“Really?”
Kyle grunted.
Harley winced. “Ah. Let me guess, Jimmy had some opinions about your girlfriend?”
“He did, which he wasn’t afraid to share.”
They started walking back to the entrance. When the three of them were facing each other, Harley blew out a sigh. “Do I even want to wade into this discussion?”
“Nee.”
“It might help ya if Harley wades in,” Jimmy blurted.
“It will not,” Kyle replied. “And I’m telling you right now that I might be younger than the two of you, but I’m also a grown man. You need to respect me and my girlfriend.”
Harley’s eyebrows rose. “Jimmy, what did you say to him?”
Just as Jimmy opened his mouth, Kyle bit out, “Don’t. Don’t you dare say it again.”
“Whoa,” Harley murmured. “Okay, I think all of us need to calm down.”
Jimmy crossed his arms over his chest. “I know you’re gut at helping everyone in this family, Harley, but our brother here is about to make a big mistake. Someone has to speak plainly to him.”
“Nee, you need to respect my judgment!” Kyle said.
“But—”
“I agree with Kyle,” Harley interjected quickly. “Jimmy, you and I know that Kyle already has a father. He don’t need us telling him what to do, too.”
And just like that, Jimmy’s stance eased. “You’re right. Kyle, I am sorry if I overstepped myself. I … I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”
Jimmy was right. He should have. But seeing Harley’s expression, Kyle knew that saying such a thing would only make their oldest brother irritated. And no one ever wanted Harley upset with them. Everyone in the family depended on Harley in one way or another. He was the sibling who was the most responsible. The sibling who always smoothed the way with their sometimes demanding parents. He was also the sibling who Kyle had always wanted to make proud.
“It’s all right,” he said at last. “Don’t worry about it none, Jimmy.”
“Danke,” Jimmy murmured.
Harley looked from Kyle to Jimmy to Kyle again. “Now, should we talk about things?”
“I’d rather not,” Kyle said. He just wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
“All right then.” Looking just beyond Kyle, Harley smiled slightly. “Hmm. I’m thinking now is probably a bad time, anyway.”
“And why is that?” Jimmy asked.
“Because it looks like Kyle here has some company.”
Kyle and Jimmy turned to where Harley was looking, and Kyle felt his whole body tense up.
Gabby, dressed in jeans, boots, and a ruby-red sweater, was walking up their driveway. Her long dark hair was in a ponytail, sunglasses covered her brown eyes, and the only thing in her hand was a small purse. Kyle could hardly take his eyes off her.
The warmth that ran through him every time he caught sight of her came back full force … until he realized that she looked tense and upset.
“Something’s wrong,” he told his brothers before walking out to her.
One of them said something, but he had no idea what.
All he cared about was seeing her again … and trying to make things better.
THREE
“Sometimes I would trail after them, sure that they wouldn’t notice I was there. I wanted to be just like my big brother, and I was fascinated by all of Harley’s non-Amish friends.”
All the best-case scenarios that Gabby had been trying to convince herself might actually happen plummeted with each step closer to Kyle. There was no way this visit was going to end on a positive note.
No, it was going to be really bad. Both of Kyle’s older brothers were home, and both of them were watching her so intently, she felt like she was trespassing.
When they discovered her reason for coming over, there was no telling what they were going to do—or say. Well, except that it was going to be bad.
And Kyle! She knew how close he was to his siblings and how much he idolized his older brothers. There was a very good chance that he was going to put all the blame on her shoulders and turn away from her. After all, it had happened before. From what her mother had said, it had happened exactly like that with her. Her mom had been in love with an Amish boy and had foolishly believed that everything between them was going to work out in spite of all the odds piled against them. Instead, he’d abandoned her completely.
Her mother had been forced to go through her pregnancy by herself, with only the minimum of support from her family. Gabby’s father had pulled so far away, into the depths of his Amish community, that there had been no way for her mother to get any financial assistance at all.
She hadn’t even been able to let Gabby’s father know about her birth.
Thinking about that, and how the whole experience had made her mother lose almost all trust in men, Gabby’s heart sank. This was going to happen again; she was going to repeat history.
“Gabby, hiya!” Kyle called out as he walked toward her. “This is a mighty gut surprise.”
In spite of all the worries churning inside her, she smiled. This was one of the things she liked about him. He was such a warm and friendly type of guy. “Hiya, back,” she teased. He always made her feel special and worthy.
He laughed. “Are you making fun of me again?”
“Never.” When he stepped closer to her side, her body reacted. She felt her spirits lift and her tense muscles relax. No matter what happened in their future, she was so glad she’d come right over to see him.
Leaning down, he murmured, “Wouldja like me to teach you some Pennsylvania Dutch?”
She tried to ignore the familiar buzzing sensation she always felt around him and played along. “I could be wrong, but I don’t think ‘hiya’ is in another language,” she teased.
“Maybe not.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. “What brings you over? I’m not complaining, but seeing you here in the morning is a surprise.”
This was it. She’d kind of hoped to have at least a few more minutes before she told him the news and lost him forever.
She cleared her throat. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
His lighthearted expression faded. “It sounds serious.”
“It is. It’s really serious,” she said. She glanced at his brothers again. They were still standing in the center of driveway and watching them. “Um, is now a bad time?”
Kyle glanced toward his brothers, muttered something under his breath, and then turned back to her. “Now’s fine. I was just helping Jimmy carry some bags of feed into the barn. I finished.”
“Oh.” Every once in a while, she would forget just how different his life was from hers. This was one of those times. He worked by his brothers’ sides, doing all sorts of chores that she’d never thought about. “Are you sure you can get away?”
“Of course.” He tugged on her hand. “Come on. Let’s go say hi, and then we’ll go somewhere to talk.”
“All right.”
As Kyle led her to them, she felt awkward, which was stupid. She’d been over to Kyle’s house at least a dozen times, and no one ever made a big deal about how she wasn’t Amish or looked different, they simply accepted her as she was. And though she made sure she didn’t wear anything revealing or too tight, she never tried to dress in anything other than her usual. She wouldn’t have worn anything too revealing to any boy’s house.
Every time she’d come over, his parents had been nice and his siblings had been friendly. His sister Betty could have been a friend she would’ve made on her own, they got along so well. So she knew she shouldn’t have been worried about talking to Harley and Jimmy at all.
But, of course, she’d never come over for a reason like this. Who knew how everyone would react to her from here on out? They might soon want nothing to do with her.
At last—and all too soon—they stopped in front of his brothers. “Jimmy, Harley, as you can see, Gabby has stopp
ed by.”
She waved a hand. “Hi.”
Right away, Harley smiled. “Gut matin, Gabby. How are you?”
“Good morning. Um, I’m okay,” she replied, hating that her voice was shaky. “What about you?”
Some of the humor in his eyes faded as he looked at her with more concern. “Me? I’m gut, though I canna speak for Jimmy.”
Boy, she needed to keep it together! Hoping to sound a lot more normal, she smiled. “Jimmy, I hope you are good, too.”
“I am well enough,” he said.
“That is good,” she replied, feeling like every word they were saying sounded more stilted than the last. Boy, this was awkward.
Jimmy stepped toward the house. Looking pensive, he said, “Kyle, do you want me to fetch Mamm and tell her Gabby is here?”
“Nee. Gabby and I are going to go over to the picnic table and talk.”
“It’s cold out,” Harley warned.
“We’ll be fine.”
Jimmy frowned and pointedly stared at their entwined hands. “But, don’tcha think that Mamm—”
Beside her, Kyle inhaled. It was obvious that his patience with Jimmy was nearing an end. “For the—”
“We’ll see you later, Gabby,” Harley interrupted. “James and I’ve got a lot to do in the barn.” He smiled slightly at Kyle before ushering his brother away.
Kyle winked at Gabby. “Come on, then. Let’s go talk.”
When they got to the picnic table, which was sanded smooth and painted a dark forest green, Gabby climbed on the top and sat down.
Kyle clambered up beside her and rested his hands behind him, leaning back. Just like he was at the beach or something, he tilted his face toward the sun and closed his eyes. “I love clear, sunny days like this in December, don’t you?”
“It’s all right.” She was so nervous, it could be pouring rain and she’d hardly notice.
He opened one eye. “It’s all right? Come now, Gabby. The sun’s out, and the scent of pine is in the air. Christmas is just around the corner. It’s a perfect time of year.”
“I could have sworn that you said the same thing about spring, though you mentioned baby animals, buds on trees, and egg salad sandwiches.”
His lips twitched. “I have always liked a good egg salad.”
“Oh, you. You’re incorrigible.”
“Maybe I’m simply happy to be spending time with you, Gabby. You make me happy.”
Her heart melted a little. Even though she knew she should be doing the exact opposite—to be preparing herself for him to reject her, or for them to fight, or to blame her for everything—her foolish heart was still beating just for him.
No wonder she was in the situation she was in! She seemed to have no sense of self-preservation around him.
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“Jah. Do I make you happy?”
He did. In fact, he made everything in her world better.
But that wasn’t why she was here.
When she didn’t say anything, a line formed between Kyle’s eyebrows. “Gabby, did you come over here to break up with me?”
“What? No!” This was getting worse and worse.
Kyle stood up and walked a few steps away. “Then what’s wrong?” he asked, turning back to her. “Have I done something to upset you?” His voice was pensive. Hoarse. “If I did, all ya have to do is tell me.”
“Kyle, you didn’t do anything—”
“Nee, listen. Gabby, I promise, once I know what the problem is, I can fix it.” He smiled tightly. “I promise that I can make it better.”
Not this problem! “Kyle, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not mad at you. You do make me happy.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. Positive.”
“Okay, but I have to tell ya that I’m having a hard time believing you, on account of you don’t look all that happy right now. Matter of fact, you look kind of green, if you want to know the truth.”
If she did look green it was because she was starting to feel pretty sick. “That’s because what I came over to tell you is really hard to say.”
“Well, worrying about what you’re gonna say is just about to kill me. Just say it.”
“I’m pregnant.”
He opened his mouth, obviously prepared to comfort her with a few sweet phrases, then froze as it became obvious that her words had just sunk in.
And … things had just gone from bad to worse.
FOUR
“But, of course, Harley would always send me back home, saying that I was too young to keep up.”
Kyle looked like someone had run him over with a bus. “Gabby, did I hear ya right? You … you’re with child?”
Swallowing hard, she nodded. Then, just to make sure there was no misunderstanding, she whispered, “I’m pregnant with your baby. I mean, our baby.” Hating that each word was tumbling out of her mouth in a jumble of stops and starts, Gabby took a deep breath and tried again. “I mean, it, no … I mean, the baby is yours.”
His confused expression melted into something sweet as he pulled her into his arms. “I know that,” he said softly as he ran a hand down her hair. “Come now, don’t you think I remember every detail of what happened that night?”
She did, too. Her dark car. The “just one more kiss” that had turned into so much more. The fumbling. The embarrassed chuckles and the kisses. Neither of them had known what they were doing, but it hadn’t seemed to matter. All she’d been aware of was how much in love with him she was.
Looking back at him, she blushed, though she noticed that he wasn’t blushing at all. Instead, he was watching her intently. Waiting for her to speak again.
“I remember everything, too,” she said at last.
His expression warmed as he rubbed her shoulder blades. “Now, when did you find out?”
His calm manner helped ease her nerves. Scooting a few inches away, she focused on what she knew. “This morning. My body was acting strange and I started feeling a little weird.”
“Weird? How so?”
“Um, I felt nauseated. Tired.”
“Ah.”
Remembering how sick to her stomach she’d felt for most of the last week, she continued. “Anyway, when I realized that I didn’t have the flu, I started wondering if something else might have been going on. So, um, I drove all the way to New Philly and bought a test at a Walgreens there last night.”
Looking at her intently, he said, “Did you go by yourself?”
“Well, yeah. I had to wait for my mom to come home from work. Then I made up a story about how a girlfriend of mine wanted to borrow a pair of shoes.” Her mother hadn’t questioned her story one bit. She’d barely remembered to grab a pair of heels before darting to the car.
“And then you took the test this morning?”
She nodded. “The directions say that you’re supposed to do the test as soon as you get up.” Hearing her stilted explanation, she mentally rolled her eyes. How can she be having Kyle’s baby but be embarrassed to talk about peeing on a stick?
Sitting on the picnic table, Kyle was still looking at her quietly. “What did you do when you got the results?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, did you tell your mother?” He folded his hands around the edge of the table. “I guess you can tell that I hate you were by yourself.”
She was pretty much gaping at Kyle. Never had she imagined that he would be thinking of something like that. No, she’d thought he would be more panicked and mad.
Returning back to his question, she shook her head. “Of course I didn’t tell my mom. There was no way.”
“But, Gabby . . .”
“Kyle, she would have freaked out. You know what she’s like.”
He still looked confused. “What about Lane?”
“Kyle, all I did was hide the box and try to get the nerve to come over here to tell you.” No way was she ready to share how her mother had been j
iggling the doorknob.
“What did you think was going to happen when you told me?”
“I was afraid—” She stopped abruptly, not wanting him to know just how worried she’d been about his reaction. When he continued to stare at her, she simply shrugged. “I, well, I don’t know.”
His blue eyes flared before he carefully tamped down his worry. “Oh, Gabby. Come here.” He pulled her back into his arms. But this time, it wasn’t just a loose, careful hug.
No, it was an embrace. His arms were wrapped securely around her, and his lips were resting on her forehead. It was almost like he was doing everything he possibly could do to offer her comfort and support.
She rested against him, breathing in his strength. Here they were, sitting on a picnic table in the middle of his lawn. His brothers were nearby. No doubt his mother and at least one of his sisters were watching from the window. Every other time they’d been together at his house, they’d hardly touched.
Surely his entire family was shocked.
But Kyle didn’t seem to care who saw them.
“It’s gonna be okay, Gabby,” he murmured as he shifted and eased her closer to his body. She shifted until she was practically sitting on his lap. His arms, so strong, wrapped around her securely. Though she wasn’t an especially small girl, she felt small in his arms.
Little by little, she relaxed against him, resting her face in his neck, looping her arms around his neck. He was warm and smelled like the grass he liked so much, and faintly of horses, and like Kyle.
He smelled comforting and reassuring. There was no telling what would happen next, or what even tomorrow would bring. But all that seemed to matter was that she wasn’t alone and that he wasn’t yelling at her or making her feel ashamed.
She closed her eyes and rested against him.
One hand ran down her spine. She felt the weight of it, and how careful he was being with her. Like she was fragile.
No, like she mattered.
“There, that’s better. Let’s sit here for a moment, okay? I want to hold you, jah?”
A Precious Gift Page 2
