Page 78 of A Marriage Pact for the Cowboy

“Oh, sweetie.” Maxwell pressed a kiss to Eryn’s temple. “I wish I could challenge your memory and tell you it couldn’t have been that bad, but I have no evidence to support it. How did your parents respond?”

“I don’t think they realized. They knew we weren’t close, but Amelia kept the nastiness private. She knew I wouldn’t tell, and she was right.”

And then she’d harbored the hurt closer by reliving it all through the entries. Maxwell’s heart ached for her. It wasn’t possible to get through life unscathed, but she’d made it even harder for herself than it needed to be.

“Then there was Dave Gerbrandt. I don’t know if you remember him.” Her voice was tiny but determined, as though she knew if she didn’t blurt everything right now, she might never find the courage again.

Dave. Dave. Dave? “Vaguely. He wasn’t at the reunion, I don’t think?”

“He was a class ahead of us in school. A few years ago, he began coming around, asking me out.”

News to Maxwell, but he stuffed the jealousy deep. That had been then. Obviously, nothing had come of it.

“We dated a few weeks, and I was so happy. Finally, someone saw me for me, you know?”

This didn’t have a happy ending. Maxwell knew it, but a happy ending then would have changed everything for him now.

“As soon as Amelia figured out I had a boyfriend, she turned her charm on him, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them were dating. That’s what Dave had wanted all along. He’d only used me to get to my sister, and it worked. I fell for it.”

Maxwell winced. “That must have hurt.”

“It killed me. They didn’t last long. Amelia wasn’t into commitment.” Eryn glanced at him. “Maybe she was holding out for you to keep your promise.”

Was that going to keep coming up between them?

He turned on the bleacher seat and took her face between both his palms. “Eryn? Is there anything else you need to tell me about your twin sister? If not, then I’m done with her. I don’t want her to have any power over you and me. She’s not here. I’m sorry she died and left your relationship unresolved, but I can’t change that. All I can do is tell you that you are absolutely worthy of being loved for who you are.”

Her lips trembled. “That’s what Paisley said, too.”

Maxwell owed Paisley big time. “But even if it turns out that you and I decide to part ways, that wouldn’t change your worth.” He brushed his lips over her forehead. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not planning to go anywhere, but the fact doesn’t change. You are worthy in God’s sight. It is God who gives you meaning. He offered you to be part of His family.”

“So many times in the past couple of months I chose to read Amelia’s mean, dismissive words at night instead of God’s words of love and assurance. That ends today.” She sniffled. “We are what we read, after all. If all we take in is trash, it can’t make us better people.”

“That’s true. I haven’t been reading anyone’s journals, but I’ve still neglected my quiet time more often than I’d prefer to admit. But we’re being honest here, so… there’s that. I tell myself I don’t have time, that whatever is waiting for me at work can’t wait another fifteen minutes.” Maxwell shook his head. “And that’s a lie, too. Nothing should be more important to me than starting out my day in God’s word. Smashing tile can wait a bit.”

“I thought you had it all together.”

“I don’t.” He waited until she lifted her blue eyes to meet his. Now there was hope — cleansing, maybe — in her gaze. “Are we okay?”

Eryn nodded, and Maxwell dipped his face to hers until their lips met.

He caressed her lips with his own, giving the love he couldn’t quite put into words yet, receiving hers.

Only the stomp of the filly’s hoof and her whinny brought him back to the present.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Eryn looked around the decorated lodge with its streamers, the snack and s’more table, the stack of firewood. Everything was ready. She could only hope Maxwell would be as thrilled with the revised birthday party plan as he’d seemed to be about the trail ride.

Weather. As hard as it was to foresee in Kansas, apparently it was even harder in the mountains. Storms came up out of seemingly thin air. Normal, they said.

Nothing about Montana was normal. Not the mountains. Not the ranch. Not the sweet little town of Jewel Lake. Not her dad contentedly dating. Not the seeds of hope and love rooting inside her as she and Maxwell grew closer every day. Not the joy she was starting to find in the daily Bible reading plan she and Maxwell had committed to doing together yet apart.

“There!” Paisley dusted her hands together as she looked around the lodge with a satisfied smile. “Party 101!”

“It looks great.” Eryn offered her friend a shy smile. “I couldn’t have pulled this off without you.”

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