“I… you… you’re… what?” Zach stuttered. “You and him?”
I turned to survey my man who was rolling his eyes at me.
“But you hate each other!” Zach cried.
I laughed. “We kind of still do at times,” I agreed. “But I also love him. And, apparently, I’m going to have his Chevy spawns.”
Zach burst out laughing.
“Things with y’all never change.” He chuckled. “Come to the back. I’ll get an ultrasound on you. How far along do you think you are?”
I shrugged and walked with him, Ford trailing behind us.
I looked at my man over my shoulder and winked.
He blew me a silent kiss.
I caught it and turned around so I didn’t smack into something.
He led me into an exam room that smelled of fresh paint. “Hop up on that table right there.”
I did, watching as he fiddled with the computer now at my side.
Ford took up position on my other side, leaning one hip against the exam table and crossing his bulky arms over his chest as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
And maybe he didn’t. Maybe he wasn’t affected in the least about what we were about to find out.
Whatever the reason for his calmness, I reveled in it. Because if he wasn’t worried, then I shouldn’t be, either.
“I can’t believe that y’all…” Zach shook his head. “I mean, I always knew that y’all were it for each other. I just never thought you’d get your heads out of your asses long enough to see it.”
Ford’s eyebrows rose.
“I hated Chevy,” I told Zach. “I’m not sure why you thought that we were always it for each other.”
Ford snorted next to me.
“Admit it,” Zach said as the screen turned on. “You wanted each other.” He paused and took down a bottle of lube. An industrial-sized one. “Do you remember that time that Linnett and you were out to eat, and you saw Ashe out on a date with a guy, and you invited yourself along as a double date?”
I started to laugh.
“You scared my date away.” I snickered, eyeing the large bottle of lube. “Why on earth do you have such a big bottle of that?”
He twisted the top off, uncaring that it had a safety seal on it, and broke it open.
“It’s supposed to be in a smaller bottle,” he answered. “But we haven’t done that yet. So you get the big bottle.” He grinned. “And I remember you being pissed as hell at Ford for the next week. I also remember you stealing one of his tires off his truck.”
I snickered, leaning back on the table and lifting my shirt.
“Jeans are gonna have to be unbuttoned and pushed down, too,” he said. “This is gonna be down by the pubic bone.”
Before I could unbutton, Ford reached down and did it for me. He pushed my jeans down and folded the flaps inside, exposing my lower half even more.
I felt my face heat.
Neither man noticed my embarrassment, however.
Instead, Ford’s eyes were focused on Zach’s hands as he dumped the bottle over and poured a generous amount onto my stomach.
I squeaked at the coolness of the gel, causing both men to laugh.
“Sorry,” he said. “I’m a little rusty at this. Haven’t been doing much of this lately.”
I waved his apology away. “It’s okay.”
He moved the wand to my belly, and Ford and I both stared at the screen in rapt attention.
I held my breath, my nerves practically making my heart hammer away, and waited in anticipation.
“That’s the head,” Zach said, pointing at the screen. “That’s the arms and the legs. Heartbeat there. Strong and fast. I like it.”
He moved the wand around some more, making my belly clench.
“What are you doing?” I asked worriedly.
He flashed me a grin. “Making sure there’s only one.”
I blew out a breath. “Is there?”
He nodded once. “Only one.”
I groaned. “Holy shit. You had me nervous there for a second.”
His chuckle was one that I remembered well, slowly lulling me back into my comfort zone.
“Just gotta check,” he said. “The baby looks to be about…” he hesitated, eyes squinting at the screen as he marked the edges with the mouse. “Eight weeks, two days.”
I blinked.
“So far?” I squeaked.
He nodded once. “Yep. Four more weeks and you’ll be out of the ‘danger zone’ as I like to call it.”
Ford’s body leaned into me, and when I looked over at him, it was to see him leaning forward as he stared at the screen. He looked excited and happy and everything I ever wanted to see on my man’s face when we were looking at our child for the first time.
I reached for his hand, and he squeezed it hard, not taking his eyes away from the screen.
“It looks weird,” Ford commented.
“Head’s big,” Zach confirmed. “They look like a peanut with tiny limbs at this stage. It’ll grow into something resembling a human soon. By twelve weeks or so, it’ll look perfectly formed. Just teeny tiny.”
I felt a lump crawl up my throat.
I was looking at my baby!
“Want to look at it in 3D?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said.
He switched the screen over, and I looked at something even more otherworldly.
But it actually did look pretty cool. If not a little freaky.
“Can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl yet?” Ford asked.
Zach shook his head as he hit a button on the screen. A piece of paper started to spit out the side, and he ripped it off and handed it to us.
“Not yet,” Zach said. “You can take a NIPT—noninvasive prenatal test—and it can tell you the sex. It screens for other chromosomal conditions as well.”
Ford grinned and reached for the photo that Zach was holding out.
“Can we have another?” I asked. “Or about ten more?”
Zach snorted and did as we asked, taking a couple different shots before handing the long strip over to us.
I grinned widely at it, handing those over to Ford as well.
Zach shut the computer monitor down and hung the wand up, reaching over to an unopened roll of paper towels and ripping them open before handing me a couple of sheets.
I wiped my stomach clean and sat up.
Ford was still looking at the pictures when I asked Zach, “Can we do that with you? The testing?”
“I don’t want to know what the gender is,” Ford blurted.
My brows rose as I looked at him. “You don’t?”
He shook his head.
“Then why did you ask if you didn’t want to know?” I snorted, punching him lightly in the thigh.
He caught my hand and smoothed my fist out to rest against his hip.
My heart started to race, but not because of my closeness to his penis—though it did make it pitter-patter—but because of just how fucking happy I was.
We were doing this. Ford and me. Ford, me and a baby.
We were doing this, and he was happy.
I was happy.
I didn’t think anything could take this feeling away from me.
“Well,” Zach said when he held out a hand to help me sit up. “I hope that alleviates some of your fears. And I hate to kick you out, but I have a hot date tonight and I’m really hoping she’ll allow me to play doctor with her for real.”
I gagged and let go of his hand.
“You’re so gross, Zach,” I said.
Zach didn’t look the least bit contrite.
“You’re just jealous that I’m able to do it and you’re not,” he teased.
I shook my head, my eyes going up to Ford’s face.
“I’m not jealous of you,” I admitted. “Why would I be?”
Zach caught my drift and winked.
“
I’ll call you in a prescription for some nausea meds at the local pharmacy. They should have it ready by the time you get there,” he said as he walked with us out of the room.
He and Ford and I fell into step, and I thought about all the times that we’d had together when we were younger.
“Hey, Zach?” I said. “You should’ve moved to Kilgore.”
Zach looked at me over his shoulder.
“I actually thought about that,” he admitted. “But there’s someone there that I don’t want to run in to.”
I frowned.
“Do I know her?” Ford asked.
Zach shrugged. “Probably not. But… yeah. I’m going to do this thing here. Live my life. Away from her.”
That’s when I tilted my head to stare at him curiously. “You have me intrigued.”
Well now I had to do some digging, and I knew just the person to talk to.
Luckily, I was going to be seeing Zach’s mom tomorrow at the party.
Aces.
***
Viddy hugged me hard the moment that I walked in the door.
A whole herd of puppies circled our feet, all of them cute as hell.
But I was too busy hugging Ford’s mother to pet them at that moment in time.
“I guess I’ll just wait for you to get around to hugging me,” Ford drawled, sounding amused.
Not upset in the least.
At one point in time, he’d definitely been annoyed by his mother’s love for me.
But he’d gotten over it around the time he’d turned into a teenager, seeing the goodness of me having another person in my corner.
Viddy laughed and pulled away, going for her son next.
“I can’t believe I had to find out that y’all were together from Tru!” Viddy cried.
“Honestly surprised the hell out of me,” I heard just as I was engulfed into a strong pair of arms.
Trance, Ford’s dad.
I hugged him tight and said, “Please tell me all of these puppies aren’t spoken for!”
He laughed, hugging me just as tight. “Sorry to say, they are. They were spoken for before we even knew how many there were.”
I sighed. “I want one of the next litter.”
Trance squeezed me tight. “Those are spoken for, too.”
I pretend pouted.
“What if I gave you an extra special gift?” I said, smiling wide.
“What kind of gift?” he asked, sounding intrigued.
I looked at Ford over my shoulder. “Would a grandchild count as an extra special gift?”
Trance’s eyes lit with understanding about two seconds before Viddy looked at her son and shouted, “You got your mortal enemy pregnant?!”
We all burst out laughing.
Then Viddy and I started to cry and hug again.
Once everyone was done celebrating, Trance looked at me seriously and said, “I was going to keep the pick of the litter and train her. But she’s yours if you’re serious. Your gift is way better than mine anyway.”
Ford sighed from beside me.
“Maybe we should focus on a baby first, then a dog.”
Ford actually had a dog before me, and I knew he was still grieving over her. Lulu, his dog, who had been the runt of the litter from one of his dad’s K-9s, had a heart deformity. One morning, he’d woken up, and she’d passed during the night.
It’d been traumatic, and I knew it had to be the reason he was being so hesitant to get another dog.
I whipped my head around and pointed my finger at him.
“I’ve been trying to get a dog from him for years, Mazda. Now I finally have a good enough trade for him to bargain with, and you want me to say no? You can shut your filthy mouth!”
There was a moment of stunned silence for a few seconds, then Viddy and Trance both burst out laughing.
“Mazda?” Trance laughed. “I like that one.”
Chapter 19
When your mom said get you a man that can cook, she did not mean meth. Just FYI.
-Ashe’s secret thoughts
Ashe
My mother spent the entire first hour that we were at the club party telling everyone and their brother that I was pregnant.
I looked at Ford accusingly over the length of Silas’ back yard, glaring at him and his beer.
“What are you glaring at?” Zach asked, coming to sit next to me.
“I’m glaring at Ford over there who hasn’t gotten patted on the belly once. Or been given parenting or birth advice once,” I said. “And now he’s drinking a beer and I can’t have one.”
Zach chuckled and looped his arm around my neck.
Ford, who I hadn’t thought was paying attention, stiffened.
“Oh, look. He’s actually paying attention to me,” I said as I leaned my head against Zach’s shoulder.
Zach chuckled and curled his arm tighter, pressing a kiss to my head.
If this were any other man doing this, Ford would’ve bitten his head off. But with Zach being the third of our trio, he would forever trust the man with my life.
“He was paying attention to you the entire time,” Zach confessed. “When Banner came to the rescue earlier? That was Ford sending him your way. He knew that you were getting tired of dealing with all the excitement, so he sent in reinforcements. You notice how Banner talked to you for like a minute then left?”
I sighed. “I love him, Zach.”
Zach shrugged and caused my head to bounce on his shoulder. “I’m honestly surprised that y’all didn’t figure it out sooner. It’s been a long time coming.”
“Everybody knew?” I asked for clarification.
“Everyone,” he confirmed, moving closer to the table so that his legs were pressed against the side. Close, but not actually touching.
I sighed and leaned into him, closing my eyes. “I’m exhausted.”
Zach leaned back against the wall that the table I was sitting on was leaning against, taking me with him.
“Then take a nap,” he said. “I’m kind of tired of dealing with everyone’s shit anyway. Maybe with you over here sleeping, they’ll leave me alone.”
I snickered. “Why is everyone hounding you?”
He didn’t answer for so long that I thought he wasn’t going to.
So I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep.
Just as I was about to slip under, he said, “They see that I’m struggling, I guess. But they can’t fix what’s wrong with me. I don’t think anyone can.”
I sighed and pressed farther into him.
“Love you, Zach.”
He gripped me just a bit tighter. “Love you, too, Soot.”
I would’ve pinched him if I had the energy.
***
Ford
“You’re in the doghouse, man,” Zach said as I finally came up to him about thirty minutes after my girl fell asleep in his arms.
I looked at Zach and grinned.
“I saved her,” I countered.
“You let her get eaten alive,” he chuckled.
I sighed.
“I was getting eaten alive, too,” I argued. “And she didn’t save me from her dad.”
Zach grinned.
“Torren needed to get his say in, and everyone knew to leave him be. Even his daughter,” Zach countered, gesturing for me to sit. “I need to transfer her over. My arm’s killing me.”
I sat down on his opposite side and pulled Ashe into my arms.
She came willingly, practically crawling into my lap.
“You didn’t get nearly as much shit from Torren as I expected,” Zach confessed, rubbing his arm as he tried to work out a kink.
“He had to go and talk to someone,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll be back as soon as he’s done.”
I had no doubt he would.
I just hoped that he would give me permission to marry his daughter. Which is what I’d been in the process
of asking when he’d walked away saying he had something to do.
I had a feeling it was a distraction, a way to show me he wasn’t happy with how I’d gone about doing this.
But I knew eventually he would give in.
He cared for me just like he cared for his daughter.
He’d want both of us to be happy.
“I asked him to marry his daughter, and that’s when he left,” I found myself telling Zach.
Ashe shifted in my lap, and I absently started to run my fingers over her hair in a soothing gesture.
She moved until she was all the way in my lap, and I was cradling her like one would a child.
I buried my face into her hair and inhaled just as Zach said, “Well, maybe he’ll tell you yes now.”
I looked up to see Torren once again headed toward me, his eyes on his daughter.
“Good luck,” Zach said as he got up off the table.
I jerked my head up at him in response, watching warily as Torren finished making his way toward me and stopped at the end of the table.
He didn’t say anything for so long that I thought he was going to tell me no.
But then he said, “Yes.”
I blinked.
“Under one condition,” he continued.
My head tilted to the side. “Anything.”
His eyes glittered with fierceness.
“I know that you don’t want to hear this,” he said. “But I think it’s time.”
My brows rose.
“You didn’t see what was right in front of your face for years,” he said. “You ever forget what you have, or don’t see it again, I’m going to ruin you. And I don’t care how much I love your dad.”
Ashe shifted in my arms, her hands going to curl up underneath of her as if she was trying to get warmer.
I jerked my head in the direction of my jacket. “Can you bring me that?”
Torren left and fetched it for me, then brought it back.
He didn’t bother handing it to me, only laid it over his daughter as carefully as one would a small child.
“I’ll never stop treating her like she deserves,” I told him. “And it may have taken me time to realize exactly how she is supposed to fit into my life, but I can guarantee my eyes have officially been opened.”
Torren smiled.
“I expected y’all to figure it out when y’all were younger. Honestly, at this point, I feel a bit stupid for never pointing it out. I just didn’t want to interfere,” he admitted.
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