Page 6 of Taming His Honeydoll
When her eyes caught on fire Sawyer knew she was shifting to attack mode. God help him and his kind from an intelligent woman. She didn’t disappoint.
“Maybe I’m just trying to help you be happy,” she retorted, pointing her empty spoon at him. “For your information, I met a young woman today who was named Emma.”
Sawyer was lost, he had to admit it. He was being played and all he could do was follow along or leave the table. Leaving would be rude to his mother, but he was leaning towards it. “There are a lot of young women out there named Emma,” he observed, folding his broad arms across his chest.
Then her eyes softened and she put her hand on his arm.
Uh oh—the kill shot was coming; he could feel it. He tensed.
“Yes, but how many of them have a son who looks exactly like you did when you were three years old?”
Sawyer’s vision started to blur. His mouth dropped open and he felt as shell-shocked as he had when a grenade launcher had landed a grenade too close for comfort. “A-A son?” He finally croaked out, his mind whirling with the implications.
Rachel nodded; her eyes shrewd. “So, it is possible then? You could have a son running around whose mother is named Emma?”
He stared at her, his heart thumping like a drum. What were the chances? There was only one. One very good chance. But if Emma had known she was pregnant, why hadn’t she told him? “Did she give a last name?”
“She said her name was Emma Tremaine.”
Sawyer pinched his nose. He was afraid he was going to black out from the emotion threatening to engulf him. Only women fainted though; he had to get control of himself.
“I-It can’t be,” he replied harshly. “Emma Tremaine is married.” That was a dumb thing to say, but Sawyer wasn’t firing on all six cylinders at the moment.
“Not anymore. She told me she was divorced.”
And then his mother delivered the coup de grace.
“If there is a chance that Levi is yours, Sawyer Hamilton Blackland, and you don’t do anything about it, I’m going to disown you. If this is true, then that child I saw at the park today is mygrandson!”
And that right there is why men don’t really rule the world, even though they’d like to think they did. He covered her hand on his arm with trembling fingers from his other hand and cleared his throat. “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll find out for sure—you can bet on it.”
She sat back with a sigh of relief, tears filling her eyes as she smiled sweetly at him. Her face was troubled though, and her fingers trembled on her spoon. “Thank you, Son.”
Sawyer pushed his chair back and went outside to heave in deep breaths of the fresh Maine air. If this was true, Emma had a lot to answer for. Anguish squeezed his heart. How could she have been pregnant with his child and never told him? Why would she do that to him? To them?
His thoughts flew back to that spring. Maybe she hadn’t known she was pregnant when he left. Which would make more sense, given her reaction.
He was three years older than Emma when they had met at college and she was fresh out of high school. Tying her down for years while he went to the military wasn’t an option then. Yes, he’d fallen for her and she’d said she loved him, but he hadn’t wanted her to feel obligated to wait for him if she found someone else. She was so young. What if she’d just thought she was in love? He’d thought he was being noble at the time, but he’d fully expected she wouldn’t find anyone else if she truly loved him.
That was what he’d really been counting on.
When that letter had come showing her married to another man, it had devastated him and made him bitter to realize he’d been right all along—she’d never been in love with him. But even that didn’t hurt as much as knowing she’d had his child and obviously never intended that he should find out. For that she deserved to have her little ass turned cherry red.
Knowing he wasn’t going to sleep well, he saddled up his horse and headed across the pasture. Riding Bailey always calmed his mind and helped him think. Letting the big horse have his head, he just clung to his mane and let the wind clear away the confusion and anger.
He really had screwed things up. He should never have left it like that because hehadfallen in love with Emma. He should have let it play out and hope she was actually mature enough to know her own mind. If she truly loved him as she’d said, then she would wait for him. And if she didn’t love him, he’d lose her anyway but at least she’d be free to move on. Then again, he might have won the lottery.
He'd been an all-around fool for not considering she might be pregnant after only one time. His gut clenched with self-reproach. If she were divorced already, then she hadn’t found her true love after all, just a temporary knight in shining armor. He’d forced her into the arms of another man after leaving her pregnant and bereft. For that, he wouldn’t blame her brother if he wanted to kick his ass if he ever saw him again.
The moonlit night was clear, cold, and refreshing. Finally slowing Bailey to a walk, they made their way back through the meadows towards the barn. The abundant maple and oak leaves crunched beneath the horse’s hooves. In the barn he rubbed down Bailey’s soft hide and cleaned off the sweat and dust while he thought about his next step.
Flopping down in the Adirondack chair on the front porch he went through his options for reaching Emma. He didn’t remember the name of the man she’d married in that article and he hadn’t kept it, but he knew her brother’s name. Oliver Tremaine. Oliver was part owner in a veterinarian practice down in Revere, a small southwestern suburb of Boston. Oliver he could find. And from there, he would find Emma.
***
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUcan’t make the child support for a while?” Emma shouted at Henry on her overseas connection. “Henry, you promised.” Her heart thudded with dread at his announcement.
“I’m sorry to do this to you, Emma, love, but my parents caught me and Everett together and they’ve cut me off.”
