Page 30 of Wed to You

He nodded. “Pretty much. I visited a few times after that but never stayed long.”

Chelsea watched as Kaden and Matthew climbed on the white clapboard fence and Kaden held out a carrot. A bay horse with a black mane trotted up to him and snatched the carrot from his hand. Chelsea winced, hoping Kaden knew how to offer food without getting bit. He grinned when he jumped down.

“He’s very happy.” She glanced at Jagger, who watched Kaden with a smile.

“I hope to keep him that way. I talked to a lawyer this morning in case Tanya files for custody.”

Chelsea’s heart sank. “Does your lawyer think she has a chance of winning?”

“If Tanya is able to prove she’s gotten her life together, yes.” He looked at her. “Apparently, the fact I’ve been the only constant in his life isn’t good enough.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Well, I’m not going down without a fight. She has an uphill battle and I don’t plan to make it easy for her.”

“Does Kaden know she’s back?”

“Not yet. He’s never talked about her, and I don’t think he remembers her, which should say something about her as a mother.”

“It does.”

Kaden and Matthew stopped and lined up to race. “Go!” They both shot up the hill.

“If there’s anything I can do to help...”

Jagger stopped at the top of hill. From there, Chelsea could see down the other side to the barn and more pastures. “Do you mean that?”

She looked into his deep blue, piercing eyes. “Yes. Of course.”

“Would you marry me?”

She blinked. The question was so out of left field, she thought she had to have heard it wrong. “What?”

He set his hands on his hips and looked down the hill to where Kaden and Matthew were petting a horse one of Jagger’s farm hands had out. Then he looked back at her. “I’m told that if I were married, my chances of keeping Kaden would improve.”

“Okay.”

“So, I’m asking if you’ll marry me.”

The answer “no” should have traipsed easily off her tongue. Instead, she continued to stare. Was this a joke? Was he punking her?

“Look.” He started walking again, and Chelsea followed him. “I know this is crazy. We don’t know each other well. We’re not in love, but I’ll do anything to keep Kaden with me. Not just for me, but because Tanya has a terrible history and I don’t trust her to care for him. But she’s his mother, which apparently is one notch down from being God and seems to allow her to get away with abandoning him. I want to strengthen my position. If you marry me, he’ll have two caregivers. Plus I can help you in a return.”

“How?” Chelsea surprised herself with the question. Why wasn’t she telling him “no”?

“I know you’re having financial challenges. I can fix them.”

Her eyes narrowed, trying to hide her horror that he knew her money woes. “How do you know that?”

He stopped walking and turned toward her. “For one, you work yourself to death in two jobs. Second, you said so the other night. And third, well, although I’m not privy to all that small town gossip has to offer, I have heard that you might lose the house. I know it’s not just any house, but a house that’s been in your family for over a hundred years. I can prevent that. I’ll pay the mortgage. If you have other debts, I’ll pay those too.”

“You don’t know how much that is.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

It was so strange to meet someone for whom money was no object. Where she had to count every penny to go to the grocery store, he could offer to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars without blinking an eye. But his suggestion brought her back to the reason she hadn’t accepted help from her friends.

“I can’t take your money, Jagger. I appreciate your offer but—”

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