Page 40 of Caught By A Cowboy

“Surely he’s going to want to be part of our baby’s life. You're the only family he’s got left, right?”

“Jamie ain’t a people person.”

“Well, he might have to step up because the way things are looking with my family, little Jace Junior isn’t going to be having many?—”

“Can we just drop it?” Jace snaps, and when he looks back at me over his shoulder and sees that he’s shocked me, he looks up at the ceiling and blows out a long, deep breath.

“Come here. I shouldn't have snapped at ya.” He pulls me closer and rests his chin on the top of my head. “Uncle Jamie is…He’s just a funny one. I don’t want ya worrying about him. And I don’t want ya worrying about who our baby’s gonna have to love him, either. He’s got us.”

“You need to stop calling it a ‘he’.” I pull back so he can see that I’m smiling.

“And just so ya know, you suggested Jace Junior, first.” He flicks my nose.

“It was a joke, not a suggestion.”

“Well, I liked it. JJ Sullivan’s got a ring to it.” He flashes me that adorable smile again and although I can tell he’s hiding something from me, I can’t help smiling back.

“I was thinking, I’m gonna be busy over the next few days. We’re gonna be rounding the herd and bringing them in closer for the winter, maybe you should give Taylor a call, to keep you company. The two of you seemed to hit it off last night. Grayson knows about the baby now, maybe you should have a person to tell too.”

“Sounds good.” I give him every reason to believe that I’m happy to drop the subject but now that I’m curious, there’s not a chance of that happening.

“I need to head into town, ya need anythin’?”

“I’m all good.” I do my best to hide that curiosity as he kisses my forehead and heads out the door.

I wait until he’s gone before I pick up my own cell and dial home.

“The MacKenzie’s.” Stella’s voice is soft and warm, it reminds me of her apple cobbler and the hugs she used to give.

“Stella, it’s Maddison. Is my mother there?”

There’s a long pause that’s followed up by her latest excuse.

“I’m sorry, sweetie, she left to go shopping. I could take a message or take you through to your father. He’s working from home today.”

“It’s fine. I just…I wanted to tell her something.” I look down to where my hand is resting on my stomach and think about my child. I get that Mom is angry at me. I’ve embarrassed her, and the entire family, but I don’t deserve to be ignored. I would never do that to my own child.

“How are you? It’s strange without you here,” Stella tells me, and I take a seat at the kitchen table and tell her all about Clearwater Creek, and how beautiful the sunset is here. What Idon’t tell her, is that I'm pregnant and head over heels in love with a cowboy who, I’m pretty sure, is hiding a very dark secret.

CHAPTER 20

JACE

FIVE WEEKS LATER

“Sonowcan we tell people?” I glance across the console and admire the smile she makes as she looks at the sonogram photo in her hand.

“I really need to tell my parents first.” Her smile quickly fades and she makes that same nervous sigh she did before we walked into the appointment room.

“Hey.” I slide my hand onto her thigh. “Everything’s gonna be fine with them, just like it was with the ultrasound.” She was so nervous before the appointment, despite feeling like death and all the throwing up she’d done, she had some crazy idea in her head that we were gonna find out it was all a mistake. Hearing our baby’s heartbeat, and seeing it on the monitor for real, made her burst out into happy tears. Happy tears that I played my role in making because I gave her that little reason she’s so happy

“You don’t know my parents, Jace.” She shakes her head and drops her shoulders in defeat.

“Well, they have two choices. They can be happy for us or they can miss out on one awesome grandkid.” I do my best to get her back to being happy again, this thing with her parents has been going on far too long. I’ve got a good mind to drive to Denver and speak to them myself.

“You should invite them over for the holidays, we could tell them about the baby then,” I suggest, her mother still hasn’t spoken to her but she seems to have been having more conversations with her dad over the past few weeks.

“I don’t want anyone being negative about this.” Her hand rests naturally on her stomach, the way it seems to more and more often these days. It’s still flat but all that’s about to change real soon, according to the sonogram measurements, Maddison is thirteen weeks pregnant. I read that she could start showing any day now, and I’m here for it.

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