thought struck him like a lightning bolt. Suddenly he knew exactly what he had to do.
“I need your help,” he said. “Move in here while we work this out. You don’t have to tonight, but soon. I can have someone drive you to school and pick up you and Hattie.”
“In a limo?” she said, smiling and shaking her head. “I’m almost tempted to answer yes just to see everyone’s reactions. I would be the most famous person in the school. No, Nick, thanks. I can’t move in with you. We’ll get this over and done with without me moving in because all too soon, I’d have to move out again. I’d cry over her every day.”
“Okay. Come over for dinner tomorrow night, bring Hattie, and I’ll have my first questions and problems lined up. And I will need the list of baby furniture. I got rid of the baby furniture that I had because I couldn’t see any point in keeping it.”
“If you want me to go shopping with you, I will.”
He looked into wide eyes that made him momentarily forget baby furniture. “I won’t go shopping,” he said. “I’ll hire someone to buy everything. You can earn some money on the side if you want to do it.”
“I’ll get it but you don’t have to pay me. Just pay for the furniture. Where do you want it delivered? Here or the ranch?”
“I’ll need it at both places. I live here and I live there. She’s so little and yet she needs enough things to fill a big truck.” He let out a deep sigh. “I need a wife.”
“I’m sure you can find a wife easily enough,” she said. “But please get one who really likes Hattie and means what she says.”
He meant his comment as a joke, but he saw the sincerity in Talia’s eyes. They were filled with worry and he was part of the problem. He stepped close, placing his hands on her shoulders, feeling her warm, smooth skin where her dress was sleeveless.
“I can’t tell you to stop worrying because I know this hurts, but you’ll always get to see Hattie. You’ll get to be with her. She isn’t going out of your life. Hang on to that. I’d give anything if I could see Artie.”
She blinked and her eyebrows arched. “Oh, Nick. I’m sorry. I’ve probably been making things worse for you.”
“We both hurt.”
“Just love Hattie. She’s going to need your love. She lost her mother, never knew her grandparents and now she’s losing me. She’ll need your love.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Sorry, Nick, sometimes I just can’t avoid crying. I love her so much.”
“I understand. I’ll love her because she’s my child. I only knew Artie two months, but I loved him beyond measure,” he said so quietly, he didn’t know whether she heard, but it didn’t matter.
“There’s just no way I can be her mother in the eyes of the state,” Talia said, looking at Hattie. “Love doesn’t even fit into their equation.” Talia looked up to find Nick studying her intently.
He gazed at her in silence so long that she focused on him, frowning when she studied him. “What, Nick? What’s wrong?”
Lost in his thoughts, he blinked. “I’m thinking. There’s one way you can become her mother as far as the state is concerned. It would be legal and binding.”
Frowning, she shook her head. “I don’t think so. We don’t have any—” She broke off to stare at him while her frown deepened.
“We can marry,” he said.
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