Page 83 of Sheriff's City Girl

Jess had no idea.

“Um…” I shut my eyes, trying to conjure up the right way to say what I needed to. I mean, Jess already knew that I was seeing Emma—and she could probably put two and two together…

“Yeah, Mason and I are having a baby,” Emma spoke up for me. “And I’m sure your dad forgot that you didn’t know. He actually didn’t even know until the night of the gala. I hadn’t told him yet.” She walked across the room to her purse sitting in a chair, and fished out the ultrasound picture that I had seen. “Here.” She held it out to Jess.

“Wow,” Jess said as she took the picture from her and stared at the image. “That’s… This is a lot.”

“I know it is, and I’m so sorry that you found out this way.”

She shook her head. “It’s okay… I don’t even know how else I would’ve rather found out.” She started to laugh, her eyes bouncing between the two of us. “This is so incredible. Like… Wow. I’m finally going to be a sister.”

I exchanged a glance with Emma, surprised by my daughter’s strikingly positive reaction. “I’m… I’m glad that you’re good with it.”

“Uh, yeah!” Jess exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. “I have to go tell Dara. It’s going to blow her mind.”

Emma laughed softly, watching her run from the hospital room before turning to me. “She took that much better than I thought she would.”

“A hell of a lot better than I took it,” I grimaced, remorse creeping in. “And I don’t remember exactly what happened that night, but I owe you the biggest apology for the way that I acted. I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that—and I shouldn’t have walked away from you.”

She gave me a sympathetic smile. “No, honestly, I owe you an apology. I should’ve told you sooner, but I was so worried about the way you and I were going. I didn’t want you to choose to be with me because of the baby.”

My heart stuttered at the admission. “Emma…” my voice trailed off. “I… I’m in love with you. It just scared the shit out of me.”

Emma rushed toward the bed, grabbing my hand. “I love you, too,” she nearly whispered. I pulled her to me, bringing her lips to mine in a soft kiss. “I’m so sorry that this happened to you,” she murmured as we pulled away. “I just can’t believe what happened.”

“You shouldn’t be the one saying sorry,” I urged, shaking my head. “I should be the one saying sorry to you. If I would’ve been there…” my voice trailed off and I squeezed my eyes shut.

“You had no idea what was going to happen. We had no idea who we were messing with, and I don’t think there was any real way to know, either. He was determined to take everything he could from the town.” She shook her head, letting out a soft sigh. “But it’s over now. He’s going to spend a long time in prison for all the scheming.”

I nodded, wondering where the investigation was at. “And the missing cattle? Was he tied to that?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Emma answered. “I think you’d have to ask Jackson. No one has really told me much, but from what I’ve gathered, yeah, they’re trying to tie him to all of it.”

“Damn, I need to get back to work,” I chuckled, running my hands over my face. My chest and shoulder were aching, but I ignored the pain, focusing on the gratitude I had for just being there with Emma.

“Mason…” Emma began, her smile fading. “I… I actually have a question for you.”

My heart did a flip flop in my chest. “What is it?”

She took a deep breath and shifted in the chair, releasing my hand. “I’ve heard it mentioned a few times over the last day or so that you… You had a run-in with the Rangers… And that there was an accident…”

My stomach churned at the mention. “Yeah… Yeah, something happened a long time ago—right after my first wife left me.”

Her eyes left mine, falling to our intertwined fingers. “And what was it?”

I closed my eyes, knowing that she deserved to know, and that she needed to know—because of the lasting damage I had from it. “I… I was really upset after my ex-wife took off… And I got into an accident in my patrol car. I had been at the bar…”

“And you were drinking?”

“Well, yeah, but I hadn’t had too many. My blood alcohol level was below the legal limit—barely. It was a mistake. I was driving too fast and lost control. They brought in a couple of Rangers to investigate to avoid bias.”

“And?”

“And it was deemed an accident,” I said with a shrug. “I wasn’t drunk when I drove home that night. It floated around town that I was though. I suffered some pretty heavy head trauma from it, and now I get these real bad migraines. I’m on medicine for them, but sometimes they slip up on me.”

She gave me a reassuring smile. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Does it change anything?” I asked carefully, studying her face.

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