Cole, undoubtedly because he’d met and fallen in love with Cara, a family friend of Raquel’s.
He also didn’t resent their father to the degree Cole did. Josh’s heart was unencumbered and free to love. Cole’s was weighed down and locked tight.
Vi finished her toast and propped an elbow on the table.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Everything.” She let her hands drop to her lap. “I think Raquel might have figured out I’m pregnant.”
“She’s pretty observant.”
“So are you, apparently.”
“Not really.”
“You guessed easily enough.”
“Well, about that.” At her raised brows, he admitted, “I wasn’t entirely honest with you earlier.”
“You don’t have a friend whose wife was pregnant?”
“That part’s true. He’s a good friend of mine.” Cole shifted. “There was this other pregnant woman.”
Vi stared at him pointedly. “My, you get around.”
He immediately regretted opening his mouth. She might not appreciate this story. “It was a long time ago and doesn’t matter.”
“Then why not tell me?”
Talk had flowed easily between them the night they’d spent together. He’d revealed things about himself only his brother knew. How Cole’s anger at his father, and his mother’s bitterness, had tainted his entire life, prompting him to leave at eighteen and pursue a career in rodeo. The hardships endured during his years on the circuit. The rewards, which were few and far between.
Opening up to her now shouldn’t be so difficult. Yet it was. That night, Vi hadn’t been pregnant with his child. She’d been a woman he was attracted to and wanted to become better acquainted with. A woman he genuinely liked.
And because he liked and respected her, he supposed he owed her the truth about the kind of man she’d gotten herself tangled up with.
“I once dated a woman who was pregnant.”
Violet gasped softly. “You have a child?”
“No.” He shook his head. “She said the baby was mine, and I believed her. After about two months, I found out she was lying.” It happened when he’d almost reconciled himself to the prospect of becoming a father. “Another cowboy was the dad. Seems when he left her high and dry, she went after me. I’d asked her out a few times before, which I suppose made me an easy target.”
“How did you find out?”
“Josh and I were competing at the Frontier Days Rodeo, and one of my buddies clued me in. I told Josh, and he insisted I have a DNA test done before I committed to anything. When I suggested the test, she was furious at first, then came clean.”
“What happened to her and the baby?”
“I saw her only once after we broke up. It was a few months later. She was with another cowboy. Not the baby’s father,” he added.
“Did you talk to him?”
“Naw. I just walked away. Figured it wasn’t any of my business.”
“Weren’t you angry at her for lying?”
“Heck, yeah, I was angry. She told a huge lie. One that was unfair to both me and the baby.”
“She must have been desperate.”
“That doesn’t make what she did right.”
“Of course not.”
“For the record, I’m not angry anymore.” But he hadn’t walked away from the relationship unscathed. In the nine years since, he’d yet to have a committed relationship. “Really, she dodged a bullet. I was twenty-one at the time and constantly broke. Hardly ready for a family or capable of supporting one.”
He doubted he was better father material now. It wasn’t just his occupation—a life on the road tended to be hard on loved ones. He was simply too much like August Dempsey. Selfish and unreliable.
“Are you or Josh going to insist I take a DNA test?” Vi asked.
Cole hesitated. This was a tricky question. He had every right to request the test, and it made good sense, considering what had happened in his previous relationship.
“Let me save you the trouble,” she responded before he could. “I have no problem taking the test as soon as it’s feasible.”
“Okay.” He leaned back in his chair. “Then I guess we can skip it.”
“We’ll see.” She lifted her chin.
She had a lot of backbone, not that he’d thought differently. It was one of the qualities he’d liked about her from the day they’d first met, right here in this kitchen, in fact.
“How about this? I’ll let you decide.”
“Aren’t you accommodating,” she answered flatly.
“Cut me some slack, will you, Vi?” Cole had his faults. Beating around the bush wasn’t one of them. “You’ve had, what, a month to get used to the idea? I’ve had maybe thirty minutes. The fact is, I’m not sure how I feel, what I think or what we should do. I need a little time. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
He immediately regretted his small outburst.
Vi, however, reacted with reason. “Fair enough.”
“I can tell you that I’ll take responsibility for the baby. Pay you support.”
“All right.”
Was she mad? It was hard to tell.
Cole opened his mouth to defend himself, then promptly shut it. God, he sounded just like his father. Not his words so much. Cole remembered very little about his life at Dos Estrellas before his parents divorced. Rather, it was his attitude. August Dempsey had believed paying child support was plenty enough to do right by his sons.
“Are you planning on staying in Mustang Valley?” she asked.
“I rodeo for a living. I have to travel.”
“You aren’t now.”
“I’m not making any money, either. I need an income.” The ranch couldn’t afford to pay any of the brothers a salary. Not while the bills owed totaled more than the revenue. He and his brothers withdrew only enough funds to cover their living expenses, and Cole’s personal savings were almost depleted. “But I’ll return as often as possible. Every few months at least. And be here when the baby’s born.”
Vi turned her head as if she, too, were biting her tongue.
Was
