth." Joe added as he laid his head back on the wall. "I am sorry Rhye, i didn't mean for her to find out this way. I've put you in a really bad spot."

Rhye shook his head. "I should have told her. She feels like I betrayed her because I kept it from her."

"Woah." Tyler said as he walked into the hallway and sat down. "This is really serious."

"Yeah." Joe said. He knew he didn't need to explain how that happened. Tyler and Taylor already knew his story. He had an affair with a nurse at the hospital he use to work at. He had wanted her to abort the baby. He was convinced it would cost him his marriage. If he had thought enough about it, he would have realized it was his drinking problem that was hurting his marriage. The nurse had refused to abort the baby and left the hospital with no warning. A few year later Joe lost his marriage and his children to his drinking. He only allowed himself to think about the nurse and the baby once he had given his life to Christ. God had given him a chance to redeem his mistakes and he felt like he had blown it.