not mine. How the fuck did I fall in love with her? Apparently, she didn’t love me near as much as I loved her.
I had known in my heart the entire time that the DNA test would come back and say I wasn’t the father. I knew that I couldn’t have kids. Stacy and I had tried for so long and when she told me about Jaz, I just knew she wasn’t mine. I knew at that moment, I was the reason why we couldn’t have kids.
“Uncle Jake, I think it’s time for me to head back to California.” I couldn’t even look up at him when I said this. I knew that he would know something was wrong. I had moved beyond pissed, now I was hurting.
“Son, what’s going on? Did something happen with you and Loralei?” Uncle Jake asked. He was worried about me, but I just didn’t want to talk about this right now.
“Stacy came back, and she has a kid. Her name is Jaz.” The look on Uncle Jake’s face looked like something out of a bad movie.
“What do you mean she has a kid? Is it yours? Does she look like ya, son?”
“That doesn’t matter, Stacy’s my wife and I need to do the right thing by her and our family. I am taking her back home. I just want you to know how much I appreciate you letting me come stay with you. I really needed to get away, and you made me feel at home here. I can’t thank you enough for that.”
I grabbed Uncle Jake and pulled him into a man hug. Trying not to let him see how much it was hurting me to leave Loralei. But this was her decision and I had to abide by it, because I loved her.
Chapter 12
Cade
These past five weeks had passed like molasses. I hadn’t had sex for almost two months. I was so horny I could explode, literally. I planned to leave for Harper Farms tomorrow. I was taking my cousin Clay with me to help me with the cattle. He wasn’t too much of a worker, but I had to get his ass out of town before he got himself killed.
That boy needed to learn to keep it in his pants, or at least pick his partners from a higher breed of women. He was twenty-one years old, and he definitely inherited our family’s good looks and charm. We were a sexy-ass bunch of cowboys. The last gal he was with told her brother about some of the things he did, like when she caught him in bed with their mother, and he threatened to shoot him. I’m pretty sure he would’ve if I hadn’t intervened. Goddamned family, can’t live with ‘em, and it’s illegal to shoot ‘em.
Tomorrow I would get to see Loralei again. I missed her so much. I told Mr. Davidson not to tell her I was coming. I wanted to surprise her - boy would she be surprised. I really wanted her to be happy to see me. I really hoped that asshat was out of the picture. A guy could dream right?
I didn’t sleep a wink that night. I was like a kid waiting for the carnival to come to town. I was too damn excited to sleep.
“Wake the hell up!” I screamed at Clay from down the hall. “I got shit to do today, and you ain’t holding me up.”
“Hold your fucking horses. I’m awake!” he screamed back at me.
We were in the car and headed to Harper Farms before six o’clock a.m. I had my thermos of black coffee, and I grabbed a pop-tart on the way out the door. Clay was asleep before we hit the end of the lane. That was fine by me. I didn’t need to hear him whine all the way to Kipton. We had about a four hour drive ahead of us, and I was hoping he would sleep for most of it.
I stopped in Joplin for gas and to grab some actual food. Clay woke up long enough to use the facilities and scarf down some biscuits and gravy. I was getting kinda nervous, or maybe I was excited, or maybe it was a little bit of both. I needed this woman, but what if she didn’t want to see me. I couldn’t understand what the hell it was about her. I just needed to be with her. She was the only damn thing I could think about.