“Come on.” I got out of the truck and opened the passenger door for her. Then I pulled our bags out and carried them to the door.
Ebony and Brandy jumped on me when I entered.
“Hey, girls.” I petted them both.
Daphne dropped to her knees, letting both of them pepper her with licks and kisses. The smile on her face as she hugged my dogs was worth every dollar of the Steel fortune.
To me, at least.
Belinda, our housekeeper and cook, walked out from the country kitchen. “Mr. Brad! Your mother’s in the greenhouse and your father’s at the office. They’ll both be here in about a half hour for dinner. That gives you and Miss Daphne time to settle in.”
“Thanks, Belinda.” I led Daphne to the room she used a few weeks ago. “Do you need to…I don’t know. Change or anything?”
“I’ll just run a brush through my hair.”
“Okay. I’ll come get you when it’s time for dinner.”
“Brad?”
“Yeah?”
“Could you stay with me for a few minutes?”
“Sure.” I sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to me. “Everything okay?”
She nodded. “My mother… What should we tell your parents?”
“Whatever you want to tell them.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to get into all that. Not yet, anyway. I don’t want to talk about it. I want to be happy about our news, and talking about what’s going on with my mother isn’t going to make me happy.”
I touched her soft cheek. “I want you to be happy, Daphne.”
“I know. I want you to be happy too.”
“You make me happy.”
She smiled, turned into my hand, and kissed my palm. The warmth of her kiss surged through me. Yeah, it turned me on, but more than that, it made me feel loved—more loved than I’d ever felt in my life.
This woman loved me. She’d love our baby with the same feverish intensity.
When Daphne Wade loved, she loved with everything she had.
That was how I’d love her and our child.
With everything I was and with everything I had.
“Your mother will be okay,” I said. “She’ll get through this. Your father loves her very much.”
“I know he does.”
“He’ll make sure she gets everything she needs.”
“But—”
I placed two fingers over her lips. “If you’re worried about money, you don’t have to be.”
“My father’s not a rich man.”
“Your husband-to-be is.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I can’t let you—”
“Baby, listen to me. Your father will take care of her. He has health insurance. And if he needs a little help along the way, we—you and I—will be here for him.”
“You’re very sweet, but the money isn’t yours, Brad. It’s your parents’.”
“The majority of the fortune is, but I have a trust fund. I took control of it when I turned twenty-one. I can take care of whatever your mother needs.”
“Still, I don’t want—”
“Shh. We’ll do what we have to do to get your mother well. If we need to contribute, I’m happy to do it.”
She choked back a sob. “I didn’t want our life together to begin like this. I never expected my mother…”
“I know.”
“She was always so strong for me.”
“She’s still strong. Look at you. You’re one of the strongest people I know, and you’ve been through a lot of mental and emotional turmoil.” More than she even knew. My heart hurt just thinking about it, and I absently clenched my hands into fists, aching to pummel the men who’d violated her.
“I never tried to take my own life,” she said.
True. She’d told me that the last time we were at the ranch. Thank God. I couldn’t bear to think of my beautiful Daphne in that much pain.
“Your mother will get the help she needs.”
“I feel like we should postpone everything until she’s better.” She touched her abdomen. “But we can’t. We need to get everything settled.”
“We can wait a few weeks if you’d like. Technically we don’t need to get married until right before the baby’s born for me to be considered the father.”
“You are the father.”
“I mean legally. To keep the child from being illegitimate.”
She clasped her hand over her mouth. “My baby isn’t going to be a bastard.”
“Of course not. He’s mine, and I want him. I want you both.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For talking. Let’s not say anything to your parents about my mother.”
“Okay. I’ll just say I met them last weekend and they’re okay with the situation.”
“They are. I think.”
“Your father is. He and I talked quite a lot.”
“True. What all did you talk about, Brad?”
Brick in gut. I didn’t want to lie to Daphne, but I couldn’t go into any detail about what her dad and I talked about.
My poor baby.
Every time I looked at her now, I imagined what those three degenerates had done to her and her friend.
Keeping secrets, though, always took a toll on everyone involved. Again, my hands clenched into fists, and every muscle in my body tensed.