Knox was blindsided but maybe he shouldn’t have been. Nothing between them had been solidified and that was his fault. Their relationship had been such a whirlwind, he hadn’t been able to figure out his own feelings fast enough. But the fact that Gen didn’t want to move her horse to the Ambling A spoke volumes. In her mind, the Ambling A wasn’t her home. Now it was his job to convince her otherwise.
“Why do things between us have to fall apart, Gen?”
Hurt, pure hurt, entered her eyes. It was an emotion he’d never seen there before and hoped to never see again.
“That’s a cruel thing to say, Knox.” His wife crossed her arms tightly in front of her body. “Divorce was always in the cards for us. That was the deal, right?”
“Gen.” He tried to reach for her hand but she turned away from him. “What I’m trying to say to you—clumsily I admit—is that I—”
His wife interrupted him and pointed back at the house. “Look at what we’ve done, Knox! Just look at what we’ve done! We’ve involved the whole blasted town in this ridiculous lie!”
“I thought we were having a good time tonight, Gen. Was that part of the lie?”
“Of course we were having a good time. That’s all you and I do. We do what feels good and damn the consequences! We’re so...irresponsible. And selfish.”
Suddenly, Knox felt in his gut that Genevieve was saying one thing but talking about something entirely different. There was something deeper going on and he was certain he didn’t know what it was.
“Tell me what’s going on, Genevieve. What’s wrong?”
Her arms still crossed tightly in front of her body and her expression grim, Gen said, “I’m done with this game.”
Knox’s hands tightened reflexively into fists at his side. He wanted to grab her, hold her and stop her from leaving him. And she was leaving him—he could feel it in his gut. And yet, all he could ask was, “What do you mean?”
“I mean I’m not going home with you tonight.”
“Gen, please.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m serious, Knox. I’m staying here tonight and I’m telling my mom everything—the whole truth. After all of this—” she nodded her head back toward the house “—she deserves the truth.”
There was a long silence between them before he asked his next question. “And then what?”
“Then we get a divorce. Sooner or later, that was always going to happen. Now I want it to happen sooner rather than later.”
The morning after the wedding reception, Genevieve awakened in her garage apartment with Oscar the cat sleeping half on her pillow and half on her face. For some reason, Knox speaking to Collin about moving Spartacus had been the proverbial straw that had broken the camel’s back. Had she meant to end her marriage behind an oak tree on her parents’ driveway? No. But it had happened and now she needed to go forward. She still had to confess to her mom and then she needed to find a pregnancy test ASAP so she could find out if this fake marriage was going to be with her for the rest of her life in the form of a child.
“I love you.” She hugged the round fluffy feline tightly and kissed him on the head. Oscar, as he always did, began to purr loudly for her.
Genevieve slowly extracted herself from beneath the weight of the cat and sat upright on the edge of the bed. Her mom was well aware that she hadn’t gone home with Knox after the party, but she didn’t know why. Now it was time for Genevieve to pay the piper. Knox had been calling and texting regularly; she had ignored all of his attempts to talk. What was there to say? At this point, she wasn’t so sure of her own feelings anymore and she certainly wasn’t convinced of his. Either way, the two of them had made a royal mess of things.
Genevieve pulled her hair back into a quick ponytail, threw on some old jeans and a T-shirt and walked barefoot down the stairs, across the yard and up to the front door. Inside the house, the remnants of the party lingered—half-inflated balloons hanging from the stairwell railing and the large pile of unsolicited gifts in the formal living room that she was going to have to return. From the kitchen, she could hear her mother humming. As it always did, the thought of her mother in that cheerful yellow kitchen gave her a sense of security, of well-being—even when there wasn’t any reason to feel those things. Her mother had always been her comfort.
“Good morning.” Genevieve walked into the kitchen and was greeted by the scent of coffee brewing.
Jane turned toward the sound of her voice and there was such kindness and care in her mother’s eyes that Genevieve had to stop herself from immediately bursting into tears.
“You don’t look like you had a good night, ladybug.” Jane enveloped her in a hug. “Sit down and I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”
Genevieve rested her head in her hands, dreading the conversation to come. Her poor mother had been put through the ringer while Genevieve was in high school. This table had seen more than its fair share of “what has Genevieve gotten into now” conversations. Now that she was in her early thirties, it was getting through her thick skull that she needed to grow up and start taking her adult responsibilities more seriously. Not everything in life needed to be approached like a death-defying, adrenaline-producing adventure. And she didn’t have to win every time.
Jane set the cup of coffee down in front of her and then joined her at the table. Her mother’s cool hand felt good on her arm. She lifted up her head out of her hands and looked into her mother’s kind eyes.
“What’s wrong, ladybug? Why didn’t you go home with your husband last night?”
“Does Dad know I’m here?”
“No.” Jane shook her head. “He left before dawn to go to that farm supply auction. He won’t be back until late this evening.”
That was a lucky break. She knew that everyone in town would soon know that her marriage to Knox was over, but it was going to be particularly difficult to tell her father. The man was beside himself with happiness that she was finally married to someone he considered to be a “good, solid, God-fearing man.” For all she knew, that grandchild he had always wanted from her might very well be on the way. Then she would be a single, divorced mother.
“I’ve really screwed up, Mom.”
“Nothing is so bad that it can’t be fixed.”
Genevieve wrapped her hands around the warm coffee cup, her eyes focused on a scratch on the table.
“Holding it in only makes it worse,” her mother said in a gentle tone. “Light is the best disinfectant. Speak it and heal it, sweetheart.”
“I don’t even know where to begin.” She sighed. “I never meant to hurt anybody, especially you.”
“Genevieve.” Her mother said her name in a way that made her lift her eyes up. “You are my daughter, my firstborn. You have given me a run for my money, that is the God’s honest truth. But I love you more than any person has a right to love another. No matter what, that is never going to change.”
Genevieve took in a deep, calming breath and then let it out very slowly. “My marriage to Knox isn’t real.”
Saying those words aloud to her mother—speaking that truth—hurt. For the first time, tears of sadness and anguish formed in her eyes and she didn’t try to stop them. She had wanted to cry over Knox for weeks, but she hadn’t allowed herself to acknowledge—truly acknowledge—that this relationship wasn’t going to work out for her. If he loved her, he would have told her.
Jane stared at her, stunned. Of all the things her mother might have imagined to be wrong, this obviously wasn’t on her radar. Her mother stood up, grabbed a box of tissues and brought them over to the table. She pulled a couple of tissues free from the box and handed them to her.
Genevieve wiped the tears from her face before she blew her nose. The tissues crumpled up into a ball on the table as she waited for the questions from her mother that were bound to come.
“Your marriage isn’t real?” Jane’s words came out very slowly. “What do you mean? You aren’t really married to Knox?”
“No.” She frowned. “I’m really married.”
“Then, I don’t understand, Genevieve. You need to spell this out for me.”
Once she started talking, recounting the whole story, from the initial wager to the elopement to the layers of lies they had told in order to make the whole plan work, she couldn’t seem to stop. She told her mother everything, including that they had consummated the marriage and that she feared she was pregnant. It took her a long while to finish confessing, and when she did, her mom didn’t say a word. She just sat at the table, her round face unsmiling, her finger tapping on the tabletop while she mulled over what her daughter had just told her.
“Oh, Genevieve,” Jane finally said with deep sadness laced in her voice. “When are you ever going to learn to look before you leap?”
“Hopefully I’ve learned that lesson now. I’m so sorry, Mom. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I had you go through all of this planning and expense for the wedding reception.”
“Don’t you be sorry for a thing. I’m not. I had the time of my life and don’t have a bit of regret.”
“But the money—”
“Ladybug, when you were born, your father and I started a college fund and a wedding fund. I spent your wedding fund to throw this party.”
“Well, at least I don’t have to feel guilty about the money anymore.”
“No. And there’s no sense feeling guilty about anything. It’s a complete waste of energy.” Her mother reached for her hand and squeezed it. “And do you know what else I think? I think your husband is crazy about you. I think he’s head over heels for you, I really do. Everyone sees it. Everyone. Even your father sees it and that man is blind as a bat when it comes to just about everything. As a matter of fact, even Maximilian Crawford sees it. He told me so himself last night. So maybe this marriage isn’t as fake as you believe.”
“I don’t see it,” Genevieve muttered. “He’s never said it to me.”
With the exception of that one time in the loft when they were making love. In her mind, coming as it did in a moment of passion, that didn’t count.
“Some men are just slow to come to their senses,” Jane said. “Your father loved me for months before it occurred to him to speak the words aloud. I remember he actually thought he told me that he loved me and he hadn’t. He’d thought it in his mind and didn’t bother to get the words out of his mouth. If Knox loves you, he’ll break down the door looking for you and then you’ll know.”
“Maybe. But that’s not my biggest problem right now. A baby wasn’t part of our bargain, Mom.”
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans, ladybug. I think it’s time we find out if there’s even anything to worry about.”
“I’m not going to buy a pregnancy test at the general store.”
“Oh, no,” Jane agreed. “Absolutely not.”
Her mother got up and walked over to the phone on the wall and dialed a number. “Darling, do you happen to have any pregnancy tests in your medicine cabinet?”
Of course. As often as her sisters got pregnant, no doubt they had a stockpile of pregnancy tests in their bathrooms.
“Thank you, love,” Jane said into the phone. “We’ll see you in a minute.”
Her mother hung up the phone.
“There. Problem solved. Ella is coming over and we’ll have our answer right quick. Better to know than sit around worrying and wondering.”
As usual, her mom was right. If she was pregnant, she needed to know. And if she did have a Crawford bun in the oven, then that was going to take the next conversation she had with her husband in a whole different direction. In fact, it was going to take her whole life in a different direction.
Knox took his hammer and smashed into the hinge, banging it again and again even though it didn’t budge.
“Are you trying to fix that or break it more, Knox?” Hunter was holding the gate up so he could try to unseat the rusted hinge.
Knox gave the stuck hinge a few more hard whacks before he cursed and threw his hammer on the ground. Frustrated, he kicked the gate several times. With a concerned look on his face, Hunter let go of the gate and focused his attention on Knox.
“What’s going on? You’ve been off all day.”
If it had been any other brother than Hunter asking, Knox would have made an excuse, any excuse, just to end the conversation. But Hunter was different. He had been married, and he had a daughter for whom he was responsible. It made Hunter more grounded and Knox trusted his counsel.
Knox wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve. “Genevieve left me.”
He hadn’t spoken those words aloud. It felt like a punch in the gut to give them a voice.
Hunter stared at him for a second or two and then waved his hand with a smile. “If that’s a joke, brother, it ain’t funny.”
“It’s not a joke. She left me. She didn’t come home with me last night. As far as I know, she’s planning on moving back into that garage apartment at her parents’ house.”
Now he had Hunter’s full attention.
“I don’t understand,” Hunter said. “The party...”
Knox kicked the gate again. “It was a lie. All of it was a damn lie.”
Perhaps he shouldn’t have begun to tell Hunter the truth, but once he told him one part of the problem with Genevieve, his brother wasn’t satisfied until he knew the whole truth of the matter. When he was done explaining his elopement scheme, the disbelieving, disappointed look on his brother’s face spoke volumes.
“You and Dad are cut from the same bolt of cloth, Knox,” Hunter said with a shake of his head. “The same darn bolt of cloth.”
Knox hated to hear that, yet there was a ring of truth in his brother’s words. Both he and his father would go to any lengths to get their way, to be in control—to be right.
“You need to go and fight for her,” Hunter said plainly. “If you love her, then don’t let her go.”
“I tried to tell her how I felt last night.”
“You tried,” his brother scoffed. “Please.”
“I did,” Knox said. “Now she won’t answer my calls. My texts.”
“I know you can’t possibly be as dense as you’re sounding right now, Knox. A woman wants her man to fight for her. Genevieve is begging for you to step up and be a man and claim her, to prove to her that this marriage might have started out as a wager but it ended up as the real deal. Instead of going over there and fighting for her, you’re standing here and kicking a fence! That woman is the best darn thing that has ever happened to you. We all see it. And you’re a better man for having married her, no matter the circumstances. If you let her go, then all I can say is that I love you but you’re not the man that I believed you were.”
Genevieve sat on the side of her garage apartment bed and stared at the pregnancy test. Never in her life had she experienced such mixed emotions. One minute she was happy and the next she was incredibly sad, like a giant grandfather clock pendulum swinging back and forth. With a heavy sigh, she slid the pregnancy test back into the box, walked into the bathroom and put it on the edge of the sink. All she wanted to do with the rest of her day was hide under her covers. The confession to her mother and then her sister had exhausted her. It was going to take a full day of sleeping just to prepare her for the next round—dealing with her father and then with Knox.
With a heavy heart, Genevieve climbed under the covers and rested her head on the pillow next to Oscar, who had easily slept right through her traumatic morning. Genevieve rubbed Oscar’s fat belly, causing the cat to roll on his back and purr loudly. Why couldn’t her life be a simple as Oscar’s life? She pulled the covers over her head to block out the light and wished for sleep. She had deliberately turned off her phone because she didn’t want to be disturbed. For now, she wanted her life and everyone in it to just go away.
Sleep had thankfully come and Genevieve had no idea how long she had slept when a loud knock on the door jolted her awake.
“Go away!” she grumbled, turning over and burying her head back under the covers.
“Gen!” Knox’s strong, determined voice penetrated the door. “Open up, please. We need to talk.”
“Go away!” she yelled. She wasn’t ready to speak to him.
When he didn’t respond, didn’t fight her on it, it only confirmed her suspicions that her feelings for Knox were one-sided. It really had been just a game to that Crawford cowboy.
A sound like a key in the door made her pop her head out from underneath the covers. The door opened and suddenly Knox, as handsome and put together as always, was standing inside of her sanctuary.
“Mom gave you a key.”
Knox shut the door behind him. “She did.”
“I’m not in the mood to talk to you.” Genevieve pushed her mussed hair out of her eyes.
Her husband sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes steady, his face more somber than she had ever seen.
“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, Genevieve. I just need you to hear me out. I just need you to listen.”