All That Matters Read Free Page B

planning to do this without telling your folks? Your daddy won’t expect you to go through with the wedding if you tell him what happened, will he?”
    Faith’s mouth quivered and damned if all the blood in Buddy Lee’s head didn’t rush south again.
    “Daddy won’t believe me. He’ll just say I’m trying to make trouble. You know how he is. And if he finds out about the baby, he’ll force me to marry Royce. That’s why we have to tell them the baby is yours.”
    Buddy Lee looked at her sweet face and decided he might as well find out what he’d wanted to know for a long time. “Do you love him? Royce, I mean?” His insides started icing up while he waited for her answer.
    She touched his face, the soft pads of her fingertips barely skimming his cheek. Her voice lowered to a murmur. “No, I never did. I realize now, I just wanted someone to love me.”
    Oh, damn, he was dying here. “Won’t he figure it out? If you were only, um, together once,” he stumbled over the phrase he didn’t want to think about, “it’d be easy enough to count back and know the baby is his.”
    “That’s why we have to say I’m already three months along.”   Faith still had her hand on his cheek. “I’ve got it all figured out. If Royce thinks I was pregnant before he and I uh...you know, then he’ll believe the baby isn’t his. And Daddy won’t be able to do anything when he finds out you and I are already married.”
    Buddy Lee’s poor mind was spinning like a tumbleweed caught in a dust devil. The only thing he was certain of was that he was about to be married to the girl of his dreams and her baby was gonna call him Daddy...if Lionel Morgan didn’t blow him to Kingdom Come first.
    “Well, there’s no way I’m going to let you go back...”
    The back door slammed and, instinctively, he stepped in front of her, placing himself between her and whatever threat might be headed their way. He had a feeling the alligators were ganging up on him.

Chapter Two
     
    “H ey, Walker, you still awake in there?”
    The refrigerator door squeaked and Scooter’s gravelly, three-pack-a-day voice bounced off the kitchen walls like hail on a tin roof.
    Buddy Lee relaxed his guard, but kept himself between faith and the kitchen. As usual, his friend was helping himself to a cold one. Well, hell, was the whole damn town gonna show up at his back door tonight? He didn’t want to deal with Scooter’s inquisition right now. How the devil was he going to explain Faith being here? Might as well try to explain space.
    Scooter ambled down the hall, the brown-bottled longneck almost to his mouth before he jerked to a stop right at the living room doorway. An unopened bag of corn chips dangled from his other hand. Wide, disbelieving eyes stared at Buddy Lee and Faith from behind over-sized, black rimmed glasses.
    Buddy Lee could have kicked himself for not locking the back door after Faith had shown up. Scooter was better than the local newspaper when it came to circulating gossip in Liberty.   His exaggerated version of the situation would be spread all over town by morning.
    “Hot damn! What’re you doin ’ here, Faith?” Scooter flopped down on a worn, rust-colored easy chair and poked his short, stubby legs out in front of him. He shot Buddy Lee a look that said, What have you gotten yourself into this time, dude? then chugged his beer like he was fighting off a serious case of dehydration. His appreciative “ aahhh ” followed the crackle of the bag of chips being ripped opened.
    Buddy Lee fired off his own look that said, Don’t even go there if you know what’s good for you. Then he turned to Faith.   “Maybe you’d better tell him.” He’d leave it up to her. Yeah, that’s what he’d do. He sure as hell couldn’t explain something that still had his brain spinning U- ees inside his skull.
    “Buddy Lee and I have to get married, Scooter.” Faith sniffled a couple of times and dabbed at her eyes.
    Jeez, if she