Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife (The Harder They Fall, #2)(46)

In the middle of grown-up talk, Hannah tugged on my sleeve. “What’s up, Hannah?”

She blinked her big brown eyes at me. It did my head in, seeing Saoirse’s eyes on this adorable little girl. Made me think this was what her daughter might look like. I didn’t know what to do with the feelings that came with that though, so I shut that path down and gave my attention to Hannah, who had a bombshell to drop.

“My mama has a baby in her tummy.” She did the little kid whisper that wasn’t really a whisper at all.

Everyone went still.

Except for Caleb of course. He shook his head at me like I was the one who’d spilled the family secret.

Jesus. There was no winning with this kid.

I dipped down closer to Hannah. “Oh yeah? My sister, Clara, has a baby in her tummy too. She’s having a little girl like you. It’s pretty cool. Don’t you think so?”

She nodded. “I’m gonna be a big sister. I’ll put bows on the baby.”

“What if it’s a boy?”

Her mouth twisted as she thought about it. “I’m gonna put blue bows on that boy.”

“Makes sense. I see you’ve got all your bases covered.”

“Yep. Bases covered.”

Lock cleared his throat and addressed his sister, whose cheeks had turned pink, eyes glassy. “We’re having another one in about six months.”

Saoirse swiped her eyes. “This is the best news.” She leaned over and kissed Caleb’s head. “More sweethearts for me to love on. I can’t wait.”

Elena reached behind her son to rub Saoirse’s back. “I had planned to tell you, but I’m not surprised my chatty little miss let it fly. So far, she’s told two grocery store clerks, her preschool teacher, several of her friends’ parents, and everyone she encounters on the ranch. She’s only known for three days, but she’s managed to tell half the state.”

Saoirse laughed. “To be fair, it’s not a very populated state.” Then she wagged her fingers at Elena. “Now your tears yesterday make sense. You’re hormonal.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “Oh god, don’t call me that. Gross. I’m slightly more prone to eye leakage, and that’s all I’ll admit to. Besides, I always pictured you getting married on the ranch like we did. You robbed me of my chance to throw you a big wedding.”

I had to laugh too. “My father claims I robbed my mother of throwing us a wedding. There’s a reason we eloped.” I winked at Saoirse, who was recovering from her tears. “Congratulations on the new one that’s coming. I look forward to seeing him or her adorned in bows.”

Elena’s eyes twinkled at her daughter. “I don’t think we could stop her from doing it if we tried.”

“So we won’t,” Lock added.

“Hannie puts bows on Daddy,” Caleb announced.

Saoirse covered his mouth with her hand. “All right, bud. That’s enough secret spilling for one day.”



After lunch, which ended with Caleb essentially challenging me to a duel, Saoirse took me on a tour of the grounds in a covered ATV.

“Your nephew has it out for me,” I told her.

“Well, he’s been my number one man since birth, so it makes sense he wants you dead. He views you as the usurper of his position.” She patted my knee. “Just let him tell you he’s bigger than you and he’ll let his grudge go.”

“As it is, I’m halfway to being gaslit into believing he is bigger than me. The kid is masterful.”

She smiled as she drove us over rolling terrain, her shoulders relaxing as the breeze caught her hair, blowing it away from her face. Wyoming suited her. Or maybe it was being around her family.

I fucking liked how much she unabashedly adored them all. Hated to say it, but with the way she’d described her parents' breakup, I’d assumed the entire family was dysfunctional, but that wasn’t the case at all. Lock and Elena were devoted to each other and their kids. Sure, Caleb was one hell of a gaslighter, but he was cool, and Hannah was an adorable, mellow little thing.

“Are you ready to meet my dad?” she asked.

“I’m ready. I’d be surprised if he’s any scarier than Elena.”

That made her giggle. It was light and airy. I’d never once heard her laugh that way. It must’ve been the Wyoming effect.

“I guess you’ll have to stick around and find out.”

I was all in on this lie. Might as well dig myself deeper and meet one more person I was going to walk away from in the end.





Chapter Twenty





Saoirse





Connell Kelly didn’t believe in days off.

He hadn’t always been that way. When I was younger, we’d spend weekends as a family. Oftentimes, my mother would end up locking herself away in her office and it’d just be me, Lock, and my dad, who’d been a steady, unbendable presence in my life…until he wasn’t.

I loved him. I’d never understand him betraying his marriage vows. It had taken me a long, long time to forgive him for it, but I had.

But where he’d once been my hero, now, he was just a man. Fallible like the rest of us.

Now, he worked too hard to avoid making a new life from the dust of his old one.