“Mom, what are you saying? You think I should consider an arranged marriage? Because that’s what it would be. Something right out of the Victorian era.”
“Well, given how you’re married to the job, this may be the only shot I’ll have at grandchildren,” Sheila said as she scrubbed the fry pan in the sink. Mandy couldn’t help the eye roll. Like most single women in their twenties, she was used to having her lack of husband and children pointed out to her. But this time, she felt a little twinge at the prospect of never having a child. After hearing that one of her best friends was pregnant, she’d found herself eying babies at the mall with not a little bit of envy. She chalked it up to hormones.
“This marriage is not happening, and even if it did, it would certainly not include children.” With Ty? Never. He was so not father material.
Mandy scanned the list of cowboy names, happy not to see Mitch Lockhart on the list. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t be there. Since the roster wasn’t yet full, cowboys could sign on at the last minute. She was already dreading this weekend given this would be the first rodeo without her grandfather and the first rodeo with Ty in charge. All she’d need was Mitch to show up to have a fiasco trifecta.
“Apparently, Ty is your grandfather’s choice,” Sheila continued. “JM knew how to pick ’em. After all, he picked me for your father.”
Mandy swung her head around so fast she felt a little dizzy. “What? That’s not true. Daddy picked you.”
“Your grandfather introduced us. And told your father right at that introduction I was the one he was going to marry.”
Looking over her shoulder, Mandy watched as her mother washed and then dried her hands on the checkered towel hanging on the oven handle, adjusting it so it hung just right after she finished.
“Are you saying Daddy didn’t love you when he married you?”
Sheila smoothed her hands down the front of her stylish jeans. “Of course not. But your father wouldn’t have given me a second look if it wasn’t for JM.” Sheila motioned toward Mandy’s plate. “Is that all you are going to eat?”
“I’m not hungry. The coffee will keep me going.” Getting up, Mandy grabbed her plate and scraped the half-eaten egg into the garbage can hidden behind a cabinet door by the sink. Her mother’s cooking was a benefit of living at home. She just didn’t have much of an appetite. She placed the scraped plate in the dishwasher and returned to the table to gather up her papers. “Why do you say daddy wouldn’t have given you a second look?” Her mother had been and still was an attractive woman by anyone’s standards.
“Your father was a bit of a playboy back then. He seemed to like buckle bunnies and models. Much like Ty, if the gossip is true,” her mother said, placing the remaining uncooked eggs and bacon back in the refrigerator and closing the fridge door with a firm press. “Given my height, no one would call me statuesque, that’s for sure. But your father, out of respect for JM, started dating me, and, well, soon there were no more models or rodeo girls in his life. Just me.”
Mandy sat back down and tried to process this new revelation. Surprised as Mandy was, she had to disagree. “This is so different. Daddy wasn’t trying to take over your family’s company. And we’re talking marriage here, not courtship.” Her foot jiggled.
“Your grandfather was just making your arrangement respectable.”
“And binding.”
“For six months. And stop shaking your foot, dear. It’s not ladylike.”
Mandy curled her right leg around her left. Her mother had been trying to cure her of her nervous habit for years, to no avail.
“No court would deny you a divorce if you wanted it once the will was entered into evidence,” Sheila said “These days marriages can be about as lasting as a date, so why not, is all I’m saying.”
“Ah, because I despise the man.”
Sheila shook her head. “Mandy, I’m your mother. I know you better than you know yourself. You do not despise that man. You are attracted to him. And on some level, I think you respect what he’s accomplished, when you can stop envying it.” An image of Ty riding the mare, dressed in slacks and a white shirt, his jaw darkened by a five o’clock shadow, and a lock of hair falling across his brow flitted across her mind, causing a tingle low in her belly.
“I’m not envious of Ty Martin. I might concede to a little lust, but not envy.” Never envy. What did she have to be envious about? Ty wasn’t married, didn’t have children, and though he might be well-off, Prescott Rodeo provided all the money Mandy needed. No, she was not envious.
“Fine, I won’t argue. I just think you should consider it. After all, JM went to a lot of trouble to draft this provision. He obviously thought it was best for you, Ty, and the company.”