Chapter 28
ROYCE
“You haven’t signed them yet?”
Royce glanced up at Quinn. There wasn’t an ounce of judgment in her voice. Heck, he couldn’t even hear any pity.
Curiosity.
His best friend was simply curious.
It should probably bother him that she was asking him about the divorce papers. It should probably bother him that she’d shown up at his family’s farm at all. She had insisted he could stay at her place as long as he wanted.
Then, out of nowhere, she’d shown up here just as he was about to be done working. Paperwork in one hand and his duffel in the other, she dropped the latter at his feet before shoving the documents at him.
“Look, I know I’m the last person who likes to deal with baggage. In fact, I’ll run from it the first chance I get. But you’ve got to face this.” She placed her hands on her hips as she gave him one of her looks.
“The thing is… I don’t want a divorce,” Royce muttered, tossing the folder onto the bed of his truck before hoisting himself to sit on its edge.
“Well, yeah. That’s a given,” she muttered, climbing up beside him. “I get that. But there has to come a point when you accept that things don’t always work out the way you want them to.”
He snorted. “And there has to come a point when my friends accept that I feel like the world is ending.”
She went still beside him.
Almost eerily so.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” His voice cracked. “I don’t get it, Quinn. I did… everything. Didn’t I love her enough? Didn’t I show her that I’d be there for her no matter what? There isn’t much more I could do.”
He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. Apparently, getting emotional was a new state of being he had to get used to. When he withdrew his hands, his vision was blurry.
He blinked a few times, then sighed. “I know I sound crazy. Any logical person would agree. Heck, if someone came up to me and told me they fell in love at first sight—for real—I would have asked if they hit their head on something. If they told me that the girl they fell in love with was going to be the only one they’d ever want even though they’d never had a serious relationship, I might even try to convince them to go on twenty blind dates just to prove a point. ”
Royce cut his friend a glance, not surprised that he couldn’t read her expression.
If he could have predicted what would happen after getting married, he never would have guessed that he’d end up here.
Shoulders slumping, he sighed. “I told her I wouldn’t deny her if, after taking a little more time to think about it, she asked me to walk away. And yet I can’t bring myself to sign any of it.”
He waved a hand at the folder where some of the pages were peeking through. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing’s wrong with you,” Quinn whispered. “Nothing, you hear me?”
Royce shrugged. “Something is wrong. No one is willing to accept that I feel like I lost part of myself when I lost her. I don’t know how to explain that in a way that doesn’t make me sound ridiculous.”
“Huh,” Quinn muttered.
“What?”
“Just never thought you’d be the romantic type, and yet she managed to bring it out of you.”
He chuckled, but there was no real humor in it.
“I can’t imagine my life any other way. Not now.
Not after…” He swallowed, but the lump in his throat remained lodged there.
“She’s… I can’t lose her, Quinn. I’d do anything to have her back.
I’d walk away from…” He gestured around them.
“…all of this. I’d accept being disowned if that was what it took. ”
Quinn arched a brow. “Did you tell her that?”
Royce lifted a shoulder. “She knows, I think. And maybe that’s part of the problem.
We’ve talked about how important family ties are.
When she saw the fight between me and my brother, I think she got scared.
She doesn’t want to be the reason everything falls apart.
” He looked toward the fields, his jaw tight.
“What she doesn’t get is that she doesn’t have control over any of it. This should be my decision too.”
“You won’t get any arguments from me there,” Quinn said quietly. “So what are you going to do?”
Royce glanced toward the paperwork again. It seemed to stare back, taunting him.
“I know I’ll never fall for another woman. Nothing compares to what I have with Penny, and nothing ever will. If that makes me an idiot, then so be it. I don’t care.” His voice lowered. “I’d rather die alone than build a life with someone I can’t love with my whole heart.”
“That’s… so sad.”
Within those words was the first sign of emotion beyond surface-level empathy that Quinn had ever shown. There was a tremor in her voice, and the way she avoided looking directly at Royce had him giving her a double take. She bit down on her lips and stared up at the sky.
This conversation was too heavy.
They needed to talk about something else.
Anything else.
Royce jerked his chin toward the duffel. “So you’re kicking me out?”
Quinn sighed. “I planned to. I wanted to do something to set a fire under you. This whole time you’ve been staying at my place, you’ve been stuck in a sort of limbo.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve caught you staring at that paperwork, and you only just got it yesterday.
” Her mouth tugged to one side. “It’s not hard to see how much you want to burn it. Don’t even bother denying it.”
Royce shook his head. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“And yet you won’t sign them. You can’t seem to pull the trigger.”
“I just told you why I couldn’t. Or, maybe I haven’t been able to do it yet because God has something else in mind.”
She sighed. “Yeah, maybe.”
They sat there in silence for a long moment.
Then Quinn asked, “What about her?”
“Penny?”
She nodded. “What happens when she moves on? I mean, you can sit on this paperwork for a while. I’m guessing Penny isn’t the type to go to a judge to force your hand. Not this early on. But what if it gets to a point where she’s ready to move on and you’re still…”
Royce didn’t want to admit how that scenario twisted his insides. Realistically, he knew it could happen eventually.
He just wasn’t ready to think that far in advance.
“You know I’m your friend, right?” Quinn nudged his knee with her own. “So keep that in mind when I tell you that you have to follow through.”
Royce flinched. “I don’t know if I can.”
She bumped him again. “You can. It’ll be one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do, but you most definitely can.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” He attempted to change the subject, but she was too smart for that.
“Royce.” Quinn grabbed the folder and tucked the pages inside. “You can do this. And who knows? If you’re right and there is truly no one else for you, then maybe she’ll realize what she’s giving up and come back to you.”
His hands were like ice as he accepted the pen she offered. “You really think so?”
“Honey, I don’t know. I just know that you can’t keep living like this.” Her eyes softened. “I know you’re stubborn and all, but even a mule has to give in and continue down the trail eventually.”
He scowled at her. “Thanks for that.”
His focus dipped to the first page, and his hand shook.
This was what Penny wanted.
And he’d promised he would give her anything she wanted.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Royce startled at Morgan’s sharp voice and the way she seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
His eyes grew wider when she snatched the folder from his hand and held it against her chest.
“Hey!” He jumped down from the truck, nostrils flaring. “Have you officially lost it?”
“No, but you have,” she snapped back.
Royce held out his hand. “Morgan. Give me the folder.”
She stepped back. “Not until you listen to me.”
“This is none of your business.”
“It became my business when you decided to do something stupid.”
He scoffed.
“I mean it, Royce. You’re wrong if you think signing those papers is the answer.”
His hands dropped to his sides, and he threw back his head with an exaggerated sigh. “I’m doing what everyone is asking me to do. I’m finally giving in.”
“Well, you’re wrong.”
Gritting his teeth, he fought the instinct to hurl more insults her way. Whatever had gotten into his little sister wasn’t his problem. “Go mind your own business.”
Morgan gasped, then yanked one of the papers free from the folder and held it behind her back. “If you’re willing to sign these papers so soon, then you clearly don’t love her enough.”
Royce froze, his blood boiling. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me. You gave up way too easily.”
“Whoa. Okay, Morgan. That’s not fair,” Quinn murmured, her voice gentle as if she already knew she was about to step between two wild animals out for blood. Her hands were up, and her eyes darted between them.
Morgan didn’t even glance her way. “If she means so much to you—”
“She means everything to me,” Royce growled.
“So prove it.”
Royce’s whole body felt like it was vibrating now.
“I’ve done everything I can. I tried, Morgan.
Don’t you think if there was anything else I could do, I would?
I fought for her. I gave her every reason I could think of.
I…” His voice shattered, and emotion clung to each word.
“I poured my heart out to her, and she handed me those papers like I was supposed to know how to survive without her.”
Morgan watched him, emotion shining in her own eyes. She gripped the sheet of paper so tight in her hand it crinkled.
“Family means everything, Royce.” Her lashes fluttered several times, and she swallowed hard. “You’d do anything for family. No matter the cost. Right!?!
Confusion gripped him. Was she still talking about Penny? Or was she trying to make a point about their family and the chaos they’d had to deal with their entire lives?
“What?”
She took a step toward him. Then another. “No one can argue with that.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Not you. Not Lincoln. Not even Dad. Family? Blood? It’s…” This time, her voice cracked. “Nothing is more important. Not even some feud.”
Still struggling, Royce searched his sister’s eyes.
What was she saying?
Then Quinn gasped.
In one large step, she was beside them both. She reached out and gripped Morgan’s shoulders. “Penny’s pregnant?”