Page 30 of Wed to You-
Jagger stopped at the top of hill. From there, Chelsea could see down the other side to the barn and more pastures. “Do you mean that?”
She looked into his deep blue, piercing eyes. “Yes. Of course.”
“Would you marry me?”
She blinked. The question was so out of left field, she thought she had to have heard it wrong. “What?”
He set his hands on his hips and looked down the hill to where Kaden and Matthew were petting a horse one of Jagger’s farm handshad out. Then he looked back at her. “I’m told that if I were married, my chances of keeping Kaden would improve.”
“Okay.”
“So, I’m asking if you’ll marry me.”
The answer “no” should have traipsed easily off her tongue. Instead, she continued to stare. Was this a joke? Was he punking her?
“Look.” He started walking again, and Chelsea followed him. “I know this is crazy. We don’t know each other well. We’re not in love, but I’ll do anything to keep Kaden with me. Not just for me, but because Tanya has a terrible history and I don’t trust her to care for him. But she’s his mother, which apparently is one notch down from being God and seems to allow her to get away with abandoning him. I want to strengthen my position. If you marry me, he’ll have two caregivers. Plus I can help you in a return.”
“How?” Chelsea surprised herself with the question. Why wasn’t she telling him “no”?
“I know you’re having financial challenges. I can fix them.”
Her eyes narrowed, trying to hide her horror that he knew her money woes. “How do you know that?”
He stopped walking and turned toward her. “For one, you work yourself to death in two jobs. Second, you said so the other night. And third, well, although I’m not privy to all that small town gossip has to offer, I have heard that you might lose the house. I know it’s not just any house, but a house that’s been in your family for over a hundred years. I can prevent that. I’ll pay the mortgage. If you have other debts, I’ll pay those too.”
“You don’t know how much that is.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
It was so strange to meet someone for whom money was no object. Where she had to count every penny to go to the grocery store, he could offer to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars without blinking an eye. But his suggestion brought her back to thereason she hadn’t accepted help from her friends.
“I can’t take your money, Jagger. I appreciate your offer but—”
“I’m not giving it to you. It’s not charity. Think of it as a business deal. You help me, I’ll help you.”
This was ridiculous. “Don’t you think people would figure this all out? It probably wouldn’t go over well with the judge if he found out you entered into a marriage of convenience just to keep Kaden.”
“No one will know that’s what this is. But even if they did, it shows my level of commitment.”
Her head dropped to the side and she pursed her lips in a “do you really believe that” expression. “How could they not know? We hardly know each other and all of a sudden we’re getting married?”
“We could say we kept the relationship a secret because you were his teacher. It wouldn’t be totally out of left field. People had to have seen us at pizza the other night.”
“You’ve thought this through.”
“I have. Kaden is the most important thing in my life.”
“So why me? I’m sure you can find a wife that won’t cost you a fortune in debt.”
He blew out a breath. “Probably, but I want someone local; someone who would make a good mother figure for Kaden.”
“Right, and who better than a kindergarten teacher?” Now all his questions about her life at lunch made sense.
“Yes. But it helps that we know each other and that I like you. We need to pull off a deception that suggests we’re in love. It’s easier to do if you like the other person.”
She got hung up on the word deception. “It doesn’t bother you that this is unethical? Is it even legal?”
“Marrying for love is a fairly new concept in the world. Historically, marriage was a business relationship. Second, it’s unethical that I won’t get a fair shake at this simply because I’m not his father. I’ve done everything for that little boy and none of it counts for anythingagainst a mother, even though she abandoned him.”
