His Wife

by Ashley Hastings

  She walked over to be closer to me. "You are standing by my son. That is all a mother could ever hope for, from her son's wife. And I have always thought of you as a child, I admit that. Now standing here before you, I realize how much you have matured since arriving at Peacock Alley. You look older, somehow."

  I really wanted to believe her. My gut feeling said she was being sincere, but she had fooled me before. I studied her face while I thought it over.

  “Thank you, Mother.” I acknowledged her words as graciously as I could manage, and left it at that. She loved her son; maybe in time, she would learn to appreciate me, too. Perhaps there was hope for Mother and me after all.

  THE LOCAL FUNERAL HOME took possession of Savannah's remains from the coroner. I selected a mahogany wood casket, and I arranged to have her brought back to Peacock Alley. Mother and I were the only two who attended the burial. I didn't bother telling anyone else about it. Savannah didn't have any living family members, and I certainly wasn't going to bother Nathan with this.

  He had already played pretend at her first funeral. I could take over from here.

  Mother and I stood side by side at the grave as Savannah was lowered into the ground. I couldn't help thinking what an odd couple we made, standing there together.

  I couldn't tell what Mother was thinking. She didn't cry or bring flowers for the grave. Mother just stood there, looking thoughtful about it all. Afterwards, she hugged me, a little stiffly, but still. That was more affection than I was accustomed to from her. She paused long enough to run her fingers over Savannah's epitaph. I could tell she was finding new meaning in the words Nathan had chosen for the headstone.

  As we walked out of the cemetery, we made plans to have lunch at Peacock Alley the next day.

  "No soup, please. I've recently lost my appetite for it," Mother said with a wry smile.

  Wow, she had jokes. With those ironic words, she left to return to her new home in town.

  Forty-Five

  The next morning I didn't want to get out of bed when Nathan woke up. I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep in. Nathan kissed me on the tip of my nose, and quietly left the room, so he didn't disturb me. I woke two hours later, surprised at the time. It wasn't like me to sleep so late, and miss my morning ritual with my husband.

  I rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Halfway there, I felt my stomach lurch, and I ran the rest of the way. The next thing I knew I was clutching the toilet, heaving the contents of my mostly empty stomach into the bowl.

  I brushed my teeth, and wondered at my sudden illness. Did I eat something funny, or pick up a virus?

  Suddenly it hit me. What if I was pregnant? God knows Nathan and I were terrible with birth control, and I couldn’t remember how long it had been since my period. All of our travels had thrown me off a little.

  The thought of being a mother scared me, but after all that we had been through, I knew we would handle this just fine.

  I stopped and looked in the mirror, smoothing a hand over my flat stomach. A baby! Could it be true?

  I dressed in a hurry and went looking for our driver. I found Maxwell instead, walking towards the garage, twirling keys on his finger.

  “Hey, are you getting ready to go somewhere? I need a ride for a quick errand.” I walked toward him as I spoke.

  “Of course. I just need to go buy feed for the horses. If you don’t mind riding in my truck, jump in, and I’ll take you wherever you want to go.” He smiled at me in his sweet, shy way.

  I stepped into the cab of the truck, and turned to Maxwell as he started the engine. “I need to stop by a drugstore for some facial cleanser.”

  The lie tripped off my tongue easily enough. I almost convinced myself.

  Maxwell agreed to take me wherever I wanted to go. I often rode along with him when he went on estate errands, and we always enjoyed each other's company. I was a little distracted today, however. I told Maxwell nothing of the real nature of my errand, but when we pulled up at the drugstore, he stopped me before I could get out.

  "You better let me go in and buy the pregnancy test, Miss Darby, unless you want the whole town talking about your new baby before sunset."

  He laughed at the expression on my face and was gone before I recovered enough to reply. Was there anything that Maxwell missed?

  I was anxious to get home to take the test. I bit my lip to keep from telling Maxwell to hurry up, but soon we were back at the estate.

  I smuggled the pregnancy test into the house in my purse, and quickly found an empty, out of the way bathroom to use to take the test. I didn't want Nathan stumbling on to me taking the test. In three minutes, I had the life-changing news. I was expecting a baby. A baby!

  I was so excited. I hadn’t allowed myself to really dwell on the possibilities earlier. Instead, I had focused on getting the pregnancy test. Now it was real.

  I thought about the playset I wanted to add to the grounds, and the sandbox. Again, I saw a little boy or a little girl running through the fields. Maybe in a few years a pony could join Bella and Lucky in the paddock.

  I was having Nathan’s baby. I didn’t need to think it over, or pace the floor, worrying about it. I was excited, and couldn’t wait to tell my husband.

  I went to the maze without hesitation. I had been practicing the twists and turns because I wanted to master the maze, and never feel trapped or afraid there again. This was my house, after all.

  I placed the pregnancy test on the edge of the big stone fountain and texted my husband to come meet me at once.

  It took Nathan precisely seven minutes and thirty-seven seconds to find me.

  "What's wrong? Are you ok?" He was a little out of breath, and his forehead was creased in concern.

  "I've never been better. In fact, I left you a little present there at the fountain." I danced a bit on my toes.

  I pointed to the little plastic stick sitting so incongruously in the middle of the maze. Puzzled, Nathan walked over and picked it up. He stared at it, and didn’t move at all.

  I was starting to get worried at his lack of reaction. I thought he was anxious to be a dad, but maybe with the evidence right in his face, perhaps he realized he wasn't as prepared for fatherhood as he thought. My eager smile slipped, and I bit my lip.

  I forced myself to sit down and be patient, despite my dawning anxiety, and wait for him to be ready to talk about it. I knew whatever the outcome, we would deal with it together, as a couple. We were a strong team, after all.

  Nathan looked up, and he had tears in his eyes. He also seemed to be lit from inside with pure joy, and he grabbed me up, and swung me around, laughing and shouting without words.

  "Whoa, careful! I don't want to throw up all over you. Morning sickness really is a thing, after all."

  His laughter was contagious. I couldn't stop giggling and grinning.

  "I love you, sweetheart. I can't believe we are having a baby! I'm going to be a father." He put me gently back down on the ground, and I laughed at his exaggerated care.

  "Yes, Nate. You will be a father to our little girl, or to our son. I can't wait to find out which."

  He choked up. I could tell he wanted to say more, but just couldn't.

  I hugged him tighter. “And I think we’ve reclaimed the maze, wouldn’t you say?”

  He tipped me over backward, supporting my back with his strong arm. We sealed our excitement over our new family with a kiss but broke apart at the sound of applause.

  Glancing upwards, I saw a window on the second floor was open. Maxwell was smiling at us and clapping.

  I swear, that man never missed a trick.

  THE END

  Author’s Note

  I have always wanted to be a writer, and finally completing this book, and hitting the publish “button” was an amazing feeling.

  Thank you to everyone who helped me as I walked down the lonely and sometimes confusing road of writing my first book.

  Thank you to JM Walker of Just Write. Creati
ons for the amazing cover design.

  Thank you to Heather R, for being the beta reader of my dreams. Your comments made me think hard, and write better. And they frequently made me laugh, too!

  Thank you to Kelly for listening as I rambled about boring topics such as word counts and marketing strategies. Thanks for believing that I could do this when sometimes I did not believe myself.

  Come read my blog at ashleyhastings.com. I can’t wait to see you there!

  Let’s get started on the next book, ok?

  About the Author

  Ashley Hastings lives with a menagerie of animals, and one day aspires to be a crazy, old cat lady. She has a starter set of three cats right now. Ashley likes to take long walks each day while she dreams about what her characters will do in the future, and is already hard at work on her next novel.

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  Thank you so much for purchasing this book and for getting to know Nathan and Darby. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review or recommending it to a friend.

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