Wyatt-1(Lane Brothers, Book 1)(38)

“You chose him.”

“No!” She laughs, shaking her head ruefully, her eyes going soft and low with memories. “I was stubborn. I cussed him out and started dating a lot of men I wasn’t interested in. See, I was terrified of loving George, because I didn’t believe he’d stay. I thought he’d lose interest and move on, leaving me heartbroken in the dirt.”

“George? Seriously? The man is still smitten, Jude.”

She laughs again and nods, not the slightest bit humble about her husband’s complete adoration. She just accepts it and seems to revel in his love.

“Yup, something I learned days after dumping his ass. See, George isn’t like other guys of my time. He believed in equality across the board and equal opportunity, like me finishing school and having choices. He just didn’t see why we couldn’t have that and a family.”

“Please tell me he did not kidnap you, too!” I giggle, feeling more understanding and amused by Wyatt now than I did before.

Seriously, now that I’m here, all I can do when I think about his methods is laugh. One thing’s for sure, Wyatt will never do things by halves, which means he’ll be a great father.

“Nope. George is, shall we say, a bit more refined in his methods than my eldest son. He seduced me and managed to knock me up on the first go round.”

“Noooo.”

“Yes, oh yes. The man is diabolical when he wants something, and never once hesitated once he had a plan. He got me pregnant, to the altar, and in his home before I could blink. It was just what I needed, though, because as much as I loved him then, I would have kept fighting it just to prove a point. He confessed later that he was going crazy without me and didn’t see any other choice, but at the time I was pissed at us both.”

I can well imagine. A friend of mine from college had a pregnancy scare at one time, and she got so mad at her and her boyfriend both that she broke up with him and refused to leave the dorm for anything other than class and going to the library.

They got back together a few weeks later after she got her period and I asked her why she’d willingly lose the guy she loved because of something that isn’t a bad thing, and she’d said that her career was the only goal she’d set for herself, and failure, when it was her own stupidity that caused it, would have made her hate them both.

Some women just want what they want and I can’t judge.

“How did he change your mind?” I ask, getting into the story now that I see some parallels between it and my own relationship with her son.

“Well, he just kept telling me that he loved me and would never leave me for anything in the world, and I eventually realized it was true. It also helped that he took Wyatt to work with him after he was born while I went back to school. The man was a manny from the time Wyatt took his first breath. It got so bad, I had to kick his ass to get my hands on my own baby.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

We both turn to see her husband leaning against the doorjamb, an indulgent smile on his face before he strolls in and bends to kiss us both on the cheek.

“I’m leaving now. I have a meeting I couldn’t cancel. Do me a favor, Judy baby, and talk some sense into your son. Lynnie was on her way for a visit and he made me cancel it. I don’t like this situation one bit. He’s being stubborn and pigheaded.”

I almost feel like I’m eavesdropping when they start whispering to each other and end the exchange with a kiss I never thought I’d see from a couple who have been married for well over thirty years.

Boy, I hope Wyatt still looks at me that way when I’m old and graying.

“Ellie, darling, Wyatt needs to talk to you, but the boy is afraid.”

He leaves without clarifying and I look to Jude for an answer.

“I think it’s time for me to tell you what happened when Wyatt first laid eyes on you,” she says, sighing tiredly.

I find myself swallowing past a dry, swollen throat when my nerves tense up in anticipation of bad news.

“Talk.”

She shakes her head and rises to refill our cups and grab a plate of biscuits. The poor things are harder than rock and require more than a dunking or ten before I can bite and swallow without killing myself, but I don’t have the heart to tell her that she’s created a flop of mega proportions here.

Not even my poor Goofball would eat these, and she’d eat a shoe on a good day.

“Wyatt and Bolton were always at odds with each other since they were kids. Bolton hated Wyatt because my son was one of those people who just seemed to excel at everything without much effort. Not that he didn’t work his ass off to get to where he is, mind you. George never paid a cent towards any of the boys’ college tuitions, and they all worked from the age of sixteen. But, anyway, they just did not get along.