set down her half-eaten strip of bacon. “Better, how?”
He ate more steak, sipped his coffee. “I know you’re upset about this, Jordyn, and I don’t want to make it any worse than it already is for you, but have you thought about what to do if it turns out you’re pregnant?”
Her stomach lurched. She pushed her barely touched plate away and confessed in a whisper, “No. I... Oh, my God.” The thought that she might be pregnant hadn’t even occurred to her.
“I’m going to just lay it out there.” He held her gaze, steadily.
She coughed into her hand weakly, trying to clear the sudden lump from her tight throat. “All right.”
“I carry a condom in my wallet. It’s still there.”
“Oh,” she said, because she had no idea what else to say.
One black eyebrow lifted. “You’re not by any chance on the pill?” When she shook her head, he suggested, “So maybe you want to get that Plan B pill, just in case?”
Jordyn shook her head again. “I don’t believe I’m pregnant. And as for that Plan B pill...no. Just no. I’m not going there.”
Now Will wore his most patient expression. “All right. But you have to see that we can’t be sure about anything. It’s possible we had sex Saturday night. And if we did, then it’s possible that you’re pregnant.”
Her cheeks suddenly felt on fire. She pressed her hands against them to cool the flash of heat. “What do you want from me, Will?”
“You really want to know?” He waited for another nod from her before he said, “I think we need to stay married for a while.”
“But I don’t—”
“Wait. Hear me out.”
She pulled her coffee mug closer and wrapped her hands around it, seeking comfort from the warmth of it, from its curving, firm shape. “Go on.”
“Jordyn, if you’re having my baby, there will be no divorce. If there’s a baby, I want your agreement that we’ll find a way to make this marriage work.”
Oh, she did long to argue—that it was all a crazy nightmare, that a baby wasn’t possible.
But no. She needed to snap out of this numb state of denial she’d been dragging around in since she woke up in Will’s bed yesterday. They’d done...whatever they’d done on Saturday night. And if there was a baby, well, she and Will shared the same values. If there was a baby, they would make it work. “Okay, you’re right. I agree. About the baby. I mean, if there is one, we’ll stay married.”
He let out a slow breath. “Good.”
“But I’m sure there’s not.”
“Be sure all you want, Jordyn. It’s still possible, and we have to accept that.”
She longed to make him—to make somebody—understand. “I...well, I do have plans, Will. I know people think I just came to Rust Creek Falls to get myself a man—and maybe I did. A little. Because the truth is I am sort of a hopeless romantic.”
He slathered strawberry jam on a triangle of toast. “There’s nothing the least bit hopeless about you, Jordyn Leigh.”
His rueful words warmed her, deep down, where she needed warmth most right then. “Not hopeless, then.” She dared a smile. He gave her a grin in return. “But I am a romantic. I believe in love and marriage and family and forever. I believe in waiting for that one special man. And I guess that’s why what we did Saturday night—whatever it was—has me wanting to climb in my bed and hide under the covers. What we did flies hard in the face of everything I believe.”
“I know that.” He held her gaze in that unwavering way he had. “But we still have to deal with it the best way we can.”
“I know. I agree. And what I’m trying to say is, yes, I’m a romantic. I want real love and a true marriage. I’m...disappointed that I haven’t found the right guy when all four of my sisters are married and settled down, when everyone else seems to be coupled up and getting on with their lives. I’m disappointed, but I’m not giving up living over it. I haven’t been just sitting around waiting for some guy to show up and give my life meaning. I have plans of my own. Career plans.”
He ate another bite of steak. “Tell me about those plans.”
She sent him a sideways look. “You really want to know?”
“I do, absolutely.”
Did he mean that? He seemed to. She took him at his word. “Okay, then. I’ve been taking classes online, and I’m only a couple of semesters away from a degree in child development. I thought, well, okay. It didn’t work out for me in Rust Creek Falls. I’ve made good friends there and I’ve loved living there. But the true, forever love I hoped to find when I moved to town never showed up. So I decided it was time to try something new, you know? Time to get out in the big world and make my mark.”
“So...?”
“So I’m off to Missoula, to UMT, in the fall. I’m all enrolled and ready to go. I have a little money from Grandpa Cates, and I’ve saved enough to manage it, as long as I find a job once I get there. So I do have a plan. I have a dream, Will, I really do. I want to get my degree and have a meaningful, productive career. I’m leaving Rust Creek Falls at the end of August. And I don’t care what a few small-minded people there say.”
He set down his knife and fork and slowly shook his head. “I don’t believe you. I think you do care. And I care. I don’t accept that you should ever have to feel shamed or embarrassed by what happened Saturday night. And even if you’re leaving, I live in Rust Creek now. I want to be known as a man who honors his commitments.”
“But if it’s not a real commitment—”
“It is a real commitment.” He said it roughly, almost angrily. “We are actually married. No, it’s probably not going to last forever. But it is a commitment that we should both take seriously, that we need to treat with respect and dignity. I’ve said it before. We need a better plan. And I have one, a plan that will keep other people out of our business, a plan that doesn’t necessarily have to interfere with your going to college.”
She gulped. “You do?”
“Yeah. When did you say your fall term starts?”
“Orientation is second-to-last week of August.”
“That should work fine.”
“Uh, it should?”
“We’ll stay married through the summer. You’ll move in with me at my new place.”
That had her sitting up good and straight. “Tell me you didn’t just say that I would move in with you.”
“That is exactly what I said. You’ll move in at the ranch, and if anyone asks about your college plans, you’ll tell them all about how proud and supportive I am of you, how I’ve insisted you have your education, that it’s your lifetime dream, and I intend for you to have your dream.”
She tried to make a joke of it. “Gee, what a guy. I think you’re my hero.”
He didn’t miss a beat. “You’ll say how, even though you’re going to UMT this fall, you’ll be coming home often, because we hate to be apart.”
“I will?”
He nodded. “How long until you know if you’re pregnant?”
“You know, I think we ought to slow down a little here and—”
“How long, Jordyn?”
She knew that mulish look. He would be keeping after her until she answered him. “Oh, fine. A couple of weeks,