Chapter Six
Owen found her there an hour later. He dropped onto the bench and stared into her broken face. “You played me for a fool, Owen.” Nadine looked at him. His face was ashen, tie askew and his hair a mess.
“I don’t want the ranch or the money, Nadine. This isn’t about that; it’s about this baby and us.” Owen assured her, as she stared silently at him. “That’s all I want.”
“How much are you getting?” Nadine asked, and he gave a ragged sigh.
“There’s a lot, but I don’t want it. The others can split it for all that I care. I love you,” Owen insisted, as he tried to touch her.
“Stop it,” Nadine told him, as she started crying again. She tried to insist on staying there, but Owen made her go back to the house and made sure that she was safe before he left for the night. Nadine wasn’t caving and refused to talk to him as she closed the door to the spare bedroom in his face.
Nadine had an appointment the following day for the baby, and they drove silently together. Nadine would never refuse him the chance to share in his child’s development, but she no longer trusted his motives with her. The technician doing the ultrasound smiled at them as she asked if they wanted to know what they were having since it was already pretty clear. “Yes,” Owen told her, as he tried to take Nadine’s hand. She dropped it, and the girl looked between the two of them with curious eyes.
“It’s not one hundred percent coming from me, but you are having a girl.” The petite brunette showed them and Nadine felt her joy diffuse some of her disappointment at Owen.
They went right back to the house, and Owen left Nadine watching something on television with Cindy. The girl kept looking at her, and Nadine finally stared back at her. “What?”
“They’re wrong about Owen. Tommy and Jacob are wrong. He loves you,” Cindy told her. Nadine frowned. She was so young. How could she know that? “He talks about you a lot. Owen loves you, Nadine. He has never cared about the money more than you.”
“Why didn’t he tell me about it before they did?” Nadine asked her, and Cindy gave her a wide-eyed stare.
“You have to ask me that?” Cindy’s face showed her that the reaction would’ve initially been the same on Nadine’s part, and she knew that Cindy was right.
Nadine’s face fell as she dropped lower onto the couch and stroked her belly gently. There was a bump there now, and she sighed as she felt something move inside of her again. “I just felt the baby. She just moved.”
Marilyn heard her and rushed into the room as a tear slid down Nadine's cheek. “Cindy’s right, you know. That boy loves you more than he’s loved anything else apart from me.”
“I just wish I would’ve heard it from him. I have so much doubt.” Nadine whispered as Marilyn and Cindy pressed against her stomach with soft touches. “I need some time to think about this.”
While she didn’t leave the state, Nadine also kept to herself for the next week or two. Her pain was evident in her face, and Owen finally called a meeting with his brothers to discuss the will. He told them that he wanted to split the money and give them the ranch as long as they set aside some money for Cindy. Owen planned on moving away from the house and starting anew.
Tommy and Jacob stared at him as he dropped his gaze to the floor in the home office. “You’re having a baby, Owen. That gives you everything.”
“I never wanted the money. I only wanted Nadine and our baby, and I don’t even have that. I’ll just take my share and figure something out.” His voice showed the sadness he was feeling, and his brothers shared a long look. “Let’s plan a meeting with the lawyer and get that set up.”
He left the house feeling broken and lost. Owen decides to go to the rodeo even though that’s what had started all of this, but it normally soothed him and distracted him from the things on his mind.
After a few beers, Owen ran into some friends talking about the amateur bull contest happening in an hour. He decided that it was a perfect distraction. They all went over to the guy running it, and Owen threw his name into the mix. He’d ridden a bull a few times and prided himself in his talent, even asking for one of the wilder animals.
Nadine overheard Tommy and Jacob talking with Marilyn in the kitchen after a nap and walked right into the room. “He’s splitting up the money?” she demanded, and Tommy nodded.
“I don’t even think he wanted that, but fair is fair. He loves you, Nadine. I’ve never seen him like this with a woman before.” Tommy shook his head. “I assumed all wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“Where is he?” Nadine asked as Jacob frowned.
“I heard he’s down at the rodeo acting a fool.”
“Damn it,” Nadine cursed and looked at Marilyn. “Can I use your car? I need to talk to him.”
“Go get your man.” Marilyn smiled as she walked over to get the keys.
Nadine didn’t even freshen up before she left the house in her torn jeans and pale pink t-shirt. She just needed to fix everything. Nadine drove as carefully as she could in the luxurious SUV and parked in the back instead of wasting time finding somewhere closer. She needed to find Owen and tell him that she loved him and that she wanted them to be a family.
Running through the crowd she heard sirens, but Nadine went right to the sounds of cheering to find someone riding a bull. “Nadine? What are you doing here?” She turned to see Cole, who looked stunned to see her.
“Owen James. Where is he?” she demanded as his face fell and he looked around the crowd.
“He just rode and got thrown off. He’s on his way to the hospital,” Cole told her and tilted his head. “Are you with him now?”
“I will be. What hospital?” Nadine asked, and made a mental note to herself as she tore through the crowd to the car. She took a moment to figure out the fancy GPS system before she was on her way through the light traffic as tears slid down her cheeks. Marilyn called as she was driving and Nadine told her what had happened in a flood of tears before she took a sharp right when the robotic voice told her to.
The hospital loomed before her, and Nadine parked quickly and ran inside to a nurse’s station, demanding to know about Owen. The woman told her to calm down as she checked a computer and informed Nadine that Owen was on the second floor of the building, and they could help her up there.
Nadine ran to the elevator and paced as she waited for the car. The baby was moving, and Nadine wondered if she could feel her mother’s stress. At that station, Nadine was joined by Marilyn and her children and they found out that Owen was admitted unconscious with a concussion after a violent ride on the bull. They went to his room, and Marilyn consulted with a doctor while Nadine crept in there to see him alone as she waited for any word.
Owen looked painfully bruised and asleep as she looked at the monitors that he was hooked up to. “Please wake up, Owen. I love you, and we both need you. I know that you weren’t after the money, and I’m so sorry for thinking that and...letting this happen. Please come back to me.” She dropped into the chair and took his hand as she cried against the mattress and prayed for his recovery.
The room slowly filled with family and friends, but nobody moved Nadine from her vigil by his bedside. She could see how loved Owen was by the community, despite his concerns when they had first met. It seemed like days, but Owen opened his eyes only a few hours later and looked around the room before his blurry eyes settled on Nadine at his side. “You’re here.”
“What were you trying to do with that bull? Kill yourself?” Nadine asked him, as Marilyn chuckled and shook his head.
“You took the words right from my mouth,” Marilyn told her, as the rest of the room laughed.
“I wasn’t thinking straight. Am I okay?” he asked, as he clutched her hand tighter.
“You will be, but don’t even think of being that stupid ever again. Our daughter needs you. I need you.” Nadine smiled and cried as he looked at her with wide eyes.
“Does that mean what I think it does?” he cautiously asked her, and she nodded tearfully.
“I love you, Owen,” Nadine pledged in front of the entire room to sounds of gasps and murmurs. “I never want to be without you ever again.”
“Nadine Parson, will you marry me? I want to be a family, and I need you as my wife. I need you by my side forever,” Owen asked her, and she cried and nodded.
“Yes, I want that. I want you.” She gingerly stood to kiss him as he apologized for not having a ring. The witnesses cheered as she smiled and kissed him.
“I don’t care about any of that, Owen James. I am sorry that I doubted you, my love.”
As he kissed her, Nadine knew that she’d found her forever in Texas. Warmth filled her veins.
Texas. Who would’ve ever guessed?
*****
THE END