Page 14 of His Eighth Ride

“Taggart.” She spoke with a certain level of irritation and disappointment, and Tag didn’t like either.

He unbuckled and got out of the truck. Around on her side, he opened the door and crowded into the space so she couldn’t get down. “I’ll do the décor on your Christmas party committee.”

Tag put one hand on her knee and looked at her. “Okay, honey?”

“Thank you, Tag.” She put her hand on his chest, and he backed up enough to let her get out of the truck.

“Now, let’s go eat as much chicken as we can. Then, I have tickets to the Imperial Christmas display at the Royal Chinese Gardens.”

Opal sucked in a breath. “You do?”

Tag liked that reaction, and he had a horrible thought that perhaps he was coming out too strong on the first date. “Sure do.”

“Wow, Tag,” she said with plenty of flirtatious vibes in her voice. “You might really get yourself another kiss on the first date.”

Without missing a beat, Tag said, “Oh, honey, I sealed that deal when I said I’d be on your Christmas party planning committee.”

five

Jane Behr paced in the kitchen, waiting for her lunch to finish reheating in the microwave. Molly had made a sausage ziti bake over the weekend, and she’d sent a bunch home with Cord and Jane.

She had work to do at the shop that afternoon, and she planned to stop and get Cord a bag of his favorite fast food on her way in to work. She sometimes went to work with him in the morning and put in a full day, but she’d wanted to go Christmas shopping with Molly and Opal that morning, and her stomach had been sick when they’d decided to go to lunch.

So she’d come home, but as the microwave beeped and she smelled the marinara and spicy sausage, her gut did another lurch that had her nearly running for the bathroom. Instead, she leaned against the kitchen counter and pressed a hand to her stomach. “What is wrong with me?”

She’d been sleeping a lot lately too, and she did wake up with an ache in her belly almost every morning. It had started about Thanksgiving, so less than two weeks ago, and she’d thought she’d eaten a bad batch of stuffing. Maybe undercooked or something.

She hadn’t said anything to Molly, who had cooked their holiday meal, but now she wondered if it was something else.

You have a pregnancy test in your bathroom, she thought. And that single thought propelled her out of the kitchen and down the hall to the master suite. She’d bought the tests a couple of months ago when she’d been late on her period, but it had come before she could use one.

Now, she got the job done, and she paced in the bedroom for a whole new reason. “What if I’m pregnant?” she asked herself. Hope and apprehension filled her in equal measure, causing tears to come to her eyes. She and Cord hadn’t exactly been trying for a baby, but they hadn’t exactly not been either.

He was eleven years older than her, already in his forties, and he wanted kids. Plural. But they’d only been married for nine months, and neither of them had started to get too desperate yet. How would she tell him? Her parents? When would she be due? What a Christmas miracle! she thought.

Jane sat down on the bed, completely overwhelmed with her thoughts. “Heavenly Father,” she prayed. “I really want a baby.” She covered her stomach with both arms protectively. “We would love them so, so much.”

It had to have been long enough for the test to tell her if she and Cord would be parents, and she steeled herself and got up. In the bathroom, she peered at the test, then swiped it off the countertop and into her fist.

She didn’t let go of it for a single second as she drove over to Cord’s mechanic shop. It took about a half-hour to get there from their house, and they’d both agreed to start looking for something a little closer. This house had belonged to Hunter and Molly, and they’d lived in it while he’d worked in the city.

But Cord’s shop was out in Cherry Creek, a neighboring town to Ivory Peaks, and they both wanted to be closer. Jane wanted to build, because she thought they’d get more of what they wanted that way, as there weren’t many houses for sale in these small outlying towns surrounding the city.

At least not many houses where Jane wanted to raise her family. And now she and Cord were going to have a family.

Tears filled her eyes, and Jane allowed herself to weep for the last couple of miles to the shop. She was pregnant with her first baby, and she was allowed to cry about it. She suddenly had so much to do—find a doctor and make an appointment, start getting a nursery ready, making a list of names for boys or girls.

Her thoughts once again overwhelmed her, and she very nearly drove right past the shop. She jammed on the brakes and made the right turn far too fast. If Cord happened to look up and see her do that, he’d know immediately that something was wrong.

“The tears will do that, Jane,” she told herself. Oh, and she’d forgotten his lunch. He’d know the moment he saw her something was wrong.

Except nothing was wrong.

Jane pulled up to the customer entrance of the shop, where she didn’t usually park. But no one else had parked there, which meant Cord worked alone in the shop. A lucky break—or a gift from God.

She got out and started into the shop, ignoring the office where she usually put her purse and coat. She hadn’t even put a coat on before leaving the house, a fact she only just now realized.

A bell would ring if someone came into the office, but nothing happened when Jane pushed open the door to the bays. She wanted to call for Cord, but she couldn’t get her voice to work. In fact, she sniffled, her emotions all over the place.

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