“You’re not a misfit, Finn. You’re a wonderful, thoughtful man, and this is a perfect idea,” Macy said. “I will give you every dime I have left from the death gratuity and life insurance.”
“I don’t want that money,” Finn said.
“Yes! Yes, it’s yours, and you have to have it, and—”
“Macy,” he said, putting his hand on her knee. “I don’t want the money. I want
you
. That’s all I want. I can’t do this without you. I need you. I love you as much as I ever did and I’ll carry you with me, always. But you have to know that I’m not going to spend any more time trying to convince you that you should be with me. It’s time for you to fish or cut bait.” He turned toward her, putting his hand to her neck. “So I’m going to ask you once more—will you come build a new life with me on the ranch?”
Macy’s eyes filled with tears. She gasped, almost as if the question had caused her physical pain.
Finn’s heart sank like a rock. His hand fell from her neck and he stood up.
“Wait!” Macy cried, reaching for his arm. “Can’t you see how badly I want to be with you, Finn? To be only yours, to go back to what I believe was a perfect love?” she cried, gesturing grandly. “That’s what we had, you know. We had a perfect love. I love you with all my heart, and I haven’t been able to think about anything but you.”
“Then what is it? Is it Wyatt? Honest to God, Macy, I’ll go with you when you tell him. I won’t let him touch you or—”
“Wyatt would never hurt me, Finn. And it’s not that. Okay it
is
that, because I love Wyatt, too, but I don’t want to hurt him, and—”
“We’ve been through this already, baby. Somebody is going to get hurt. That’s just a fact you have to face.”
Macy buried her face in her hands. “My God, how did I ever get here?” She abruptly stood up from the picnic table and turned away from him, threw her floppy hat on the table, and stood with her hands on the small of her back. “This is so hard,” she said solemnly. “The mud just seems to get thicker and thicker, and I feel like it’s pulling me under—”
“Tell me what it is, Macy,” Finn demanded. “Tell me whatever the hell it is and I promise you, I will fix it. But you have to tell me, because I am moving on from here, today, and either you’re going with me—today—or you’re going back to him. You have to decide.”
She opened her mouth to speak. Closed it.
“Macy,” he said, his voice warning and pleading at the same time, his heart lurching.
“I’m pregnant,” she said quietly.
Macy hadn’t meant to tell Finn precisely that way, but when she finally said it out loud, she realized there was really no good way to tell him.
He was as stunned as she thought he would be, but the one thing she had not anticipated was that he might, for one slender moment, believe it was his. She saw the confusion in his eyes, in that awkward moment that he must have been counting back to the day they’d made love in the back of his pickup truck. “No, Finn—it’s Wyatt’s,” she said softly.
He took an unsteady step backward, as if she’d just punched him. His gaze dropped to her stomach. Macy had never seen such plain heartache on a man before and it made her feel a little unsteady. She sank onto the bench of the picnic table, dismayed by her weakness.
“Have you told him?” Finn asked hoarsely.
Macy shook her head. “I just went to the doctor and I couldn’t get hold of him.”
“How far along are you?”
Macy heard in that—or perhaps read into it—the question of when she’d last been with Wyatt. “Six weeks.” Six weeks, an entire lifetime from where she was now. Six weeks ago, she and Wyatt were trying to conceive a child, talking about names and schools, and what their kid would be when he or she grew up.
“Does anyone know?” Finn asked.
“Laru and Jesse. They guessed, because I’ve been sick and…and hungry,” she said.
Finn nodded. Clenched his jaw. Turned toward the river and pushed a hand through his hair. She could see his shoulders rise with a deep breath, then slowly lower again.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to see me again,” she said, her voice breaking. She’d thought a lot about it, had imagined him smiling sadly, agreeing it was probably best they parted ways. She’d imagined him getting in his truck and driving away, but perhaps riding away, as he would surely do at any moment, was more fitting. “It feels like everything is stacked against us,” she said sadly. “I don’t know what to say, other than I am sorrier than you will ever know,” she said, putting her hands on her belly. “Those words must sound so meaningless to you by now, but I am truly sorry.”
“I don’t care,” Finn said, his back still to her.
Macy grimaced with the pain those words caused her. “I don’t blame you,” she murmured.
“No, you misunderstand.” He turned toward her. “I don’t care that it’s Wyatt’s baby. I still want you, Macy, the baby and all.”
Stunned, Macy gaped at him. She had imagined every different scenario, but never this one. “You can’t mean that.”
“I do. I don’t care,” he said again. “That baby may as well be mine, because it doesn’t change the way I feel about you one bit. I love you. I want to be with you, Macy. And if you have a baby, I’ll love the baby, too. The only thing that matters to me is that I have you and that we’re together—baby and all.”
“Do you honestly mean that?” she asked. “Don’t you want to think about it?”
“I don’t need to think about it. I won’t be the first man in America to welcome a child into his life that isn’t his. So are you coming with me, Macy?”
“Ohmigod,” Macy said. “I never dreamed…”
“That’s because you didn’t spend three years chained to a wall,” he said. “If you had, you might have dreamed about the impossible. That baby is just another part of you that I will love—”
“Finn!”
she cried. She threw herself at him, almost afraid if she didn’t, he’d take it all back and this dream would disappear. She locked her arms around his shoulders, her face in his neck. Finn held her tightly. “What about Wyatt?” he asked.
“I know, I
know.
It’s so heartless to tell him I’m pregnant but leaving him. But I can’t deny what’s in my heart. It would be crueler to remain married when I want to be with you.”
Finn reared back a little to look at her. “Then you’re coming with me?”
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, yes, yes…” Macy kissed him hard.
“
Macy
…”
The whisper of her name riled Macy’s blood as Finn drew her to his mouth, his body.
She was flying and falling at once and clung to his waist, her leg wedged between his, pressed against him, wanting to be possessed by him as much as he wanted to possess her. Finn cupped her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb while he pressed back against her. After all the uncertainty and confusion, she was buoyed by his unconditional desire for her. If she could, she would have disappeared into him altogether, but Finn lifted his head, gazed into her eyes, and traced her bottom lip with his thumb. “You and me, baby. We were destined for each other long before we knew it.”
Macy nodded. “You and me,” she whispered.
Finn kissed her again, so thoroughly that she somehow found herself flat on her back on an old, rotting picnic table, beneath a canopy of pecan trees, on the banks of a river, under a summer sky so blue that it almost looked painted. And as Finn showed her just how much he wanted her, Macy fell harder and flew higher than she’d ever done in her life.
When they floated back to earth, they spent the afternoon talking about the changes they’d make to the ranch, dreaming of a new house, a new barn, and the animals they’d have. Macy convinced Finn that the best use of the life insurance money she’d received was to put it toward the rescue ranch. But when Milo was roused from his nap beneath the picnic table and the horses began to snort and neigh at them, they reluctantly returned to Luke’s clinic.
Later, when they turned into Laru’s drive, Finn parked the truck and looked at the limestone house, then at Macy. “You can’t go on living here forever. I can’t go on living at Mom’s. Let’s rent a place in town until we can make Two Wishes inhabitable.”
Macy had a fleeting thought of the house in Arbolago Hills and of all the things Wyatt had given her. Right now, those things felt easy to give up.
“But before we do anything, you have to tell Wyatt,” Finn said. “I’ll come with you.”
She was grateful for the offer; he was her rock. “I think that would be adding insult to injury somehow. I need to tell him.”
Everything will be all right.
“You shouldn’t do it alone. He’s not going to like it when he hears you’re leaving him.”
“Honestly, I think he knows,” she said sadly. “But there’s no other way to do it. I owe him this much, at the very least.” She owed him so much more.
Finn couldn’t argue. “When?” he asked.
“As soon as I can find him.”
Macy said good-bye to Finn with another lingering kiss, then slowly climbed out of his pickup truck. She stood at the door of Laru’s house, watching his truck pull away.
She didn’t realize until he had disappeared from view that Milo had stayed in the truck and had gone with Finn.
Wyatt got back from San Marcos later than he intended Monday evening and was encouraged with the message Linda Gail had left him—Macy had called three times while he was gone.
The next morning, Linda Gail told him she’d made reservations for them for that night at Jeffrey’s in Austin. Wyatt was given strict instructions to have an expensive meal, no holds barred, and then move on to music at the Key Bar. “It is very trendy and hip,” she’d said. “You could stand to be a little hipper.”
Wyatt could honestly say he didn’t know how to be hipper, but he was going to try. He had to trust Linda Gail on this one. He was, surprisingly, a little nervous. He wanted the date to be memorable for Macy, for her to understand how much she meant to him. He did not want to screw it up.
Everything was arranged. Now, at noon on Tuesday, all he had to do was call Macy and ask her to join him.
He picked up the phone and called Laru’s house.
“Hi, Wyatt. What a coincidence. She’s headed into town to your office.”
“She’s headed for the office?” He really didn’t want to ask her with Linda Gail hovering around.
“I believe so.”
“Thanks, Laru.”
He decided to intercept her. He tried her cell phone, but it rolled to voice mail. He told Linda Gail he was going to grab a bite and got in his truck. As he drove on the road she’d likely take, he spotted her Jeep outside the daycare where Chloe took her kids, and pulled in.
He could hear the shrieks of laughter outside and walked around the corner. Beneath some very old and towering oaks, which provided ample shade, a monstrous playscape had been built. Yellow and red riding cars littered the ground along with a variety of balls and toys.
Wyatt spotted Macy instantly. She was pulling Chase and Caden in a red wagon around the perimeter of the fence. A little girl was following along behind them. Macy saw Wyatt when they turned the corner. “Wyatt!”
“I, ah…I saw your Jeep out front.”
“Oh,” she said, brushing some hair from her face. “What a coincidence. I was on my way to the office hoping I could grab you a minute and just stopped by to say hello to my two favorite boys,” she said, smiling down at the twins.
“Make the wagon go!” Chase cried.
Macy laughed and looked at Wyatt. “Want to walk with us?”
He looked at the kids. “I need to talk to you, Macy.”
Her smile faded a little. “Yes. I need to talk to you, too. Give me a minute, will you?”
Wyatt watched her walk around the perimeter of the fence. When they’d made a square, she stopped, picked up each boy and kissed them, then crouched down between them. Wyatt loved the way she looked with those kids, and they clearly adored her. She said something to them and pointed at Wyatt. They both turned to look at him. Macy kissed them once more, waved her fingers good-bye, and joined Wyatt at the fence. “Let’s walk down to Daisy’s Saddle-brew,” he suggested.
The place was deserted at three in the afternoon. Macy took a seat at one of the patio tables beneath the vine-covered arbor while Wyatt went in to get some drinks. Sam was leaning up against the counter, reading a magazine. “Hello, Sam,” he said.
“Hey, Wyatt,” she said cheerfully. “Black coffee?”
“Actually, today I think I’ll walk out on a limb and get something else. What would you suggest?”
“I’d stick your big toe in before going all the way,” Sam laughed. “How about a vanilla latte?”
“Sounds great. Make it two, please.”
“Two?” she looked up, her expression changing slightly when she spotted Macy sitting outside. “Two it is.” She moved to get the drinks.
Macy smiled and thanked him when Wyatt returned with the lattes. As he sat down, he realized he should have gotten an ice tea. It was awfully hot, far too hot for coffee. Macy fidgeted with the cardboard heat band around the cup. “So how are you?” she asked.
Raw. So raw
. “I’m good,” he said. “I’ve been really busy. Listen, Macy, I have…I have a surprise,” he said. “I know it’s short notice, but I thought maybe we could go into Austin and have dinner at Jeffrey’s tonight.”
“Jeffrey’s?”
“Jeffrey’s. And then, I thought we could hit the Key Bar.”
“The Key Bar,” she repeated.
“It’s live music. Very happening place,” he said, realizing he never would say
happening
and
place
together. But these were extraordinary circumstances.
“Ah,” she said, and slowly tore the cardboard heat band from the cup.
Wyatt should have trusted his instincts, and he’d be sure to tell Linda Gail that first thing in the morning. Macy did not want to go—her body language said it all. This was the moment Linda Gail had planned, the moment Wyatt was supposed to sweep her off her feet, seduce her, assure her that he was The One, but the moment felt entirely wrong. It felt awkward, stupid. This was not him, asking his wife for a date. How had he let Linda Gail convince him that it was?
“David and Aurora are big fans of Jeffrey’s,” he said, aware that he was, already, mentally grasping at straws. “Supposedly the best food in Austin. I think the chef worked in the White House.” Linda Gail had said something about the White House, hadn’t she? “We could talk. Or not. We could just be together for a change.”
“Wyatt, I don’t think…”
“Or, we could just get some burgers and see a movie if you’d rather,” he said, a little too desperately.
Macy looked down and rubbed her forehead a moment.
“It doesn’t have to be this hard,” he said quietly. “I know we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms the last time I saw you and I apologize for that. But let’s move past it. Everything will be all right, I promise.”
Her shoulders sagged; she looked up at him and Wyatt knew instinctively he did not want to hear whatever she might say. “You haven’t touched your coffee. Drink up.”
“Wyatt—”
“Let’s just enjoy the afternoon, Macy. I’m not asking for anything but company.” A breeze filtered through the patio, lifting a bit of her hair. Wyatt had an insane urge to touch her hair, to feel it between his fingers. His longing clouded his vision and a dull fear filled his throat.
“I appreciate the offer,” Macy said. “It is obvious you’ve thought a lot about it.”
“Us. I’ve thought a lot about
us
.”
“Us,” she repeated. “You have…you’ve always been wonderful to me, Wyatt.”
He softened a little bit. “I was pretty rough on you the last time I saw you, and I wanted to make up for it somehow.” He glanced sheepishly at her. “I’m really sorry about that. I don’t have an excuse for it, other than I’ve been extremely…frustrated.”
“I know,” she said, and slid her hand across the table and covered his hand.
The small, soothing gesture surprised Wyatt. His heart skipped with a beat of hope. Had he misread her? Had he jumped to conclusions because of his fear of losing her? Could it be possible that the ordeal was coming to an end?
But then Macy drew a breath, and he knew.
“I hope if there is one thing you know above all else, it is that I love you.” She lifted her gaze to him, and her blue eyes were swimming in sadness. “You’ve been a wonderful husband. The best. I am a very lucky woman to have you in my life.” She drew another deep breath. “And, I have some news,” she said, her voice breaking a little. “I…I’m pregnant,” she said in a voice so soft that he wasn’t sure at first that he’d heard her. But then she smiled a little sheepishly and Wyatt’s heart, his battered heart, soared.
“What?” He came out of his seat and impulsively grabbed her up, pulling her to her feet and into a bear hug, twirling around with her. “That is
fantastic!
That’s the best news you could have given me!” But even as he was speaking he knew something was wrong. Macy wasn’t laughing or exclaiming with him. She was clinging to him to keep herself from falling, not out of shared joy. He loosened his grip and let her slide down to her feet. Macy’s hands came up between them.
“No,” he said, searching her face. She looked down; Wyatt grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look up at him. “Don’t tell me it’s
his
!”
“
No
! No, Wyatt, this baby is
yours
.”
“Then what is wrong?” he asked. “Why do you look so miserable? Is something wrong with the baby? Is it all this goddam stress we’re under?” he asked, his eyes fixing on her stomach.
“The baby is fine—listen to me,” she said, and caught his face in her hands, drawing his gaze up. “There is nothing wrong with the baby, and
you
are the father. But Wyatt, I can’t…” She closed her eyes as if she’d felt a sudden pain. “I can’t be with you,” she said, opening her eyes. Sad eyes. Eyes that should be bursting with the light of joy were dulled with sadness. “I love you, and I wouldn’t hurt you for anything. You have to know that. But I love Finn, too—”
Wyatt suddenly pushed her away.
“I know how hard this must be to hear,” she said, her voice shaking, “because it is very hard to say. But I am being as honest with you as I know how to be, and we promised each other we’d always be honest.”
“I don’t want to hear this,” he snapped. “I don’t give a damn how honest you think you’re being, Macy.”
“You
have
to hear it,” she said, her voice full of regret. “I can’t help how I feel. I have agonized over it, but I keep coming back to—”
“Shut up,”
he said angrily before she said another word. “I don’t give a shit how much you have agonized,” he spat, and moved away from her, clenching his fist to keep himself from exploding. “I get it, Macy! You are carrying
my
child, you promised me the rest of your life, and you want to be with him!” He laughed derisively. “That’s about the size of it, isn’t it?”
An elderly couple walked by and looked at them. Wyatt forced himself to smile. Macy pressed her lips together as they waited for them to pass, and in that time, Wyatt felt something splinter inside him, the pain giving away to fury. As soon as the couple was out of earshot, Wyatt said, “You can forget it, Macy. I won’t give you a divorce.”
“But—”
“No buts,” he said, cutting her off. “You are carrying my baby. I’m not going to let you take my baby and go live with G.I. Joe! Forget it.”
“Wyatt, you’re being irrational.”
“
I’m
being irrational?” he shouted at her. “How the hell can you say that? You’re about to throw away our marriage and
I’m
being irrational! Get a grip, Macy! Come down off your little fantasy cloud! You are married to me whether you like it or not, and I have some say in whether or not this marriage ends!”
“Technically, this marriage doesn’t exist,” she said evenly.
“Hey!” It was Sam; she’d appeared in their midst, looking alarmed.
“Jesus, Sam, please,” Macy said.
“Is everything okay?” Sam asked Wyatt.
“Everything is fine. We’re fine,” he said, glaring at Macy.
Sam hesitated, but then slowly retreated.
When she’d gone inside, Wyatt said, “You have to file suit to have our marriage dissolved. Do you honestly think a judge is going to sign off on that suit to make this marriage void when you are carrying my baby?”
“I think he has to do what the law says. You can’t stop me, Wyatt.”
It was true; he knew it was true, and he mentally stumbled, his thoughts and reason collapsing on one another in his panic. He was going to be a father—without his baby or his wife? “Jesus Christ, Macy,” he said, bewildered. “How can you do this?”
She swayed a little bit and put her hand to the back of the chair to steady herself. “It’s heartbreaking,” she admitted.
Fury gave way to fear and Wyatt said, “I’ve never asked you for much of anything, but I am asking you now—please don’t do this. Please, God, don’t do this. That’s my baby, Macy. That is
my
baby! Please—” He caught himself, tried to swallow down the angry pain. “Please don’t take my life and my baby from me.”
Tears welled in her eyes and she suddenly put her arms around Wyatt. “I would never take this baby from you,” she said softly. “Never. But I have to do what is right for me and for everyone.”
“This isn’t right for our baby!” he cried, pushing free of her embrace. “And it’s damn sure not right for me!”
“This baby will very much be a part of your life. And
I
will still be in your life if you want me. I just can’t be your wife.”
He made a sound of disgust and flicked his wrist at her.
“Wyatt…do you really want me in our house—in our
bed
—knowing that I want to be with another man?”
Of course he didn’t want that; he wanted his wife back, he wanted his baby, he wanted the life he thought he and Macy would have. “What about me?” he asked. Macy didn’t answer him, but he saw the raw pity in her eyes.
He twisted around, away from her. He couldn’t even look at her. He was angry, so angry that he could hardly catch his breath. “As long as we’re sharing news,” he said in a voice that was barely controlled, “here’s some news for you to chew on—whatever it is you and Cowboy Bob think you’re going to do, you’re going to have to do it someplace other than Cedar Springs, because I sold the Two Wishes Ranch.” He shifted his gaze to her. “It’s all gone, just like the life you had with him, and you can’t get it back, any more than you can get your little fairy tale back.”
Macy gaped at him, clearly stunned. “You
sold
it?” she said incredulously. “You told me you’d canceled the closing!”
He shrugged indifferently. “I lied.”
“How could you do that? It wasn’t yours to sell!”
“Like hell it wasn’t. You gave me power of attorney. You said,
Please handle it for me, Wyatt, I can’t bear to do it
,” he said, mimicking her. “Well, I handled it for you, Macy. I sold it.”
“You have no idea what you’ve done,” she said breathlessly.