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“She also told you after the first appointment that the doctor said it was probably nothing.”
“Do you know why I was mad at her?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“She told me she was leaving for California. She needed time away from me and Hadley. She was going with that guy she’d been seeing.”
Dalton frowned.
“I told her to go; that we’d be perfectly fine without her while she got it all out of her system. She told meIwas the one who’d given up on our marriage, but I don’t think she really ever loved me at all. I fought for as long as I could like you said and…and I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You tried, Aiden. You didn’t leave her. You stayed and you took care of her and you helped Hadley through losing her mother. You loved Lisa until the end, the best way you knew how.”
“What I really wanted to do was hate her, if I’m being honest.”
With a nod, Dalton said, “Completely understandable. You were a better man than I ever would have been, if I’m being honest.”
“Come on, Emma! We sit in the second pew on the left side.”
It looked like Hadley nearly pulled Emma’s arm out of her socket as she dragged her up the main aisle of church. It was clear the woman was Hadley’s new best friend.
Some people smiled and chuckled while a few stared at Emma, transferring their stares to me as I walked by. One or two whispered to their neighbors.
My folks stood and each of them gave Emma a hug and kiss on the cheek. They’d welcomed her into the fold like she was a long-lost friend. I spotted Nancy sitting across the church, glaring in Emma’s direction. I avoided meeting her eye and kept walking.
Before I made it to my seat, Bobby McNight stood and reached his hand out for mine. “Ranger Bishop, how are things going up there at the park?”
With a polite smile, I replied, “They’re going well. Weather is saying we might get some snow this week up at the higher elevations.”
“You ever find out about them poachers I saw walking into the park?”
“We looked for tracks and brought a couple dogs in, couldn’t find anything.”
He huffed. “Not looking hard enough then. I’ll keep my eyes open for you, Ranger.”
Placing my hand on his shoulder, I gave it a squeeze, not bothered by his comment. “Thank you, Bobby. I appreciate that.”
I continued to the pew to sit down. My folks were on one end, sitting next to Hadley. Emma was on the end of the pew nearest the center aisle. I slid past her to sit between Hadley and my mother, putting my daughter beside Emma.
I had to fight the urge to sit next to her myself and focus on the sermon instead.
The sermon was about forgiveness and moving on. A few times, I glanced over to see Emma looking a million miles away, lost in her own thoughts. I wanted to reach across Hadley and take her hand, tell her that whatever she was trying to leave behind, she could let it go. But that would make me the world’s biggest hypocrite.
When the service ended, my mother and Tammy quickly flanked Emma.
“It’s women’s church now,” my mother said, wiggling her brows.
I leaned into Emma and whispered, “Fake a ruptured appendix unless you want to be trapped.”
Emma giggled, and I decided right then and there I was going to add her light laugh to my favorite-sounds-ever list.
“Hadley, we’re going to borrow your Emma,” Tammy said, quickly looking up at me before focusing back on my daughter.
“Okay! But just for a few hours, then you have to give her back to me and Daddy ’cause she’s ours.”
Emma gazed at Hadley with nothing but love in her eyes. When she glanced at me, her expression changed and her teethsank into that full bottom lip of hers, setting off a rapid pulse in my chest. She bit her lip every single time she was nervous or anxious about something. It was so innocent, yet sexy as all get out. She wasn’ttryingto make a sexual overture, and that was exactly what made it such a turn-on.
I had to drag my eyes off her mouth, quickly glancing around to make sure no one saw me staring so hungrily at my daughter’s nanny.
