Tiny Dancer [Divine Creek Ranch 13] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  * * * *

  Rosemary Garner cocked her head as she gazed at Camilla. “Are you feeling okay today, Camilla?”

  Camilla sighed. “Honestly? I’m out of sorts. All the excitement with the club and restaurant coming together has me worn out, I guess.” She hated to lie to her friend. Rosemary had never been anything but kind and trustworthy in the time that she’d known her but Rosemary already had enough on her hands without dealing with Camilla’s worries too.

  Rosemary rose from the conference room table and drew a paper cup from the dispenser at the water cooler, filled it, and brought it to Camilla. She stroked her burgeoning baby bump and glanced at Heath standing out in the hall.

  “So…he’s your bodyguard?” she whispered. Camilla nodded and chuckled when Rosemary made a comical face and replied, “Don’t let my men know I said it, but he’s a freaking-hot bodyguard too. Those eyes…hubba hubba.”

  Camilla sipped at her water and nodded, even managed a giggle. “Heath’s an old friend. He wanted to drive me today because he was concerned about me.”

  “I know it drives us crazy, but it does come naturally to these men to be so protective. Back to the reason for your visit, I’ll have the proofs for the ads back to you just as soon as the printer sends them to me. We’re really excited to be doing some cross-promo with The Twisted Bull and Chantilly’s. With rodeo season coming up, you’ll be very busy, I’m sure.”

  “I certainly hope so.” The thought of dealing with the rodeo just increased her exhaustion and nausea. What a weenie. Not but a few weeks pregnant and already you’re tapping out. Since it was just the two of them, Camilla asked, “How are you doing these days?”

  Rosemary looked like the cat that got into the cream as she eased back into her chair and smoothed the fabric of her maternity top over her belly. “I can’t complain. I’m seven months along. The baby is fine, and everything has gone smoothly. I’m here in a strictly advisory capacity, or so my men tell me.”

  “And that’s going all right? Just being here on a limited basis?”

  Rosemary smiled, looking satisfied. “I can recall a time when I was sure this place would fall down around us if I wasn’t here during every operational hour and more besides. I felt it was my duty, since this was my family’s store. But I’ve come to understand—” Rosemary giggled and put her hand to her belly with a smile. “Oh, Camilla, you have to feel this!” She placed Camilla’s hand on her belly and Camilla gasped in awe when the baby rolled and she felt what must’ve been a little elbow or heel rub right across her palm. She sat there stunned, waiting for it to happen again. When it did, Rosemary smiled as she stroked her shifting abdomen with a loving tenderness that took Camilla’s breath away.

  Once again, her mother came to mind. Had a moment like that one made her smile, or had it made her feel even more helpless? She blinked rapidly to dispel the tears forming in her eyes. She felt like she was being torn in two emotionally.

  “What was I saying? Oh yeah. There are more important things in life than the store. This baby. And Wes and Evan. They’re so overprotective.” She rolled her eyes, looking a combination of mildly amused and slightly disgusted. “You’d think I was the only woman to ever get pregnant.”

  A deep, familiar voice from the doorway said, “Far as we’re concerned, you are, Rosie.” Camilla smiled when she looked over and saw Evan Garner leaning against the doorframe. He grinned at her and said, “Hey there, Camilla. How’re you doing?”

  Camilla rose from the chair, fighting down nausea and light-headedness. She really should’ve stopped earlier in the day to eat something. “I’m just fine, Evan.” She returned his hug and then walked with them out into the hallway and back out into the main store showroom area. Heath walked with them, after nodding and shaking hands with Evan, who seemed to approve of Camilla having a bodyguard.

  Camilla watched the care Evan took with Rosemary, and the words Ben and Quinten had spoken to her that morning came to mind as she excused herself briefly to use the restroom. She’d been so freaked out by the whole experience that it’d all become muddled together. But she remembered both of them had told her that they’d be there for her, no matter what. She also remembered the tender way they’d touched her and taken care of her after she’d gotten sick. The memory of the night before, spent alone with Ben, came to her, and the words he’d spoken. “I want what my parents never fully enjoyed.”

  She wanted that too. As she leaned against the bathroom counter and looked at her pale face in the mirror, she recalled the brokenness she’d seen in her mother’s eyes when she’d told her that her daddy had gone away, and that he’d probably not come back. Her mother had cried and apologized, until Camilla had begged her to not cry anymore.

  From that day forward, Camilla had prayed for her father to return to them. She’d begged God for an end to her mother’s pain. The low-paying job her mother had managed to find had slowly sucked even more of the life out of her.

  Camilla had taken odd jobs and babysat their neighbors’ kids to help provide for the two of them. All her friends spent their allowances and babysitting money on frivolous things, while she’d stood in the grocery store aisles trying to figure out which would last longer, a box of Cheerios or a jar of peanut butter.

  She’d thought back then that was the low point of her life. She’d been wrong about that. So wrong. The worst day had been the one on which she’d been called to the school office and had faced the news delivered by a police officer that her mother had overdosed on painkillers.

  In her shock, it hadn’t registered when they’d told her that they’d contacted her father and he’d said he would come as soon as he could to collect her. He’d arrived—three days later—looking put out and embarrassed by the whole situation. And then he’d done exactly what he’d done before. He’d left her.

  No!

  She’d lived through that terrible time in her life. No matter what happened, there was no way in hell the child she carried was ever going to live like that.

  Ben’s tone echoed in her memory from that morning. “You’re going to have your dream even if it kills me and Quinten in the process.”

  She remembered Quinten’s gentle hands in her hair as he held it back for her while she’d thrown up. “You have us to rely on, no matter what.”

  If ever there were two men completely unlike the man her own father had been, it was Ben and Quinten.

  A feeling of rightness settled around her as she washed her hands, and she smiled for the first time since she’s awakened nauseated. It was a knee-jerk response to be frightened, given her issues.

  With business concluded, she and Heath said good-bye to Rosemary and Evan and got in the car for the return trip to Morehead. She thought about taking a minute and calling the men privately while Heath waited in the car, but she wasn’t sure she could stand in the parking lot that long without falling over. She felt light-headed, and the nausea that had been like a hard knot in her throat all day was growing increasingly hard to ignore or pacify with crackers. She thought better of calling them, opting to wait until she was back in her office with the door closed. They stopped for drive-thru, but the smell of the food in the bags made her lose her appetite. At least she didn’t feel like hurling for the moment.

  They were on the outskirts of Morehead when she remembered the prescription Emma had written her for prenatal vitamins. “Can we stop by the pharmacy? I need to pick up some things.”

  “Sure,” Heath replied, eyeing her occasionally as he efficiently moving through traffic. He pulled into the parking lot of a pharmacy located next to the hospital.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  She climbed from the car and walked into the pharmacy. After she found the prenatal vitamin that Emma had specified for her to get, she went in search of something else to help her break the news to her men that they were going to be daddies.

  * * * *

  Quinten dialed Heath’s number and waited as it rang before rolling to voic
e mail. He still hadn’t heard from Camilla. He’d just put away all the groceries he’d purchased and was walking out the door to drive to The Twisted Bull when Heath called him back.

  “Sorry, Quinten. I’m in a poor cellular area. Your voice mail just came through. What’s up?”

  “Is she okay?”

  “She looks a little peaked. Quiet—” The line went silent for a second, and Quinten couldn’t make out all of what was said.

  “Heath? You there?” Worry grew in exponential waves.

  “Took her—over—the hospital—needs to go home and get some rest—” The line finally went dead.

  The hospital?

  “Hello? Hello, Heath? Damn it!”

  Quinten dialed Heath’s number, and the call went straight to voice mail. He paced impatiently as the voice mail message played and he waited for the beep. “Heath, it’s me. When you get this, call me back as soon as you can. I’m headed to the hospital right now.”

  Why would she visit the hospital in Morehead? She was just at the doctor. Had there been an emergency? He couldn’t draw any conclusions from that broken-up phone conversation, but it didn’t stop his mind from drawing all kinds of conclusions.

  “Come on, Parks. If there was an emergency, one of the guys would’ve called us.”

  But what if it’s not an emergency? What if she’s—

  A wave of anguish kept him from even finishing the mental dialogue. Camilla wasn’t the type who would end her pregnancy without at least talking to them about it first. She wouldn’t do that. She was nothing like his ex-girlfriend had been. She was good on the inside and on the outside, regardless of the circumstances. But once the thought had lodged in his mind, he couldn’t stop the worry from growing. Maybe she’d gotten sick in town?

  He checked his phone. No calls. He cursed softly and put his foot down on the accelerator. Debating between calling Ben or waiting, he decided finally to call him. Ben would want to know. He hit the Bluetooth and dialed his number.

  “Yeah. You heard from her?” Ben sounded every bit as worried as Quinten felt.

  “I called Heath, but we got cut off.”

  “Where are they?”

  “We had a bad connection. They’re at the hospital in Morehead.”

  “What?”

  “We had a bad connection, but it sounded like Heath was with her over at the hospital.”

  “I’m heading that way now.” Ben sounded like he was running. He must’ve been at The Pony, because he called out to Ethan in the background, and Quinten could hear Ethan say something.

  “I’m already in my truck. See you there.” He disconnected the call and focused on the road. He felt irrational as he thought of her dealing with a medical emergency in the frame of mind that she’d been in that morning. And the other doubt still circled in his mind, no matter how much he wanted it to go away.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Sitting at her desk, Camilla smiled as she stuck the bows on the books she’d found. The pharmacy hadn’t had what she’d needed so they’d stopped at the local bookstore. Heath had even managed to get her to eat a little of her sandwich before he’d let her get out of the car to go inside to look for the books. He’d chuckled when she’d called him a mother hen as he’d made her eat another bite. She’d reminded him not to spill anything in her new car and had walked into the store.

  The food helped her feel a little better, and she wondered if coming to grips with being pregnant had eased her nerves, which in turn had somewhat settled her morning sickness.

  She chuckled as she looked at the covers of the books and hoped Ben and Quinten appreciated her sense of humor. She wasn’t sure how much practical knowledge they’d glean from them, but at least they could laugh with her.

  Putting her feet up on her desk, she listened as the work continued all around her. Rosemary was right. The place wouldn’t fall down around her ears. She now had the wherewithal to hire capable managers so she could focus on what was really important. Her men and this little baby growing inside of her.

  Leaning back in the chair, she caressed her abdomen. “So what do we call you? Peanut? Chicklet?” She let loose a shaky sigh, feeling marginally relaxed, and slid the books into the top drawer of her desk. She couldn’t wait a second longer, so it looked like she was telling them over the phone after all. She picked up her phone to call her men, glad she’d waited so that her mind had a chance to catch up with the rest of her. She wanted this baby. Wanted their baby.

  As she dialed up a conference call so that she could tell them at the same time, she heard a commotion at the entryway, which was currently undergoing reconstruction. She heard Heath and Spencer, talking to Ben and Quinten.

  She chuckled and murmured, “Shoulda known they wouldn’t be able to wait. Poor guys.”

  She sat up, stuffed a cracker in her mouth, and grabbed her bottle of water as she walked out of her office. She hated that they were worried but couldn’t deny the happy surge that raced through her as she looked forward to telling them the news.

  Sounding displeased, Ben asked, “Where is she?”

  Heath and Spencer pointed to her as she came into view, amused looks on their faces. Heath had been able to read the titles on the books through the bag when she’d gotten in the car, so she’d had no choice but to confess when he’d asked her outright if she was pregnant. He’d told her that Quinten, and then Ben, had called him while they’d been at the pharmacy, and she’d made him promise to not call back so that she could tell them the good news herself. Heath hadn’t liked the idea, but she’d extracted the promise anyway.

  She smiled at the relieved expressions on their faces as they both ran to her, asking questions a mile a minute. Looking around at the attention they were drawing from all the workmen, she shushed them with a giggle and drew them both back to the office.

  “Are you okay?” Ben asked as she closed the door behind them.

  “What happened? Why were you at the hospital?” Quinten asked, inspecting her appearance as if he thought something was wrong with her.

  “The hospital? I wasn’t at the hospital.”

  Both men looked for a second like she could’ve knocked them over with a feather, and Quinten looked ready to pass out with relief. “You weren’t?”

  “No.” Both men immediately took seats and breathed deep sighs. “Why would you think that? I was just at the doctor’s office this morning.”

  Ben drew her into his lap and kissed her forehead. “We’ve been searching for you at the hospital. In the emergency room…at the admissions desk…”

  “I had errands to run today. I needed to see Rosemary on business, then I came back to Morehead, stopped for lunch, went to the pharmacy—oh!”

  “Oh—what? What—oh? Are you okay?” Quinten asked anxiously as he looked into her eyes.

  Camilla had to hold back her laughter at the comical questioning look on his face. “Oh…I was at the pharmacy near the hospital. You called Heath while I was inside, didn’t you? I told you I would call you back. Heath said you’d tried to call but that the connections were bad. I told him to let me call you myself, so don’t be upset with him.”

  “You weren’t at the hospital?”

  “No. It was a misunderstanding. Heath said he spoke to you, but he wasn’t sure how much you understood before you were cut off.”

  “That explains why my calls didn’t go through,” Ben said. “At the hospital, they told us no one with your name or description had come in. We were scared that something had happened to you.” She could tell by Ben’s expression that he was serious.

  “I’m fine, guys. I was dialing your numbers to call you when you walked through the door. I just needed a little time, that’s all.” She rose from Ben’s lap. “I have something for both of you.”

  “You do?” they both asked at the same time.

  “Yes. Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”

  Stifling a giggle, as big grins suddenly covered their faces and they complied, she
pulled the books out of the desk drawer. She kissed Quinten’s forehead and put his in his hand and then did the same for Ben.

  “Open your eyes now.”

  Ben pulled the bow off and looked at the book cover. “The Caveman’s Pregnancy Companion: A Survival Guide for Expectant Fathers. Holy shit. It’s true?” He looked ready to faint and she sympathized with him.

  She nodded as Quinten seemed to collapse in his chair and his eyes got big. The smile that crossed his lips was permanently cast in her memory as he looked at the cover of his book. “My Boys Can Swim!: The Official Guy’s Guide to Pregnancy. Hot dayum!” He grabbed her and kissed her until she saw stars. “You have no idea how damned relieved I am.”

  She did have an idea but didn’t know the cause for his extreme relief. She filed that tidbit away until later to ask him about.

  “Yes. I am expecting your baby. This is not the timing I would’ve preferred, but it’s happening nonetheless. This means we have to make some adjustments around here.”

  Truth was in Ben’s dark eyes when he said, “Whatever you need, sugar. I mean that, too.”

  Camilla didn’t doubt for a second that he did.

  * * * *

  Quinten sighed as he slid into the tub of hot water that evening. They’d filled it up for her and lit candles in the bathroom before undressing her and helping her into the water. Camilla smiled at him from her perch in Ben’s lap and practically purred as Quinten laid her legs over his lap and began massaging her feet.

  “I love these itty-bitty feet of yours, baby. And your cute little piggy toes, too.” He gently tugged on each one as she giggled before he went back to rubbing them.