Page 35 of Wed to You

Chelsea scanned the ground, found a skipping rock, and picked it up. “Kaden. Here’s one.”

He ran over to look at the gray stone sitting in her hand. “Will you skip it?”

“Watch this.” She moved to the water’s edge, gripped the stone by its side, and threw it parallel to the water. It disappeared and then reappeared, skipping four times before getting lost in the water.

“Wow. Four skips.”

Chelsea laughed. Sometimes it was so easy to impress children. She found another rock and handed it to him. “Hold it like this and throw it from the side.”

Kaden’s face scrunched into serious determination as he made his way to the river’s edge. He threw the stone, which skipped once.

“Just one.”

“All it takes is practice.” She handed him a few more stones. She kept one, extending it to Jagger. “Do you want to try?”

He took the stone, his fingers lightly brushing hers, sending little shocks through her skin.

He stood by Kaden and threw the stone. His stone only skipped once.

“I guess I need practice too.” He set a hand on Kaden’s shoulder, and she realized he’d muffed his throw on purpose. “You keep working at it.”

“Aren’t you going to too?”

“I’m going to help Chelsea find rocks.”

Kaden shrugged and went back to throwing rocks, every now and then distracted by a stone or stick sitting on the riverbank.

Jagger returned to Chelsea’s side, watching Kaden play along the river. While this plot felt like a scam, she could see his love and determination were very real where Kaden was concerned. He wasn’t a bitter man wanting to get back at and hurt Kaden’s mother. He truly loved the boy.

What she wasn’t sure about was how she’d be able to keep their plan from her friends. Not only would they be hurt if they found out she’d lied, but Chelsea wasn’t sure she could keep such a big secret. At the same time, she didn’t want to tell them because she was sure they wouldn’t take it well. First, it was a crazy idea, and second, they’d be offended she didn’t accept their help instead. “Would it be okay if I let Lexie and Mitch know about this?”

Jagger turned to her, adjusting his position so he could talk to her and still keep an eye on Kaden. “We can’t tell anyone, Chelsea.”

“Why?”

“Because if it got back to the judge, it would probably work against me.”

“I trust my friends.”

He studied her for a moment. “Then consider plausible deniability. It’s possible there will be an investigation into our fitness to care for Kaden. If your friends know the truth, you’ll be asking them to lie to a court-appointed investigator.”

He was right. Chelsea blew out a breath. “I don’t want to put them in that position.”

“I don’t want to put my staff in that position either. So it’s just between you and me. Okay?”

She nodded. “Yes. Okay.” They stood together for a moment. “Do you think we should go over our story? Maybe learn a little bit about each other?”

He gave her an amused smile, as if he thought she was over-thinking the situation. But Chelsea knew her friends. They’d grill her and if she didn’t have a good response, they’d be suspicious. She already knew they were going to be surprised and probably worried. Especially Mitch.

“What do you want to know?”

“Well, since Mitch told you to stay away and you ditched me at his wedding—”

Jagger had the decency to wince at that.

“How did we start dating?”

“That’s easy.” Jagger picked up a rock, studied it, and then dropped it. “We reconnected because Kaden was in your class. We kept it on the down-low because we didn’t want to get you in trouble at school.”

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