Page 19 of Rough Cowboy
“What do you plan to do if your father?”
Silver straightens his shirt. “Same thing I told you on the drive home, child support and a nanny. What more can a traveling absent dad offer?” He has the audacity to wink at me. “Good thing the baby isn’t mine.”
Something inside me snaps as I watch Silver stride away like the arrogant asshole he is—the selfish prick who would knowingly abandon his child.
My eyes meet Sammy’s. “You weren’t going to tell me?”
“No, but clearly, you needed to hear it from Silver himself.”
“You’ve had weeks to tell me. I wouldn’t have thrown this whole party if I’d known.” I gasp. “That’s the reason you looked at the paternity test and concocted this whole let’s-move-in-together plan. Because if the baby was yours, great, but if it was Silver’s, you already knew his reaction.”
He steps inside and shuts the pantry doors. “It doesn’t matter what we did or didn’t do until now. All the matters are what we do moving forward.” His boots crunch the Cheetos on the floor. “Elsie, tell me now if you have doubts about our plan.”
Silver squashed all my doubt when he admitted to not participating in his child’s life. “I don’t have any doubts. Did you get it done?”
Sammy nods. “You’re sure about this? We can still back out. Tell the truth.”
“No. It’s you and me in this together.” I grab the broom and begin sweeping the orange chunks and powder on the floor. “If anything, Silver’s admission sealed the deal. I don’t want him ever to know the truth.”
It’s not me we have to worry about; Sammy’s connection with his twin brother could ruin our plan.
Sammy bends down with the dustpan, and I sweep the crumbs inside.
“Promise me you will never tell him. Do you know what’s worse than being raised without a father? It’s knowing your father never wanted you.”
Sammy’s arms are around me. “This is our secret. It won’t leave this room.”
I feel like an idiot for ever thinking Silver was a different man than I’d met time and time again.
I hug Sammy back. “Thank you.”
He squeezes me, but our privacy is short-lived. The pantry doors swing open for a third time, and I believe any room in this house has more privacy than the panty.
Silver and the Quylt sisters stand in the doorway.
“There you two are.” I want to slap Silver’s cocky-ass look off his face. “Watcha, y’all doin’ in here? Although, I’m sure we already know.”
Sammy and I part.
“This is unexpected.” Faye shakes her head, and the baby rattles on her Kentucky derby hat, jingling a tune. On one side of the hat, the pink rattle color coordinates with a pink cow, a pink mini Stetson, and a pink pair of cowboy boots. On the opposite side, each item matches in blue.
“I think y’all are reading into things.” I clamp my hands on my hips. “And I don’t think it’s any business of yours what’s going on in here.”
“It’s banglefucking,” Silver whispers with a sly smirk, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
I refuse to make eye contact with him.
It almost seems like Wilma’s frown deepens at the admission.
Faye gasps and covers her mouth with her fancy white-gloved hands. “I’ve read Dianna Jenkin’s books, and shame on you both.”
“How do you think I got pregnant in the first place?” My hands cradle my stomach. It’s become this new strange motion I find myself regularly executing. “And shame on you for trying to shame me. I’ll screw whatever cowboy I damn well please.” My eyes lock on Silver. “And Sammy is the giver, the pleaser, the selfless lover.” I stomp out of the pantry straight between the two sisters. “Aren’t folks waiting on a baby-daddy reveal?”
