Page 3 of Promise Me a Forever Texas Love

There was a flash of hurt again in his eyes. But this time, it was followed by a coldness that chilled her to the bone. “Comfort? I think it’s called fucking, Cadee.”

She slapped him. She slapped him so hard his head snapped to the side. She didn’t know who was more surprised. She inhaled a startled breath while he stared at her as if he didn’t know her.

She dropped her hand. “I’m . . . sorry.”

He studied her for a long moment before he shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Just answer the question, Cadee. Why are you contesting my mama’s will?”

Now was the time to lay everything out on the table. But damned if she could bring herself to do it. Not after he referred to what happened that night in such a coldhearted way.

She shrugged. “I guess because your mama wanted her money to go to someone who was there for her at the end of her life. You certainly weren’t.”

He snorted. “If anyone knows why, you do.”

She did know why. Rosie Hennessy had been the worst mother ever. She had neglected her kids and pretty much left them to raise themselves while she ran her beloved dancehall. Jaxon, Huck’s oldest brother, had done his best to watch out for his younger siblings and make sure they had what they needed, but he had only been a kid himself. She remembered Huck coming to school with no lunch or school supplies or even a jacket when it got cold. Having her mama’s caregiver gene, Cadee had latched onto him like he was a stray dog left out in the rain. She shared her lunch and school supplies . . . and even gave him one of her brother’s old Carhartt jackets to wear on cold days.

As a kid, Cadee had hated Rosie for ignoring her kids. As an adult, who knew what it was like to make a mistake and be cut off from a Hennessy, Cadee had sympathized with Rosie. Rosie had a lot of regrets.

She’d just never gotten the chance to tell them to her children.

“No matter what she did, she was still your mama, Huck. You ran off and never looked back. You didn’t even call her.” Or me, she wanted to add, but instead she let it drop. She wasn’t hurt anymore. The ache in her stomach was just because she’d been sampling too many pickles.

“So you became her surrogate kid? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“She needed someone after her stroke. I stepped in.” She’d set up a schedule for the townsfolk to drop off meals to Rosie, taken her to doctor’s appointments, and visited her at night once Camden went to bed. Some of it had to do with feeling sorry for her. Some of it had to do with missing Huck.

Any Hennessy was better than no Hennessy.

Not that Rosie had been anything like Huck. She’d been more like Dawson. Introverted and volatile. Although Huck was looking pretty volatile now. His eyes snapped and his features were taut.

“And now you’re contesting her will because you think a year of helping her out is worth much more than a childhood of putting up with her shitty mothering? Is that it?”

Tell him the truth, her guilt prodded. No matter what he did, he deserves to know the truth. But her mouth refused to speak the words. And yet, he seemed to read the truth on her face. Or maybe he’d known it all along.

He glanced over her shoulder into the house. “Where’s your son?”

The question had her entire body tightening. It was a struggle to keep her reaction hidden. “What’s it to you where my son is?”

“I want to meet him.”

With those words, she knew he knew. And she figured she knew how he knew.

The people of Promise Springs only saw what they wanted to see. No one had ever questioned her story about Camden being the result of a fling with a boy she met when she went off to college. They blindly accepted him as Cadee’s son, a sweet kid who would grow up to run the Stockton Ranch. That was all that mattered.

But Magnolia Hastings hadn’t lived in Promise Springs for years. She hadn’t watched Camden grow up and accepted him as a Stockton with no questions asked. Cadee had seen the surprise on her face when she’d looked into Camden’s golden eyes. Still, she couldn’t help wondering how the woman had made the connection so easily. She knew Magnolia was friends with the Hennessys because she and Dawson had come out to the ranch together one day. Was she also friends with Huck?

More than friends?

Cadee wouldn’t be surprised. Huck loved women. All women. And they loved him. As his closest friend, she’d witnessed firsthand all the girls he’d “dated” in high school. She had often teased him about his inability to commit, and he’d always replied with “So many girls and so little time.” It had been funny . . . until she’d become one of those girls.

Now she understood how disposable those girls had felt.

How easily forgotten.

And maybe that was why she’d allowed her brothers to convince her to contest the will. She wanted to make Huck pay for playing her just like he’d played every other girl. Maybe that was why she didn’t trust him with the truth. And why should she when he’d only be leaving again? He’d made it clear when they were kids that he never wanted to live in Promise Springs. Her keeping the truth from him would make things easier for both of them.

“You don’t need to meet my son. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.” She started to close the door, but a cowboy boot stopped her. His eyes held confusion and fear.

“Is he mine?”