his mother began, her nervous gaze going back and forth between her husband and her younger son, “perhaps we should have this conversation later.”
“Why, so that we can sugarcoat the fact that my own father is disappointed in me?” Had he ever said those words out loud before? He didn’t think so. Maybe he’d never even mentally acknowledged them, but something about Ellie’s defense of him made him acknowledge a lot of things.
“No, thanks. We’ve been doing that for years and it’s not helped one bit. And if it’s for Ellie’s benefit, don’t bother. She’s already seen how he feels about me. Hearing the words only confirms what she has already figured out.”
“Don’t you be rude to your mother, boy.”
“I’m not a boy,” he countered, not really thinking he’d been rude to his mother and certainly not intending to have disrespected her in any way. But his father’s chest puffed up and his gaze narrowed.
Out of years of deferring to the man he’d been taught his whole life to respect, Ty automatically zipped his lips.
Ellie, on the other hand, did not.
“He’s right,” she said with that easy confidence again that surprised him. “Ty is a man. A very good man who is going to be a father. A very good father to our baby, who can grow up and do anything he or she likes in life, whether that be a baby doctor or a rancher or a garbage collector. What’s important is that our child grow up healthy and happy and knowing that he or she can do or accomplish anything and that self-worth does not come from how others see you but how one sees oneself.”
Ty bit back a smile at the shocked look crossing his father’s face and took a step forward in Ellie’s direction. Hell, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and spin her around for the staunch way she defended him.
But she was oblivious to him and focused solely on his father. Her shoulders lifted, her eyes burned with dark intensity and she met his father’s gaze squarely.
“If you want anything to do with our baby, you will learn to appreciate the wonderful man you have for a son because he is a brilliant doctor and an honorable man,” she warned, her hands on her hips and her expression serious. “I will not have my child around someone who obviously has so little appreciation for a man who does so much good for so many.”
* * *
Blood pounding in her ears, Eleanor wondered if Ty was going to read her the riot act for daring to be so outspoken to his father, but she didn’t care at the moment. Anger burned too hotly in her veins for her to hold her tongue. Really, how could any man be so obtuse?
No wonder Ty had moved so far away.
She’d awakened, realized Ty was gone, and that he must have been for some time because the bed barely held an imprint of him having been there. She’d gone downstairs to find him.
And stumbled on Ty’s parents, discussing him.
Discussing being the mildest of ways she knew how to put what Ty’s father had been doing.
Degrading his son.
Tearing him down.
She hadn’t been able to stand it.
How dared he say such things about the most wonderful man she had ever known? About the man who made her view life differently?
If the blustery old man thought he was going to have anything to do with her baby when he treated his son so callously, he was wrong.
Because she might have only known she was pregnant for a few hours, but she loved this baby and would protect him or her with her life. No way would she let some overbearing, pompous man berate her child.
Or her child’s father.
“Ellie, dear, perhaps you and I should go to the den and let the men have this discussion?” Ty’s mother suggested gently, her worried gaze going back and forth between her son and her husband. She moved toward Ellie, put her arm gently on her shoulder.
Eleanor risked a look at Ty. His face was dark, cloudy, upset.
Coldness doused the flame that burned within her.
She had overstepped her boundaries.
Hadn’t she known she had?
She might be pregnant with Ty’s baby, but she’d been talking to his father. Blood was thicker than water. Didn’t that always hold true?
Still, she wasn’t going to apologize. Not when she so strongly disagreed with how Ty’s father treated him.
“Actually, I need to do some things upstairs,” she ventured, not wanting to go with Ty’s mother so that she could be scolded for overstepping her place. Plus, tears burned at her eyes and she wanted to get away, far away, before they fell. No way did she want to show weakness in front of this family. If for no other reason, she didn’t want them to think they could browbeat her in regard to her baby. They couldn’t. She held her head high. “If you’ll excuse me...”
Without pausing, she headed back toward the stairs she’d descended only minutes before.
She hadn’t mentally made any decisions, but when she got back to Ty’s room, saw all the things from his childhood and past, she was struck with homesickness.
Immense and utter homesickness.
Perhaps her family was odd. Perhaps they each had their own quirks and faults. But they were her family.
She wanted them.
Before she even consciously thought about what she was doing, she had her suitcase out of Ty’s closet and had begun methodically packing her things back into the case.
“What are you doing?”
She spun at the sound of Ty’s voice. “Going home.”
Filling the entire doorway with his tall frame and broad shoulders, he didn’t look happy. His gaze narrowing, he stepped into the room, closed his bedroom door behind him.
“Why?” he asked, turning the lock.
She almost winced at the sound of the lock clicking into place. Why? Ha, did he really have to ask why she’d want to leave?
“Because I don’t want to be here any longer.” Truer words had never been spoken. She wanted to be far away from the Triple D ranch and Texas.
His hands on his hips, Ty stood just inside the door, staring at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. “Because of what just happened downstairs?”
“Because I want to go home, Ty. I want to be back in the city, back at Angel’s.” Back where she belonged. “I don’t like it here.”
“This is my home.”
“Yes, and hasn’t it been a lovely homecoming for you?” She hadn’t meant to be sarcastic or to say anything derogatory. Lord knew, he got enough of that from his father. But the words had slipped out before she could stop them.
