Page 72 of Sweet Music
While Cash and Cody talked, Bella let the events of the day wash over her. She had put Cody up front, telling them it was so they could catch up, but mostly because she was feeling overcome by emotion.
It was difficult for her to process that the two men weren’t related. As she watched them talk and laugh, she couldn’t help noticing the expressions and body language they shared.
It’s probably because he grew up watching Cash’s videos.
And now that she was looking for it, Cody also did have a decent resemblance to Harper’s ex-fiancé, who must be his actual biological father. Bella honestly couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought about that before. She wondered for a moment if Harper had known the real truth, and decided that she probably had.
Harper’s ex was awful, and everyone knew it. Telling Cody that Cash was his father had probably been Harper’s attempt to give him a dad who had a reason not to be around. And as long as she never did a paternity test, no one would have ever really known for sure.
It also meant Cash had been telling the truth this whole time—Harper had never even tried to reach out to him, that was just another part of the story she’d invented for Cody.
It was the kind ofleave things to the universebehavior that Bella herself was terrible at, but that was Harper through and through. She had been confident enough to assume that she wouldn’t need a man around. And after what happened with her ex, and then Cash acting so strangely after their time together… well, Bella couldn’t exactly blame her for wanting to raise her boy herself.
And what a good job she had done. Cody was an angel. He struggled some, but that was natural in his situation.
And now he has a rock star for a dad, even if it’s not by blood.
Bella smiled all the way down to her soul.
Cash Law was a better, more complicated man than she had given him credit for.
Could he handle the truth about me?
For the first time, she was starting to think that maybe he could.
The boys got quiet as they pulled down the drive to the farm and passed the stone farmhouse where Cash’s parents lived.
By the time they got to the purple house, it seemed like Cash was feeling nervous.
That was endearing, because the man normally had no shortage of confidence. She figured that whatever he was planning to surprise Cody with must really mean something to him.
“Okay,” Cash said, clearing his throat as he parked the truck. “Let’s go.”
He hopped out and appeared at Bella’s door before she even had her seatbelt off, offering her a hand to help her down.
“Thank you,” she said, trying to ignore the butterflies in her chest at the warmth of his big hand wrapped around hers.
The three of them headed up the porch stepstogether.
“Open up,” Cash said to Cody, gesturing to his front door.
Cody smiled and moved to the door.
“Don’t panic,”Cash whispered to Bella.“This is kind of a gift for you both. I’ll explain in a minute.”
Cody opened the front door and a bolt of wheat-colored lighting flashed out onto the porch, circling him and nearly knocking him over.
“Carl,”Cody cried, crouching on the icy porch floor to embrace the big dog.
“Oh, Cash,” Bella breathed. “We can’t…”
“I know,” Cash said right away. “You don’t have room for this guy in that little apartment of yours. That’s why I want you to take this house. You and Cody can live here, and Carl, of course. Mom and Dad said I can have a room at their place.”
“We couldn’t,” she said, thunderstruck that he would even offer.
“Well, you’re definitely going to need a place with a yard now that you have a dog,” Cash said. “So if you don’t like this house, then we’ll find another one. But I want to do something to make his life better, and I’m tired of you telling me no.”
She wanted to rebel at the firm note in his voice, but with her eyes on Cody, who was hugging the big dog and looking so happy he could cry, it was hard to remember why she hadn’t wanted to accept help in the first place. After all, it wasn’t for her. It was for this boy who had her whole heart.
