Page 71 of The Cowboy Takes A Bride

She threw her hands up in disgust. “You see? You are the daftest man I have ever met, and I have met a ton. Look around you. This room is filled with them, but right now you’re leading the pack.”

Jace laughed. "I love you, Meredith, and I want you to come home. I want to have babies with you, talk about the garden every year, but we can skip killing large wildlife if you don’t mind. I’ve had my fill with that.”

Instantly, she burst into tears, covering her face. She felt his arms slip around her.

“Babe, don’t cry. Be happy.”

“I am happy. Now,” she said between her hands.

“Me, too,” he said, peeling her hands from her face. He cupped her cheeks and delivered a soft, yet desperate kiss to her lips.

EPILOGUE

Two Years later

Meredith walked across the prairie, each step sinking slightly into the freshly fallen snow. The sun would be setting soon, and she wanted to get to the fence before it did.

“Here,” she huffed and handed Jace the thermos of coffee. He jumped off the fence, took the thermos, and set it aside. He offered his hand to help her up.

“You sure this thing can hold me?” she asked, one foot resting on the rail and pressing down.

“Yeah, even with that fat baby in your belly, I still weigh more than you. Here, let me help.” Groaning, he pushed at her ass to pretend to lift her.

“You aren’t funny,” she said and situated herself on the top rail.

“I know, but you’re overly worried, and it’s my poor attempt to take your mind off it.” He picked up the thermos and sat next to her.

“Wouldn’t you be worried about squeezing this ginormous thing out? Especially after all that talk about how big a head you had and—”

“I promise, it’s going to be okay.” He draped an arm around her.

“You can’t promise that.” She relieved him of the thermos and poured them both coffee.

“Mer, we’ll have Thanksgiving with our family tomorrow, and on Friday head into the big city to wait for this bruiser. We can go to book stores or chocolate stores or whatever you want.”

Even though she was a week out from her due date, she was apprehensive and ready to get close to the hospital. Sure, she could have the baby in town at the clinic, but she wanted more than a family doc. She wanted a practiced baby doctor who was ready to give out meds.

To distract herself from her worry, she went through her list of dishes she needed to make tomorrow. It was their second Thanksgiving together.

“Listen, I know we sorta talked about names, but I’d really like to name him after my dad,” said Jace.

Meredith nodded. “If it’s a boy, I’m in full agreement with that. If it’s a girl, I’d like to go with my mom’s name, Rebecca.”

Jace nodded. “I like the sound of both of those.” He leaned across and brushed a kiss on her temple.

“I think my dad is lonely. He comes out here a lot, but even here he seems sad or maybe…I don’t know. I want to do something for him.”

“Besides giving him a grandchild?” Jace chuckled.

“Yeah, besides that. I have a crazy idea. How about we ask Sabrina to, you know, match him?” She cut her eyes to Jace, curious to see his reaction.

He sipped his coffee before answering. “Find your dad a wife? I’m not sure even Sabrina can manage that.”

Meredith laughed. “True. Maybe we should build another cabin on the property and let my dad live there?”

Jace choked on his coffee. “I’ll call Sabrina in the morning.”

Meredith sat up straight and sucked in a breath.

---