Page 59 of Love and Memories

“So they’re nomads?”

“Kinda. They’re usually bachelors without much family. It’s a different lifestyle.”

“Sounds like it. I can’t imagine having a family and moving around all the time.”

Even though she hadn’t had much time to think about what the future of her tiny family might hold, stability was something she’d been craving lately. Would she even be able to provide that for her child?

She glanced over at Travis as he drove. He was the epitome of stability and safety. No one would ever doubt he was a man who could love and provide for the people in his life, but anyone who crossed him had better have a death wish.

“I wonder what kind of mom I’m going to be,” she said low.

“You’ll be great. I don’t doubt that for a second,” Travis quickly replied.

“But how do you know that? I don’t know anything about being a mom. What if I do something wrong?”

“You’re going to mess up. Let’s just get that out of the way. But you have a lot of people around you can ask for help.”

“I’m afraid I’ll end up like my parents,” she confessed.

“I don’t think we have to worry about that. You’re not like that.”

He was right. She’d do whatever she had to do to make sure she didn’t treat her child the way her parents had treated her. Her hand slid over her flat stomach on instinct. She’d do anything to protect her baby.

Bella looked inside the snack bag Tammy gave her. “Matt and Tammy don’t have kids?”

“Nope.”

“That’s too bad. They would have made great parents.”

“You’re right about that. At least half a dozen friends of mine consider Matt and Tammy to be their second parents.”

“Including you?” Bella ventured to ask.

Travis nodded slowly but didn’t take his attention off the path ahead. “Including me.”

“You haven’t talked about your parents,” Bella said softly. “What are they like?”

The muscle in his jaw tensed. “They weren’t the best, but they weren’t as bad as yours.”

Bella studied him for any sign of exaggeration. “What do you mean?”

“I was their second boy, and they wanted me even less than the first one. Mom wanted a girl, but she never got one. We were just reminders of how she’d been dealt the wrong hand.”

“Are you kidding me?” Bella asked, high-pitched and loud. “That’s awful.”

“Mom didn’t want to have anything to do with us. I think Dad wanted to like us, but Mom disliked us so much it was hard for him to give us much of his attention. Anyway, they were glad when Greg and I moved out.”

Bella stared at the man who had gone out of his way time and time again to make sure she was cared for and couldn’t reconcile the kind man with the sadness he’d grown up in.

“It’s not like I was a saint. I caused plenty of trouble just trying to get them to notice me, but they never cared. At some point, I realized I was hurting myself instead of them and quit doing stupid stuff.”

It was hard to reconcile the man she knew with the menace he claimed to be. Travis was so straight-laced, she couldn’t imagine him any other way.

“Do you talk to them now?” she asked softly.

“Not much. They call about twice a year.”

“What about your brother?”

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