Chapter Seventeen
She loves me?
Hayden came to bed late on Saturday night, long after Evie had gone upstairs. And he got up before the crack of dawn on Sunday morning, long before Evie stirred.
She loves me.
Hayden had mixed feelings about that. Oil-and-vinegar type of feelings.
Do I love her?
On the one hand, Hayden thought of Evie as found family. He respected her, enjoyed her company, and wanted to protect her from harm. Surely, that was a form of love. The kind of love he was comfortable with.
On the other hand, he’d spent the past ten years turning his back on deep emotions that led to scars to his heart. What did he know of love? The kind of love Evie claimed to have for him?
Where can we possibly go from here?
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Hayden bottle-fed Mike and fed the horses hay flakes. He cleaned stalls. He polished tack. He kept himself busy in the hopes that he could forget Evie’s words from the night before.
I love you, Hayden. I’ve always loved you.
“You’re polishing that bridle as if it’s done you wrong,” Roddy said when he found Hayden in the tack room a short time after sunrise. “Why don’t you head on over to the house and have a cup of coffee with that sweet wife of yours?”
“I’d rather start transporting livestock to the auction yard.” They had two more large stock trailer loads to go. Hayden finished wiping down the bridle and stood. “Are you ready?”
Roddy leaned against the door frame, a knowing smile on his wrinkled face. “Playing the avoidance game, are you? The way you did with Clyde? Only this time with the lady of the house?”
“No.” Hayden tried to deny it, but he felt the cowardice of his actions deep in his gut. “The cattle has to be moved, Roddy. We’re on a deadline. The auction is Tuesday.”
Roddy smacked his lips. “You’ve got a lover’s quarrel shadow about you. Might want to clear that up before we go.”
Hayden rolled his shoulders back. He felt the pull of Evie’s feelings for him. He felt them deep inside in a vulnerable place he’d sworn never to revisit. But he couldn’t bring himself to answer that call.
“You’re a wise man, Roddy,” Hayden allowed, walking toward the tack room. “But I have to set my feelings aside in order to put the Bennett house in order.” And he had to know if Evie was going to end their marriage today rather than a little over five months from now.
Roddy frowned, but he got out of Hayden’s way.
Only to reveal Rhett in the breezeway, holding a travel mug of coffee. “What’s this I hear about a lover’s quarrel?”
“Nothing.” Hayden tugged his hat brim down as he strode past, heading toward Red’s stall. “The less you know, the better.”
“What I do know is that Katie’s dad is bringing her back this afternoon,” Rhett said crisply, walking next to Hayden. “You need to be back by then, regardless of any misunderstanding you and Eve are having.”
His brother was right. Steven was the enemy, lurking about, ready to take Evie away if Hayden wasn’t careful.
If Evie isn’t packing her bags right now.
“We’ll be back in time if we leave soon.” Hayden opened Red’s stall door, refusing to return to the house to see where he and Evie stood in the light of day. “Are you two coming or not?”
*
Eve sat on the front porch midafternoon on Sunday, an open nursing textbook in her lap while Rhett’s twins and Irene gave horses a bath outside the barn.
She hadn’t turned a page in over an hour. Her emotions were all tangled and twisted inside her. She knew how painful unrequited love was. Steven had shown her how painful that could be.
The sound of metal against metal brought her head up. A dust cloud appeared on the horizon where the ranch road was. A truck came into view. Hayden’s truck. Pulling the large horse trailer. Behind it, the cattle hauler appeared pulling the double-decker cattle trailer.
Eve drew a deep breath, determined not to avoid Hayden the way he’d avoided her this morning. Whatever he thought… Whatever he decided…
I won’t argue.
Another dust cloud appeared on the horizon. It was a car this time. A red one.
Steven.
He had the worst timing. But then again, Katie was back. And Eve could use a big hug from her little girl.
Eve stood and set her textbook on the wooden rocking chair, moving to the top of the porch steps.
Hayden parked his truck in front of the barn, where it was most convenient to unload the horses. He, Rhett, and Roddy got out of the truck. Hayden stared toward the house, perhaps toward Eve. He may have sighed. Then he glanced toward Steven’s approaching luxury car and strode toward the porch.
He’s going to live up to his end of the marriage bargain.
Eve squared her shoulders and assembled a smile, avoiding direct eye contact with Hayden. He stopped near the bottom porch step and turned toward Steven when he got out.
“I’m back. On time,” Steven announced, moving to free Katie from her car seat.
Once released, Eve’s little girl bounded out, looking pampered—her hair tamed, her clothes new.
“Look at me! Daddy bought me new ranch clothes and boots!” Katie wore a white button-down with splashy red roses on it.
She lifted her blue jeans to show off a pair of brown boots with red roses on them.
And then she tipped her brown cowboy hat, which had a hatband featuring red roses.
“All my new clothes match. Don’t they, Daddy? ”
“They do.” Steven had opened the trunk and came forward with a plethora of shopping bags. “If my girl’s going to be a cowgirl, she’s going to be the prettiest cowgirl out there.”
“Expensive clothes don’t make you pretty,” Eve muttered under her breath. That was an argument she’d never won.
“I’m going to show Mike and my cousins my new clothes!” Katie skipped toward the barn where horses were being unloaded from the trailer by Roddy and horses were still being washed by Katie’s cousins and Gran.
Eve came down the steps to take the shopping bags from Steven. “You shouldn’t have.”
“My daughter isn’t going to wear hand-me-downs,” Steven said coolly, staring at Hayden.
Eve could handle cool. She glanced up at Hayden briefly, taking note of his hardened features and dark stare that was fixed on Steven. “I’ll put these inside.” Because there was too much testosterone out here.
She let the screen door slam behind her.
*
“Spoiled her, did you?” Hayden asked of Steven in a hard voice.
Hard, because he was only just now realizing that the man could give Evie and Katie much more than he ever could.
He’d spent the day strung as taut as an improperly tuned guitar string, too tight and waiting to snap.
“You tried to buy Katie’s affection. Hoping it would get you points with Evie. ”
Steven didn’t flinch from Hayden’s challenge. “She’s my daughter to spoil.” Emphasis on my.
“Out here, we value authenticity over appearances.”
“You’re saying that making do and doing without build character.” It wasn’t a question. Steven flashed that slick defense attorney’s smile of his. “But appearances do count. Not just outside. But in here.” He tapped a spot on his chest where most people have hearts.
Whether Steven had a heart was yet to be proven.
Steven cast a disparaging gaze about the ranch, no doubt taking inventory of the rundown condition of the neglected property. “If you live the leader look, you’ll be a success.”
“Or go broke trying.” Hayden bared his teeth in a weak attempt at a smile.
Steven wasn’t fazed. “You know, I love my daughter. I want what’s best for her, the same way you want what’s best for Eve. If you truly loved her, that is.”
Hayden scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Evie’s ex studied him in silence for a moment before answering. “You rushed to the altar, and I don’t think you thought this through.”
“Typical lawyer doublespeak.” Hot air, as far as Hayden was concerned. He turned to go. “See you in two weeks.”
“Eve’s going to become a registered nurse,” Steven said in a knowing voice. “Because Eve’s smart. And then, all this will change.” His gesture encompassed the ranch. “She’ll get a job somewhere else. She’ll work long hours.”
“That’s her dream.” To help people heal.
“But if your relationship isn’t solid, your marriage will fail.” Steven spoke in a hard voice, as if this was a hard truth Hayden needed to learn. “Even if you did love her, her absence would derail your marriage.”
“Which is why you never supported Evie’s dream.” Things were beginning to come together. “Because you loved her so very much.” Like a possession. Hayden smirked.
Steven looked as if he wanted to fling a scathing retort at Hayden, but Evie returned to the porch, the screen door slamming behind her. All he said was, “Just wait,” before opening his car door.
Hayden couldn’t let the man have the last word. “I will wait. I’ll see things through with Evie. But just so you know, you’ll need four-wheel drive to pick up Katie safely come winter. We won’t put our girl at risk. I think the judge will agree, don’t you?”
Steven got into his fancy car and slammed the door shut. The engine roared to life. He turned the car around too fast, kicking up gravel that might mar that once-pristine, sparkly red paint job of his.
Hayden smiled. Finally, something that felt like a win today.
Evie came down the steps to join him. “Did you get it all out of your system?”
“Meaning?” Hayden faced her.
Evie looked tired, like she hadn’t slept well. “Did you get the frustration out over what I said last night?” She nodded toward Steven’s cloud of retreating dust. “Seems like you tried to take it out on Steven.”
“You’re wrong,” he lied. “I took it out on cattle all day.” And Roddy. And Rhett.
“In a real marriage, folks talk out their frustrations. They don’t take them out on others.” Evie turned, as if to go. But then she swung back around to face him. “Dinner will be ready soon.” Then she headed back inside.
Leaving Hayden to realize on his own that the big blowout conversation he’d been expecting, the one he’d imagined all day would put an end to their marriage, wasn’t going to come.
We’re just going to pretend Evie never confessed her feelings?
He stared at that receding dust cloud, not knowing if that was good or bad.