Jeremiah's Bogus Bride

by Liz Isaacson

  “Nothing to listen to.” He felt like he was floating outside his body, much the same way he had while Laura Ann babbled on and on over the phone as she tried to explain why she hadn’t been able to marry him.

  Whitney said something, but Jeremiah didn’t hear her. His pain spiraled through him, and it wasn’t until Whitney stepped right into his personal space and said, “Look at the cake, Jeremiah,” that he pulled himself out of his mind.

  She opened the lid on the cake box, and he looked down at it dumbly. Nothing made sense, especially not the single word there. “Surprise? What is this? It’s not my birthday.” They’d celebrated his birthday in New York City. He couldn’t think clearly right now. “I have to get back to work.”

  He left the cake on the counter and Whitney standing next to it. He’d just put his hand on the sliding glass door when she said, “I’m pregnant. Surprise.”

  He turned back to her, disbelief raging through him. “Is the baby mine?”

  Tears filled her eyes and streamed down her face. “Of course it is.”

  “Of course? How would I know that? You were just kissing your old boyfriend, the man you ghosted me for earlier this year.” He took a couple of steps toward her, anger and hope mingling inside him. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling at all. He wanted the baby to be his. He wanted Whitney. But not if she wasn’t going to be all his, all the time. Not if he couldn’t trust her. “I told you, I’d rather you just told me if you don’t want to be with me. So go. Go be with him. He’s back in town, and you should see if you can make things work this time.”

  “Don’t do this,” she said. “That is not what I want.” She shook her head, her dark eyes flashing dangerously now. The freckles he loved so much popped out on her pale skin. “I’m in love with you. The baby is yours. Ours.”

  Jeremiah wanted to believe her, but something inside him wouldn’t allow it. “I know I asked you to marry me in an unconventional way. I get that it might not be real to you.” It sure was real to him, especially when they made love. “Honestly, I’ll be fine. Just be honest with me.”

  “I am being honest with you.” Whitney sagged into the counter, as if the conversation was too heavy for her to handle.

  “I need to think.” Jeremiah turned, opened the door as gently as he could, and stepped outside. He wanted to rip the sliding glass door off its track and hurl it against the wall. He didn’t, and he stalked away from the kitchen, from his wife—from your baby?—so he could find a place on this ranch where he could make sense of everything he’d seen, heard, and felt.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Callie spun honey in the metal container she’d purchased earlier that year, pure happiness flowing through her. Her life this November was drastically different than a year ago, and pure gratitude for all she’d been through, all she’d experienced, and the people in her life filled her from head to toe.

  Liam worked in his office that morning, and Callie had put a pork roast in the slow cooker for dinner that night. With Miah married and focused on Whitney, he only cooked on Sundays now.

  And oh how Callie still loved going next door and eating with the Walker family. Her family. Her sisters. Everyone, as the family continued to grow and expand.

  Callie couldn’t help the way her thoughts tumbled down the path toward expanding her own core family. She and Liam had completed their adoption profile a few months ago, but their phone hadn’t rung once.

  Yet, she told herself. Her relationship with God and her faith had warmed and grown over the past ten months, the same way her family had. And she believed with everything inside her that she would be a mother.

  She thought of Evelyn’s son’s baby pictures among the flowers of Texas, a few carrots, some green beans, and a couple of heads of purple cauliflower. Callie wanted pictures like that of her baby too.

  Lake Winters had transformed into Whitney Wilde, and all Callie would have to do was call her new sister-in-law.

  The honey finished spinning at the same time her phone rang. She glanced at it, already considering letting the call go to voicemail. But the screen said Alice.

  She sucked in a breath, every cell in her body trembling instantly. With shaking fingers, she picked up the phone and swiped on the call. “Hello?”

  “Callie,” the woman said. “Are you sitting down?”

  “No,” she said, leaning into the counter in the garage where she’d been working. The scent of flowers, wax, and honey filled the air. And her own anticipation.

  “Do you want to get Liam? Is he available?”

  Callie’s heart thumped in an irregular way. She couldn’t think. Somehow, her feet moved her away from the honey station in the garage and up the steps to the kitchen. “Let me see.” She tapped the speaker button and hurried through the kitchen.

  “Liam?” she called toward the front of the house. She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t answer. He almost always wore headphones while he worked; that way, she didn’t distract him during a deadline, and he could listen to the loud music he loved without disturbing her.

  The door to his office stood open, and he sat in front of his four screens, working with his headphones on. “He’s here. Let me see if I can get him to take his headphones off. I’m so nervous.”

  “Don’t be nervous,” Alice said. “This is good news.”

  Callie nodded, which made no sense. Alice couldn’t see her. She tapped Liam on the shoulder, and he jerked toward her. She must’ve had a crazed expression on her face, because he swiped the headphones from his ears with the words, “What’s the matter?”

  “It’s Alice,” Callie whispered. “She wanted us both on the phone.”

  “Alice?” Liam asked, looking at the phone Callie held in her hand.

  “Hello, you two,” Alice said cheerily. “Liam, make sure Callie’s sitting, okay?”

  “Right here, baby,” he said, guiding her to his chair. The heat from his body soaked into hers, and he took the phone from her too as her hand continued to shake, and shake, and shake. She was already crying and Alice hadn’t even said the real news yet.

  “All right,” he drawled. “We’re ready.”

  “I’m so pleased to be the one to tell you that your profile has been selected by a birth mother.”

  Callie buried her face in her hands and sobbed. She was aware of Liam kneeling in front of her, his voice choked as he said, “You’re kidding.”

  “I’m really not, Liam. Not only that, but this particular mother already has a three-year-old in the foster care system, and she’d like to place her with the baby, if at all possible. I told her not everyone is willing to take toddlers, but that I had the perfect couple in mind…then I showed her your profile.”

  Callie lowered her hands and looked into Liam’s eyes. Two kids? At the same time? She barely knew how to hold a baby, and she hadn’t known a three-year-old for far too long. Maybe never.

  “And I know you said you were open to all kinds of adoptions, and this mother would love to place both kids with you. So.” Alice blew out her breath. “I need to know if that’s something you can do or not.”

  Liam opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Callie knew the feeling. She felt like she’d been hit upside the head with a railroad tie, and nothing in her brain seemed to be connected anymore.

  “When?” she finally asked.

  “The three-year-old can come live with you now,” Alice said. “She’s been with a foster family for a couple of weeks, and they’re not looking to adopt. The birth mother is due in January.”

  So only one child right now. But right now.

  Callie started nodding as Liam continued to search her face. He was the one to say, “We’d love both kids,” his voice thick and his eyes glassy. He swiped at them as the first tear fell, and Callie loved him with her whole heart and soul in that moment. He’d been her rock this year. Her one comfort among so many changes and adjustments. Besides the Lord, the only constant thing. The one person she could fail over and over with,
and he’d still be by her side.

  “I knew you would,” Alice said with a laugh. “I need you to come into the office and start on the paperwork, just as soon as you’re able.”

  Liam looked at his computer and back to the phone. “Today?”

  “Tomorrow morning would work,” Alice said. “I want to call the foster family and get Denise from them. I want to be here with you through this, and I have a meeting this afternoon that would prevent me from doing that.”

  “Tomorrow morning,” Callie said. “We’ll be there.”

  “And you can meet the birth mother too,” Alice said. “I can set up a lunch if you’d like? She’ll be able to say good-bye to Denise, and you two can exchange contact information. Now, the adoption will be open, but how much you interact with her is up to you. Or her. There’s no pressure to do anything.”

  Callie nodded, as they’d been through this before. All she could think was tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning.

  Tomorrow morning, she was going to bring home a new daughter.

  Denise.

  The call finished, and Liam hung up, setting the phone on his desk. Their eyes met, and Callie started crying again. This time, though, it was a soft, low, weep, filled with love and gratitude for yet another change in her life. And to think she’d been so averse to things shifting in her life before.

  Liam took her into his arms, and they cried together for a few moments. “I don’t even know what a three-year-old needs,” he said.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Callie said. “Alice said she’d send a list and come out with us tomorrow afternoon.”

  “I’ll check my email right now.” He started clicking, his email opening on one of the screens while Callie watched. The list was there, and it was comprehensive. Everything from clothes to a bed to the girl’s favorite foods.

  “Do you want to go shopping tonight?” he asked. “This afternoon? I’m maybe three hours from finishing this project.”

  “Yes,” Callie said as the printer whirred. She got up and collected the paper from the printer while Liam sat back in his chair. “I can’t believe this.”

  Someone knocked on the front door, and she spun that way at the same time Miah walked inside. “Liam?” he called. “Oh. Callie.”

  He did not look good, and Callie glanced at Liam and back to his brother. “What’s wrong?”

  Liam’s chair squeaked as he got up and joined Callie in the doorway to the office. “Whoa. What’s going on?”

  “I need advice,” he said, taking off his cowboy hat and tossing it into the formal living room. He ran his hands through his hair. “I went to town this afternoon and I saw Whitney kissing her old boyfriend.”

  “No,” Callie gasped.

  Liam sucked in a breath too, his arm around Callie’s waist tightening. “And?”

  “And she said it was nothing. He just showed up there. She’s not back together with him or anything.”

  Callie glanced at Liam, who watched his brother carefully. She wanted him to say something, because though she and Miah were friends, it had been a sticking point with Liam in the past.

  “Then why are you over here, looking like your whole world ended?”

  She swung her gaze back to Miah, who glared. Oh, this was the old Miah. The one who’d shown up at Seven Sons Ranch with a chip on his shoulder and darkness in his heart. Callie mourned for him, because he’d made such good progress, especially the last ten months.

  “I’m not,” Jeremiah said.

  “Okay.” Liam stepped away from Callie. “Come with me.” He started down the hall that led into the kitchen, and Miah looked at Callie.

  “You and Whitney are so good together,” she said.

  He nodded, pure misery etched in his eyes. “But what if it’s not enough?”

  “What if what’s not enough?” Callie asked.

  “Being good together. Being in love with her. What if they’re not enough?”

  Callie didn’t know how to answer him, and Liam called to him from the kitchen. Miah tried to put a smile on his face, but it looked all wrong. He walked away from her, and Callie watched him go. She should’ve told him that love was always enough. That it could grow and expand and heal any hurt. She knew, because she’d seen it in her own life. She knew, because she’d experienced it.

  And he had too.

  “Help him remember that,” she whispered, adding more to her prayer that Miah would be able to find the truth, and that it wouldn’t break him.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Liam took Jeremiah out onto the gazebo in the corner of the yard. “What do you see?”

  “Texas,” Jeremiah said, his voice full of sarcasm.

  He ignored his brother’s attitude. Jeremiah was in an immense amount of pain, and he was terrible at hiding it. “Remember when I was upset because I thought you and Callie had more than a friendship going on?”

  “Yeah.” He sighed as he leaned against the railing and looked out at the horizon.

  “What did you tell me?”

  “That you should talk to Callie.”

  “Did you talk to Whitney?”

  “I saw her kissing that other guy.”

  “And I saw you hugging my wife. I heard her say she loved you.” Liam hated that the memory was still so clear, still so sharp, inside his mind. At the same time, he did not doubt Callie, and a slip of embarrassment moved through him that he ever had.

  Jeremiah would feel this way too, once he made up with Whitney and this situation sat in his past.

  “But you knew—”

  “Did I?” Liam asked.

  Jeremiah finally looked at him. “What are you trying to say?”

  “I’m saying that I left for a bit to clear my head. To find my own center. To get outside of what I thought and remember what I knew.” Liam didn’t know how to tell Jeremiah to do those things. He could stay at the Shining Star tonight, and maybe he’d know for himself in the morning. Or maybe he wouldn’t.

  “And once I did that, I talked to my wife, and we worked it out. Because, yeah, then I knew that she loved me and not you. And I think if you do the same with Whitney, you’ll know she loves you and not this other guy.”

  Jeremiah’s jaw worked against itself. “She said she was pregnant.”

  Joy and surprise, and yes, a little jealousy, moved through Liam. “Jeremiah, that’s amazing. Congratulations.” He slung his arm around his brother, who turned into him and hugged him.

  “I’m a bad man,” he whispered. “I may have implied the baby was this other man’s.”

  Horror struck Liam right behind his heart. Still, he clung to his brother, who likewise wouldn’t let go of him. He said nothing, because Jeremiah was already beating himself up for that one.

  Jeremiah finally cleared his throat and stepped back. “I need to talk to her.”

  “Yep.”

  “I’m sure that baby is mine.”

  “I’m sure of that too.”

  Jeremiah looked at him, and Liam watched—literally watched—as light cleared the agony from his face. “I’m going to be a father.”

  Liam’s face split into a smile, his own joy too big to contain. “Me too.”

  Jeremiah blinked once, then twice. “You too?”

  “Our adoption case worker just called, literally a few minutes before you walked in. We’re getting a three-year-old and a baby.”

  Surprise blanketed Jeremiah’s face, and he grabbed Liam in another hug. “That’s fantastic. Congratulations.” He stepped back quickly. “Oh wow. I’m so sorry to interrupt you guys. Have you called Momma?”

  “We haven’t told anyone yet.”

  “Let’s go then.” Jeremiah turned and hurried down the steps of the gazebo.

  “Go where?”

  “Tell everyone,” he said.

  Liam chuckled as he followed his brother across the lawn and back into the house. “What? Should I call a family meeting?”

  “Yes,” Jeremiah said. “Tonight, at the homestead
. Maybe I’ll have figured out a way to make up with Whitney by then, and we can share our news too.”

  Liam thought Jeremiah had more to do than just talk to Whitney, but he didn’t say anything. Everyone had their own journey to take when it came to forgiveness and finding peace, and Jeremiah had been on the road for a long time now. He’d figure it out again.

  Still, Liam chuckled as he entered the house and said to Callie, “I told him. He thinks we should call a family meeting for tonight.”

  “Do it,” Callie said. “I’ll have enough meat for pulled pork sandwiches.”

  Liam picked up his phone from the counter where he’d left it. “All right. Family meeting tonight,” he dictated as he typed. “Shining Star. Pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. Seven?” He looked up.

  “Six,” Callie said. “No one wants to wait until seven to eat dinner.”

  “Agreed,” Jeremiah said, and Liam put six o’clock in his text and sent it. He looked up and found Jeremiah opening his fridge. So he wasn’t going to run right back to Seven Sons and Whitney.

  Liam hadn’t either, so he couldn’t blame him. But he hoped Jeremiah wouldn’t let Whitney slip away from him, because they were great together, and Whitney had healed something inside Jeremiah that no one else could.

  Texts started coming in from the other brothers. Skyler, of course, couldn’t make it, and Wyatt said he’d like a ride. Micah said he’d pick up Wyatt, and Rhett said they’d bring drinks.

  Jeremiah didn’t answer, but Liam didn’t need him to. Tripp didn’t either, and his twin was probably working—the way Liam needed to be.

  “Okay,” he said. “I have to get back to work.” He looked back and forth between Jeremiah and Callie. “You two gonna keep each other company?”

  “I was spinning honey,” Callie said.

  “Oh, I’m a pro at that,” Jeremiah said, smiling. At least it didn’t look like a grimace. “I’ll stay and help.” They moved toward the garage together, and Liam watched them go. Not an ounce of worry or doubt came upon him, and for that, he was grateful.