A Cowboy for Mom Read Online Free PDF Page B

rough, like he’d had to force the words out.
    “Are you really sure you want to know?” Monica asked
quietly. When he nodded, she swallowed hard. “You might want to sit down
again.” When they were both settled, she sighed. “My name isn’t Monica. Carrie
was named for her father. For you,” she whispered. “I came to Beverly when I found out I was pregnant. I
didn’t know about the accident. I had called and she met me instead of you. I
had talked to you on the phone but when she showed up I was shocked.” She had
her hands between her knees and she had her head down. “My real name is
Jennifer. Jennifer MacElroy. I haven’t seen you in years. And yes, Carrie is
yours.”
    There was absolutely no sound from him, just the sound of
the horses moving about in the stalls, the soft occasional whinny breaking the
silence. When she finally looked up he was staring at her, with his mouth
hanging open and a stunned expression on his face. Meeting his gaze, his mouth
snapped closed and he stood up. Without a word he walked out of the barn, the
door vibrating from the force he’d used to push it open.
    By the time she was about to move and go back to the house,
he was back and glaring at her. He started to speak but then stopped, his eyes
moving to the horses who were stirring restlessly. With a jerky motion, he
signalled her out of the barn, the impatience vibrating off of him as he waited
for her.
    She approached him. “What? As I said, I was told just
exactly what you thought about me. Your sister didn’t hesitate to tell me
everything. She said that you were out with Maxine Jamison, and when I called,
Max even said that you and she were together and to get a life. So yeah.” She shrugged. She had no idea what else to tell
him. She didn’t even know about his accident until tonight. Beverly had certainly pulled the wool over
her eyes.
    Carson shut the door to the barn, snagged her arm at the elbow,
and drew her away from it. “First, believing anything Maxine Jamison had to say
is beyond idiotic. Second, why would you believe anything my sister would say
without actually talking to me? Third, what the fuck!” He stared at her.
    Turning, he paced a few feet away before spinning back
around. “You have always known that me and my sister
never saw eye to eye on anything. Her life dream, to marry
wealth and get the fuck out of here. So…” He spun around again and paced
away. Shaking his head, he tipped it back so his face was to the sky. “Why even
bother telling me now?” he asked, his voice sounding defeated and worn down.
Looking to her, he waved a hand. “I’m more than sure you could have made
something up and I likely would have believed you. Why tell me the truth, now
after all this time has passed?”
    “Because it’s clear that child wants to know her father.”
Rising from where he had all but pushed her to sit, she got into his face.
“Hate me all that you want, Carson MacDonald, but if you don’t want to know her,
then let me know now so that I can do whatever I can in order to save her that
pain. All of her life she’s been told that you are an amazing man, that it was
my choice to leave you, even though I left because I thought you wanted
nothing to do with me . I believed her because you never truly told me
the depth of the hate that you and Bev have between each other. So don’t even
start with me.”
    His face turned sad then and he looked away. “How could you
ever believe I didn’t want to see you?” he asked quietly. “Even if it was Bev
saying it, how could you honestly have believed that, Jen?” He turned to face
her. He looked so hurt in that moment, so pained that she didn’t know what to
say to make it better.
    “You might not remember it, but the last night that we were
together you were pissed off at me. Your parting words to me were that you
didn’t want to see me ever again. I don’t even recall what it was that we
fought about, but we did fight. You dropped me off