Heartsong (Singing to the Heart Book 2) by Sara Walter Ellwood Page B

flashed golden-brown fire. He stood with his feet apart, his arms tense at his sides. “As always, you blew this whole damned thing out of proportion. My only concern is my baby brother.”
    Micki had waited too long to have it out with him to stop now. She set the rake against the wall and crossed her arms. “Oh, you might want Jesse now, just like you wanted to get married. But the moment something you want more comes up, you’ll leave Jesse flapping in the breeze.”
    The muscle in his jaw quivered again, and he took a step toward her. “This isn’t about Jesse at all. This is about you breaking up with me .”
    “You’re the one who left with that woman and never came home.”
    The fire of a moment ago turned as cold as burnished bronze in his eyes, and his hands fisted at his sides. “You broke our engagement when you handed back my ring and told me I had no damned business coming back.”
    “I wasn’t myself then! I’d just lost our baby. I saw the way Andrea touched you and you ate it all up at the bar that night she saw you sing.” She shook her head, hating that she bared so much of her pain to him, but she couldn’t stop. “If you loved me, you would’ve come back regardless of what I said. You sure has hell wouldn’t have fallen into bed with Andrea Rose! Or was that the only way you could get the recording contract?”
    His nostrils flared and his shoulders moved as he sucked in a breath. “At least Andrea believed in my dreams. If you’d loved me , you would’ve, too.” His hard, low voice raked over her and abraded the raw places in her heart. “Yes, you had lost our baby. A baby I didn’t even know about until I found you bleeding in the bathroom, so don’t even go there.”
    “I planned to tell you on our wedding night.” The burn in her eyes was almost too much. But she wouldn’t cry in front of him. “I wanted it to be a gift. I know it was stupid not to tell you I was pregnant, but…” She swallowed the lump and shut up before she started bawling. Pain from the memories of the night she lost the baby, less than two weeks before their wedding date, stabbed at her heart. She’d discovered she was pregnant only a week before she miscarried, but she’d loved the tiny child they’d created.
    “None of this changes the fact that you--the most important person in my life then--didn’t believe in me.” He sniffed and his hard jaw ticked again. “I never once said anything about your damned rodeo obsession, but you hated my singing. Why, Michaela?”
    His singing had nothing to do with it and she had believed in him, but she wasn’t about to reveal that much of her soul. She pulled herself up to her full five feet four and fought the crumbling of her defenses. Refusing to show any more emotion to him, she opened another stall door. “I have things to do. Goodbye, Gabriel.”
    “See you in court, sweetheart.” He turned and strolled toward the door.
    As she watched him leave the barn and speed away in the flashy car, she lost the battle with her pride and a tear rolled down her cheek. She was a damned fool for letting him get under her skin again.
     

Chapter 7
     
    “After deliberating the case, I’ve determined neither Miss Michaela Finn nor Mr. Gabriel McKenna are suitable caregivers for the ward of this court, Jesse McKenna. The child will remain in the temporary custody of his maternal grandfather, Lemont Finn, until formal adoption proceedings on January sixth, at which time this court will reconsider the case.”
    Gabe jerked as if punched in the gut when the meaning of the judge’s words sunk in. He looked at Reese, who sat beside him. The other man looked as perplexed as Gabe. Reese Goodwin wasn’t used to losing.
    The past few weeks had been a roller coaster of concert dates, recording the live album, and attending appointments arranged by Judge Anderson. A few meetings had been with Allison Fennel, who supervised Gabe’s visits with Jesse in Lemont’s home.