Page 44 of Wrangling Nash

I nodded, “My dad passed away 20 years ago. It was a difficult loss for me to process. I can’t imagine losing a spouse.”

His eyes shifted to me with an understanding look, then back to the road.

After another minute of silence, I was back engrossed in my grandfather’s notes, thinking our talking time was done when he threw me for a curveball.

“So, which one of my sons gave you the most trouble?”

I chuckled softly, “none of them. They were all great.”

“Now I know that’s a lie,” he said, as he took a gulp of water.

I shook my head, “they are all very different but fun and helpful in their own ways.”

His eyes shifted off the road to mine as he nodded and watched me carefully. Then he let out a low sigh.

“Shit, Jovie, you’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked up at him, confusion etched on my forehead.

He sighed, rapping his fingers on the steering wheel as if he was struggling with the words.

“I was never good with women. Probably why God gave me three sons.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I know Nash has been staying over there every night and you guys have some sort of relationship you've started. I can tell just the way he talks about you that he cares for you.”

I swallowed; was Rig mad about our arrangement?

“I don’t care; you’re grownups, can do what grownups do, but I feel like I gotta say something.” He let out a low sigh and raked a hand through his hair, grasping at words and the right way to say them.

“You know your mom grew up on Ashwood ranch.”

“Yes?”

“And I grew up on the Cameron ranch.”

“Yes? Did you know my mom well?”

He cast me another side glance and then looked back at the road, and I knew. I just fucking knew.

“She was my high school sweetheart, and I thought, the love of my life before I met Louisa. When we graduated high school, I wanted to marry her. I proposed to her. But Clarence wouldn’t have it. Said she needed to go make something of herself, go off to the city to study and not just be someone’s wife on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.”

I sucked in a breath as he continued.

“I told Marianne I’d wait for her; she told me not to. I didn’t listen.” He paused as he took another gulp of his water.

“She came home four months after the start of college at Christmas. She cried one night when we were hanging out, and said she wanted to quit school and move back home and be with me. I wanted that too, but I knew she’d regret it. She was loving her degree program, being back in Lonestar Junction wouldn’t have been the right move. So, I encouraged her to go back. Told her we’d have the whole summer together when she came home in five months.

“When May rolled around, I was excited to see her. I came running over to Clarence’s house like a dog who found his old shiny bone, but what I hadn’t expected was Marianne didn't come back alone. She'd came back for the summer with a new boyfriend, your father, and was talking about a ring and babies.”

Shit.

“I asked her if she loved him, and she said she did, and I believe it. Hell, Jovie, I don’t want you to think she didn’t. She loved the shit out of your father. Even at 19 years old, she was in love, and your father took diligent care of her too, but I was crushed.

"I realized then that she was always made for the city, made for more than living on a ranch and being a housewife. Two years later, I met Louisa. Instead of feeling like she was my second chance, I knew she was the one. Louisa healed my heart and showed me nothing but unwavering support and devotion.”

I sat silently, shock coursing through my body at the words Rig had shared while I stared straight ahead.

---