“They’re probably ready by now, right?” I asked.
“They better be,” Wyatt said from underneath the brim of his hat. “‘Cause I’m ready for some celebratin’.”
I was right there with him. Together we steered the horses back to the barn and put the two back in their stables. When we returned to the main house, the party was already underway. Olivia was the star of the show, of course, dressed up as precious as could be in a onesie Mama G had made for her. The whole family was there, Emily and Logan, Chance, Silas, Molly, and little Violet, and Travis.
And me. After all, I was something of a member of the Walker clan. Not officially, of course – Wyatt and I weren’t engaged, but we something damn near close. Close enough to make me happier than I’d ever been. My memory had fully returned, and I remembered enough to know that whatever my life had been before, it was nothing compared to the joy I felt every single damn day at Rainbow Canyons.
“Alright,” Wyatt said, tapping his beer with the cake fork in his other hand. “Gather ‘round, all. Got somethin’ to say.”
The attention of the family fell on Wyatt. I watched and waited – he hadn’t said anything about a speech. He cleared his throat and glanced around. It was almost adorable watching him. Wyatt wasn’t scared, of course, but I knew he didn’t really care to be the center of attention.
“Just want to start off by sayin’ it’s nice as hell to see you all here. I know we’re all busy like crazy around the ranch, but having my family all together in one place never fails to remind me of how damn lucky I am.”
“No swearin’ in front of the baby,” Mama G scolded. We all laughed.
“Fair enough,” Wyatt said with a chuckle. “Anyway, I’m all sorts of blessed. And havin’ my new baby girl around…well, it’s made me a happier man than I ever thought I’d be. But there’s still somethin’ missin’.”
Silence hung in the air, everyone curious and listening carefully.
“There’s a hole in our family, and it’s taken too damn –sorry, darn— long for me to get around to doin’ what’s right. More than that, to do what I’ve been wantin’ to ever since my love came into my life.”
He turned to me. I watched stunned, hanging on his every word.
“Jess, I love you like crazy. But you know that. Now, I’m not much for speechifyin’, and you know that too. But what you don’t know is that I’ve been keepin’ a little secret from you.”
“What kind of secret?”
“Mama,” he said, speaking to Mama G. “Mind handin’ it over?”
“Nothin’ would make me happier,” she said proudly. Olivia in one arm, Mama G reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, black box and handed it to Wyatt.
“You’ve been a part of this family since you came through those doors so many months ago. And now it’s time to make it official.” Wyatt dropped to one knee and opened the box, revealing a brilliant diamond ring, the fire in the fireplace reflecting in the facets. “Jess, will you ma--”
I couldn’t contain myself. “Yes!” I shouted as I rushed to Wyatt, throwing my arms around him.
The family burst into cheers as we embraced, and Wyatt slipped the ring on my finger.
“You’re mine, baby girl,” he whispered before planting a soft kiss on my forehead. “And I’m all yours. I love you with everything I have.”
“I love you, too.”
There, surrounded by the love of my life, my daughter, and my new family, I felt a sense of belonging that I’d never known before. Belonging, and love.
The party went on, and after a time Wyatt took Olivia and the three of us went to the third floor of the house, stepping out onto the balcony and savoring the view before us.
“We’ve got a whole life ahead of us,” he said. “You ready to get started?”
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind what my answer was. A smile I couldn’t contain took hold as I spoke, Wyatt’s arm around my shoulders, Olivia happily cooing.
“You bet I’m ready, cowboy.”
THE ENDA
Mountain Man's Secret Baby (Preview)
She kept the baby a secret.
But when I see my sister's best friend again...
My instincts go on overdrive.
Her curves - delicious and full.
Her beauty - better then I remembered.
Cassie is pregnant with my baby.
Now I have one goal: Protect them both from the demons of my past - or die trying.
Cassie
Shit. Shit. Shit!
My heart felt like it would surely explode out of my chest.
Jack Wiley was the one person in the entire world I wasn’t ready to see.
Of course he had to be in the very same store as me, at the same moment in time.
Because why not?
As charming as it was living in Liberty, the small town had its downfalls.
I needed just a few things; it should have been a quick in and out. An errand for my mom, while she was home taking care of my father, who’d recently suffered a heart attack.
It also gave me a chance to stretch my legs and get some fresh air, which was more than welcomed these days.
My little trip was going just fine.
Until I saw him.
The sight of Jack’s boyish and masculine physique lit a warmth inside me.
Shoot! How long had it been since I’d been close to a man?
Exactly eight months. The last time I’d seen Jack, actually.
My mouth watered at the sight of him and I couldn’t help but notice that his arms had new tattoos, more than when I saw him last.
I imagined he had even more covering his chest and back.
I pictured the peaks and lows of his naked body.
All muscle.
All man.
Get a hold of yourself woman, I scolded myself.
Jack’s chestnut hair was just long enough to graze his chin, the beginnings of a beard outlining a perfectly chiseled jaw.
His large stature was hard to miss; he towered over pretty much everyone in town and had arms the size of tree trunks.
And who could forget that ass?
The one that could make jean makers weep.
A body like his could make anything look good.
He was a sight for sore eyes indeed.
Except I didn’t want to see him.
Not yet. Not like this.
Jack turned the corner just as I ducked behind an end cap of cereal stacked eight feet high.
I should be safe here, I thought to myself as I swung around the side. I took a deep breath, but the relief didn’t last long because the cereal boxes started to shake.
“No, no, please,” I whispered, trying to grab one of them. It was like a game of Jenga, however, and when one box got knocked loose, they all tumbled down.
All eight feet of cereal boxes fell to the floor with a crashing sound that drew the attention of everyone in the small grocery store.
Including Jack.
“Cassie?”
Dammmmmit!
“Hi Jack,” I said, waving awkwardly from the other side of the mostly empty display. The cereal boxes hid most of me still, which was a blessing for the moment.
“What are you doing back in town?” He averted his gaze for a second as if he had trouble looking at me. Considering how we’d left things, I wasn’t surprised.
“Uh, I guess you haven’t heard,” I replied. “My dad had a heart attack. He’s fine, he’s recovering at home already, but I came back to help my mom and sister take care of him.” I nibbled my lip. That wasn’t the whole truth but he didn’t deserve to know every detail of my life. Not after everything that went down.
I came back because I desperately needed help.
The last several months had been pretty hard on me.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
His eyes still caught me off guard by their splendour. They were steely grey. Almost blue, but not quite.
“No, I hadn’t heard. Listen, I’m sorry about—well, you know. Really.”
“Yeah, it’s … fine,” I muttered, trying not to let the hurt show on my face. My eyes welled up with tears though I blinked to get rid of them. I instead focused on picking up the cereal boxes.
“Here, let me help you.” He reached down to start picking up cereal boxes in front of the display. As long as he stayed on that side of the display, this little meeting would be peachy.
“You left town abruptly,” he commented quietly. “I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.”
“Well, last I heard, you were going to prison for murder,” I said, more scathingly than intended. “Can you really blame me for leaving? Not like you talked it over with me, even though I was called in to help you.”
“There was no helping me. I never wanted you involved.”
I glanced at him coldly, then back down at the cereal. “So, you decided to just turn yourself in for a crime you didn’t commit?”
“I had to, Cassie. I had to protect my sister. You know that.”
I knew Jack would do anything for his sister - my best friend, Madison. He was willing to give his life and his freedom for her safety.
“You could have talked it over with me,” I muttered. “Though it’s not like we were dating, so I guess I should just get over it, huh?”
“Cassie—” Jack stood up, placing several boxes on top of the display. “It’s not like that.”
“It’s not like what? You didn’t just toss me aside like all the other girls you’ve tossed aside before?”
“No, it’s not—”
After a few moments of us picking up my mess, a stockman walked over to us. “Oh, let me get that,” he said. “You don’t need to be bending over like that. Not in your condition.”
“Your condition?” Jack asked, straightening.
I stepped closer to the display, my protruding belly failing me again by knocking the boxes we’d already stacked back down to the floor.
Dammit Fruit Loops!
“Sorry,” I mouthed to the stockman.
“It’s okay, but maybe step back so it doesn’t happen again, please?”
An easy enough request, sure, but that meant exposing myself to Jack. Both the stockman and Jack stared at me as if waiting for me to move. The poor guy wanted to get back to work and didn’t want to worry about me knocking things over again.
Jack asked again, “What did he mean by your condition? Are you sick?”
I’d always been a curvy girl. I had hips and thighs, my belly was never completely flat, even if I was in pretty good shape. Maybe if we’d run into each other a few months ago, I could have played it off as some weight gain. But now?
Nope, the minute he saw me, Jack would know I was very much pregnant. There was no denying.
“I didn’t want to tell you like this…” I said.
“Tell me what?”
Jack didn’t wait for me to answer. He stepped around the display.
I wanted to so desperately to hide amongst the cereal boxes, to just disappear into a puddle of milk and Cocoa Bits.
Anything but this.
“Jesus, Cassie,” Jack mumbled when he saw me for the first time since I’d left Liberty several months ago. “How far along are you?”
“About eight months,” I said, sticking my chin out. I placed a hand on my swollen belly, feeling protective of the child inside me – my little boy. I watched as Jack did the math in his head, but I answered his question before he had a chance to ask, “Yes, it’s yours.”
Jack grabbed my arm and walked me down the aisle, almost walking too fast for me to keep up. “Jack, what are you doing?” I asked, yanking my arm free. He pulled me into a walkway leading to the back of the store.
“No one can know about this, you hear me?” His voice was low, almost a whisper. He leaned close to me, nearly resting his forehead against mine. His lips were mere inches away from mine. His thick, luscious lips that felt so good pressed against mine.
“Don’t worry about it,” I growled, stepping away from him. With my hands on my hips, I stood my ground. “No one has to know, and I don’t expect anything from you. I can raise this child alone. I just didn’t think it was fair keeping it from you and planned to tell you when I was ready, but since it’s clear you don’t want to be in his life, don’t even worry about it.”
“Cassie, wait. That’s not—”
I turned on my heels and marched through the aisle. I walked past my cart, needing to get out of the store before I completely broke down.
Tears burned in my eyes.
Stupid girl, what did you expect? It was a one-night stand, nothing more. It was just sex.
Just a hook-up.
For him.
I walked out the sliding glass doors and into the parking lot. The sun beat down on me. I waddled to my car with perspiration building on my face.
To add to a horrific encounter, it was also unseasonably warm for early fall in Utah.
The pregnancy hot flashes were on overdrive.
I prayed that my tears would mingle with the sweat, not giving away my emotions to my sister waiting in the car. She had her own errands to run, and we’d agreed to meet at the car when we were finished.
Isabelle stared at me as I opened the driver’s side door and climbed inside. “Uh, did you forget something?” she asked with a chuckle.
I knew she was kidding, but I wasn’t in the mood for her teasing. I shot her a look that silenced her laughter.
“Cassie, what’s wrong? What happened?”
My family didn’t know who the father of my child was. I’d told them it was from a random hook-up, but I didn’t tell them it happened in Liberty. All hell would break loose if my parents found out who the father was.
“It’s nothing,” I lied. “I’m just not feeling well.”
Isabelle studied my face. She was my sister. Besides Madison and Hannah, she was my best friend and knew me better than anyone. “No, something else is wrong. What is it?”
With a heavy sigh, I rested my head against the back of the seat and closed my eyes. I trusted Isabelle with my life, and I knew she would never tell our parents if I asked her not to. I just didn’t want that burden on her to have to lie to them if they ever outright asked.
But she wouldn’t let it drop until she got an answer.
“I ran into the father of my child in the store. I told him the news because obviously, he could see I’m pregnant, and it didn’t go well.”
Isabelle sat up straighter, staring at me with her mouth open. “The father is from Liberty?” she finally asked. “We all assumed—”
“That he was from Philadelphia, I know,” I said. “To be fair, I never said that, though.”
“You never told us you were in town!” she countered, doing the math. “Last time we saw you was over a year ago.”
“I came back for a short spurt,” I confessed. “Madison asked me to help her with Jack’s case, but then it all went to hell, and I left town.”
Isabelle was a smart cookie and she knew me pretty well. I watched her face as the pieces fell into place. “Jack’s the father?”
I didn’t say anything, which was as good as saying yes. I turned my head and looked at her as I put the key in the ignition and started the car, suddenly worried that Jack might find his way to our car and try to talk. That was the last thing I wanted right now.
Even being eight months pregnant, I had to be the driver.
My motion sickness was bad.
Being pregnant made it ten times worse.
I pulled out of the parking lot as Isabelle stared at me. I was already halfway home before she spoke again.
“Dad is going to flip out.”
“That’s why we won’t tell him. His heart can’t handle it. Besides, Jack told me he doesn’t want anyone to know, so I guess we’ll just continue with the random hook-up story.”
“Did he really say that?” she asked, horrified.
&n
bsp; “Yeah, pretty much word-for-word.”
“Well, everyone knows Jack’s been in some trouble. He’s pissed a lot of people off, so I can’t exactly blame him for not wanting his kid to be a possible target.”
My sister, unlike our parents, knew I’d always had a crush on Jack. She knew I saw him in a different light than everyone else. She didn’t know him that well, but it was clear she trusted my instincts.
It was a shame my parents didn’t have the same faith in me.
I was a grown woman, but my dad still scared the shit out of me sometimes. Not because he was abusive, but because he could take away the security blanket I needed, at least right now, to know my baby would be fine even with a single mother. My college had been paid for, and now I had a roof over my head thanks to him since I had to take a break from law school and work.
However, I knew very well that the love of my parents always came with one very clear condition: not to upset them.
“I don’t really care what Jack’s up to or what trouble he’s in,” I said.
Isabelle cocked her head to the side and gave me a look that said she saw right through my lies.
“Maybe he was just shocked. I mean, that’s some pretty big news,” she said with a laugh. “He came to the store, probably to pick up some toilet paper or some groceries and then - surprise! He finds out he’s gonna be a dad in like a month? That’s not something you drop on someone in the middle of the cereal aisle.”
“Well, that’s exactly what went down,” I muttered. “Cereal aisle and all.”
“Wow what I would have paid see the look on his face. All jokes aside sis, can you blame him for maybe not responding the way you’d hoped?”
“I dunno. I guess not,” I said after a few seconds. “But I just can’t deal with this right now. I can’t handle him freaking out on me, and I can’t let our parents know he’s the father.”
I parked the car in the driveway as Isabelle made an X across her chest. “Cross my heart. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Thank you.”
“But one question before we go inside,” Isabelle said.
Cowboy's Baby: A Secret Baby Ranch Western Cowboy Romance Page 22
