AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Wyatt’s brain flashed to Jackson’s description of his own adoptive parents and rocky childhood, and he hoped the same thing. He was lucky to have grown up with a very loving mother and supportive extended family. Well, mostly supportive. “That’s a brave thing to do, Ramie. Have a baby and give them up to parents who desperately want a child. I’m sure they’ve had an amazing life.”
“I hope so. Not all of us are meant to be parents, and popping out a kid doesn’t guarantee you’ll be a good one. I knew I wouldn’t be and I am at peace with that. I just wish Brand had gotten a say in the matter.”
Something odd and kind of cold crept up Wyatt’s spine. Ramie didn’t seem fully aware of what she’d said, her gaze back on that cupcake, half-lost in her own thoughts again. He wasn’t used to seeing her so distracted. Ramie was always put together, in charge, and a force to be reckoned with. This uncertain side made him want to get up and hug her, to offer some measure of comfort while she was upset.
Then it really hit him what she’d said and what it implied. “Wait, Brand was the father?”
“The what?” She looked at him, lips slightly parted. “Oh God, no, Brand isn’t the father of my baby. This all happened before we met. Although we did bond over the fact.”
You bonded over the fact that you both had kids you gave up?
Wyatt tried to order his thoughts and words so his racing brain didn’t short-circuit and cause him to blurt out the wrong thing. “Then why would Brand get a say in you putting your baby up for adoption?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Her cheeks darkened. “Shit, I don’t like spreading people’s personal business around. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
He pretended to ponder over it for a second and reach a conclusion any reasonable person, not already in the know, would come to. “Brand gave up a baby for adoption, too?”
She looked at the table, which was as good as a verbal yes.
Wyatt poured and drank a second shot, grateful for the alcohol now. Ramie had gotten pregnant when she hadn’t wanted to be pregnant, so she’d given the baby up. Women did it all the time, and it had been her decision. He didn’t judge her for it at all.
What if Brand had a similar explanation for why he’d given Wyatt up? It was as simple as Brand being a teenager and not wanting to be a father or saddled with paying child support for the next eighteen years, so he’d given Mom the freedom to move forward and live her life, unburdened by a deadbeat dad. As a simple answer it made sense, but it still didn’t explain his maternal grandparents’ collective hatred of Wyatt’s bio dad, and their complete unwillingness to color in the unshaded parts of Wyatt’s past. He didn’t know the full story but he was positive Brand was not now and had never been a cruel man or the type to abuse his girlfriend.
“I can’t imagine making that kind of decision,” Wyatt said. “Giving up part of yourself so that they could be happy somewhere else. It must have been hard. For you and for Brand, in your own ways.”
“Please don’t tell him I said anything.” She reached across the table to squeeze his wrist, eyes wide and fearful in a way he’d never seen her before. “It’s a family secret that only a handful of people know.”
“I won’t tell a soul.” At least now he had confirmation of his suspicions. “Um, how old would Brand’s kid be now?”
“I guess around your age. Twenty or so.” Her lips twitched. “Maybe that’s why he agreed to hire on an accidental cowboy with no real experience. You remind him of something he lost a long time ago.”
Wyatt’s heart sped up. “Do you think he regrets giving up his kid?”
“No.”
Ouch.
“No, I don’t think he regrets the decision,” she continued. “Not so much giving them up as why he had to. He was sixteen going on seventeen. His oldest brother, Colt, had just run away to chase his own dreams, and Brand was suddenly burdened with inheriting the ranch one day. Making it a success. He was a kid himself with too much on his shoulders, so he probably would have agreed to the adoption route, if that’s what the mother and her family had agreed to.”
“They didn’t want to adopt out?”
She shook her head. “According to Brand, Ginny wanted to keep the baby but her parents had some huge issue with the Woodses and refused to let Brand be part of her life.”
Ramie knew his mother’s name. She had no idea she was telling Wyatt his own origin story. Holy crap.
“They wanted to move away, start over,” she continued. “Brand tried to fight it but her parents threatened to bring statutory rape charges if he didn’t back off and sign away all rights to his kid.”
“What the fuck? Rape?”
“It wasn’t like that, Wyatt. Brand was a few days over seventeen when the shit hit the fan, but Ginny was still sixteen.” And seventeen was the age of consent in Texas. “Even though they were both underage when they made the baby, Ginny’s parents made a lot of noise about charges, and Brand was scared of ruining his parents’ legacy with the ranch. So he conceded and signed away his rights. He gave up his kid for his family, which I know he’d do again in a heartbeat. But sometimes I think he regrets being bullied into that choice. He had no real say.”
Wyatt’s eyes burned with unnamed emotions, and he would not cry, damn it. For all the stories he’d been spun about how horrible his father’s family was, about how Wyatt had been given up and abandoned by them, his entire body ached with grief for these new truths. Ramie had no reason to lie to him. Brand had no reason to lie to Ramie about his own motivations, especially given Ramie’s history with adoption. If this was true...
“But why?” he asked. “Why would her parents do that?”
“I don’t know. I guess you’d have to find them and ask them.”
“But he never—I mean, he knew her name. Why didn’t he ever look for his kid?”
