Free Good Together by C. J. Carmichael Page B

there?”
    “He has the biggest heart,” Sage agreed. “You should see him with his daughter. He’s such a rock. Kind, but firm and so patient.”
    The two sisters exchanged a glance. Their father had possessed only one of those qualities, and they weren’t kindness or patience.
    “So he’s really moved to Marietta to stay? He’s quit the rodeo?”
    “Yup. That’s part of the reason it took him so long to come and find me. Not only did he need to extricate himself from his failed marriage, but he also took courses and earned his degree in criminology. Now he has a full-time position as deputy sheriff and he and Savannah live in a super cute house on Bramble Lane.”
    “Does his daughter like Marietta?”
    “She seems to. Though I’m not sure she believes they’re really in town to stay. Her life has been a series of moves from one place to another and she finds the routine of school somewhat tedious. You should have seen her expression when Dawson explained she’d have to keep going until she was at least eighteen.”
    Mattie couldn’t wait to meet this kid. She sounded like a real firecracker. “What about Dawson’s ex-wife? Why doesn’t she have custody of their daughter?”
    “Gina’s quite the character. Apparently she falls in and out of romantic relationships with regularity and ends up following these guys all over the country. Mostly she’s happy to leave Savannah with Dawson, but he’s nervous since legally they have joint custody and he’s afraid one day she’ll show up in town and want to take Savannah away from him.”
    The mention of custody had Mattie’s stomach turning over. Just about the only good thing about her current predicament was that the twins were old enough that she and Wes would never have to fight about things like custody. “Can he get the agreement changed so he has sole custody?”
    “He’s talked to his lawyer about it. But getting Gina to sign any sort of legal document is unbelievably hard.” Sage sighed. “It worries me sometimes that Dawson married such a dipstick.”
    “Well, he obviously learned from his mistakes.” Mattie affectionately bumped her shoulder against Sage’s. “Or am I jumping to conclusions when I assume the two of you will end up as husband and wife?”
    Sage couldn’t stop a smile from revealing the truth. “He’s already asked me. I told him he had to wait a year for my answer.”
    “A year!”
    “I need to make sure that all the changes he’s made are going to stick.”
    “Is he really so different from the cowboy you first fell in love with?”
    “That’s a good question. At heart—no. Or I wouldn’t have fallen in love with him all over again.”
    Mattie was satisfied with that answer. She was glad that Sage had finally found her place in this world. Too often in the past Sage had seemed a little sad, a little lost. Maybe it was carrying the burden of their mother’s secret that had weighed her down. As the oldest sister, she should have been there for Sage. But it was too late to fix that now. All she could do was feel glad that Sage finally seemed happy. She really did have it all. A career that fulfilled her. A man to cherish her.
    It was almost as if she and Sage were balanced on a teeter-totter. Once Mattie had been up and Sage down. Now it was the other way around. The image wasn’t a satisfactory one. Mattie knew that whatever setbacks she was facing now, ultimately she would get through them and be happy again.
    But there were still many hurdles to get over before that could happen. First among them was talking to Wes. If he was serious about leaving her then they had to break the news to the twins. Hopefully together.
    The secret of her mother’s affair, however, had given Mattie new hope. If her parents had weathered such a big storm in their marriage, maybe she and Wes could too. Other than that key and the phone call from the strange woman, she had no reason to believe he was having an affair. Despite all