Page 27 of She Autumn Be Mine

Stepped

Autumn

Back at the apartment, I managed to get Stetson down for the night. Jake was at the table, the legal papers spread in front of him, lost in concentration when I came out of the bedroom.

“Please, Jake. You’ll drive yourself crazy looking at those.” I started hot water on the stove for some sleepy time tea. A night of tossing and turning lay ahead of me.

“Their whole case is that you’re alone, Autumn.”

“Yep. That I am.” I searched my cabinet for the tea box.

“So we take that out.”

“What?”

“Alone.” He entered the kitchen but only as far as leaning against the door frame. So much appeared behind his level face, that I gripped the edge of the counter. “I have an idea. Hear me out to the end before you say a word. Okay?”

I side-eyed him, brow furrowed. “Sure.”

“Marry me.”

That—was unexpected. I coughed. “Um, what?”

“Their petition says unwed. That you cannot be a fit mother trying to raise their grandson alone. So. You marry me, and it solves that problem. You and Stetson can move out to the ranch—Ash’s old cabin is available now, right at the edge of the pasture. You’d have insurance, too, covered fully under my military benefits. No more worrying if Stetson gets sick. His boosters, checkups, a fever at two in the morning, all covered.” He let that sink in while it all swirled around me.

“I…” Was he for real?

“Look, I have savings, and I make a decent living to support us. Hell, you could quit working if you want. If you marry me, then their lawyers no longer have that leverage. And a woman with me, a ranch, and a whole town around her, supporting her, has a fighting chance against the Eatons.” His words sounded tidy and logical, but…

“The marriage wouldn’t be real,” I asserted.

He reached a hand up, cupping my cheek. “It’d be as real as we make it, Autumn.”

Oh God. I couldn’t breathe. Was the oxygen running low in this room? I stepped out from under his hand, back to the cabinet, searching for whatever, I couldn’t even recall now what.

“Jake, people don’t just marry for—for convenience.”

“Sure they do. All the time. Especially in the military. I knew a guy who married his best friend’s sister just to help her with medical costs for her son.”

Stetson cried out in his sleep.

“You’re not thinking straight.” I gave up the search and went to check on him, if nothing else than for distance and breathing room.

“Mama,” he sniffled, reaching for me. So much for bedtime. I drifted back out with him in my arms.

“Autumn, this makes sense, if you’d give the idea a chance,” Jake persisted.

“You’d be handcuffing yourself to my whole mess for a court case. And why? What do you get from it?”

“I get to help you.”

“Stop with the obligation to Trig, okay?” I shouted, maybe harsher than he deserved, covering the baby’s ears. “You’ve more than fulfilled your end of the bargain. There has to be another way.”

“Tell me then. I’m all ears.” He took three strides on his long legs and reached my side, staring with all intensity at me, which only made it that more difficult to think straight.

He proposed. Of sorts. God help me, that happily ever after family picture of us from the pumpkin patch flew through my head.

“Autumn. Let me stand with you and fight the fight. Our marriage can be all paper, or real, or anything you want in between. But I’d be honored if you took my last name and let me give you my name and a home.”