Josie came up behind him and placed her hand on his chest, making sure the ring was on full display. “I think this is what he means.”
Donna’s eyes just about tumbled from her skull. “You’re not?” Her words came out with a horrified gasp. “You’re not engaged? Are you?”
“No,” Seth said resolutely. “We’re not.”
“Oh, thank heavens.” Donna’s hands shot skyward in relief.
“We’re married,” Seth said.
Her praising hands collapsed and dropped to her thighs with a clap. “Is this some sort of joke?”
“No, it’s not.”
Donna stepped forward and Seth curved his hand around Josie’s hip to possessively pull her closer. The fabric on the borrowed sweatshirt bunched under his palm. “We went to the courthouse yesterday.”
“Why would you do something like that?” A sudden dawn of some sort of understanding splashed over Donna’s horrified face. “Oh no! You got her pregnant, didn’t you?”
“I’m not pregnant, Donna,” Josie quickly corrected.
“Oh, thank the good Lord above for that.” Donna’s hands were at her bosom now, clasping her heart. “I just can’t think of any other reason why you would rush into marriage with a woman like—”
“If you’re going to talk about my wife like she’s not standing right here, then I suggest you leave, Mom. I won’t have you disrespecting Josie in my house, or anywhere else, for that matter.”
“I’m sorry.” Donna now fanned her cheeks with a frantic, flapping hand. “This is just a lot to take in, Seth. You have to understand my shock. I didn’t see this coming at all.”
“Actually, I don’t have to understand it,” Seth said as he shook his head. “Nor do I have any desire to. So if we’re all done here, I’d like to make breakfast for my wife and get started on our first day as newlyweds.”
Donna’s jaw ticked and her eyes turned to slits. “Your father is never going to believe this. Never.”
Josie hadn’t thought about that. Mitch’s approval was the sole reason for the charade. If he didn’t approve, there was no sense in continuing on with any of it.
“What am I supposed to tell him, Seth?” Donna asked.
“That he has a new daughter.”
That wasn’t the answer she was searching for. “This is a big shock, Seth.”
“I can appreciate that,” he said, his eyes softening as he gave his mom an empathetic look. “But once that shock wears off, I hope you will all be as welcoming to Josie as you were to Amy. And if I do that math correctly, theirs actually was a shotgun wedding.”
Donna’s mouth sharpened into a frown, she gave the couple a head-to-toe once over and then saw herself out.
Seth stood unmoving for a silent moment before he released his grasp on Josie and slumped back on the counter’s edge. He speared his fingers into his hair and then mopped his hands down his face. She could see his chest rise and fall with large, full breaths and after he regained his composure, he pushed off from the cabinet and crossed the kitchen toward the fridge.
“Scrambled or fried?”
“What?”
He pulled a carton from the refrigerator and settled it onto the tiled counter. “I’m making you breakfast, just like I said I would.”
“Do you think maybe we’re taking this too far?” Josie opened the cupboard closest to her and got down a mixing bowl. She passed it off to Seth. “And scrambled, please.”
Seth got right to work cracking and beating the eggs, his movements more vigorous than necessary. “We might be, but I think we’re so far down the rabbit hole, our only option is to make our home inside of it and stay awhile.”
Josie couldn’t help but smile at his attempt to find humor in the situation. She really did feel for Seth. Josie wasn’t a stranger to mother issues. After her father had passed and they sold the ranch, she moved into an apartment with her mom. But it didn’t last long. Josie quickly missed the breathing space the ranch afforded her, the many acres she could ride to clear her head and feed her soul. Sharing such close quarters with a woman she had known her entire life but still felt like she barely knew at all wasn’t ideal. And even though she would always be her mother’s child, she didn’t want to be treated like one. Curfews, check-ins, and unsolicited advice were all expected when you were a teenager. But Josie was a woman in her twenties and she needed space to unfurl and spread her wings.
As soon as Josie had enough money saved up from her farrier work, she purchased her trailer and packed her bags. It also coincided with the move in of her mother’s new boyfriend. Life, relationships, and dreams changed over time and if there was one thing Josie had learned throughout the years, it was that the only person you could truly count on was yourself. Not friends. Not even family.
But this trust she felt building with Seth, it flew in the face of all of that.
“You okay?” Seth stopped whisking and raised his eyes to hers.
“Yeah. Just thinking.”
“About?”
“About us.” She hopped up onto the counter and crossed her legs at the ankles. “I mean, not that there’s an us.”
“There is an us, Josie.” He reached around her to open a nearby cabinet to retrieve a frying pan.
“Sure. But I’m just confused on the context, I guess.”
“I hope you understand after last night that I like you, Josie.”
Her heart fluttered at that, a sensation so foreign she didn’t know if it was normal. “You don’t think we were just caught up in the moment?”
“I absolutely think we were caught up in the moment. It was an amazing moment and I’d love to get caught up with you again like that.” He gave her a look that could tempt a nun to leave the convent. “But being caught up in the moment isn’t the same as doing something without thinking. Not for me, at least.”
She agreed with that and it was a relief to hear him explain it that way. “I feel that way, too. But the same can’t be said for what I did this morning. Coming out here with Marcie’s ring on my finger like that…I didn’t have any right to do that.”
Seth poured the liquid egg mixture onto the sizzling pan on the stove and stepped back. “Are you kidding me? That was perfect. Did you see my mother’s face?”
“I did.” Josie swung her legs side to side. “It was terrifying.”
“Don’t let her scare you, Josie. She’s all bark and no bite. Honestly, I think she’s intimidated by you and that’s why she acts the way she does.”
“Intimidated by me? That’s crazy.”
“It’s not. You’re the first woman to come around the ranch that has the guts to challenge her.” He poked at the eggs with a spatula. “She sees you as a threat.”
“That’s not at all how I want to be seen.” Josie caught Seth’s gaze. “How do you see me?”
“As an independent woman who has been led to believe she has to do it all on her own.”
Josie didn’t know if she liked that assessment. The truth in it tugged at her chest.