Chapter 17 ~ Tae

Taylor awoke to Levi crying through the monitor.

Hopping out of bed, she made her way to the nursery where she picked up Levi, then headed to the kitchen. She fixed a bottle, started feeding him, and he quickly quieted down.

It had been a month since they'd officially adopted him, and four since they'd first brought him home.

Settling Levi, she returned to the nursery to see Rhett standing by the window. She watched him as she sat down in the rocking chair and continued feeding Levi.

"Rhett, go back to bed. I've got this," she said.

He gave her a lopsided smile and held out his arms for Levi.

"But I want to do it," he argued.

She rolled her eyes and handed the baby over. Rhett easily cradled him in his arms, and Taylor watched as he held Levi.

Rhett had been having a rough time with the child. With his very physical lifestyle, it was hard for him to deal with the lack of sleep that came with a newborn. He tried to hide it, and he denied it when she brought it up, but it was taking a toll on him. He pretended it wasn't, and still got up with her during the night, but it was.

She was happy to let him feed Levi if he wanted to, but they both had to get up early, and he was doing more demanding work than she was.

She watched as Levi finished his bottle and stared up at Rhett. His eyes were blinking slowly, and she knew it was only a matter of minutes before he was asleep again. She held out her arms for him.

"All right, I'll burp him and rock him. You go get some sleep," she said pointing towards the door.

He chuckled but did as he was told. She sat, watching him walk back to the room as she burped the baby.

..........

Taylor turned off the stove under the soup. She looked over at the swing to check on Levi, and to her surprise, he was still sound asleep. She then peaked out the door at the crew. They were all talking and laughing.

She met eyes with Mitch and smiled. She motioned him to come in, and he walked straight to the baby.

"Mitch, can you hold him for me for a little bit? I don't want to leave him alone while I come back and forth," she said smiling.

He looked up at her beaming.

"Well, sure I'll hold him. The little cutie," he said.

He gently picked the baby up, and Levi curled into his arms.

Taylor grabbed the soup and headed out to the crew. She put the soup down on a potholder and grabbed the biscuits out of the oven. She sat them down beside the soup and called the crew to come fix a bowl.

She watched as all the guys filled their bowls and sat down to eat. She fixed Mitch a serving and took it to him. She traded the bowl for Levi.

"Aww, man. Well, little man, it's been fun," Mitch said with a smile as he handed the boy over.

She giggled and snuggled the baby to her.

Walking back to the front of the room, she sat down with Levi. She watched as the guys finished. They all stopped to love on Levi, then put their dishes in the tubs.

He was almost four months old already. It was hard to believe, because it felt like it had just been a few days ago that he was unable to hold his own head up. Growing like a weed, he looked like an entirely different child now. The doctor said that he would soon be sleeping through the night, and Taylor didn't know whether to be relieved or sad.

She put Levi down in the swing again and started on the dishes. Today's dishes were easy since she had made the guys use paper bowls. Silverware and pans were all that were left to wash.

She quickly finished, then gathered Levi's things. She heard him crying from his swing and went to check on him.

"Levi Frank, what are you squalling about?" she asked the baby.

She bent to pick the child up, and he quieted.

He cooed as she held him close, and she stared down at his little face. She loved the little man with all her heart already. She couldn't imagine life without him anymore.

She juggled her bags and Levi to the truck. As she sat him into his car seat, she felt her phone beeping in her hip pocket. She was busy with Levi though and soon forgot that it had beeped.

She pulled out of the lot and headed home. Levi was due for a nap, and he slept best in his crib. She wondered what Rhett was doing as she gathered the little guy into her arms and headed into the house.

Going straight to the nursery, she rocked him for a moment until he was asleep. It didn't take long, and his soft murmurs of sleep could be heard.

Taylor kissed his forehead, then set him in his crib.

"See you later, little man," she whispered as she closed the door.

After turning on the monitor, she mentally made a list of what she needed to get down around the house.

Taylor was doing the laundry a bit later when the house phone rang the first time. She answered the phone with a hello. It was Susan at the grocery mart.

"Oh my gosh, Taylor. I can't believe this. I always thought Rhett was Caroline's," she shouted.

Taylor panicked.

"I'm going to have to call you back, Susan," she said hanging up.

She quickly packed up Levi's things. The phone rang again.

"Hello?" she asked.

It was Francis at the gas station.

"Is it true Taylor?" she asked.

Taylor hung up the phone. She didn't have a clue what was going on. She grabbed the sleeping Levi and headed toward the truck. Putting Levi in his car seat, carefully not to wake him up, she headed towards Caroline at the farmhouse.

She hoped that Caroline knew what was going on. She tried to abide by the speed limit laws as she flew towards the main house.

Pulling into the front, she grabbed the car seat from the back and walked into the farmhouse. She set the seat down by the couch and checked to make sure Levi was still asleep.

Caroline sat in the living room with tears running down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Taylor," she said sobbing.

Taylor took a deep breath.

Caroline's behind this? her inner voice yelled.

Anger quickly took over her as she realized that Caroline must have let the secret loose without telling Rhett. She took multiple breaths to calm herself. She wasn't going to let her anger roll out yet.

"What did you do, Caroline?" she asked.

Caroline looked up at her. She took a deep breath and wiped her tears.

"I was mad. Jack made me furious," she started. "I didn't mean for it to get out so fast," she said. "I was tired of having to hide it, and I just thought it would be easier if we just told people," she said.

Taylor's eyes widened, and she took a deep breath.

"You didn't think to warn Rhett first?" she asked.

Caroline began to cry again.

Taylor realized that the woman wasn't in any state to help. She tried to keep herself from yelling at the woman who was normally so strong and stable, but she was fighting a fine line.

"Okay, I'm going to get Rhett and get him back home before this all blows up," she said.

She stared at Caroline. She'd only ever seen her cry once, she hadn't been the same since the blowout with Jack though. Seeing her bawl like she was now was like a punch in the gut. She felt for the woman, but then again, she should have thought about Rhett before she decided to throw him to the wolves.

Grabbing Levi, she returned to the truck. She was thankful that he could sleep through a tornado and not stir. She didn't want to wrangle with this fiasco and a grumpy three-month-old.

Looking at her phone, she realized she had over thirty calls and message notifications. She gasped. Everyone already knew. So much for stopping the spread. It would be damage control now.

She called Rhett over Bluetooth. He answered on the first ring.

"What the hell is going on, Tae?" he asked her.

She panicked at his tone. He'd never raised his voice in anger towards her before.

"I don't know, but Rhett, you need to come home," she said.

She took a deep breath before releasing the rest.

"Your mom messed up, but we're going to take care of it. You just need to come home," she said again.

She waited for what seemed like forever. The line was so quiet she checked to make sure she hadn't accidentally hung up on him.

Then, he growled through the phone.

He hung up without saying anything more, and it frightened her. She pulled up to the house, and tears ran down her face. She didn't know what would happen to Rhett now. He'd be the talk of the town for months. The bastard son.

She grabbed Levi again and headed in. She put Levi down in his crib again and sat down on the couch. She heard the door slam and jumped up. Rhett came stomping into the house, and Taylor winced.

He slammed his hat down on the table.

"What did she do?" he asked her.

She rubbed his back as he sat down on the couch, and sighed as she thought about what to say.

"I don't know what she did, but I know that she told people," she said gently and his eyes widened. "She said that she was mad at Jack and tired of hiding it," she added.

He looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Why would she do that? She knows that it would affect her more than anything," he questioned.

"I don't know, Rhett. She just did it. I didn't talk to her for more than three minutes. I was too worried about getting to you before you were blindsided," she explained.

He snorted.

"Well, you were a little too late. A whole bunch of the guys had just cornered me when you called," he shuddered. "I didn't even get a chance to tell my brothers. They've all already heard by now. It's all the town's talking about," he said shuddering again.

She wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry, Rhett," she said sympathetically.

He brushed her off and stood up. He then grabbed his hat and headed for the door.

"I'm going to go stay at the cabin for a few days," he said walking out the door.

Taylor stared at the door. Finally, she was able to process what was happening, and she ran out the door.

"Rhett!" she called.

He was already driving off. She sat down on the porch crying. It felt like goodbye. She had been shut out.

She cursed herself for thinking this way and hopped up when she heard Levi crying. She picked up Levi and rocked him in her arms to soothe him. She kept telling herself to just give Rhett time.

He just needs time, she told herself.

Cuddling Levi into her chest, she breathed through her nose to catch her breath. Having a panic attack wouldn't help her situation.

Her tears started again, and she gave up on trying to stay calm. Crying, she thought about what had happened in the last four months.

It was crazy to think that in the short time she had known him, she had fallen in love with Rhett Montgomery.

The moody cowboy had swept in and collected all of her broken shards. She had been falling to pieces when they met, but little by little he'd pieced them all together again.

She thought about everything he'd done for her and decided that she wasn't giving up on him yet. She grabbed a Kleenex and wiped off her tears.

She fixed Levi a bottle for the road and headed out the door. She wasn't going to let her disappointment with Rhett shutting her out get in the way of making it right.

She headed toward the farmhouse to talk to Caroline. She needed to know exactly what Caroline told everyone. She doubted that Caroline had told the entire story. There may be a way to make this a little better.

Pulling up in front, for the second time of the day, she took the time to grab the diaper bag with the car seat this time.

Caroline was standing at the kitchen table waiting for her.

"Taylor, I need your help," she said.

Taylor nodded and sat down at the table. She put Levi down in the playpen and got to work.

She pulled out the laptop from where she'd stashed it in the diaper bag.

"What exactly did you say, and who did you say it to?" she asked Caroline.

Caroline explained how she had told one of the ladies at the grocery store when she'd gotten rattled. She told them what exactly had happened, and Taylor thought through what they would need to do to make it better.

"We'll need to put out a statement. We'll tell the story how we want it to be, and defuse the situation. There will be less speculation if they know the whole story," she said to Caroline.

Caroline nodded.

"Okay. We'll need to talk to Rhett though," she said.

Taylor nodded. She didn't know what Rhett would think about this. Her heart sank.

"Well, I don't know how Rhett will take this right now. Umm, he said he's staying at the cabin for a few days. He won't talk to me. He's really upset," she said.

She looked down at Levi to hide the tears that had appeared in her eyes.

Caroline shook her head, and her crying started again.

"Oh my gosh. I ruined your relationship," she said groaning.

Taylor took in a breath. She'd been trying to tell herself that their relationship wasn't over, but it was the first thing his mother had thought of.

She knows him better than I do.

Thinking that her suspicions were right, Taylor tried to remain looking calm even though her heart was breaking.

"Okay, so I need you to tell me exactly what you want to say to clean this up. I'll type it for you, but this has to be you. It will be the only way people will accept it," she explained changing the subject.

Caroline put herself back together again and then began to tell Taylor what to type. Taylor typed for a good two and a half hours, and once it was together, Taylor sent it to Caroline.

"There, now you have it. You can do what you feel fit with it," she told Caroline.

The woman nodded and seemed to be thinking about what she would do.

"Let's talk about what we're going to do about the family now. I don't think it was the town that bothered Rhett, it was his brothers. He wanted to tell the boys before you did," she said.

Caroline looked at her with wide eyes.

"Yes, I realized that earlier. The boys all want the truth. Max isn't mad, but Axel has gone off the wall," she said shaking her head.

Taylor waited for her to continue.

"Rhett won't be able to talk to him."

"So, do you think we can talk to Max, tell him the truth, and then he could help us talk to Axel?" she asked Caroline.

Caroline nodded as she thought it over.

"That just might work. I don't want Axel to see his brother before he calms down. It'd break Rhett's heart if Rhett saw him acting like this," she said shaking her head.

Taylor thought it over. Rhett wouldn't be happy that they had talked to them before he did, but right now, it wasn't safe for their family relationship for them to see each other.

Caroline cleared her throat.

"I'm really sorry for this Taylor. I know that you really like him," she said.

Taylor didn't like him.

"I love him," she said softly.

Caroline gasped, and a smile spread across her face. It fell off just as quickly.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking. Love makes you do funny things, you know? I love Jack with my entire being, but he makes me so mad. I just don't understand how he can love me, and be so sweet to me, but then hate Rhett?" she said shaking her head.

Taylor sighed.

"I don't know, Caroline," she said shrugging.

She could honestly care less. She would never be able to think of Jack Montgomery as anything but a monster.

Caroline shook her head again.

"I can't thank you enough for helping me, Taylor," she said clasping Taylor's hands in hers.

"Well, you and Rhett saved my life. This is the least I could do. Besides, I hate seeing the way Rhett was hurting when he stomped out of the house," she said solemnly.

Caroline smiled faintly.

"He'll come around. Just give him time," she said to her.

Taylor prayed that she was right. She didn't know what she would do without him.