He lowered the driver’s side window, letting in a blast of cold air. Thunder Creek probably wasn’t the best meeting place.
“What’s wrong?”
“The blood work on Midnight just came in from the lab,” Gracie said in a huff when she reached the truck. “I thought you’d want to see it before you left.”
Ace grabbed the sheet of paper and quickly scanned it, his heart hammering.
He hoped to discover a cause for Midnight’s unruly disposition and aversion to people. In an attempt to eliminate any underlying medical reason, he’d put the horse through a battery of health tests, which only made him distrust Ace even more.
“Bad news?” Gracie had assisted Ace during the exams and had taken an interest in Midnight.
“No, good news.” Actually, the results couldn’t be any better. Like every other test Ace had conducted. “Everything’s normal.”
Which meant the horse’s behavior problems were the result of his genetic makeup, social environment or handling.
His recent handling, Ace thought, distaste filling his mouth. Midnight had successfully competed in rodeos for years before Wally Dunlap became ill and turned over the management of his string to a hired foreman. The only reputation Midnight had earned before that was giving cowboys record-breaking rides and producing superior quality offspring.
What had happened to trigger such a dramatic change in him?
Ace was determined to find out.
“Thanks, Gracie.” He handed the paper back to her. “Can you put that on my desk for me? I’m going to—” He paused. Gracie had been one of the people to see him and Flynn at the diner last month. “I’ll be back later tonight.”
“Sure thing, boss. Oh, and I forgot. Colt gave me a message for you. He left for the PRCA Championship Rodeo in Fargo and will be home on Monday.”
Ace’s fingers choked the steering wheel. He stopped squeezing only when he noticed Gracie’s gaze cutting to his hands.
When was his brother going to grow up, quit playing and do something more around the ranch than the least amount of work he could get away with?
No, that would make things easier on Ace, and Colt was all about himself.
“See you in the morning.” Ace started the engine. “Call me if there’s a problem with Midnight.”
Grace hurried off in the direction of the barn and Ace’s office.
He drove away, his focus changing from his brother to Flynn and their meeting.
The road to the old fishing spot was bumpy and winding and overgrown. Piles of unmelted snow and soggy patches made the driving treacherous. Ace hoped Flynn had borrowed her father’s truck and not brought her compact car.
She was already waiting for him when he arrived—her father’s pickup parked with its left front wheel resting on an incline. The roar of furiously rushing water filled his ears as he picked his way down the slope. Barren brush snagged his pant legs. Come summer, when the snow had long melted, the river would once again flow lazily and the woods be overgrown with thick, lush greenery.
Flynn sat near the bank on the trunk of an overturned pine tree, a recent casualty of their hard winter. She held her spine rigid, as if bracing for the worst. Did the prospect of seeing him fill her with that much dread?
For the thousandth time, he wished he could return to that morning weeks ago.
“Hi.” He spoke softly so as not to startle her, though she’d surely heard his boots crushing twigs and scraping across rough ground.
She swiveled to face him, watching him descend the last few feet. “Hi.” She smiled weakly. “Thanks for coming.”
He lowered himself onto the tree trunk beside her, choosing it over the boulder which sat twelve feet away. Their thighs brushed momentarily before she scooted sideways to accommodate him, but not before a rush of heat shot through him.
“You okay?” he asked, curious if she felt the same heat.
“Fine.” She held her clasped hands in her lap, their pale color matching her cheeks.
No heat rushing through her.
“Flynn, whatever you need. I’m here for you.”
“This is difficult.” She swallowed. Fidgeted. “I really hope you’re not angry with me.”
“There’s nothing you can do to make me mad.”
“You say that now.”
“If anything, you should be mad at me. I’m really sorry for the way I bailed on you. There was no excuse for it.” Not a good excuse, leastwise. Losing his nerve was a poor reason if Ace had ever heard one. “I can’t tell you how much I regret it. The leaving. Not…the night. Us.”
He needed to shut his mouth before he said something more stupid than he already had.
She exhaled a shallow, thready breath. “You’re not making this easy.”
“Just tell me. What’s wrong?”
She stared at the river with its pockets of foaming white water.
Was she, like him, remembering all the times they’d come here when they were dating? They’d fish for hours without talking much. If the evenings were especially sultry and the stars out in abundance, they made love.
“I really wish things were different,” he said, his fingers inching toward hers. “That I didn’t have so much going on.”
She stiffened. “Or, what? You’d ask me out?”
“Yeah, I would.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Ace’s hand went still, then fell to his side. “Wow.”
“It was an accident. I didn’t plan it. You have to believe me.”
“I do.” Their night together had been as spontaneous as it was amazing. “We failed to use birth control. It’s my fault more than yours.”
Of all the times in Ace’s life for him to slip up and be irresponsible.
Look what happened. Flynn was pregnant.
Ace concentrated on breathing, on forcing air into his collapsed lungs.
“I went to the doctor yesterday,” she said. “She told me everything’s fine. Progressing right on schedule.”
“That’s good.”
“You’re upset.”
“I’m surprised is all. Give me a minute.”
He’d always wanted children. It had been a frequent topic during their long-ago fishing trips. Just not yet. Later, when his vet practice was established and the new breeding business was running smoothly. When he didn’t have a quarter-of-a-million-dollar loan hanging over his head.
“I realize the timing isn’t great.”
Flynn had been reading his mind.
“I’ll support you and the baby in every way. Financially. Emotionally.”
“I’m going to apply for a student grant. That should—”
“You’re not still moving to Billings?”
“My plans haven’t changed.”
“Well, they need to change. This is my baby, too.”
“I realize that family is important to you. How could I not?”
She was referring to when they broke up ten years ago.
“After my dad died, I didn’t have any choice. I needed to finish school and help Mom run the ranch. There wasn’t anybody else to do it.”
“So you said. Countless times.”
“Tuf joined the Marines. Dinah was trying to turn her life around. Colt decided he’d rather be on the road than at home. What was I supposed to do?”
“Exactly what you did.”
“We were nearly broke, thanks to my dad.”
A surge of anger from years earlier resurfaced, stifling Ace. How could his father have been so careless with the ranch?
Easy. Alcohol had clouded his judgment.
“You’re right, your mom needed you.” Flynn rubbed her temples. “I didn’t mean to dredge up the past.”
“I want to be an active father. Change diapers. Take the 3:00 a.m. feeding. Rock him or her to sleep.” Ace wasn’t sure where this spontaneous paternal drive came from, only that the baby mattered greatly. “I can’t do those things if you’re in Billings.”
“Like you said, you have an awful lot on your plate right now.”
“This is my child. You have to stay.”
“Billings isn’t far. You can visit. Often.”
“I’m not driving an hour to see my child.”
“Once Dad sells the ranch and moves, there’s nothing keeping me here.”
Was he nothing?
Apparently so.
“What about your job?”
“I’m enrolling in nursing school.”
“Won’t that be an awful lot on your plate? School and taking care of a baby?”
“I can manage. Between my dad and my sister and day care.”
“Day care?” He scowled. “You’d let strangers take care of our child?”
“I’ll find qualified day care. The university may have a facility.”
“No.”
She gaped at him, her jaw slack. “I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t want you leaving our baby in day care. There has to be another solution.”
“Like what? You watch him?”
“Why not? He could stay here with me during the week and you have him on the weekends. My mom will help.” As if she wasn’t as busy as Ace.
“No way!”
“You don’t get to make all the decisions, Flynn.”
Her mouth quivered. “Neither do you.”
Ace paused, breathed deeply. He hated being harsh with her. “It’s only late March. You won’t be starting school until, what? The fall?”
“I was hoping to take some online classes this summer.”
“You can do that from here.”
“And Billings.”
“Not until your dad’s ranch sells, which gives us a little time to decide. Together.”
She shrugged.
“Flynn.” He took a chance, reached out and captured her hand. “We’re having a baby. It’s pretty incredible when you think about it.”
She wiped at the tears spilling from her eyes.
“Don’t cry.” He’d always been a sucker for a woman’s tears and ached to kiss her.
Better not. She’d probably club him up the side of the head.
A hug, that was the safer option.
He put an arm around her, pulled her close and stroked her back. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.”
She surprised him by returning the hug and burying her face in his jacket.
He cupped the back of her neck, threaded his fingers into the hair that had escaped her colorful stocking cap.
“There’s another solution, you know,” he murmured.
“What’s that?”
“We get married.”
She pushed away from him. “Ace, I can’t.”
“Won’t you at least consider it?”
“No.”
Her quick and adamant rejection stung.
Was the prospect of marrying him really that intolerable?
* * *
“ACE, I’M SORRY. That came out wrong.” Flynn rose from the log and joined Ace at the creek bank where he stood watching the water rush past. “I wasn’t expecting you to propose. It really was a sweet gesture.”
“Sweet?” He looked crushed.
“Okay, that came out wrong, too.”
“Flynn, I’m serious. I want to marry you.”
“I know you’re serious. And, honestly, that’s what scares me.”
“Because of your divorce?”
“Marriage is a big commitment. Hopefully, a lifetime commitment. Take it from me, marrying for the wrong reasons can lead to a lot of unhappiness.”
“A child seems like a pretty good reason to me.”
She softened her voice. “You only proposed because you don’t want me to move.”
“That hit below the belt.”
“Maybe, but it’s true.”
“How do you know?”
“Let’s be honest. You don’t have feelings for me—”
“I do. Couldn’t you tell from our night together?”
“All right, then, what kind of feelings?”
“I care about you,” he replied, a tad too defensively.
What had she expected? A flowery declaration? “I made a promise to myself after my divorce. I’m not going to marry any man who doesn’t love me.”
“Your ex-husband didn’t love you?”
“Not enough to make our marriage work. The same with my parents. You know my mom walked out on us when I was young. What you don’t know is Paul did the same thing to me.”
Ace remained silent for several seconds. Several very telling seconds. When he finally spoke, it was haltingly. “The other night, it wasn’t just the sex. I haven’t been that close to anyone before.”
Looking away was impossible and, boy, did Flynn try. “For me, either.”
They’d been intimate a few times when they dated in college. Here at this very spot, in fact. But Flynn had been completely inexperienced and Ace not much more. Ten years had brought about a lot of changes, for both of them.
Ace’s skill as a lover had been matched only by his emotional intensity. He wasn’t always as strong and confident and capable as he wanted people to think. Sometimes he let his guard down.
He had that night, allowing her to see a vulnerable side of him he mostly kept hidden.
And she’d fallen a little more in love.
“There isn’t anyone else I’d want for the father of my baby,” she admitted. “You’ll be a good one, I’m sure of it.”
“Then give us a chance.”
“I told you—”
“Not to get married. I realize I’m rushing you. But to be the best parents we can. Raise our child together.”
She did owe him that much. “You’re right. We have time. I won’t be moving for a while.”
“I’m not going to change my mind. I want you and the baby living close to me.”
Flynn should have heeded her father’s advice more closely when he’d warned her about Ace’s determination.
“Are you going to tell your family?” she asked.
“Soon. Once I figure out what I’m going to say.” He smiled crookedly.
Flynn turned away from that charming smile to stare at the sun descending toward the distant mountaintops.
“What’s wrong?” Ace touched her shoulder.
“I’m worried about what they’ll think of me.”
“Mom will be overjoyed. She doesn’t understand how she could raise four kids to adulthood and none of them make her a grandmother yet.”
“I can see your mom being happy.”
“And she likes you.”
“I like her, too.” Flynn couldn’t picture a better, kinder grandmother than Sarah Hart.
Then again, almost anyone would be a better grandmother than Flynn’s own mother.
“Have you told your parents yet?” Ace asked.
“My dad.”
“And?”
“He’s pretty excited. He adores Nora’s two sons.”
“What about your mom?”
He would have to mention her mother.
Flynn sniffed. “I haven’t spoken to her since last Christmas.”
Her contact with her mother was infrequent and that suited her fine. For some reason, Nora had fewer painful memories of their childhood than Flynn and could talk to their mother without resentment rising up to choke her.
“Are you going to tell
her?” Ace asked.
“Maybe. If I don’t, Nora will.”
Flynn’s gaze returned to the sunset. “My mother wasn’t what you’d call a good role model.”
“You’re not like her, Flynn.”
“Am I that easy to read?”
“You forget, I know you.”
Not like he thought he did or he’d see the love she carried around for him in her heart.
A painful lump in the back of her throat made speaking difficult. “I would never abandon my children for anyone or anything. Ever.”
“Neither would I. You and our baby are stuck with me for the long haul.”
She believed him. The Harts were close-knit, and Ace unerringly loyal.
That loyalty also scared her. He may not abandon her or their child, but he wouldn’t give as much of himself as Flynn needed. The family business and his vet practice would come first. It had before, it would again.
She shivered as a breeze swept over them. “We should probably head home. I don’t want to drive that road in the dark.”
He helped her to climb the slope, held her hand until she found her footing.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said at the top where their trucks were parked.
The words hung between them. If only he’d told her that a month ago, their conversation today might have gone differently. She’d still be pregnant, but she wouldn’t have so many doubts about his motives.
“All right. Evening is better. I’m working the day shift at the clinic this week.”
He walked her to her father’s truck and opened the door. Before she could climb in, he circled her waist and drew her close. It was nice to be held by a pair of strong, muscular arms, and Flynn let herself melt into his embrace. For a moment, she could almost believe everything was going to be all right.
How could she be mad at him for proposing and for wanting her to stay in Roundup? He might have had an entirely different reaction to her announcement. Told her the baby was her problem and refused any responsibility whatsoever.
Ace no sooner released her than her sense of security faded, leaving Flynn feeling alone and more than a little scared about what lay ahead.
Aidan: Loyal Cowboy: Aidan: Loyal CowboyThe Family Plan Page 5