Page 9 of Coming Home to Maverick

“Get Maverick to wrap it for us, will you? I’ll take a look later.”

Maverick didn’t hide his personal satisfaction that Mr. Hempstead wanted him to wrap it. They turned Thunder loose in the paddock and walked Chester to a stall.

They worked together in silence with an ease that came naturally even after all these years. He reached for the gauze while she was handing it to him. She was about to lift the hoof when he did it for her.

When Maverick shut the door, sliding the latch, they both turned from Chester’s stall, and he asked the first question of many. “So…”

“Oh, stop, Maverick. This is hard enough as it is.”

He was taken aback by the agony in her voice. “I’ll try to be more sensitive, but you have to realize you’re not the only victim here.”

Her eyes softened, and then she sat on a bench just inside the barn door. “I love the smell in here.”

“I do too.” He sat beside her and waited. Minutes passed before he turned to eye her. “You wanna tell me what is going on here?”

“No.”

“Bailey, come on.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting to see you yet. I imagined all of this differently.”

He waited.

“You’ll lose whatever respect you have left for me.”

He tipped his head and searched her face, still saying nothing.

“She’s mine. Her name’s Gracie Faith. She’s a perfect angel and the best thing that’s ever happened to me. But she deserves better than what I’ve been giving her, so I came home. Mom and Dad raised me right. I know they can help me do good by her as well.” Her gaze flicked to his and then away again just as quickly.

“And how old is she?”

“Five.”

“Five? You left six years ago. Is she—she’s obviously not mine.” The words left a bitter feeling on his tongue.

“No, she’s not yours, Maverick.” Her voice sounded small, scared.

About four hundred emotions hammered through him at once. They’d planned to wait until they were married for their intimacy to progress to that point. So was he grateful that the child wasn’t his? No, not exactly. The longer he sat beside Bailey, the more betrayed he felt. When he allowed himself to imagine that she’d broken their vow, that she’d been with another man when they’d had so many almost moments together, he was fired up with burning jealousy, resentment, and…desire. A part of him wished that the child was theirs, that Bailey had stayed and married him like she’d said she would.

He didn’t know what to do with himself. He stood up and walked to the door.

“Maverick?” Her small voice only irritated him further. He waved her away, not trusting himself to speak.

“You just gonna stand there?”

He nodded. He flexed his hands, took a step, then stopped and turned, so many words tumbling through his thoughts, so many accusations. “I have to go.” He stepped out of the barn and whistled for Thunder.

“That’s all you have to say?”

He stopped and tilted his head, rotating his neck on his shoulders. “Nope.”

“Then just say it, Maverick.”

Thunder scooted to a stop at the paddock’s gate. Maverick opened it and hopped on his horse. Then he tipped his hat in her direction. “You first.”

She stepped back and nodded. “Fair enough.”

He tapped Thunder’s side. The horse was only too ready to take off back up the ridge. Thunder flew across her property, up the hill toward their tree. As Thunder leapt over the ridge and tore through the pastures back to his barn, Maverick knew he wouldn’t be feeling better any time soon.

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