Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy - Diana Palmer Page 0,113

abruptly stood up and went into the kitchen. “I need some tape.”

Veronica waited for him to return, her hands palm down on her crossed knees. How could she have been stupid enough to forget that Ted’s mother walking out on him when he was twelve would have affected him so deeply? She’d been so eager to accept him at face value that she’d forgotten that everyone had hidden scars, and this one was a doozy.

* * *

Eventually, after Ted resealed the box and put it away again, he returned to sit opposite Veronica on the rug.

“I suppose I should apologize.” He made himself meet her gaze. “I didn’t think something as stupid as a tree ornament would bring back so many memories.”

“We’re good.” Veronica reached out to pat his knee. “I’m the one who should be sorry, badgering you to decorate your apartment.”

“It’s fine.” He hastened to continue. “I’m totally over what happened with my mom, so I don’t know why I got so bent out of shape about it.”

“Because feelings aren’t always logical,” Veronica said softly. “Because adults sometimes do shitty, selfish things without thinking about their kids? I lost both my parents when I was four, Ted. I know how it feels to be abandoned.”

“Your parents died in a car crash. That was hardly their fault,” Ted reminded her.

“Why do you think they were driving so fast?” Veronica let out her breath. “They’d decided they didn’t want to stay with Victor because the work was too hard, and they wanted to be free.”

Ted frowned. “But what about you?”

“They just left me there. Two days after they were confirmed dead, Victor got a letter in the mail they must have posted the day they left, explaining it all to him,” Veronica said flatly. “I didn’t know any of this until I was eighteen and Victor told me the truth. I thought it was all a tragic accident.”

Ted reached over, picked her up, and deposited her on his knee. She pressed her face against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m so sorry,” Ted murmured into her hair. “At least I got to see my mom again.”

She placed her palm over his heart. “We both lost something, Ted. We can both grieve that loss.”

Had he ever grieved for his mother? He couldn’t consciously remember doing so. He’d had his dad, his school stuff, and his part-time job at the gas pumps to keep him busy. And he hadn’t wanted to upset his father who was barely hanging on as he struggled to understand why his wife had left him.

Veronica raised her head to look up at him. “I was lucky to have Victor and the rest of the family. I was so young when my parents ran off that I never really felt the lack of them. You were twelve when your mom left. That must’ve been hard.”

“It was.” Ted couldn’t believe he’d actually said the words out loud. “And I still don’t know why.”

“You should ask her.” Veronica looked him right in the eye.

“I’ll think about it.”

Ted kissed her nose and then when he had her attention, her mouth, until she kissed him back. It was way better to show how he felt rather than talk about his feelings, and way more enjoyable.

When she eventually eased away, they were both breathing hard, and she somehow had her hand up the back of his T-shirt while he was cupping her breast.

“You sure you want to stop right now?” he asked softly. “Because I have a real nice comfortable bed where we could get naked.”

She bit her lip and brought her hand up to his jaw. “I think I need to tell you something first.”

“Okay.” He took his hands off her and resisted the impulse to readjust his jeans. “Shoot.”

“I stole Bacon,” she said in a rush.

Ted blinked at her. “As in your pet pig, and not the stuff from the supermarket?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “When I lived with Jason, he had a pig called Perry. Jason didn’t like her when she got big, so I ended up looking after her.”

“How big does a pet pig get?” Ted asked suspiciously.

“About two hundred pounds. And they can be really badly behaved if they aren’t cared for properly.” Veronica shrugged. “Jason lost interest in Perry when she stopped looking cute, but he was too scared to do anything to upset her, and he liked breeding her and selling off her piglets.”

“Okay,” Ted said cautiously. “So where does the pig stealing part come