Chapter 6
Chapter Six
RYKER
I hate that I blamed Lyn for those things, but it’s been my family’s reality. Rowdy and Logan have both been targeted by women trying to get their claws on my family’s money and land. Logan’s ex even stooped so low as to get pregnant on purpose. All I could see in that moment was what he goes through every day as a single dad.
What makes me feel even worse are the things she begged me for. She doesn’t want my money. She just wants to remain friends with my family. But when she said she’d have her attorney draw up the paperwork for me to sign off my rights, that’s when my brain broke. I was completely shocked. I didn’t even realize she had left until I saw the glow of her taillights as she fled.
I called Isla to find out where Lynae lived, and was even more shocked to learn she rented one of the cottages on the vineyard. I rushed over here, desperate to talk to her.
I pound on the door and ring the bell, fueled by the need to make things right. Lyn moves across the room, stopping at the door. She reaches for the handle, but then she collapses, crumpling to the floor. Shit! I can’t open the door or break the glass without hurting her.
The side porch! It has French doors. I pull out my cell phone as I run toward the doors. They’re locked, so I jump the railing and race to the back of the house. I can get in through the side entrance in the garage.
“Hi, Ryker, what’s up?” my mother answers.
“Call an ambulance to the cottage Lyn is in. She collapsed.” I hang up without saying more. I can call them myself, but I can’t think straight right now. My only focus is getting to Lyn.
I kick in the door, and it bursts open. I rush inside, moving quickly to the mudroom. She must have been distraught when she got home because she left this door open.
I rush to the front of the house and drop to my knees when I reach her. Gently, I roll her over and check for a pulse and respiration. I catalog that she’s still slight in my arms, but I can feel the subtle changes in her body. She’s developing more curves, and I notice her breasts are bigger.
“Come on, little vixen, open your eyes and let me know you are both okay.” I pull her onto my lap and hold her close.
She doesn’t wake up, and I worry I’ve caused this stress. Her eyes are swollen, her cheeks splotching from crying. She’s still in what she was wearing, even the little tennis shoes on her feet.
I gently rock her, monitoring her vitals for a few moments, until I hear a knock on the door. My mother is there, and I scoot back, allowing her to unlock the door and let the EMTs inside. I recognize them from the station, but there’s no time for chitchat. I have only one thing I want them to do. Care for my family.
They are mine, and I promise myself I’m going to take care of her and the baby. Her words of only having had sex twice still ring in my ear. She was married, and they only had sex once. It shocked me too, but not as much as her saying she would keep my child from me.
“Ryker?”
My mother breaks me from my thoughts. I look up at her, taking in her mid-length light brown hair with streaks of blond. I remember my father saying that the moment he met her, he knew. She was his, and he would have walked away from everything for her. That’s how I feel about Lynae.
“She’s mine.” I slide my hand to her gently rounded stomach. “They both are.”
The ambulance crew takes over, but I don’t let them take Lynae off my lap. I keep her close. When it’s time to move her to the gurney, I lift her up and help them load her.
“Follow us, Mom.” I toss her my truck keys. “Oh, and we need to repair the back door.”
“Okay. I’ll get your dad, and we’ll take care of it.” She doesn’t question me. She knows how my father was with her. She’s told us that she knew he was meant to be hers too.
O nce we’re finally settled into a hospital room, Lynae starts to stir.
“Wh-What happened?” she asks as she glances around.
“We don’t know yet, but we are going to find out. You fainted.”
“Ryker?”
I take her hand in mine as she looks between it and my face. “Yeah, baby. I’m here.”
Her eyes flare wide as she looks up at me. Nurses move around us, getting her situated. One nurse starts an IV, while another attaches monitors to her abdomen.
“Ms. Amberly, do you have a doctor?” a third nurse asks, and Lyn turns from me to look at her.
“I do. In Flagstaff.” She gives them the name, and I sit there, watching the monitors. The baby’s heart rate is good, and Lyn’s vitals are starting to normalize. But her blood pressure is fairly low.
“Ms. Amberly.” A doctor walks in. “I understand you fainted today.”
“Yes.” She bites her lip as she looks from me to the doctor. “I might not have eaten as much as I should have.”
“That could be one of the reasons, but I noticed that your blood pressure is pretty low too.”
“I jumped up quickly after lying down,” she explains.
“She was under a lot of stress, and I know she was crying,” I add. “We had a disagreement.” I hold up my hand to stop her when she starts to argue. “It was all my fault, a misunderstanding. We’ll be fine from now on. I’m here to make sure that baby and Mama are taken care of.”
“Mr. Murphy, what is your relationship to Ms. Amberly?”
Sometimes, I hate that everyone in this town knows me.
“He’s the baby’s father,” Lyn answers for me.
The doctor nods his head and turns to walk out. My heart settles in my chest at her confession.
“I really did want to find you,” she says softly, and I turn to look at her. “I was just nervous and scared. I didn’t plan this.” She looks down as she fidgets with the fingers of her hand I’m holding.
“Lyn, we can talk more after we got out of here. But you need to know, I didn’t prevent this either. As the saying goes, it takes two to tango.” I rub my hand across her stomach. I can’t wait until I feel the baby moving.
“But it was my fault. I was on hormones before we got together. I had to try to have my ex’s baby.”
I rear my head back. “What do you mean?”
“His family had a clause in our prenup that stated I had to have his baby if he died or went missing while in the military, which he did. Before the divorce was granted, I had no choice but to fulfill the agreement. My attorney tried to fight it, but Sayler’s parents had a better attorney. I had to do one round of hormones and IVF. It didn’t take. Then I met you.”
“Are you divorced now? Were you divorced when we were together?” My gut clenches at the thought of another man possessing her.
“I’m divorced now. Sayler was already missing in action, and I was only weeks away from the finalization when we met. But I was still legally married. The good thing is this pregnancy wasn’t confirmed until after the divorce. My doctor in Tucson ran tests and did an ultrasound after the IVF, proving I wasn’t pregnant then. They can’t get their hands on my little bean.” She rubs her hand lovely over her bump, and I see the softness in her caress and want that too. I interlock our fingers over her abdomen.
“We can do this together.”
“Really?” She smiles, and tears rim her eyes again.
“Yes.” I lean over and kiss her forehead.
Lynae
T hey keep me in the hospital for a couple of hours, monitoring both the baby and me. After a meal, a bag of fluids, and my blood pressure stabilizing, they discharge me with the recommendation I follow up with my doctor. We walk out into the lobby, and I stop dead in my tracks. Ryker pulls on my hand that he hasn’t let go of.
Standing in the lobby are his parents and another woman.
“They’re going to hate me,” I whisper, and Ryker turns to me. “I didn’t know you were their son. I didn’t know Isla was your sister.”
“They don’t hate you, baby.” He cups my cheek, and I slowly close my eyes. “It’s all been a huge misunderstanding. But we will make it work. I promise you.”
“You’re sure?” I say as I open my eyes.
“Positive. They’re worried about you.” He turns and leads me to them.
His mom pulls me into her arms. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so glad you and the baby are okay. We were so worried.”
“I’m sorry.” I can’t help the apology falling from my lips. It’s a habit I can’t seem to overcome. I’ve always said it too much. I feel like things are always my fault.
Charlene leans back and smiles at me. “There is nothing to be sorry about. Isla said to tell you she’s excited to be an auntie again and will see you in a couple of weeks. I’m just glad that Ry got to you so quickly”
“I am too.” I can’t say anything else.
Ryker introduces me to the other woman with his parents. She’s his aunt JoAnna. She and his cousin Rowdy have houses on the property too. She explains that Rowdy, who is also a firefighter, is home with his girlfriend and baby. That Rowdy and Coral will come by to meet me soon.
I just nod and cling to Ryker. I’m overwhelmed by it all. I think he gets it because he stops everyone.
“I’m taking Lyn home. She needs rest. Did you get the door fixed, Dad?”
“It’s a temporary fix, but it’s better than nothing.”
Ryker leads me out of the hospital to his truck, where he helps me up into it and buckles me in. He kisses my cheek before closing the door. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know we still have a lot to talk about.
When we pull up to my house, I notice the door is fine. “What door were you talking about?”
“The one into the garage. You were lying against the front door, and I didn’t want to break the French doors. Wait for me.” He gets out, and I watch him walk around the front of the truck.
In the couple of months since I last saw him, he’s become more muscular, and his hair is a bit longer. I find myself squirming in my seat, thinking of his scruff against my thighs. I remember everything we did, and I want it again. My body is one bundle of hormones and need.
He reaches in to help me, and when our hands touch, there is that zing again. Every time he touches me, I feel cherished and cared for.
Ryker walks me into the house and sits me on the sofa. “My dad said he’s going to have some food delivered. Do you want to get comfortable before it gets here?”
“Sure.” I head for my bedroom, where I change into a pair of soft sweatpants and a hoodie. The air has cooled a bit as evening settles in. When I walk back out, I see Ryker closing the door behind him and a young woman from the restaurant walking down the porch. I know her. She’s one of the hostesses. She and I haven’t really gotten along. I wonder if she said something to Ryker because his jaw is set tight when he turns around.
“Is everything okay?” I ask as I pull plates from the cupboard.
“Nothing to worry about, sweetheart.” He shrugs it off as he unloads the bag onto the breakfast bar.
I know there is more than what he’s saying, but I don’t argue. I don’t want to stress myself out any more than I already am.
We eat and get to know each other. I feel like I already know him from everything Isla had shared, but now it’s so much more. He tells me about how much he loves flying, being on search and rescue, and now with the fire department.
I need to share more about my past with him, and I try to think of something that’s not going to make me sound pathetic.
“When my grammy found me, I finally felt like I belonged. My parents weren’t like yours. My mother died from a drug overdose when I was fourteen. But even before that, she was only interested in spending time with me to make my father mad.” I don’t tell him that my parents kidnapped me. “My father died shortly after I was married to Sayler.”
“Dang, babe, that sucks. Your grammy sounds awesome, though. Why did she have to find you?”
I look down at my plate and push the food around. “My parents never told her where we were. I didn’t know how to contact her, plus I couldn’t.” I leave out the part about my father telling me she was dead. “When I saw her, I almost fainted. We were at the country club, and I didn’t want to make a scene. Sayler didn’t like her, neither did his parents. She helped me get the divorce from him. It tore me up when she died before the divorce was final.”
“Why did you divorce? Not that I’m not happy you’re no longer with him, just curious.”
“I was forced to marry him. They paid my father for me.”
“What?” His body vibrates with anger.
“It sounds worse than it is.”
“No, it is worse. Explain.”
I watch as he grits his teeth. It’s in that moment I realize I don’t fear him like I did Sayler. Whenever Sayler lost his temper, I was always the punching bag—verbally and physically. He’d apologize afterward, tell me how wrong it was, but he would still do it again later.
“Sayler said he was in love with me from the moment he saw me, but I think he just wanted to possess me. He was a spoiled child and got whatever he wanted. He had his parents pay off my dad’s gambling debts in exchange for me.”
“Babe, that isn’t love or right. That’s against the law. How old were you?”
“I was sixteen. Sayler was a friend at the time, or at least I thought he was. He had to join the military and left shortly after we were married. He was home on leave when Grammy found me. She tried to contest the marriage, but at that point, it was too late. So we got an attorney and filed for divorce. I discovered Sayler had been seeing someone else, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Until he went missing. Then Grammy died, and I was left alone with that clause in the prenup, stating I had to give Sayler’s family a baby. The judge stipulated I had to give it one round. When it failed, I didn’t think about the fact I was on all those hormones. That’s when you entered. I’m truly sorry.”
“Lyn, I’m not mad. Well, not anymore. It freaked me out at first, but now I’m okay with it.” He takes my hand in his. I look down at it and then up at him.
Biting my lip, I try to find the words I want to say. “I’m glad it was you and not Sayler. I know that sounds bad, but I can’t deny it.”
“I’m ecstatic it was me too.” He squeezes my hand.
I slip off the stool to take my plate to the sink.
“I got it. You go rest.” Ryker takes my plate, and I glance at the sofa where my soft blanket is waiting.
I grab the blanket and move toward the French doors. I step outside onto the wraparound porch and settle into the oversized Adirondack chair. Wrapped up, I gaze out at the mountains in the darkness. I love the quiet peace of this place.
“This right here is why I never left. I couldn’t move away. I love how quiet it is and how peaceful I feel when I sit outside. My house is on the lake, and I sit out on the deck, looking across it at night. I’ll take you there so you can see it soon.”
I lean my head back and look up at him. He squats down next to me, and I look into his eyes. Something moves across them, and my heart clenches for a moment. I’ve never looked into anyone’s eyes like this. I let him see all of me. The fear and the pain. He brushes his hand down my hair.
“I won’t hurt you, Lynae. I promise.”
Tears come to my eyes, and he brushes one away as it slides down my cheek.
“I’m scared.”
“Let’s just start out with being friends, then we can go from there.”
“I like that.” I nod and give him a soft smile.
He leans forward and kisses my forehead before moving to the second chair.
I feel my body being lifted, Ryker’s scent close as he carries me. I snuggle into him. I must have fallen asleep on the porch. When I feel the bed beneath me, I stretch out and then roll over.
“Just lock up when you leave.” I yawn and fall back to sleep.