“Your grandpa and grandma would meddle like that?” she asked, her heart beating a bit faster as she thought of all the times her mother had meddled in her life. Like with her ex-husband. He worked for her stepfather; her mother had picked out Harold for her and coached him on all the things Trish liked and wanted. Like the children Harold had said he wanted when he’d really had no intention of ever having them, had even had a vasectomy. Trish shuddered at the memory of how she’d been manipulated and how Harold had just acted the part of the husband she’d wanted. But he had never really been that man. The man she’d wanted—a loving, supportive family man—had never existed. He and her mother had duped her.
But Blake didn’t sound upset with his grandparents. He actually laughed over their antics. “They’re infamous matchmakers.”
That didn’t slow the pounding of Trish’s heart. “Did they set you and Maci up?”
“I’m sure they would have had we not already started falling for each other ourselves.”
She released a shaky breath of relief that her friend hadn’t been tricked or coerced like she’d been. “So you already fell for each other before they got involved?”
He nodded. “The first time I saw her. Your dad always talked about how smart she was and how sweet. He hadn’t told me how beautiful. And the first time I saw her, I was done. I was in love.”
“So you’ve been together awhile then?” she asked.
He tensed for a moment. “Is that what Stokes told you?”
She shook her head. “No. You just said you fell for her at first sight.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think I was good enough for her,” Blake said. “She’s smart and successful and so driven. I’m just a cowboy.”
A very sweet, humble cowboy. And Trish definitely saw why her friend had fallen for him. “She’s so smart that she realized what a good man you are,” she told him.
And Blake blinked. “That’s really nice. We were so worried that you wouldn’t approve, that you would think I was trying to manipulate her or the will or something.”
She shook her head again. “I know how smart Maci is.” Far smarter than Trish was. “I know she wouldn’t fall for that, and if, for some reason, she had, Frankie would have shaken some sense into her.” Like Frankie had tried shaking some sense into Trish before her wedding. But she hadn’t listened to her cousin any more than she had her dad. And because Frankie and her dad hadn’t approved of her marriage, she’d pulled away from them. Even when the relationship got bad, she hadn’t reached out to her family because she’d been so embarrassed that they’d been right and she had been so very wrong.
Blake chuckled. “Yeah, Frankie would have taken me out for sure if she thought I would ever hurt Maci.”
“She’s given me a couple of earfuls over stressing Maci out about the will,” Trish admitted. “Deservedly so. I was so caught up in my own mess that I didn’t realize the turmoil I’d caused back here. I’m really sorry.”
“Wow,” Blake murmured.
“What?”
“You’re not at all like I expected you to be,” he said.
She patted her belly. “Pregnant?”
“Yeah, I definitely didn’t expect that,” he said with a grin. “But you’re nice, too.”
She chuckled. “And you didn’t expect me to be?”
He shook his head. “That was just because of the lawsuit, though.”
“I never actually sued anyone,” she pointed out. “Nolan just filed for the extensions because we didn’t want the estate to get settled before my divorce was. That had gone on too long, and I didn’t want to give my ex another excuse to put it off. But now I realize I was putting you all through what he was putting me through. And I am genuinely sorry.”
Blake smiled at her. “We’re good.”
“You and I,” she said. “But the others?”
“Maci is, too. She told me that when she suggested I check on you,” he said. “And Liam and Elise will be. They’re so happy, in love with each other and Lucy, that nothing bothers them as much as it does…”
“Brett or Frankie?” she asked when he trailed off.
“Both of them,” he admitted. “They’ve been the most upset about all of this. And they’ll struggle the most to let it go.”
Trish sighed. “That’s going to make it tough for me to work with them,” she said. Especially since, with the way her father had set up his will, she would need a majority vote to make the changes she wanted for herself and her babies.
“Once the estate settles, Frankie will probably be off with her band again,” Blake said as if trying to make her feel better.
