Page 60 of His Tenth Dance

“Well, it’s going to be one of those,” Keith said.

Hunter paused completely. Britt was pregnant too?

Jane had obviously heard the same thing he had, for she spun toward the white-blonde woman who had been a huge part of the farm and Pony Power for such a long time. Britt currently worked in the counseling department here at Pony Power, and she was exceptionally skilled with children, dogs, and horses.

“Are you going to have a baby too, Britt?” Jane asked, her voice somewhat softer and less demanding.

Britt shone like the noonday sun as she said, “Yes.” She reached for her husband’s hand. “Lars and I are going to have a baby next year.”

“Oh, my goodness,” Jane exclaimed. “That is such great news, Britt. Congratulations.”

Hunter glanced toward the house, because Molly would hate missing both of these announcements—but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

The sliding glass door opened, and Mike came out, carrying West in his arms. Gerty followed with a tray of something, and Opal and Tag came after them.

“Howdy, brother,” Mike said.

“Hey,” Hunter said, as he met Mike halfway across the lawn. “Is Molly in the living room? Did you see her?”

“I didn’t see her,” Mike said, looking to the commotion happening back over near the fire pit “What’s going on out here?”

Hunter turned to see what his cousin did and found all the women congregated together, chit-chatting like chickens.

“Holy cow, Lindsay is pregnant,” Gerty said.

“How do you know?” Mike asked.

“Look at her baby bump.”

Gerty hurried away while Opal said, “I swear, men are so unobservant.”

Tag stopped with Hunter and Mike, and Hunter said, “PS, Britt is pregnant too.”

“Ah, that’s why I see so many tears,” Tag said. “Opal will be thrilled.”

“Did you bring Steele with you?” Hunter asked.

“Yeah,” Tag said. “And he’s got his girlfriend with him as well.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard he’d started dating someone,” Hunter said.

“She’s great,” Tag said. “But he noticed one of his tires was low, and he’s looking at it out front. So they’ll probably be around in a minute.”

“All right,” Hunter said. His phone chimed a few times, but he ignored it as he hurried away from the crowd. He’d coordinated the bonfire with Cord and Mission, two longtime friends who’d worked here at the farm for many years. He didn’t need to be out there to direct traffic, or get the flames going, or give any directions.

He’d just entered the house when Deacon came down the hall. “Oh, hey,” he said. “Molly’s up.”

“Great,” Hunter said. “I was just coming to check on her.”

“Everyone’s out back?”

Well, almost everyone, Hunter thought. Not his parents, and he suddenly wished that he’d been more insistent that they make the drive down for tonight’s bonfire.

But he hadn’t, and he couldn’t change that now.

He clapped Deacon on the shoulder as he moved by and waited for his brother to exit the house and cross the deck before Hunter followed him.

He stood on the edge of the deck above the activity happening twenty yards from him. He took several pictures in the evening sunlight, marveling that this many people knew and cared enough about him and Molly to attend this bonfire.

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