Page 37 of Secret Baby for the Triplets

“You’re part of Pine Sky Ranch now, Emerson. We take care of our own,” Brock says firmly, turning away.

“I’m staying with her,” Toby tells us.

I don’t argue.

“Fine,” Brock agrees. “Make sure she gets her room. If there’s any trouble, call me.”

“I can handle it,” Toby grunts.

“Make sure you do,” Brock says.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Emerson’s eyes haze over with tears.

“Thank you,” she mumbles again.

“Just rest up.” I squeeze her hand. “We’ll see you soon.”

* * *

“Pregnant. Fuck. What are we going to do with her?” Brock demands as we climb into the truck.

“I mean, we have to figure out what the story is, don’t we?” I answer in my usual diplomatic way.

“Do we, though?” Brock growls. “She accepted the job knowing she wouldn’t be here long.”

I tense as he drives out of the parking lot toward the ranch.

“You don’t know if that’s true,” I reply slowly. “Just because she’s pregnant doesn’t mean she’s going to quit when she has the baby. And did you consider that she might have been surprised by this?”

“Did she look surprised to you?”

No. She didn’t look surprised to me at all.

“There could be more to the story, though, Brock. I mean, what if she’s trying to get out of a bad situation,” I press. “You hear shit like that all the time. Hell, we’ve even had women come through here before?—”

“Not knocked up and applying for jobs,” Brock cuts me off angrily.

I know why he’s so mad. He’s mad for the same reason I am. He feels betrayed by this woman, who we both feel weirdly connected to for some reason.

But that’s more of a reason to keep her safe.

“She should have been forthcoming about it.”

“People do funny things in bad situations,” I tell him. “You know that.”

He grunts again.

Brock has never been the most forgiving, but I doubt he’s going to throw the girl out on the street. All the same, we need to devise a plan for when she gets back.

“We still don’t know the nature of her health condition. Why she passed out, or what’s going on with the baby,” I say, more to myself than Brock.

“Ugh. She was supposed to make things less complicated, not more complicated.”

But there’s something else in his voice, and it’s not annoyance. It’s hurt. He’s hurt by this pregnancy, as if he thought he had some shot with Emerson.

I know it because I feel it, too.

That’ll teach us both.

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