Page 74 of Time Out

“Sweet as pie and tired as a mother with three little ones, but Annie’s doing all right, and I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to set Reese down once I get her in my arms when we get back. You’ll understand someday, both of you. Boys are great. Wonderful. Would have loved a dozen boys running around our land and causing mayhem, but a man gets a hold of a precious little girl in his arms? Well, if he’s any kind of man at all, he’s a completely different man from that point on. Breaks all of us, I figure. Builds us back up, too.”

Yeah, I liked Davis’s dad.

And equally hated the secret I was forcing Davis to keep from him.

I caught his eye as he glanced at me out of the side of his and mouthed, “Tell him.”

His brows rose in question.

I nodded.

I hoped like hell Jim would still feel all those wonderful things about character and hard work when he learned I was pregnant with his son’s child, and that we barely knew each other.

Chapter 22

Davis

Being in Cole’s house was like being in my own except it was larger, and somehow given there were a bunch of men currently in it watching the late football game and having a couple beers and hanging out, quieter than a home with me and my sisters ever was.

Or maybe it was me, lost in my head, because Maggie had given me the go-ahead to tell my dad the full truth, and now I had no idea what to tell him.

I knew he’d love her because my parents were good people.

But liking her and then liking I’d gotten a girl pregnant before I really knew her or cared about her? I was more afraid they were going to be ashamed and disappointed with me than not like her. My sisters, on the other hand, would probably take a while to come around, although I was still holding out hope everyone would see the good in her and realize I was equally culpable, not tricked.

Maggie was in the kitchen, helping finish up dinner with Kate and Eden, who was being quieter than usual and kept shooting glances at Maggie which didn’t help anything. She’d have her own baggage considering Jasper’s Mom tricked Cole into having sex with her, got pregnant because she’d believed he’d finally date her and then marry her. They might have had all of that worked out now, but I wasn’t exactly surprised Eden wasn’t welcoming Maggie with open arms. She wasn’t that kind of over friendly person anyway.

Still, with dinner almost ready, my knee was bouncing with anxiety, worrying myself until a pit filled with unease grew in my stomach. My dad was sitting near me on the couch, his eyes glued to the Arizona and San Francisco game. Bound to be a good one and either team would be hard to beat if we made it to the championship game, but I had barely paid attention to anything all game.

“Hey Dad.”

The two words came out on a croak, immediately garnering my dad’s attention he whipped his head in my direction.

“What is it?”

“Can I… can I talk to you? Outside?”

Dave, sitting in his beloved rocker recliner, watched us with concern tugging his brows together. “Everything all right, son?”

“Yeah.”

God I loved that man. This whole family. Almost as much I loved my own.

I shoved off the couch, unable to sit still and caught Maggie’s gaze from the kitchen. I gestured for her to join us with a nod of my head toward the back door and she rolled her lips together while wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.

She made her way toward me with the steps of a soldier heading into a deadly battle and my dad was now watching both of us.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Outside. Please?”

Because if there was drama or cussing or crying, heaven forbid, we didn’t need it in Cole’s parents’ living room.

“All right. Of course.”

I opened the door and we let Maggie exit first, then my dad and I followed. Maggie was twisting her hands together, shuffling on her feet.

She was wearing my shirt. A T-shirt with my team’s logo on it and jeans with tears at the thighs and knees. She looked damn good in both, the shirt clinging to her curves and the small swollen section of her belly I wasn’t sure anyone else could see but was becoming more noticeable to me.

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