Honestly, it wasn’t like it was a revelation that Ryder would be the best one, it was just that...she hadn’t considered it. She hadn’t considered it because she knew that it was something he didn’t want to be a part of. Because she knew that there was messy, and then there was the kind of messy that was so tangled up you would never be able to unknot it. She and Ryder sharing a child was... Well, that just wouldn’t work. It was one thing to think about having some kind of casual arrangement with a man in town. One who gave occasional visits and even support. One who kind of added to the casual, expanded family that she had created at Hope Springs.

But she lived with Ryder. Practically.

And how could they do a distance thing in that sense? How could he not be involved?

She supposed it was possible that he could act as a favorite uncle.

As for the conception... She wasn’t going to think about that.

She was not going to think about the fact that she had just seen him wander through his bedroom in a towel, either. Wasn’t going to think about any of that. Because that had nothing to do with the actual reality of what he was proposing, and it wasn’t going to happen either way.

“I’m not letting you fall on your sword for me.”

“Who said I was falling on my sword?”

“Because I know you. You’re trying to rescue me. You’re desperately trying to rescue me, and you’re offering yourself up in an entirely impractical way in order to do that.”

“I didn’t say that it wouldn’t come without conditions.”

“What kind? I mean, honestly, how would that even work? You don’t want kids because you’ve already been there and done that. You don’t want unconventional. And I am the very essence of unconventional. Which is fine for a friendship, but how could we ever share a child?”

“It wouldn’t be unconventional,” he said.

“How is it not going to be unconventional?”

“Because. I’ll be the father of your baby. You’ll be my wife. We’ll be a family.”

“Are you... Have you lost your mind?” she asked. “That is...nothing like what I was proposing for this whole situation.”

“And it’s the only way I can see to make it work. I mean, with me as the father.”

“I didn’t say that I wanted you to be the father. And anyway, why would it have to be that way if you were the father? Why couldn’t we live together on the property, and you can take kind of a secondary role? A favorite uncle.”

“You are out of your damned mind, lady. That is not how I would do it.”

“But you don’t want children.”

“And I don’t do halfway. I can’t, and I won’t. I’m all or nothing, and you know it. If we were to have a baby, it would be everything.”

“You are... You know you are an old man,” she said, doing her best to beat back the crazy little what-if that was rattling around inside her chest. “You raised your kids, they went out on their own, you work your land, you read the paper in the morning, and you watch 60 Minutes at night before you go to sleep very early.”