Page 4 of A Baby for the Billionaire Cowboy

“My friend Ava. I would’ve introduced you months ago if Ava hadn’t seen fit to go off on a tour of Europe almost as soon as you got here. She did a river cruise! Could’ve done that in Austin. No need to go halfway around the world.”

A knock came at the door.

Rhonda’s gaze ran over her. “Well, I guess it will have to do.” She headed for the door.

Daisy shifted forward and heaved herself up. She took her time, since Rhonda and Ava were greeting each other with the hugs and exclamations of long-lost friends.

They came into the living room arm in arm. “Daisy Mae, this is my dear friend Ava. Ava, my great-niece Daisy Mae.”

“Just Daisy.” She held out her hand.

Ava ignored it and leaned in for a quick hug. “How lovely to meet you.”

“Ava and her sister have been traveling the world!” Rhonda said. “London and Paris and a cruise on some rivers in Europe with funny names. Can you imagine?”

Ava giggled. “I can hardly believe it, and I was there.”

“Sweet tea?” Rhonda asked as they sat down. “It’s decaf, for Daisy’s sake.” She poured out glasses from the pitcher on the coffee table. Daisy sipped hers while Rhonda and Ava talked about Ava’s travels. The trip sounded interesting, but Daisy had trouble concentrating. Rhonda had wanted Daisy to meet Ava for some reason, and to make a good impression, but she hadn’t said why, which meant she probably had a plan Daisy wouldn’t like. But her aunt had been generous in letting her stay there all this time, when Daisy couldn’t find a job, because who wanted to hire a pregnant woman who would probably leave soon?

“But I’m not the only one with news,” Ava said. “Daisy, I gather you’ve been here for a couple of months?”

Daisy nodded. It was clearly an open-ended question, giving her the chance to explain why she’d come to Last Stand. “It’s a lovely town. I’m enjoying the cooler fall weather.”

“Yes, that was one reason I wanted to get away during July and August.” Ava smiled. She must be a few years younger than Auntie Rhonda, late fifties or so, and the two women were very different. Rhonda was a tank, stocky and square jawed with a helmet of steel-gray hair, forceful and blunt, the kind of person who got things done by plowing through any resistance. Ava was softer, a bit pear-shaped, with laugh lines around her eyes and the kind of gentle smile that invited you to share your troubles, assured of a sympathetic listener.

Daisy had a sudden urge to climb across the coffee table and lay her head on Ava’s shoulder.

“As you can see, Daisy is pregnant,” Rhonda said. “She made a sensible decision not to marry the father.”

“Oh dear.” Ava’s eyebrows drew together. “Was he not decent to you?”

“He was... decent. But he wasn’t—I didn’t—” It was so hard to explain. “I didn’t plan to get pregnant.” Her cheeks heated. “He offered to marry me, which was decent of him, but...”

“If you ask me,” Rhonda said, “he was grooming her from the start. What thirty-year-old man picks out a twenty-year-old girl?”

“Quite a few, given the chance, I’d think,” Ava murmured.

“He hired her as his secretary—administrative assistant, whatever you want to call it—when she hardly had the skills for a job like that.”

Daisy frowned. “I learned quickly. He said he preferred to teach me the way he liked to do things.”

“Exactly!” Rhonda nodded rapidly. “He taught you how he likes things at work, and in the process, he taught you to cater to him in every way. He was molding you to be his perfect wife.”

“That... is actually sort of how things happened.” Looking back, she was an idiot. At the time, she’d blamed herself for not being clear. She’d hated to say no, maybe because she’d spent so long trying to please him at work, or maybe because she’d learned even before then that nice girls were polite and tried to please and had to be careful not to make men mad.

“And then he got you pregnant.” Rhonda nodded again with perfect conviction. “It was all part of his plan.”

He had been awfully happy when she said she was pregnant. He’d proposed at once. She’d been grateful that she didn’t have to handle the pregnancy alone, but he’d never given her a chance to talk about whether she wanted to handle it with him, or at all. She’d mentioned giving up the baby for adoption once, and he’d said no, of course they would marry. She’d been carried along on the waves of his confidence, relieved that someone seemed to know the right thing to do.

“What Daisy Mae needs now is agoodman,” Rhonda said. “Someone kind and sensible who can take care of her.”

Oh no. Daisy had the sensation of a rockslide sweeping toward her.

“Like one of your sons.” Rhonda beamed at Ava.

Daisy wanted to sink into the couch and disappear. If she laid down and pulled a pillow over her face, maybe her flowered dress would blend into the flowered pattern on the sofa. “Auntie, no. That’s not—you can’t ask—” How did you tell someone they were being entirely inappropriate when they refused to see it?

“Well, Josh and Carly eloped, and TC is engaged to Hailey,” Ava said. “And things seem to be going well between Cody and Mallory. Not that I would interfere in my sons’ relationships anyway.”

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