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“And now?” He flicked the envelope with his finger. “What’s this?”
“This is the answer to a five-year dream.” For a long time, she stared at the envelope with the Texas Education Agency’s return address in the corner. Carefully, she ripped it open and unfolded the paper.
Progress Report
I’m back in school now. Mom enrolled me at this new place near Ty’s ranch. But there’s a biiiiig problem. SOMEBODY at my old school squealed about my science project and they want to see it pronto since the kids here are working on science projects, too. Guess it’ll really hit the fan now, especially when they find out what I’ve been doing with all my reports.
Chapter Nine
Experiment #9: EXPERIMENTS TERMINATED!
Certificateof High School Equivalency, the diploma read. “Congratulations on the successful completion of the General Education Development Tests.” Cassidy’s five test scores were listed on a flap folded behind the thick piece of paper. Writing, social studies, science, literature and arts, and the most difficult for her, mathematics. She’d just squeaked by on that one. But she’d passed.
The embossed certificate tumbled from her hands and she buried her face against Ty’s chest, soaking his shirt with tears. She’d done it. After five long, difficult years, she’d finally done it. She’d accomplished her lastgoal.
Ty held her tight and let her cry it out. “You’re something special, you know that?” It took a moment to register the respect deepening his voice. “That’s why you’ve been fighting me so hard, isn’t it?”
She lifted her head, sniffing. “What do you mean?”
“I mean pride, independence, and a good dollop of fear have been getting in our way.”
“So that’s been our problem, huh?” She gave a watery grin. “And here I thought it was my refusing to marry you.”
“Well, that, too.” He flicked a piece of confetti from her hair before dropping his hands to her shoulders and giving them a gentle squeeze. “My guess is that you’ve been working toward your GED ever since you got rid of Lonnie.” It wasn’t really a question. “You wanted to prove you could.”
“I decided I had to take charge of my life,” she confirmed. “I was twenty-one, working a dead-end job, had a five-year-old genius to support and was about to be divorced. That’s not the sort of life I’d planned for myself growing up.”
“So you decided what you wanted out of life and went after it.” He regarded her with steady, understanding eyes. “Sounds rather overwhelming.”
“It was.” A look of determination crept across her face. “Except I suddenly realized I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself and my son. Heck, I’d been doing it those five years I’d been chasing after Lonnie. That’s when I knew what I had to do. Ihad to go back to school and earn my diploma so I could get a decent job, and I had to mend fences with Aunt Esther and Uncle Ben.”
He shook his head in wry amusement. “But then I came into your life and disrupted all your fine plans. What did you think I was trying to do, Cassidy? Steal your independence?” He cupped her face, admiring the strength of character revealed in every single beautiful line, even though her stubbornness caused him unending frustration. “Don’t you understand? I’m not trying to steal anything or hurt you in any way. I’m just trying to make you happy.”
“Happy?” Her laugh stirred the air between them, warm and sweet and startled. “That’s the first time anyone’s ever offered me that.”
“I’m sorry to hear it. Because there’s not a person on this planet more deserving of happiness than you. All you have to do is reach for it.”
She closed her eyes and he feathered a kiss across the lids. “I’m so afraid,” she whispered, shivering beneath the tender caress.
“I know you are. You don’t like risk and I understand why.” His hands slipped deep into her hair. “It’s time to take a chance, sweetheart. You’re going to have to trust me. What’s worse, you’re also going to have to trust yourself. Granted, you’ve made some bad choices in your life. But I swear, this isn’t one of them.”
“I just have to believe that we’re not making a mistake, huh?” A shaky laugh escaped her. “You don’t ask much, do you?”
“Nah.” His precious voice rumbled over her. “Not me.”
“But don’t you see? Ihaven’t been fighting for my own sake. If something goes wrong with our relationship, Hutch—”
“Hutch needs a father,” Ty interrupted. “If I was a man who played fair, Iwouldn’t use that card. But the two of you have become too important to me. You’ve become a part of my life and I can’t imagine you not in it. When I walk into the house, Ifind myself listening for you or looking around for a noisy squirt with bright yellow hair and mischief in his eyes. Ialways thought I had a home. Now I know how wrong I was. It’s you and Hutch who’ve turned it into a home.”
By the time he ground to a halt, she was weeping again. “I love you, Ty. Ido.”
“And I love you. Would poetry help convince you? How’s this? You’re the dawn after a long, bad night. You’re the rain after the endless drought that’s been my life. Don’t you get it, sweetheart? You and Hutch are my future. And I’m yours.”
“How can you be so sure?” she demanded. “How can you be certain it’s not going to end?”Like Lonnie. The unspoken words hung betweenthem.
“I can be sure because, unlike the voices you hear, my voices have no doubts and they don’t give bad advice.” He softened his reply with a smile. “The first time I kissed you, remember? Iknew. And so did you. The difference is, while it made me more determined to pursue a relationship, it frightened you off.”
The fight drained out of her. “You’re right. It did.”
