Three Reasons to Wed by Helen Lacey

Author:Helen Lacey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Grady stared at the other man. What the hell was Rex talking about? Marissa didn’t have a father.

But there was no dishonesty in Rex’s expression.

Only truth.

And sorrow.

Grady swallowed hard. “Are you sure?”

Rex nodded. “Positive. But you can’t tell her. She doesn’t know, and when she hears it, she has to hear it from me.”

He agreed. If it were true, Grady knew Marissa would be shocked. And hurt. The very idea made him ache inside.

“When are you going to tell her?” Grady demanded.

“Soon,” Rex assured him. “When the time feels right.”

“How about right now?” he suggested.

Rex shook his head. “She needs to know she can trust me before I tell her who I am.”

“And how are you going to do that?” he asked. “By hanging around her farm doing yard work and asking her to dance every chance you get?”

Rex’s brown eyes darkened. “I’m not going to hurt her with this news if I can help it. But I will tell her...and soon.”

Grady wanted to believe it. “Is that why you came to Cedar River six years ago?”

“I was passin’ through,” Rex admitted. “I was at the Loose Moose having a beer and bumped into a couple of old ranch hands I used to know. We got to talkin’ and I found out that Janie Ellis had a daughter twenty-five years earlier and worked it out from there. So I got this job and stayed in town.”

“Without telling anyone?”

Rex nodded. “Not a soul. Only Violet Ellis knows the truth, and she ain’t about to say anything.”

Miss Violet knew? Grady’s insides churned. The whole thing was getting more complicated with every passing second.

Marissa deserved to be told the truth, but Grady felt it wasn’t his place to say anything. Rex had always seemed to be a decent and honorable man, and he clearly didn’t want to hurt Marissa. So, he’d wait for Rex to do the right thing and ensure he was there to handle the fallout. Marissa would need him, no doubt about it. And he’d be there for her even if she didn’t want him to be.

* * *

Marissa spent Saturday packing boxes and cleaning out the two spare rooms in the house. Sunday morning she spent with her aunt, going over her plans to move into the retirement villa within the next few weeks. It was all organized and she was happy for Violet. She still had to make a decision about the ranch and there were plenty of reasons why it was a good idea. She needed a home and the farm had been a home for her when she was a child. And whatever she decided, Marissa was looking forward to the next phase in her life.

New beginnings.

Exactly what she needed.

But she couldn’t quell the unease in her heart—although she didn’t say anything to her aunt. And on the way home from the hospital, she stopped to visit Liz.

The cemetery was just on the outskirts of town, only a short detour. There were a

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