“Then this is where our serious talk begins. I need another cup of coffee.” He rose and went into the kitchen. “What are you afraid of, Gracelyn?”
Serious talk 101. She had to tell him—had to talk it over with her child’s father. “Know that the baby and I are fine.” She began, “There’s only one way to say this. My sister died after delivering her baby.” A surprising coldness hit her core.
Dane came into the living room, but stopped before taking another step. “I knew your parents took care of your nephew, but I didn’t know that’s how she died. What happened?” he asked rushing over to kneel in front of her. He sat his cup on the table.
“Complications after delivery. My doctor knows, and he says her reason wasn’t something I had to be worried about, but I am.” Gracelyn peered into his concerned eyes. “Sarah was so young, not yet nineteen.”
“We can’t think about the negative.” Dane placed his hands, one on each side of her stomach. “Our baby’s going to be okay. So are you.” He leaned forward to kiss the center of her abdomen. “You’re healthy, plus take really good care of yourself.”
“The doctor tells me this all the time, but how can I not worry…be fearful?” Her insides twisted with despair. She hadn’t had anyone to talk to about this except her parents and doctor. “It’s another reason I hesitated telling you. In case…” Gracelyn couldn’t look at him for guilt riddled her conscience. “In case I didn’t make it…”
“Wait. W-was it something genetic?”
“No.”
Dane embraced her. “You don’t get how much I love you, do you?” He nodded. “Of course, you’ll worry. Have confidence, in me…and the future. I’m here. Agreed?”
She inhaled a whiff of his cologne. He always smells so great. She was glad to have that off her mind and to have his support. “Thank you for understanding.” That was easier than she expected. He told her not to be negative, although his face held many questions.
“Sure, but your doctor is confident?”
“Yes.” She leaned forward to place her hands on his thighs. “Now you’re worried. If you ask me not to worry, you can’t either. It’s a new rule.” She kissed him as her eyes teared. “Got that?”
“Got it.” He peered at her abdomen. “You’ll both be okay.”
“Let me up now. I need to warm my coffee.” And wipe my eyes. Before standing she wrapped her arms around his neck—confident he would be there for her. Her baby had his father and a decent family…if something did happen. Standing, she said, “That’s the beginning of our serious talk, I guess.” She left the room with her cup.
Dane followed and circled his arms around her midriff at the counter. “I love you.”
Turning in his arms, she said with a smile, “I love you back,” then left to pick up her cup. In the living room, she stopped to pull back the blind. It was a nice day today but hot. It could storm later.
Following behind her, he stopped at the doorway. “So, you haven’t decided about having your mom here, or delivering the baby in San Francisco?”
Facing him, she folded one arm above her belly. “I’d rather my mom wasn’t here for my delivery. I’m sure they’ll be no stopping her, but in the end, I’ll probably be glad she’s here. It’d be safe to say I hold a grudge, though.” She sat her cup down then paced around the room, straightening books, papers, but glimpsed him as he came in and sat on the sofa, a fretful frown on his brow, yet he waited.
Gracelyn paced back to the window and opened the blinds more. Light peeked in through the narrow slats. “She hurt my dad something awful when she left us. My siblings and I went down with it. She left him when he needed her—”
“They aren’t together?”
“They are.” Gracelyn reflected back to the day. “She walked out, leaving us all there on base, my dad to handle everything while he prepared for another deployment. We went to live with my grandmother. What she did was cruel. My dad had to go off to war with all that on his mind. When he returned, he took her back.” Gracelyn sighed. “I remained with my grandmother to finish school.” Her foot stomped in frustration. “I was so angry with my mother…” Her phone rang again. She stared at it but remained near the window while it rang.
Dane left the sofa and leaned against the end table between the chairs. He tilted his head toward her phone. “The call you’re not taking. Something I need to know about? Have you been seeing someone?”
“No, absolutely not.” Omigod, how do I tell him more disheartening news? Now, she questioned herself. This might take a while so she crossed the room to the sofa.
As if in turmoil, he paced to the kitchen before returning to the living room. “It’s your decision to date. I’ve been out of your life…physically.”
She peered at her toes, knowing she opened a discussion that had to be dealt with so he’d understand this too. Seems she tossed a lot at him in a short time. “You haven’t been gone mentally.” She raised her head—her eyes closed. “Someone has been…kind of bothersome to me.” Gracelyn met his gaze. “I should say he gets persistent when I say no to dates.”
Dane’s posture stiffened and his shoulders pulled back. “The blue Malibu in the parking lot last night?”
She gave a short nod. “It’s likely, but I don’t know for sure. He comes into the restaurant. I’m sure he believes I made you up, like some co-workers. Now he knows you’re back so I hope he stays away.”
Once setting his cup on the table, he stood with his hands on his waist. “Stays away? What does that mean? He’s been here?” Dane crossed the room toward her.
“Hell no. I’d never let him in—didn’t think he knew where I lived.” Gracelyn stood in front of him and took hold of his arms. “I didn’t know he knew.” Dammit, she’d never had anything to do with him. Trust was important at a time like this, and he did or he didn’t.
“So, he’s stalking you?” Dane turned away and strode to the other window. “You’re not staying here alone. Come to my ranch.” He spun around. “Stay there with me.”
The phone calls, now the parking lot. What next? She didn’t know if they could consider this stalking. He only talked to her at work. Sometimes called. Begged was more like it, but how did she tell a soldier trained to kill that a man begged her to go out, and then called to see if she’d changed her mind? Over and over. “The calls only recently started.”
“He followed us here last night.” Dane surveyed the room, his gaze darting back and forth before looking back at her. “The guy followed us back here for a reason, meaning he sat in that parking lot while we were in your car at work, watching us. That’s sick, Gracelyn.” He raised his right hand in an agitated manner. “Did you see when he drove past me after getting out of your car? What the hell was that about? If he thinks he can scare me, he sure as hell better think again.” His voice lowered. “I don’t scare easily.”
“Can we get back to our other conversation and stop talking about this?” Her body trembled, and so did his due to bitterness. She lifted hair off her shoulders then let it fall, and she tried to put on a nonchalant air about herself to cover her unease.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” He sat beside her and kept scratching at his face or fingering the stubble on his chin. Dane slapped his hand against his knee. “Huh?”
“I had nothing to tell about him. Nothing happened in the beginning other than him asking me out. The phone calls recently began like I said. By then you and I were out of touch.”
Fingers tapped his knee and he sat quiet for a few minutes. “You need to meet my family. We’ll do it slow if you don’t want to jump right in with everyone at once. You’ll have to get to know them. You’re carrying their flesh and blood for God’s sake.”
Gracelyn blew out a big breath. Her mind reeled as she took a minute to calm her breathing. This moved quickly. Her baby was active today, stirring with frequent kicks. Maybe her nervous state was the cause. “Your brothers won’t be offended if you leave them out? To have me meet yo
ur mom first, I mean?”
“In all honesty you’ve already met one of my brothers in a roundabout way. You’ll realize that as soon as you meet him.”
“How?” A shift back and she leaned against the sofa arm. He lifted her legs, wincing because he used his right arm. “How’d I meet your brother?” After a moment of silence, she pushed him, “Did he come into the restaurant? When?”
Dane dropped his head back. His eyes closed for a moment. “I asked him to check on you after I got sent to a stateside hospital—well, a week and a half before I came into the restaurant.” He wrapped his fingers around her lower leg and spoke in a casual tone, “I had to know if you were there. I’m sorry if it seems deceiving, but I couldn’t get a hold of you.”
“Your brother saw me pregnant…and told you.” She swallowed hard, trying not to be so overwhelmed with emotion. Emotion she couldn’t label. It wasn’t anger or betrayal. “That’s why you weren’t shocked when you saw me.”
“Affirmative.”
“And you still came knowing I was pregnant. What if it wasn’t your baby?” His hand upon her leg brought a calm with the gentle squeezes. Her pregnancy wasn’t a surprise to him when he saw her that day. She had wondered why he hadn’t shown more…shock. “Why didn’t they tell me you were okay?”
“I don’t know…they were there for one reason. The rest was up to me.” He stretched his fingers as if they were sore. “And, yes, I came anyway. I knew it was my baby because you aren’t the type to sleep around. Unless you had a big turnaround since I deployed. Even if it wasn’t mine, I still had to know.”
“Thank you for that confidence.” It meant a lot that his faith in them remained, and it made her smile inside.
His lips pressed together and he had a solemn look on his face—like expressionless. In a strained and tense voice, he asked, “What will we do, Gracelyn? We’ve created this and are the only ones who can fix it—make it right.”
Her eyes slowly raised to his. “You asked me to marry you. Do you know what that entails?” Silly question. Maybe not.
“Hell, of course I know what that means.” He gulped. “You and the baby will benefit financially for the rest of your lives.” Dane met her gaze. “I can take care of you, support you. I’ll have money monthly to do that. Damn, I’ve saved money for fourteen years. Plus, what comes in as my share of the ranch, and I have ideas for the ranch. We all share in it, the good and the bad.” He moved her legs and stood. “The choice is yours to make, but your future is standing right in front of you.”
“I can support myself—never depended on someone to take care of me.” Her hand splayed across her upper chest. “Not since I was fifteen when I moved in with my grandmother. Babysitting was my first job. I haven’t quit working since.”
“Don’t be stubborn.” He lifted his arms. “You know what I mean. I don’t want you to lose your independence. Without that I’d never have met you. The day we parted at the base when I was deployed, we knew what we wanted when I came home. You know, if it worked out, I mean. Look, I’m home and you’re pregnant with my son. What is stopping us from moving on? Time? Knowing each other? So what if there’s a lot left to learn. We’ll learn more each day of our marriage. What’s the difference?” Dane dropped back to the sofa. “Our baby will be a Carlson. Hell, I want him to have my name either way.”
“Dane…wait—”
“For what? I could be deployed again, I told you. You and the baby need to be secure before I go if it does happen.”
Gracelyn stood and pressed her fingers against her lower back to ease the ache. “This makes it sound like I’d be marrying you for that reason alone.” She shook her head and smoothed her hand over her abdomen. “That wouldn’t be it. I’d marry you because I love you, not because there’s a baby here.”
“Then do it.” He put both hands against her abdomen and peered up at her. “Do it. We’ll go to Vegas. Get married at my ranch, city hall, or San Francisco so your dad can walk you down the aisle. Your call. Whatever you say.” He got up and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “This child is mine, but it’s all your call. Don’t leave me out.”
Everything moved so fast. She spun around and went into her bedroom. The scent of his cologne lingered in the room. Mmm, the smell of him, the same she remembered from the night they met. The night she fell in love with him. Marry him, when at night before closing her eyes, she pictured them walking down the aisle one day. Maybe it was crazy. She met a man and got pregnant. Gracelyn touched her abdomen, her gaze following as her fingers stroked her belly. Little boy, I love you. Her son kicked then squirmed before kicking again. A smile grew on her face and she went back into the living room. Her voice quivered when she said, “I’ll marry you.”
At the window, he whirled around. Dane shoved one hand into his pocket and cocked his head. “What did you say?”
“I’ll marry you in Las Vegas.”
“Hot damn. You need a ring, girl. Let’s go buy one.” Dane placed his hands behind his head, but paced to the door, back to her bedroom while mumbling to himself as he stood across the room as if in a daze.
She couldn’t make out what he said. “Dane, are you about to pass out?” Or was he sorry he asked now that she agreed—now that he had a second to think it over?
First diverting his eyes from her, he then held his palm up. “Wait… Could I talk to your dad?” A big breath caused his chest to rise when he inhaled and his mouth formed an O when he blew it out.
“My dad? For what? That isn’t—”
“To ask for his blessing on our marriage. I suppose it’s too late to ask him if I can marry you. It’s the right thing to do, Gracelyn.”
“You want to ask my dad?” My God, what a man, a gentleman. She never would’ve pegged him for being the type to ask for anything, yet she took her phone from the table. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been surer of anything.” He sauntered toward her, smiling when he took her hand. “Should I expect a blowup? To be called a rotten sonofabitch…or worse? Will he want to rip off my stripes?”
“I believe he’ll be proud. As I am.” So proud she was of her soldier boy. Her dad would be pleasantly surprised. Happy for her, for them—she was sure.
When Gracelyn dialed, he asked, “Do they even know I’m home? That I want to be a part of this baby’s life?”
She nodded then spoke to her dad when he answered. “Daddy? Um, remember last night when I told you Dane was home? He’s here and he needs to speak to you. Do you have a minute?”
“Hi, sweetie, I was about to call you. Absolutely. Put him on the phone.”
She listened intently as he spoke, and a moment later she held the phone out for Dane.
He rubbed his sweaty palm against his chest before taking the phone. “Lieutenant Colonel Clark, it’s very nice to meet you, sir.” He put it on speaker and paused.
“Hello, Sergeant Carlson. Please, call me Doug.”
Gracelyn was never more proud as she stood viewing another part of the man she was about to marry.
“Okay, Doug, sure, I don’t mind calling you by your first name. Thank you, sir. I have you on speaker phone if that’s okay with you.” Dane glanced at Gracelyn.
“That’s fine with me, young man. I can call you by your first name, too, Dane?”
“Yes. Forgive me.” Dane peered at her and gave a wink. “Sir, I’ve been known to be point blank when I have something on my mind, ah…ask my mom, she’ll be the first to tell you.”
“Maybe one day the wife and I will get a chance to ask her. We plan on a trip to see our daughter when she has the baby.”
“She’ll like that…sir, me, too. But I’m home now as you know, and you also know your daughter is carrying my child. I…ah…” He covered the phone. “Do they know we’re having a boy?”
“Yes,” she whispered as she paced across the room and back. Her soldier was so gallant at this precise moment. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and she dabbed it off with her shirtsleeve.
“Ah, sir, Doug, our son needs a father. I’ve asked Gracelyn to marry me. She said, ‘yes’.” He peered at the ceiling then strolled to the window. “I’d like your blessing, sir.” Dane pivoted around, making eye contact with her after taking it off speaker phone.
Gracelyn eyed him as he stood there. What would her dad say? She disappointed him for a moment or two, maybe longer, but she was his only daughter now. He’d want her happy—her mom would want her happy, unlike she had been for most of their married years.
“Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. This means a lot to us… Yes, I’ll put her on the phone.” His shoulders drooped but then he stood straight, proud.
An inward laugh nearly snuck out when he almost saluted her father over the phone, but she’d keep it to herself. What she wouldn’t keep to herself was the pride she held in her heart. Gracelyn took the phone when he handed it over. “Hi, dad. You’re wonderful.”
“I want you happy, princess. You’ll be a beautiful bride. Sounds like you found a real gentleman there.”
A smile lit her face. “I told you. After all, he’s a cowboy and a real class act. I don’t think he has a choice since he’s a cowboy and a soldier.” She winked at Dane.
“Your mother and I love you, sweetheart. Take care of yourself. It appears you’re in good hands. Keep us informed.”
Gracelyn sat beside Dane on the sofa. “I love you, too, Dad. Give everyone a hug for me.” She reached for Dane’s hand. “We’ll let you know our plans, but good-bye for now. I love all of you.” She observed Dane after the call. He twisted his neck from side to side. Tense. “You’ve made quite an impression with my dad.”
“Damn, girl, that was scarier than taking an important hill from the Taliban in the middle of the day,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, but then he held his arms out.
She fell into his embrace. “You’re so gallant. Everything I’ve ever heard about cowboys being gentlemen, sure is true for you. Barn smells, too, I suppose. We can’t forget the barn smells.”
“Thank my dad for all that stuff, sweetheart. Even the barn smells.” Dane chuckled. “My Mom, too, who would kick my ass if I didn’t talk to your dad. Don’t think for a minute she wouldn’t. I swear I get some of this rebel from her, although she’d never admit it. Today my rebel departed.”
Of The Cowboy's Own Accord (Double Dutch Ranch; Love At First Sight #3) Page 13