Page 10 of Fall Favor
“Of course she can, you’ve heard the term Irish twins, haven’t you? Plenty of women have gotten pregnant while breastfeeding and had two babies in the same calendar year.”
“I wonder if Ezra knows this? It would explain so much, although I haven’t noticed her walking around with a puke bucket, so maybe she’s not, but I’ll mention it to him. I’vebeen meaning to talk to him about other things that I’m uncomfortable with at work. Might as well bring a list and get it over with all at once.”
“Mm, good for you. Setting boundaries and protecting your own mental health can be difficult, especially when it involves work or family relationships.”
“Yeah, exactly. I’m guessing you know this from experience, too.”
“Yup.” She pauses. I can see she’s struggling with how much to tell me.
“Mama, you don’t have to tell me anything if you aren’t ready to share.” I reach my hand across the center console and rest it on her thigh.
“It’s not that, Emanuel. I’m just trying to… Do you know who Bucky Trench is?”
“Maybe? Top-fuel drag racer, right?”
“Right. So, my family owns… owned Goodwin Performance.” She pauses again, only this time the space between us is stretched with tension, and then it hits me.
“You’re Bucky Trench’s wife? That was you?” Her hand drops to her lower abdomen, but her voice is steady when she continues, as if she didn’t suffer and almost die from being fuckingstabbed. The media tried crucifying her, untilpoof—the scandal disappeared from the headlines as if by magic.
“Ex-wife. We’re divorced. Bucky got everything in the settlement, including my parents, but honestly, good riddance. In the long run, my Grams, that’s my mom’s mom by the way, made sure I was the one who came out on top, and yeah, that was me.”
“Pull over.”
“What? Manny, I can’t just pull over. W-Why are you so upset?”
“Yeah, you can. There’s an exit coming up. Take it and thenpullover.”
Leah’s lips pinch together, and her hands shake as she flips on the blinker and takes the offramp.
When she finally puts the truck into park, I throw the passenger door open and jump out. She probably thinks I’m disgusted, and I am, but dammit, it’s not at her—it’s for her. I need a minute to get a handle on my emotions.
Stomping around the back of the camper, I come up on the driver’s side and yank her door open.
“Manny… Emanuel…”
God, I love that she’s the only one who uses my given name. Releasing the seatbelt, I pull her out of the truck. Wrapping her in my arms, Leah stiffens. I squeeze her tighter, the urge to protect her from every bad thing, past, present, and future, riding me hard. I’ve never met anyone who was so starved for touch or someone who needs it more than Leah. I rock my little mama slow and easy just like the song. The gentle swaying motion is the opposite of the storm rolling inside me. That is, until she melts against me and tentatively puts her arms around me, too.
I bury my face in her neck and just breathe in the lemony-sugar cookie scent that is uniquely Leah. The soft pat, pat, pat of her hand on my shoulder blade as she tries to comfort me is what tips me over the edge. It’s probably too soon to tell her I love her, but I damned sure can show her every day. When I finally relax the tightness of my hold, I catch a glimpse of our happily ever after shimmering in her pretty brown eyes.
Chapter 8
Leah
Restless, I squirm and stretch within the confines of the passenger seatbelt, not because our first date and shopping were curtailed by the icy rain pelting the windows from the weather front moving in more rapidly than predicted but because Emanuel knows my biggest secret… well, most of it anyway, and he’s not freaking out. He’s the first person who hasn’t badgered me for all the gory details or berated me for ruining Bucky Trench’s racing career.
It’s probably too soon to tell him I’m falling in love with him. My tongue is sore from biting it throughout the day to keep from blurting out those few little words that even as a child I rarely heard.
The funny thing is, I thought my childhood was pretty normal, even though I lived with my grandparents. Back then, I thought it was because Mom and Dad were on the road all the time, but in hindsight, I realize now it was because I was born a girl instead of a boy, and it ruined Dad’s dream of a son taking over someday.
When I was seventeen, Grandpa’s health took a rapid decline. My grandparents, who owned sixty-five percent of Goodwin, saw the writing on the wall. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family and their newest business partner, Bucky’s father, Grandpa and Grams made some strategic decisions of their own. It was a good thing too, even though it drove a wedge between them and my parents. The week after Grandpa’s death, mom and dad pressured me into marrying Bucky, ‘their boy,’ despite my grieving grandmother’s objections.
But like I told Manny, Gram’s made sure I came out on top. It was time to let go of the past.
“Wow. It’s really getting bad out here.”
As the wind picks up, I can hardly see the road or the taillights of the vehicle traveling a few car lengths in front of us. Freezing rain turns into a heavy rain-snow mixture, giving the truck’s cab an eerie gray cast. The rhythm of the windshield wipers adds to the tension as the windshield is covered in white and then swiped away over and over.
“Don’t worry, Mama, I’ve driven in worse. We’ll make it home… Shit.”
