by Maisey Yates
The door did open, but of course, it was Sierra who came out of it, carrying a stack of papers and looking like a particularly waxen ghost. Just about the time Jack and Kate made their way into the waiting area.
Kate and Sierra both froze. The look of abject horror on both of their faces would have been funny, had Ace’s entire being not been echoing with the exact same horror.
“Well, isn’t this a coincidence,” Ace said, standing. He was ready to run for the door in case Jack came after him. Which was potentially not that gentlemanly. But he figured Jack would go after Sierra.
“What is going on?” Jack asked.
“Ace had to give me a ride to a doctor’s appointment,” Sierra said, edging toward Ace, or—probably more accurately—toward the door.
“If you’re going to lie, tell a convincing lie.”
“I filled in a whole bunch of forms before I went in here that says I’m entitled to confidentiality,” Sierra said.
“Fine,” Jack said, crossing his arms across his broad chest. “You’re entitled to confidentiality but you have to understand that I’m going to draw my own conclusions. Especially if you’re unwilling to share.”
He was glaring at Ace now, and it looked like he had murder on his mind.
“I don’t have to share,” Sierra said, looking righteously indignant. “Come on, Ace.” She started to make her way toward the door.
“We’re early,” Jack said, “actually. Let me walk you out.”
Kate looked twitchy and more than a little bit nervous. “Jack...”
“Just five minutes, Katie.” Jack made his way to the door and held it open. “After you.”
Both Kate and Sierra lingered back in the office for a moment before both women went outside. Ace followed, fairly confident he was about to get punched in the face.
“Are you here for the reason I think you’re here?” Jack asked.
“I could ask you the same question. Why are you here?” Sierra asked.
“Nobody knows we’re here,” Kate said. “So if we stand up here in the parking lot, we might be able to put on a show so grand it draws the attention of every busybody in the entire town.”
“No one is going to notice,” Jack said.
“If there’s a giant fight in the middle of the ob/gyn parking lot you don’t think anyone will notice?”
“Okay, maybe a few people would notice,” Jack said.
“There isn’t much point in keeping it a secret,” Ace said, looking at Sierra. “Unless you didn’t get good news.”
Sierra shook her head. “It was...normal.”
“Normal how?” Kate asked.
“I thought we were at least going to respect each other’s privacy,” Sierra said, giving her friend an accusatory glance.
“Well, we’re both caught,” Kate said. “It shouldn’t be terribly surprising that I found myself in this situation. But...I’m a little confused about what’s happening here.”
“Ace and I are engaged,” Sierra said. “Completely unrelated to anything else, obviously.”
“You bastard,” Jack said, his voice low. “I told you to give her a job. I told you to help her out. I did not tell you to take advantage of her.”
Ace couldn’t dig up any righteous indignation over that. Jack had a point.
“Oh, stop it,” Sierra said. “I am a grown-ass lady. And not even my brother who was raised with me acted this crazy when he found out.”
A muscle in Jack’s jaw jumped, and Ace had a feeling it was only Kate’s presence that was keeping his face unpunched. “Who else knows?”
“We barely know,” Sierra said. “And as I can see, you’re in a similar situation...”
Jack cleared his throat. “She is my fiancée.”
“I’m his fiancée,” Sierra said, pointing in his direction.
“That’s different. I was engaged to Kate before...” He waved his hand. “Don’t tell me you and Ace had a quickie engagement.”
Ace exchanged a commiserating glance with Kate, who looked like she wanted to disappear beneath the asphalt. “Jack,” Kate said. “As charming as it is to watch you standing here beating your chest, I’m pretty sure you don’t get to pull this crap. Eli and Connor are your very best friends in the entire world. They put you in charge of protecting me. And what did you do? You deflowered me.”
“Because I love you,” Jack said.
“You didn’t love me at the time. And you know it. Now I’m pregnant. And you are standing here casting accusatory glances at Ace. Pot, meet kettle.”
“Congratulations?” Sierra said, her tone questioning.
Kate lifted a shoulder. “I’m in disbelief. That’s why we’re here. Blood test. Dates. You know, before I sue a condom company.”
Jack cleared his throat. “I think you should probably sue Jim Beam because...”
“Enough!” Kate snapped. “This is ridiculous. Everyone is an adult here. Albeit awkward adults. I think you can settle down, Jack. And Ace...if you hurt my friend, I will—”
“You’ll have to get in line to kill me,” he said. “Madison has already issued threats.”
“Threats for days,” Sierra added.
Jack looked abashed. Slightly. “Well. I’m new to this,” he said, directing his attention to Sierra. “I’m not used to the sibling thing. I knew about all of you but I never talked to you because of...stuff.”
“I know,” Sierra said, tucking her hair behind her ears and looking down.
Ace suddenly felt like an intruder. This was the kind of moment that Sierra deserved to have without him. There were probably a lot of those moments ahead. She had been at a point of transition in her life, and he’d swooped in and co-opted it.
Of course, being aware of how unfair that was didn’t mean he was going to do anything differently.
He was going to keep her with him. He was going to marry her. If that made him a selfish bastard, it was hardly news to him.
“I have a feeling you two need to get to your appointment now,” Ace said.
Kate nodded. “We do.”
“Sierra,” Jack said. “If you ever need anything...money, a place to stay, an alibi... I’m here for you.”
“That’s really...nice. And kind of intense. Thank you,” she said.
“I mean it.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
Ace would be offended about not getting the benefit of the doubt here, but he hadn’t exactly earned the benefit of anyone’s doubt in the past few years. He’d rolled back into town drunk and horny, and had hardly acted like the kind of guy who was ready to settle down and have kids.
Unless they knew his parents personally, people in Copper Ridge didn’t really know about his years in Texas, his divorce or his daughter.
He and Jack might have crossed paths a few times when Ace was riding, but it had been before he’d married Denise, so Jack didn’t know about any of that, either.
“I’ll call you,” Kate said, turning toward the building. “And...we can catch up on all the things.”
Kate grabbed hold of Jack’s arm and led him back into the building, leaving Sierra, himself and that stack of papers.
“Well, that was special,” Ace said.
“I... I guess he cares,” Sierra said, staring after Jack. “And also it looks like they’re having a baby, too. Wow.”
“I’m less interested in that than I am in what they told you in the office.”
“December ninth,” she said.
“What?”
“That’s my due date according to...all the dates I gave them and stuff. Plus I knew the exact date that I...that we... You know.”
“Yeah,” he said.
She thrust the papers at him. “This is all the stuff. My graphs and crap.
”
He looked down at the paper that had results for various things like HCG levels and dates and... “The date of the last time you had intercourse,” he said, reading the paper.
Dated too many damn days ago.
“They ask you that,” she said, her cheeks turning red. “Who knew?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I guess so. December ninth, eh?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. Well, she gets under the wire to be a tax deduction.”
“Yeah,” she said. “We couldn’t have planned that fornication better.”
“The motto of my whole life.” He reached toward her, taking hold of her hand. She went stiff, freezing like he’d hit her with a bolt of lightning. “What?”
“We don’t...hold hands. Do we?”
He laced his fingers through hers, never looking away from those sweet blue eyes of hers. “I think we should. Otherwise what the hell kind of marriage will we have?”
“The kind my parents had.”
“Then we better hold hands as often as we can.”
She didn’t protest as he led her to the truck and opened her door for her. She didn’t say anything as they pulled out of the parking lot and started down toward the main drag of town.
It was still early in the day and a few of the shops were just getting displays set out front. Cassie Caldwell was out in front of The Grind, wiping down tables that had already been well used, and getting ready for the lunch crowd.
Cassie provided the fuel for the poor hungover souls that rolled out of Ace’s bar at night. Then tanked them up so they felt good enough to head out again that night.
The coffee shop and the bar had a funny, symbiotic relationship.
“Need any decaf?” he asked.
“No,” Sierra said, her voice muted. “Why exactly are we in town?”
“To get some lace curtains,” he said.
Her head whipped around, her expression suspicious. “Really?”
“Yes. I followed your advice about the brewery.”
“Curtains,” she said.
“Yes. And also we’re going to stop by the Trading Post to get some things from Rebecca Bear. Art and some other decor. I asked her to help curate some things from local artists.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah. I got some glass sculpture from Zack Camden. Some iron work from the McCormack brothers. Paintings from Rosie Dalton. And some crappy driftwood stuff, just because this is the coast and sometimes you need crappy driftwood stuff.”
“I hope it has seagulls on it,” she said, a reluctant smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
“Oh, hell yeah. Seagulls.”
That earned him a laugh. And it felt like a badge of honor. One he was going to wear for a long damn time. “That’s a little too emphatic for faux seagull art.”
“Baby, if you can’t get that excited about faux seagull art, what can you get that excited about?”
“I don’t know, Ace.”
“We can put some in the baby’s room,” he said. Sierra sniffed loudly. “Are you going to cry again?”
“I don’t know,” she said, her voice thick. “What the hell is wrong with me that you just forced me to picture the world’s most ridiculous nursery, full of weird ocean decor, and it made me...misty?”
“Kids. It starts now. It never ends.”
“Great,” she said, laughing, the sound watery. “So I’m a mess from now to forever?”
“Possibly. But we’ll be a mess together.”
“Mutual messes,” she muttered as he pulled the truck against the curb.
“Yeah. Sounds healthy. You want to come in?”
“Sure,” she said, undoing her seat belt.
“Good.” He let out a long, slow breath, trying to ease the tension in his stomach. They were picking up one more thing here, but he didn’t want to tell her about it.
You’re going to ambush her with it because you’re a cowardly jackass.
Yeah, well. Guilty.
He was also getting married again when it was the last thing on earth he should want and he was dealing with the baby thing pretty damn well, so he was allowed his moment of cowardly behavior. At least, he felt he was.
And he wasn’t asking anyone else’s opinion.
He rounded to her side of the truck and opened the door for her, extending his hand. She didn’t make any commentary this time as she accepted the assistance.
He wondered if he was making any inroads with her. He shouldn’t care. She had agreed to marry him so how she felt didn’t really matter beyond that.
Except you’d like to get laid again. Soon.
Well, yeah, there was that.
They walked down the sidewalk, a healthy distance between them. He wasn’t going to press the hand-holding issue, not just now.
They continued down past the little shops—the secondhand clothing store, Alison’s bakery and new hardware store owned by a local woman Ace didn’t know all that well. Rebecca Bear’s shop was on the end of a row, a dark, berry color, recently painted and restored to make the most of the influx of tourism coming into town.
An American flag hung out in front of the store and beneath it was a little flowerpot shaped like a frog, vines spilling out of its open mouth.
“This is certainly the place for eclectic items,” Sierra said as they walked up the uneven stone steps and inside.
“It’s Copper Ridge in a shop,” he said, looking around at the small space, stacked high with wares from floor to ceiling. “We’re the mountains and the ocean. Surf and turf.”
Twining vines with glass berries were wound around antique, ornate cabinets, stuffed to the brim with plush toys, Copper Ridge mugs and seasonal decor. One corner of the store held Halloween, another Christmas. On some shelves were campy, homemade-looking items, while on others there were fancier, upscale souvenirs and old-fashioned kitchen utensils.
The air was heavy with the scent of potpourri, spicy and sweet, vanilla and pumpkin.
“I guess it is,” Sierra said, wandering in and touching one of the fake vines curled around the lid of a large wooden chest on the floor.
* * *
“CAN I HELP YOU?”
Sierra looked up when she heard the woman’s question. And felt a slight pang of jealousy when she saw the source of the voice.
The woman was petite, with long, straight brown hair and golden skin. Her dark eyes were fringed with generous lashes, her lips full, a natural, rosy color Sierra needed lipstick to achieve.
When she took a few steps toward them, Sierra noticed she had a slight limp. “Ace! I’ve been waiting for you,” she said, tilting her head slightly to the side.
That was when Sierra noticed the scars on her neck, creeping up beneath her chin and extending down beneath her T-shirt.
Sierra didn’t know her, but she seemed familiar. She remembered there had been a girl a couple of grades above her in school who’d been in an accident that had left her scarred and out of school for a while.
She didn’t really frequent this part of town for anything beyond coffee, and she’d never been in this shop before so their paths hadn’t intersected in the years since.
But she imagined this must be her.
“Good to see you, Rebecca,” Ace said, holding out his hand and offering her a familiar, easy smile.
The little twinge of jealousy was back.
“Do you know Sierra West?” Ace said. “She’s here assisting me.”
Assisting him? Pffft. In the gestation of his child. But he hadn’t said that. He hadn’t even introduced her as his fiancée.
And why would he, cagey-pants? It’s not like you’ve been acting like you want to shout it from the rooftops.
“The selection of la
ce curtains is a fraught business,” Sierra said, her tone dry. “So he needed help.”
“Well, for men I can see how it might be. I know of you, but I don’t think we’ve formally met. I’m Rebecca Bear.” The expression on the other woman’s face was closed off, inscrutable.
Sierra had no idea why she was feeling insecure. She didn’t compare herself to other women, and she rarely felt threatened by them.
Because you’ve never felt desperate to hold on to a guy before.
That could be. She didn’t particularly like that thought. That she was desperate to hang on to Ace. Even though she kind of was.
She had been spending nights in the little house, trying to cling to some independence. Then she’d decided to go into the doctor’s appointment alone, hoping that she might find some... She didn’t really know. Strength or something. But she’d just felt like half of her had been in there. Like it was wrong to do any of this, to find out information about their child without him standing next to her.
In spite of her moments of experimental resistance it was pretty clear that a good portion of her was well and truly acclimated to the idea of sharing this with him.
“If you’re feeling sturdy, I’ve got some pretty big sculptures set aside for you,” Rebecca said, planting her hands on her hips.
“How big?” he asked.
“Well, big enough that I have a hand truck to put them on. But you’re going to have to take it from here. Sam McCormack brought them in and he’s...” She lifted her hand above her head. “You know, as big as a redwood.”
Sierra could easily picture the man carrying wrought-iron statues in like they were made of papier-mâché. She didn’t know him well, but she’d seen him around the ranch many times over the years, since he was the farrier for all the horses that stayed on the property.
He was—by all accounts—great at his work. But he seemed grumpy and more than a little antisocial. He made Madison downright feral.
She was always complaining about him whenever she’d been exposed to him.
“Right, well, if he can’t lift it I’m not even going to try,” Ace said.
That brought her thoughts squarely back to Ace’s arms, and muscles, and general physicality. She had no trouble picturing him lifting heavy objects. His biceps shifting with the motion, his abs working to help support his back... Oh, his back muscles...