by Donna Alward
“Sure did. Jet’s good, but Jacob is phenomenal. He could end up with a title this year.”
“My dad was injured in an event on the seniors’ tour,” Lizzie explained. “I’m only heading things up until he can come back to the office. I usually head the Human Resources department.”
Which was still a pretty impressive resume in itself, Chris added mentally.
Lizzie took a drink of tea and smiled at his parents, who were still obviously trying to absorb the fact that Lizzie had a rather high-profile position. “Rodeo is how Chris and I met, actually. He was competing the same weekend as my brothers.”
He reached over and took her hand. A show of solidarity. Of...affection. Not long ago it had been only a show. Now there was more. A lot more. He’d found that moving in with her had been nearly seamless. Ever since they’d agreed to try seeing each other, taking things slowly without making demands on the future, they’d gotten on extremely well.
The only problem was, Chris wanted to make demands. He wanted to make plans. Damn it, he wanted to be with her, and he was scared to tell her in case she pushed him away entirely. He felt as if he was standing on a knife edge. One wrong move and he’d wreck everything.
“I have to admit, we were plenty surprised when Chris said he was taking a year off to compete again. We were also pleased when he went back to his job, even if the promotion took him further away.” This from his father, who, Chris realized, was looking pleased as punch that his son had given up the crazy idea of rodeo.
Lizzie squeezed his hand, though, and leaned into his shoulder a little bit. “Well, as long as he’s happy. I don’t think it really matters what a person does, as long as they enjoy it.”
He was surprised at the support she was giving him right now. Even more surprised at the challenge she’d politely issued to his father, all while smiling sweetly.
Bob leaned forward. “Pardon my bluntness, but that’s probably easier to say when you’ve been brought up a Baron.”
Chris tensed. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go! They still had to break the news about the baby. He tightened his fingers on Lizzie’s, a silent warning.
But Lizzie relaxed against his arm and once more turned her warm smile on his dad. “Yes, that’s true. But I wouldn’t be part of the business if I didn’t want to be. I love what I do. I love the company. My brother, on the other hand, isn’t so interested in the energy sector and has his own ranch close to Roughneck. My sister runs the farm store.” She leaned forward a little. “The one thing we were taught growing up? The value of hard work. There’s never been a job any of us was too good for, you know? We all did our fair share of washing dishes and cleaning stalls. Our silver spoon was shaped like a shovel.”
Bob’s eyes lit with a new respect. “I’m glad to hear it.”
She laughed a little and Chris let her take the lead. She was winning over his dad in exactly the right way.
“The one thing I’ve learned about your son in the time we’ve been...together?” Chris caught the slight hesitation and hoped his parents hadn’t. Lizzie continued on, “He is hardworking, honorable and is determined to live up to his responsibilities. You raised a good man.”
Chris watched as his dad sat back a bit, satisfied, and his mom beamed from her chair across the narrow verandah. More than that, though, he felt a warm glow within himself at her words. Was that really how she saw him? As a good man? Honorable? He tried. God knows he tried. And if he’d had to sacrifice some of his happiness, it was worth it.
“You’re the first girl Chris has brought home since Erica,” his mother said, her eyes shining. “Now we can see why.”
There it was. The stamp of approval, even if his mom had brought Erica into the conversation. One thing was for certain, he didn’t have to worry about Lizzie wanting him for what he could provide for her. She could manage stability all on her own.
So why was she here? Really? It wasn’t about amicable coparenting anymore, hadn’t been for a while. Was she starting to truly care for him the way he cared for her?
“There’s another reason why,” he said softly, looking over at Lizzie for permission to give them the news. She smiled softly and nodded and his heart pounded. Had he just thought the word care with regards to Lizzie? It was more than that. He was falling in love with her. Head over heels, stupid in love with her.
He faced his parents, and his chest felt as if it was expanding with...what? Pride? Happiness? He couldn’t be sure, but he smiled and said the words.
“We’re having a baby.”
Shock registered on his parents’ faces, and his mother was the first to speak. “A baby?”
“Yes,” Lizzie answered. “Around the middle of October.”
“Oh, my stars.”
“You’re going to be a grandma,” Chris said, grinning. “Better get your knitting needles out.”
“A baby,” she repeated. “Oh, honey. It’s so fast, but you look happy....” She looked at Lizzie. “I know your family probably doesn’t expect it, but we’d like to help with the wedding.”
Lizzie froze next to him and he took a breath. “That’s a little premature.” He tried to keep the mood light and upbeat. “We’re just taking things one day at a time for now.”
“One day at a time. What does that mean?” This from his dad, who’d sat quietly for the past thirty seconds.
Chris started to speak but Lizzie put a hand on his arm to forestall him and spoke instead. “I know it’s not ideal, but I just stopped being sick every morning, and pretty soon I’ll be showing. We’re still getting used to the idea ourselves, and my dad is mostly in a wheelchair at this point. Not to mention I’m running the company in his absence. We just decided to deal with everything going on first. There’s plenty without adding on the stress of a wedding, too.”
“You’re having a baby, you should be married,” Bob insisted.
“Bob,” Debra chastised quietly.
“Well, they should.”
“This wasn’t really planned, Dad,” Chris said. “And I would want Lizzie to have a beautiful wedding day and not a rushed justice of the peace deal at the courthouse, you know?”
He could feel Lizzie’s gaze on him and wondered if he was so transparent she could see what he was feeling right now. That the idea of marriage no longer scared him as it had once. He figured if she could really see that, she’d be hightailing it in the other direction.
His dad still didn’t seem happy and his mom’s eyes were worried. “Hey,” he said gently, “I know it isn’t the way you would have wanted. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a blessing, okay?”
“I was taken by surprise,” Lizzie added. “And afraid. But Chris has been there for me from the first moment. He’s right. It is a blessing.”
He looked over at her and she at him. And in that moment he knew. He was in it all the way. Heart, body and soul. And then she smiled at him and he put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
When he released her, his father’s face had softened and his mom had tears in her eyes.
“Well, then, congratulations.” Debra got up and came over to the swing, bending down to give Chris a hug. She let him go and turned to Lizzie. “To you, too, dear.” And she hugged Lizzie, as well.
After his mom let Lizzie go, she cleared her throat. “I’d better get supper on the go. We have celebrating to do.”
Lizzie got up from the swing. “Let me help you. My fried chicken never turns out. Maybe you’ve got a secret to share.”
When the porch door clapped shut behind them, Bob finally said what was on his mind. “I expect you to do the right thing, Christopher.”
“It’s not that simple,” Chris answered.
“It damn well is.” Bob’s brows knit together. “You have an obligation....”
Chris’s
temper snapped and he forced himself to keep his voice calm. “I know very well what my obligations are,” he answered tightly. “And I’ll do this on my own time and in my own way. Without interference.”
His dad raised one eyebrow. “Do you love her, son?”
Chris’s throat tightened. “More than I realized,” he replied quietly, looking over at the porch door. “And if you taught me anything, it was to do things the right way and not the fastest way. Trust me on this.”
Chapter Thirteen
The condo was dark when they got back from Chris’s parents’. Lizzie opened the door and flicked a switch, turning on a soft lamp in the living room. A plastic container held leftover fried chicken, given to them by Debra who’d insisted her secret ingredient was seasoning salt. Chris was behind her and he shut the door and locked it for the night.
He was a part of her life now. They’d made the pact to take it slow. To not make promises or plans. But now she was wishing he would.
“Your parents are nice. They love you very much, I could tell.”
He chuckled behind her. “And you handled my father perfectly. He respects someone who’ll look him in the eye.”
She put the chicken in the fridge and turned around. “So do I. I know he pushed you to be something you didn’t want....”
“If I’d hated it, I would have done something else. Really, Lizzie, it’s not that big a deal. I understand where he’s coming from.”
“I meant what I said, too. You should do what makes you happy. If it’s rodeo, it’s rodeo. If it’s working with horses, you should do that. I know you feel you have obligations, but that doesn’t have to come down to a dollar sign, you know?”
“Maybe it’s pride,” he suggested, and she noticed he was frowning a little.
“Why, because I make more than you? I don’t care about that. God, Chris. Don’t be such a snob.” She knew it sounded strange, considering she was the one who ran in different circles than he did, but pride could be a foolish thing to hang on to now and again.
“You don’t think people will say I latched on to you for your money?”
She frowned now as he zeroed in on what had been one of her greatest fears. “Who cares what people say?”
“Maybe I do. I know what it’s like to be with someone who wants you for what you can provide, and not for who you are. Granted, I didn’t have Baron prestige behind me but I had a good job and a good income and stability and Erica saw that as her ticket. And when I announced I was taking a year off, she wasn’t quite so interested.”
“I don’t see you that way.”
“Oh? So the fact that I’m practically living in your condo doesn’t look the least bit opportunistic?”
“No!” She was truly confused now. The one thing she’d liked about him from the start was that he hadn’t seemed to care that her last name was Baron. “Where the hell is all this coming from?” They still stood in the space between the kitchen and living room, faced off, not quite an argument but not a relaxed conversation either.
“I’m sorry.” He let out a huge breath. “I get crazy when I’m with my dad. He’s got very strong opinions about a man’s responsibilities.”
She went to him then, took his hands in hers. She probably shouldn’t have left him alone with his dad this afternoon. Chris had been quiet during dinner—not incredibly so, but enough that she’d noticed he was a bit subdued. What in the world had his father said to him that had dampened his mood so much?
“You know that I turned down Mark Baker when I was in college,” she began quietly. “That was my strong moment. I could see he was only really interested in me as a Baron. And while he’s not my favorite person, I know he’s very good at his job and we’ve moved past that awkward beginning. But what you don’t know is that I turned him down because I’d learned a hard lesson the year before.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re sensitive because of your past experience, and so am I. I got my heart broken in college, Chris. My family isn’t stupid rich but we’re well enough off. I let myself get caught up in a relationship with a law student, fell in love. At the end of my third year he proposed and I was in heaven. And that was when it started. He started talking about the wedding guest list and the people he wanted to invite for their connections. I started fourth year and was trying to study and he was all about appearances together and being seen. Everything had to be just so. And then he started referring to us as the Texas power couple and I knew he was only half joking. He kept saying that with his ambition and Lizzie Baron on his arm, he’d be in congress by the time he was thirty-five.”
“Liz,” Chris said quietly. “That’s horrible.”
“I flat-out asked him if he really loved me. And he said he did, but it wasn’t in his eyes. I got his politician smile and charming assurances and I knew it wasn’t real. He broke my heart.”
“What did you do?”
“Broke off the engagement, much to my family’s relief. Focused on my studies and when word circulated that he’d been the one to break it off, I let it go. He wanted to come out of it smelling like a rose. I’d dodged a bullet. It didn’t really matter who’d done the kicking to the curb.”
“I’m sorry,” he offered weakly. “And then Mark came along?”
She smiled then. “Yeah. And I could see him coming a mile away. Fool me once... Anyway, my point is, if you were latching on to me for my name, I’d know it. And I don’t see that at all. I see someone who got caught up in something unexpected, who’s making the best of it, and being pretty wonderful when all is said and done. So no, it doesn’t bother me that our paychecks might not match. I couldn’t care less.”
She wasn’t sure what she expected after her little speech, but it wasn’t the glow in his eyes as he moved closer and put his hand on her face, caressing her cheekbone with his thumb.
“Do you know how extraordinary you are?” he murmured. “I think I’m the one who landed in clover here.”
“You say that until I’m big as a barn with swollen ankles and a disposition like a raging bull.”
“Am I still going to be here then, Liz?”
“Do you want to be?”
She held her breath, waiting for his answer. They’d said no plans. But he’d asked. And she’d asked the more important question. Because she didn’t want him to leave. She liked seeing him first thing in the morning. She was happy to be home with him at night, looking at real estate, having someone across the table from her as she ate dinner, to curl up to at night. It wasn’t just the sex, even though that was where they’d started. It was more. So much more.
“Yes,” he breathed. “I think I do want to be here. Very much.”
Her pulse leapt. “We’re doing this then? Us?”
His smile, the one she loved, slightly lopsided that popped his dimple, appeared. “Yeah, we’re doing this.”
He kissed her, but this time it was different. It was filled with the potential for both happiness and failure. It was fragile, too, holding both their hearts in the balance as they stepped off into something unknown. And for Lizzie, it was truly the beginning of something she hadn’t felt in a very long time—love. And that love came from trust. Trust that her heart was safe with him.
She took his hand and led him to the bedroom. Silently, with their gazes locked, they undressed. Lizzie sensed they were at a turning point where everything from this moment would be different. They weren’t falling into anything like they had before, or easing into it like they had his moving in. They had made a conscious decision to be together—really together. To meet as equals, face-to-face, heart-to-heart. It was so much bigger than it had ever been before, scary in its awesomeness.
Chris came forward and reached for her, his fingers grazing over the slight bump of her stomach. Their baby. Theirs. Right now it was feeling like a
miracle—a perfect little person growing inside her, half Lizzie and half Chris.
And when they made love the emotion overwhelmed her heart. She was in love with him, she realized, a tear forming at the corner of her eye. With this strong, noble, gentle man who had accidentally fathered her child.
Minutes later, curled up in his embrace under the covers, she closed her eyes and felt a prayer of thanks. She’d never imagined she’d find someone like him, especially when she wasn’t even looking. It was all going to work out just fine, she thought, slipping into the relaxed state just before sleep. It would all be fine with Chris at her side.
* * *
LEAVING FOR WORK the next morning was different than other mornings. Instead of a brief “have a nice day,” she kissed Chris goodbye at his truck and then walked the few blocks to the DART station to catch her train. She’d only made it halfway to the office when she got a text from him saying simply see you tonight, xx. She smiled to herself as she answered back and asked what he wanted to do for dinner.
But once she was at the office she squared her shoulders and got her head in the game. She had a full day planned, including talking to Jacob about safety inspection practices. Despite Brock’s defiance, she fully planned to help Jacob move into a bigger role within the company. Once Brock realized how valuable he was, he’d come around. She was sure of it. Right now it felt as if anything was possible.
She was halfway to her office when Maria fell into step with her. “I need to see you right away,” the older woman said, her expression serious. “Something came by courier this morning that you’re going to want to look at.”
That didn’t sound good. Lizzie frowned. “What?”
“This.” Maria handed over an envelope and Lizzie slid the sheaf of papers out, scanning the top page.
It took her a moment to realize what she was holding and when she did her feet stopped moving and her blood ran cold. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nicole Bennett from AB Windpower has already phoned and set up a meeting with you for this afternoon.”