Page 72 of Secret Baby for the Triplets

“I want you to be here.” And I’ve never wanted anything more.

“Good.” Brock sounds relieved as he releases me. “Does that mean you’ll come back to the ranch with us?”

I’m stunned by his abrupt offer.

“Just like that?” I ask, blinking. “Or do you mean… Oh…” They must want a DNA test. “We can just do the test here in Austin.”

They look at one another in confusion.

“What?” Brock laughs. “No, we’re not talking about the test. We want you to come back and stay at the ranch.”

Hope bursts out of me. “You do?”

“We missed you, Emmy,” Owen says, his voice gentle. “The ranch isn’t the same without you.”

“It’s not just about the baby,” Toby adds quickly, stepping closer. “We want you. Your smile, your quick thinking, the way you care about everything so deeply.”

Brock nods, his usually stern face softening. “You brought something to the ranch that wasn’t there before. You make each of us better.”

“Even if there was no baby,” Owen continues, “we’d still be standing here asking you to come home.”

I look from one man to the other in disbelief. “No matter who the father is?”

Blinking, I listen, my heart still drumming wildly.

“We don’t want to do a DNA test at all,” Toby blurts out.

Brock glares at him. “You have the finesse of an elephant in a crystal shop, you know that?”

“But what he said,” Brock continues. “A DNA test wouldn’t matter, anyway. We’re identical triplets. The test would be inconclusive.”

I feel foolish for not realizing sooner what should have been obvious.

“And you already know that we share everything anyway,” Owen continues. “We’d be honored to raise this baby as our own no matter which one of us is the father.”

Tears well in my eyes. “Really?” I whisper.

Brock squeezes my hand. “What do you say? Do you want to pack up and get out of here with us tonight?”

My head swivels back toward the house where Greg glowers at us all from the living room window.

“Yes. Definitely yes,” I tell them.

I hold myself back from kissing all three of them. “I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to my mom and stepdad, though.”

“Let me,” Toby offers.

“No!” Owen and Brock snap.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Owen offers as I retreat toward the house.

I pause, considering it. “No. I need to do this myself.”

They head toward their truck to wait for me. I inhale deeply as my mom and Greg confront me in the entranceway.

“What in heaven’s name was that about, Emerson Grace?” Mom demands.

“I’m going back to Pine Sky Ranch,” I inform her. “Permanently.”

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