by Carrie Elks
It was soft and light, whatever it was. She pulled the bow to release it, then picked at the tape until the paper came away easily. Beneath the wrapping was a folded quilt. She opened it up, her mouth dry as she took in the embroidered squares. Each one depicted a different farm animal, their name stitched beneath. The quilting fabric was yellow, neutral, for a girl or a boy.
“I wasn’t sure what your nursery theme would be,” Mary said softly. “But I figure animals always work, right?”
Courtney couldn’t stop looking at it. As with all of Mary’s needlework, it was intricately beautiful. She knew from experience that it must have taken weeks for her to make it look this perfect. “When did you find time to make this?” she asked her.
“I’ve had the squares for a while,” Mary admitted, her face reddening. “I guess I always hoped I’d have a grandbaby one day. And when we heard your news, I dug them out and found this fabric. Ellis helped me put it all together on the days when my fingers were a little clumsy.”
Tears spilled from Courtney’s eyes. “It’s so beautiful,” she said, her voice thick as she wiped them away with the backs of her hands. “I’m sorry for being so emotional. I didn’t expect this. It’s like an heirloom.” She looked up at them, smiling even though the tears still streamed. “Shouldn’t you save it in case Carl has a baby?”
Mary’s eyes softened. “Oh sweetheart, no. I want to give it to my first grandbaby. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s the little one growing inside of you right now.” She looked down at the quilt on Courtney’s lap. “You’re as much a daughter to us as Carl is a son. And we want to be this baby’s grandparents, if you’ll have us.”
“Of course I will.” She felt so blessed to have them on her side. “I can’t think of anybody who’d make better grandparents than you two.”
Ellis cleared his throat, looking to the side. It didn’t stop her from catching the way his eyes were watering, too.
“We should have some Christmas music,” he mumbled, walking over to the old stereo, and flicking through the CDs he had there. “It’s supposed to be a happy time.”
Mary caught Courtney’s eye and they both smiled. “Of course, dear,” Mary called out. “And I’ll go check on the lunch, make sure it’s doing okay.”
“I’ll help you,” Courtney said, lifting the quilt gently as she went to stand.
“Oh no you won’t. You sit there and be waited on for once,” Mary insisted. “This year we get to spoil you, and next year we get to spoil the baby.” She nodded, her eyes glowing. “I’ve waited a long time to see some new life in this place, and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me.”
Courtney nodded, her lips pressed together because she was afraid she’d sob if she opened them. Funny how happiness always made her cry. Sadness did, too, of course, and they’d all had too much of that in the past few years. She looked down at the quilt again, her heart filling up. It was the first gift she’d recieved for the baby, and she knew it would always be treasured.
It was so strange how she’d gone from feeling lonely, to being surrounded by a crowd of people who wanted to be part of this new life. Ellis and Mary, Logan and his family, Lainey and Maddie… even Carl in his own strange way.
Over the sound of Bing Crosby’s crooning, she heard Ellis’s deep voice coming from the kitchen, followed by Mary’s giggle. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard Mary laugh.
Blinking back the tears, because there had been way too many of them in the past few years, she carefully folded the quilt and rested it back on her lap.
She only wanted happy thoughts from now on.
Chapter Twenty-One
“So I’ve been thinking,” Cam said, as he and Logan walked toward the airport departure zone.
“Always dangerous,” Logan said, biting down a grin. Cam glared in return.
It was the morning after Christmas, and Cam had to catch a flight back to Boston for his game the following day. Logan had offered to drive him to the airport. It wasn’t often the two of them got to spend any time together, especially during football season. With the restaurant, and now the baby coming, Logan’s own spare time was virtually non-existent.
It was good to have an hour to sit next to his twin brother.
“Okay, I’ll bite. What were you thinking?” Logan asked as they walked through the large revolving door, Cam wheeling his case behind him.
“You should definitely buy a place here.”
“In Hartson’s Creek?”
Cam nodded. “Yeah. You said yourself you’ll be spending a lot more time here after the baby’s born. And I can’t imagine you’ll want to stay with Dad and Aunt Gina, or Tanner or Gray every time you visit your kid. Plus it will give the baby some stability, you know?”
Logan blinked at his brother’s words. Cam wasn’t the advice giving type. He’s always said he was too busy making his own way to comment on anybody else’s life.
“Was this your idea?” he asked Cam, suspiciously.
“I might have been talking to Gray and Tanner.” Cam shrugged. “But it makes sense. And it’s a good investment. Look at Tanner, he’s buying places all over town.”
“Tanner has a lot of time on his hands,” Logan pointed out. “And a lot of money.”
“You’re not exactly wanting for cash,” Cam said, his voice teasing as he looked up at the monitors overhead. “I need to go to desk twenty-eight,” he said, grabbing his case again. “You wanna say goodbye here?”
“I’ll come with you.” Logan’s mind was ticking. Cam was right, he did need a base in his home town. Somewhere big enough for the baby and maybe some room to grow.
Maybe even big enough for Courtney to stay with him, too.
“Lemme go check in,” Cam said as they reached the first class desk. “I’ll be five minutes.”
“Okay.” Logan watched his brother walk over to where a smiling man in uniform was waiting to welcome him, though his mind was still on other things. He’d called Courtney late last night to make sure things were okay, and she’d been upbeat, telling him she was shopping with Maddie this morning,
It was weird how happy it made him that his family seemed to like her almost as much as he did. Even weirder that he kept picturing her and their baby in the kitchen of his non-existent house.
“I’m all set.” Cam walked back to Logan, his papers in his hand. “You got that look on your face, bro.”
“What look?” Logan asked, his brows knitting.
“The one where you’re making plans. I know it too well.”
Logan ran his finger along the line of his jaw. “Do you think Tanner will do some house hunting for me?” he asked.
Cam smiled. “He’s already doing it. You should have a shortlist this week.”
It was impossible not to laugh at his brother’s shit-eating grin. Logan shook his head. “I should have known.”
“Yep you should’ve. And be thankful I persuaded Gray not to build another house on his own land. I figured you’d like a little privacy from our damn family now and again.” Cam shrugged. “Though I’m hoping to use your place when I visit.”
“Mi casa es su casa, bro. You know that,” Logan told him. They’d reached the line for security. The fast-track was empty, a man standing in front of the exclusive cordon. “I guess this is where we say goodbye.”
“Take it easy.” Cam hugged him. “And I’ll see you at the restaurant opening, if not before.”
“Yeah, you sure will.” Logan gave his brother a grin. “Kick some ass on the field tomorrow.”
“I’m planning on it.” Cam lifted his hand in a wave, then turned and walked toward the security gate. Logan watched him for a moment, then turned to walk back to the parking lot where he’d left the SUV.
His head was full of house buying, babies, and opening his restaurant. Not to mention a certain farm girl with a wicked smile that made him want to be inside of her all the damn time.
He had a lot to think about.
“Whoa, who knew bab
ies needed so many things?” Courtney asked, staring at the app on her phone. She and Maddie had been wandering around the baby store at the mall outside of Maple Cross, adding things to the registry Courtney had created. “Will I really use a wipe warmer? Isn’t that setting the poor kid’s expectations too high?”
Maddie laughed. “When I was pregnant, Gray insisted on buying this amazing baby bath. It has lights and jets and all these things that nobody needs. The first time we used it, Presley cried so much I promised him I’d never put him through that again. So now when it’s bath time, Gray strips off and climbs into our tub, and I hand him the twins one by one. It’s like a production line.” She shook her head. “So no, you probably don’t need half the stuff everybody says you do. But people like to buy things so you’ll need to put some of it on your registry.”
Courtney nodded, deleting the wipe warmer from the app. It was so refreshing to have Maddie with her, telling her the truth. And according to Maddie, it was just as much fun for her. “I get to shop vicariously through you, and have a break from all my boys. It’s a win,” she told Courtney when she’d picked her up from the farm.
“I guess I’ll need a bathtub,” Courtney said. “I won’t have anybody to climb into the tub naked for me.” Let alone a hot Hartson man. Another little reminder of how different her life would be from the majority of moms she’d meet at prenatal classes.
“Yeah, I guess it’ll be hard for Logan to help when he’s in Boston.” Maddie bit her lip, her eyes soft as she looked at Courtney. “Sorry, would you rather we didn’t talk about him?”
“No, it’s okay,” Courtney reassured her, as the two of them wandered toward the registry desk. “And you’re right, it’ll be just me and the baby for the majority of the time.”
Maddie’s smile was sympathetic. “That will be hard on you.”
“Ah, I can shave a sheep single handed. And I’ve played midwife to more pigs than I can count. I’m pretty sure this little one will be simple in comparison.” She rubbed her stomach and grinned back. No point in admitting any fears, they grew if you acknowledged them. Better to be positive and think only good thoughts. That way they might come true.
“Can I ask you something?” Maddie said, her head tipped to the side.
“Sure.” Courtney nodded.
“Feel free to tell me to mind my own business, but I was wondering if you and Logan were a couple or not.” She grimaced. “Ugh, I sound like my nosey sister, but I don’t want to upset you in any way. Like addressing a congratulations card to both of you when I should send two separately.” She sighed. “Sorry, I am being nosey, aren’t I?”
Courtney softened at Maddie’s obvious discomfort. “It’s okay, honestly. I’d be wondering the same thing in your position. And the truth is, it’s complicated. I like Logan a lot, and obviously having a baby together means we’re connected forever. But his life is in Boston and mine is here.”
“What if he lived here?” Maddie asked her, picking up a blister pack of pacifiers. “By the way, you’ll need a heck of a lot of these. The baby will be half-Hartson and they’re loud as hell.”
Courtney grinned. “I guess if Logan lived here, and he was interested in something more, then I would be.”
Maddie looked up. “Have you told him that?”
“No. And I wasn’t planning to. It sounds an awful lot like asking too much. I’ve heard him talk about the restaurant business. It’s important to him.”
“It is. Sometimes too important. He works so damn much it’s crazy. Gray always complains about Logan’s schedule. Claims it’s worse than Cam’s, and his is bad.” Maddie sighed. “He’s always had something to prove. I guess that’s what losing his career did to him.”
“You mean his football injury?”
Maddie’s eyes widened. “He told you about that?”
“Yeah. Said he blew his knee when he was in high school.”
“He was such a good player. Better than Cam, if you can imagine that.” Maddie’s voice was soft. “I don’t remember a whole lot about it, because I’m younger than them. But Gray tells me it took a long, long time for Logan to recover both mentally and physically. Not so much from losing his planned career, but because it meant his life would be completely different from Cam’s. Up until then, they’d always been the twins who excelled at football, but suddenly Logan wasn’t part of it anymore.” She ran the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip. “That’s why Gray’s adamant that we make sure Presley and Marley have different interests. He never wants to watch them go through what Logan did.”
“It sounds like Logan always feels he has to prove himself.” Courtney frowned. That was crazy, because he was so damn successful.
Maddie looked pensive. “It’s as if he feels that he’s nothing unless he’s successful. And I don’t think it’s because he’s jealous of Cam. It’s just that he had to have this constant drive to succeed, otherwise he’d have succumbed to the depression he had after his injury. It was like a fight or flight thing, and he decided to fight.” Maddie pressed her lips together. “And the stupid thing is, he knows all this. Of all the brothers, Logan is the most emotionally intelligent. He’s gone through therapy, he believes in talking things out. And when one of his brothers is in trouble, he’s always the voice of reason.”
“Maybe he finds it easier to give advice than to take his own,” Courtney said. She knew how that felt. It was another thing that tied them together, as if there weren’t enough things already. Her brows knit together as she remembered the first time they met. He exuded confidence and success, the way she probably exuded small town farm girl. It had been one of the things that attracted her to him.
But he was more than that self-assured veneer. And it made her want to know him even more. He was real. Human. The one man who kept her awake at night even when they weren’t together.
And when they were? He was the flame to her firework.
“I think we’ve gathered enough items for today,” Maddie said, her warm eyes meeting Courtney’s. “Let’s go close out the registry, then we can head to this amazing coffee shop I know. They make these huge cupcakes and fill them with melted chocolate, and top them with whipped cream. Once you taste one you won’t want to stop.
Courtney grinned. “You’re a woman after my own heart.” Her smile widened as Maddie slid her arm through Courtney’s, and together they walked toward the registry desk.
Maddie nodded. “That’s why I knew we’d get along so well.”
“I can’t believe I have to fly back tomorrow,” Logan told Courtney later the following evening when she was laying in his arms. “It feels like I just got here.”
She turned to look at him, resting her chin on his bare chest. “I wish you didn’t have to go”
He breathed out heavily. “So do I. But we’ve got less than a month until the restaurant opens and nothing is ready. And we’re getting some exclusive coverage in Boston Life Magazine, which means it all has to be perfect.”
“Exclusive coverage sounds important.” She smiled at him. “And that’s good, right? The more publicity the better.”
“It is,” he agreed. “But it also means more hard work. I don’t think I’m gonna make it back here before the restaurant opens.” He sighed. “Sorry, you don’t want to hear me bitching about stuff that’s not important.”
“It’s important to you, so that’s enough for me.” She looked up at him through her thick lashes. “And I should know what your life is like out there, because it’ll be this baby’s life, too.”
Logan said nothing for a moment. His brows pulled together as he stared into space. Had she said something wrong? Courtney swallowed hard. “Sorry, was that too much? I know you have tons going on with the restaurant and the baby. Sometimes I open my mouth and words just spew out.”
The corner of his lip lifted. “No, it’s not you. It’s me. I’ve just been thinking over some stuff.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked softly, deciding it was
stupid to keep silent. Talking was always better than keeping quiet.
“Yeah,” he said, lifting his hand to stroke her dark curls. “I think I do.” He swallowed hard, his eyes still staring into the distance. “I’m confused about what I want.”
“That’s understandable. You’re in a confusing situation.”
His laugh was short. “Yeah, you could say that.” He brought his gaze to hers. “I guess we both are, right?”
She nodded, sliding her hand until it was pressed against his chest. It was strange how much she loved these tender moments with him. They were the perfect ending to the hot needy sex they always shared. Both of them seemed to fill her in a way nothing else could.
“How would you feel if I spent more time here than I’d planned?” he asked, his brows dipping all over again. “I want to move here. To be with you and the baby, and I have no idea how to do that, but somehow I need to make it happen.”
“You want to be here with us?” she repeated, trying to understand what he meant. “Like friends?”
He shook his head. “No. I want more. I just don’t know how to get it.” He blinked, his expression softening. For a moment he looked lost. “I guess I should ask you how you feel about that? Do you want to spend more time with me?”
Her chest tightened. “I do.”
“Good.” He breathed out heavily. “That’s a start, right? If we want to be together.”
Her chest flooded with warmth. “Yeah, it’s a start. And you don’t have to look so scared about it.”
This time his laugh was lighter. “I’m not scared. Not of being with you. I’m just wary of letting you down. My business and my money is all in Boston. It’s not something I can easily wrap up.”
“I guess not. And that’s okay.”
“If you were anybody else, I’d ask you to move in with me there. We’d have a good life in Boston. I could give you everything you need.”
“That’s a sweet offer,” she said thickly. “But this is my home. I don’t know anybody but you in Boston, and I know you work crazy hours.” The thought of being alone with the baby in a strange city made her mouth dry up. No farm, no chickens, no friends. “I don’t think I could live like that.”
