Page 32 of The Homecoming

On the way back to Huntington Farms, she hardly registered the streets, the stops, or the turns. On autopilot, she steered the car back down the long drive toward the farmhouse and parked next to Brandon’s pickup truck, loaded down with lumber for the new gazebo. She killed the engine and sat for a while before the stuffiness made her open the door.What the hell was she going to do?

Brandon sat with his Timberlands propped up on her desk, the office phone to his ear. She dropped to the couch and leaned back, feeling his eyes on her as he continued to randomly acknowledge whatever the person on the phone was saying.Why didn’t she go home for the day?Right, she didn’t want to go there either. She fell to her side and curled up on the couch, waiting to die. She’d managed to hold back her tears the whole way back, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she could manage.

“So, what’d they say?” Brandon sat the phone down.

Autumn broke down. Brandon shot to his feet and was on his knees in front of her, wrapping his arms around her as she put her head on his shoulder and cried. When no more tears were left, she sat up and took a deep breath as he sat next to her.

“I’m pregnant.”

Brandon wrapped his arm around her, pulling her to him. She laid her head on his chest and they sat in silence for a while. “Do we need to find a clinic?” he asked slowly, almost a whisper.

She shook her head. “No. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I couldn’t do that.” She sat up and looked at him. grateful that he’d be supportive no matter the decision she made.

“Is it Dan’s?”

She scowled at him. “You think I jumped into bed with someone else the minute he left town?”

He held up his hands in surrender. “No judgments,” he said.

“Of course it’s Dan’s.” She fell back against Brandon. “I can’t even think of anybody else. I mean, come on. You’re the main man in my life right now, and you’re afraid of vaginas.”

He groaned, “I am not afraid of them. For Christ’s sake, stop saying that.” He laughed, making her smile.

“Fine,” she replied. “But just do me a favor.”

“Anything.”

“Keep this to yourself for right now,” she said. “I’m not ready for anyone else to know.”

“Can we tell Ben?”

“Can he keep a secret?”

Brandon nodded. “If I tell him to.”

She nodded. “Okay.” She shifted to get up, but Brandon pulled her back gently.

“Hey, just to be clear, you have our support here. Your job is yours until you don’t want it or we go bankrupt, whichever comes first. We’ll work around your pregnancy, and when the baby gets here, we’ll figure it out. But, I don’t want you worrying about any of that.”

Tears of relief fell down her face. “Well, I guess we better sell some weddings, then,” she said.

He smiled. “We got this.”

She laughed. “I love you,” she said. “I mean, as a friend.”

“I love you, too.” He paused, “But, how did you get pregnant?”

“Well, when a man puts his penis inside a va—“

“I getthat, smartass,” he interrupted. “I mean birth control?”

She sighed. “We used a condom every time, but the last.”

“What a going away present,” he quipped.

The backdoor to the farmhouse slammed, and she and Brandon looked at each other for a fraction of a second before Ben stomped inside, caked from head to toe in mud with an equally muddy chainsaw clenched in hand.

“What the hell happened to you?” Brandon asked.

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