“Nah, I’m an outlaw.”
That made them all howl with laughter until Mr. Corbyn came in.
“What’s so funny?”
“Finn trying to convince us he’s still an outlaw, sir,” Cal said.
“Ah, yes, the dichotomy of having the woman you love in your life and wishing you were still the badass you always thought you were,” Mr. Corbyn said.
“Sir, it’s hard to imagine you as a badass,” Red said.
“The same will be said of y’all one day,” Mr. Corbyn said. “Don’t think on it. Better to drink and enjoy this Sunday instead.”
“Probably a good idea,” Braden said.
They all lifted their glasses in toast and as Red sat there with the family he’d found for himself and thought about how his life had once been, he realized that he’d found happiness in Last Stand.
*
Emma heard the sounds of laughter coming from the den and smiled to herself. Today was going well. “You look happy.”
She glanced over at Amelia who looked paler than usual but happiness seemed to radiate from her. Lane was sitting at the table helping to check the food was “okay” for the rest of them. Something Lancey assured them he’d learned from his uncle Finn. Lane had really grown into their hearts over the last year. Emma remembered sitting with him the day of the accident when he’d lost both his parents and reading to the little boy. She knew he’d always miss his mom and dad, but he’d been surrounded by so much family that hopefully that would help.
“I am,” she said to her sister, thinking that her parents had probably meant for their love to insulate her and her sisters from their secret. “You look…extra happy. What’s going on?”
Amelia shook her head. “I promised I wouldn’t say anything until everyone is together.”
“What is it?”
Amelia grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the walk-in pantry and then closed the door behind them. But before she could say anything the door opened, and Delilah walked in.
“I still hate it when you two sneak off and leave me out,” Delilah said.
With an odd number of kids there had always been one of them left out when they’d been growing up. They seemed to rotate between two of them getting on real well. Sometimes Emma had been the one left out. But as adults that never really happened.
“We weren’t leaving you out,” Amelia said. “I just don’t want anyone else to overhear yet. I’m pregnant. We’re going to tell everyone at brunch today, but I really couldn’t wait another minute to tell you two. I’m going to be a mommy!”
Emma was so excited for her sister she almost wanted to cry. They both hugged Amelia and were dancing around in the sister dance when the pantry door opened. They turned to see who it was.
“Mama. We were looking for the peaches that Memaw put up,” Delilah said.
“I already got them,” their mom said. “I know you three are up to something, but I’ll let you keep it for now. It’s time to eat.”
They filed out of the pantry and her mom caught her hand and stopped her. “What is it?”
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m glad you brought Red with you today. I had a feeling there was more than you just helping him out with decorating his house going on with y’all.”
“There has been. But we needed some time for ourselves to sort it out,” she said.
“I get it. It was like that with your daddy and me. Especially after I found out I was pregnant. We needed some time to get everything settled between us. Memaw was…well I want to say understanding but you wouldn’t believe me. She wanted us to get together and couldn’t understand why I was dragging my heels. My parents were always more relaxed about that sort of thing.”
“What did you do?”
“I ran away, Emmy. I got in my car and drove to Oklahoma and didn’t look back,” she said. “I felt like if I had some space away from your daddy, I’d be able to make the right decision.”
“And you did,” Emma said. “I’m surprised you ran away from him.”
“Are you? I was in love with one man and pregnant with another man’s baby,” her mom said. “I was caught between what I thought was the right thing to do and what I wanted to do.”
“I can see that,” Emma said. “I’ve been torn…everyone I love has lied to me at some point in their life and not for a malicious reason. I’ve always believed that love should be above that…”
“That’s a girl’s view of love,” her mom said. “Some secrets aren’t meant for everyone.”
She nodded. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way, Mama. You know I love you and Daddy so much but that was a shock and it changed how I viewed everything.”
Her mom hugged her close. “I know. I wish it could have gone another way, but we made the best decisions we could at all times.”
Her mom linked their arms together and led them into the large patio dining area. There were large fans over the table blowing cool air to combat the Texas heat. Her mom moved over to lead everyone to the buffet and Emma stood where she was, seeing her mother through adult eyes for the first time.
It had been too easy to judge her when she’d been a girl. No matter how much she wanted to claim to have been mature she knew it had been a child who’d been hurt by learning the truth about her sister. And now she knew that no matter what sort of biology made up Amelia they were all Corbyns through and through.
Red came over to her and took her hand, holding it lightly in his. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just chatting with Mom. She likes you, you know?”
“I didn’t know,” he said. “But I’m glad. Hey, do you mind slipping away so we can talk?”
“Not at all,” she said.
But before she could Amelia and Cal stood up. Cal clinked his fork against his water glass. “We have an announcement.”
“You’re expecting,” Mom and Dad said at the same time.
“We are!”
There was applause all around and Red just nodded that they should stay for now. But she knew something was on his mind. Like the other night at dinner she let the love she felt for Red flow through her and knew whatever he had to say to her, it would be okay.
They were a couple now and they would weather these things like her mom and dad had.
Missed communication is miscommunication.
~lesson learned from Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice
Chapter Fourteen
Emma tossed him her car keys when it was time to leave her parents’ house. They’d ended up staying all afternoon, celebrating Amelia and Cal’s pregnancy as well as Lancey and Finn’s. Red could tell that Braden was happy for his brothers and in a quiet moment had confessed that he wasn’t sure he was ready to join them as a dad. Being an uncle to Lane was all that he and Lea were ready for right now.
Red nodded and came close to telling Braden that he’d gotten custody of Molly but decided that the first person he wanted to tell was Emma. A part of him knew that it might have been better to have had her along on the entire journey, but he didn’t regret waiting until now.
“Do you want to come out to my house and spend the night there?” he asked.
“Sure. I have an overnight bag packed in the trunk since we started dating,” she said. “That way I’ll be prepared.”
“I am glad to hear that,” Red said. “Your mom and dad seem very excited about having their first grandchild and your grandmother—she was over the moon.”
“Yes. A lot of her friends already have great-grandchildren and she’s been about out of patience with me and my sisters for making her wait so long. And my cousins are younger than we are so there’s not a chance of great-grands from them yet as they are still in college and high school.”
“I guess the pressure is on you and your sisters,” Red said. He knew this was the perfect moment to segue the conversation into him having a daughter. But as he glanced over at Emma who had her head resting on the back of the seat and her eyes closed…he chicken
ed out.
She was at peace and he wanted to let her have this moment. He’d noticed her hanging back and talking to her mom earlier and he wondered if whatever unresolved issues she had with her parents had been taken care of. He knew for himself when his folks got to town he was going to sit down and tell them how happy he was they were here and how he wished they’d come a long time ago. He was ready to be the kind of family that the Corbyns were. Not the Corbyn way because the Aldeans weren’t like that but in their own way. To find their own happiness together.
“It is. But now that Amelia’s pregnant the pressure is off,” Emma said. “At least for a little while…Red?”
“Hmm?” he asked glancing over at her and noticing she’d turned her head and was looking at him.
“How do you feel about kids?”
The million-dollar question that he knew would bite him in the ass if he answered it wrong. He had no plan for this, he thought again, wishing he did. But he didn’t. So, he had one choice and that was to speak honestly and from the heart. “I’d love them.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh-huh. I’ve been thinking about it more and more since Bray started watching Lane more and I’ve been taking him out fishing and in the canoe. Lane says the craziest things and he sees the world differently…just got me thinking about kids.”
“I think Lane has got all of us thinking about being parents. I’ll tell you when Rose and TJ first said they were having a baby, I did think they were too young,” Emma admitted. “But Rose was so determined, I knew she’d be a good mom.”
“Yeah, me too. She’d been mothering her brothers all her life. I think she would be happy to know that Lane brought them all home,” Red said.
“Me too,” Emma agreed. “I miss her laughter. She used to stop by my office in the library every time she came in to check out books and tell me some funny thing that was going on. I know her life wasn’t all that easy or sunny, but she always had the best attitude.”
“I miss her too. She knew how to keep Braden from taking himself too seriously. I feel like that burden falls to me now,” Red admitted. He and Rose had sort of tag-teamed Braden to keep him from losing himself in the darkness that was inside of him. And he had never minded cheering his friend up but the last year had been extra hard as he’d missed Bray’s little sister too.
“Dang, didn’t mean to bring us down,” Emma said.
“You didn’t. In fact, I think we should celebrate all that Rose and TJ brought into the world with Lane.”
“I agree,” she said.
He pulled into the driveway of his new house, which still wasn’t finished but should be next week. He had his landscaper coming back to finish up the front and then the house would be something to drive up to. Right now, it was finished brick and the landscape had been added. He came around to open Emma’s door, but she was already getting out when he got there. She smiled over at him.
“This place is really coming along. It looks like a fine home for a family,” she said.
“That’s exactly what I wanted it to be. Emma, you’ve helped me make this into more than I imagined it could be. Thank you,” he said.
“You’re very welcome,” she said. “So, show me what rooms they’ve finished. I’m anxious to see if everything I picked out works well together.”
“Well I think you’ll like it. The king-sized bed is very comfortable, and I really like the sheets and all that you got. They are nice and soft…you’ll like them,” he said.
“I can’t wait to find out for myself,” she admitted.
He took her hand in his and led her up to the house. He knew he needed to tell her about Molly and as soon as they were inside, he was going to. Really.
*
“Close your eyes,” he said as soon as they were in the foyer.
“Why?”
“Trust me,” he said.
She closed her eyes and held her hand out to him and Red led her across the tile floors, which she had barely had a glimpse of. But from what she’d seen they had turned out even better than she’d imagined. She couldn’t wait to see the entire house.
He opened a door that she thought was the game room on the first floor. The blueprints for the house were in her mind since she’d sent them out just yesterday to a friend in Dallas who made art prints from house blueprints. She’d sent some pictures as well so that the artwork would be complete when she gifted it to Red for his den. She had a place in mind for it already.
As soon as she stepped into the room, she felt thick carpet under her feet and the room smelled of new books and old wood. She opened her eyes and caught her breath. The room was all floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Only two of the shelves had any books on them and there was a window seat built-in at the far end as well as two long sofas that sat facing each other and an armchair that was begging for her to curl up in it and read.
“Red! This is fabulous. I love this room,” she said.
“I’m glad. This room is yours,” he said. “I figured it was my duty as your beast to give you a library.”
She threw herself into his arms and knew without a doubt that she loved this man. All of the tiny doubts and worries that she had allowed into her mind and heart were silenced in this moment. It wasn’t the gift that made her love him, but it was the thought behind it. Like the Because of Winn-Dixie dinner he’d made for her and The Blue Fairy Book, Red had taken the time to make her a priority and give her things that she truly wanted.
“I love you,” she said. “You know that, right?”
He kissed her hard and deep. And lifted his head. She looked into those blue-gray eyes of his. Saw his thick curly red-gold hair and the stubble on his face and she knew that she’d found something with Red that she’d never expected to find outside of the pages of the books she loved so much. This was a man who made her feel like all her odd parts were okay. That the quirks of her personality were the things that made her important to him.
“I love you, too,” he said. “And there is a lot we need to talk about. Let’s sit down.”
“What do we need to talk about? I hope you’re not going to propose—I’m not ready for that,” she said with a laugh.
He laughed too. “Not yet. But I’m going to so start thinking about it.”
She tried not to give that too much thought. Getting married wasn’t something she’d envisioned for herself but now she couldn’t help but think of her and Red saying their vows in a big open field somewhere.
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked as she was seated next to him. Behind them were empty shelves and she already had some ideas of books she would order to fill it. And she had boxes of books at her house that she hadn’t had room to put on her shelves. But the bookcases should reflect not just her but also Red’s likes.
“There are a few things that have come up,” he started, then stopped. Ran his hands through his hair and then turned to face her. Took her hands in his. “Emma, when I first started to think about dating you, my focus was on that. On you. I want you to know that I was interested in you for a long time before I finally made my move.”
“Okay,” she said. “You already told me that. Mentioned your fishing guide and all that.”
“Yes,” he said. “The fishing guide…there is nothing in there to help me prepare for this.”
He was starting to worry her. The more he hemmed and hawed about what he was trying to tell her. The more she started to realize that it wasn’t something that she was expecting to hear.
“Just tell me.”
“You know that I have been working with an attorney in Austin on something,” he started again.
“Yes.”
“It was a family lawyer. I have been trying to get custody of my daughter,” he said. “I didn’t know that Molly existed until January when her mom died. I was informed then and I immediately tried to get custody but her maternal grandparents blocked me from even seeing her. I had to go through the courts.”
She just stare
d at him not sure what she was hearing. How could Red have a kid? Surely they’d all know if he’d gotten someone pregnant in Last Stand. Or heck even Whiskey River. The gossip mill was strong in this part of Texas. How could she have not heard anything about this? “Who’s the mom?”
“Lori Odem,” he said. “I met her during Mardi Gras in New Orleans a few years ago. We just both went our own ways and she had our daughter and was raising her before she was in a fatal car crash.”
Emma nodded. Red had a daughter from a one-night stand. That she could believe. “How old is your daughter?”
“Molly is two. She’s cute as a button and I just saw her last week. She’s going to come here and live with me,” he said.
“Good. She should,” Emma said, and she meant it. She was still dealing with the shock of learning that Red had a daughter. That he’d lied to her about something huge. He could say he was trying to sort it out, but they’d been dating for a while now and he should have mentioned it.
*
He wasn’t always the most in touch with Emma’s emotions, but he knew she was upset about the fact that he hadn’t mentioned Molly. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that probable thought… “Sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. There was a real chance I might not get custody of her. And you wanted us to take things slow. I just was giving you the space you asked for and waiting for the courts to do their thing with the custody.”
“That’s okay. It was your business not mine,” she said, but her attitude said she didn’t think it was okay.
“Don’t do that,” he said. He knew she wasn’t fine. He had lied to her about something big. Of course, he’d done it because he’d been afraid to lose her and now it seemed that he was going to lose her anyway. He had never been the kind of man to talk about his problems until he’d solved them. And Molly—his daughter—she wasn’t a problem, but he’d known she’d cause a wrinkle with Emma.
“Do what?” she asked, and he could tell she was fighting back tears.
“Pretend this is fine when I know it’s not. I’m saying this was an easy thing to share with you, Emma, but I couldn’t just blurt it out.”
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