Married in Montana

by Kirsten Osbourne

  She looked at him, studying his face carefully. "Do you really mean that? You love me?"

  "How could you not know that?" He was baffled by her question. "Do you really think I'd have worked so hard to be a better husband if I didn't? That I'd have cared at all about how you felt about me?"

  "I never really thought about it that way. I just...well, I know we didn't marry for love, so I was afraid I'd never have your love."

  He hugged her as close as he could in the backseat of the cab. "How could you not have my love? You're practically perfect! I'm the one lacking...in every way!"

  She shook her head at him. "You were lacking in one way, but you're so much better now. I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. You're a strong, confident man. You give of yourself to everyone around you. Do you have any idea how many people speak highly of you?"

  He shrugged. "I just do what's right."

  "You do! And that's something most people don't care about. I love you, Scott. I even love your ability to drive me crazy."

  "You can't love me." He shook his head in disbelief. "Maybe in a few years, when I stop being so dumb about things..."

  She put her finger over his lips to shush him. "I love you now." She drew his head down for a kiss, forgetting all about the driver in the front. The car stopped, and she jerked away from her husband. "We're at the theater."

  He jumped out of the car and took her hand as she got out behind him. "Where do we go?" he asked.

  She indicated the line they needed to stand in, and stood beside him, staring up into his face. "Thank you for bringing me to see my favorite musical. I hope you like it half as much as I do."

  *****

  Hours later when they got back to the hotel, Savannah was nervous. It was time for her to tell Scott about the baby, but she wasn't certain if he'd be angry that she hadn't told him sooner. Of course, she was still in the afterglow of his declaration of love, so she felt safer telling him then than she would later.

  After he closed the door and locked it, she took his hand and led him to the small couch in their room. "I need to tell you something."

  He raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to tell me you don't really love me, and you made it all up?"

  She laughed. "Of course not."

  "Nothing else will make me mad. I can see you're worried, but you don't need to be." He tilted her chin up with one forefinger, so he could look into her eyes. "Tell me what's wrong."

  "Well, nothing is really wrong..." She took a deep breath, knowing she just needed to get it over with. There was no reason for her to be afraid to tell him. He loved her, and she loved him. They both wanted children. "You know how I got so sick this morning?"

  He nodded. "Are you feeling bad again?"

  She shook her head. "No, but I will be in the morning." At his blank look, she smiled. "I've been feeling sick every morning for over a week now."

  "We need to get you to a doctor then. Why didn't you say anything? What if something is seriously wrong?"

  She wanted to laugh. The man really was clueless about a lot of things, but it only made him more precious to her. "Nothing is seriously wrong." She took his hand and placed it over her flat stomach. "We're having a baby."

  His eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

  She shrugged. "As sure as I can be. All the symptoms are there. I took a test, and it was positive."

  "When did you take a test?" He was truly surprised. She hadn't given any indication that anything was going on.

  "A little over a week ago," she said honestly, waiting for him to get angry.

  Instead, Scott was merely confused. "Why didn't you tell me sooner then? It's what we both wanted."

  She shrugged. "I didn't want to tell you about the baby before I knew that you loved me. I was afraid you'd tell me you loved me, simply because I was pregnant, and then I'd never know how you really felt."

  He frowned. "So if I hadn't told you I love you today, you'd have just told me you were eating a little too much for nine months?"

  "No, I would have told you." She looked down at her hands, wishing she could explain better. "I needed to know that you loved me for me, though. Not for my ability to bear children."

  "Of course, I love you for you! That baby means nothing to me at this point. Why would it? I've never met it. I have met you, and you mean everything to me." He shook his head. "I can't believe you didn't realize I loved you when I started trying so hard to do everything right. What kind of man would agree to court a woman he was already married to if he didn't love her? Did you ever think of that?"

  "I guess I didn't. Most of the things you do don't make a whole lot of sense to me. How would I have guessed that?"

  "Well, from now on, you won't have to guess it. I'll tell you every day for the rest of our lives."

  She smiled. "Can we fly to New York every year to see Wicked?"

  "I guess? It was good, but was it really that good?" He'd enjoyed the musical, and wouldn't mind seeing it again, but every year?

  She nodded. "Yes, it was that good. Every year? An annual pilgrimage to New York?"

  "If it would make you happy, we'd do it every month."

  Savannah smiled, throwing herself into his arms. "I don't know how she could have done it, but Dr. Simpson was right. We are right for each other. We'll have to send her a birth announcement."

  "We're having lunch with her and Sam tomorrow, remember?"

  "Oh, that's right! I can't wait to talk to her about everything."

  *****

  The older couple was already seated when Scott and Savannah made it to the restaurant the following day. As soon as she spotted Dr. Simpson, Savannah started moving around the tables so she could hug her.

  Dr. Simpson had her arms wide before she got there. "It's so good to see you!"

  Savannah smiled, pulling back from the embrace. "Thank you so much for everything. Scott and I would never have made it through without your help."

  "I'm glad to hear things are going better for you. He's a good man, like I said. He just has his...quirks."

  Savannah laughed. "That's putting it kindly, and I appreciate that."

  Scott had just caught up with his wife and was shaking Sam's hand. "Good to see you again, Sam."

  Sam nodded. "You too." The two men took their seats looking at the women as if they wondered if they'd ever take theirs. "You're happy." It wasn't a question Sam was asking. He was announcing that the young couple was happy.

  Scott nodded. "We are. Savannah has been very good for me."

  "You've been good for her too. She's got a glow about her now she didn't have back in June before you married."

  Scott studied Savannah and realized the other man was right. "Are you two ever going to sit down?" he asked.

  Both women laughed. "I guess we should, shouldn't we?" Lachele asked. Once they were seated, she looked at Savannah. "So tell me everything. When are you due?"

  Savannah looked at Lachele in shock. "How did you know?"

  "You have a glow that I've only ever seen on the faces of pregnant women. There's a special beauty."

  "Baby's should be here at the beginning of April," Savannah said with a smile. "I only told Scott last night."

  Lachele looked at Scott. "Congratulations, Daddy."

  Scott grinned, his eyes drifting to Savannah. "Thank you. I can't wait."

  Sam laughed. "So that's the difference in her face. It's not that she's in love, which of course she is, but it's the baby. I understand now."

  Savannah looked at Scott. "We have to see my mom one more time while we're here. We need to tell her about the baby in person. I don't think she'd forgive us otherwise."

  "Do you think she's home? We could go by after lunch."

  "I'll text her and see." Savannah quickly texted, ignoring the conversation around her for a moment. "She said we can come by in an hour or two."

&
nbsp; Scott nodded. "We'll go straight to her place from lunch then."

  Savannah looked at Lachele, telling her excitedly about her mother's new man friend.

  "She just needed you to be settled, so she'd feel comfortable dating again. She should have done it years ago."

  "She should have, but she didn't. I'm just glad Mr. Fordman waited for her. He probably shouldn't have." Savannah briefly explained about the number of years Mr. Fordman had waited. He's a good man, and he's perfect for my mother."

  "It sounds like it." Lachele smiled at Sam. "Looks like my work here is done."

  Savannah looked at Lachele. "Do you have any other matches in the works?"

  Lachele grinned. "I always have matches in the works. I wouldn't be a matchmaker if I didn't."

  *****

  Savannah knocked on her mother's door, her hand in Scott's. "Are you going to tell her or should I?" she asked.

  Scott shook his head. "With the way your mother feels about me? I'm not telling her!"

  She laughed. "She doesn't hate you as much as you think she does."

  When the door opened, her mother stood there with a smile. "Come in. I didn't think we were going to see each other again while you were here."

  "I know." Savannah walked into the living room and took a seat on the familiar sofa. Her mother's apartment was tiny even by New York standards. "I just needed to tell you something, and I thought it was best if I said it in person."

  Mrs. Blyton put her hands on her hips looking back and forth between Scott and Savannah. "You two aren't getting a divorce, are you? Now that I've decided to like Scott, I'll have to protest if that's what you want to tell me."

  Savannah chuckled, shaking her head. "No, that's not it, but I'm sure Scott is pleased to hear that you like him now."

  "Well, what do you want to tell me then? I only have twenty minutes before Joe arrives."

  Savannah wasn't sure if she should be thrilled or offended with the way her mother was always ready to push her away now, so she could be with Joe. "You're going to be a grandmother."

  Mrs. Blyton's face lit up. "Really? A baby? When?"

  "April," Savannah answered with a grin. "It works out just perfectly that I'm only teaching the first semester."

  "It does!" Mrs. Blyton looked at Scott. "I guess we'll need to find a way to get along now. I can't have the father of my grandchildren hating me."

  Scott was taken aback. "I never hated you! I thought you hated me with your constant talk of me killing Savannah."

  "Oh, that was just to warn you not to do it. If you thought if she died, I'd immediately point the finger at you, you'd be more protective of her."

  Scott shook his head. "I will never understand how the female mind works."

  "You don't have to." Mrs. Blyton hurried over to hug her daughter. "I'm thrilled for you. I really couldn't be happier." She turned to Scott, hugging him as well. "Just be good to my daughter and grandbabies. I won't ask anything more of you."

  Savannah smiled as she watched her mother and Scott embrace. She wanted there to be peace between them. If not for her sake then for the baby's. "Will you come out and visit us when the baby's born?"

  "Of course, I will." Mrs. Blyton smiled. "I'll have to bring Joe with me, though. We're getting married."

  Savannah jumped to her feet, hugging her mother again. "Oh that's wonderful, Mama! Nothing would make me happier."

  Scott watched mother and daughter together, pleased with his life. He'd gone to Lachele with a hole in his life that desperately needed to be filled. She'd done so with a vengeance. Even though Savannah would be working for a while, he wouldn't change a thing about her. She was the woman he needed, just as she was.

  Epilogue

  Sam wandered into Lachele's home office. "What are you working on?" he asked.

  Lachele looked up from the scrapbook that was open in front of her. She'd pasted down pictures of Scott and Savannah separately and then a wedding picture. She had just finished adding the picture the couple had mailed them of their new baby, Kaeden.

  "I'm updating my scrapbook with our first Matchrimony grandbaby. Isn't' he adorable?"

  "Now, Lachele, you know you can't just adopt every baby that comes from a Matchrimony match as our grandbaby. Think of how many gifts you'd be buying at Christmas."

  Lachele's eyes lit up at the thought. "I really don't see why I can't. You always tell me to do whatever makes me happy. Having dozens of grandbabies will make me happy."

  Sam shook his head. "With as quickly as those two had a baby, there would be way too many. I'm going to have to put my foot down, Lachele."

  Lachele threw her head back and laughed. "I don't know who you think you're married to, Sam Simpson, but you know that's not going to work on me. I'll collect all the grandbabies I want. Tyson isn't having babies fast enough to suit me."

  "He and his wife could be popping out five kids a year, and it wouldn't be fast enough to suit you." Sam sighed, knowing he'd lost the battle. "We have any weddings coming up?"

  "Oh, there are more in the works. You know there are always more in the works." She smiled contentedly. Matchrimony may have seemed silly at first, but her services were now in demand. Word had spread quickly about how good she was at taking random strangers and turning them into a happy couple. Who didn't want to be happy?

  *****

  Savannah laid Kaeden in his crib and slowly tiptoed out of his room. He was a good baby, already sleeping through the night at six weeks old. She had the baby monitor on, just in case, but they'd rarely used it at night. During the day was a different story, though.

  Kaeden seemed to understand that his mama was his entirely from the time his daddy left in the morning until he got home in the afternoon. During those hours he was demanding and needy. Once his father stepped through the door at the end of the day, he was angelic again.

  Scott was waiting in the hall. "Is he asleep?"

  Savannah nodded. "He is. I don't know why he's so good when you're here and so needy when you're not."

  "He knows his daddy needs his mama too. So he's sharing. He gets you during the day, and I get you all night long."

  "That works for me." She held the remote for his monitor in her hand. "Let's go soak in the hot tub for a little while before we head to bed."

  Scott led the way down the stairs. "Have you heard from Lachele?"

  "She called today. She got Kaeden's picture in the mail, and she wanted to tell me that he's the first of her Matchrimony grandbabies." She grinned. "I love that crazy purple haired woman."

  "What's not to love?"

  "Has Jake decided yet if he's going to call her?"

  Scott shrugged. "We only talked about it that once, but I think he's leaning toward it. He wants to make sure whomever he marries isn't just interested in him for his money, and he doesn't know how to do that any other way, except deceiving his bride. Deception isn't an option."

  "Well, I hope he goes to see her soon, because he would make a good husband." She shucked off her clothes and climbed into the hot tub, sighing with pleasure as the water surrounded her. "I needed this."

  "I'll call Jake tomorrow, and encourage him to get in touch with her. Would be a lot of fun to double date, don't you think?"

  Savannah nodded. "As long as we can find a sitter I trust." So far she hadn't even bothered to look. He was her baby and her responsibility.

  "Maybe we should have his new grandmother do it."

  Savannah laughed. "I can just picture it. 'Hey, Lachele. I think you should fly to Montana this weekend to babysit.'"

  Scott grinned. "She'd do it."

  Savannah sighed happily. "She would. But we're still not going to ask."

  "You never like my good ideas..."

 
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