We can do the Europe thing and come home to settle down into our own place, with our own store.”
Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. “This is too much to take in all at once.”
“The last thing is that I want us to get married. I want to know that you are mine forever,” he said.
And there it was. The very thing that she had dreaded.
“First, I have to tell you something that I’ve never told anyone else,” she whispered—could she even say the words? Her emotions zoomed as if on a roller coaster that sucked her breath right out of her chest. Her hands trembled so badly that she laced her fingers together and held them in her lap. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“Spit it out and then say yes to everything I’ve suggested.” He took her hands in his. “You are shaking, darlin’. Talk to me. There’s nothing we can’t get through together.”
“I . . . there was . . . ,” she stammered.
“Is this something that happened before I met you?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Then it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“Yes, it does, because it’s my biggest fear. I know you want children, and I’m terrified that God will punish me and never let me have kids, or if I do, I’ll be a terrible mother.” Tears streamed down Sophie’s face.
“Why would you even think that?” he asked. “Rebel is a fantastic mother, and she’ll make an amazing grandmother. You’ll be more like her, I’m sure because she was your role model, not Victoria.”
“I got pregnant my first semester in college,” she said in a voice so low that she could barely hear herself speak.
“You had a baby?” Teddy’s expression went to sheer shock.
“No, I lost it.” She sucked in a lungful of air. “I didn’t do anything to cause it, but I always felt guilty because I didn’t want a baby at that time in my life. The father was a substitute art teacher, and I didn’t know until he’d already gone back to Chicago that he was married and had children. Victoria didn’t want children, and look what she did to Em. What if . . .”
“Good Lord, Sophie, why didn’t you talk to me about this before?” Teddy scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the sofa. He sat down with her and kept his arms tightly around her. “You shouldn’t have carried this burden all alone.”
She shook her head. “I was afraid of losing you. I’m terrified of getting married because look what my father did, and then that substitute teacher cheated on his wife with me. I’ve always been afraid that . . .”
“That marriage would change what we have?” he asked. “Darlin’, that will never happen, whether we have a conventional marriage or just a commitment ceremony.”
“Or jump the broom?” She smiled through the tears.
“What’s this about jumping a broom?” He tipped up her chin and brushed a soft kiss across her lips.
She told him the short version of what Filly had said.
He chuckled and pressed his forehead against hers. “I would be honored to say my vows and jump the broom with you if you are proposing to me.”
“Then I think I am,” she said. “Are you sure you’re all right with what I told you?”
“Honey, that happened before I was part of your life.” He hugged her even tighter. “And you need to give up that guilt trip right along with the one about Em. You are an amazing person, and when we’re ready, we’ll be wonderful parents. But first we’ve got a trip to Europe, a business to put in, and a broom to jump. Just when is this ceremony going to take place?”
Sophie thought maybe she was dreaming and started to pinch herself. But this was real, and she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that she had finally told someone about her baby, or skeptical that she could be absolved in the blink of an eye. She’d carried the burden, as Teddy called it, for seventeen years. How could she just shake it off now? She immediately thought of Emma trying to get past what she had endured.
“Well?” Teddy asked. “Do you want to jump the broom as soon as we get back from Europe or wait until we get established here in Del Rio?”
“July Fourth,” she blurted, “at the trailer park. That way my friends can be at the ceremony, and it’s the last week I’ve got the trailer rented. We’ll have