The Cowgirl Who Loved Horses, Queens of Montana Bonus Book

by Vanessa Bartal

  Chapter 26

  For the next month Marcus and Cecily lived at her ranch. For Cecily it was undoubtedly the happiest time of her life, despite her daily morning sickness. Life was the way she always dreamed it would be when she was a little girl and played house. Marcus left for work early in the morning and came home for supper while she puttered around the house and tended to her own duties. He had put his foot down about her level of work, but she didn’t argue with him. She wanted the baby to be healthy, and she wasn’t about to take the chance of injuring herself on the ranch.

  Jessup started showing up more to help out, and between him and Tim, they were able to do the physical work while she took care of the business end of things. Marcus wasn’t jealous of Jessup when he realized how little time he and Cecily actually spent together. It turned out that the other man had a serious girlfriend who lived in Billings. He and Marcus were now on their way to becoming good friends, and Marcus appreciated having him around to keep an eye on Cecily.

  After keeping the news of her pregnancy a secret for an entire month, they finally told their families. Her mother was excited, more excited than Cecily would have guessed, and so was her father. She decided to use his excitement to tell him what she had been up to on the ranch in his absence.

  “Guess what, Daddy?’ she asked during his weekly call.

  He caught the excitement in her voice and matched it. “What, little girl?”

  “You’re going to be a grandpa.”

  He paused in astonishment before whooping for joy. “All right! Looks like those Henshaws are really coming through.” He laughed again and she tried to slip in her next information unnoticed.

  “Also, I sold all your cows and bought horses.”

  Dead silence.

  “You did what?” All traces of his earlier joy and excitement were gone.

  “I tried to make it work with the cows, Dad, honestly I did, but I had no taste for it. I love horses, you know that, and the new business is going well. I’m actually starting to make a tidy profit.”

  “Define tidy,” he said.

  She told him what she made in the last few months.

  He was silent again. “Was that your income for all of last year?”

  “No. That was last quarter.”

  To her surprise he whistled appreciatively. “Let’s tell people you got your business sense from me and call it even.”

  “Deal,” she said. She would never in a million years tell him her biggest jump in earnings came after Marcus’s dad gave her helpful advice.

  “Speaking of which, did you know your mother has some fool notion that I’m going to Chicago with her after I get out?”

  Cecily paused. Always before she had taken her father’s side in any disagreement. It was time to change that. “Dad, Mom lived here on the ranch with you for a long, long time, and you know she hated it. A change of scenery might do you good, and I think you’ll like Chicago. It has all the amenities of a city with a small town feel.”

  Her father took a long time in answering. She wondered if he was angry, but when he finally spoke he sounded thoughtful. “Maybe so,” he said. “I guess I have a long time to decide either way.”

  They talked for a few more minutes before disconnecting. She called Dante and Kitty, sure they would be together. They were, and they were elated over her news.

  After she hung up with them she sat nervously twiddling her thumbs until Marcus arrived home from telling his parents. She hadn’t seen her mother-in-law since they moved out, partly because she was hurt and angry over the whole situation, but mostly because they thought it might help Lydia become more comfortable with the situation if the two women spent some time apart.

  She heard his boot steps on the porch and knew by their heaviness that things hadn’t gone well.

  “That bad?” she asked when he stepped inside.

  He held out his arms for her and she snuggled close to him. “Worse than I could have imagined.”

  She sighed. “Tell me.”

  “At first she flew off the handle and started accusing us of jumping the gun again. I tried to reason with her and tell her you weren’t far enough along for that, but she didn’t believe me. Then it was like a switch was flipped and she blocked the whole thing out. She pretended I hadn’t spoken. As far as she’s concerned there is no baby.”

  Cecily smiled through her hurt. “Boy won’t she be surprised in six months.”

  He gave a half-hearted smile and kissed her. “I’m worried about her. I tried to talk Dad into getting her professional help, but you know how it is. Henshaw’s don’t get counseling.” He shook his head. “I have a feeling that something bad is coming.”

  She shivered. Marcus was usually level-headed and practical. To hear him talk of impending doom made her feel insecure at a time when she needed security most. “It’s going to be all right,” she said to reassure herself more than him. She hugged him close and pressed her face to his chest.

  “We’ll be all right, no matter what,” he said. “Lee, I know I didn’t do a good job of making this clear in the beginning, but if it comes down to a choice between you and my mother, I’ll always choose you. You’re my wife, and I love you.”

  She appreciated his words, but at the same time they made her sad. Since Mathew’s death his parents were all the family he had. He shouldn’t have to choose between her and them. She never wanted to put him in that situation. She wanted to fix things, but she had no idea how.

  For the next two months they lived at her ranch and enjoyed newlywed bliss. After the first few tumultuous months living with Marcus’s parents, Cecily found every day alone with him to be a luxury. She delighted in cooking supper, doing his laundry, and cleaning the house. He was always appreciative of her efforts in the kitchen, especially when she shyly presented him with a peach cobbler one night.

  “Did I ever tell you I like cobbler better than pie?” he asked.

  She thought maybe he was lying to make her feel good, but she didn’t care. She pelted his face with kisses to show her appreciation.

  Without the stress of his mother and her many hours of work, there was very little for them to argue about. Mostly they bickered about the things many newlyweds do, like where to keep the towels and how to fold them. Marcus was particular about his laundry, but after Cecily pointed out he could learn to like it her way or do it himself, he conceded the point.

  Her stomach grew exponentially on an almost weekly basis. Their small town didn’t have an obstetrician, so she had to drive two hours to reach one. Marcus didn’t want her to drive that far by herself once a month, so he always took that day off to go with her. They usually made a day of it and spent time eating out, catching a movie, or shopping.

  “I bet we’re the only couple in history to start dating after we’re married and pregnant,” he said.

  They were both nervous and excited as they went for their twenty week ultrasound.

  “Today’s the day we find out what’s in there,” Marcus reminded her, as if she could forget.

  “What do you want?” she asked for the hundredth time.

  “A baby.” He always gave the same answer.

  “That’s wishy/washy,” she said. “I want a boy, and then a girl. Every little girl needs a big brother.”

  “And then I want two more boys and another girl,” he said. He pounded her lightly on the back when she choked on her orange juice. “Don’t look at me like that. You knew when you married me I wanted five kids.”

  “I did not,” she said when she could talk.

  “That’s really the sort of thing you should find out before you marry a man. I don’t think I should be punished for your careless lapse.” He gave her what she had come to call his bad-boy grin.

  “You misunderstand me,” she said sweetly. “I was upset because five is too few. I want at least eight.”

  Now it was his turn to choke. He sputtered until she winked at him to let him know she was teasing. He gr
inned at her again and took her hand. “How many do you really want?”

  “Four,” she said.

  “Four is a nice round number,” he said. “I can live with four. Why do people say marriage is hard? Apparently they just don’t know how to compromise.”

  She giggled. Something told her life wasn’t always going to be this easy, so she decided to delight in it while it was.

  To their disappointment the baby kept his or her legs crossed during the entire exam, so they weren’t able to find out the sex. As a way to uplift their disappointment they decided to go shopping and buy a few baby things. Their local town had a baby store, despite the lack of a doctor who could deliver babies. They both liked to buy locally when they could, so they stopped there on the way back from the doctor.

  As soon as Cecily stepped out of the car she felt like every eye was on her and Marcus.

  “Why is everyone staring at us?” he asked.

  “Oh. I forgot to tell you. No one knows we’re married.”

  He smiled at her, sure she was teasing him. “Right. In this town? People knew I broke up with Libby before I did. There are no secrets here.”

  “I’m telling you, no one knows we’re married.” She didn’t tell him what she suspected, that his mother had worked to keep things hushed up.

  He smiled and shook his head at her. “Crazy girl.”

  She shrugged. “Fine, if you don’t believe me, ask around.”

  “All right,” he said. He took her hand and led her to the local diner.

  “Hello, Marcus, Cecily.” An older woman named Bee greeted them. Her eyes fell on Cecily’s stomach and bulged.

  “Bee, settle an argument between me and my wife,” Marcus started, but Bee interrupted him.

  “Your wife,” she exclaimed. She pointed to Cecily. “Her?”

  “You didn’t know?” Marcus sounded truly incredulous. Cecily smiled smugly.

  Bee shook her head. “How long, uh, have you been together?” She stared at Cecily’s stomach. The implication was obvious.

  Marcus frowned. “We’ve been married for seven months. Cecily’s five months along,” he stressed.

  Bee nodded. “Congratulations,” she said uncertainly. “Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this already. You’d think it would be big news.” The excitement in her eyes told them it was about to be very big news, indeed. Bee was a legendary gossip.

  Marcus didn’t try to pretend she wasn’t. “Just make sure people understand that we were married first,” he said.

  Bee nodded. She didn’t try to pretend she wasn’t going to spread the news as fast as chicken pox.

  “Why don’t you come to our table when you get a chance, and we’ll tell you the whole story,” Cecily offered.

  Marcus was giving her a look, but she pinched his arm.

  “Why are you going to tell her our business?” he whispered when they were alone at their table.

  “Because if she doesn’t know the story she’s going to make something up. I’d rather her hear the truth from us. And if we give her an exclusive she’ll go softer on us.”

  He laughed. “You make her sound like a reporter for the New York Times.”

  She shook her head. “More like the National Enquirer.”

  “My wife is smart,” he said. He leaned over the table to give her a sweet, affectionate kiss. More people than they realized were watching them at that moment. Until then people had been skeptical of the match, but Marcus’s spontaneous kiss was an effective convincer. That combined with the sweet love story Bee spread soon had the town buzzing about the spectacular romance between the Marcus Henshaw and pretty little Cecily Blake.