The Cowboy's Pregnant Bride (St. Valentine, Texas)

by Green, Crystal

  But when she’d told Jared her fears, there’d been sorrow in his gaze. A look that she would almost call brokenhearted.

  Not knowing what to make of him, Annette turned into the driveway of her condo complex, motoring past the guest parking places and—

  She sucked in a breath.

  A familiar green truck had just backed out of a space and was coming toward her.

  Jared was behind the wheel, and when he saw her, he put on his brakes.

  She slowed, her heart racing a mile a minute. Was he going to take off without saying anything? It sure looked like it as he just sat there.

  But, as she pulled up to him, he rolled down his window, leaning his arm on it, his face just as unreadable as ever.

  She rolled down her window, too. “Done for the night, I suppose.”

  “I had the day off at the ranch, so I thought my time would be best spent out here.”

  While she was at the diner, huh? “Did you make any progress?”

  “Not so much.”

  The sound of their engines filled the pause.

  She found herself talking, even though she hadn’t meant to. “It’s my mom’s birthday.”

  “Your mom?” He hesitated, then said, “I thought she...”

  “She did. But I still celebrate even though she’s gone. Maybe because she was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

  And, still, they just idled there.

  Good heavens, what was with him?

  He stared out of his windshield as he planted one hand on the steering wheel. “I should probably let you go then.”

  Her heart sank, but why? What did she expect out of him?

  She patted her stomach and smiled, letting him off the hook. “It’ll be nice to spend tonight with my best buddy.”

  Why did he look somewhat pained by her answer?

  He still didn’t say goodbye yet, so she asked, “What’re you up to?”

  “I’m going to Gran’s house. She whipped up a big meal, even though it’s just for the two of us. She says I can take the leftovers to my bachelor pad and eat them for the next week.”

  “It sounds like she takes good care of you.” Annette smiled.

  “Yeah. Family is supposed to take care of each other, aren’t they?” He gripped his steering wheel with that one hand while tilting up his hat with the other.

  “Well,” she said, “you have a fun time with Gran.”

  “Wait.” He looked straight ahead again, as if making some huge decision.

  Annette finally understood why he hadn’t zoomed off yet. He felt bad that she and the baby would be alone tonight on this sad day, didn’t he?

  But wouldn’t she feel the same about him if he was marking a sad night and didn’t have a grandma around?

  “Listen,” he said. “Gran has all that food. Why don’t you come over?”

  “It’s okay, Jared.”

  She wanted him to mean it when he invited her somewhere.

  “Come on, Annie. You and Gran would get along, and she’d be tickled to have the company.” He laughed softly. “She’s an independent cuss, but I think she secretly loves to be around people. She sure brightens up whenever I come by.”

  Annette had to admit that she was curious about what any grandma of Jared’s might be like. And the stories his gran might be able to tell about him.

  Wouldn’t that be worth a trip?

  Besides, the more she thought about her mom’s birthday, the sadder she got. She wasn’t sure how long her mom would want her to be like that, baking that cake, remembering her, staying alone and shutting everyone else out.

  “Just say yes,” he said.

  This time, it sounded as if he meant it, and that made all the difference.

  “What time is she expecting you?” Annette asked.

  Jared grinned and, for a moment, she wondered if he’d actually been hoping she would say yes the entire time.

  * * *

  After Jared had come with her into the condo and had gone to wash up in Annette’s second bathroom, she went to her room and doffed her waitress uniform. She freshened up, then put on a “gently used” thrift-store long red velvet skirt with a frilly white top, both of which gave her stomach ample space. She put on some cheap but cute fake pearls and pinned up her hair, then came out to find Jared slumped on the sofa, thumbing through Tony’s journal.

  When he saw her, he slowly rose to his feet, taking off his hat.

  He was looking at her as if she were wearing real pearls instead of someone’s secondhand costume jewelry, and she could feel herself blushing from head to toe.

  Putting down the journal, he seemed to recover. “You shine up nicely, Annie.”

  “Thank you.”

  Thud...thud... Her pulse was telling her everything that her mind had taken such a long time to accept—that she liked being looked at by Jared. A lot.

  She went to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of nonalcoholic sparkling berry cider she’d bought a few days ago and stuffing it into a tote bag. “You sure your grandma won’t mind that I’m tagging along?”

  “I called her already, and she’s over the moon to have the company. There’ll even be some friends from her church dropping by. She’s got some sort of knitting group, and as much as it pains me, she does like to show me off to them.”

  Annette didn’t say that Gran was probably eager to see what kind of woman Jared was hanging around with, besides.

  “One thing before we go,” she said, opening a kitchen drawer and pulling out a little red-striped box. She walked over to him, handing it over.

  “What’s this?”

  “A gift.”

  “For what?”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “Valentine lights? Box of chocolates? I felt like returning the favor.”

  “This wasn’t necessary.”

  It occurred to her that he hadn’t been expecting anything in return for his kindness.

  “Go ahead then,” she said, laughing. “Boy, you have a hard time with gifts, don’t you?”

  Finally he tore into the present. She took the paper from him and crumbled it in her hand, waiting, anticipating his reaction.

  After opening the box, he slowly pulled out an old-fashioned tarnished silver watch hanging from a chain.

  “I saw it at a vintage store a while ago,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking it would be a thank-you gift, but it looks like the kind of watch Tony would wear, and I couldn’t resist.”

  He seemed gobsmacked that he had randomly crossed her mind like that, thinking of him when she didn’t have to.

  “Thank you, Annie,” he said simply, but the pleasure and softness of his tone said so much more.

  She could tell that he was wondering if he should hug her or not, so she took matters in hand and embraced him before the moment passed.

  “It’ll look great on you,” she said as she held him to her.

  His arms slid up her back, and they stood like that for a few seconds. She even closed her eyes, wishing she could just stay here in his arms all night.

  But he let her go, clearing his throat. He held up the watch, as if the hug had never happened.

  “I think it goes a little something like this,” he said, clipping one end of the chain to his waistband and putting the watch in his front pocket.

  He did wear it well, and she stifled her wild heartbeat as he led her to the door.

  She almost—but not quite—forgot that she wouldn’t be baking her mom’s cake tonight as they drove about ten minutes out of town, their journey ending on a country lane where sweeps of lawn separated the houses from the road. Jared pulled into the driveway of what Annette imagined might be the home of the baker’s wife in a fairy tale, with window boxes
blooming with perennial flowers and lacy trim around the eaves. Because it was out of St. Valentine, it wasn’t decorated for the festival, but it was festive enough as it was.

  Once they’d gone to the door and knocked, Annette smiled at Jared. “Everything’s so cute.”

  He didn’t have time to respond before the door was opened by a small, wiry, tomboyish woman with a long silver braid and wearing a denim skirt and a flower-embroidered cardigan.

  “Here they are!” she said, hugging Jared.

  Even with his grandma he clearly wasn’t all that used to hugs, but he held her an instant longer than an average grandma embrace required.

  He was getting used to showing affection, Annette thought, holding back another smile.

  “Gran,” he said, pulling back, “this is my friend Annette.”

  She didn’t react to how she was “Annette” now instead of “Annie.” The lack of a nickname sounded so darn formal.

  She took Gran’s outstretched hand and shook it, but the other woman lay her palm on top of Annette’s hand, squeezing.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you and have you at my house tonight, Annette.”

  “Thank you so much for having me.”

  As she brought them into the house, the aroma of cinnamon, cloves and ham stirred Annette’s senses. It smelled like home, where someone was always there to welcome you with a meal they’d carefully made, hoping you would like it.

  The kind of meal her mom would have cooked, once upon a time.

  After Jared and Annette took off their coats and his hat and hung them on a rack by the door, Annette handed over the sparkling cider to Gran. Then their hostess ushered them into her family room. Hors d’oeuvres were already on the coffee table, including a cheese ball with crackers, sliced vegetables, crockpot meatballs and a layered dip with tortilla chips.

  Gran said, “It’s too bad you’ve got a bun baking in that oven, Annette. I’ve got some hooch you would’ve loved.”

  Annette wasn’t so used to people coming right out with the pregnancy observations. But it was refreshing. “I wish I could have some, but the sparkling cider’s good for tonight.”

  “Coming right up.”

  Jared and Annette sat on a couch with doilies on the back. He watched his grandma leave, then grabbed a little paper plate decorated with more flowers.

  “What’s your pleasure?” he asked.

  Annette had to remind herself that he was talking about the food, not anything else.

  He was only being nice in bringing you here, she reminded herself. Don’t think it’s anything more.

  “How about a bit of everything?” Annette said. “Not too much, though. I shouldn’t load up before dinner.”

  Jared began to fill her plate as Doris Day played on low volume from the stereo system, which looked like it had been around since the 1970s.

  “Your gran’s a spitfire, isn’t she?” she asked.

  “Slightly. I think retirement is driving her nuts. She used to run a cattle ranch with my granddad back in the day.”

  “Did you ever know your grandpa?”

  “Nope. I just found Gran several months ago, but he had passed on a while back. That seems to drive her bonkers, too—not having anyone around.”

  Gran’s voice came from the back of the house, where the kitchen probably was. “I admit to liking some company!”

  Jared kept filling up Annette’s plate. “Did I mention her eerily fantastic hearing?”

  She bustled into the room, somehow balancing two puppy-decorated mugs and a champagne glass teeming with sparkling cider all at one time. She delivered Annette’s drink first.

  “My hearing’s always been sharp,” she said.

  “Some would say that your conversation can be rather pointed, too,” Jared said, glancing at Annette’s tummy as he handed over her hors d’oeuvres, then began working on a plate of his own.

  “What about it?” Gran said, sitting in a chair nearby. “Was I wrong to say something about the baby?”

  “No,” Annette said, after sipping from her glass. “People have just started to notice because I recently got bigger.”

  “Then why not say something?” Gran shrugged. “Straightforwardness only saves time.”

  And she forged ahead from there, asking Annette baby details: When was the child expected, what was the sex, what names was she thinking of?

  Before she could ask why Annette didn’t have a ring on her finger, Jared interrupted, and she got the feeling that he’d warned Gran when he’d called her earlier about going too far.

  “So,” he said. “I’d say you kind of like entertaining, Gran.”

  She seemed to get the hint, and she winked at him. “Yes, I do. I have to say that I’m enjoying this dinner far more with you here, Jared. And you, Annette.”

  She might have just been being nice with that last part, but, in a way, Annette thought she might very well mean it. Gran seemed happy to have her grandson here with someone who was obviously comfortable around him.

  Heck, Annette was probably the only person who was comfortable with him in the entire town of St. Valentine.

  Gran put down her hooch on the coffee table and started to fill an hors d’oeuvre plate.

  “I hope you don’t think I’m a lonely old biddy,” Gran said. “For years, I’ve volunteered at my church. On Sundays, we visit the houses of homebound parishioners all day, and it’s a kick to see my old friends. But there was never anything or anyone otherwise. Not until now.”

  She sent a fond smile to them, and Annette’s heart teemed with warmth.

  Three people in this very room who might’ve been alone, except...they weren’t.

  She caught Jared gazing at her, and her pulse gave a start.

  Was he thinking the same thing?

  He looked away, and Annette’s heart contracted a little. Why did he always have to pull back just when he was getting close?

  Gran’s voice was soft when she added, “Yes, I am very happy you found me, boy.”

  Nodding, he said, “I’m happy, too, Gran.”

  Annette ran a piece of celery through the dip on her plate, just for something to do, especially as Gran went on.

  “Lord knows,” she said, “that it took a lot of courage for Jared to hunt down my whereabouts, seeing as his mom—my own daughter—didn’t give him all that much encouragement when he found her.”

  Annette stopped with the celery and risked a look at Jared. He’d told her that he was adopted, but he hadn’t ever said anything about meeting his birth mom.

  He had stiffened, putting down his mug and plate, not looking at Annette.

  There was something even deeper and darker going on with him than she’d ever guessed, wasn’t there?

  Gran sank back in her chair. “There I go with the straightforwardness again.”

  “It’s all right, Gran,” he said.

  Annette began to slide to the edge of the couch, preparing to leave them alone. “Maybe I should—”

  “No,” he said. “Don’t. I could’ve said something to you before, but I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

  Didn’t he realize that everything about him had become a big deal to her?

  She pressed her lips together as Gran spoke.

  “My own daughter,” she said, “doesn’t deserve Jared. That sounds terrible coming from me, but when she got pregnant with him, she wasn’t prepared. She was fourteen years old and hell on wheels. Hardly equipped to have a child then, and I doubt it’s changed much now.”

  Annette could feel Jared’s gaze on her, as if gauging her thoughts. It shocked her that he wanted her to know all this, especially after all his tenderfooting around.

  Had she been wrong about him not being very interested in her after all?
/>   So she said to Gran, “It sounds like you haven’t seen your daughter in a while.”

  “Not since she left home all those years ago, but it wasn’t for my lack of trying to see her. She just always needed to do her own thing, and...” Gran’s voice cracked. “She went and did it, deserting whoever Jared’s father was, too. She never did have a permanent address or home, just floated through life.”

  Gran picked up her cup again, staring into it before drinking.

  When Jared spoke, his tone was gentle, as if he were far more worried about how his birth mom’s attitude had affected his grandma than himself. “She doesn’t know what she missed by leaving you, Gran.”

  She finished drinking. “She was a fool to have treated you the way she did, too. I told you before that I would’ve taken you in had she stayed around long enough for me to know she was having a baby. And, even though we learn how to forgive in church, I have a hard time doing it. You’re my only grandchild, and she took you away from me. Then she turned you away that second time, after you found her.”

  Annette fully turned to Jared, and the sight of him twisted something inside of her. His jaw was tight, as if he were warding off every bit of emotion that was trying to take him over.

  No wonder he was how he was.

  Without thinking, she put a hand on her belly. Jared saw the movement, and his gaze landed there.

  His eyes traveled up to hers, and there was such devastation in him that she wanted to reach out, bring him into her embrace and never let go.

  She’d been so wrong when she’d seen him confront that ex-miner. This man didn’t hurt people.

  This man just hurt.

  Annette wasn’t sure what to say now, and she was certain that everyone in the room was feeling the same way until there was a murmur of voices outside on the porch, then a knock on the door.

  Gran sprang out of her chair, as if grateful for the interruption. When she opened the door, a crowd of women carrying big bags full of yarn surged inside to hug her.

  While Gran introduced them as friends from her church, Annette smiled, welcoming a bit of cheer.