Page 61 of The Cowboy's Second Chance Bride

Morgan sighed wearily and pressed her palms to her eyes. “All our lives, Rachael never led me wrong, and she was right about Dalton. I was just too jealous to see it.” She removed her hands and grimaced. “Dalton kept trying to break Rachael and Travis up. She stopped going up to Massachusetts for the parties. She was with Travis every chance she got. I once overheard Dalton tell Matthew that he thought it was just a fling and she would get tired of Travis. Dalton said he wanted to marry her. Her and only her.” Morgan snorted her derision. “He wanted her, and she wouldn’t give him the time of day. It drove him mad.”

“I bet.” Cal moved back to the fireplace. With one hand on the mantel, he stared into the flames.

“Dalton was everything a girl was supposed to want. He was rich, good-looking, and going places. I once asked her why Travis and not Dalton, and she said Travis was more her type. It wasn’t until I told her I was going to marry Dalton that she told me how she felt about him. I will never forget her words. She said, ‘He may seem nice, but it’s all a ruse. He’s a man out only for himself. He isn’t kind or generous and is selfish to the core.’ She begged me to not go out with him. You see, he was using me to get to her, thinking that would make her jealous, but you can’t make a person who doesn’t care about you jealous.” She pressed her shaking hands to her mouth. “I was such a fool,” she said through her fingers.

“What happened?” Cal pressed.

Morgan dropped her hands. “We started to date, and a few months later, Rachael graduated and eloped, and I found myself pregnant with you. Rachael and I had stopped talking a few weeks earlier after she begged me to stop seeing him. I accused her of some awful things. Things I never got to apologize for.” Tears slid slowly down her face. “She was right. She was so right, and I never got to tell her how much of a fool I was. I am so sorry, Sabrina. Dalton has had it out for your father ever since.”

Pieces were clicking together, and I saw more of the full picture. As I studied Cal’s face, he avoided my eyes. I had met Dalton Beckett once, a week before we went to Vegas. And I’d seen him there that night Cal broke up with me. Cal, who was supposed to be working for the family business but wasn’t. Cal, who’d disappeared from my life as if he’d never been in it at all, without any rhyme or reason. Only now I believed I had the why. Everything made sense. I shoved the album at Morgan and pushed off the seat to stand, forgetting about my ankle, then wincing as I steadied myself.

“Look at me, Cal,” I demanded. He ducked his head, and a ball of nausea ate at my stomach. “I swear to God, Cal; you owe me the truth.”

He turned, his face a ragged mess of emotions, so many I couldn’t parse them. “He said he would destroy both of you. Your dad had that big tournament coming up in Monte Carlo, and Dalton knew people in the IRS and customs, and he said he would stop at nothing. And he would have done just what he said. You don’t know how he is. He would have buried you both. It would have been worse than what he’s doing now.” He pushed off the mantel and came to stand in front of me.

All I could do was stare at him, incredulous. “I can’t believe this.” I shook my head, then pressed my palms to my temples, trying to squeeze the circle of thoughts spinning like an endless round doodle on a page. “I can’t believe this.”

He cupped my cheek. “Reenie.”

I put up my hand, stopping any more words from coming at me. “Nope. Nope. You do not get to say anything else. You have done enough.” Not caring about my sore ankle, I pushed passed him and limped my way around the couch and the stairs.

“Where are you going?” he called.

“Home. I have to get out of here. I can’t stand to look at your face right now. I am so mad at you.”

He had changed the trajectory of our lives because of a threat his father had made, without even talking to me or my dad. He’d given up on us, our future, for what? He’d never given me a say.

I was right. I had been the one more in love with Cal than he was with me.

ChapterTwenty-Four

CAL

Sabrina limped around the room to the stairs, wincing, using the furniture and walls to support her.

“Sabrina, I know you’re mad, but let’s talk.”

Heck, I was mad at myself for never digging into the why. I had assumed my father was making the ultimatum to try to control me. Sure, I knew Dalton wouldn’t think the daughter of a professional gambler would be worthy of his son, which was ironic because Dalton didn’t think I was worth much, either, but I’d never once thought my father’s demands had anything to do with Sabrina or her father.

Travis. He must have known who my father was all along, yet he’d never said anything or showed any hint of animosity. I followed Sabrina, quickly catching up with her on the stairs. What were the odds that Rachael and Dalton’s children would meet and fall in love? So low it would have been a fool’s bet.

“Reenie, let me tell you about that day and explain it.” I put out a hand to help her, and she slapped it away.

“Oh, now you want to tell me about that day—not when I was crying and begging you. Noooo, not then.” She leaned forward, grabbed a fistful of my shirt, and pulled me close. “I want to hurt you so bad right now it’s not even funny. I want you to hurt like I did that day.” She pushed me away.

“You don’t think it hurt me to break up? I was doing it to protect you.”

She snorted and hobbled up another step.

“I went to Vegas with every intention of marrying you,” I said.

My mother gasped. She and my sister were watching from below, curious looks on their faces. Neither of them knew the story.

“And you left with every intention of never seeing me again, without any explanation.”

“Because it was the best way to protect you and your dad.”

She swung around to glare at me and put a finger in my face. Her eyes were spitting fire. Her mouth opened to say something, but the words never followed. This was the most pissed I’d ever seen her, but more than that, she had the same betrayed look in her eyes that she’d had when I left. She wagged her finger once, then curled it into a fist. I knew she would use it. And Sabrina had a mean right hook.

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