Coop thought about what he’d heard about Cait’s mother. “No one in Mason even knew Miguel and Gabrielle were going together.”

He leaned back against the wall. From what he was seeing and putting together, it looked like the father of Gabrielle’s baby wasn’t Miguel. He wasn’t Cait’s biological father.

When had the woman told Cait and Miguel who the real father was? When Cait said she was going to marry Jared? No one knew why Cait broke up with Jared Hatten, including Jared. Coop had heard of the bewilderment of the townspeople. But if Robbie was Cait’s biological father, they were first cousins.

Poor Caitlyn, he thought. And poor, poor Miguel.

Coop sat up. This was tragic, true, but why did Cait think this mistake meant she could never marry? Was it some kind of lifelong punishment? It wasn’t her fault. She’d done nothing wrong.

He took a breath. Or maybe Caitlyn was being honest and she actually didn’t want him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

After Cait sped away from Cooper, all she could think was that she had to have some privacy. She needed to think. In the last weeks the Fredericks house had given her that, but not now. And she couldn’t go home. The uncles would see her and they’d invade. They wouldn’t mean to, but they’d take over.

As she drove down the road, she suddenly turned and went across the grass. The only place she could think of was the cellar where she’d sheltered with Adam during the tornado. She parked far back under the trees, her vehicle unseen from the road.

She ran to the old door, kicked the fallen branches off it. She ran down the stairs, let the door drop down into place, then ran to the bed. All she wanted to do was be quiet. And to cry.

She curled up on the bed, her knees to her chest, her head down. The release from what she was feeling wouldn’t come. There were no tears.

When she heard the door open, her body tightened. Please don’t let it be Dad, she thought. Please, please, please.

She heard footsteps but didn’t look up. A light came on, and then a woman’s voice said, “Oh!”

Cait didn’t look to see who it was, but she knew. The cellar was probably the only true secret in Mason, so the possibilities were limited. It was Vera, the town celebrity. The love of her father’s life.