Текст книги "Heart of Texas"

Автор книги: Debie Macomber

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Текущая страница: 31 (всего у книги 32 страниц)

10

RICHARD WAS MAGGIE’S FATHER. NOTHING CAROLINE could have told him would have shocked Grady more. The news went through him like a bolt of lightning. He was speechless with surprise, then numb with disbelief. Richard? His no-good, cheating, irresponsible brother was the father of Caroline’s child? It was more than he could take in. More than he could accept.

Once his mind had cleared enough to let him respond, he asked the obvious questions. “When were you lovers? I don’t remember the two of you so much as dating.”

“We didn’t, not in the normal sense.” She reached for her wine. “I was in San Antonio in college, my senior year,” she said, her voice low. “It was finals week. Knowing how crucial it was for me to do well, my mother didn’t tell me what’d happened to your parents until after the exams. I felt horrible, sick to my stomach the moment she told me. I was furious with her for not letting me know. I’d always loved your mother. Your father, too.” She inhaled deeply.

“You weren’t at the funeral, were you?”

“No—because I didn’t hear about it in time.”

“Then how does Richard play into this?” He realized he sounded irritated; he couldn’t help it. Damn it all, he was furious. Exasperated, too. The numbness was wearing off, and in its stead, a slow-burning anger began to build. Once again his brother had found a way to cheat him. Nothing in his life, nothing, was untainted by that bastard and his fiascos.

“San Antonio was his first stop after he took the money,” Caroline continued.

Grady’s eyes narrowed. “So you know about that? The theft?”

She nodded. “Savannah told me,” she said. “Years later.”

Grady pulled out a chair and sat down. He didn’t think his knees would support him much longer.

“It was one of those flukes,” Caroline went on. “I was gassing up at a service station and Richard pulled in. He didn’t recognize me at first, but I told him how sorry I was about his parents.” She looked away and took another steadying breath. “He seemed broken up about it.”

“Broken up enough to walk away with the forty thousand dollars that was our inheritance,” Grady mumbled.

“We had coffee together and he told me how he’d found your mother’s and father’s bodies.”

“That’s a lie!” Grady cried, knotting his fists in outrage. “Frank Hennessey found them and came and told us.” How like Richard to seek all the sympathy!

“I know it’s a lie now,” she whispered, “but at the time I didn’t have any reason not to believe him.”

Grady vowed to stay quiet, seeing as every time he spoke, it interrupted the story, and this was one he very much wanted to hear.

“He broke into sobs and…and said he hadn’t been able to bear the pain and after the funeral had blindly driven off, not knowing where he was going or how he’d gotten to San Antonio. He said he hadn’t eaten or slept in days.”

“And you believed him?” Grady shouted.

“He’d suffered a terrible loss.” She raised her voice. “So, yes, I believed him.”

Grady wiped a hand down his face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.”

“I…I didn’t, either.”

Despite the apology, he struggled with his temper. “It’s something of a shock to learn that the woman I love has slept with my brother.”

She didn’t respond, but Grady could see that his words had hit their mark. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he felt a sick ache in every part of his being, and lashing out was a natural response. Even when he knew he was being cruel and unfair. He hated himself for it, but couldn’t seem to hold back.

To Caroline’s credit she didn’t retaliate or ask him to leave. He admired her restraint and wished his own response had been more generous, more forgiving. In time, perhaps, he could be, but not now. Definitely not now.

After a silence Caroline picked up her story. “He was an emotional mess and I took him home with me. We weren’t in the house five minutes when he fell asleep on the sofa. I phoned my home and my mother confirmed that Richard had disappeared the afternoon of the funeral. I…I didn’t tell her he was with me. I should have. I realized that too late, but my sympathies were with Richard. He’d received a terrible shock and—”

“No less terrible than what Savannah and I suffered.”

“I know, but he was with me and you were here in Promise.” She clenched her hands in her lap. “Don’t you think I’ve gone over this a million times since? Don’t you think I have my regrets, too?”

He nodded, hating himself for being angry and unable to keep his emotions under control. Every time he thought about Richard being Maggie’s father, a fierce kind of outrage gripped him.

“Do…do you want me to continue?”

“Yes,” he replied, mentally preparing himself for what was to follow.

“According to Richard, he was overcome with grief, running from his pain and…and he’d found me.”

“It was fate, right?” Grady’s sarcasm was heavy.

“Yes…”

“He spent the night?”

“Yes.” Her voice grew small. “I made up a bed in the living room for him, but in the middle of the night he came into my bedroom and said he needed someone to hold.”

“And you let him?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose he felt all better in the morning, then?”

“Grady, it wasn’t like that.”

Her voice grew strong, then defiant. He stared at her, and for a moment almost hated her. But it wasn’t possible; he loved her too much. No one else possessed the power to hurt him like this. Loving Caroline and Maggie had brought him such joy, but it made him vulnerable, too. Vulnerable to pain and to anger. Vulnerable to a lot of emotions that were unfamiliar to him. Uncomfortable emotions.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to experience them again, not if it made him feel like this.

All at once sitting became intolerable and he jumped to his feet. “Was it rape?”

She took a long time answering. “No. That’s not Richard’s way. But I was inexperienced and he…he used my naïveté.”

It came to Grady, then, what she was telling him. “He seduced you, didn’t he?”

“I was young and a virgin. I thought he was the most handsome man in the world. He was hurting—both his parents had died in a tragic accident—and he’d turned to me for comfort. I didn’t mean to let him make love to me, but he was so convincing, and before I realized what was happening, he was in bed with me, kissing me, telling me how much he needed me to take away this terrible pain. I tried to tell him I couldn’t do that, but he wouldn’t listen and then…he climbed on top of me and—”

“How long did he stay at your place?” Grady asked, thinking how desperately he and Savannah had searched for Richard. His sister had been close to a nervous collapse those first few days following the funeral.

“I woke up alone the next morning.” She swallowed and wrapped her arms around her waist as if warding off a sudden chill. “He was gone. Without a word, without a note. Gone.”

“When did you realize you were pregnant?”

“Six weeks later. I didn’t know what to do. I was in denial and then in shock. It was horrible enough knowing I’d slept with a man who didn’t care about me, who’d used me for his own purpose. Later, after a doctor confirmed the pregnancy, I had no way of contacting him to let him know.”

“Did you think he’d leap up and offer to marry you?” Grady knew he sounded sarcastic but couldn’t restrain himself.

“No…but I thought he should know.”

Grady said nothing, not wanting to ask the obvious question, and then he found it impossible to keep silent. “Does he know now? Is that why he took Maggie? Because he learned he had a child?”

“No!” she cried. “He knows nothing. I didn’t even put his name on the birth certificate.”

“Why’d he bring her back, then?”

“How should I know? But I’m grateful, terribly grateful, that he did.”

So was Grady.

“Maggie’s my child,” Caroline said with open defiance. “There’s none of her father in her.”

Grady wanted to believe that. Now that he knew the truth though, it was obvious Maggie was his brother’s child. Biologically, at any rate. Maggie had Richard’s eyes and his dark hair.

“When he came back, did he try to pick up where you’d left off?” This was another one of those questions it hurt to ask because he feared the answer. And, he saw, another one of those questions that cut Caroline to the quick.

“No,” she whispered. “When Richard first returned, I was terrified he’d figure out Maggie was his daughter and try to take her away from me. Don’t you remember how I avoided the ranch after he first got home?” Her voice grew tight with remembered anxiety. “In the beginning I invented one excuse after another not to stop by. Every time I was near him I was afraid he’d say something about that night, and then I realized…” She paused, then covered her mouth with one hand and closed her eyes.

Grady’s arms ached to hold her, but he remained where he was, steeling himself against her. “Realized what?”

“That…that he didn’t even remember. I was just another face, another body. He’d used me the same way he’d used people his whole life. He might have suspected he’d…he’d been to bed with me, but he couldn’t be sure, so he kept quiet.”

“You’re positive about that?”

“With Richard how can anyone be positive about anything? But it was just that one time and it was so long ago. I’m sure there’ve been a hundred women since.”

They were silent for several moments before Grady spoke again. “Does anyone else know?”

She shook her head.

“Savannah?”

“I think she might have guessed, but we’ve never discussed the subject, and I’ve never come right out and told her.”

“Then what makes you think Savannah’s guessed?”

“I saw her look at Maggie once and then at Richard. Later I saw Richard’s baby book in the kitchen and I knew she’d been comparing photographs.”

So his sister knew, which left Grady to wonder how many other people in Promise suspected. How many others were laughing at him behind his back?

Grady decided it was time to leave. He’d heard everything he could bear to listen to for one evening.

“Thank you for telling me. I know this wasn’t easy—and I appreciate your honesty. You needn’t worry—your secret is safe with me.”

“It wouldn’t work, Grady,” she said sadly, her eyes full of tears. “I can see that now. It just wouldn’t work with you and me.”

Then, weighed down by a sadness that seemed to encompass all the grief and despair he’d ever felt, he walked out the door. He had her answer. He loved her, had asked her to be his wife and she’d rejected him. Now he understood why.

* * *

“MOMMY,” MAGGIE WHISPERED as Caroline lay on the living-room sofa, “are you sick?”

“I’m fine, honey.”

“Then how come you’re crying?”

“I’m sad, that’s all,” she said, discounting her pain for her daughter’s sake.

“Why are you sad?” Maggie pressed.

“There’s a pain deep inside here,” she said, flattening her hands over her heart.

“It’s not going to bleed, is it?”

“No.” Although a physical wound would be easier to endure.

In two days she hadn’t heard from Grady, but then, she hadn’t expected to. Twice Savannah had phoned, but Caroline had let her answering machine take the calls. She wasn’t up to talking, even to her best friend.

“Are you going to bleed?” Maggie asked her again, her small face stiff with fear.

“No, Maggie. What makes you ask?”

The child didn’t answer and Caroline slid over on the couch to give her room to sit down. The little girl curled up with her, and Caroline held her tight. It took a long time for the tension to leave Maggie’s body. Eventually she drifted off to sleep and that, in Caroline’s eyes, was a blessing.

Such a release didn’t come for her, but she longed for it. At least when she was asleep, Grady’s face wasn’t there to haunt her. Awake, though, she couldn’t escape the image of his shocked expression when he’d learned the truth.

The accusation, the blame, the disgust. By the time he left, he could barely tolerate being in the same room with her.

Caroline hugged Maggie, and to her amazement soon found herself drifting off. She must have slept because the next thing she knew, Maggie was shaking her shoulder with one hand and holding the portable telephone with the other.

“It’s Savannah,” she said.

Caroline could see it would be impossible to delay talking to her friend any longer. She sat up and took the receiver. “Hi,” she said, still groggy and slightly confused.

“It’s Savannah. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she lied.

“If that’s the case, why haven’t you returned my calls?”

“I’m sorry, but I just didn’t feel like talking.”

Savannah hesitated, then blurted, “Good grief, what’s the matter with you two? You sound as miserable as Grady.”

Caroline had nothing to add to that.

“I’m coming over,” her friend announced.

“Savannah, no! Please.” But the line had already been disconnected and Caroline realized there was no help for it. Savannah Smith was a woman on a mission, and she wouldn’t rest until she’d done whatever she could to straighten things out between these two people she loved. Two people who loved each other, according to Savannah. Well, she was right. Caroline did love Grady and was confident he loved her. Just not enough.

Knowing Grady’s sister was coming to visit, Caroline washed her face and applied fresh makeup. The last thing she needed was for Savannah to return to the ranch with tales of Caroline pining away for want of Grady—however true that might be. She changed into a fresh shirt and jeans, then ran a comb through her hair.

Savannah arrived less than an hour later, storming into the house like an avenging angel. Caroline was ready with a fresh pitcher of iced tea, waiting for her in the sunny backyard patio. Maggie played contentedly in her sandbox, building castles with imaginary friends.

“All right,” Savannah said, the minute they sat down. “What happened?”

“You mean Grady didn’t tell you?”

Savannah gave a soft snicker and rolled her eyes. “All he’d say was that what happened is between you and him.”

“He’s right.”

“I can’t stand this, Caroline! He asked you to marry him, I know that much.”

“He told you?”

“He didn’t have to—I saw the diamond. Which means if he has it and you don’t, you must’ve turned him down. But that doesn’t make any sense. You love Grady.”

Caroline said nothing.

“You do love him, don’t you?”

“Yes.” But that wasn’t the issue.

“Then, Caroline, why would you reject him? I don’t understand. I know it isn’t any of my business, but it hurts me to see two people so obviously in love this unhappy.”

Caroline didn’t mean to start crying. The tears embarrassed her and she blinked rapidly, praying Savannah wouldn’t notice. But of course she did and wasn’t about to pretend otherwise.

Leaning forward, Savannah placed her hand on Caroline’s arm. “Oh, Caroline, please tell me. I want to help.”

“You can’t. No one can.”

Savannah wasn’t so easily dissuaded. “You helped me when Laredo left, don’t you remember? When he went back to Oklahoma, I was in so much pain I didn’t know if I’d survive it, and you were there for me. It wasn’t so much what you said, although I recall every word. It was your love and friendship that helped me through a horrible time. Let me help you now.”

Caroline cupped the cold glass of iced tea with both hands. “He did ask me to marry him, and you’re right, I refused.”

“But why?”

“He…he said he was free to ask me because he was finished dealing with his brother’s mistakes. Finished cleaning up after Richard.” She inhaled and didn’t exhale for several seconds. “I had to tell him. He has a right to know.”

“About Maggie?” Savannah asked gently.

As Caroline suspected, Savannah had guessed that Richard was Maggie’s father. She nodded.

“But why did you refuse his proposal?”

“I love Grady, but I don’t want him to consider Maggie and me a burden. Just one more responsibility he’s dealing with because of his brother. Another screwup in a long list.”

“Doesn’t Grady understand that Richard used you, too?”

“I’m not sure he does,” she breathed. “It was too much of a shock.”

Savannah sat back in her chair and tapped her finger against her lips. “Well, this certainly explains a great deal.”

“Grady would feel I’d broken a confidence by discussing this with you,” she felt obliged to remind her friend.

“You needn’t worry about that.”

“Why not?”

Savannah grinned. “My brother isn’t speaking to me at the moment.”

“Oh, Savannah.”

“Not to worry. He isn’t speaking to anyone.”

So Grady wasn’t taking this any better than she was. “He growls when one of us even dares to mention your name. Oh, and I heard him on the phone the other day. Apparently he was talking to Frank Hennessey because he said—or rather, shouted—that he wanted his bastard of a brother brought to justice.”

“I take it there’s no word about Richard?”

“None.” Savannah shook her head. “It’s as if he’s vanished off the face of the earth, and at this point I don’t really care. Richard deserves what he gets, as far as I’m concerned. Especially after this latest fiasco.”

Caroline frowned, not understanding. “What fiasco?”

Savannah sighed. “He didn’t tell you, did he?” She didn’t wait for a response. “Grady can be too noble for his own good sometimes. Richard charged eight thousand dollars’ worth of goods on the family accounts.”

“No.” Caroline felt sick to her stomach just knowing their brother was capable of something this underhand and cruel. Richard was well aware how long it had taken Grady to regroup after the family lost its money. Money stolen by Richard. Then, just when Grady was financially able to get back on his feet, up popped Richard again. Up pops the weasel.

“He paid off every bill with his own money. Laredo and I wanted to share the expenses with him, but Grady refused. Seeing that we’re newly married and building a home now, he wouldn’t hear of it. Laredo wouldn’t leave it at that—he said we’re all partners and the money should come out of the business. But Grady said no. I don’t have to tell you how stubborn he can be.”

“You see?” Caroline said. “For the last six years all Grady’s done is work to clean up Richard’s messes. I’d just be one more.”

“You don’t honestly believe that, do you?”

“Yes, Savannah, I do.”

“Then you don’t know my brother.” Savannah smiled slightly. “Give him time. Grady isn’t that easily discouraged. He may need a few days to work things out, but he’ll be back.”

Caroline wanted to believe it, but she was afraid to hope.

“He loves you and Maggie. Mark my words, he isn’t going to take no for an answer.”

Caroline shook her head helplessly. She’d seen the pain in Grady’s eyes, seen the shock and grief. She was just one more problem his brother had left behind, and he wanted out.

Caroline didn’t blame him.

11

GRADY WAS IN ONE BAD MOOD. HE’D BEEN angry and cantankerous all week, to the point that he could barely stand his own company. Wiley said he’d rather chase strays than put up with Grady’s foul temper and had left him to finish the repairs on the fence line by himself.

Grady had been doing the backbreaking work all afternoon, and although he’d managed to replace several rotting posts and make other fixes, his mind was a million miles away. Actually only about forty miles away. And while his hands were busy digging fence holes his thoughts were on Caroline.

“Damn it all to hell,” he muttered and threw down the shovel. He’d finally finished for the day. Sweat poured from his brow, and his chest heaved from the physical exertion. “Damn it,” he said again. He should be happy. The sale of the herd was scheduled and his financial problems would soon be over. Beef prices were up slightly. So why wasn’t he happy? All he could think about was one headstrong woman who was too damn proud for her own good. What in the hell did she mean when she said a marriage between them wouldn’t work? Why the hell not?

He could stand there stewing in the hot September sun or he could do something about it, Grady decided. Only he wasn’t sure what. He tossed his tools into the back of the pickup, then drove at breakneck speed toward the house.

Savannah was working in her garden when he pulled into the yard. Her head was covered with a wide-brimmed straw hat, and she wore a sleeveless summer dress and an apron. The minute she spotted him she stepped out of the flower garden, a basket of freshly cut roses dangling from her arm.

“Grady?”

“Woman’s a damn fool,” he said, heading into the house. He took the porch steps two at a time. It didn’t surprise him that his sister followed him inside; he would have been disappointed if she hadn’t.

“I assume you’re talking about Caroline,” she said as she set the roses on the kitchen table.

“Is there anyone more stubborn than Caroline Daniels?” He paced the floor of the large kitchen, unable to stand still.

“Only one person I can think of,” she said, smiling slightly. “And that’s you.”

“Me?” Grady considered himself a reasonable man. “Caroline rejected me. Not the other way around.”

“Did she now?” Savannah removed a vase from the cupboard above the refrigerator. Grady recognized it as one that had belonged to their mother—crystal, sort of a bowl shape. He’d always liked it. Savannah began deftly arranging the roses.

“I asked Caroline to marry me,” Grady said impatiently. He’d never intended to tell anyone what had happened, but the events of that evening burned inside him. It was either tell Savannah or scream it from the rooftop.

“So I understand,” she murmured.

Grady had had it with women and their subtle messages. While he might normally have appreciated Savannah’s reserved manner, it infuriated him just now.

“What exactly do you understand?” he demanded.

“Two hurting people, if you must know. Two people deeply in love with each other, neither one fully appreciating or—”

“She said no,” he cut in. “She wasn’t interested in being my wife—said it wouldn’t work. Said it twice, as a matter of fact.”

“Did she now?”

Grady slapped his hat against the edge of the counter. “If you have something to say, Savannah, just spit it out.”

“Well, since you asked…” She gave him a demure smile. “It seems to me—and of course I could be wrong—that Caroline might have said no, but that wasn’t exactly what she meant.”

“I’m a simple rancher. If she said no and meant something else, then she should’ve come right out and said what she meant. I’m not a mind reader.”

“Neither am I,” Savannah stated. “But really, how else did you expect her to respond?”

“A yes would have sufficed.”

“And what was she supposed to do then? Wait until your wedding day to casually mention that her child is also your niece?”

“No. It doesn’t matter who fathered Maggie. I’m offering to be her daddy, to make her my own.”

“Exactly!” Savannah rewarded him with a wide grin. “Bingo, big brother! Now collect your prize.”

The woman was speaking in ridiculous riddles. “Damn it, Savannah, what do you mean by that?”

“You should be able to figure it out.”

He frowned.

Savannah sighed loudly. “I believe what you said was, It doesn’t matter who fathered Maggie. Now tell me, why is that?”

“Why?”

“Yes, why?” she repeated.

“Because I’m asking to be her father.”

The smile was back in full force. “Very good, Grady.”

His frown deepened.

“You’re almost there, big brother.” She added a long-stemmed yellow rose to the vase.

“Almost? I’ve been there and back a thousand times in my mind. Why do I have to fall in love with the most stubborn woman in the entire state of Texas? What did I ever do to deserve this?”

“I don’t know, but if I were you, I’d thank God every day of your life for a woman as wonderful as Caroline.”

He stared at her.

“If you’re lucky enough to convince her to be your wife, that is,” Savannah said.

“As far as I’m concerned she has to come to me now.” A man’s pride could only take so much, and Caroline had run roughshod over it one time too many.

Savannah shook her head. “Wrong.”

“Wrong?” Grady didn’t see it like that, but he was desperate enough to listen to his sister’s crazy reasoning.

“You were doing so well there, too,” she said with another sigh. “Grady, I’ve never known you to be a man who took no for an answer. It’s just not like you to roll over and play dead.”

“I’m not playing dead!”

“You’re just acting that way?” She made the statement a question, which irritated him even more.

“Either you don’t love Caroline as much as I believe, or—”

“I love her and I love Maggie, too. When Maggie was missing, it felt as if a part of me was gone. When I saw she was safe and sound, I damn near broke into tears myself.”

Savannah, ever patient, ever kind, beamed him a dazzling smile. “I’m not the one who needs to hear this, you know.”

“So you’re telling me I should ask Caroline again.” Even as he spoke, he was shaking his head. “Not in this lifetime.” In his view, it was Caroline’s turn to risk her pride. If she wanted to change her mind, she could let him know. He grabbed his hat and walked out the back door.

“Where are you going?” his sister asked.

Until that moment he hadn’t been sure, then in a flash he knew. “I’m going to give Caroline a chance to change her mind.”

* * *

EDWINA AND LILY MOORHOUSE had just stepped up to the counter when the door to the post office flew open and Grady Weston stepped inside.

The two elderly women turned to look at him; so did Caroline. He was staring straight at her, and she could tell he was breathing fire.

“Caroline—”

She instantly returned her attention to the Moorhouse sisters. “Can I help you?” she asked ever so sweetly, ignoring Grady. Her heart was pounding like a frightened kitten’s, but she refused, refused, to allow Grady to intimidate her.

“You can talk to the Moorhouse sisters until Kingdom come, and it isn’t going to help. Eventually you’re going to have to speak to me, too.”

Edwina’s eyes rounded as she glanced at her sister. “It’s Grady Weston again.”

“I have eyes in my head, sister. I can see it’s Grady.”

“Fit to be tied, from the looks of him.”

“Indeed.”

Despite the way her heart raced, Caroline found herself smiling.

“I do think he’s constipated again, sister.”

Lily studied him, tapping her foot. “Prunes, young man, eat prunes. They’ll do wonders for your disposition.”

Grady scowled at her, but Caroline knew it would take a lot more than that to intimidate the retired schoolteacher.

“Listen here, Grady Weston, I wiped your nose in third grade, so don’t you be giving me dirty looks. My, oh my, but you always were a headstrong boy.”

It was clear Grady wasn’t going to be drawn into a verbal exchange with the two women.

“In some ways,” Lily mused, “your stubbornness was a characteristic I admired.”

Edwina slapped a ten-dollar bill onto the counter. “We’d like a book of stamps, Caroline.”

“Of course.” Caroline handed her the stamps with her change.

“Good day.”

“Good day,” Caroline replied, watching them leave.

“Good day, young man,” Edwina said as she passed Grady and winked.

Caroline wasn’t sure what to make of the wink. If Grady noticed it, he didn’t let on.

He touched the brim of his hat and stepped around the two women in his rush to reach the counter.

“Can I help you?” Caroline asked, lowering her gaze for fear of what he might read in her eyes.

“As a matter of fact you can.” Grady’s voice echoed in the room.

She waited, figuring he wasn’t going to ask for stamps.

“I’m here to talk some sense into you.”

“Grady, listen—”

“Hear me out first. The last time we spoke I asked you to marry me and you turned me down.”

Caroline doubted he’d ever fully comprehend how difficult it had been to reject him. She’d wanted to say yes more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life. But no self-respecting woman willingly entered a marriage if she believed she’d be a burden to her husband. Even loving him the way she did, she couldn’t do that to him. Couldn’t do it to herself.

“Be warned,” he said, lowering his voice.

“Warned?”

“This time I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“Grady, please…” He made this so damned hard.

“Sorry, it’s too late for that. I don’t want anyone but you.”

She looked away rather than meet his gaze.

“For the past six years I’ve worked day and night and done without—just so I could make up for what we lost because of Richard. He’s stolen six years of my life, Caroline. He’s robbed me and Savannah of too much already, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let him rob me of anything else.”

“I…I don’t understand.”

“If you allow Richard to stand between us now, it’ll be one more thing my brother’s taken from me. But this time I’m not the only person he’s hurting. He’s hurting you and Maggie, as well. Is that what you want?”

“No.” Her voice sounded weak, unconvincing.

“You appear to have doubts.”

“I… There’s more than just me to consider,” she said.

“Okay, let’s talk about Maggie.”

Slowly Caroline raised her eyes to his. Her daughter had to come first. Always. “What about Maggie?”

“I love her, too.” It was the first time Grady had mentioned his feelings for her child, the first time he’d said this. “I’m looking to be more than your husband, Caroline. I’m looking to be Maggie’s daddy.”

She bit her lower lip.

“My brother might have fathered this child, but I’ll be the one to raise her, to love her, to kiss her skinned knee. I’ll put her to bed at night, sit with her when she learns to read, teach her how to ride Moonbeam. Me, not Richard.”

It was a long speech for Grady, and every word was heartfelt. Caroline knew that in her bones, sensed it deep inside. They were the words of a man who understood that fatherhood was more than biological. Much more.

“Oh, Grady…”

“Is that all you have to say?”

“I—”

The door opened and Nell Bishop walked in with Jeremy and Emma. “Hello,” she said with a cheerful wave as she headed for her post-office box.

“Hello, Mr. Weston.”

“Howdy, Jeremy.”

“We’re going swimming in the pool,” Emma announced.

Nell sorted through her mail. “Come on, you two,” she said and steered her children toward the door. She paused to look back at Grady and Caroline. “Everything all right?” she asked cautiously.

“Yes,” Grady barked.

Caroline nodded.

Nell, who’d been married to a man as stubborn and lovable as the one standing there in front of her, smiled. “Yes, I can see that everything is coming along nicely.” Then she and her children left.

“What’d she mean by that?” Grady demanded.

Caroline shrugged. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“Well?”

The gruff question caught her by surprise. “Well, what?”

“Are you going to change your mind about marrying me or not?”