Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Cade sighed, a long, tired exhalation of air.
“For what it’s worth, they all liked you.”
She nodded, not sure how to respond to that. Because whether they liked her or she liked them, it didn’t matter. As he’d so kindly reminded her, she was just a guest in this family, and getting too attached to them would be dangerous. There was no place for her here.
She wrapped her arms around her slender frame, trying to fight back a shiver, but he saw it, and his eyes darkened with concern.
“Are you cold?”
“No… I’m okay. Just—” Her voice trailed off. She didn’t know what she was. Sad maybe. Depressed, for sure.
“Just what?”
“Tired. I think I’ll head to bed.”
He nodded, but continued to watch her uncertainly. His teeth raked over his bottom lip a couple of times and he looked as if he was about to say something, which left her suspended in limbo just as she was about to turn away and head to her room.
She waited for a beat… then two. But he remained silent and she swallowed down her disappointment as she swiveled on her heel and with a swift goodnight thrown over her shoulder, retreated to her room.
The I’m sorry that hovered on the tip of his tongue remained unspoken as Cade watched Fern flee from the living room. He’d overreacted. He knew that. He’d overreacted because she’d broached a subject that he’d never once brought up himself. Because he was the fucking coward who’d simply allowed the unacceptable to slide when he should have stood up for himself twenty years ago.
She was right, he’d made her feel small, insignificant, voiceless—tactics straight out of her asshole stepfather’s playbook—and then he’d stood back and allowed her to apologize to him for it.
He’d noticed that she had a tendency to back down, to take the blame and apologize rather than stand her ground or push back. So seeing her stand up for herself had been unexpected and somewhat gratifying. Despite the fact that she’d compared him to Abernathy—which had pissed him the fuck off—he knew that she would never have defended herself so vehemently to her stepfather. Which made Cade believe that even though it had only been a couple of days, she felt comfortable enough with him, safe enough to speak her mind.
She shouldn’t have had to. He could have been less… defensive. He hadn’t even realized that he still carried all of that baggage about his name until she’d brought it up.
It didn’t help that hearing her call him Cade these last few days had felt so familiar. He felt lighter, unburdened, almost—shit, the only word he could think of was—happy whenever the name fell with such ease from her lips. While having his own family call him Niall this afternoon, after he’d spent the last few days responding only to Cade, had felt suffocating. And none of those complex emotions had even properly registered until Fern had asked about it.
Fuck.
He grimaced and squeezed the back of his neck, as another tension headache began to form at the base of his skull. He’d been on edge all afternoon, at first nervous about seeing Nox again after so long, then irrationally annoyed with his long-lost brother for making that fucking off-color comment about him being Fern’s husband if things had been different.
It didn’t help that it was likely true. And it definitely didn’t help that Cade believed that it would’ve been better for Fern if that was how it had worked out. And Cade was confused about why he gave a fuck in the first place.
It hadn’t happened. He was the one saddled with the wife. That couldn’t change. But for some unfathomable reason it had still pissed him the hell off when Fern had so tartly suggested a straight swap between him and Nox.
Even now the mere thought of it…
He clenched his teeth and shook his head, annoyed with himself for going there. Perhaps his irritation stemmed from the fact that it couldn’t happen. That it was too late for that. That once again Cade was the one making the big sacrifices for the family and the company. If Nox had pitched up a week earlier maybe Fern would be his wife… his problem.
But that wouldn’t make the baby in her womb Nox’s. That was one thing his brother couldn’t take responsibility for. Ownership of. That was Cade and Cade’s alone.
He wasn’t sure why that sent a mad, adrenaline thumping wave of fierce satisfaction careening through his system. It made no sense at all.
But nothing in Cade’s usually well-ordered life currently did.
The following morning Fern found a handwritten list of local OBGYNs waiting for her on the kitchen counter.
Scrawled in an aggressive slashing masculine hand, the list consisted of five names and corresponding contact numbers, below which he’d demanded:
Pick one. Make an appointment for today.