Page 60 of Finding Forever

His glare deepened.

“This is just how I look.”

“Aah the resting brood face strikes again,” she muttered and this time that dark frown took on a hint of confusion.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she dismissed, with a wave of her hand. “What has you looking so aggravated then?”

“I’m not aggravated,” he snapped. Then paused and acknowledged. “But—thanks to this pointless conversation—I’m getting there fast.”

His broody, disapproving gaze dropped to the packages at her feet again.

“This doesn’t look like enough stuff,” he said, his hand making an abrupt, irritated gesture in the general direction of her new purchases.

“Oh,” she said, looking down at what—to her—had been an exorbitant expense. She wasn’t accustomed to spending money, and buying designer brands from outrageously pricey stores had seemed like a huge extravagance. “This is all worth thousands.”

“From what I’ve seen of your wardrobe, it needs a complete overhaul,” Cade said with a shrug, before tugging a hand through his dark, wavy hair. “Buying enough should’ve run into thetensof thousands.”

She tried not the blanch and instead swallowed queasily at the thought of spending that much money in just a day.

“This is a good start. I’ll buy more as I go along. Beth reminded me that I’ll be needing maternity clothes soon as well—” This time there was no mistaking the dark glower that descended over his features as anything other than disapproval.

“Youtoldher?”

Disapprovalanddismay as evidenced by the alarmed rise in his voice.

“What?” she stalled, uncertain of his frame of mind.

“About the pregnancy? You told Beth?”

“It just came out. But she won’t tell Gideon. We both agreed that you should be the one to tell your siblings.”

“I’m not comfortable with you telling her in the first place.”

“I’m not going to keep my pregnancy a secret, Cade. I’m not ashamed of it. And I’ll start showing at some point, it’ll be hard to hide it then.”

“I should be the one to decide when and where myfamilyhears this news,” he snapped, and Fern flinched before she nodded, acknowledging his point.

“I know. I’m—” Thesorryhovered at the tip of her tongue and she swallowed it back, knowing it would probably only worsen his mood. “I shouldn’t have said anything, but we were chatting and I just—it was soniceto feel like I had a real friend. Someone in my corner. It just came out.”

He heaved an exhausted sigh, before once again dragging a hand through his hair, leaving it a chaotic mess of peaks and waves. Her fingers itched to smooth it, to tame it back into some semblance of order and she curled her hands into tight fists as she fought the impulse.

“Did you enjoy your afternoon?”

The change in subject surprised her, and she blinked uncomprehendingly for a few seconds, before offering him a tentative smile.

“I did. Beth is lovely and I was thinking… maybe we could invite her and Gideon to dinner sometime? I’ll cook something amazing. As you know, I’m a great cook.” In this she was confident.

His lips twitched at her boast, but he schooled them into a straight line and kept his features unreadable.

“Why are you so afraid to smile?” The words were out before she could think them through and his impassive expression morphed into yet another frown.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” he said, in a ridiculously stilted voice.

“And I’m sure youdo. You were about to smile just then. Before you policed your lips into that tight line.”

He looked uncomfortable with her observation and tugged at his cuffs, keeping his eyes carefully averted from hers.

---