by Vicki Tharp
Gil stood behind Tessa, his chest to her back, one hand splayed across her lower abdomen. She leaned back against him and asked, “Did you spike Isaac’s drink?”
Gil grinned. “That would be against ranch rules.” He bobbed his chin toward Hank and Mac. “Hush up and listen.”
She grumbled. Gil chuckled.
As Mac started opening the envelope, she said, “They can’t be girls. I don’t know what to do with one, much less two. I know nothing about Barbies, or tea parties or dresses or French braids or—” you could hear the terror rising in her voice.
Hank took Mac’s hand and turned her to him. “Army, if they’re anything like their Mom, they’ll be knee deep in mud, as soon as they can walk. They’ll be too busy riding horses and motorcycles and learning to shoot to care about the rest.”
“But what if they do?”
“Then more power to them. No matter what, we’ve got this. I can’t think of anything more incredible than little Macs in my life.”
“Glutton for punishment,” Alby called out.
Hank barked out a laugh. “Damn straight.” Then he turned back to Mac. “Open the envelope.”
Mac ripped at the envelope and unfolded the single sheet of paper, her eyes darting across the page. She smiled, all teeth and triumph. She waved the paper in the air. “They’re boys.”
Cheers went up. Mac high-fived Jenna.
“Ha, I win. Told you.” Gil whispered in Tessa’s ear. She gave him an elbow to the gut.
“You’re such a poor winner.”
“Wait, that can’t be right.” Hank snatched the paper out of Mac’s hand and held it up to the fire for more light. He reread the report, his expression shifting from disbelief to smug.
Hank’s chest puffed out. He rattled it in front of Mac’s face. “Read it again.”
The cheers and good-natured jeers died down as Mac reread the letter. She pointed to something on the page. “Right here, says boy. Told you.”
Hank pointed farther down the page. “There.”
Mac huffed but did as he asked. “Baby, B, girl.”
Jenna slapped a hand over her mouth to cover her laugh. Lottie swiped at her cheeks and anyone who had handed money over on their side bets, got their money back.
Gil didn’t get to see Mac’s reaction, because Tessa tossed her empty plate into the fire and turned in his arms, her eyes barely concealed her panic. “Maybe we should wait to take that test.”
“We’re not having twins, Sunshine. Hell, we don’t even know if you’re pregnant.” He brushed the hair away from her forehead and tucked it behind her ears. She’d broken out into a sweat, that Gil was certain had nothing to do with their proximity to the fire. “We’re taking the test. Tonight. Deep breath. It’s going to be alright. I promise.”
Tessa’s eyes fell closed, and she drew in a big breath through her nose. She held it for three rapid beats of his heart before letting it out. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed the side of her head. “Let’s go. We can take it right now.”
Tessa took a step back. “Give me a minute. I wanna give Hank and Mac my congratulations.”
“One minute,” he said, only half kidding. Now that he’d gotten Tessa to agree to take the test, he didn’t want to give her too much time to chicken out.
He grabbed a bottle of water and collapsed into the chair next to Isaac. “How you doing? You need anything?”
Isaac shook the ice in his red party cup. “I’m good, thanks.”
Tessa returned, sitting on Gil’s lap. Tessa asked Isaac a question, but he wasn’t paying her any attention. Isaac pointed his cup across the fire. “Who’s that?”
Across the fire, Massey and Mia had their heads angled toward each other in what looked like deep conversation. He wondered what the two were talking about. He’d never seen Mia look so animated.
“That’s Mia Mann,” Tessa said. “She’s the—”
“Sunshine, he wasn’t pointing at Mia. He was pointing at your cousin.”
Tessa looked from Isaac’s puppy love grin to Massey and back again. “Oh. Oh. That’s Massey Yates.”
“Fuuuck, he’s fine.” Isaac slurred his words. Maybe Gil had been a tad generous with the booze he’d snuck in for his buddy.
Gil leaned toward Isaac. “Dude—”
Dude? Really? Gil hadn’t used that word since high school. “Massey’s straight.”
Tessa leaned in toward Isaac. “And a manwhore.”
Isaac’s grin got bigger. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Hey, I thought you liked your cousin,” Gil said.
“I do. Massey’s awesome.” Tessa plucked at her black hairband, still on Gil’s wrist. Secretly loving that he’d refused to give it back. “But trust me, Isaac, even if he wasn’t straight, you can do much better. That man wouldn’t know a relationship if it bit him on the ass.”
Glancing over, Isaac gave Tessa a wink. “Who said anything about a relationship?” Isaac tucked his cup between his legs and released the brakes on his wheelchair. “See you two around.”
18
Tessa had to almost run to keep up with Gil as he dragged her by the hand to Mia’s cabin. The barbecue would run late, and she let Sidney and Jenna and of course Gil talk her and Jack into spending the night.
Mia hadn’t protested. She didn’t spend her nights in the cabin anyway. While Mia would probably never admit it, Tessa had started to think the woman was developing a soft spot for Jack.
As reluctant as Tessa had been to take the test, now that she’d decided to take it, she couldn’t get it over with fast enough. She hurried through the cabin door after Gil, threw her overnight bag on the lower bunk and rummaged around in it.
Where was it? She’d thrown it…
Tessa tossed her change of clothes, her nightshirt and her clean underwear on the bed, searching for the box.
“Hey,” Gil said, as he picked up her nightshirt. “That’s mine.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Not anymore.”
Gil spent several nights a week at her house, but only when Jack was at a sleepover with friends or with Evie. The nights when she was alone, she liked wearing his shirt to keep him close. It was a sorry substitute for the real deal.
But something was better than nothing.
“Is that right?” There was a smug tilt to his lips and a wonderfully wicked glint in his eye.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said, but it was hard to put any sizzle in her tone. “You looking at me like that is what got us in this mess to begin with.”
She dug through the zippered pockets of her bag, her movements frantic.
Gil took her wrists and eased her over to him. “Slow down, Sunshine. This isn’t a timed event.”
She blew out a breath that fluffed her bangs. “Pepita’s watching Jack and—”
“Which means Sidney’s watching Jack, and Boomer and everyone else is out there. We have plenty of time.”
“You’re right.” Her pulse thumped at her wrist beneath his loose grip.
“Did you put the test kit in your purse?”
Yes, her purse! She slumped and dropped her forehead to his chest. “I’m such an idiot.”
He wrapped her in his arms until she heard the steady-eddy beat of his heart. An enduring, powerful stroke, like the whomp of her Blackhawks rotor, that had the power to both calm her and take her away.
“You’re no such thing.” He reached down and handed over her purse. She found the test and dropped her purse back on the bed. “I guess, I’ll be right back.”
A few minutes later, she came back out with the test, dropped it on the counter next to the sink, and threw a dish towel over the top of it. She couldn’t stand the idea of standing there waiting for it to turn.
“How long does it take?”
“Three minutes.”
Gil set the timer on his watch. “Now we wait.”
He placed his hands on either side of her hips and boosted her onto th
e counter beside the refrigerator, putting them at eye level.
One of his fingers traced tiny circles on her lower back beneath her shirt. She put her hand on his jaw and squidged her fingers through his thickening beard. “I missed the beard.”
He ducked his head and rubbed his scruff into the crook of her neck until she was giggling and laughing and couldn’t breathe. “Stop, stop, that tickles.”
“I think my beard missed you, too.”
Her laughter died as she stared at the light in his eyes, the grin on his face. He was totally relaxed and at ease. Every day he brought joy to her life. He treated her like she was something precious, something to be cherished. No matter what that test showed, she wanted him to know how she felt.
Holding his face in both of her hands she pressed a tender kiss to his lips, then leaned back and said, “I love you, Gil Brant.”
His smile was smug when he said, “You don’t think I know that?”
She laughed. “I’ve never said it. I didn’t want there to be any doubts. What I feel is right, is real, is everlasting.”
His arms tightened around her waist as he snugged her up against him. He brought his lips down on hers, pouring himself into the kiss. The passion, the commitment, the love.
They were lost in the kiss, in the giving and the taking, when the timer on his watch went off.
Tessa stiffened.
Gil laughed. “You ready?”
Her stomach went light, and for a second, she thought she might puke.
“How are you not scared shitless?” she asked. “Or are you hiding it better?”
He took her hand and placed it over his heart, over the slow, methodical, almost lazy tump-tump, tump-tump. “Because I have everything I want right here. You. Jack.” He glances down at the dish towel covering the test. “Maybe a baby. I don’t need anything else.”
When he reached for the towel, she said, “Wait. I want to ask you something, but I don’t want you thinking I’m asking for the wrong reason.”
“Okaay.” He was skeptical but smiling.
“Move in with me… and Jack.” The air backed up in her lungs. The blood rushed past her ears with a deafening roar. If she took a breath she wouldn’t hear his answer.
He remained silent far too long. Everything came rushing out—her breath, her thoughts, her feelings. “I love you, Gil. I don’t want to find out that the test is positive and for you to think that I only want you to move in because I’m pregnant. I want you to move in because I don’t want to be apart from you every night. I don’t want to sneak time together. I want a family. With you. It’s not something I was looking for, but I found it, and I don’t want to let it go, and—”
“Do I get to say something here?”
Tessa took a couple of quick breaths and brushed her bangs out of her eyes and wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead. “Yeah. Sure. Sorry.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Gil’s warm, deep chuckle rumbled until she couldn’t help but laugh too. “Yes, as in you’ll move in?”
“Yes, as in hell yes. As in what are we waiting for? As in, I can have my bags packed, and we can be out the door in fifteen minutes, yes.”
Tessa wrapped her arms around Gil’s neck and was pulling him in for a kiss when the door burst open. Jack came running inside. Lord knew Gil loved that kid, but he had the absolute worst timing.
Ever.
Gil took a half-step back. “What’s up, Squirt?”
Jack made a bee-line for the sink and started washing his hands. “We’re about to cook S’mores. Pepita said I had to wash my hands first.”
Jack shut off the water and yanked the hand towel off the counter. Tessa gasped. Gil grinned.
“Hey.” Jack reached for the test. “What’s this?”
Gil snatched it out of his hand and shoved it in his back pocket as the heat rushed up his neck. “Um… it’s a lady test.” If he was going to be a dad, to Jack or any other kid, he had to get better at this talking about sex thing.
“Ah,” Jack said as if that answered everything. “Billy’s mom took one of those tests. It made her cry.”
Tessa’s laugh came out strangled.
“I don’t know why. I mean, if you do your homework and study, then you don’t have to worry about the test. I like taking tests. I always get A’s.”
“It’s not the kind of test you can study for,” Tessa said.
“Then what kind of test is it?”
Tessa gave Gil a look that said she should have known Jack wouldn’t drop the subject that easily. She opened her mouth to answer, but Mia came through the door.
“Oh, sorry.” Mia reached for her backpack. The one she took out every night with her.
Tessa jumped off the counter. “It’s okay. You heading out? The party not fun?”
Mia shrugged on her pack. “It didn’t suck.”
Which for Mia, was a resounding endorsement.
“Can I camp with her, Mom?”
Mia froze, her expression stuck between alarm and a scowl. Her eyes darting between Jack and Tessa. But there was something else there that Gil couldn’t quite put his finger on. Almost as if Mia wanted to say yes but was afraid to.
Tessa started to answer, but Gil interrupted. “Sounds like a great idea, right Tessa.”
Tessa gave him a look. It wasn’t quite a WTF look, but it was close. “Um…”
“I’ve got a spare bedroll.” Mia’s answer came out more like a question. “That’s if it’s okay with you.” She started backing for the door before Tessa could answer, unable to look them in the eye. “If not, no big.”
Gil nudged Tessa with his elbow. She startled and said, “Um… no. I don’t mind if he goes with you, as long as you two stay close.”
“Yes!” Jack let out a loud whoop.
“There’s a place by the hot spring,” Mia said. “It’s not far.”
Tessa turned to Jack. “You have to promise to stay away from the water.”
Jack raised his hands. “I don’t wanna go anywhere near it, promise.” For emphasis, he drew a cross over his heart.
Gil wasn’t concerned Jack would break his promise. From what Tessa had said, since Jack’s near drowning, her son stuck to showers only.
Mia went over to her trunk and pulled out the other bedroll and dropped it into Jack’s hands. He ran out the door saying, “I’m gonna see if Pepita wants to come, too!”
Tessa scrunched her face up. “Sorry about that. I know that’s not the quiet night you’d bargained for. I can tell him no if you want.”
“I can deal,” Mia said. Though her words made it sound like she was put out, Gil detected a smile underneath it all.
“Thanks, Mia,” Gil said. “We owe you one.”
Mia turned back at the threshold and said, “Yeah, you do.”
The door closed, and Gil turned to Tessa. “If that wasn’t okay, tell me, and I’ll be the bad guy and tell Jack he can’t go. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I think Mia wants in. I just think she’s too scared of rejection to ask for it.”
“No. You’re right. You’ve got good instincts, and while Mia has her own issues she’s dealing with, underneath it all she’s a good person. And besides…” Tessa reached around him and pulled the test from his rear pocket and read the results of the test.
Her expression didn’t change.
His stomach did a slow roll, and his heart forgot to beat.
Then she smiled and turned the test around, and in bright pink letters, the test read pregnant. “You’re going to have to get used to this parenting thing after all. Might as well start now.”
Tessa came through her front door at five-thirty sharp. One good thing about taking the helo maintenance job Spinks had offered after they’d told him she was pregnant, was that her hours were much more predictable, and she no longer had to leave the house in the middle of the night to fly a mission.
Not that she didn’t miss it.
And not that she wa
sn’t going to get back in the air.
But for now, it could be much worse.
She shrugged her arms out of her grease-stained coveralls and tied the arms at her waist as she went straight for the sink and the industrial strength degreaser. She pumped a dollop into her hand and turned on the hot water.
The rear sliding door stood open, the air thick with the smell of lighter fluid and charcoal. Jack’s voice filtered in as he talked Gil’s ear off about something. She glanced out the kitchen window.
Gil removed his baseball cap, wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, the took a long swallow of his beer. Jack did the same, but soda, not beer. The ATF cap Gil had given Jack was already looking worn at the edges since Jack had barely taken it off in the two weeks since Gil had moved in.
Gil came through the back door. “You’re home.”
“Just.” Tessa scrubbed away at the grease under her fingernails.
He came up behind her and tugged the strap of her white tank top off her shoulder. He pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck and started working his way across her shoulder.
“You may not want to do that. I’m hot and sweaty and—”
“Mmm.” The sound was low and husky and did naughty things to her insides. “That’s how I like my women.”
“—covered in grease.”
“Even better.” His arms came around her waist, and he pulled her against his erection. He sniffed her hair. “Who would have thought JP-8 was an aphrodisiac?”
She gripped the edge of the sink to keep from stripping every last stitch of clothing off him and taking him in the kitchen. “You need to slow your roll before Jack gets an education that would blow his little seven-year-old mind.”
Gil groaned and backed away. “I would say it would almost be worth it, but I don’t think I’d be up to answering all his questions.”
From the refrigerator, he removed a tray of hamburger patties and a bowl of fresh corn on the cob and set them on the counter beside her. She shut off the water and dried her hands. They were mostly clean.
“How was work? Getting back into the swing of it?” he asked.