“Because I’m an idiot.” He managed a lopsided smile, but it melted off when his gaze caught on mine. “Look, I might have lied to you about why we were here, but I’m not lying to you about any of this. I really did want to introduce you to my parents. I love you, Elsie. I know we haven’t talked about what we are to each other and you don’t need to say it back, but I love you.”
“You love me?” My chin dropped, along with my heart.
It was funny. Or it would have been if the secret I was holding on to wasn’t about to blow us out of the fucking water. “Taydom, I—”
“You don’t need to say it. Really. I just wanted you to know that I love you. If you want to leave right now, we can. I’ll come with you, or you can come back to the farm with me, but just please don’t leave me.”
“Leave you?” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe this wasn’t exactly the right time and place to drop the bomb I was carrying inside. “I wasn’t leaving you, Taydom. Well, okay, I mean I was physically leaving you to sort out the stuff with your family, but I wasn’t calling things off between us.”
“You’re not?”
“No.” I looped my fingers between his and squeezed. “I would have told you if I was leaving you, even if we never talked about what was going on between us. I wouldn’t just ghost you.”
Warmth flooded his eyes, softening the tension around the corners as he took a step closer to me. “I’ve sorted things out with my family. Mostly anyway. If you want to go home, I’ll call my pilot right now and we’ll go.”
“You’ve sorted things out with them?” I twisted my arm without letting go of his hands and glanced down at my watch. “I’ve barely been gone for three hours. When did you have time to sort things out with them?”
“Mom sat us down and set us straight. I think she’s been working on my father for a while, but none of us knew about it.”
“Have they accepted your help then?” I closed the last remaining inches between us and tipped my head back to keep looking into his eyes.
He sighed and lifted a shoulder in a small shrug. “It looks like they’re going to. We were going to work out the details when we got back to the farm, but if you want to leave, I can work it out with them by phone.”
“No,” I said firmly. “This is what you’ve come here to do. You should do it. I’ll be at home when you’re ready. Then we can talk.”
“No.” His voice was just as firm as mine had been. “I love you and I’m not letting you go. I know we have a lot to talk about and I’m not waiting another week. I should have talked to you about all this weeks ago. I don’t want to waste more time.”
“Taydom,” I whispered, releasing one of his hands to rest mine softly on the sharp stubble on his jaw. “There’s something I need to talk to you about that I don’t think we should talk about at your parents’ house. It’s important for you to finish what you started here. I can wait. A week isn’t going to kill me.”
A determined gleam came into his eyes. “Maybe not, but there’s a decent possibility it would kill me. I don’t think my heart could take it to be separated from you right now. If you need to talk about something that you’re not comfortable doing at my parents’ place, let’s get a hotel. Give me a minute. I’ll say goodbye and tell them we might see them tomorrow.”
“Say goodbye?” My heart fluttered in my chest. “They’re here?”
A slow smirk spread on his lips. “Yes. They’re all here. Even my dad. I told them I loved you and they insisted on coming.”
My eyes widened as I tore them away from Taydom’s. I quickly found his parents and brother lingering next to a pillar behind him. They were far enough away not to hear what we were saying, but they certainly had an unimpeded view.
Gwen had both her hands in front of her mouth, her head resting on her husband’s shoulder as she blinked back tears. Riley’s brows were high and his hands were shoved in the pockets of his jeans, his expression a perfect mix between keen interest and fake boredom. I nearly laughed at the sight of it.
“What are they going to think if you tell them we’re going to a hotel?”
The smirk grew wider before it melted into a hopeful smile. “I don’t really care. Is that a yes?”
I couldn’t resist him. Not when he was looking at me like that and not when I had something so important to tell him. “Yes. Let’s go.”
He took my hand and gripped it like he was afraid I would take off again. He held me close to his side as we went to say our goodbyes to his family. Taydom pulled out his phone while I hugged his mother.
When they turned and walked back to the doors, Taydom led me off in the opposite direction. He tucked me in under one arm and used the other for my bags.
“I got us a room at a hotel just across the street. There’s a bridge connecting it to the terminal. If you want your own room, just tell me and it’s yours.”
“One is fine.” For now. When I told him, he might feel differently about it.
I was thankful that the hotel was so close by. It meant that if I had to, I could come right back and hop on the first flight out in the morning.
We were silent as we checked in, but Taydom didn’t let go of me once. The room he had booked was huge, the carpet thick and plush and the twinkling lights of the city illuminating it through a bank of windows on one side.
After closing the door behind him, he parked my bags next to it and crossed the room. A lamp came on as he flipped the switch and bathed the room in a warm glow.
Without saying anything, he went to sit on the edge of the bed and patted the spot beside him. I walked over to him and he took my hands in his again as soon as I sat down. “What did you need to talk to me about?”
His eyes were these warm, dark pools of emotion that were unwavering on mine. Knowing that what I was about to say might mean he would never look at me like that again nearly broke me.
My throat suddenly felt tight, and I was struggling to draw enough oxygen into my lungs, but I sat up straighter and forced myself to be as honest with him as he had been with me.
“Before I tell you what I need to, I want you to know that I love you, too.” My voice came out past the coils constricting it, but it was barely above a whisper.
Taydom started to smile, but I shook my head, and a deep frown formed between his brows. “I’m not allowed to be happy that you love me?”
“You are, but you might want to hang on a minute. Please know that what I’m about to say doesn’t negate the fact that I love you, nor is it what caused me to love you. I’ve been in love with you for a while now. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Okay.” His frown deepened and concern tightened his jaw. “You’re starting to scare me, babe. What is it? What’s going on?”
“I went to the doctor the other day because I wasn’t feeling well.” I kept my eyes on his. “She called me back today. The results of my blood test came in and I’m pregnant.”
It felt like the entire world came to a standstill as soon as the words left my mouth. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. All I could do was sit there and watch as Taydom worked through what I had just told him.
At first, his expression was completely blank. Then his jaw slackened and his eyes widened. He blinked rapidly and swallowed a few times before focusing on me again. “You’re sure?”
His voice was as low as mine, but I’d heard him just fine. “A doctor I know ran the tests. I’m sure.”
After a few more seconds of utterly stunned silence, his mouth spread into a wide smile. “Elsie, baby, I…”
“You’re smiling?” A spark of hope lit my heart on fire.
“Of course, I’m smiling.” He opened his arms and pulled me into them. “This is the best news ever.”
“It is?” I pulled back enough to look into his eyes again. “You’re not angry or disappointed or shocked?”
“I’m surprised as fuck, but I’m not angry, and I’m definitely not disappointed.” He lifted my hands an
d peppered the backs of them in soft kisses while he spoke. “This is more than I ever could have asked for. I found you, I love you, you love me no matter how big an idiot I’ve been, and now we get to have a baby. I never thought any of this would happen for me.”
“But you wanted it to?” I asked cautiously, afraid to let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t going to be alone in this. “When we talked, you said—”
He cut me off by bringing his finger to my lips. “I never said I didn’t want it. I want it, baby. I just never wanted it with anyone but you. I’m sorry I was such an asshole, and I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell me before, but I love you, Elsie. There’s nothing I want more than to make a life and a family with you.”
“I’m still angry with you,” I murmured as I brought my hands up to rest them on the nape of his neck. “Promise me you’ll never lie to me again?”
“I promise.” He kissed my eyelids and the tip of my nose. “It was a mistake. I can’t promise I’ll never make another one, but I do promise it won’t be that one. It never even occurred to me that it might look or feel like I was using you because it was the very last thing I intended to do.”
I nodded slowly. “You embarrassed me today. Do your parents know I wasn’t in on it?”
“Absolutely. I told them everything on the way to the airport. Neither of us fooled my mom anyway. I think it came as a shock for her to hear we weren’t really together because she said she could see from a mile away how in love we were with each other.”
A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. “Now that I think about it, we have been overly affectionate.”
“Exactly.” He planted a chaste kiss on my mouth. “Riley said even he was confused when I told them we weren’t in a relationship.”
“Did you really get things straightened out with your father?”
There was a flash of sadness in his eyes, but he nodded. “I don’t think he’ll ever fully understand why I didn’t join the family business or where he went wrong with me not having farming in my blood, but at least he accepts it now.”
“That’s great.” Tears blurred my vision. I blinked them away, not wanting to miss a second of the earnestness and vulnerability he was showing me right now. “So what now?”
“Now, if it’s okay with you, we’re going to have makeup sex. Then we’re going to make love, and after that, I’m going to hold you all night. In the morning, we’ll go back to the farm to get my stuff and clear up some logistics with my dad, and after that, it’s up to you. We can stay here. We can go back. Wherever you are is the only place I want to be.”
“I can live with that.” I pulled him closer and kissed him until we were both breathless and wanting.
The all-consuming need for him made more sense now. I’d read that pregnancy hormones could do this to a person, but holy smokes, I hadn’t really gotten it until I got it. I got it completely now, though.
Thankfully, Taydom was more than up to the task. He made love to me for hours before we finally fell to the mattress, sated, sweaty, and exhausted.
As he murmured sweet nothings into my ear, his breath ghosting across my heated skin, I felt that sense of being home again. No matter what had happened between us, it had only brought us closer together.
I had a feeling that it wouldn’t matter what we faced in the future. We knew each other’s hearts and that would get us through. With thoughts of Taydom’s big, beautiful, and surprisingly soft heart swirling through my head, I finally drifted off to sleep and dreamed about how amazing it was that I was going to get to see him being a father.
Epilogue
Taydom
“I can’t believe it’s been six months already,” my mother exclaimed as she hugged Elsie, then pulled away to place her hands on the baby bump. “Hello, sweet little grandson in there. Granny can’t wait to meet you.”
“Mommy can’t either.” Elsie grimaced as she sank back onto the couch she had vacated to greet my parents. “If he keeps growing at the rate he is now, I’m not going to be able to move by the time he comes.”
I dropped a kiss on top of her head as I walked behind her. “It’s only another few days, babe. Besides, you don’t have to move. I’ll just roll you to the hospital when the time comes.”
“Taydom,” my mother scolded, swatting me on the shoulder when I opened my arms to hug her. “I know you’re only joking, but that’s just not something you say to a pregnant woman.”
“Tell him, Gwen,” Elsie cheered while trying to tuck one leg beneath her. “He’s been impossible.”
“If by impossible, you mean the most loving, caring, helpful father-to-be in the world, then I agree.” I turned to wink at her, then held out my hand to shake my dad’s.
He shot me a wry smile before he took it. “It’s best to listen to your mother on this one, boy. Trust me. I went through it twice and I learned a thing or two about the appropriateness of certain comments, regardless of how true they might be.”
Mom did her best to glare at him but broke down laughing as she sat down next to Elsie. “Men, huh? Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Will you two go get us something to drink? I’m parched. We’ve been traveling all day.”
“We left home three and a half hours ago, Mom,” Riley said, rolling his eyes at her. “You flew here on Taydom’s cushy jet and he had a driver pick us up at home. You can’t be that parched.”
“Don’t think just because we’re in the big city now that you can get sassy with me,” she retorted. “You’ve also just nominated yourself to be our personal errand boy for the weekend. Go on. Shoo. Two cranberry juices, please.”
“You’re the best.” Elsie smiled at my mom. The two of them had become as thick as thieves after the mishap in Illinois all those months ago.
They video chatted at least once a week and texted almost every day. There was nothing Mom didn’t know about Elsie at this point. She’d even had her on video call for one of our appointments at the doctor.
There had been tears. Lots of them. And not only from the women. Seeing my mom and my girl cooing over my baby with his heartbeat coming strong over the ultrasound machine, I might have shed a few tears myself.
Not that I would ever admit it.
Dad followed Riley and me out of the house to the bar in the entertainment area. “When are you flying out again?”
My brother sighed. “Later this afternoon, Dad. You know this. We’ve been through it twenty times and that’s just counting this morning.”
“I know,” my dad replied gruffly. “Don’t take that tone with me. It’s been three fucking decades since I’ve been away from the farm for a couple of weeks.”
“You wanted to come with Mom.” Riley’s exasperation came off him in waves. “If you don’t trust me to be in charge, why don’t you leave me here and you go back to Illinois?”
Indignation flashed in his eyes, and his nostrils flared. “I’m here for my grandson’s birth. I’m not going back. I’m just making sure you’re on top of things.”
I clapped my brother’s shoulder. “Thanks for coming out with them. I know you’re only going to be here for a few hours, but it means a lot that you came.”
“What are you talking about? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” He grinned and wagged his eyebrows at me. “You nervous?”
“Like a fucking cat that hears the bath running.” I ducked down to grab the juice out of the bar fridge and filled two glasses before looking at my dad. “You got it, right?”
His weathered face lit up with a smirk, and his dark eyes shone. “Of course, I’ve got it. You want to see it?”
“Uh, yes? I’m planning on giving it to her in a few minutes. I have to see it and have it on me before I can give it to her.” I wiped sweat from my brow with the back of my hand. “Please don’t make this any more stressful than it already is.”
“You’re stressed about giving it to her now? It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it? You should have been stressed a
bout giving it to her nine months ago.”
“My brother, the fucking comedian,” I growled while Dad gave Riley a glare that would have made many other men shake in their boots.
Riley just shrugged. “What? It’s true. Both of you know pretty damn well how babies are made. If you can make the actual babies, why can’t I joke about it?”
“Because it’s inappropriate,” Dad said, but I didn’t miss the small upward tilt of his lips. When he dipped his hand into his pocket, I had to breathe deeply to keep from passing out.
“There you go.” He pulled out a shiny black velvet box and handed it over. “Grandma Betty’s engagement ring. Resized and cleaned by Mr. Harold’s grandson himself. He said to tell you that his grandfather would have been proud you’re keeping the ring he made for your grandmother in the family. Said he thought you’d go to one of those fancy stores to buy a new one.”
“I thought about it, but I think this will mean more to both of us.” I took the box from him, then pulled him in for a back-thumping hug that he only tolerated for all of three seconds. “Thanks for taking care of it for me, Dad.”
“You’re welcome.” He stepped back and jerked his head at the house as he tucked his thumbs into his belt buckle. “Well, you going to make us wait all day or go in there and do what needs to be done?”
I tightened my grip on the box, then flipped it open to reveal the ring I hoped would live on Elsie’s finger from here on out.
The gold band was wide and shone like they had polished it to within an inch of its life. In the center was a diamond that reflected rainbows onto the ceiling in the early afternoon light.
Two smaller diamonds sat on either side of the brilliant-cut center stone. It was classic, simple, and beautiful, which was exactly what Elsie had told me she’d always dreamed of in an engagement ring.
She just didn’t know about this one. My mother had mentioned my grandmother’s ring to her a few times, but they were expecting the baby to be born before I popped the question. Which was why I’d enlisted Dad’s and Riley’s help.
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