Free Love So Unexpected (The Lawson Brothers Book 6) by Marquita Valentine Page B

waiting for him to say otherwise, she sat and grabbed his hand, squeezing once before letting go.
    “How did you know I was here?” he couldn’t help but ask.
    “While I was driving around, I saw your truck from the road.” She sighed thickly. “Apple said you visited your wife every Wednesday. This wasn’t what I imagined.”
    “It wasn’t what I imagined either,” he said honestly.
    Sofia’s gaze flicked to the headstone. “She was so young.”
    “We both were.” He clenched his jaw, unwilling to let those awful memories into the forefront of his mind. “She suffered from seizures. Had one while she was driving to the ... driving to town ... and hit a tree. Her heart couldn’t take it. I got to say goodbye though.”
    “How?”
    “Happened upon the accident.”
    Sofia’s lips trembled. “I found my mother. She’d died of a brain aneurysm. One minute we were on the phone, and then the next, the line went dead. Or so I thought. I ran the entire way home from school because I felt something was wrong.” She touched her chest. “Turns out I was right. There was nothing anyone could have done. It was a freak thing.”
    “That’s what I was told about Iris, but I’m not so sure about that.”
    “Quit beating yourself up. It’s not only useless, it’s not fair to you or her memory.”
    He looked at Sofia in wonder. Her eyes were empathetic. “You’re the first person to put it like that.”
    “That’s because I know what it’s like to lose the most important person in your life.”
    His chest got tight, and a lump grew in his throat. Somehow, they both reached for each other’s hands at the same time, their fingers lacing together.
    They sat there for a long time, not saying a word, while the wind blew and birds sang. The sun rose higher in the sky, until the only shade was directly under the trees in the cemetery.
    But Sofia didn’t move, so neither did he.
    “I’m glad you know. Just wish I’d been the one to tell you.” But he couldn’t tell Sofia about the baby. He wasn’t ready for that, and since no one knew but his dad, he didn’t have to worry about her finding out before he was ready to share. Honestly, he didn’t know if he’d ever be ready to share.
    Except after today, he knew he was one day closer.
    The next morning, Caleb was drinking coffee at Walter’s Feed and Seed while the more seasoned farmers discussed crops, weather, and politics. He didn’t participate all that much, choosing to listen instead.
    “Had to destroy the entire field,” one said, and the other men commiserated. It was a well-known fact that if one crop cross-pollinated with another crop that was grown from seed via AgriCorp, the crop had to be destroyed, under penalty of law. Since not a single farmer he knew relished paying hefty fines, they chose to burn their fields instead.
    Farming was expensive. They couldn’t even replant extra seed from the year before due to the deals that were made with Big Agriculture. So, quite a few families in the area pooled their resources to help defray the cost. They all agreed that no one, least of all in Washington, were looking out for the family farms.
    It was corporations that lined the pockets of every congressman and woman who publicly proclaimed to be for the little guy. Not even the president was innocent.
    Caleb wanted to complain, but he didn’t think it would do much good. None of their representatives were sitting here, hanging on every word, because it wasn’t election season ... yet. In the past, they’d signed petitions to voice their concerns, but that hadn’t helped either.
    Honestly, he wasn’t sure what would get Washington’s attention.
    The only thing Caleb was sure of was hard work, and he could do that. So he’d listen for a few more minutes while he finished his coffee, then head back home to eat breakfast with a beautiful woman. And his parents, of course.
    Yeah, it was a rather odd situation, but he didn’t have any other