Page 37 of Claiming What Is Mine

Chapter Eighteen

Gabe

It’s been days since Mer’s news changed my life. I can barely sleep. I feel a newfound purpose in everything I do. These last days have been torture, having been sworn to keep my trap shut about something so big, so epic, so amazing. If I don’t talk to someone soon, I’m going to explode.

“Alright Gabe. That’ll be enough of that,” Chet states.

“What? I’m not doing anything.” I totally am, and I know it.I can’t help myself.I’ve got the biggest news of my life bottled up inside and I’m about to burst at the seams. I’ve been dashing back and forth like a fool since we got the cattle moved up by the barn this morning. Considering Chet is depending on me to keep the cows calm while he vaccinates them, it’s kind of a big deal. “You talk to Mom at all the last couple days?”

Chet doesn’t look up from his work. “Nope. Haven’t had a reason. Why? Everything okay?”

I nod. “Oh yeah. Sure. Everything’s right as rain.”

Chet shakes his head dismissively. “Go on. What is it?”

I intended to keep things to myself, but obviously that plan is a bust. “What’s what?” I ask, hopeful Chet presses the issue.

He looks up and whistles at the open barn door. “Fine then. Could you at least settle this one down, so I don’t hurt her?” he asks, indicating the cow in the stall. “I’d have been better off working with Hank today.”

Just as Chet and I are settling our attention back on the cow nervously mooing in the chute, Christy’s engagement gift, Marry, trots into the barn and stops at my side, panting and looking up at me. “Whoa, girl. I’m not the one who called you. And I don’t have any bacon with me so don’t ask.” I look back at my brother. “No need to be a dick. If you knew what I know, you’d understand.” I rub Marry behind her ears—just the way she likes.

“Gabe, if you have something to get off your chest, get on with it,” Chet says with exasperation as he tags the cow. “She’s done. Let’s get the next one in.”

“Something to get off my chest? No, not really.” Yes. Please, I need to tell someone, or I might go crazy. I’m so desperate I’m even willing to confide in your sorry ass. I open the front gate of the stall to let the cow through.

Chet looks to his dog. “Okay Marry, you know what to do girl—help her find her way back to the others.” Chet whistles his instructions to the canine and Marry responds to his cue. She barks and nips behind the cow, prompting it forward. The shepherd follows behind, zig-zagging back and forth to keep the animal moving in the direction she wants.

“Watching her do that still boggles my mind. Herding really is a part of her nature, isn’t it?”

Chet smiles. “Christy trained her well, but the fearlessness that dog shows bullying an animal thirty times its size…I suspect that comes natural.”

I throw my hands in the air. “Alright fine. Shit man, you’re like a dog with a bone—refusing to drop the issue until I spill the beans. Mer’s pregnant.” I open the rear gate of the stall to make a path for the next cow.

Without making eye contact, Chet raises the Stetson off his head and scratches his scalp, while a look of bewilderment spreads over his face.

“Hold that thought.” I hurry out of the barn, questioning if I made a mistake by oversharing with a man who might as well be a tree stump when it comes to conversation. To my surprise when I return with a cow in tow, Chet is leaning against the stall, staring right at me. “What?” I ask defensively.

“How are you feeling about it?” The quiet, thoughtfulness of Chet’s tone is familiar, but frankly, a bit unsettling.

“About the pregnancy? How do you mean? It’s terrific. Why?” I know you brother. This is a setup. What’s your game here?

Chet comes up beside me and puts his arm around my shoulder as I close the gate behind the cow. “Congratulations.” His typically flat, straight lips crack into a smile. “I’m real happy for you both.”

“Jesus, enough with the touchy-feely man,” I joke as I pretend to recoil. “Thanks brother.”

Chet takes his place back at the stall and the serious look he usually wears returns. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do?”

“Of course, I have.” Be an awesome dad. Make sure they both never want for anything. I mean, they’re sort of broad stroke ideas at this point, but those are definitely my goals. “Why? Do you have advice, or something?”

Chet brings his hand to his face and strokes his chin. “Nothing you shouldn’t already know.” He pauses. “But life isn’t about you any more, you have other people counting on you. Their needs have to come first from now on.”

“Yep. I get that. Totally.”

“Gabe? Have you and Meredith talked about how the two of you are going to handle this?”

“How do you mean?” I’m not quite sure why but my jaw clenches, holding back a more defensive response while I wait to see where this is going.

“Well, from what I understand, she moved back to Logan to sort her situation out, right?”

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