Page 55 of In Plain Sight

It was still hard for me to fully forgive her for all those years. It wasn’t like she was being kept hostage or threatened in any way. Her human family supposedly took great care of her and Oscar and they still remained very close, so I couldn’t understand why she’d never picked up the phone at least and called to tell us she was alive and well in all those years.

To each their own, I supposed, and I had mostly forgiven her and accepted her back into the family, but it was still a hard pill to swallow. No matter what happened in my life or how bad things got, I always knew without a doubt my family would love me unconditionally. I think more than anything, I hated that Maddie didn’t seem to understand that, too.

Even still, as I promised Shelby, on our drive home I called Maddie.

“Ruby?” she answered. “Ruby, is everything okay?”

“Uh, yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” I asked.

I could hear Madelyn let out a sigh of relief. “No, no, of course nothing’s wrong. I was being silly, it’s just, you never call me. Why are you calling?”

I felt guilty at her admission. It was true. I wouldn’t have called her at all if Shelby hadn’t asked me to. I would have let Shelbs or Lizzy share my good news with her.

I rolled my eyes, even knowing she couldn’t see it. “Nothing bad, I promise. It’s just, Bran and I had our sonogram today and I’m having a baby. I just wanted to let you know.” It sounded lame even to my own ears, and I was ready to beat Shelby for sticking us into this awkward situation, until Madelyn squealed in my ear.

“Eeek! Shelby had told me it was a possibility, but I’m so excited for you, Ruby. And just think, your pup will grow up with Sara! Oh, I hope it’s a girl. We only have boys so far in the family here. Oh, but a son is so special, too. Whatever. I know I’m jumping ahead of myself. I’m just so happy for you, Ruby. You’re going to make a wonderful mother. You were always the strongest and fiercest of us all.”

I was stunned silent by her ramblings. Me? The strongest? The fiercest? I’d never really considered that. I was the one who had stayed home and kept the safe life. Sure, I held my own with the boys, but that was just stubborn pride. I didn’t consider myself strong. I certainly didn’t feel it with all these emotions today either.

“Ruby? You there?” Maddie asked.

“Yeah, I’m here. Thanks, Maddie I’ve seen how awesome your kids have turned out, so that really means a lot to me.”

“Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?” I heard Liam asking in the background.

“I’m fine. Ruby called to tell me she’s pregnant,” my sister told her mate.

“Ruby actually called you? Sweetheart, that’s great,” he said, and for the first time I realized that maybe the wall I’d kept between my youngest sister and I should be taken down.

I wasn’t ready to fully forgive the years she’d left us, but I was happy she was back in our lives and I did love her. Family was everything to me and I made a personal vow to reach out and stop keeping her at arm’s length.

“Well, I guess you’re going to have to get used to hearing from me now. I mean, who else am I going to ask about this stuff? You’re the only one of us who’s been through having a baby before,” I told her, and I could hear her sniffling and knew she was crying.

Maddie had suffered enough, and I needed to step up and be the big sister and let go of the past once and for all.

“You can call me anytime, day or night. I’m here now,” she said softly.

“I have a few other calls I have to make still, but we’ll talk soon,” I promised before hanging up.

I hadn’t realized Bran had parked the truck and we were already home.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I did a quick internal evaluation. Was I? I smiled over at him. “Yeah, everything’s perfect.”

Bran

Chapter 21

It had been nearly two full months since we’d confirmed Ruby’s pregnancy with my pup. Thomas and I were working with a contractor on plans to expand the tiny apartment I shared with Ruby to accommodate a nursery, because Ruby was adamant that we were not moving. She didn’t know it yet, but we were already discussing further expansion and debating between doing it now or later.

It had been Thomas’s idea. He said he had never really considered Ruby the maternal type to want a big family, but it was all my mate talked about since the sonogram. I was more than a little overwhelmed. I mean, we didn’t even have this pup safely in our arms yet, and she was already talking about the next one. Worse, I didn’t know if I’d be around for a “next one.” Of course I couldn’t mention that part to Thomas, so I just smiled and nodded and told him I was fine with whatever he thought was best.

When I wasn’t busy on plans for the apartment or doting over my beautiful mate, I had actual friends I sometimes hung out with. The guys around the ranch were awesome and had accepted me as if I had been born into the pack, and I loved my job. Plus, we were always doing stuff with the Collier family.

I had made my rounds of shadows and was finally taking my own assignments. Thomas talked to me about management positions, but I assured him I was fine where I was for the time being, and with the baby on the way I didn’t need that extra pressure.

Life was pretty damn good and for the most part I tried to just enjoy it and forget about the oath I had taken. With Kelsey in Westin, I didn’t feel the call of it as pressing, though the dagger on the top shelf in my closet taunted me regularly.

---