Maren flipped open the note, scanning frantically. “How is this proof?”
“If you read it, Mare, you’ll see that it is.” Sliding a chair up to her, Grady encouraged Maren to sit. “You don’t have to read it all right now. But it’s important for you to know that your dad wanted to make things right with Kiley. He just didn’t know how. I assured him I would do it for him. That’s why I’ve been taking care of Kiley this whole time and it’s why I will continue to help with the baby. I promised your father that I would look after his girls, Mare. That means all of them.” Lifting his head toward baby Colton, he added, “And now there’s a little guy to look after, too.”
Maren couldn’t keep the next words from being spoken. “What about Colton’s father?” She didn’t want to project the insensitivity she knew those words held. When Kiley didn’t take it that way, she was relieved.
“Colton’s dad knows all about him. It was a stupid one-night stand at a rodeo in Oregon last fall. I got into some dumb cowboy’s truck and let things go too far. I let him know as soon as I found out I was pregnant and he told me he had no interest in being a dad. That I would have to do this on my own.”
Maren’s heart fell. “I’m so sorry, Kiley.”
“It’s okay. We will be fine without him. If I’ve learned anything from my mother, God rest her soul, it’s that us Swift women are fighters and there’s nothing on this earth stronger than our love for our children.” With a doting look of adoration, she lowered her lips to kiss the crown of her son’s hair. “Family is important to me, Maren. I know it’s too late for me to be a part of yours. You have your mom and your sisters. I’ve always understood and respected that, even if I couldn’t help but be a little jealous,” she said in a soft voice. Then she shed a guarded, yet undeniably hopeful smile when she added, “But Colton and I really hope you’ll want to be a part of ours.”
26
Grady
Grady’s eyes went bleary as they focused on the sludge-black coffee dripping into the carafe at a much slower rate than his exhausted, caffeine-craving body required.
Last night had been the first one back from the hospital. While Grady had intended to sleep in the barn loft to give Kiley and Colton ample room to settle in, Kiley wasn’t comfortable with that. In an uncertain voice, she’d confessed to Grady that she was wary of being alone with the baby. Grady understood. It was intimidating to be responsible for a brand new life. Heck, he was nervous introducing a new horse to the barn; he could only imagine that anxiety ratcheted up about a thousand notches when dealing with an actual infant.
Grady wasn’t sure how much help he could be, but he could do practical things like wash onesies and fold cloth diapers and he supposed that was something. It freed Kiley up so she could focus on the only thing that mattered, which was bonding with her new son.
When the coffee maker beeped, Grady jolted, realizing he’d started to doze off while propped against the kitchen counter. Taking down a mug from the cupboard, he poured the liquid all the way to the rim and didn’t wait before taking a hearty swig. The black coffee burned going down, but he needed the caffeine to take effect immediately.
Today was a big one.
In just an hour, he had plans to join the Friar women for breakfast at their farmhouse.
Maren had taken the news better than he’d anticipated, but that might’ve been due to the inherent shock of it all. She didn’t seem angry. She didn’t appear pleased, though, either. Her surprise didn’t allow for any other emotion to filter through. She was unreadable.
As he mulled over how he planned to start the conversation, Kiley stumbled into the kitchen, sleep heavy in her eyes and the slumbering baby held closely to her chest.
“Coffee!” she exclaimed with as much enthusiasm as her exhausted, new-parent stupor would allow. When she stretched up to collect a clean mug, her fuzzy pink robe slipped from her shoulder and, on instinct, Grady reached out to adjust it. She misread the gesture, her eyes lighting up. “You want to hold him?” she asked, thinking he’d been reaching for the baby.
“Oh, I—”
“Thank you, Grady. I could use a few hands-free moments, if you wouldn’t mind. He wouldn’t let me put him down all night.”
“Then let me have that little guy,” he said, mustering some semblance of eagerness in an effort to cover the nerves.
Kiley stepped closer so they were sandwiched together and passed off Colton. She looked up at Grady who wore an uneasy expression and grinned. “You are going to make a really great father someday, Grady. You’re a natural.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he corrected. “But it’s hard not to fall head over heels for something so perfect.”
Pushing her backside against the counter as she cradled a mug of coffee in her hands, Kiley tilted her head and gave Grady another appraising look. “He really is perfect, isn’t he? Other than the fact that he has his days and nights mixed up.”
“Is that normal?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged and blew across the top of the cup. “I’m not sure there is such a thing as normal when it comes to babies. This is all on the job training for me.”
“Well, I, for one, think you’re doing great, Kiley. He’s lucky to have you as a mother.”
At those words, a sparkle of emotion gleamed in Kiley’s eye. “Ever since my mom passed, and then the hope of Walt accepting me dying along with him, I’ve felt really alone.” She lifted her coffee to her mouth, pausing for a drink. “It’s been just me for longer than I can remember. Even though Colton is only a tiny baby, it feels so good to have family again, you know? To have someone that belongs to me and me to them.”
“I understand that more than you can imagine, Kiley.”
“I know you do.” She staved off the tears with a toss of her head. “How do you think Maren is doing with it all?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’m eager to find out.” Without realizing it, Grady began swaying side to side with the small newborn in his arms, some innate dance that he hadn’t even realized was in his repertoire. “I’m worried she thinks I’ve been lying to her. I mean, I kind of have been by omitting the truth this whole time. That’s what scares me the most.”
“Even if she feels lied to, she’ll forgive you. You had to do what you did for everyone involved.”
“I hope you’re right because I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t. I’m in love with her, Kiley.”
“I know. You’ve always been in love with her.”
“I have. And I don’t know how to stop loving her. If this is more than she can handle—if it’s something she can’t move past—I’m not sure I can go through losing her again. Losing her for good.”
Kiley made a face that verged on a frown. “You need to realize Walt’s mistakes aren’t your mistakes, Grady. Just because you took the fall for him, you’re not the one who betrayed Maren. You’re still the same man you’ve always been,” Kiley said. “What she’ll need to wrap her head and heart around is the fact that her dad was more than the man she thought he was.”