Brian’s eyebrows arched. “No, I didn’t know. Are you saying that you two are intending to stay married?”
Ty heaved a breath. He wished he could say that. It was what he’d been hoping for, planning on, dreaming about. But this offer would raze that hope like a giant wrecking ball.
“No. I’m just the sperm donor.” That wrecking ball slammed right into his heart.
“Your child would be quite well-off once this deal goes through.”
“I would have made sure of that, regardless.”
Brian nodded. “You planning on resuming your work with the land development company?”
“I left the partnership about a month before JM passed.”
Brian, being the lawyer he was and undoubtedly used to hearing family-type secrets, held his face expressionless except for the arched eyebrows. “I wondered how you could just take a leave of absence like that. So what will you do? This deal will enrich you too, though not to the same degree as Mandy.”
“I don’t know.”
“Were you planning on getting Mandy and Tuck’s agreement to develop the ranch now that the business will be sold?”
“That had been the plan once. It’s not now.”
“You know it’s unlikely she’ll ever speak to you again. Awkward, seeing you two will parent a child together. Congratulations, by the way. I assume she’s pregnant by now.”
Ty shook his head. He hadn’t even been able to give her that. He’d take everything from her and leave her with nothing. “No congratulations. She’s not pregnant, at least not yet that I know.”
Brian harrumphed “Once you tell her you are selling her company, I’m pretty sure that will end any trying. But you’re within a few weeks of the end anyway.”
Why did it feel like someone had taken an egg beater to his brain? He wanted to do the right thing—if he could just figure out what the hell that was. If it was up to him, he’d choose Mandy over anything else. But that was being selfish. That was making the decision with his heart, not his head, the very thing he’d been critical of others doing. The very thing he’d always been so proud of not doing.
“So what’s next for you?”
“Start my own development firm, I guess.” What had once been his dream seemed more like a jail sentence now. A sentence of isolation and separation from the woman he’d grown to love. With all his heart.
“No interest in the rodeo stock business, huh?” Brian grinned as if sure of his answer.
“Actually, I’ve enjoyed it.” A lot. “I can see why JM loved it.” And why Mandy does.
“Really? I’d never take you for a man who worked with livestock.”
Yet for the majority of Ty’s life, he’d been a ranch kid, working alongside his father and brother, scratching out a living.
Ty thought of Trace, of what his brother had been going through these past years. Working hard and getting nowhere but still persisting. Because he loved it. Ty had never understood that type of drive. Now he did.
“Me either,” Ty confessed.
“You want me there? When you tell Mandy?”
Ty nodded. She might be more controlled if there were other people around, though he doubted it. Still, it couldn’t hurt. “Can you do it this afternoon? Tucker’s at the ranch now. I’m sure I can track down Sheila and Harold. I know where Mandy is. We can meet in the library at the ranch house at say…two o’clock?”
Brian glanced at his calendar. “I’ll move some things around and see you there.”
Ty unfurled from the chair. His muscles stiff, his heart sore like it had been pummeled in a boxing match. “I just hope she doesn’t shoot me.”
*
Ty leaned against the doorjamb of what was to have been the baby’s room and stared at a barren crib set against the faded yellow walls. Here he was again, looking in at something that could never be his. He hadn’t been able to give her a baby or give himself a family. The crib was as empty as his life was about to become, made worse by the realization of how full it could have been. Like a tree being hollowed out by a swarm of termites, his life was being destroyed by events he could not control.
When Mandy had agreed to extend their time together, he’d been certain he could make her happy. She’d be able to keep the company. He’d be able to give her a child. She already had claimed his heart and he hoped she’d see him as good enough to claim hers.
Now, he would lose everything…and give her nothing. That crib and all it represented would be abandoned. Might never be filled…and certainly not by him.
Empty crib, empty life, empty future.
“No. No. No.” Mandy blasted out the one-syllable word like she was firing bullets.
Ty could see the moisture collecting in her eyes, the horror on her face as she realized her dreams had died. And he had yielded the murder weapon.
“Mandy, it’s a good offer.” But he knew the futility of those words.