Page 135 of Samuel

Now, he had her dress and his outfit slung over his shoulder as they walked over to John and Abby’s house.

“How are you feeling? Are you sure we should walk over there? I don’t want you getting wiped out before the day even starts.”

“I’m fine. I need to walk off that breakfast or I’m going to be in a food coma all day. Besides, I’m so excited for your sister that I barely even remember I’m pregnant.”

She sucked in a big breath and laughed, her easily winded body proving her last statement completely false.

“I guess it does make sense to not get the truck stuck in behind everyone’s vehicles. You promise you’ll let me know if you feel any contractions? I don’t want you to wait if you think something is up just because you don’t want to take the spotlight away from Abby.”

“First, I could never take the spotlight off of her. It’s her big day. So even if I did go into labor, it would never take away from this day being all about her. Second, I’m not going into labor today. I heard you make Jellybean promise.”

Sam laughed. “Mm, we both know she’s a bit prone for hysterics, though. Our little lady is going to be a barrel racer when she’s bigger. I’d bet the ranch on it.”

As if she could hear Sam, the baby rolled and kicked Evie’s side. She couldn’t help the moan that escaped as she rubbed her hand into the tender spot.

“Hey, little miss.” Sam stopped walking as his hand slidover her belly. “You be nice to your mama. We’ll see you soon enough. Give her this day, okay?”

“I’m going to have so much fun with the girls today, and then I’m properly going to bawl my eyes out watching you walk Abby down the aisle.”

“And you’ll save a dance for me?”

“The only dancing I want to do is with you, Cowboy.”

“Good.” He leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too,”she whispered.“Now go. You better get out to the barn before the guys think something is wrong.”

“I will. I just want to say hi to Abby and make sure she knows you’re on strict orders to rest.”

They made it to the front door, which was wide open, allowing the morning breeze to billow through the house. That would feel so nice once she had to slip into her dress. She was already dreading the amount of sweat that would be pouring off of her by the time the ceremony rolled around.

“Your sister loves that you want to say hi,” Abby smiled as she walked into his arms for an embrace. “And of course I’ll keep an eye on my sister-to-be and niece. But I also need you to scoot along and bring this to John.”

She grabbed a wrapped box off the table next to the door.

“Yeah, I can do that for you.”

“Alright. Well, we’ll see you back here in four hours. The boys are already digging into the whiskey. Don’t let them pressure you into drinking. Someone needs to make sure we get married on time!”

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry. Give me one sec with Evie and I’ll be on my way.”

“Mhm. No funny business though, you two. Can’t have Evie having the baby and missing out on Emma’s cake!”

“Abby. Leave me to say goodbye to my girls, would you?”

“Going, going.” She waved over her shoulder as she made her way back into the house.

“I can’t wait to see you walk her down the aisle.” Evie smiled as Sam pulled her into his chest.

“You call me ifanythinghappens before the ceremony. Got it?”

“Relax, Cowboy. Everything is going to be fine. I’ll see you at the ceremony. I’ll be the one really embracing the ranch theme.”

His eyebrows furrowed.

“You know? Big as a cow, sweating like a pig…”

“Don’t talk about my beautiful wife-to-be like that.”

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