by Lori Leger
His low growl rumbled in her ear. “When you ask like that, how can I refuse?” He carried her to the master suite and dropped her on the bed they’d waited until their wedding night to christen. Since then it had endured a steady stream of lovemaking episodes, as did the couch, the recliner, the utility room, and even once on the front porch swing.
“Take your boots off, cowboy.”
He grinned at her, his blue eyes sparkling with laughter. “Are you sure? I might get better traction with ‘em on.”
“You don’t have a problem with traction, trust me Zach-attack.” She helped him pull the boots off and giggled when he got on his knees and kissed her belly.
The shrill ring of the phone cut through the air.
He looked at her. “You want me to get that?”
“I know it’s Mom. She’s the only one who uses the landline anymore.”
“Go ahead and answer it.”
She lifted the phone from its cradle, smiling at the name flashing across the screen. “Hey my Mama, how are you this glorious day?”
“It surely is, isn’t it? I’m fine, I only wanted to see if you were free for today. I feel like going to my favorite Mexican restaurant and thought I’d treat my two girls.”
Cat checked the time. “Yeah, I guess I can make lunch, Mom. Cilantros at what time?” She giggled as Zach unzipped her jeans and started sliding them down her legs. “Stop, you’re tickling me!” she hissed at her husband.
“What’s that, Cat?” Ellen McDaniel asked.
“Nothing! What time?” She held her finger to her mouth when her husband unhooked the front clasp of her bra.
“How about an early lunch? Say 11:00?”
“Mm,” Cat bit back a low growl as he buried his face between her breasts. “I can’t make it for 11:00, Mom. 11:30 maybe, but if I’m a little late, start without me.”
Zach lifted his head and grinned at his wife. “We’re making you another grandbaby, Ms. Ellen!” he called out.
“Zachary! Shh!” Cat clamped a hand over the mouthpiece.
“Oooh! Well, I don’t want to interrupt. In that case, we’ll make it for noon, and if you don’t show up, that’s fine, too.”
Cathryn laughed at her mother’s comment. “See you there, Mom.”
Zach took the phone from her and put it on the table. “Your mom’s so freaking cool about her daughter having sex.”
“She wants several grandbabies, bottom line, and will do anything to get that.”
Zach buried his face between her breasts and gave a deep chuckle. “Well, then—let’s see what we can do about giving her what she wants.”
Cat inhaled the succulent aroma of beef fajitas as they sizzled on the cast iron grill. After a quick search, she slid in beside her mother at the round booth in the corner of the Mexican restaurant.
“Nice of you to join us today.” Kellie’s smug comment reached her from the opposite side of the table.
“Don’t fuss at your sister, Kellie. She and Zach were trying to make me a new grandbaby.”
“But, you bought a pregnancy test yesterday.”
“Negative.” Cat raised a hand at the devastated look her sister sent in her direction. “It’s okay. We’ll keep trying.” Cat leaned over to lift her niece out of the infant carrier. “Don’t you look gorgeous today, Princess Di!” She smiled as Diana squealed with delight at the sight of her. “Did you miss your favorite aunt, Pumpkin?”
“You’re her only aunt, she has no choice,” Kellie said, sounding a little sour.
Ellen gave her throat a delicate clearing. “For now, anyway.”
Both Cathryn and her sister turned their attention to their mother.
Kellie voiced the question first. “What do you mean by that?”
Elaine beamed at her two daughters and placed her elbows on the table, lacing her fingers casually in front of her. “Oh, I don’t know. Just making conversation, I guess.”
Cat gasped as she caught sight of the diamond flashing on her mother’s finger. “Oh. My. God! Doc Barton proposed?”
Ellen McDaniel lowered her hand so they could get a better view of the ring. She beamed at her daughters. “Last night, and isn’t it gorgeous?”
“Very nice. Doc has good taste, but then we knew that when he started dating you.” Cat leaned over to give her mom a hug. “Congratulations, Mom. I’m thrilled for both of you.” She watched her mother’s smile fade as she turned to her other daughter.
“Kellie? What’s wrong, sweetie?”
Tight-lipped, Kellie stared at her mother. “You said yes?”
Ellen blinked before answering. “Well, sure I did. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because, you’ve only been seeing him a few months, that’s why.”
“I’ve known Gavin nearly my entire life, Kellie.”
Kellie started packing her and the baby’s things as though she were leaving. “That doesn’t count if you weren’t dating him. You always told us to get to know someone first.”
“Oh honey, we know each other well enough, believe me.”
Kellie stopped throwing things in her daughter’s diaper bag long enough to aim a horrified look at her mother. “I can’t believe you just said that to me. And I can’t believe you’d forget about daddy so easily.”
“Kellie Joanne, what are you saying? Are you trying to imply that I didn’t love your father?”
“Sounds like it to me,” Kellie snapped.
Cat stood, went around to the other side of the booth. “Kellie. Have you lost your mind? This has nothing to do with Dad.” She watched in horror as her sister sent their mother an accusatory glare.
“Well, that’s perfectly obvious.”
Torn between wanting to follow Kellie outside and stay in the restaurant with her devastated mother, Cat handed Diana to her sister and watched her storm to her car.
“Cat, I had no idea either of you felt this way.”
She heard her mother’s voice, wracked with pain. Kellie’s words had hurt her to the core. “We don’t. At least I don’t, and the last time my sister and I discussed this, neither did she.” She hugged her mother tightly. “Oh Mom, I’m so sorry. This should have been a wonderful moment for you, full of excited squeals, and smiles, and laughter. And instead it’s traumatic and … ruined for you.”
Ellen looked dazed as she turned her engagement ring nervously on her finger. “Maybe I should have spoken to you both first before accepting.”
“What? No. Mom, no.” Cathryn leaned to whisper harshly into her mother’s ear. “We are adults. We have husbands, she has a child of her own. You raised us. There’s no need for you to feel guilty about this. I won’t let you.”
She returned to the booth opposite her mother, suddenly angrier than ever at Kellie. “But we do need to find out what the hell’s wrong with your daughter.” She met her mother’s confused look and lifted her chin. “I’m not sure I want to claim her as a sister anymore, not after that childish hissy fit.”
Ellen dug in her purse until she pulled out a tissue to dab at her eyes. “Oh, honey, siblings aren’t all that different from children of your own. You’re pretty much stuck with them for life. It’s not like you can divorce them, they’re blood.”
Cat covered her mother’s hand with her own. “Mom, what were y’all talking about before I got here? Did she seem upset by anything?”
Ellen sat still for a while then shook her head. “No, she seemed a little preoccupied, but not exactly upset. But she was fine until you got here.” She tapped one pale-peach polished nail on the table. “That’s when her mood seemed to change all of a sudden.”
Cat watched through the window as her sister’s SUV pulled out of the parking lot. “I wonder what the hell is up with her. I’ll go talk to her after lunch.”
Ellen dabbed at her eyes again and fidgeted with her purse. “I can’t eat a thing after this. You go on and order and I’ll sit here and visit with you.”
“It’s no fun eating alone, Mom. I’ll tell you
what. Let’s put this off until I find out what’s up with baby sister, okay? Try not to be too upset about this. She’s just in one of her moods.” Cat stood suddenly, as a thought came to her. “Oh, my gosh. I think I know what’s wrong with her.”
“Tell me.”
Cathryn laughed and hugged her mom again. “Not until I have a chance to talk to her, but if I’m right, this has nothing to do with you marrying Doc Barton.”
Cat knocked several times, and knowing Kellie wouldn’t answer, opened the door and walked inside. She found her sister in Diana’s beautifully decorated nursery, rocking her baby girl with a fury. She met Kellie’s gaze, trying hard not to crack a grin at the steadily flowing trail of tears running down her sister’s unusually pale cheeks.
Cathryn held up a finger. “I’ll be right back.” She backed out of the nursery, turning her back on Kellie’s miserable glare at the last instant. After visiting the home’s master bath for a restroom break, she re-entered the nursery, carrying a crucial piece of evidence.
She held up the all-too-familiar plastic stick. “So, when’s the due date, Sis?”
Kellie’s face crumbled as she hung her head. “It’s not supposed to happen this way.”
“It’s going to be fine, you’ll see.”
“Two children, no less than three years apart, but no more than five. I had a plan, Cat.”
“Yeah, well. God didn’t agree with your plan, obviously. And who are you to argue with God?” She leaned over to take the sleeping baby from her sister. “Go. Sit. Couch. Now.”
Aunt Cat tucked Diana into her crib and patted her bottom until the baby slept soundly.
Tiptoeing out of the nursery, she stopped at the fridge just long enough to grab a bottle of wine her sister had chilling for emergencies―perhaps not one such as this, but an emergency, nonetheless.
She met Kellie with half a glass of wine and a smile on her face. “Here, two ounces of wine just this once won’t hurt. You need to calm down. Come on, Kel, so you’ll get your two kids a little early. So it throws your perfectly planned life off kilter for a while. What’s the big deal? It’s another baby to love.”
Kellie’s face crumpled. “It’s a big deal, Cat. It’s a very big deal. The doctor suspects … twins.”
Cat’s mouth dropped open as her sister burst into tears again. She realized that Kellie had probably planned to tell them at lunch. She also knew her sister well enough to know she was carrying her own feelings of guilt over this.
“Don’t you dare go feeling bad because I’m not pregnant yet, do you hear me? I am absolutely thrilled for you and Bradley.”
Kellie cried even harder.
“Does he know?”
“No. I don’t know how to tell him.”
“What do you mean you don’t know how to tell him—wait—when’s the due date, anyway?”
“M-M-May!” she sputtered.
“That’s six months from now, and Diana is only four months old. That means that you and Bradley—” She stopped to do some calculating in her head, “—had sex before your six week check-up. No doubt, it was his brilliant idea to cheat a little when you weren’t even completely healed, but the least he could have done was wear a condom. No way should he be upset about this, Sis.”
“That’s just it, Cat. It wasn’t his idea, it was mine. I practically seduced my own husband into having sex with me, and we did wear a condom. But the damn thing bro-oke,” she blubbered. “Besides, I’m breast-feeding and I’ve always heard that you can’t—”
“Myth! That’s only a myth, Kellie. Breast-feeding does not keep you from getting pregnant.” She sat on the couch next to her sister and pulled her close for a hug. “This is not the end of the world. You’ll have help. Zach and I, and Mom and Doc Barton, we’ll all help you. You’ll see.”
Kellie sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “You’ll have to because Bradley’s gonna lee-eave m-m-e,” she said, hiccupping and crying.
Cathryn couldn’t keep from laughing at that point. “No, he won’t. Brad will not leave you. I bet he’ll be a heck of a lot more excited about having these babies than you are.”
“Of course he will. He doesn’t have to carry them!”
“No, no. You can’t push that on him. You knew this could happen.”
“I know. You see? You s-se-see how bitchy I am already? He’s gonna l-l-leeave meee!” she wailed. “Oh, God, I still had five pounds of first baby weight left to lose, and now—oh, I’m gonna be a big, fat pregnant lady again. And, bitchy to boot. What man would want to come home to that?”
“This man would.”
Cathryn turned to see Bradley standing at the door, carrying a huge bouquet of gorgeous pink, and pale yellow roses.
“I got three dozen for the three beautiful babies we’ll have.” He shrugged. “I got yellow for the twins because it’s way too early to know the gender yet.”
“But how did you … who told you?” Kellie sniffled as tears flowed steadily down her cheeks.
“Doc Barton called me. Your mom was upset about what happened at lunch and he figured it had something to do with this. He knew you said you had to work up the nerve to tell me.” He set the roses on the end table beside her and knelt before his wife.
“Babe, how could you think I wouldn’t be thrilled about this?” He kissed her swollen face.
“Be-c-cause we had a p-p-lan!”
“No, sweetie. You had a plan. Me? I just wanted you as a wife and a house full of babies.” He kissed her gently on the lips. “I’m feeling like the luckiest son of a gun on the face of the earth right now. I love you, sweet girl.”
“Oh Brad … ”
Cat backed out of the room and snuck out through the kitchen door. Although, she suspected she could have cartwheeled out of the room and no one would have noticed. With time on her hands, she headed for her husband’s feed store.
Zach loaded a bag of chicken feed and two bags of oats onto the bed of a customer’s pick up. He closed the gate and waved the driver off as Cat pulled up in her SUV. As soon as his beautiful wife stepped out of the car, he knew she had news for him. Judging by the smile she tried to pull off, but couldn’t quite manage, he figured she was feeling torn about something.
“Hello, gorgeous. It seems as though we can’t get enough of each other today.” He opened his arms and she walked into them, snuggling against his chest. He held her tightly, swaying with her in the cool November breeze. He kissed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her. “What’s wrong, babe?”
She gave his waist one last squeeze before lifting her face for a kiss he was only too glad to oblige her with. “Nothing’s really wrong, Zach. I’m just … I don’t know, I’m happy but sad at the same time.”
He cocked his head. “I thought you were having lunch with Ms. Ellen and Kellie?”
“It kind of got busted up early. Kellie, well … ” she sighed, covering her eyes. “It’s a long story, but if you take me to lunch, I’ll tell you. I’m starving.”
“Sure I will. Let me tell Gus and then we can go.”
Within two minutes, they were buckling up into Cat’s vehicle. “You want to go back to Cilantro’s?”
“No. Take me to The Regatta for some fried oysters instead.” She stared out the window as Zach pulled onto the street. “My appetite is kind of ruined for Cilantro’s.”
“Spit it out, babe. What happened?”
“Mom called us there to show us her engagement ring from Doc Barton.”
“That’s great news, isn’t it? Hell, you and I were expecting to hear that any day, weren’t we?”
“Yes, but Kellie got upset, like mom was cheating on Dad or something. It was awful.”
“What the hell? Is she insane?”
“Temporarily, it seems. Mom said she was fine until I mentioned we’re not pregnant, yet.” She faced him, her eyes sad and brimming with tears.
He grabbed her hand, suddenly understanding why she was so upset. “Pee stick was nega
tive, huh?”
She nodded.
“I tell you what, babe. From now on, you don’t take anymore pregnancy tests unless I’m there with you. Deal?”
“Deal, but it’s not just that, Zach. When I went to Kellie’s, I found out why she was so upset. She’s pregnant again.”
“Ah, that explains it.”
“Possible twins.”
“Oh, damn.”
“Yeah.”
“Wonder how Brad’s gonna take that.”
“He’s ecstatic, apparently. He came in with a huge bouquet of flowers for her. They’ll have three babies under a year old—”
“Kind of a good thing you’re not pregnant right now, then, huh?” He’d rushed to cut off the comment he knew she had brewing―no doubt something negative about herself not being pregnant.
Her eyes widened as she gazed at him. “Why do you say that?”
“They’re going to need all the help they can get when those babies get here. We wouldn’t be able to help nearly as much if we had a newborn of our own.”
“Are you saying we should stop trying?”
“No, definitely not. I’m just saying if it doesn’t happen anytime soon, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
He pulled into The Regatta parking lot and turned off the ignition. Her next words floored him.
“I thought you wanted me to get pregnant right away.”
He gazed into her hurt, furious, brown eyes. “I do, Cat. Honestly, I do. What I don’t want is for you to take it as a personal failure every damn time that stick shows a negative sign. We’re in this together, pregnant or not. And besides, it’s far too early in the game to start worrying that it hasn’t happened yet. Don’t you think?”
“But Kellie and Mom both got pregnant as soon as they started trying. And now Kellie’s pregnant with twins without even trying.”
“I’m sure they did something to make it happen.”
“The condom broke.”
“Right. It was probably an old one from before they got married.”
She huffed an exasperated sigh. “The point is, I’ve been off the pill forever, and we’ve been trying nonstop for three months.”