Fool for You

by Elliott, Kelly

  I laughed. “He is handsome, but he doesn’t race cars anymore. He owns a restoration shop in Waco.”

  Mary stopped walking for a moment. “What?”

  I stopped as well and looked at her. “A restoration shop. You know, they restore old cars and trucks and things like that. He’s always wanted to open one. It was his dream even before he started to race for our fathers’ NASCAR team.”

  Mary’s brows rose up. “And you said he owns the restoration shop here in Waco?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Landon owns it.”

  “Oh, well, my goodness. We’re more connected to each other than I thought!” she said with a chuckle.

  With a frown, I asked, “How do you mean?”

  She tilted her head as if I should know. “Well, William, of course! Hannah didn’t say anything to me about the father of her baby getting married!”

  I shook my head in confusion. “What are you talking about, Mary? Who are William and Hannah, and how are they connected to me?”

  Mary brought her hand up to her mouth as she gasped. “Oh my goodness. You don’t know about Hannah and William?”

  I shook my head and laughed. “No, I don’t know anything about them. Are they getting married or something? Did you think I was planning their wedding?”

  Mary dropped her hand to her pearl necklace and quickly looked away for a moment before turning back to me. “Emmerson, please don’t tell me your future husband hasn’t told you about the child he has?”

  I nearly stumbled backward. “A…a child? What are you talking about?”

  “Oh dear. You really don’t know.”

  The ground felt like it was about to be ripped out from under my feet.

  Mary reached out and took my hands in hers. “Before you marry that man, you better have him tell you about the son he had with my niece.”

  I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat. “Who…who is your niece?”

  “Hannah Marie Patterson.”

  It felt as if someone had opened my chest and sucked the air from my lungs as I fought to take a breath. “Hannah Patterson is your niece?”

  Mary nodded. “Yes, so you do know her?”

  Turning away from Mary and dropping her hands, I stared out over the golf course in a daze. “She worked at my mother’s bed and breakfast a little over a year ago.”

  I wasn’t sure how in the hell I’d made it to Landon’s house. My entire body felt numb. I was confused and downright pissed off.

  There was no way Landon had a child with another woman. None. Of that I was positive.

  So why did I feel so numb as I sat parked a block away from Landon’s house? He had texted me an hour ago, saying he was home and asking what time he should have dinner ready. I’d told him I was still meeting with a bride and that I would be home in about an hour. What I had really been doing was sitting at a park, watching the grass blow in the breeze as I tried to wrap my head around everything Mary had said.

  At first I was so angry. All I wanted to do was confront Landon. Then after my head had cleared some, I thought more logically about it all.

  Could Landon have slept with Hannah? Yes.

  Could she have gotten pregnant with his child? Yes.

  Would he ever not tell me about something so big that had happened in his life? No. If it was true, he would have told me, especially before we got romantically involved, and definitely before he married me. If somehow that child was Landon’s, then he simply didn’t know about him. Everything inside of me told me that this wasn’t his baby, though. And I was going to go with my gut feeling.

  With a deep breath in, I started my car and drove the block to Landon’s house, which I guess was now my house as well. I pulled into the garage, grabbed my bags from the backseat, and made my way into the house. The moment I stepped in, I took in the heavenly smell of something cooking.

  “Welcome home, darling!” Landon called out as I made my way through the mudroom and into the kitchen.

  The sight before me left me breathless. Landon stood in the kitchen in nothing but an apron. I laughed when I saw him leaning against the island, Lady at his feet.

  “Are you always going to greet me this way when I come home from a long day’s work? Nearly naked with something delicious-smelling in the oven?” I asked, walking over to him and reaching up onto my tippy toes to kiss him. For a few blissful moments, I forgot all about Hannah, William, and brides from hell.

  With his lips pressed softly to mine, he whispered, “I will greet you however you want, wife.”

  I wrapped my arms around him, and we were soon lost in a kiss that seemed to last forever. Or maybe I simply wished it would last forever so I wouldn’t have to have this conversation with him. Especially on the day we had just gotten married.

  When he drew back, he leaned his forehead against mine. “Talk to me, Emme.”

  I jerked back and looked up at him. “What? What do you mean?”

  “I’m standing here naked with nothing but an apron on, and you look like someone just stole your favorite toy right out of your hands. And you forgot that we have tracking apps on each other’s phones, so I saw that you were parked down the street for damn near thirty minutes. Before that, you were at a park. So, I need you to tell me what’s wrong. Do you regret that we got married this morning?”

  I gasped. “No! God, no, Landon. I would never regret that for a single moment.”

  He nodded, a look of relief passing over his face. “Okay. Tell me what’s wrong then.”

  Looking at the oven, I asked, “How much time before dinner is ready?”

  Landon glanced over his shoulder. “It’s chicken spaghetti casserole, and it’s got about twenty more minutes to go.”

  Chewing on my lip, I said, “You might want to put some pants on.”

  A serious expression moved across his face as he said, “You’re starting to freak me out, Emme.”

  If he thought he was freaked out now, he was in for a surprise.

  Landon

  I RUSHED INTO my room and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt before I made my way back into the living room where Emmerson was curled up on the sofa with Lady snuggled next to her.

  The moment she’d walked into the kitchen, I could see the tension on her face and feel it in her body when she kissed me.

  “Okay, what’s going on?” I asked, sitting on the ottoman in front of her.

  Emmerson drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. She closed her eyes for a few moments before meeting my gaze.

  “First, I want you to know that I don’t believe it. I’ll admit, I was thrown by what I’m about to tell you, but I truly believe with all my heart this is not something you would keep from me.”

  My heart started to pound as I tried to figure out what in the hell she was talking about. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nodded for her to keep going.

  “Today I met with a client and the groom’s mother at a country club to go over last-minute things for her wedding. After the bride left, the mother—her name is Mary—started asking me about you. When I mentioned you owned the restoration shop in town, she started saying all this nonsense about her niece and her niece’s baby son…and how you were the father.”

  I nearly fell off the goddamn ottoman. “What!”

  She nodded and took in another breath. “The child’s name is William, and his mother’s name is Hannah Marie Patterson.”

  Emmerson paused, clearly waiting for me to recognize the woman’s name. I had to think for a moment before it finally clicked. “She worked at the bed and breakfast a year or so ago, right?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Her voice suddenly sounded defeated.

  “Emme, I never slept with her. I remember her because Noah liked her. The few times I was in town that year, I remember him telling me about how he wanted to…” I let my voice trail off. “Well, you know. Anyway, I’ve only spoken to her maybe five times, if that.”

  Emmerson’s expression turned to one of pure confusion. �
�Why in the world would she claim that you’re the father of her baby?”

  I brought my hand to the back of my neck and rubbed at the ache that had formed. “I don’t know. But I sure as hell am going to find out. What if she goes to a reporter about this?” I grabbed her hands and held them tightly. “Emme, you believe me, don’t you?”

  “Yes, of course I do.”

  My chest warmed when she didn’t even hesitate.

  “I mean, at first I was thrown by what Mary had said, and I needed time to wrap my thoughts around everything. Once I was over the initial shock, I knew you wouldn’t keep something like this from me.”

  I dropped down onto my knees in front of her. “I love you, Emmerson. I’ve only ever loved you and will only ever love you. I swear on my life, I would never lie to you.”

  Cupping my face in her hands, Emmerson leaned forward and kissed me. “I know, Landon. I know. I think we need to tell our parents about this, though. There’s a reason this woman is going around saying you’re the father of her baby. If she hasn’t reached out to you yet, I’m wondering if she will.”

  “Honestly, with how much the two of us have been in the press lately, I can’t believe she hasn’t already.”

  Emmerson frowned. “We need to talk to our folks.”

  “Let’s eat dinner first, and then we’ll go over there. I don’t think we need to go into panic mode just yet. It’s our wedding night, Emme.”

  She smiled. “You’re right. I’m sorry for having to tell you this. And I’m sorry for the few brief moments earlier today that I wanted to rip your dick off your body.”

  I flinched. “Jesus. Remind me to never make you angry.”

  After Emmerson and I turned the oven to warm, we headed to the bedroom and made love. Then we quickly ate and drove over to our folks’ place. The only thing we told them beforehand was that we needed to speak to them about something important. Hailey and Noah were both home, so they joined in on the conversation.

  As soon as we were all settled around my parents’ dining table, Emmerson explained what this Mary woman had told her. The moment she mentioned Hannah’s name, everyone remembered her. Including Hailey. Then, after Emmerson finished speaking, all eyes went to me.

  “Did you really knock up the front desk chick who worked for Mom and Paislie?” Hailey asked, arms crossed over her chest.

  I rolled my eyes. “No, I didn’t knock anyone up. I hardly even talked to her except to say hello, how are you, that kind of thing. I wasn’t even in town most of the time when she worked at the bed and breakfast.”

  “Why in the world is she telling people you’re her baby daddy then?” Hailey questioned.

  “If I knew, Hail, I wouldn’t be here talking to Mom and Dad.”

  Malcolm stood up. “Everyone just settle down. There has to be a good reason for all of this, and one we’ll be able to figure out once we talk to Hannah. From what I can remember, she was a sweet girl.”

  “Wait a minute,” Noah said as he stood and started to pace.

  “What is it?” Emmerson asked.

  Noah kept walking as his brows pulled in tighter and tighter.

  “There was this one time I walked in on Hannah in the kitchen of the B and B. She was flustered and out of breath. I asked her if everything was okay, and she said something about running in from the chicken coop because a rooster was chasing her.”

  My mother chuckled. “That isn’t surprising. She was scared to death of the chickens.”

  Noah stopped walking and looked directly at Emmerson. “Yeah, but then I remembered that I left Bo Bo in the car and had to run back out to get him.”

  Hailey gasped. “You left the dog in the car?”

  “No wonder the poor thing didn’t live very long,” Malcolm mumbled under his breath.

  Noah shot his father a dirty look and then turned back to Hailey. “It was one time. And it was January, so it wasn’t hot out. Anyway, can I get back to what I was saying?”

  “Yes, please do,” I said with a sigh.

  “When I ran out to my car, Jason was there.”

  Emmerson sat up straighter. “Jason Emmes? My ex-boyfriend?”

  Noah nodded. “Yeah, and I remember wondering why he was acting strange. He stumbled on his words and he was…”

  When Noah’s voice trailed off, everyone leaned in closer. “He was what, Noah!” Hailey shouted. “He was what!?”

  Noah looked at Emmerson again. “Sweating. Like he had just been working out or something.”

  It didn’t take long for everyone to quickly piece it together.

  “That douche might have cheated on Emmerson with Hannah! Do you think he was having sex with her before you got there?” Amy asked from the corner of the room where she was sitting with Lady on her lap.

  Noah looked back at his girlfriend. “I didn’t think so then, but now looking back on it, yeah, I think Jason and Hannah were having a bit of fun in the kitchen before I interrupted them. They must have heard me coming around back, and Jason took off through the front of the bed and breakfast.”

  “That jerk,” Emmerson said as she folded her arms over her chest.

  “Okay, so we think Hannah and Jason did the deed. That still doesn’t explain why she told her family I was the father.”

  My mother stood up. “Do you think Jason could be the father?”

  Emmerson ran her fingers across her forehead. “Goodness, this is a mess.”

  Dad cleared his throat. “The only way you’re going to get any answers is to go straight to the source: Hannah.”

  “I agree,” Malcolm said. “Only way to find out what’s really going on is to get the truth from Hannah.”

  “Mom, Paislie, do y’all still have her address?” I asked.

  My mom nodded. “Yes. I can look it up first thing in the morning.”

  Turning to Emmerson, I reached for her hand. “Do you have appointments in the morning?”

  She shook her head. “No. The only thing I had planned was to stop in at a floral shop. I’m open until two, and then I have to meet with Abby Hawn and Kurt Richard.”

  Hailey gasped. “The senator’s daughter? She really called you?”

  With a wide smile, Emmerson nodded. “Yes! Fingers crossed things go well. I thought it was sweet that she wanted to meet with me in Waco, so I didn’t have to drive to Austin.”

  “That was very nice of her,” Paislie said with a proud smile on her face.

  It was time to get back to the subject at hand. “Emme, I’d like for you to go with me when I talk to Hannah.”

  “Smart, son,” Dad said. “Best you don’t see her alone.”

  Emmerson took my hand and gave me the sweetest smile. “Of course I’ll go with you.”

  With a loud sigh, I looked around the room. “Looks like we’re paying Hannah a little visit tomorrow.”

  Emmerson

  “YOU DON’T REALLY think Jason got Hannah pregnant, do you?” I asked Landon as we drove down the street that Hannah Patterson lived on.

  “You dated him, you’d know him better than me.”

  I turned and faced the front window.

  “I’m sorry, Emme. I didn’t mean to be short with you. I don’t really know what in the hell is going on. We just need to get it figured out.”

  My GPS alerted us that we were at the right house, and we pulled into the driveway of Hannah’s address.

  “Well, let’s just hope she’s home,” I said. But before we could get out of the car, my cell phone rang. “Hailey’s calling.”

  “Just send it to voicemail.”

  At that moment, Landon’s phone rang too. He glanced down at it. “It’s my dad.”

  We both swiped our screens and answered our phones. Landon stepped out of the truck to speak to his father.

  “Hey, Hail, what’s up?”

  “What’s up? What’s up!? It got out, Emme!”

  “What got out?” I asked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “That you and La
ndon are already married. Someone leaked it to the media.”

  I quickly turned to look at Landon. He was slowly shaking his head. “Is your dad telling Landon right now?”

  “I’m not sure. Amy called and said someone at her job asked her if it was true that you and Landon had already secretly gotten married.”

  I sighed. “It must have been someone at the courthouse who recognized us.”

  “Maybe,” she replied. “The only people who knew were our folks, me, Noah, and Amy.”

  A thought occurred to me. “You don’t think Amy would…” I let the rest of my sentence die off.

  “No way. She is so madly in love with your brother, she’d never betray you or him. Never.”

  Landon was now on my side of the truck, opening the door. “Listen, we’re at Hannah’s house,” I said to Hailey. “We’ll have to deal with this later. At least there aren’t any more secrets floating around. Now it’s all out there.”

  Hailey laughed. “Yeah, unless you’re pregnant and not telling anyone.”

  “Ha!” I said with a fake laugh.

  “Oh. My. God. Are you fucking pregnant?”

  “What? No! Hailey, I need to go.”

  I quickly hung up and turned my phone on silent. It was already blowing up with texts from friends asking how I could keep yet another secret from them. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since we’d gotten married.

  “It’s out,” Landon and I said at the same time.

  Laughing, I rolled my eyes. “I don’t even care anymore, Landon. We might as well just embrace it and let it run its course. Hopefully people will get tired of our boring story soon and move on.”

  Landon placed his hand on the small of my back and led us up the steps to the quaint, two-story brick house. It was cute, nothing over the top, but it was well maintained by someone who clearly loved plants.

  “Right,” he said. “Our elopement takes backseat to this mess with Hannah Patterson.”

  I nodded.

  Before we could even walk up the three steps of the little front porch, the door opened.

  A woman with dark hair and dark eyes about my age came to an abrupt halt. She looked at Landon and then me. She was holding a baby who looked to be about one or so.