Tied #2
“I know today was too much. I’m sorry. It was stupid and I should have told you where we were going so you could have prepared.” I rocked with her in my arms, her body perfect for me to hold. “My bad. My fault. I swear I’ll never do that again. This-this husband thing—I’ll get better at. Promise.”
“No. Jake, that’s not it.” She swiped at her face and made it worse.
“You’re so blessed. Do you understand that?
A mother who feeds strangers and gives warm hugs.
A sister who buys diaper bags. A father who says four words a day, his quietness filled with heart.
Even a goat that loves you so much it attacks you.
” A wet, ridiculous laugh broke out of her.
“I never knew these things existed. Not once, my whole life.”
“You never talk about your family, and I’ve been too shy to ask. Tell me now. I need to know.” I gritted my teeth. “How bad was it? Who hurt you?”
“Bad,” she whispered. “Our father ran off when we were young. And Mom pretty much trolled the bars looking for her next husband, leaving a trail of failed relationships we had to deal with. Trig pretty much raised me from about middle school on, and you know him. He wasn’t the best but we were all we had to each other.
Only when I graduated high school did he take off for the military.
I worked at diners, and then bartending when I was old enough. ”
“Christ, baby. You’ve endured so much.” I held her tighter, my chin on her head.
“That’s why, when Brantley and I finally got together—” I tensed up hearing this part, “—I thought my luck had changed. Thought I’d found a man with a prominent, upstanding family. But it didn’t mean anything at all.”
I knew the rest of the story. She didn’t have to continue. Finally knowing the truth about her past did nothing but make me want to fight anyone who came near her again.
“Autumn, sweetheart, forget all that. You’re with me now. About to be a McCall. I swear to you, no one will ever hurt you.”
“That’s the problem. What if this doesn’t work out between us?
” She sobbed and dared to voice the tiny thing that even I admitted could be a flaw to our plan.
I simply chalked it up to wedding nerves.
“I went into this ready to handle my own heartbreak, even Stetson’s, if this marriage of convenience doesn’t work.
But yours? And now theirs? Your mother just gave me her mother’s ring.
Your dad whittled my son a goat. Your sister expects us to be close.
Our simple arrangement suddenly involves a whole family of people who could get very hurt in the process, and they’re such good people. ”
“You are too. Just a good girl thrown into very bad situations. But that stops here and now. I’ve told myself one thing my whole life. I only plan to marry once. One time. Forever. That’s it.”
She reared back to peer into my eyes. “And you were willing to waste it on me over a custody battle?”
“Not a waste.”
“A gamble?”
I took the end of her braid where it lay over her shoulder, and ran my fingers down it, slowly, because I had all the time in the world, no matter my family sitting anxiously behind us.
“We talked about it the other night. Taking things slow. There could be something to this beyond the custody battle. I think my life has been upside down since the first day I laid eyes on you, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
” I cupped her chin so she’d know the seriousness of my words.
“You need to decide something right now, Autumn Michelle. Because I know my answer. We’re going slow, so we could make this work.
We could make this last forever. Don’t you think so? ”
She searched my face like hunting for the catch that had always come before in her heartbreaking life. She’d find none here.
“There’s nothing fake about what we’re doing. And about the only convenience here is, as far as I’m concerned, that I get to do this.” I kissed her temple.
“And this.” I brushed my lips across her forehead, her breath catching. Her fingers curled into my shirt—both hands, gripping, not pushing away but pulling—and the small, wanting sound she made against my jaw rewired every plan I ever had about going slow.
“And…” A soft peck on her nose, before heading for her lips at last—
A damn knock came at my window, startling us apart.
“Oh, sorry. Mom was getting worried,” Jamie shouted through the barrier. “Is this makeout session going to last long? Should we pull ahead and get to the ranch before you?”
I glared at my nosy sister with a look I reserved for enemies of the state. I had been an inch from my first taste of Autumn.
“Okay. We’ll wait. Sorry.” Jamie ran back. I didn’t know how, but she’d pay for that little interruption.
“Christ. No wonder you’re crying. The McCall’s can be alot. No privacy in the family sometimes.” I chuckled, but Autumn moved out of my arms back into her seat. I reached to ensure she’d buckled in tight. “Crisis over?”
She grabbed my hand and held it, our fingers lacing together. “Yes. You’re very convincing.”
“I know. One of my best qualities.”
“Will you show me more of your best qualities?” She fluttered her lashes, revealing a playful side at last.
I slowly, slyly smiled. Dang, maybe her wall was finally coming down.
“Without a doubt. But right now, we have a wedding to plan.” I brought her hand to my lips, and kissed the ring I’d placed on her finger today.
I pulled back onto the road. In the rearview, my family held in behind us and followed us all the way to the ranch.
Except those family ties weren’t just mine anymore. They were hers now, too.