“Thank you for trusting me. I know you didn’t ask to be thrown into the middle of all this, but I’m grateful my son has someone like you. Everything is going to be fine. You’re not alone, and you won’t be anymore. I promise you that.”
I swallow hard at his kind words. Praise is a rarity in my life, which makes each drop of appreciation as precious as gold.
Tears fill my eyes at his continual kindness. How in the world did my sister get lucky enough to have this man even for one night? How did she manage to get pregnant byhimrather than the dozens of douchebags in her past?
A gnawing sensation that feels suspiciously like jealousy sprouts in my belly.
Jealous of my younger sister? The one currently in jail for the next two years?
Me, the responsible eldest daughter, jealous over the man she had for one night?
Not smart, Davie. Not fucking smart.
13
CORMAC
The county courthouse and town hall sit next to each other on a block of green and brown grass in the middle of High Ridge—separate from the rest of the buildings along Main Street.
“Looks like our new mayor is trying to make good on those promises to revive the town—starting with her domain,” Connor muses as we watch a team of landscapers work to prepare the messy flowerbeds and patchy grass for spring’s arrival.
“I’m glad. Miller let things go to shit.” Jeb Miller’s father had been an honorable man and helped High Ridge prosper during his tenure; his son hadn’t inherited the same temperament or wisdom.
Which was why when Brenda Castillo decided to run against the usually unopposed Miller family, she won.
Tugging on my cuffed sleeve, my eyes drift away from a guy clearing dead leaves behind some bushes to the parking lot.
Davie should be here soon with Jesse and Linnea, who will serve as one of our witnesses.
“Nervous?” Connor asks. When I told him about Jesse and my plans to marry Davie, he’d offered very little resistance. Heknew how much I wanted a family. Knew I’d never abandon my own kid.
If he held any doubts about marrying a stranger, my brother kept them to himself—choosing to support me without judgment.
My best friends, Deacon and Briggs, were another story. Deacon had voiced his concern several times while we worked together on the ranch, and Briggs’s attitude stemmed from how he first met Davie that fateful day at the hardware store.
The fact that she sought me out to deliver the news of my son made him question her intentions. As if she intended to trap me into marriage all along, despite it being me persuading her to say yes.
I spot a grey sedan in the parking lot and release the pent-up breath in my lungs. “Not anymore. They’re here.”
My long strides eat up the space between us, barely giving me enough time to drink in the sight of Davie in a light blue sundress before I pull her into my arms.
“You came.”
A surprised laugh puffs against my neck. “Of course, I did. You think I’d bail? Our things are already at your ranch.”
“Our ranch,” I correct, reluctantly letting her go, and reaching inside the car for Jesse. My boy looks adorable in his little tuxedo tee. “Hey, kiddo. Ready to be Daddy’s best man?”
“I thought that was my job,” Connor says from the sidewalk.
“Face it. You can’t beat those chubby cheeks.” Linnea pats my brother’s arm in commiseration. Clearly, she’s lost out on Davie’s list of priorities, thanks to my boy, too.
Connor places a dramatic hand over his heart. “I’ve been replaced. Thirty-some-odd years as my brother’s favorite gone, just like that.” He snaps his fingers.
Rolling my eyes, I heft Jesse higher on my chest, forgoing his carrier for the trip inside. “Who said you were my favorite?”I tease, sparing a glance at my watch. “We should go. Our appointment with the judge is in fifteen minutes. We don’t want to be late for our own wedding.”
For a Monday morning, the halls are busier than I expected. The sound of heels striking marble floors echoes in the lobby as we study a directory before heading to the second floor.
A clerk greets us with a professional smile, asking us to sign a few papers, then we’re instructed down the hall to wait for the judge to call on us.
