Page 71 of Luna

“My little girl is going to be a mother,” Braxton said when he released the two women and stepped back. “When?” he asked, looking to Nik.

“The end of October.”

“So soon?” Dacey asked, bracketing Dally’s cheeks with her hands, then hugging her again.

Both of them were crying and laughing at the same time.

“Why didn’t you tell us, Dally? Why all the secrecy?” Dacey questioned when she pulled back. “We thought perhaps you’d been paralyzed when a horse bucked you off or some equally horrific tragedy. This is a blessing to be celebrated, not a secret to be hidden.”

“I know, Mama. I know. I’m so sorry. At first, I just wanted it to be something Nik and I shared. Then Aundy figured it out, and everyone around here soon knew, but I still couldn’t bring myself to tell you. Everyone at Bramble Hall always talked about me being so strong and independent and how I’d do great things training horses. I guess there was part of me that worried you’d be disappointed that I’m focusing on my own family instead of becoming a renowned female horse trainer. On top of that, I remember how much you complained about Grandmama meddling when you were expecting. I just didn’t want to put up with the frustrations you had to deal with.”

“I would never, ever be disappointed in your choosing your family first, Dally. Not ever.” Dacey took a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her tears. “What disappoints me is the fact that you felt you had to hide such joyous news from us. From me. I’m sorry we ever made you feel like you couldn’t share it with us.”

“No. It’s me who is so sorry, Mama.”

By then, Dally and Dacey were both bawling their eyes out, as Jeff would have said. Nik led Dally over to the couch, and Braxton helped Dacey settle next to her.

Hunter backed out of the room and left the house. He had plenty of work to keep him occupied while the two couples inside talked things through.

He glanced back at the house, pleased the roof hadn’t been raised from yelling, nor had any dishes been broken as he’d half expected to happen when his mother discovered the secret Dally had kept from them.

As he walked out to the barn, Hunter couldn’t help it if his thoughts once again drifted to Luna. Someday in the not too distant future, he hoped there would be time to court her properly.

Chapter Nineteen

Luna flipped open the newspaper, her gaze landing on Hunter’s handsome face. He stood with the other members of the Pendleton Buckaroos baseball team. The Bucks had claimed the Tri-State League baseball championship and had posed for a photograph dressed not in their baseball uniforms but in wooly chaps, knotted neckerchiefs, and cowboy hats.

Lightly, her finger traced over Hunter’s image, then she sighed and cast aside the paper, no longer interested in whatever news it might contain.

August had melted into September and was now heading toward October. A war raged in Europe, and one battled in Luna’s heart—to love Hunter, or to let him go.

Luna desperately wanted to spend time with Hunter, wanted to love him. But the sensible sliver of her mind that was not thoroughly besotted with him argued she would never be good enough for him.

It wasn’t like she’d seen much of him the past month anyway. With all the work he was doing at the ranch and his own place, not to mention the baseball games he’d been playing in, he was busier than most people she knew.

She had spent time with him during the Pendleton Round-Up, an event that was beyond her ability to aptly describe. Hunter and several of the cowboys at the B Bar D Ranch had competed in the rodeo. Luna had been both anxious and excited to watch Hunter ride wild, bucking broncs. Although he didn’t win, in her opinion, he should have. Luna had sat between Dally and Ilsa watching Hunter compete.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas had decided to stay until Dally’s baby arrived. Now that she was no longer keeping secrets from anyone, Dally seemed energetic and full of life. She positively glowed with joy each time Luna saw her.

Tomorrow, she’d promised to join Caterina, Marnie, Aundy, and Ilsa in helping Dacey paint walls and put up the wallpaper Dally had chosen for the nursery.

Luna hadn’t been back to the B Bar D since the last day of wheat harvest when Harley John had driven out with Mr. and Mrs. Douglas and driven her back to town. Luna had been planning to head into Pendleton right after she served the meal, but when she’d seen Harley John outside, she’d rushed upstairs to change, packed her things, and left.

She couldn’t explain why she’d felt a need to get away, but she had.

Part of it was because of the way Hunter made her feel. Not even with Matteo, to whom she’d been engaged for months, had she ever shared such a passionate kiss as the one she’d exchanged with Hunter at the ranch.

The love she felt for him was so different from what she’d felt for Matteo. Luna realized when she’d fallen in love with Matteo, she’d still been a starry-eyed girl full of countless dreams.

Now, though, Luna knew life had forced her to grow up and mature into a woman who had endured great pain and grief but had come out on the other side of it. Not since the day she and Hunter had been on the train that was robbed had the darkness and anxiety set upon her as it had in the past. Luna was hopeful it wouldn’t besiege her again. If it did, though, she felt confident she could talk herself through it instead of succumbing to the enveloping blackness that sucked the light right out of her.

Luna might not have been able to spend time with Hunter, but she’d seen him. Of course, she and most of the women she knew had attended all the local baseball games to cheer on the team. She loved watching when it was his turn to bat. Rarely did he miss getting a run.

Hunter never missed a Sunday church service. Even though he sat in a pew behind her on the other side of the church, she was acutely aware of his presence and couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on him when everyone gathered to chat on the church lawn after the service.

A few times, his family had come to the restaurant for dinner, and she’d helped wait on them, refilling beverages and fetching more breadsticks for their table. They’d smiled and said a few words in passing, but it wasn’t the same as being with him where they could talk freely or hold hands or steal a kiss.

Regardless, the possibility of a future with Hunter seemed more like a wish that would never come true when she could see the wide gulf between their upbringings. Between their futures.