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How could she tell him she was having his baby?
Wasn’t that the morally right thing to do? Except, when a woman knew that the man didn’t want a child, when he’d been clear about that, when there had never been any question about whether or not he wanted to be a father, then it was okay for her to decide to allow him to go free, to take responsibility for everything and give him the space he needed to chase his dreams. After all, even if she just loved him as her friend, love was about putting the other person first.
And she would handle her baby by herself.
Maybe that wasn’t fair, maybe that wasn’t right, but it was her choice. She could give so that he could reach his dreams. It was a sacrifice that she could make.
She would consider the baby hers, not theirs, not his, and she would handle it. She would do that because Ryan deserved to not have that weight around his neck, he deserved to not have that kind of responsibility. He deserved a chance to win a second championship. He had the ability, and he could do it. But not if he was trying to support a wife and child.
She wouldn’t ask him to be a father. But she did want to have a father for her baby.
“Yeah?” he prompted, and it felt like there was a little compassion in his voice.
“Ryan,” the woman’s voice said again, and she dragged his name out like she was running her finger down his arm at the same time she was saying it and blinking big, beautiful eyes up at him.
“Nothing. Take care.”
She didn’t hold the phone to her ear, waiting to see if he said anything in return, but took it down and swiped off.
That was that. The child was hers. She wasn’t going to ask him to take on any responsibility.
She’d figure things out for herself.
Chapter 4
It hadn’t been hardto figure it out. The next night, she went out with Gregory, and he’d pointed out that the press was calling him the king of the rodeo, and he’d always called her the queen. He said wouldn’t it be fun if the king and queen ran off to Las Vegas and got married?
She hadn’t really thought that would be fun, but it would solve the problem she had. She was pregnant with another man’s child, needed a father for her baby. Didn’t want to raise a child as a single mom and wanted her little one to have a dad.
So, she made the second biggest mistake of her life. Or was it the first? In the years to come, she’d go from thinking that sleeping with Ryan had been the biggest mistake she’d ever made to marrying Gregory was the biggest mistake. Maybe they were tied for first. It didn’t matter, because she’d messed up her life.
She had that baby and then another, and then she and Gregory had gotten divorced.
And she ended up living with her gram anyway.
She barely made a living giving horseback riding lessons, and in order to make ends meet, she ended up selling her horses one by one until Goldie was the only one left. By the time her grandma passed away, the only thing she had was the souvenir shop she’d inherited at Strawberry Sands and Goldie.
