Page 36 of Hometown Cowboy
He just never stayed with anyone for long.
“I’m gonna kill him.”
Gabe’s harsh words brought her out of her stupor. She grabbed for his wrist. “No! I—”
Gabe shook her off and stalked from the room. Her father shot up from where he’d been sitting on the lounge chair, looking bemused by the events of the last few minutes.
“Gabriel! Don’t you go bothering that boy!”
The slamming of the kitchen screen door echoed back at them. The gunning of Gabe’s ute’s engine reached their ears.
“Oh hell.” Darby spun to Max. “Please…”
Max nodded. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t actually kill him.” He lifted her chin with a finger. The open love and worry in his eyes warmed her soul. “But wearegoing to have a little chat about this.”
Darby nodded and forced herself to stay calm. Surely Gabe wouldn’t actually hurt his best friend? Not really?
She rubbed her face and tried to believe it. Gabe had always been protective of her, being the only girl in a family of four, and quite honestly she’d never really thought much of it. But knowing it was Ryan who’d knocked her up would be the one thing to rile him beyond belief.
Maybe she should’ve brought Ryan with her to tell them all?
She almost laughed at that. She was the reason hewasn’tthere.
Gentle hands moved hers from her face. The comforting scent of her father’s aftershave filled her lungs as his arms went around her.
“I’d like to think I know you both well enough to know there’s a very good reason why Ryan isn’t here with you to tell us. I just hope you aren’t too upset by it, pumpkin.”
Despite the heat and prickling in her eyes, Darby tried to smile at her father’s use of her childhood pet name.
“It’s my fault, Daddy,” she whispered.
“And why would that be, my girl?”
The tears won and trickled down her face. “Because he asked me to marry him and I said no.”
Darby’s face crumpled and she turned into her father’s chest amidst the various murmurs and shocked gasps around her. Gasping sobs left her in jagged bursts. Her fists curled into his somehow still-crisp work shirt, which smelled faintly of the spray starch her mother swore by and used on anything standing still long enough.
He stroked her hair, which only made her cry harder. “And why was that?”
“Because he doesn’t love me.”
Saying those words hurt so much she couldn’t breathe. Saying it made itreal.
“How do you know?” Ed asked gently.
Darby pushed back and swiped angrily at her face. She glared at all of her family standing there, staring. Some faces looked sad. All looked worried.
“Because I asked him, that’s how. He only wants to marry me because I’m pregnant and he doesn’t want the baby to not have its father around, not because he feels anything significant toward me. He doesn’t wantme.”
An all-encompassing empathy spread across her father’s face. It cut her more than him being angry with her would have.
“Did hesaythat? Did hesaythat he doesn’t love you, actually say the wordsI don’t love you?”
She shrugged and bit her lip. She swiped at her itchy face. “Not exactly. He just kept banging on about how the baby had to have a dad.”
“I’d like to think I know that boy as well as I know my own sons. Heck, he practically grew up in this house. The fact that it even occurred to him to ask you to marry him tells me that there’s more going on here than you think.”
He cupped her face between his hands and smiled at her. “It tells me that even ifhemight not realise it, he cares about you. Quite a lot, by the sounds of it. And for him to risk Gabe pounding on him? For him to even consider risking that friendship—risking all ofus—speaks to something more than just messing about. Give it time. Givehimtime.”