Page 43 of Hers to Hold
“It’s complicated,” Kady said quickly.
Mary’s face scrunched. “What do you mean? Do you two like each other?”
“Mom!” Kat laughed nervously. “She’s not in high school.”
“Well?” Mary pressed.
Did she like him? “Of course,” Kady said. “I like him better than any guy I’ve ever met.”But his diagnosis…
“Then what’s the problem?”
Kady heaved a sigh. “He’s not sure he’s ready to take on a relationship. His therapist thinks I might be a bad influence. Plus, he just got custody of his daughter and…it’s a lot for him right now.”
Mary smiled. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll be. Wes will figure it out, I’m sure. Love is a beautiful thing, but itisa choice. An everyday choice.” Her features fell. “Steve wasn’t my first husband.” She turned her tearful gaze to her daughters. “I chose to love my first husband, to the detriment of myself and my girls. But it’s a choice I madeeveryday.” Her eyes found Kady. “When things get complicated, you can run away or you can chose to stay. But the choice is yours. I hope you give Wes a fair chance. He’s a good man who knows how to love his daughter. He’ll make a great father.”
“And a hot husband,” Kori said with a wink.
Kady blushed and dipped her head. “I know he’s a good man and I’ve seen him around Chastity. I’ve never…” Her chest constricted as truth rushed up, ready to spill from her mouth. “I was raised by a single mother and I never thought marriage or kids were right for me.”
“Why?” Kori asked around the pie in her mouth.
“It wasn’t… Mom did her very best and itwasgood enough. But I’ve always felt…incomplete. I had a dad out there who didn’t want me. And my motherstruggledto raise me. No community or family. She did it all on her own. I wouldn’t want to raise a child like that.”
“Who says you have to?” Kat asked.
No one. No one was saying she did.I’m in command of my own destiny.
“And now?” Mary asked, while her sisters silently studied her without judgment. “Have you changed your mind since meeting Wes?”
Kady shrugged. “The prospect doesn’t seem so bad.” She scanned the table and the cozy dining room, again, feeling like she belonged here. “My mother has since passed away, and I haven’t felt like part of a family in a long time.”
“I’m so sorry, Kady.” Kori leaned over the table and gripped Kady’s hand.
“What about your father?” Kat asked. “Has he ever been in the picture?
“Never knew him,” came Kady’s clipped reply. “No interest.”
Mary nodded slowly, her veiled gaze assessing Kady and giving her goosebumps. “Well, you always have a family here.”
Her chest burned hot, as did the backs of her eyes. After her mother’s passing, Kady wasn’t sure what family would look like to her. She had resigned to living a life alone filled with as much work as humanly possible to keep her from both grieving and facing her own loneliness.
Now she had a family.
And a home.
And if things worked out between her and Wes…
“Unless you break Wes’s heart. Then we’ll have to kill you,” Kat teased with a grin.
All of them shared a laugh, but only Kady’s was fake.
Because she was going to break his heart.
When he finds out who and what I am, he’ll never want to see me again.
Chapter 18
“Jimmy, shouldn’t you be home doing something? It’s ten o’clock at night!” Kady stormed into the newsroom and dropped her purse on Jimmy’s desk. She planted one hand on her hip and held her phone out for him to view her screen. “What’s the meaning of this?”
