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Probably.
“Where’s Porter right now?” she asked.
“I heard the sound of a drill out in the garden. Did you already put him to work, Angel?”
She’d told him some of her plans for the greenhouse, but nothing specific yet. She shook her head. “He’s going rogue out there.”
“I’ll send you after him soon, but first, I want you to myself! I’m exhausted after the news I got this morning, but well… come in. Come in!”
Lily ushered them inside her spacious home, over the rustic brick flooring. Cadence was sure that her boys had made that a reality. They’d inherited their artistic touch from their mother. Cadence followed Lily into the sitting room situated to the side of the kitchen. A comfortable blue couch was placed elegantly against the picture window. Across from that were two matching plush chairs with soft cushions. Family pictures lined the walls.
Cadence sat down on the couch. Lily took the seat next to her. The pastor settled across from them. His eyes went to the family portraits. “Tell me how your family is doing.”
“Oh, they’re–they’re…” Lily struggled to find an answer. “Hudson’s doing well! He has a cute little homestead with Mimi not too far from here. West and Nash are still off in Tennessee. West visits me all the time, of course. He’s so worried about me. He’s coming on Sunday. It’s Charlie’s birthday on Tuesday. He’ll be eight!”
“How nice,” the pastor said. “Such a blessing that he can visit so often.”
“Yes, I wish Nash would come…” her voice trailed off. Her lashes batted worriedly against her cheeks.
“I’m sure Nash would visit if he could,” the pastor said quickly.
Lily grimaced. “Well, he can be a little… uh, rash. Porter is a little more responsible than his twin sometimes, but…” her eyes veered to Cadence. “I’m sure you don’t want to hear about Nash.”
Cadence was confused. The way they talked it sounded as ifNashwas Porter’s twin. “Isn’t West Porter’s twin?” she asked.
“No, dear heart, no.” Lily gave in to a weary chuckle. “Those two look nothing alike, bless them.” She pointed behind her at a picture of a bronco rider at the rodeo that Cadence had thought was Porter. “That’s Nash.”
Porter was an identical twin, not fraternal. Suddenly, Cadence began to understand exactly what Porter was trying to tell her yesterday. He’d pretended to be Nash after she’d almost hit him over the head with that lamp. Typical Porter must’ve thought he was being so hilarious to go along with the mistaken identity, and then—oh no—then it had gone too far, because he had started to like her.
No wonder Porter had vowed not to kiss her until she knew the truth… but he still did. Oh, wow. She let him off the hook far too easily.
What must he think of her? That he could just play with her like some kind of doll? Was anything he said real?
A surge of hurt rushed through her. She knew the tears would come next. No, no, she didn’t want the pastor and Lily to see her cry. Cadence took deep breaths, trying to process the news. This felt almost as bad as catching Lacy kissing some other woman.
Porter didn’t know about that. He didn’t know anything!
She’d lived this imaginary relationship with him, supposing that he was saying one thing when he meant another. He didn’t know her at all. Did she know him? He was going for a fictitious Cadence. He actually thought her namewasAngel!
She gasped.
Both Lily and Pastor Brown turned to her in surprise. She shot to her feet, her mind a whirlwind of chaos. “Porter’s outside?”
“Yes,” Lily answered. “What’s the problem, dear?”
“I forgot… something about our plans.” Wow, she was just as bad as Porter, lying at every turn, but she couldn’t bring herself to burden his mother with her pains—Cadence knew exactly who was about to bear the brunt of her wrath.
“The last I saw of him, he was in the garden,” Lily said with a gentle smile. “Go ahead and find him. The pastor and I can do some last-minute planning for the irrigation service project.”
Nodding and trying not to let her distress show, Cadence rushed outside. The heat from the day was smothering already, even though it was already midmorning. She smelled the rich earthy smell of watered grass and tilled dirt the closer she made her way to Lily’s Garden of Eden.
Nowshe felt like Eve—ready to shake out all the forbidden fruit from the trees in her fury before getting them all cast out.
Porter! Her fingers clenched. He’d been so surprised that she wasn’t angry; he’d been so contrite and yeah, at least he’d feltsomekind of remorse, but now this meant a million things that he didn’t even know! This wasn’t about feeling betrayed, mocked, used—though she certainly felt those things—it was that her very fabric of existence had just been pulled out from under her, leaving her with nothing, and she felt like she was falling. All the security that she’d felt with the man who knew her pain was gone, replaced by a joke!
Oh! He was related to West all right… and that horrible Nash, who was now the same unchanging man in her eyes since she realized that he’dneverleft Nashville; he’d never cleared his name, he’d never been as sweet as Porter.
And that was an act! Porter had been pretending to be something else all along. She remembered those awful dates. Had he meant to get her back for almost hitting him with that lamp? Had he done the prank out of revenge or just because he thought that she was pretty and he wanted to use her because of it? He took and took and took, like every man did to her in her life!
