Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch (Gold Valley #13)(28)

“Yes,” Callie said, feeling relieved. Because thank God, thank God her mother thought this was a good thing.

Because of course her mom was afraid that she would end up alone.

Now when she found out she missed the wedding she would be mad, and there was nothing Callie could do about that, but she was going to have to count on her mother’s relief that Callie had snagged a man to carry her through.

“We didn’t plan it or anything, and it was short notice, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, and I know that you’re not going to be happy with me... But... I got married this morning.”

Her parents just stared into the camera, completely shocked.

“I know,” she said. “But we thought it was... Best... To hurry up and get married and then we could just come for Christmas. And stay together. And... We wanted to... Be respectful and...”

“Are you pregnant?”

Leave it to her mom to just go ahead and ask.

“No,” Callie said, wishing she could physically push back the blood she knew was flooding her face and no doubt making her cheeks bright red.

“I wouldn’t have even been mad if you were,” her mother said. “At least you’re focusing on something other than the rodeo. It’s for the best.”

Her dad frowned. “I don’t much care for the fact that you married some guy who didn’t think to ask my permission, but what’s done is done.”

“Tell us about him,” her mother said.

“Well.” She coughed, more to give herself time than because of any actual urge. “You know him.”

That earned her a sharp glare from both parents.

She pressed on. “Jake Daniels.”

“Well, now we are going to have to have a chat,” her dad said, and she knew that he meant with Jake.

“Dad, don’t be mad at him...”

“You just tell me this, Callie,” he said, his whole face going deadly serious, “and I won’t ask you another thing about your personal life, I promise you. But you’ve known him for a long time. You just tell me that he never touched you when you were sixteen.”

Horror stole through her. “No. It’s only that it caught us by surprise. And you know he respects you, Dad, and he wanted to make sure he did the right thing. He wanted to marry me before... Well... Before anything happened.”

Horror was the dominant emotion now. Her face was so hot and she could see—thanks to the front-facing camera—that it was the color of a tomato, and she did not want to be talking about this with her parents, but her dad was the one who’d brought it up.

They both had.

Pregnancy and if she’d been taken advantage of, and for a woman who had managed to spend a whole lot of time not thinking about sex it was a whole lot to suddenly have to talk about it as much as she had the last few days.

She didn’t like it.

It made her uncomfortable, and she really didn’t want to think about it in connection with Jake, because it was... It was wrong. And it had nothing to do with the real reason that she was marrying him. Nothing to do with why she’d chosen him.

“Well, that’s unexpected,” her dad said. “But I can tell you’re not lying to me.”

This was an instance where her blushing had probably helped her out. That and the fact that before all this had happened, before her accident and before her dad had come out against her desire to compete in the rodeo, he’d known her better than anyone else.

Had been her closest ally.

She hated now that he wasn’t. That she had to lie.

Absolutely hated it.

More than anything, she hated that she’d proven herself right. He had only supported her when she acted tough, unbreakable, and being human had changed things. Having any sort of vulnerability had changed things.

That meant she’d been right all along. That she could never please her mother and gain the support of her father. That she could never wear rhinestones or...

She thought of how she’d confessed her wedding dreams to Jake. She’d wanted that before. Before she’d realized she had to choose.

It was ironic that marriage was the vehicle she was using to get to where she wanted to go. Because she’d written that off when she’d shed as many of her other desires as possible. Anything that didn’t contribute to her rodeo dreams.

“He cares about me. An awful lot.” That was true, too. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be helping her like he was. “And he’s a really good guy. Really.”

“We’ll talk at Christmas,” he said. “Or any time you want to come.”

“We’ll come the week before, just like I planned.” She cleared her throat. “His cousin is having a big party. Christmas. This week. And it’s important to her that we all go. So...”

“Sure. I can’t believe it,” her dad said. “I just thought... Of all of you, I never thought you’d be the one to get married first. And I sure as hell never thought you’d surprise me with it.”

“I didn’t, either,” she said. “You know Jake has always been really special to me.”

And that was true. The truth down to the bottom of her heart, and the more she could say that was true in this nest of lies, the better. “Then we’ll see you at Christmas. And I hope Jake likes to drink whiskey and go shooting, because he and I are going to do both. I have some long conversations about what I expect. He didn’t ask my permission. And he’s going to have to make up for that.”