by Liz Isaacson
Wyatt put the boxes on the island countertop and exhaled. “I love this house,” he said.
“The hot tub is here,” Marcy said from the French doors that led into the backyard, and Wyatt practically sprinted over to her.
Sure enough, the hot tub he’d ordered sat there. “It’s beautiful,” he said, putting his arm around his wife. “Is that the surprise?”
“You ordered it, cowboy.” Marcy rolled her eyes and stepped out from under his arm. “Let’s get the truck unloaded and go see the furniture.”
“Fine,” Wyatt called after her. But he took one more look at the hot tub, already anticipating the first soak he could take and how glorious it would be.
Eventually, he and Marcy got all the boxes and bags into the house, and Wyatt stepped into their bedroom with her. The master suite was massive—even bigger than the one at Seven Sons—and he’d ordered a couch, an armchair, and an armoire to hold a television in addition to the bed.
Everything was there, just not necessarily where he wanted it. “Should we move it where we want it?”
“Yeah,” Marcy said, tossing a bag on the bed. “I brought the new sheets too. We can get the bed set up so we won’t have to do it tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am. Tell me where you want all this stuff.” He put the couch in front of the window, where he hoped Marcy would perhaps sit and relax with a book. A lamp went next to it, then the armchair.
The bed got positioned on the longest wall, with a pair of matching nightstands made with a beautiful, dark wood. Wyatt thought of Micah as he adjusted their position and Marcy plugged in a lamp and put it on her side of the bed.
“We should have Micah build us something,” he said.
“Is he going to open the shop?”
“I think he’s meeting with a building owner in a couple of days,” Wyatt said. “To find out about leasing the space. So yeah.”
“What about a dining room set?” Marcy suggested. “We didn’t buy one of those.”
“Nope.” Wyatt hadn’t seen the need. He and Marcy weren’t the ones who were going to entertain the family at their house. Though it was easily the biggest out of any of the Walkers, neither of them cooked, and he hadn’t seen the point of buying a big dining room set.
Together, they made the bed, and Marcy wadded up the packaging and said, “All right. Let’s go check out the stuff upstairs.”
“Do we have to set all of those beds up too?” he asked.
She smiled at him. “Not today, cowboy.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and together, they went up a wide set of steps to the second floor. This really was way too much house for just two of them. They had an office on the main level, just off the entry way. A huge living room, kitchen, dining room. Three bathrooms, plus laundry facilities on the main level. Their master suite, which could easily house three beds. The master closet itself could be a bedroom. The upstairs boasted a theater room, four more bedrooms, and three more bathrooms.
At the top of the steps, Wyatt’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his back pocket. “It’s Grace,” he said.
“Answer it,” Marcy said, crowding in close to him.
But she didn’t need to stand so close, because he put the call on speaker, tapped the button, and said, “Hello?”
“Wyatt?” Grace asked in her Texas voice.
“That’s right,” he drawled back to her. He took a breath and held it, because he really needed her to agree to come to Three Rivers and be his nurse following his surgery.
It had been much harder than he’d thought to find someone who was willing to move in with him and Marcy, and basically dedicate twenty-four hours a day to helping Wyatt with whatever he needed.
He hadn’t been prepared for the first couple of interviews, and when the home-care nurses asked what days they’d have off, Wyatt had just blinked, his mind blank. He’d turned to the Internet after that, and he’d learned what they would expect from him. And he wanted someone good, not just whoever would take the job.
Grace Hardy was his last chance.
“I’m so sorry, Mister Walker,” she started, and a hiss came out of Marcy’s mouth. She walked away, going into the first bedroom that sat just off the landing, which overlooked the foyer below.
“But I just can’t leave Oklahoma City by the end of January. If the surgery wasn’t until April, I could do it.”
“All right,” Wyatt said, disappointment cutting through him too. “I understand.” And he did. “I’ll talk to my doctors.”
“All right,” she said. “Thank you for the opportunity to interview.”
The call ended, and Wyatt let his hand fall back to his side, his phone still clutched in his fingers. Out of all the nurses he’d interviewed, he’d liked Grace the best.
Wyatt walked across the loft and into the bedroom. “It’s okay, Marcy,” he said. “We’ll find—”
He stopped talking when his brain short-circuited.
This room wasn’t just holding a mattress and a nightstand thrown haphazardly in here by the furniture store delivery guys.
This room had been set up. Lovingly set up.
And the only mattress was only big enough for a small child.
Marcy stood next to the crib, which was fully assembled and made up in pale green sheets, with a quilt inside that had a giraffe on it. “Hey,” he said. “I’ve seen that quilt.”
“Your mother made it,” she said.
“She said it was for someone special.”
Marcy put her hand on her still-flat stomach. “It is, Wyatt. It’s for your baby.”
He wanted to take in the rest of the furniture. The fact that Marcy—or someone—had been here to hang curtains in this room. But he could only look at Marcy, her words sinking deep into his ears.
“My baby,” he said, but it wasn’t a question.
“I’m pregnant, Wyatt.” Her grin stretched as wide as the Mississippi. “I’m due in July.”
A roar started in Wyatt’s head, and he swept into the room, taking Marcy right into his arms and off the ground. He laughed, the joy pulling through him so much better than anything he’d ever felt before.
Marcy squealed and laughed too, and Wyatt just held her tight. When they quieted, he set her on her feet and leaned his forehead against hers.
“Are you happy?” she asked.
“Beyond happy,” he said, letting his emotions swirl around inside him however they wanted. “This is so great.” He kissed her, maybe a bit more gently than he normally did. He suddenly understood why Jeremiah took breakfast to Whitney in bed, and why Tripp had been crying at the hospital the day his son was born.
“When can we find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” he asked.
“Months, baby,” Marcy said. “I think I’m only five or so weeks along. I just barely missed my period.”
“Okay,” he said, keeping her within the circle of his arms. He breathed in the scent of her hair, and she suddenly smelled different. She was going to be the mother of his child, and Wyatt couldn’t stop smiling.
“When did you put all this together?” He looked around at the curtains and the fully made-up crib.
“Saturday,” she said. “While you were at breakfast with your brothers.”
Wyatt swayed with her, happier than he’d ever been.
“I was thinking,” Marcy said, stepping back. “Why don’t you call Skyler and ask him to come live here and take care of you?”
“Skyler?”
“Yeah.” Marcy gestured to him to follow her, and he did as they went to the next room. This one had the mattress and box springs leaning up against the wall, as he’d expected. “I mean, you don’t really need a trained nurse. You just need someone to steady you as you climb in and out of the hot tub.” She flashed a smile in his direction and helped him get the bed put together.
“I mean…yeah.” Wyatt wondered if Skyler would come. “You know, he’s married now.”
“And we have four bedrooms up here no on
e will be using,” Marcy said. “You’d have someone here to help. I could still fly.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug and added, “I want that nightstand over there.”
Wyatt put it where she wanted, between the bed and the window seat, and sat down on the window seat, a sigh leaking from his mouth. “How long are you going to fly?” he asked.
“Until I can’t fit in the cockpit,” she said. “And I’m going to hire someone as soon as possible and start training them.”
“That needs to be done anyway,” he said.
“Maybe two people,” Marcy said. She joined him on the window seat and took his hand in hers. Wyatt loved touching her, even something as simple as holding her hand. “I still want Payne’s Pest-free,” she said.
“Of course,” he said. “It’s a family heirloom.”
“But someone else can fly for a while,” she said, tucking herself into his chest.
“Skyler,” Wyatt mused again, and Marcy nodded. “All right. I’ll call him and see what he says.”
Chapter Eight
Mal’s anxiety grew with every mile that brought her closer to the entire Walker family. She’d met them all before, of course, but there was something different about having dinner for a holiday and just hanging out for hours while they waited for the sun to go down.
They weren’t stupid people, that was for sure. And while she sure did like Skyler, she wasn’t in love with him. And she’d need to pretend like she was. For her, she wasn’t even sure what that looked like or sounded like, as she’d never been in love before.
Skyler had fallen silent about ten miles ago, and as they passed a sign that said they still had ten miles until they reached Three Rivers, he finally cleared his throat. Mal looked at him, wondering if he could simply feel her anxiety.
“Wyatt called this morning,” he said.
“Oh?” It wasn’t completely usual for Skyler to have so much contact with his brothers. He’d told her they went long periods without talking, and then there’d be a flurry, and until he’d announced to everyone that they were married, it seemed like they were in the middle of the flurry.
“Yeah, he’s having a hard time finding someone to come help him after his surgery.”
“Oh.” Mal didn’t know what that had to do with Skyler. Maybe Wyatt just wanted to blow off his frustration.
“Mal, I don’t think I’m going to go back to school next week.” He shifted in his seat, and Mal’s whole world shifted.
“You’re not? I thought you had three semesters left.” She stared at the side of his face, but he kept his attention out the windshield, despite the fact that there was hardly any traffic in the middle of the afternoon.
Momma had invited them for dinner before they were going to head over to Main Street for the light parade. No, Mal had never been. Skyler said he hadn’t either, and she had not looked at the website link one of his brothers had sent him, which he’d forwarded to her.
Mal swallowed, still waiting for Skyler to explain. If neither of them had a job or went to school, what was their life going to be like? She’d actually been counting down the days until he went back to school, because then she’d have some time to herself to figure out how to…she didn’t even know what. Be herself again?
No matter what, she felt lost.
“I don’t need a degree to manage the ranch money,” he said. “I can work there any time I want, and I don’t like school.” He finally glanced at her, though it only lasted a moment. “I never have.”
“Yeah, I know,” Mal murmured, trying to work out what next Monday would look like when Skyler didn’t leave for class. A mile passed. Then two. “So, wait,” she said, trying to piece together how this conversation had started with Wyatt calling him, and then Skyler saying he could work for the ranch without a degree.
“Skyler,” she said. “Are you saying you want to…what are you saying?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Why did Wyatt call?” she asked.
“He’s having trouble getting someone to come stay with him to help him after the surgery.”
“And?” Mal prompted.
“And he wondered if maybe we wanted to come live with him and Marcy.” By the time Skyler finished speaking, Mal could barely understand the words.
“Live with him and Marcy?” Mal almost started laughing, but she was so shocked, she didn’t.
“They’re moving into a big house up in a gated community tomorrow,” he said. “The surgery isn’t until the end of January. We could take the next thirty days to pack up, move things here on the weekends….” He trailed off, and Mal was glad.
She had too many words to chew on right now. He wanted to move to Three Rivers.
She couldn’t even imagine doing that, though she had no real ties in Amarillo, other than the fact that she’d lived there for the past fifteen years. She had other friends in Amarillo—Skyler did too. He’d expressed frustration with his brothers in the past, and Mal couldn’t imagine living with one of them.
“What are you thinking?” Skyler asked.
“So much,” she said. “I—I don’t even know where to start.”
“You don’t want to move to Three Rivers.”
“Not particularly.” She turned toward Skyler again. “And certainly not if we don’t have our own place.”
“My goal was always to come back to Seven Sons and do the finances,” he said. “You knew that.”
“Yeah, but…that was years down the road.”
“We’ll have to be married for at least two years,” he said. “I’d be done with school by then.”
“I know.” She blew out her breath. “I guess I just hadn’t thought about it.”
“Let’s go by Wyatt’s place this afternoon,” he said. “Before we go to my parents’ house. You want to?”
“Okay,” Mal said, because she wasn’t sure what other choice she had. She ran her hands through her hair, already feeling it start to frizz though she’d spent time with a flat iron and lots of hair products this morning so she’d look as good as possible for his family.
“He said it’s huge,” Skyler said, reaching for his phone in the middle console. “Will you text him for the address?” He handed her his phone.
She swiped, feeling a bit off to be handling his device. She supposed married couples could look at each other’s phones without finding it odd, but Mal was still trying to figure out how to be married.
She found his texting app, and Wyatt’s name sat at the top. She asked him for his address, and he started responding instantly. It popped up, and she said, “It’s here.”
“Ask him if we can come by in about twenty minutes,” Skyler said.
Mal did, and Wyatt gave a thumbs up. She told Skyler, and then she got his map program navigating them to Wyatt’s new house. “It’s outside of town,” she said, wondering how she felt about that.
She’d come from a small village, and she liked the city of Amarillo. It wasn’t a huge city, but it was about ten times bigger than Three Rivers.
“Yeah, it’s up in an exclusive new development,” Skyler said, glancing at her again. “You know Wyatt was a celebrity bull rider before my daddy even sold the tech firm, right?”
“No,” Mal said. “I did not know that.”
“He’s got his own clothing line and everything.”
“Wow.” Mal zoomed in on the map, and sure enough, it looked like they were driving out into the middle of nowhere.
Skyler drove through the middle of town, and Mal noticed a bakery on Main Street. All the old buildings possessed a charm she hadn’t seen in a while. She liked the snowflakes protruding out from the tops of them, even though it hardly ever snowed in Texas, though the Panhandle did get some white stuff from time to time.
A red, white, and blue barbershop pole was stuck to the side of one building, and Mal saw boutiques, a movie theater, diners, shops, and more.
“Here’s where the parade will be,” Skyler said, pointing to the grand
stands already set up on the side of the road. “We have a reserved spot near the announcers. I guess Jeremiah is a sponsor, and so is his wife’s family.”
“Sounds fancy,” Mal said, swallowing as she realized that every single person in the Walker family was very wealthy. She thought about how much she could send to her family, and she had to swallow again.
Skyler chuckled, and they drove by a fountain and a dog park.
“Do you still want a dog?” she asked, watching a couple of people who had their dogs out that afternoon.
“Always,” he said. “I think the only person who loves dogs more than me is Daddy.”
Mal smiled, but her nerves wouldn’t allow her to truly relax.
They wound out of town, leaving the vibrancy of Three Rivers behind, and started up a slight incline into some hills. Skyler’s phone directed them where to turn, and sure enough, a set of blue flags with the word FLAGSHIP printed on them welcomed everyone to the new development.
Skyler pulled up to the gate, which was shut though most of the homes Mal could see were still in various stages of construction. “Look,” she said, spying a sign. “They still have lots for sale. We could buy a place here.” Her voice was full of false suggestion, though, and Skyler scoffed and shook his head. Thankfully.
She couldn’t even imagine living here. Pure awe filled her as Skyler leaned out the window and keyed in a code to get the gate to open. He didn’t seem to think anything was out of the ordinary at all, but Mal couldn’t get her heartbeat to settle down.
They went past all the construction to a house in the back corner of the development that was clearly done. A big, black truck sat in the driveway, and Mal realized she’d have to put on her loving wife skin right now to be able to interact with Wyatt and Marcy.
Skyler pulled his fancy truck next to Wyatt’s, and Mal saw money everywhere now that she knew more about Skyler’s family and situation. “Ready?” he asked. “This place looks plenty big, Mal.”
“It sure does,” she said.
“I don’t want to live here though,” he said. “It’s at least a half an hour to the ranch, and I’ll be working there every day.”