“Lana.”
“I thought everything was how it was supposed to be. After your father left, I found out from friends how much of a cheater he truly was. Turns out he was unfaithful a number of times, and he’d mostly been with women I considered friends.”
“Mom, I’m so sorry.”
She shrugged. “I wouldn’t have Rich or Lana had I not gone back to him. In the end, I got the better part of the deal, you kids.”
“Does my biological father know about me?”
Chewing on her lip, she shook her head. “Your father, I mean, Peter, asked me not to tell him. He wanted us to be a family and didn’t want anyone else interfering. I agreed.”
All I could do was nod.
“Peter showed up this morning and knocked on my door. The moment he did I called you kids and Dalton. Your phone went right to voicemail.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I went out last night and…”
She held up her hand and shook her head. “Miles, don’t explain. I just need you to know that your father has put in a condition with the sale of the farm, and it involves only you.”
“Me?”
“He’ll take the price that you’ve offered, but only if you marry in the next fifteen days.”
I laughed. “What? What the hell kind of request is that?”
She wiped a tear away. “One he thinks you won’t meet, or one that you can’t.”
Looking at her with what I was positive was a confused look, I asked, “Why does he think that?”
Her throat bobbed when she smiled. “He said you have too much of your father’s blood running through you, and you won’t make the commitment. And you can’t do it because Kynslee will think you’re only marrying her to save the farm.”
“How does he know about Kynslee?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure, but he knows you are dating her.”
I wanted to ask my mother a million questions about my real father. “I take it my biological father is a player?”
“Yes. He has never married.”
Rubbing the back of my neck, I let that soak in. Maybe that explained a thing or two about my fear of telling Kynslee the truth about how I felt for her? Or the reason I left that morning and pushed her into Jack’s arms?
“Miles, stop overthinking this. You are not like your birth father. Please trust me when I say that.”
“Well, it appears Peter thinks I am. And as far as Kynslee goes, she knows I love her. She would have no reason to think…”
My voice trailed off. I closed my eyes and leaned against the tree. It took everything I had not to throw up.
“Miles, what’s wrong?”
Burying my face in my hands, I groaned. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
“What is wrong?” she demanded.
“When I came back to town, I wasn’t sure how to approach Kynslee about a relationship. I was stupid and I called in a promise that we made each other when we were eighteen.”
“What kind of promise?” Mom asked.
“Before I left for the Marines I made Kynslee promise if we weren’t married by thirty, we would marry each other. Well, I went to her house on her birthday and handed her a ring, thinking she would find it romantic and…”
My mother groaned. “For the love of all things, Miles Warner! I could smack you on the side of the head right now. No wonder the girl was so angry with you. If her daddy found out what you did…”
“Mom, I know. Kynslee and I worked through it, but she wants to take things slow. If I go to her now and tell her I need to get married in the next two weeks she’s going to think I needed her to marry me all along just to save the farm. At first she thought there was an ulterior motive to me coming back out of the blue and wanting to get married.”
She shook her head. “We’ll explain it to her, Miles. We will tell her everything.”
I jerked my fingers though my hair. “There’s a problem.”
“What?” she asked, her eyes filled with fear.
“Kynslee is pissed at me. Like, ignoring my text messages and phone calls kind of pissed.”
She sat back down on the swing. “What did you do?”
“I sort of acted like a jackass last night, and she honestly has every right to be angry with me.”
“Oh shit,” my mother whispered.
I nodded. “Yeah. Oh shit is right.”
Kynslee
WAVING GOODBYE TO Annie, I watched as she pulled down the driveway.
“Trey is an idiot,” Patty said, handing me a cup of coffee.
I took it and inhaled the heavenly scent. “Lord, that smells good, and yes, he is. She’s a nice girl.”
“I’m pretty sure Heather has a girl crush on her.”
Laughing, I sat in the rocking chair. “I think she does. She rushed out of here early. What was with that?”
Patty smiled. “Kenny called. He’s off for a few days.”