“Can I ask you something?”
Sadie perked up. “Of course. Anything.”
“It’s about Savannah.”
Her shoulders dropped, but not with annoyance or surprise. The expression on her face was more like resignation. “I figured this was coming.”
“I’m not trying to tear open old wounds,” I added quickly. “I know it’s none of my business, but I just feel like I’m walking into a story halfway through and trying to pretend I know the ending.”
“That makes sense,” she said quietly. “I had plenty of questions about Jamie’s story myself, so don’t worry. I get it.”
“I’m not jealous. I just…” I trailed off, trying to find the right words. “I just want to know that he’s okay. That he’s really over it. Overher.”
Sadie blew out a slow breath. “I wish I could tell you something neat and tidy, but the truth is, I wasn’t here. I was in boarding school when they started dating and in college when they broke up. I barely knew her.”
“Oh.”
“But I do remember him after everything fell apart. And honestly? He seemed more upset about the baby part of it than the relationship.”
That hit me right in the sternum. “Really?”
Sadie nodded, brushing hair from her face. “Trent has always wanted kids. A whole crew of them running around the ranch. Little cowboys and cowgirls with dirty boots and sunburned noses.” She smiled softly. “That’s always been his dream. Not the girl or the perfectly packaged romance. Just the family.”
It felt like someone had wrapped their fingers around my throat and started squeezing. “Is that true?”
“Yep,” she said without even having to think about it. “One day, he’s going to be a great dad. The best. That’s all he’s ever wanted. I don’t think he ever would’ve even married her if she hadn’t been pregnant. He rarely ever even said her name after,or the baby’s. He just kept talking about how he thought he finally had a family of his own.”
“Could it be because it hurt too much to say their names?”
She shrugged. “Maybe, but I just don’t think that was it. If you ask me, and you are, so I guess I’m justified in saying this, he was over her before she even told him about the baby. He just thought he was doing the right thing by marrying her after he found out. I wouldn’t worry about it. I really don’t think he’s hung up on her.”
The right fucking thing. Of course. What is it with this guy and denying what he wants just to do what he thinks is right? No one is that freaking honorable. Really.
“Do you think he still wants that?” I asked quietly. “Kids. A family.”
She grinned at me. “Honey, I know he does. Do you have any idea how much time he spent at our house when I was pregnant with Hailey and Briar? He was on the freaking phone to Jamie when I told him about Reagan and Alexa. He practically lived in our house after each birth just to help out. He is going to be a real good dad. Just you wait and see.”
My heart squeezed so hard that I had to suck in a breath at the mental image my mind conjured up without even trying. Trent with a baby on his hip, teaching a toddler to brush a pony, corralling muddy little monsters around the yard with that amused, patient look he got when he was teaching someone something. Mostly me these days, but still.
“Yeah,” I said finally. “I can see that being true.”
She touched a hand to my arm. “Don’t spend another minute of your life thinking about Savannah, okay? She’s ancient history and it’s not because my big brother is callous or uncaring. I don’t know what he saw in her at first, but I just think he figured out pretty fast that it wasn’t going to?—”
A shriek erupted from across the room. Two toddlers—hers—were climbing the dessert table like gremlins, desecrating it. Sadie groaned. “I swear, I turn my back for two seconds…”
I laughed. “Go, I’ve got Reagan.”
She handed over the baby carrier without hesitation, already sprinting toward the chaos. I looked down at Reagan—wide-eyed, curious, and so tiny—and my chest ached in a way that felt new, but also as dangerous as it was beautiful.
This wasn’t just Trent’s dream. It was mine too.
I didn’t even hear him approach. One second, I was rocking little Reagan against my shoulder, breathing in that warm-milk baby smell, and the next, Trent’s shadow slid over us.
“There you are,” he said softly. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“Sadie and I have been trying to find a safety zone.” I looked up and he was smiling at me, but it was a different kind of smile. The kind that curled at the corner of his lips like I was exactly what he’d been secretly hoping to find. Then his gaze dropped to the baby in my arms.
Something flickered across his face, either surprise or wonder, and then something else, something sad he tried to hide by smoothing the smile back into place. I shouldn’t have, but for a heartbeat, I let myself imagine it, him walking up to me like this one day and findingourbaby in my arms.
