Page 43 of In Plain Sight

I groaned. “I didn’t say promotion . . . yet.” I turned to Clay and gave him an encouraging smile. “We’ll talk soon, though.”

With that, I turned to leave. There was excitement as the guys congratulated Clay. He’d practically been doing more of my job than I had for the last few weeks, but I could see how my public praise of him would mean more than I expected for all of them.

By the time I drove over to Clara’s I actually felt relaxed. I’d been thinking a lot about the future. Ever since I’d mentioned someday wanting kids, it had opened my heart to something I had never known I wanted.

I’d worked hard my entire life to fit in with the boys and hold my own. I always had something to prove to myself and to them, or that’s what it had felt like. I had made it clear I wasn’t one of the boys, only that I was just as good as them.

Now with Bran in my life, I suddenly didn’t feel like I had anything more to prove. My goals were changing directions. I was the last of my sisters anyone would suspect to want the big crazy family, but the more I thought of it, the more I knew that was exactly what I wanted.

And I knew I would give up working eventually to have that. Me, a stay-at-home mom. I laughed out loud at the thought. No one would ever believe it. Relinquishing some of my duties to Clay felt like a first step in that direction, though, and I felt good about it.

I parked in front of Clara’s and practically bounced to the front door. I knocked but didn’t wait for her to answer before walking in.

“Clara?” I hollered.

“Kitchen,” she yelled back.

I walked in and found Kelsey sitting at the kitchen table with her leg casted and propped up on the chair across from her.

“Hey, Kels. Wanted to come by and check on you,” I said. I leaned down and gave her a hug and took the empty chair next to her. “How’s the leg?”

“Fine. I just feel like an idiot that it happened at all. You’d think I’d never ridden a horse before or something.”

“Had you?”

“No, but that’s not the point,” she said with a laugh.

“You’ll have to excuse her. She was in a lot of pain still this morning, so Kyle asked if I’d give her some painkillers, and let’s just say that Kelsey is the equivalent of a lightweight drunk,” Clara explained.

“I bet she’s been a lot of fun this morning,” I said.

Clara laughed. “Yeah, she has. Lizzy should be back soon. I think she’s picking Lily up on her way back. I didn’t think to call you because I thought you’d be working. Why aren’t you working?”

I shrugged. “I passed it off to Clay for today and wanted to come check on Kelsey. I’m thinking of giving him a promotion and lessening my load some.”

I tried to play it off as no big deal, but it was a very big deal and the surprised look on Clara’s face told me she thought so, too.

“Um, wow, that’s great. Any particular reason for this change?” she prodded.

“No,” I insisted.

“Are you pregnant?” Kelsey blurted out. “I mean, you’re much more of a workaholic than I ever was, but when we started talking about having a family, I started pulling back from my duties at work.”

“So, are you pregnant?” Clara asked.

“Wait, who’s pregnant?” Lily demanded as she and Lizzy walked in.

“No one’s pregnant,” I said. “This has nothing to do with babies or a family,” I insisted.

“Then what are we talking about?” Lily asked as she stood in the doorway with one hand on her hip.

“Touchy subject,” Kelsey warned. “Lily and Thomas have been trying for a few months now.”

“What?” I asked. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because we aren’t trying. We’re just talking about maybe trying sometime in the future.”

“Lily wants a baby so bad she can’t stand it, but Thomas isn’t ready yet, too stressed and still adjusting to his new Alpha roles.”

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