Page 77 of Untamed
But then Ruth pulls away, and I’m pretty sure any opportunity I had has come and gone.
Especially when a frown works its way onto her lips.
She’s probably imagining how difficult it will be to move the furniture behind me. While it can be disassembled and packed flat, the individual pieces are still heavy. Still large enough to be unwieldy for someone Ruth’s height.
But that’s not something she needs to worry about.
“I hired a moving company to get everything to Maryland, so you don’t have to worry about dealing with this.” I continue on when her frown deepens. “They’re going to take your car too. That way Birdie won’t be stuck in her seat for four days.”
I expected Ruth to be happy about this. Relieved she doesn’t have to do a cross-country road trip with a toddler. Instead, she almost seems upset.Fuck. Did I overstep?
“I’m not trying to take over, I just want you and Birdie to be happy. Renting a U-Haul to move yourself didn’t sound like something that would make you happy.”
Honestly, moving to Maryland doesn’t either. She has no one there. No friends. No family. Everything is new and unknown and she’ll be completely by herself. Far enough away it will take me hours to get to her if she needs me.
And make no mistake—if she needed me, I’d be there.
But that’s not a decision I can make for her. Especially since I still don’t know the full reason why she’s so determined to get as far from Wyoming as she can.
“Why are you doing all of this?” Ruth’s voice is barely a whisper. “Why are you taking care of all of this for me?”
That’s an easy answer. “Because you deserve to be taken care of.” Possibly more than anyone I’ve ever met.
From the very beginning, Ruth’s willingness to do whatever it takes to take care of her child has hit me right in the gut. It reminds me of my mom. Of Melinda. Of Mariah.
And I know it’s how Kara would’ve been if she’d had the chance.
Ruth’s eyes search my face. I wish I knew what she was looking for. I’d give it to her. Happily.
She swallows hard, the column of her neck moving with the action as her eyes drop to focus on the center of my chest. As if she can read my thoughts, she says, “I’m sorry I came here to trick you.” Her eyes flash to mine before dropping again. “That I lied about Birdie being yours.”
I shake my head. “Don’t be sorry for that.” I smile, thinking back on that day. “It might be one of my favorite things about you.”
Her eyes jump to mine again, widening in surprise. “Why would that be one of your favorite things about me?”
“Because it shows what a good mother you are. That you’ll do anything for Birdie.” Maybe if I hadn’t known for a fact I’d never slept with Ruth, I might have seen things a little different in the beginning. I still would’ve come around. Would’ve respected her and the lengths she went to for her child.
Ruth is silent for a minute. She takes a deep breath before giving me something I thought I wanted. “The man who was at my door that day was sent by Birdie’s biological father. His name is William Sheppard. He’s a senator.” Her expression hardens. “And a terrible, awful human.”
It’s been so hard not to pry into her history. Especially knowing how easy it would be to collect everything there was to know. All it would have taken was a call to Heidi and Ruth’s past would be delivered directly to my email.
But that felt so invasive. So wrong. I couldn’t bring myself to do it no matter how much I wanted to.
And in this moment, it becomes clear that was absolutely the right thing to do. Because the only thing stopping me from putting on my boots and hunting down William fucking Sheppard is the way the woman in front of me is leaning closer. Like she needs me close to protect her from even the memories of that piece of shit man.
“He would stay at the hotel where I worked when he was in town and was always so nice to me.” She takes in a shaky breath, like this is painful for her to talk about. “We’d interacted a few times before he asked me out to dinner.” Her voice drops to barely a whisper. “I shouldn’t have gone.”
I keep my breathing steady and calm, hoping the rest of me will follow suit. “Does he know he’s Birdie’s father?”
“Not officially.” She closes her eyes before admitting. “When I told him I was pregnant, he paid for me to get an abortion.”
“But…” My head turns in the direction where the little girl I care about more and more every day is sleeping. “You didn’t.”
Ruth shakes her head. “I booked the appointment, but when it came time to go, I couldn’t do it.” She sniffs, chin lifting defiantly. “It wasn’t his decision to make anyway.” She sucks in a breath. “And it’s not like I wanted him involved. By the time I found out I was pregnant, I’d started to see him for what he was.”
“And what is he?” It’s a question I don’t technically need to ask her. She wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t an asshole. And the first thing I’m going to do tomorrow morning is call Heidi to find out just how big of one he is. Now that Ruth has broken the seal, I don’t feel bad about opening the dam.
Ruth laughs, the sound bitter. “What isn’t he? The man’s an adulterer. A hypocrite. A liar. A manipulator. He fed me so much bullshit, and… And I ate it up, because the taste distracted me from how sad I was over losing my mom.”
