The Sheriff's Mail-Order Bride (The Watson Brothers #2)(14)

“I wasn’t going to send her away. She’s got nowhere to go and no money at all. Plus, she ran out of gas on the way to the ranch and she had to walk up the hill.” Rory shook his head. “I feel as though I have no choice but to see how things work out between us. Only a heartless bastard would throw out a mother and child like that.”

“I sense a ‘but’ in there.”

“Yeah, there is. I don’t know if I want to go ahead with this. I don’t think I can get over the fact she lied to me.” Rory rubbed the skin between his eyes before he looked at his brother.

“Fair enough. It’s your decision. How about you give her the benefit of the doubt and see how things pan out? You might be surprised.” Chance leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

“If, and I mean if, I decide to send her back, I’ll have to give her some money. She came with nothing in her purse and the car ran out of gas before she got to the ranch so she’s pretty down on her luck right now.”

“You’re kidding? She deserves a chance if she came all this way to meet you and try to make a life for herself and the boy. There’s no way you’re sending her back. If you don’t want to marry her, we can sort something out somehow.” Chance shook his head and looked toward the kitchen, his mouth tight.

“I wasn’t going to do that to her if I could help it. Not yet anyway.” He saw the look on Chance’s face and knew his brother would kick his ass if he knew what was going through his mind. Chance was all about right and wrong and, where women were concerned, he was even more stubborn. “I thought about putting off the wedding for a few weeks until we got to know each other better at least.” Really my first instinct was to send her home as soon as I saw the child.

“Do you think that’s fair? Isn’t she expecting you to marry her on a certain date?”

“Probably, I did tell her we need to talk because we’ve both lied to each other.” He sat in one of the oversized armchairs and leaned back, weary of the day already.

“How did you lie?”

“I had Callie take a photo of me standing in front of your house.”

“Idiot.” Chance kicked out, striking Rory on the foot. “You let her think she was moving to live in this place?”

“Yeah, well, I thought it was a good way to figure out if she was genuine or just after me for your money.”

The fire crackled and a log dropped sending sparks up the chimney. “Seems to me like she passed then since she didn’t try to do a runner or gut you on site. That alone says a lot to me.”

*

“So, how did you two meet?”

Gina looked up into the inquisitive eyes of Callie.

“Um, I’m not really sure…”

“I was a mail-order bride.” Callie popped a peanut in her mouth and crunched contentedly.

“What?” Gina almost dropped the spoon she was using to feed Fisher his dinner. Was this a family thing?

“Yeah, you heard right. Chance put an advertisement in a magazine and I just happened to read it all the way down in Australia. Bit of a risk but hey, no pain no gain. It worked out for us. So, how did you and Rory meet?”

“We only met today.”

Callie clapped her hand over her mouth, stifling a peal of laughter. “Oh my goodness. That’s hilarious. Just you wait until I tell Chance.”

“Rory’s probably telling him right now.” She sighed and scooped another spoon of eggs into the little boy’s mouth. He chewed with his fingers in his mouth, getting more down his bib than what went down his throat. Gina was at a loss as to what else she could do to encourage the lawman to keep her.

“The brothers are pretty tight so it wouldn’t surprise me. Why are you looking so down about it then?”

“He didn’t know about my son.” Gina bit her lip, hoping the tremble wasn’t noticeable. The stress of the long drive, days alone at the ranch, and her future prospects was starting to get to her. All she wanted was to go up to bed and hide under the covers and pretend she was somewhere else.

“Hey.” Callie reached out and patted her arm. “Don’t get upset, Gina. It’ll be okay, you’ll see.”

The tears overflowed before she could help herself. “What will we do if he sends us away?” Fear reached up again and gripped her throat. For a moment there, she’d been letting herself imagine a life where there was a pantry full of food like the one in this kitchen, the power was never cut off for not paying the bill, and the roof didn’t leak, ruining the only decent blankets she had to keep them warm. Having a man like Rory want her for his wife was something she could only dream of, and now that might all be pie in the sky because of her deception. I am such an idiot for thinking this would work.

“Not going to happen on my watch. Trust me on this. If it doesn’t work out between the two of you, I’ll help you get settled in town anyway. Us girls have to stick together, you know.”

“It’s not your problem. Thanks anyway.” She wiped her finger under her eyes, ashamed she’d resorted to tears. She must be more tired and stressed than she thought.

“That’s not the bloody point. He got you over here and here you will stay regardless of what he says. Now I’ve met this cute little button, he’s not getting taken away from us.” Callie kissed the top of Fisher’s head, smiled at his mother, and looked up when footsteps sounded coming from the lounge.