I moved around the farm in a fog, feeding the animals and doing the chores. Chuck was busy milking the cows; I went into the stable to muck out the horse stalls. While my body was busy doing the tedious work of raking out the horse shit, my brain was tied up in knots over Laurie.

He definitely didn’t need a fake marriage anymore. Now that he’d inherited the farm, he’d have no problem proving that he was able to provide a stable home for the children—at least, once probate was finished anyway.

Things had been weird for the past few weeks since we’d met with Alan Roberts. He already had the will going through probate, so I knew it was only a matter of time before Laurie would be wanting a fake divorce.

“Is my dad okay?”

I looked up as Matty came walking into the barn with his own small rake in hand. I bit back a smile as he went straight to work. The boy was a hard worker, there was no doubt about that.

“Why are you asking about your dad? Did something happen?” I asked, suddenly wondering if I should be concerned.

“No,” he shook his head with a thoughtful frown. “He’s in there crying again. He was drinking tea and crying while he did the crossword puzzle from the morning paper. That’s weird, right?”

“Yeah, it kind of is,” I agreed. “I don’t know a lot about pregnancy, but the way your dad’s been crying a lot lately could be because of that, right? But then, he’s also been through a lot lately.”

Matty nodded safely. “Uh-huh. Dad’s had a lot happen this year. First my father died, then Chris almost died, then you guys got married, then Grampa Harry really did die, plus he’s having a baby—yeah, I guess my dad probably has pretty good reasons for crying all the time.”

I bit back a laugh, knowing the boy would feel like it was at his expense if I chuckled right now. Instead, I simply shook my head.

“I guess we should maybe be more patient with him, and try to be as much help as we can, right? We’ll show him we love him when he gets sad, how does that sound?” Matty nodded seriously, then went back to work.

Chuck came in a few minutes later, and it didn’t escape my notice that Matty scampered off under the guise of wanting to check on his dad.

“Everything all right, boss man?” Chuck drawled.

I forced myself not to roll my eyes at his smarmy way of kissing ass.

“Everything is fine, Chuck. Listen, I’m gonna feed the hogs. I’ll let you finish up here. Make sure Starla gets a good rubdown, I had her out in the paddock earlier.”

“You got it, boss man.” He was whistling as I let myself out of the barn, this time giving into the urge to roll my eyes as I made my escape.

While I poured the scraps into the pigs trough, I couldn’t quit thinking about how happy I was being fake-married to Laurie.

“What you think, guys? Think I can talk him into letting me mail in our marriage license and making it real?”

The hogs snorted and squealed in response—not really giving me a good answer to go on.

“It’s just... he helped me figure out this whole bisexual thing… Which is fantastic and amazing, by the way. I recommend you guys try it, if you haven’t already—I mean, no offense, but you swine are kinda freaky.”

I grinned when a random squeal came in response to that comment. I kept up my conversation going with my snorting and snuffling audience while I removed the damp straw from the pen and went to work spreading out a fresh supply.

“I’m just saying, it’s convenient that we already had the whole wedding, you know? All we’d have to do is mail in that license and we’re good to go. And, I have to say that I really like the idea—because I’m pretty sure that I’m falling for Laurie anyway. I mean, he might not feel that way about me yet, but that’s okay. I’m an alpha, right? I’ll win him over. Ooh, what do you guys think if I get him a puppy? Omegas love puppies, right?”

One of the smaller sows came snuffling around the pile of straw I’d laid in one corner. I slapped her on the ass before I grabbed another scoop of straw to spread out.

“Yeah, good talk, guys. I’m going for it—I’m gonna ask Laurie to stay married to me. But first, I need to see a man about that puppy.”

After I finished with the hogs, I found Chuck leaving the barn. I told him to take care of the chicken coop and went inside to check on Laurie. I found him sitting at the dining room table, going through the mail.

I slipped into the chair beside him, planning to broach the topic of puppies, maybe to get a feel for what Laurie might like. I mean, the Laurie I knew when we were younger would probably prefer a labrador, but, maybe he’d rather have something smaller for the kids? I started to get sidetracked again, when Laurie suddenly gripped my bicep.

“What the fuck, Dean? Look at this, just look at it! Who would do this to us? You have to know that it wasn’t me, I would never force you into something that neither of us wanted.”

I stared at him for a second, trying to figure out what the hell he was so upset about, when my eyes landed on the paperwork he’d pulled out of the envelope in front of him. I picked it up, and saw a receipt from the county and a copy of our official marriage license. I glanced over at my teary-eyed fake—no, make that real—husband.

“Obviously neither one of us filed this, but… I mean… is it really the end of the world if I’m married to you?”

Laurie started crying harder, and my stomach dropped as I realized that Laurie hadn’t meant for our marriage farce to become reality. My daydreams were just that, dreams. I stood abruptly, the legs of my chair scraping loudly against the worn-out linoleum as I shoved it back.

“Look, don’t cry. I’ll get this fixed immediately—I’ll give Zeke a call and see what it’ll take to make this go away like it never happened.”

I stood there scratching my head in confusion when Laurie jumped up from the table and rushed out of the room. Now what did I say?