Page 15 of The Rough Rider

“Who are you going to lie to?” Rory asked.

She had to consider that. Really carefully.

“Not Elsie,” she said.

She didn’t have it in her to be irritated with her friend at all now. Not when things felt so real.

That was it. Tonight she had to face the fact that this was happening. That it was real, and the baby was coming whether she was prepared for it or not. She made the decision to keep it, and now she had to face what that meant. But when push came to shove she’d realized that she didn’t want to do it alone.

“The broader ranch community does not need to know. I have a feeling it’s going to be unavoidable that the Garretts know. And the McClouds obviously. And us.”

“So basically, we’re just keeping the secret from the Kings,” Fia said.

“That should suit you,” Alaina said.

“Alaina,” Rory asked, suddenly looking grave. “It must be asked, because we are descended of great female warriors and witches, priestesses. Do we need to find the man responsible for this and cut his nuts off?”

Alaina laughed. Not so much because she thought it was funny. It was just... She should have known this was the kind of support she would receive from her sisters. It was how they were.

“I mean, you could. But the thing is, I don’t want his nuts around the house.”

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Rory asked.

Alaina grimaced. “Not the way you mean. I wanted to do it. It sucked, though.”

Fia grimaced. “Well. At least you won’t miss it.”

And yet again, Alaina wondered if it was a Landry King reference.

“The thing is,” Quinn said, “you don’t have to marry Gus.”

She thought about it. For a long moment. Over the ticking sound of the clock. She let a whole minute pass. Quinn wasn’t wrong. She didn’t have to marry Gus. She would be okay. It might not be ideal, but it would be fine.

“You could do a lot worse than Gus McCloud for a dad,” Alaina pointed out. “And at the end of the day...that’s what he’s offering. It’s not just about me.”

“But why is he offering this?” Quinn asked. “I can understand why you’d take it, I’m just not sure why he’s giving it.”

“Well, ouch, Quinn. Anyway, I’m not sure that I can answer that. I haven’t actually talked to Gus. I’m going to. Tomorrow I guess. He told me to come to McCloud’s Landing.”

“Look,” Fia said. “I know that you already...made the announcement in front of everybody and all that. But you don’t have to do anything.”

Rory nodded. “She’s right, you can quit. Trust me on that. I’m an expert. If something is hard? You can just never do it again. Like rope climb in PE.”

Alaina cleared her throat and pointed at her stomach. “The rope has been climbed, Rory.” She sighed. “Look, this is my mess.”

“However you choose to clean it up,” Fia said, “you have our unending support. Celtic warrior priestesses and all that.”

“I know that.”

“You don’t have to keep it,” Fia pointed out.

“I do, though,” she said. Because of all the scenarios that she’d gone over in her head, this was the only one she knew she could live with.

“Just wanted to make sure you knew that...we’ve got you. We’ve got your back. I know that all these men around here think that we need them to protect us. But we are not insignificant, and we are not weak. We took our ranch and we made it into something great. Something that we could do. Something that made the most out of our strengths.”

She didn’t say anything. It was just that the thing was, they made the most out of Rory’s, Quinn’s and Fia’s strengths. And she was more than able to do all of it. It was just that she...she missed the ranching. Now that they were leasing it out, the ranch piece was worked entirely by people who weren’t Sullivans.

Sure, everyone at Four Corners had additional staff help run the ranch, but the McClouds had their horses, the Garretts had their cattle and so did the Kings.

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