by Caro Carson
“Baby, it’s okay. Look, the mama’s taking care of her calf now. She was just too tired to get up and go do it, so I helped her out. It’s okay.”
“No, it is not!” She wrenched free from him and ran a few steps toward the truck, but there was really nowhere to go. “I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to.”
“Do what?”
“You’re a man.” Her words were getting high-pitched, rushing together. “Would you want to go through that? It’s awful. She could’ve died. That baby could’ve died. I don’t want to do it.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to do anything.” He captured her in his arms again and tried to soothe her, making little shushing noises like she was the baby.
She started to cry. “Yes, I do. I’m the woman.”
She could feel him behind her, shaking his head like he was dumbfounded, but how could he be? He was the one who’d just gotten out straps and gloves. “Okay, you’re a woman, but you’re just spooking yourself. You’re not going to give birth anytime soon.”
She was crying so hard now, she was doubled over at the waist. She would have fallen if Travis didn’t have his arm around her. “Yes, I am. I have to. I’m pregnant.”
* * *
Travis was an ass for the next seven weeks.
For the first few minutes, he’d held Sophia as she’d choked and cried, although it was frankly a toss-up which one of them was more staggered.
Pregnant. They’d been careful, except for that very first time. He’d only been inside her for a minute, and he hadn’t climaxed—but it was possible. That could be all it took, as they’d been warned in sex ed pamphlets given to them a hundred years ago at school. He’d assumed he was the father.
It would be nice to be able to claim that he’d felt some noble calling or had a divine moment of parenthood fall upon his shoulders at the news that Sophia was pregnant, but in fact he’d been trying to hold a woman who was about to vomit, and he’d been doing math. June plus nine months.
“March?” That had been his first brilliant contribution to her distress.
“January,” Sophia had gasped, and his world had gone to hell.
His horse tossed his head. Travis was holding onto the reins too tightly. Again. He tried to relax in the saddle, but it was damned hard when he was getting closer to the house. He hadn’t caught a glimpse of Sophia in seven weeks, but that didn’t stop him from looking.
The rest of July had been a haze of hurt feelings. One of the reasons she’d come to the ranch in the first place was to hide her pregnancy once she got bigger. She should have told me. Her sister should have told me. Her brother-in-law should have told me.
He hadn’t questioned that assumption in July, but it was the first week of September now, and he did. Why should they have told him? He was a stranger to them. How did he think that first day should have gone? Grace and Alex, standing by their open car doors, should have said what, exactly? Are you the foreman? This is our sister, Sophia. She’s pregnant.
August had been hot and slow on the ranch. Travis had only ridden half days as he watched the cow-calf pairs thrive on summer grass. The indignation had changed to something else. If only she’d told me at the beginning. If only her sister had told me. If only I’d known...
But it was September now, and he realized he’d never finished the thought.
If only she’d told him at the beginning, then what?
DJ Deezee Kalm would still be the father. The week of the wedding, Travis had verified Deezee’s schedule to make sure he’d keep away from Sophia and her sister. If only I’d known...
He still would have kept Deezee away from Sophia. The man was still a jerk. He’d still made life hard for Sophia in more ways than leaving her pregnant and alone. He’d hurt her career, her income, her self-confidence.
Sophia was planning on giving the baby up for adoption. Travis had been incredulous when she’d told him so on that awful day. His whole life was spent watching mothers rear their young. He couldn’t imagine Sophia not wanting to rear hers, but now he wondered what kind of influence Deezee might have been on that decision.
Travis had that impatient feeling again. He needed to lay eyes on Sophia. Seven weeks was far too long.
He let his horse walk faster. The house wasn’t far away now. He knew the terrain like the back of his hand. Down this slope, up the next rise, and he’d see the white pillars.
The old lie came to him as easily as it had so many times before. If he could just check on Sophia, then he’d be able to put his mind at rest and move on.
A gunshot rang out.
In an instant, Travis’s thoughts crystallized: the only thing in his world that mattered was Sophia.
She was in danger.
Chapter Nineteen
“Damn, girl. You look like a pregnant cow.”
Sophia didn’t bother to answer Deezee. She was twenty-one weeks along, halfway through her pregnancy, so of course she had a baby bump. She still wasn’t wearing maternity clothes. Her stretchy yoga top covered her fine. Obviously, Deezee had never seen a pregnant cow if he thought she resembled one.
Deezee shut the door to his car, a black luxury sedan. He wasn’t driving it, though. That privilege belonged to one of his ever-present buddies. Sophia didn’t recognize this particular buddy. The back doors opened and two more men came out.
Afraid to be alone with your own thoughts, Deezee? Still?
But she wouldn’t say anything out loud. She’d been expecting her lawyer, the one who was supposed to arrive first with the adoption papers for Deezee to sign with her. She’d texted Clay that a black sedan would be coming onto the property today, so it had come through all three gates unchallenged, she was sure. She’d never expected Deezee to arrive in such a traditional car.
Her little burner phone could only text and call, but it couldn’t do either of those things right now, because it was in the house, and she was on the patio. If she made a run for the door, she had no doubt someone from Deezee’s crew would get there before she had the door closed and locked behind herself. She didn’t want to be locked in the house with these guys.
None of Travis’s men would be coming to check on her. And Travis himself? He wasn’t speaking to her. She’d never seen a man as shocked as he’d been when she’d told him the baby wasn’t his.
Clay was her only point of contact at the ranch now, and she’d told him she wanted the black sedan to come to the house. Round and round, back to the beginning: Sophia was stuck for the next ninety minutes with Deezee and his posse.
A little shiver of fear went down her back.
“You’re early,” she said, then immediately wished she hadn’t. They were almost three hours early. The lawyer had arranged it so that he’d be here long before they were, and Deezee was never early to anything, until today.
“No prob, girl. Let’s check out the new place. What do you have to drink?”
She was an actor. She needed to pull this role off. “I don’t have anything you like. I’m pregnant, so...no alcohol.” She held up her hands and shrugged. “I think if you go back to the main road and head west, the very next road takes you to a local bar. That might be fun. The lawyer won’t be here with the paperwork for another hour, anyway. Might as well go do some shots.”
One of the backseat buddies liked the idea. Please, please, please talk your gang into going. Of course, the next road to the west didn’t lead to a bar. It led to the Watersons’ ranch, but Deezee would probably drive a good half mile in before he realized it. Maybe the Watersons would detain them.
Travis trusted the Watersons. They would’ve been part of her safety net, if she’d been smart enough to accept it. She hoped the Watersons would forgive her for sending Deezee onto their property, but if they were friends of Travis, it was her best bet for safety.
Hope swelled in Sophia’s chest.
“Nah-nah-no-no-no.” Deezee waved off his buddy with a shake of his blinged-out fingers.
Hope burst like a bubble.
“I gotta check this place out. We are in the sticks. Damn, girl, whatchu do out here all alone?”
I cry.
She smiled. “Well, like you said, you’ve now checked the place out. This is all there is.” She snapped her fingers. “You know where there might be some beer? In the bunkhouse. Just go past this barn and follow that fence. You can’t miss it.”
She knew exactly how the hands who had the day off would react to these four storming into the bunkhouse. Please, Deezee, go get some beer from the bunkhouse.
“Why are you so anxious to get rid of me?”
Sophia had not done her best acting. She was nervous. She’d never felt so vulnerable, and Deezee could see it.
“Don’t you want to party anymore?” he asked. “Oh, yeah. You got a bun in the oven.” He turned to his friends. “How about that, boys? I’m not shooting blanks. Who knocked up Sophia Jackson? This guy.”
The gunshot took her completely by surprise. She jumped a mile. Even Deezee dropped the f-bomb on his friend for the deafening sound.
The man had pulled out a handgun and was aiming it at the barn. “Just testing out the ‘you can’t hit the broad side of a barn’ thing.” He fired again. “My father used to say that. I hated my father.”
“Stop!” Sophia ran from the patio toward him. “There are horses in there. Dogs. Cats. You’ll hurt something.”
She grabbed his arm, but he shook her off and fired again.
“Please,” she begged. “It’s a real barn. You’ll kill something.”
“Give me that.” Deezee held out his hand for the gun. He took more careful aim than his friend. “Calling the shot. Eight ball in the corner pocket.”
“Stop!” Sophia yelled, lunging for his arm before the sound of pounding horse’s hooves could register in her head.
Travis was there, off his horse while it was still galloping. He shoved Deezee’s arm down. The gun fired into the dirt, then he twisted it from Deezee’s grip. Travis ejected the magazine, cleared the chambered round, and then threw the empty gun as far as an outfielder to first base.
“Sophia, get in the house.”
Deezee adopted all the arrogant posture he was capable of, but he backed up a step. “Who do you think you are, ordering my wife around?” He turned to the driver. “Show him the marriage license.”
Sophia blinked as Travis decked her alleged husband.
Deezee was out.
“What the eff, man?” the driver said to Travis. “You planning on taking on all three of us now?”
“Yes.”
None of the three made a move against him.
“Sophia, get in the house.” Travis repeated the order through gritted teeth.
She wanted to stay by Travis’s side, but she felt the baby kick. This wasn’t just about her safety, so she ran for the kitchen door as more men from the River Mack came thundering up the road.
* * *
“I want to go check on the puppies.”
“Sophia, please, try to relax. Buck said the animals are all fine. Are you uncomfortable?”
She was lying on the couch with her upper body in Travis’s lap and his arm supporting her neck and shoulders. His other hand hadn’t stopped smoothing over her hair, her shoulder...her belly. She hadn’t been this comfortable since the last time they’d made love.
“I’m fine. How are you? You’re the one who had the fistfight.”
“You’re the one who’s pregnant. My God, Sophia...” He cradled her closer for a moment, then put his head back and sighed.
“I’m okay, really.” Her heart felt more and more okay each time he did that. “I never threw a punch.”
“You didn’t have to throw a punch to have all your muscles pumped full of adrenaline. I can feel that my muscles are worn-out from the tension, and yours are way more important than mine right now.” His hand smoothed its way over her belly again.
“Thank you.”
He was silent.
“Thank you for treating me right, and for coming to my rescue, and for being an all-around decent man.”
“I’ve been an ass. You should be kicking mine instead of apologizing to me. I love you, Sophia. I have from the very first, and I could kick myself for wasting the entire month of August feeling sorry for myself.”
“Well, it’s kind of a big deal to find out your lover is carrying another man’s child. Don’t say it isn’t.”
His hand drifted over her hair again, petting her, soothing her. Loving her. “Okay, let’s get this settled. It’s a big deal, I agree. But I could have talked to you about it. I could have asked you my questions, instead of asking myself questions over and over that I couldn’t possibly know the answer to.”
“I know I should—”
“There’s more.”
He looked so fierce, Sophia’s heart tripped a little.
“I apologize for taking so long to realize the obvious. I kept saying to myself, ‘if only I’d known,’ until I finally realized it wouldn’t have mattered. What if I’d known you were pregnant when you first arrived here? I would have found you fascinating, anyway. What if you’d had this cute baby bump when you were throwing those tomatoes? We still would’ve ripped off our clothes in the living room.”
“Travis—”
“What if you’d arrived here with a newborn baby? I still would have fallen in love with you. The key is you, Sophia. I will always love you.”
“I’m—I’m—” She gave up and snuggled into his chest, because he was big and strong and she could. “I’m going to live on that forever. That fills my heart up.”
He kissed her, which was exactly what she wanted.
“Aren’t you angry with me at all?” he whispered over her lips.
“No. I watch you through the window every day. You’ve looked so grim, and I’ve known it was because of me. I’m so sorry.”
She didn’t want him to think the worst of her. “I know this sounds hard to believe, but I really was in denial. I read that the pregnancy test could be false positive, and my brain just seized on that as the right explanation, because it was the only explanation I could handle. My career wouldn’t be impacted. I wouldn’t be tied to Deezee in any way. You came later, but once I met you, that was all the more reason to just ignore the possibility. I sound like an idiot, don’t I?”
“There’s nothing about you that sounds like an idiot.” He kissed her sweetly, casually, like he had hours to kiss her whenever he pleased. “I’m sleeping here tonight. It’s going to be a while before I can let you out of my sight. That’s not too rational, either.”
“I like that, though. You know you won’t be sleeping with a married woman, right? I really want you to know I’m not in denial about that. Deezee is just trying to stir up gossip with that paperwork.”
“I know. I’m glad the lawyer is releasing a statement for you.”
The lawyer had shown up punctually, only to find himself being asked to clarify all kinds of points of law beyond adoption. A quick internet search had cleared up the alleged St. Barth’s marriage certificate. Thirty days’ notice was a minimum requirement to marry on that island, and they’d only flown in for the weekend.
More importantly in Sophia’s mind, she’d never said I do. Deezee’s antics at the altar had been her last straw. She’d thrown her bouquet at him when she was only halfway down the aisle, something that had made her look terrible in photos, but it had been her one justifiable tantrum.
She pulled far enough away from Travis to look at him d
irectly. “I’m not married, and I’ve never been married.”
He studied her for a moment. “Are you thinking of my dad?”
“Maybe. Yes. I know you don’t admire what he did. I think you would never sleep with a married woman.”
He brushed her hair back from her eyes. “If I had to wait for your divorce to be final, I would. After meeting Deezee, there’s no way I would want you to stay married to him. Am I grateful that we don’t need to wait for a divorce?” He laughed to lighten the moment. “That’s like asking me if the sky’s blue.”
Sophia wished she could smile back. “You must question my judgment for even thinking about marrying him. I do. Grace hated him from the first, but he wasn’t always quite so bad. He started using the drugs they sold at his raves. Then he started using even when there wasn’t a party on. It got pretty out of control before I left him. It’s magnified every flaw a hundred times.”
“Sophia?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t care about Deezee. You are an amazing woman no matter who you used to date.”
Sophia placed her hand on her belly.
She cared. And she was scared.
Chapter Twenty
“I’ve got an early Christmas gift for you.”
“Seriously?” Sophia asked. Travis thought she sounded equal parts excited and skeptical as she dumped the last scoop of oats into the trough in the mare’s stall. “Wasn’t a house enough?”
She’d fallen in love with the century-old foreman’s house. She loved that it had a little parlor and a library and a dining room instead of one expansive space—so Travis had bought it for her. The MacDowells sold it to him along with a dozen acres or so, just enough land to make a nice little residential property along the edge of the River Mack. The renovations, including the baby’s room, would be finished by the end of January, when Sophia’s lease was up.