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“Yeah, that’s what she said. She’s gonna go by the chamber of commerce today and resign.”
“Too bad. She was a fine choice,” Dallas said.
“Oh, she must be heartbroken,” Annie said.
“Heartbroken?” Chad shook his head, bewildered. “Are you serious? My life has turned upside down, and you’re worried about Catie’s status as rodeo queen?”
“Chad, think of what this is doing to her. She’s only twenty-one, and she’s going to be a mother. And now she’s a wife. A wife to a man who only married her out of obligation.”
“I didn’t marry her out of obligation!”
“So you’re saying you have feelings for her?”
“I’m saying… Hell, I don’t know what I’m saying. This is none of your goddamn business anyway.” He stood and pushed his chair under the table as though it were poison. “I don’t know why I came over here.”
“You may not have feelings for her, Chad,” Annie said, “but you know darn well she has feelings for you. She always has.”
“Schoolgirl crush.”
“Schoolgirl crush? She’s twenty-one years old.”
“She’s worshiped me for years. She doesn’t know any better. It’s habit.”
Annie threw her hands in the air. “Are you hearing yourself?”
“You’re not making any sense, Chad,” Dallas said. “No matter how the events were set in motion, you know Ma’s smiling from her grave. She’s been wanting our two families to marry together since the Zach and Angie debacle six years ago.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t planning on it having anything to do with me.”
“Uncle Chad!”
He looked up and Sean came running in. Chad scooped the boy into his arms. “Partner, shouldn’t you be taking your after lunch nap?”
“Naps are for girls.”
“And little boys,” Annie said. “Here, Chad, I’ll take him.”
“Nah, it’s okay. Can I take him outside for a few minutes?”
He looked at his nephew, again amazed at how much he resembled his mother. Hardly any of Zach in him, except for those crazy light blue eyes.
Dusty couldn’t have more children. Cancer therapy when she was younger had all but destroyed her reproductive system. Sean had been a pleasant surprise and a blessing for her and Zach. Though another pregnancy was possible, it was damned improbable.
Yet he, Chad, could have all the children he wanted. Now he had one on the way. One he didn’t want. With a wife he didn’t want.
Gone was his old way of life.
“So when’re we goin’ fishin’?” Sean asked.
“Well, critter, I don’t know. You know how busy your pa and Uncle Dallas and I are with running this ranch. Why don’t we make a date of it once your ma and pa are back in town, okay?”
“Okay!” Sean wrapped his arms around Chad and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
What a great kid. And he was the apple of his daddy’s eye.
Would Chad feel that way about Catie’s baby? He whipped his head backward, dislodging his nephew.
Catie’s baby.
