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“He wouldn’t let anyone but you put him in bed.”
“Give him a break. Yesterday was traumatic for him. Pretty soon he’ll be calling you mom.”
“Don’t tell anyone, but that’s a little bit scary to me. I’m sure I’ll get used to the whole being-a-mom thing when I feel more secure with Jarrett.” Carlie switched to another fingernail. “It doesn’t help to know that you and he are married. That’s totally weirding me out.”
Rylie touched her empty ring finger. Once she’d seen him remove the wedding band he was wearing, she’d known he wanted to erase any sign of the marriage. He probably wanted to forget it had ever happened. Some idiotic part of her had hoped he might feel differently about it. What would it take to finally accept the truth—Jarrett simply didn’t see her as marriage material?
“I know there wasn’t really any other choice, but it was such bad luck.” Carlie said, pushing up from the table and crossing to the refrigerator. She reached into the back and retrieved a container of yogurt. “I’ve been thinking about this whole situation, and I’m afraid Jarrett’s going to decide we don’t need to get married anymore. After all, he’s already got Gabe. He doesn’t really need to marry me.”
“As I understand it he’s only approved as guardian for a year or until Gabe’s chemo treatment is over. Unless Gabe has a different caseworker by then, he’ll still need to be married to finalize the adoption.”
“You think so?” Carlie’s face brightened.
“I’m pretty sure.”
Carlie sat down at the table with the yogurt container and spooned a heaping dollop directly into her mouth.
“Ughh! I don’t know how you can eat that nasty stuff,” Rylie said.
“You’ve never given it a fair try,” Carlie said. “I hope you’re right about Jarrett still needing to be married. But he’s so slow to make decisions, and now there’s no reason to hurry. I wonder if I should cancel the plans for the wedding in December. I’m depressed about the whole thing.”
“But you’re not even in love with him, are you?” Rylie raised her tea mug, hoping to hide the hurt behind her question. “You told me you weren’t sure youever werein love with him.”
“That was before I saw him again.” Carlie dug another spoonful of yogurt from the plastic container and held it poised in front of her face. “I’d forgotten how hot he is.”
“And how sweet he is,” Rylie added, with a sigh.
Carlie licked her spoon clean and made a sour face. “Yeah… maybe too sweet.”
“How could he betoosweet?”
“On Monday he took me to this dumpy little grocery store. He said it was the store his family went to when he was growing up. And he introduced me to some old lady he callsAbuelaJuanita, even though she’s not really his grandmother.”
“He mentioned Juanita to me. She speaks Spanish and offered to help him with Gabe,” Rylie said. “I think it’s nice that she’s there for him, especially since his family doesn’t live in Denver anymore.”
“Whatever.” Carlie threw up her hands. “I could tell she didn’t like me.”
“What did she say?”
“It wasn’t what she said. It was how she said it. And how she looked at me.” Carlie sniffed. “Like she thinks I’m after Jarrett’s money. Which I’mnot.”
“Of course you aren’t, and Jarrett knows that.” Rylie patted her sister’s arm. Carlie had always been sensitive to things like that—easily hurt by people’s attitudes and actions. “Maybe Juanita feels threatened, like she’s afraid you’re going to take Jarrett away from her.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Carlie stirred the yogurt inside the container and took one more bite before she put the lid on. “I would never try to come between them. But if she tried to come between us, you can bet I’d have something to say. No one takes my man away.”
“Now he’syour man?”
“Let’s just say I’m willing to fight to make him mine.”
Was that challenge in her eyes?
“Well, you won’t have to fight me. Jarrett and I have an appointment with Matthew on Wednesday. He’s hoping Matthew can find a way to annul the marriage. If not, we’ll file for a quick divorce.”
She was proud that her voice didn’t waver, even though saying it out loud made her nauseated. It certainly wasn’t what she’d dreamed of when she’d imagined getting married.
“Why wait ‘til Wednesday? Why not Monday?” Carlie’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Gabe’s chemotherapy starts tomorrow, and Jarrett wants to be with him as much as possible. He’ll stay in the hospital the first week. I assumed you’d be there most of the time, too.”
