Chapter Twelve

Seating everyone around the table was impossible, so Cassie and Charlie settled at the breakfast bar on the two bar stools while Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim got to know Charlie’s parents, Aaron and Frances, at the nearby table. So far, Cassie thought everyone got along great and Aaron’s sense of humor put her aunt and uncle at ease. Aunt Helen, especially, could get serious at the drop of a hat.

Cassie got up to clear off the table after everyone was finished eating. She thought they might want some leftover wedding and groom’s cake with coffee for dessert.

“No, you sit down and relax. We can have cake and coffee in a little while. It’s your honeymoon!” Frances said. “Helen and I will do the dishes.”

“That’s right,” Aunt Helen said, gathering dinner plates. “Your kitchen is so lovely that it will be a joy to work in.”

Cassie didn’t know about any kitchen duty being a “joy,” but she wasn’t about to argue with her aunt. “Thank you.”

“Jim, Dad, would you like to see the outside of the house?” Charlie asked. “We did a lot of repairs there, too.”

The men confirmed that they would like to see the renovations. They went out the front door and Cassie was left to settle on a bar stool and watch her new mother-in-law and her aunt do the dishes.

“We got a lot of casseroles,” she said. “People have been very generous.”

Frances nodded. “That’s what I miss most about Brody’s Crossing. We had such good neighbors.”

“We do, too, at home. I can’t wait to tell them about our RV trip,” Aunt Helen said as she loaded the dishwasher.

Cassie asked about several families she remembered from her years there, and then the men came back in.

“It’s getting hot out there,” Aaron said. “Over a hundred, I imagine.”

“I’m not sure I could get used to these temperatures,” her uncle Jim said.

“It’s not as hot in Harlingen, where we live now,” Aaron explained, “but the heat here is drier. More tolerable.”

“I haven’t gotten used to it yet and it’s my third summer,” Cassie said. The pregnancy didn’t seem to be helping, either. She didn’t want to spend much time outdoors unless she was doing something fun, like riding Rooster.

“You’ll get used to it,” Frances said.

“In thirty years or so,” Charlie added with a grin.

Cassie smiled back at him. He was so cute when he grinned. So handsome anytime. Her husband. Who would have thought she’d be married now, much less enjoying it this much?

She spread her hands over her stomach and looked at Charlie, silently asking him if he was ready to tell their folks they were going to have a grandchild.

At least, she hoped Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim would want to be grandparents to her child once they found out she’d gotten pregnant before the wedding.

Charlie took a deep breath and nodded just slightly. “Let’s sit down,” he said to their guests. “The living room is real comfortable.”

“Everyone did such a great job picking out the furniture,” Cassie said as she settled into a chair facing the couch. Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim sat next to each other on the couch and Frances joined them. Aaron sat in the matching chair, and Charlie pulled up one of the dining room chairs to sit next to Cassie.

He took her hand and smiled at her, then turned to the others. “Cassie and I have something to tell you.”

She felt as if she might hyperventilate, but knew she had to do this. “We…we are going to have a baby.”

Stunned silence seemed to stretch forever.

“And we hope you’re as happy as we are,” Charlie said.

“Uh, wow—absolutely,” Aaron said. “Our first grandchild, Frances. Isn’t that exciting?”

“Yes! Oh, yes. I’m just…surprised. We had no idea you were even serious about someone, and then the wedding…” Frances smiled. “Of course we’re thrilled.”

“Aunt Helen? Uncle Jim?”

“Well, this is certainly a surprise,” Aunt Helen said, no emotion in her voice.

Uncle Jim sat there, frowning.

“When will the baby be born?” Frances asked. At least Charlie’s mother sounded excited.

“Sometime in February,” Cassie answered. “I’m going to the doctor in two weeks to get a sonogram.”

“Will they be able to tell whether it’s a boy or a girl?” Aaron asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” Cassie said. “It’s usually at least eighteen to twenty weeks before they can say for sure.”

Frances looped her arm through her husband’s and grinned. “I’d love a little granddaughter since I had two boys.”

Aaron shrugged. “I don’t care, as long as the baby’s healthy.”

Frances turned to Aunt Helen. “What about you, Helen? Any preferences?”

“Well, of course I hope the baby is healthy.”

Poor Aunt Helen. She didn’t know what to say. And then Cassie felt depressed because obviously her aunt and uncle were just as upset about her having a baby as they were about Chelsey getting pregnant by her college boyfriend. Apparently the fact that Cassie and Charlie were older and had gotten married hadn’t made any difference to their belief that conceiving a child outside marriage was a sin.

Cassie forced a smile for her in-laws. “I’m glad you’re happy. I’ll do everything possible to have a healthy baby.”

“I’m sure you will,” Frances said. “And wish for a little girl, okay?”

Cassie smiled. “That would be nice.” She could see herself picking out tiny dresses and buying girly things. She knew nothing about little boys.

“Hey!” Charlie said, looking offended. “What if Dad and I want a boy we can teach to ride and rope?”

Cassie turned to him and forced another smile. “I guess we’ll get what we get, won’t we?”

“Isn’t this exciting, Helen?” Frances said, obviously trying to make Cassie’s aunt relax. “Charlie told us you raised Cassie from the time she was a little girl. This will be just like a grandchild for the two of you.”

“I would have preferred that Cassie had made other choices before the wedding so she and your son weren’t in this situation.” Aunt Helen sat so stiff and her color was so pale that Cassie would have been alarmed if she wasn’t so hurt.

“That’s kind of harsh,” Charlie’s dad said, clearly not happy with her aunt.

“Aunt Helen, I’m sorry you’re offended by my actions, but as I’ve been told many times by my friends, a child is a blessing.” She pushed herself out of the chair. “If you’ll excuse me…”

Charlie stood up, too, but she motioned for him to sit.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She made it to the bedroom before she burst into tears.

 

CHARLIE KNEW SEVERAL married guys who didn’t like their in-laws, but at the moment, he felt like grabbing both Helen and Jim and shaking some sense into their thick heads.

He glared at them instead. “I want you two to know something,” he said, trying to keep from growling at them. “Cassie and I are happy about this baby. We’re happy we got married yesterday.”

Helen seemed to draw back and suck in her already thin lips.

“I sure had hoped you’d be a little more understanding about this. It doesn’t sit well that you’ve upset Cassie.”

“We didn’t say anything to upset her,” Jim said in a lame attempt to defend themselves. “No, you didn’t say anything at all, did you? Especially not ‘congratulations’ or ‘we’re happy for you.’ That’s all she wanted to hear.” He jumped up from the chair and paced, running a hand through his hair. His scalp felt too tight, as if he might explode from the emotions bouncing around his brain at the moment.

“We’ve always loved Cassie as if she was our own child,” Helen said. “We tried to raise her right, with good values. We only want what’s best for her.”

He whirled on her. “I’m what’s best for her,” he said, jabbing himself in the chest with his finger, surprising himself and apparently the rest of the room with his intensity. He meant it, he realized. He did think he could make a go of this marriage. He could make Cassie happy.

“I hope you’re right about that,” Jim said.

“This is ridiculous,” his mom objected. “It’s obvious to anyone with eyes in their heads that Cassie and Charlie are very much in love and perfect for each other. A baby is just icing on the cake.”

“I’m not saying they’re not in love,” Helen said. “But we would have preferred that the baby came at least nine months after the wedding.”

Charlie narrowed his eyes and felt like shaking her. “That’s just too damn bad, because that’s not the way it happened. This baby is gonna be born in six months whether you like it or not. I sure hope you wrap your mind around that fact. Cassie thinks enough of you two that she planned this wedding so you both could be here. If it were up to me, we would have eloped. It would have been a hell of a lot easier and just as legal. But no, she wanted you here and she wanted a church wedding. Why don’t you think about that while you’re being so sanctimonious?”

Dad stood up. “Come on, son. Let’s walk this off while Jim and Helen have time to think.”

“Good idea,” Frances said. “I’m going to see Colby at the house.”

Charlie didn’t want to leave Helen and Jim alone with Cassie, but his dad was probably right; he needed to “walk this off.” That was the advice he’d always gotten when his temper threatened to get the better of him.

He headed for the door with his parents, then turned back to his in-laws, pointing a finger at them. “Don’t upset Cassie. She’s my wife now and she’s got a new family to look out for her. We’re gonna make sure no one makes her unhappy.”

He stormed out the door, barely keeping himself from slamming it.

 

CASSIE LEANED HER HEAD against the bedroom door and listened to Charlie leave with his parents. She was sure he hadn’t wanted her to hear what he said to Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim, but she had.

She’d never forget how he’d come to her defense. She’s my wife now. She’d never seen Charlie angry, but hearing him talk to them had been enough to convince her he wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with.

She’s got a new family now. She hadn’t thought about it that way. Colby had been very nice and helpful. His parents were great.

It’s obvious to anyone with eyes in their heads that Cassie and Charlie are very much in love and just perfect for each other. Was that really how they seemed to his mother, or was she simply seeing what she wanted to see? Had Aunt Helen picked up on something that Charlie’s parents hadn’t noticed?

Cassie didn’t know. She wanted to think that she’d fallen in love with her husband. She definitely wanted to make this marriage work. But was she only infatuated with the idea of being married, basking in the afterglow of making love? Or was there really a strong enough foundation to build a new family?

“Cassie?” Aunt Helen’s tentative voice sounded on the other side of the door.

Cassie stepped back. Now what? More recriminations?

She opened the door. Aunt Helen stood in the hallway, her taller frame bent a little, her face sagging. “I’m sorry, honey. You took us by surprise.”

Cassie would have normally hugged her aunt, but she didn’t this time. “Obviously not a good surprise. You made that clear.”

“I…I’m sure it seemed that way. I needed time to think.”

“You weren’t happy for me, Aunt Helen. For us. That’s hard to forget.”

“Now that I’ve thought about it, I am happy that you have a husband and now you’re having a baby, which is a blessing.”

“It would have been a blessing whether I had a husband or not, because I’m going to love my baby. I’m sorry you don’t feel that way.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“You didn’t have to.”

Aunt Helen looked crestfallen, but Cassie wasn’t about to push aside her own feelings for the sake of her aunt’s views. Not when it involved something as important as a child. She folded her arms over her chest.

“What can I say to make it up to you?” her aunt asked. “What do you want?”

“I want to believe that you are truly happy. I want you to never look at me or talk about me as you did about Chelsey. I want you to try to consider that someone else’s views or feelings might be different than your own, and maybe you aren’t always one hundred percent right.”

“Now you’re angry with us.”

“Yes, but mostly I’m hurt. You raised me from the time my parents left me with you and I know you didn’t have a clue what to do with a seven-year-old child. I appreciate that, I really do. I’ve always tried to make you proud and be the kind of person you wanted me to be. But I’m an adult now and I’m going to have my own child. If you can’t be truly happy about that, then…then I’m not sure what more we have to talk about.”

“Oh, Cassie, please—”

She wiped her eyes. “I really think I need a little time, Aunt Helen. Maybe you do, too. Could we please talk about this tomorrow?”

Aunt Helen sighed. “Maybe that would be best. So much has happened these last two days that I’m sure a good night’s rest would be just the thing.”

“Sure. A good night’s sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“I’ll look forward to that.”

Cassie could tell her aunt wanted a brief hug or a kiss on the cheek, but Cassie wasn’t ready for that routine display of affection. She did need time. Time and a peaceful night with her husband.

“Thank you for lunch,” Aunt Helen said instead.

“You’re welcome. Drive safely.” Cassie stepped back into the bedroom and shut the door. In just a minute the front door closed.

She sank into the bed and hugged a pillow to her chest. Why couldn’t her aunt and uncle be happy for her?

But as she lay there, she realized that she hadn’t been so happy herself when she’d first discovered she was pregnant. She was stunned and upset and worried. She didn’t know what she was going to do.

She’d had two months to get used to the idea. Maybe expecting her aunt and uncle to be immediately overjoyed was asking a little much.

Maybe she should be as understanding of their situation as she was of her own.

“Oh, why does it have to be this complicated?” she whispered to the quiet house.

Tomorrow she was going to “put on her big girl pants” and call her only relatives and tell them that she understood. For now, she wanted to go to sleep.

 

CHARLIE WALKED OFF HIS anger at Jim and Helen. His dad left to meet his mom at the main house, and all was quiet again on the Lazy Y. He and Cassie were alone, as they should be. Dammit, it was their honeymoon.

Jim had no spine, as far as he could tell, and Helen was so full of righteous judgment that she risked losing Cassie forever. Well, hell, if they were that stupid, they deserved to never see her again.

What a shame, though, since she thought of them as parents. They might miss their only chance at a grandchild.

Okay, so maybe he hadn’t walked off all his anger, he thought as he entered the silent house.

“Cassie?” he called softly.

When he got no answer, he went to their bedroom door and opened it. She lay on the bed, hugging a pillow, sound asleep. A trio of crumpled tissues lay on the bedspread beside her.

He narrowed his eyes and tamped down his anger. He was going to have to do a better job of protecting his bride. Maybe he shouldn’t have left her alone with Helen and Jim. Maybe he should have asked them to leave. But Cassie was a grown woman who knew her aunt better than he did. Charlie didn’t want to start off their marriage by trying to tell his wife what to do.

He wished he had more experience with these feelings of protectiveness. He’d never felt this way before, but then, he’d never been married before, either.

Cassie was sound asleep now, so he decided to leave her alone. They could talk later if she wanted to. If she didn’t…well, he’d hold her or do whatever he could to make her feel better. He went back out the door and closed it softly behind him.

The kitchen was cleaned up, so he wiped off the table, put away the place mats and settled on the couch. What was on television on Monday afternoon? He hadn’t watched TV during the day since he’d been in L.A., killing time between calls from his agent and the shooting schedule for The Next Cowboy Star.

He retrieved the remote for the new flat-panel TV Cassie had given him as a wedding present. He should have turned it on before now, but he’d been too busy turning Cassie on, he thought with a smile. That had been a lot more fun than anything that might have been on television.

Someone had gone to the trouble to hook it up to a satellite dish, because he had a good variety of channels to choose from. Lots of sports and several movie options. He’d been surfing for maybe five minutes when his cell phone rang.

His ring tone, Rascal Flatts’s “Life Is a Highway,” was so loud it was sure to wake up Cassie if he didn’t answer right away. He jumped up from the couch and grabbed it.

“Hello,” he said, heading for the front door so he could talk in a regular voice.

“Charlie, Marilyn Drake here. How are you?”

“Fine, Marilyn. Newly married and living on the ranch.”

“Really? Well, that’s certainly a surprise.”

“Yeah, it happened fast, but we had to work around her family visiting town.”

“Can you get back out here right away?”

“No. I’m on my honeymoon.”

“This is one of those ‘must do’ situations, Charlie.”

“Why? What’s up?”

“I’ve booked an audition for you with Ravi Sahir, the director for a major commercial for a credit card company. Rumors are it will be a Super Bowl-caliber thirty-second commercial. He saw you on the reality show and is very interested.”

“A commercial?” Interrupt his honeymoon for that?

“Not just any old commercial. A Super Bowl commercial. You remember the Budweiser Clydesdales, don’t you? The ones where they’re playing football?”

“Of course.”

“Along that line, only he wants a genuine rodeo cowboy. Someone who can rope and will look good in the saddle. I told the producer that you’re their man.”

“Sounds interesting. How does it pay?”

“We can negotiate that once they meet you.”

Some extra money would be good about now. Opening the rodeo school would be expensive, plus there’d been a lot of renovations on the house. “Are you sure about this?”

“This is a great opportunity. Lots of our best actors started in commercials.”

It could be just the entry he needed. He’d finally have a real clip to show people what he could do. And hell, being in a Super Bowl commercial would be almost as good as playing in the game itself. “Okay, I’ll do it. When do I need to be there?”

“First thing Wednesday morning.”

“Hell, I’ll have to leave tomorrow!”

“You should plan on being here for three days. I’ll try to schedule something else for you while you’re in town. I’ll check movies in preproduction to see if anything has come up.”

“Okay,” he said, resigned to tell Cassie he had to leave town. He had a feeling she wasn’t going to be happy, especially coming so soon after her aunt and uncle had upset her. “But Marilyn, I really need to get back here Friday night. Did I mention I’m on my honeymoon?”

“I won’t schedule anything for you late on Friday so you can get a flight out.”

“I’ll call you when I get in on Tuesday night.”

“You do that, cowboy. I have a good feeling about this one. It’s a perfect fit for your skills and your looks.”

Charlie disconnected the call and stood outside, staring at his new house. It might be a perfect fit for him, but not great timing for his marriage.