didn’t like you? If you do, you’re not as bright as I’ve always bragged you up to be.”
Tripp realized, with incredulity, that he’d never once thought of the event from that particular angle. Then he decided it was too good to be true.
“Because she was unarmed, so she couldn’t shoot off my kneecaps on the spot?” he ventured.
This time, Jim laughed out loud. “Because she didn’t want to marry Oakley Smyth in the first place, you damn fool. She must have thought you’d come to claim her for your own.”The old man spooned up some more stew, chewed thoughtfully, swallowed. “Women are romantic, son, in case you didn’t get the memo. It must have come as a nasty shock to Hadleigh when you told her you’d already been roped in by that Danielle woman.”
That couldn’t have been the reason she hadn’t put up the fight of her life to stay at the church—could it? Sure, she’d kicked and fussed the whole way down the aisle and out to the truck, but if she’d really wanted to escape, she would have.
Wouldn’t she?
And why in hell would she have let things go so far—the dress, the flowers, the invited guests and the ceremony itself—if she didn’t want to become Mrs. Smyth?
All those questions ran through Tripp’s mind as he remembered the hurt in those golden-brown eyes when he’d told Hadleigh the stone-cold truth about Oakley and his ongoing relationship with the mother of the two children she hadn’t known about. He remembered how she’d asked him to take her with him when he left Mustang Creek, and her wounded surprise when he’d told her he was married.
Even now, years later, he felt guilty—not because he’d tied the knot with Danielle, but because he hadn’t told Hadleigh sooner.
Hell, he hadn’t told anybody in Mustang Creek, including Jim, until weeks after the fact.
Why was that?
Given a second chance, he wouldn’t have dropped the news on her like that, but what exactly could he have told her instead? That he’d thought he loved Danielle, the sophisticated jet-setter he’d met at a friend’s party? That he’d married her in haste and repented at leisure, as the old saying went? That the marriage had been over before it began, for all practical intents and purposes, if only because, once the initial heat had subsided, he and Danielle had promptly discovered that they had nothing whatsoever in common?
Oh, yeah. He would’ve sounded like the original asshole, a cheating husband looking for a little side action.
And explaining that Danielle had already had one foot out the door wouldn’t have improved matters, either. Didn’t men alwayssay stuff like that, to justify selling out a person who had every right under heaven to trust them?
Tripp ran the splayed fingers of one hand through his hair.
Hadleigh had been a very smart girl, and she was a smart woman. What little respect she might have had for him after the thwarted wedding would have evaporated on the spot. And, while a man and a woman might well make a relationship work without money, without a place to call home, even without love, no union stood a chance in hell without respect.
“We’ll see,” Tripp said evasively, since he knew Jim wouldn’t drop the subject if he flat-out rejected the idea of pursuing Hadleigh..
Jim’s eyes sparkled again. “Yes,” he agreed. “I believe we will.”
* * *
H ADLEIGH CALLED THE local hospital every day for almost a week to ask about Earl, and each time she was told he was holding his own but still in intensive care and still not up to having visitors.
The rest of the time, she kept busy, running the shop, working on one quilt or another, brainstorming ideas for a new online class. With the growth of the internet, cyber-instruction had become a major source of income, and sell her one-of-a-kind quilts to customers all over the world. The profits far exceeded what she brought in selling fabric and thread and patterns over the counter.
Muggles, thankfully, was
Tripp realized, with incredulity, that he’d never once thought of the event from that particular angle. Then he decided it was too good to be true.
“Because she was unarmed, so she couldn’t shoot off my kneecaps on the spot?” he ventured.
This time, Jim laughed out loud. “Because she didn’t want to marry Oakley Smyth in the first place, you damn fool. She must have thought you’d come to claim her for your own.”The old man spooned up some more stew, chewed thoughtfully, swallowed. “Women are romantic, son, in case you didn’t get the memo. It must have come as a nasty shock to Hadleigh when you told her you’d already been roped in by that Danielle woman.”
That couldn’t have been the reason she hadn’t put up the fight of her life to stay at the church—could it? Sure, she’d kicked and fussed the whole way down the aisle and out to the truck, but if she’d really wanted to escape, she would have.
Wouldn’t she?
And why in hell would she have let things go so far—the dress, the flowers, the invited guests and the ceremony itself—if she didn’t want to become Mrs. Smyth?
All those questions ran through Tripp’s mind as he remembered the hurt in those golden-brown eyes when he’d told Hadleigh the stone-cold truth about Oakley and his ongoing relationship with the mother of the two children she hadn’t known about. He remembered how she’d asked him to take her with him when he left Mustang Creek, and her wounded surprise when he’d told her he was married.
Even now, years later, he felt guilty—not because he’d tied the knot with Danielle, but because he hadn’t told Hadleigh sooner.
Hell, he hadn’t told anybody in Mustang Creek, including Jim, until weeks after the fact.
Why was that?
Given a second chance, he wouldn’t have dropped the news on her like that, but what exactly could he have told her instead? That he’d thought he loved Danielle, the sophisticated jet-setter he’d met at a friend’s party? That he’d married her in haste and repented at leisure, as the old saying went? That the marriage had been over before it began, for all practical intents and purposes, if only because, once the initial heat had subsided, he and Danielle had promptly discovered that they had nothing whatsoever in common?
Oh, yeah. He would’ve sounded like the original asshole, a cheating husband looking for a little side action.
And explaining that Danielle had already had one foot out the door wouldn’t have improved matters, either. Didn’t men alwayssay stuff like that, to justify selling out a person who had every right under heaven to trust them?
Tripp ran the splayed fingers of one hand through his hair.
Hadleigh had been a very smart girl, and she was a smart woman. What little respect she might have had for him after the thwarted wedding would have evaporated on the spot. And, while a man and a woman might well make a relationship work without money, without a place to call home, even without love, no union stood a chance in hell without respect.
“We’ll see,” Tripp said evasively, since he knew Jim wouldn’t drop the subject if he flat-out rejected the idea of pursuing Hadleigh..
Jim’s eyes sparkled again. “Yes,” he agreed. “I believe we will.”
* * *
H ADLEIGH CALLED THE local hospital every day for almost a week to ask about Earl, and each time she was told he was holding his own but still in intensive care and still not up to having visitors.
The rest of the time, she kept busy, running the shop, working on one quilt or another, brainstorming ideas for a new online class. With the growth of the internet, cyber-instruction had become a major source of income, and sell her one-of-a-kind quilts to customers all over the world. The profits far exceeded what she brought in selling fabric and thread and patterns over the counter.
Muggles, thankfully, was
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