His Promise (Married in Montana Book 1) by Lorhainne Eckhart Page B

look, and she nodded, her expression guarded as if she understood his concern. He left with their baby.
    “So what is that about?” Becky asked her daughter-in-law, who was still standing beside her. She gestured to the sofa. “Sit down, Candy. You’re making me crane my neck to look all the way up at you.”
    “Sure,” Candy replied. She curled her legs under her on the sofa, leaning on the arm, and smiled over at Becky.
    “You and I haven’t had much of a chance to talk.”
    Candy lowered her hand and smoothed her palm over the floral pattern on the cushions. Becky knew she loved the colors, the cherry red with green leaves and the cream background. It really added something to this room. “We were so worried about you.”
    “And I was worried about you and my son,” Becky said, wondering when the best time would be to talk to Candy, woman to woman, about where she and Neil were as a couple.
    Candy looked up, and for a moment there was surprise in her expression before she glanced over her shoulder to the doorway. “We’re good. You don’t need to worry about us.”
    Becky sighed. “I stayed out of it even though I wanted to sit you both down and talk to you…before the stroke. Afterward, it was so frustrating having to rely on Rodney. So much of what I wanted to say, I couldn’t get the words out. But you two now seem happy, maybe content?”
    Becky knew, by the way Candy was looking at her, that she was remembering the secret Rodney had shared, her indiscretion at a time when she believed nothing would ever work out.
    “Yes, I suppose you and Rodney gave me a lot to think about,” she replied. “I could see past my own hurt after that. I love Neil, and that will never change. I just never expected…I don’t know, Becky. Hearing about your troubles when you were young, about how you and Rodney made that choice to make it work and find a way to stay together, it helped. When your dad threatened to take you and the kids away if Rodney couldn’t make him understand all the ways he loved you…I can’t imagine the heartache you were both suffering at that time. You’re so strong, and listening to Rodney tell me your story shook me up and made me really think about Neil and our family. I actually sat down and made a list myself.”
    “Oh, really? That sounds good. It is, isn’t it?”
    “Well, it made me really think. Neil is such a wonderful man. He was my everything until I got that letter from the surrogate and found out that Michael was actually his. My trust was destroyed. How can you rebuild after that? I didn’t think it was possible to ever trust him again, and that hurt more than anything.”
    “And you do now?” She hoped she was right. Candy wasn’t acting like a woman on her way out the door. Becky hoped not, anyway.
    She shrugged. “He saved me when the storm swept in, and he stayed by my side. He’s just that kind of man. Where I’m scared at times, he’s confident. He loves our children, and after coming around about Cat, falling in love with our sweet little girl, he’d move heaven and earth for her. He’ll be there for me no matter what. It may not always have been this way, but he’s given up so much of himself and what he’s loved for me, without me asking him. One of the hardest things for Neil is caring enough about what I think and feel to share with me before decisions are made, but he’s really trying. I’m glad Rodney shared your story with me.”
    “No one else knows in the family, Candy. Rodney shared that with you because we knew you had one foot out the door. It was all he could think of at the time to make you stop and consider.”
    “You never told Neil?” Candy asked.
    She shook her head. “No one knows. It was something I swore I’d never speak of, and I knew Rodney would never want anyone knowing. The boys wouldn’t understand, and I couldn’t bear them thinking poorly of me.”
    Candy started to shake her head as if to argue the point.
    “No,