Scout stopped, then herded his sisters-in-lawover toward his cabin to the south side of the family house.
“Look,” he said softly, serious now. “I didn’t want to give her the chance to have some important thing she needed to do so she could get out of meeting you.”
“She may not want our help,” Kit observed as she knelt to pet the barn cat that Scout let into his cabin at night because, well, he was a big softie. “I’m not sure this is such a great idea.”
Scout rubbed the back of his neck, thinking for a moment about what he needed them to understand. “Look,” he said finally, his gaze drifting to the back porch of the main house. “She’s led kind of a hard life. I don’t think her mom’s a bad person, but she wasn’t very motherly, and she’s had this job where all she does is travel. George was the one stable thing she had, and now he’s gone.”
Both of the women looked sympathetic. “Poor thing,” Ava said.
“So now she’s pregnant, and I’m trying to be supportive, but she hardly knows me—”
“And she doesn’t know us at all,” Kit pointed out.
“Yeah, but you’re—” He waved a hand in front of them. “Girls or whatever.”
Ava rolled her eyes, and Kit smirked.
“I just thought it might be helpful for her to know some other women, and Ava’s had babies…you know, a little support is supposed to be important during pregnancy.”
Kit’s eyes grew wide, and Ava’s mouth dropped open.
“Have you been reading up on pregnancy?” Kit asked.
Scout felt his cheeks heat, and he scuffed at the dirt with the toe of his work boot. “Maybe.” His voice was gravelly.
“Oh my God, I think I just died from the cute,” Ava squeaked.
Scout glared at her, but he couldn’t manage to actually get upset. “Will you just come meet her, please? If you don’t like her, fine, it’s not a big deal, but at least I will have tried.”
Both women grinned. “Of course we will,” Kit announced, putting her hand through the crook in his elbow. Ava copied the gesture on his other side.
“Smile, now,” Scout said cheerfully. “You gotta’ sell this really hard.”
* * *
Stella sat and watched as Kit Beckett petted Grandpa’s old sheepdog, lying next to her on the sofa. Kit and Ava, Scout’s sisters-in-law, had shown up twenty minutes ago like a whirlwind of female energy. They’d made tea, served cookies in Stella’s own house, and thrown Scout out almost immediately. Now they were all seated in the living room, shortbread in hand, and Stella still had no idea why they were there.
“So how are you feeling?” Ava asked, a bright smile on her face.
“Well, the morning sickness is almost gone. It was pretty bad the first few weeks—when I was in Benin and then New York, but either time or the farm seems to have cured it.”
Kit leaned over and kissed the old dog on the nose. “It’s just like the cows, isn’t it, Chester?” she asked the dog. “They all get over being sick after the first phase, too.”
Stella looked at Ava, who laughed. “Forgive her,” Ava said. “She’s been studying for a new surgical certificate, and it means she hasn’t seen any patients for a couple of months. She’s in animal withdrawal.”
Oh! Stella remembered now that Kit was a veterinarian like her husband Hunter. She smiled. “Well, Chester’s happy for any attention, and honestly, he’s a pretty good listener. I’ve been talking to him nonstop since I got here.” She paused, not sure how personal she wanted to get with these virtual strangers. “It’s kind of quiet out here,” she finished, taking a quick sip of her tea.
Kit looked up then. “We need to get you off this farm and into town,” she said with a determined nod.
Ava’s eyes lit up. “Yes! That’s a perfect idea. You know what? We could all go to lunch at Nadine’s, then back to my house so you could shop in my closet of maternity clothes. You’re about my height, and it won’t be too much longer before you have to go beyond elastic waistbands.”
Kit laughed, and Stella couldn’t help joining in. She had been looking at maternity clothes online lately. Maybe it would be fun to actually try some on. “That’s really sweet,” she said, “but you don’t have to—”
“Yes,” Kit interrupted. “She does. You have to understand, Ava’s famous for her determination. If she’s decided you need to take some of her maternity clothes, you need to take some of her maternity clothes.”
Stella suddenly felt weepy—yet again. “Really?” she asked, the hope in her voice embarrassing her.
“Absolutely.” Ava nodded and leaned over to pat her on the knee. “Let’s do it on Friday. You available?”
Stella nodded. “I’m pretty much always available. I’ve been packing up Grandpa’s stuff, but other than that, I just sit around and…cry.”
“Oh, lord,” Kit said, with a sympathetic smile. “You poor thing. It’s all going to be okay, we promise.”
Stella felt her eyes fill with tears and tried to hold them back. “I know that things could be so much worse. I mean, I’m healthy, and the baby’s healthy. I have a place to live, and Scout’s been so nice…”
Ava nodded. “But…”
“But once the baby’s born, it’s going to get a lot harder.”
Kit grabbed Stella’s hand and held it while Stella sniffed.
“It will get harder,” Ava said, “but Scout’s a really good guy. I know you two aren’t together, but he’s right here, so he can help a lot.”
“Yes,” Kit echoed. “You can make him get up in the middle of the night and all that, too.” She grinned. “I’m sure he’s learning all about it in whatever book he’s sneak-reading.”
Stella stared at Kit. “Book?”
Ava chimed in. “It was so cute! Earlier, he let slip that he’s been reading up on pregnancy.”
“Maybe we should get him one of the What to Expect When You’re Expecting books,” Kit mused.
“He’s been reading up on pregnancy?” Stella said, feeling as if she hadn’t heard right.
As Kit and Ava chattered on, Stella thought her poor heart was going to burst right out of her chest, it was so swollen. He really wanted to be that involved? But why? Why would he do that, when she was the one who was pregnant? Why would he even care about the pregnancy when she and the baby would be leaving after the birth?
“And you know, Bran and I are happy to babysit, and our friend Darlene who keeps house for us loves to take care of kids, too. I leave Janelle and Cam with her all the time. I think they like her better than me.”
“Well, you don’t get dibs on babysitting,” Kit protested. “You have your own baby. Hunter and I need to practice, so we get first priority with this one.”
Stella blinked at them. “Babysit?”
“Trust me, hon,” Ava said confidently. “You’re going to want breaks. Even if it’s just an hour or two so you can wash your hair. You’ll be happy to let us take the little one for a while.”
“Why would you do that?” Stella asked.
Kit and Ava looked at one another, brows furrowed, then at her. Kit’s head tipped to one side in apparent confusion, and Ava scowled, muttering something about people who left other people alone too much.
“We’re family,” Kit said, her tone incredulous. “We’re the baby’s aunts, Cam and Janelle are its cousins. And even though our husbands can be idiots, they’re really good babysittin’ uncles. Of course we’ll take care of it.”
Stella swallowed as that sank in. Aunts. Cousins. Uncles. Her baby had a family. One she hadn’t even considered. Scout wasn’t a singular entity like she was—he had a family. A big one. And they expected to be part of her baby’s life. If she took the baby traveling with her, she wasn’t just taking it away from Scout, she was taking it away from an entire family.
She smiled weakly at them. “I guess I just hadn’t thought that far,” she said quietly, not wanting to tell them she wasn’t planning to raise the baby in Gopher Springs.
“Of course you hadn’t, hon,” Ava said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “You’re still happy to wake up and fit your clothes. There’s plenty of time for all that other stuff. You just focus on eating healthy and getting lots of sleep. The rest will work itself out when it’s time.”
“Speaking of sleep,” Kit said with a significant glance at Ava. “I think we may have worn this poor girl out.” She stood up from the sofa, and Chester hopped down, an expectant look on his furry face.
“You might be right.” Ava looked concerned as she turned to Stella. “You know, I realize we come on a little strong, but we mean it when we say we’re here to help. If Scout’s not pulling his weight or there’s something that’s worrying you, all you have to do is call. We’re both happy to be here for you, any way you need us.”
Stella’s throat was so clogged, she couldn’t even speak, so she just nodded, turning grateful if soggy eyes to both women.
“There. We came. We fed her cookies. We made her cry,” Kit said cheerfully. “Our work here is done.”
Stella laughed then and stood to walk them to the door. After several hugs and a promise about lunch and maternity clothes on Friday, she shut the door behind them and leaned against it, her mind a jumble of conflicting ideas and details.
For the first time in a very long time, Stella didn’t know what she should do. She wasn’t sure she even knew what she wanted to do.
For the first time in a very long time, Stella wasn’t alone.
9
Scout had been given a tongue-lashing by his sisters-in-law. They’d torn a strip off him on one side, then gone and done it on the other, for good measure. It gave the old adage no good deed goes unpunished new life. But really, how was he to know that asking them to be friends with his baby-momma would result in a mile-long list of everything he should be doing for Stella—and wasn’t?
But first and foremost? They’d told him Stella was miserable. And somehow, he was supposed to fix that. Kit had suggested that he start by giving her something productive to do, instead of leaving her to sit alone in the house all day. Hell, they expected him to know she was bored and lonely? He’d thought he was being considerate by not intruding on her when she was pregnant and grieving her granddad. According to the women in his family? That was dead wrong.
Which explained why Scout was in the kitchen of the main house at seven a.m. with a thermos of peppermint tea and a healthy breakfast sandwich all wrapped and ready to go.
“Scout?” Stella’s sleepy voice drifted through the soft sunlight that filtered into the kitchen.
“That’s me.” He gave her his most charming smile, the one that got him out of a lot of trouble when he was younger.
“What are you doing?” She was wearing a camisole and matching sleep shorts. Scout tried not to look too closely at her braless chest, but he sure as hell hoped none of his men ever came to the house when she was dressed like that. It wasn’t leaving much to the imagination. He blinked. Including the little bump that had formed low right below where her waist was. It was round and firm, and if she were facing away from him, he’d never have known it was there at all.
“I’m putting your breakfast together,” he began. Then he blinked again. Her long red hair was in ropey curls around her face, and her creamy skin was rosy from sleep. But most of all? She had a bump, and his fingers itched to touch it. “You have a bump,” he told her awkwardly.
She smiled and patted it. “I know, it’s kind of cute, isn’t it? It just sort of…popped in the last few days.”
He walked closer to her and held out his hand tentatively. “Can I…?”
She laughed. “Sure, but I don’t think you’ll feel anything yet.”
He reached out and cupped that little mound in her middle, and something inside of him broke. “It’s the first time,” he whispered, looking down at his big hand on her small tummy.
“The first time?” she asked, her voice gentle.
“The first time I’m holding him.” He glanced up at her, shrugging shyly. “I mean, sort of.”
She was silent for a moment, and he slowly, reluctantly moved his hand away.
“You’re right,” she said, grabbing his hand and placing it back on her bump, keeping her own hand over it. “It’s the first time for all three of us.” She gave a small chuckle. “I talk to her, you know?”
He grinned, loving the way his skin felt sandwiched between her tummy and her hand. “Oh, yeah? What do you say?”
“Mostly I was telling her not to make me sick, but that seems to have stopped. I need new things to say now.”
With his free hand, he reached over and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “How about, hey baby, we’re your parents, and we didn’t expect you, but we’re starting to think maybe you’re the best surprise we’ve ever had.”
She nodded, her gaze locked on his.
“That’s the perfect thing to say,” she whispered.
They stood like that—the three of them—silently for a few moments in the quiet early morning sun. Then Stella’s stomach growled and startled them out of their reverie.
“Okay then, that’s my cue. I have breakfast all ready for you, but you need to get dressed first.”
Stella looked at him in confusion.
“Go on,” he gestured toward the staircase. “I’ll explain after we get in the truck. Right now, though, we need to get a move on.”
* * *
Stella stuffed the last bite of the delicious breakfast sandwich Scout had made into her mouth as he pulled the truck to a stop in front of a whole bunch of empty land.
“I was right about the breakfast, wasn’t I?” he asked.
She swallowed, then nodded. “You were. It was really good.” She smiled to herself as she thought about the speech he’d made during the drive, explaining the sandwich’s perfect balance of pregnancy nutrients. Ava and Kit must have been telling the truth—he’d obviously been reading up.
“So what are we doing here?” she asked.
“Hop out, and I’ll tell you.”
They climbed out of the truck, and Scout waited for her before leading the way into the field.
“This is the acreage we need to irrigate,” he told her. “And I need you to tell me where to put the dhoras and how to build them.”
She looked at the large piece of land, covered in half-dead grasses. It was nearly flat, but not completely, which meant they’d need to divide it into sections and deal with them separately and as a whole.
She began walking, explaining the technique to him and describing where certain components would go, how the ditches would work, where the drainage would flow. By the time they’d walked in a big circle, her brain was filled with calculations, lists of materials they’d need, and an image of the pasture green and healthy with Scout’s dairy cows grazing contentedly.
As she wound down her explanation, she saw Scout watching her, a grin on his face.
“What?” she asked, suddenly self-conscious.
“You’re really good at what you do, aren’t you?’
She shrugged. “They keep hiring me back, so I guess so.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “How many workers will it take to get this done in say, a week?”
She gave him a number.
“Okay, why don’t I hire them, and you can be the project foreman. I mean, if you want to…”
Something inside her bubbled with anticipation. “Yeah?”
“Absolutely.”
She grinned a mile wide. “I’d love to. Can we get them hired by Monday?”
He rubbed his chin. “Should be able to. I know of three guys who do labor for hire on various ranches in the area, and I bet I can get Bran to lend me a couple more.”
“I’ll be ready,” she asserted. “I can finish digging through the equipment in the barn—”
“I have one stipulation,” he interrupted.
She narrowed her gaze. “What’s that?”
“Take me or on
e of the guys with you so you aren’t lifting or pulling things off those shelves. I know you’re strong and healthy, but I don’t need you getting a concussion from some box falling on you.”
She took a breath. She wasn’t used to needing anyone’s permission to do anything, but he had a point. She decided she could live with it. “But I’m the boss for the entire project, right?”
He stepped closer, gazing at her with the most beautiful blue eyes she’d ever seen. “Sweetheart, you’re the boss of everything.”
Stella’s heart beat hard and fast as he gazed at her. His voice was low, and the sun was warm on the bare skin of her arms. She didn’t remember North Texas being this…inspiring. It was like something inside her had taken flight, lifting off from the barren ground, soaring into the sun-drenched air above.
“Stella?” he asked, his voice lower and softer.
She swallowed, her gaze drawn to the line of his throat, the way his skin was burnished like gold there. Then came his jaw, the angles of it clean and deep. She moved on to his lips, full, red, strong, and his nose, with the tiniest bend in the bridge, and she wondered if it had been broken, or if her baby might have that same sweet flaw.
“Stella?” he said again, jerking her out of her trance.
She gazed into his eyes. “Yes?” Her own voice was husky, and she felt short of breath.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he announced, his hands lifting to cradle her face.
She let out a tiny breathy sigh and tilted her head ever so slightly as his lips came down over hers.
10
Stella melted into Scout’s hold as he pulled her closer. Their mouths were hot and seeking, tongues searching, lips caressing.
He kept kissing her, walking her backward until her butt hit the side of his truck.
She gasped as his big, broad chest pinned her against the warm metal. Her nipples were so sensitized, they tingled and ached the moment he pressed into them.
Wrangling His Pregnant Cowgirl: Beckett Brothers Book Three Page 5
