Page 53 of Chasing Love: The Owens
She pointed at me. “I see those wheels turning, and I hate to crush your dreams of being my little girl’s stepmom, but I don’t want her to grow up going from one house to another. I did that my whole life, then my parents decided to reconcile after I graduated from high school. After all the shit they put me through. Fighting over who was paying more, who wasn’t doing enough. And the holidays… I sure as hell never enjoyed one since on Christmas morning, the other one would call and cast a shadow of guilt over all my new things because they were home alone. I won’t do that to my daughter.”
“It’s not just your decision.”
Her hand went to her stomach again. “True, he could choose you, but I’ve offered him something he’s wanted for a long time.”
“Being?”
“Willowbrook. I told him I’ll go live in his small little ranch town as long as we give us another go, and his little girl can be raised there like he’s always wanted. We both know how important family is to him.”
I did. Bennett had gone on and on about us returning to Willowbrook and opening our own landscape architecture firm and flower shop. How we’d live on the ranch with the rest of his family and raise our kids surrounded by love. But I was the wife and mother in the daydream, not Kristie.
“None of this answers why you’re here.” I wanted Bennett to be the one telling me all these things. How could he come back into my life just to be stripped away again?
“Because he’s going to come here and tell you all this, and I’m asking you to let him go.”
My heart free-fell into my stomach.
She put her finger on the picture and pushed it closer to me. “It’s a fresh start for us. A baby who needs her father and her mother living under the same roof.”
My gaze wouldn’t leave that ultrasound picture. An innocent life that was going to be born into a tug of war from her first cry. It wasn’t her fault. Hell, I wasn’t sure it was anyone’s fault.
“You’re asking me to just step aside?”
“You might not have a choice. I have no idea what Bennett wants. He sure wasn’t going to tell me. I’m just asking for you not to fight him if he says he wants me.”
“And the baby.” I had to remind her that if he chose Willowbrook and his unborn baby, it’s not her but his child he was choosing.
She shrugged. “Semantics. There’s no baby without me.”
I inhaled a big breath. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of telling me what I was going to do. Plus, I had to think about it. Regardless, my choice only mattered if Bennett still wanted me and what we had together. I wasn’t going to fall to my knees and beg him to choose me.
“I guess we’ll see what his decision is then,” I said, hoping it got her to leave my house.
She stood and looked me over as if she really did understand why Bennett was in love with me. For a second, that strong front of hers vanished. “I’m just doing what’s best for my baby. I hope you understand.”
She picked then to be cordial and nice. I don’t know why. I didn’t understand her or how Bennett had ever fallen in love with her. The two of us seemed so different.
I didn’t say anything but walked over to the door and opened it for her.
She stepped out onto the small entry porch, then turned around. “If it makes you feel better, he really loved you. The first night I met him, when he talked about you and the breakup, I thought, God, no one will ever compare to his precious Delaney.”
Except his daughter, I thought but didn’t voice.
She turned and walked down the sidewalk to her car, and I shut the door, locking it as if it would keep all the demons from invading my happiness. My back hit the door, and I slid to the floor because deep down, I think I knew what Bennett’s decision would be. I wasn’t sure I could even fault him for making it.
* * *
Delaney
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bennett
For the past several weeks, Delaney and I have been coming to Blue Prairie Country Club and instructing the crew on the overhaul of the landscaping. Today is the first day we’ll be planting.
It’s pure and utter torture every time she hops in my truck smelling like whatever perfume or shampoo she uses. I think it’s some combination of pear and freesia, and it’s intoxicating as fuck.
The best part is that every day it seems like I’m able to chip away a piece of that tense and closed off woman who arrived in Willowbrook. But she’s still trying to keep her distance from me, and I can’t really blame her. I picked Kristie over her, and the damage and pain that caused won’t get washed away with a few flirtatious looks or words.
