Colt looked me dead in the eyes. “I reckon you need to start explainin’ to me what’s goin’ on here. I never pegged you to be a trouble maker, but I’m sure you can imagine that this predicament my niece is in ain’t very settlin’. You see, I promised her daddy that we’d keep her safe, and now I’ve got to explain to him how my ranch hand has been screwing around with his child. You can see where this is going to be a problem, can’t you Rusty?”

  I nodded. “I do. Before I say anything more I think it would be best to let you know that I care deeply for her.”

  We heard yelling and turned our attention back to where Isabella stood with her parents. She had her face covered and I could tell she crying. When she rushed outside, I got up and left Mr. Mitchell sitting at the table so I could chase after her.

  Even as I called her name she continued walking. Until we reached the first set of stables she never turned around to address me. Once inside it was a different story. I’d no sooner made it over the threshold when I felt a hand slapping across my face. The burn was already apparent when she began screaming at me. “How could you? This is none of your concern. My pregnancy ain’t your business, Rusty.”

  I tried to grab her arms as I replied. “Will you just calm down and hear me out? I did this so we can be together. Don’t you see that this solves everything?”

  “What are you talking about? I never said I wanted to be with you, Rusty. You knew that I was strugglin’ with my baby’s father already, and now you do this. Not only will my family think I’m a whore, but they’ll hate me for sure. So thanks for nothin’!”

  I didn’t know what to say. In all honesty I thought she’d be happy. Every time we’d been alone a side of her came out that screamed to be with me. It made absolutely no sense.

  “I’m real sorry that you feel that way. Do you want me to go back in there and tell them all it was a lie?”

  She shook her head with fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. “No. They’ll fire you for sure, and make you leave the ranch. I might be pissed at you, but I’d never want to cause another man his livelihood. I just wish you would have talked to me. I had everything worked out in my head, and now I’ve got a mess to figure out.”

  I reached for her and held one of her hands in mine. She didn’t try to pull away. “Iz, I did this because I want to be with you. I could be a good dad to that baby. If what I do isn’t enough for you I could start practicing again and get my license reinstated.”

  “No.” She finally removed her hand from mine and took a step backwards. “I refuse to live my life as someone’s replacement, Rusty. It’s not happenin’. Now can you please just leave me alone? I need to get my head on straight before I go back in there and deal with my family.

  I looked down at the ground, only hearing her call herself a replacement. It definitely got to me on a deeper level than she probably set out to do. Before I could consider saying anything else to piss her off, I turned and walked away, passing her mother, and Shalan when I did.

  I should have been prepared for Noah to come seek me out. From the amount of anger that was gleaming off of his face I knew it was going to get ugly. As my heart rate picked up I prepared myself for a physical confrontation.

  Noah approached me quickly, coming up on me with his arm jacked back. “I trusted you.”

  I put my hands up, determined that I wasn’t going to fight back. Not only had Isabella’s words messed me up, but somehow I wanted him to hurt me. I was already feeling pretty low, and without the hope of being with his cousin, I didn’t really have anything to be optimistic about. She was most likely already spilling to her mother that I wasn’t the father.

  Just imagining never being with her again felt like daggers stabbing into my heart. I should have never let myself feel something again, when I knew I wouldn’t be able to control how it all played out. “Go ahead. Just get it over with. I know I deserve it.”

  Out of nowhere came Mr. Tyler Mitchell. I’d been working at the ranch for long enough to be familiar with who everyone was. He looked upset, but not so much angry. Noah looked over at his uncle, and then in the distance we both spotted his father coming toward us. He put his arm down and took a couple steps back. “Uncle Ty. I was just -.”

  The man put his hands up to motion for him to be quiet. “Go back to the party, Noah. I’ll handle this myself.”

  Knowing that Noah’s father was my main boss, I feared what he was walking over to say to me. For sure he was going to have me packing by the end of the night.

  Tyler spoke first. “Rusty.” He shook his head and scratched it, as if he was trying to refrain from saying the wrong thing. Colt came up and stood behind him with his arms crossed over his chest. “You knocked up my daughter.”

  “It’s not what you think, sir.”

  “Don’t call me sir. You’re probably close to my age than my daughter’s. Ty is fine for the time being.”

  “Okay, Ty. Like I said before. This isn’t how it seems,” It was hard to explain something that was a lie, in order to pass it off as the truth.

  “Well the way I see it, you knocked up my daughter and the cat is out of the bag. She’s obviously decided to keep the child, being that she’s so far along.” He looked down for a second, and even I could tell he was distraught. “This is bullshit. Do you hear me? That’s my little girl that you put your hands on. Forgive me for wanting to break you in half right now. I’m just not able to control the aggression that I’d like to take out on you.”

  Colt stepped in, putting his hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “I think it’s best if we all just calm down before we do somethin’ we might regret. Don’t you agree?” The question was for Ty, not me. He waited for him to nod before continuing. “Rusty, I’ve always considered you a good man. Isabella is a beautiful young lady, and I can see where you’d want to get to know her. You’re both adults, and things can happen that is beyond our control. Now, I understand Noah

  had asked you to not pursue somethin’ with my niece. Is that true?”

  I nodded. “Yes. He did several times.” “And you disobeyed that request?” My response was more a shrug. “I suppose I did.” “It takes two to tango, and if anyone knows somethin’ about

  forbidden relationships it’s this guy here. Once upon a time he was told the same thing as you. So I’m sure he understands how difficult that can be sometimes.”

  Isabella’s dad immediately gave his cousin one of those looks that says ‘I’m kicking your ass for this later, while I tried not to smile. It wasn’t that I wanted them to immediately accept me into the family. My decision hadn’t been based on that at all. I’d done this to protect Isabella, not hurt her. “I can assure you that I’ll do everything I can to support your daughter. I understand what Noah had asked me, but the truth is that I care for her. No disrespect to you, but this wasn’t about the sex.”

  “Save it. I can’t think about her that way do you understand? I can’t picture my little girl with child. I realize it is happening, but it’s too new to accept. I came over here to prevent my nephew from making this personal. For now, until I can talk to my daughter, I’m -.”

  In the distance we all heard Noah. “I want him off this property!”

  Near the stable I could see Isabella walking toward us with her mother and Shalan in tow. “Daddy, wait. Please don’t let Noah kick Rusty out. This ain’t his fault. He’s just tryin’ to protect me and the baby. He can’t lose his job.”

  Her dad looked from me to Isabella. “Sweetie, I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  She looked right at her father, as if none of us were around. “I want you to say that you love me, and you’ll support me. I know I hurt you.” Her sobs became apparent and Ty wrapped his arms around her without hesitation.

  “I do love you, Iz. That’s never going to be a question you need to worry about. You’re my daughter. No matter what you do, I’ll continue loving you. This is all a shock. I don’t even know what to say.”

  “Say that you and Mom will love your grandchild. Please. I need to know I’m not alone.”

  I watched an upset father begin to get emotional in front of a crowd of people. He sniffled and leaned his face down onto his daughter’s shoulder. My heart broke for the bond that they shared, and I finally realize why she was so afraid. I didn’t know their history, but clearly they were close. Her mother joined in, putting her arms around both of them. I could hear Isabella crying even though I couldn’t see her any longer. They talked amongst themselves while all three becoming caught up in despair.

  Colt put his hand on my shoulder and motioned for me to follow him. Since I assumed that my time on the ranch was about to end, I continued looking back at Isabella. It was so juvenile, but I didn’t even have her phone number. If I was being escorted off the property this could be one of the last times I’d get to see her. Surely her family would have her move home, which would make sense. She had nothing keeping her in Kentucky, especially me.

  “You need to give them time,” he explained. “This isn’t about you seein’ her, Rusty. To be honest, I think you’re probably a good man. It took a lot of courage for you to stand up in front of everyone and admit what you did. Right now we all need time to take it in. Our family doesn’t do well with secrets, and you’re just about the most secretive man I’ve met.”

  He was right. I needed to tell them who I was if I wanted a chance at ever being respected. “Do you want me to leave the ranch?”

  “No. However, I do need you to go home. Give her time to talk to them. It’s best for everyone.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll leave now.” It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I had no other options. I hadn’t thought about the repercussions of such a big confession. Never had it concerned me that I’d be causing a commotion. Isabella was a wreck, and her parents weren’t taking the news as being happy. It was to be expected, but still didn’t make it easier to understand. They didn’t know what it was like to lose their child. I think when that happens you’re willing to let little things go. Given the chance to do it all over I never would have told my daughter no to anything she asked.

  While walking back to the trailer I thought about what I was going to say to Isabella. She was so angry with me, and I knew if I didn’t get back into her good graces she was going to push me further away.

  Chapter 22

  Isabella

  As if things couldn’t get worse. Rusty had made my problems double. Standing there in my dad’s arms, hearing

  him crying, was the epitome of how much of a mess I’d made of my life. That one night with Tate was going to haunt me until the day I died, and I wanted to hate him for it.

  Knowing that I still felt guilt about him losing his job, and basically everything else, I was determined to find a way to help him. It wasn’t clear how my baby fit into the whole picture, but I was certainly going to do everything in my power to rectify his current situation. For the time being, I knew I couldn’t hurt my family any more, so Rusty taking responsibility was going to have to stick. That meant that I had to come to terms with it and treat him at least nice while the family was around.

  The bottom line was that I was still pissed at him for doing it without talking to me first.

  Because of how everything had played out, our family get together didn’t continue as expected. My parents and I headed back to my house, while the rest of the family attempted to pretend that nothing had happened.

  I was sure my brothers were getting into trouble, and Shalan was going crazy trying to stay in control. More than anything I wished I could be there celebrating with everyone.

  Anything was better than sitting in my living room across from my disappointed parents. I played with the fabric on the out recliner that I was sitting in, trying to think of ways to break the uncomfortable silence in the room. We’d been back for at least a half hour and besides making drinks, none of us had anything to say.

  My father was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. His face was covered by his hands. My mother, who seemed to be in better shape than my dad, rubbed his back, while sobbing to herself.

  This wasn’t like you see in the movies, where the family is over-ecstatic. My parents were acting as if my entire future was over, and I suppose in some ways it wasn’t what they wanted for me. I just knew that someday I wanted to have a family. Yes, I’d gone about doing it all wrong, but I wasn’t going to look back and regret it. Every single moment of knowing that I had a child growing inside of me made that choice easy. This was my baby, and he or she was going to be my future, with or without anyone’s approval.

  “Please say somethin’.” I couldn’t sit in silence any longer.

  My dad wiped off his face and finally sat straight. “What do you want us to say? Were you even planning on telling us that you were shackin’ up with the help?”

  “Daddy? Do you have to look at it that way?”

  “Your father is just hurt, sweetie. We wanted so much more for you. You just graduated college and started a great job. You’ve got so much ahead of you. We don’t understand how this could have happened. You never mentioned that man to us once. Accordin’ to your cousin, he was warned to steer clear of you. Is that why you kept it a secret?”

  I wish I knew how to explain my relationship with Rusty, but more than that I wished that I could come clean about the real biological father of my baby. Trying to describe my relationship situation with my parents required me to lie to their faces. I felt so sick over doing it, even as the words escaped my lips. “Our relationship is complicated.” I looked down and played with my fingernails, knowing I couldn’t even begin to look in their direction. “He was around when I was going through a tough time, and to be honest I wasn’t lookin’ for a relationship. It just sort of happened.”

  I knew without even looking that my father was cringing at the idea of me being intimate with a man. Both of my parents knew this wasn’t just any guy my age, who was trying to make a future for himself. Rusty appeared to be a drifter, with no real future for anything. Had I been able to tell them that he was once a successful person maybe it would have gone in a whole separate direction. “Does he love you?” Of course my dad would want to know that. He’d kill a man for disrespecting me.

  When I opened my mouth to answer I thought of my last conversation with Rusty. I’d told him that I couldn’t be with someone that compared me to his dead family. A wave of emotions hit me as I realized how awful I must have made him feel. It still didn’t change the fact that I’d never be able to know if his feelings were for me, or just because of some sick reminder that I provided him with. “Yes. I think so,” I lied.

  “You think so?”

  “We’ve never said it out loud. Come on, it’s not like you and Mom. I didn’t know right away that we were fated to be together forever.”

  My dad let out an air-filled laugh and shook his head, while my mom gave me her normal confused stare. “Bella, don’t be sarcastic. Your father is just concerned.”

  “I get it, okay? I’m havin’ a child. I’m goin’ to be a mother. I don’t see why it’s so hard to be able to hear. You got knocked up and planned on doin’ it all alone too. You didn’t know Daddy was goin’ to step up and take responsibility when you made the decision to keep me.”

  “This is different. I thought I lov-.”

  My dad wasn’t going to let her discuss my sperm donor. The mere mention of his name gave me the creeps anyway. “Don’t you dare compare this, young lady. Your mother made the choice because she thought she was going to have support. Yes, things happened and the rest is history, but her life isn’t yours. How do you know this Rusty guys isn’t going to disappear on you?”

  “He won’t.” I had no idea if he’d stick around, especially when the truth about Tate came out. Still, I had to appease them for the time being. “He’s not like that.”

  “What do you even know about this guy? Your uncle always says he’s a bit insane. Aunt Van thinks he’s creepy and probably has a shady past.” Leave it to my aunt to freak out. She’d been through a terrible time with my biological father. After that she’d never trusted mysterious men. “I know he’s a good man, and that he’d do anything for me. Isn’t that all that matters?”

  “Of course he’s going to be nice. He’s screwing someone that just got out of college.” My dad stood up. I could see his fists clenched, like he wanted to punch something.

  “Can we just drop the Rusty part for a minute? This is why I waited to tell you. I know I’m not perfect, but I make good money, and if I had to I could take care of me and my baby alone. Now, I don’t need your support, but I sure could use it. You’re treatin’ me like it’s the end of the world, and it’s not. I’m having a baby, not becomin’ a stripper.”

  “If you became a stripper I wouldn’t be this calm. Damn, don’t even joke about that.” He walked into the kitchen and came back with a beer. I watched him open it and take a sip, all the while I thought about Rusty, and the reason he didn’t drink.

  “Bella, your dad and I will always support you. We’re just in shock, that’s all. This baby is our family. Of course we’re goin’ to love it, and support you. Whatever you need, we’ll take care of it, won’t we, babe?”

  My dad shook his head. “Yeah. Sorry, I’m just trying to come to grips with being a grandfather. I’m old as shit. Next I’ll be having a heart attack and keeling over.”

  “Daddy, don’t say that.” My overuse of the ‘daddy’ only made it more apparent that I was desperate. Everyone in the room knew it, but nobody was bringing it up.

  “You’re making us grandparents before we even turn fifty. It’s a bit hard to grasp.”

  I stood up from the chair and walked over to my dad. My arms wrapped around his stiff body, and finally I felt him reciprocating. “I love you, Daddy. Please don’t ever say that. I’m going to need you to stick around, and so is your grandchild. I can’t bring another Mitchell into this world without the two of you by my side.”