Stevie had been conceived using a surrogate, a quirky woman who jokingly referred to herself as an Easy Bake Oven, apparently. Emery had given us her information a while ago because Kess and I had wanted to start a family as soon as possible. And the idea that our child could be the half-sibling of Stevie had settled it for us.
“She’s pregnant. Twelve weeks along. And so far, the baby is hitting all the growth milestones.”
Stevie looked back at the picture in her hands. “You’re having a baby?”
Kess nodded and brought her in for a hug. “Your half brother.”
“You’re having a boy?” she asked, tears now falling freely.
Kess and I exchanged a glance. “Yes, we are.”
Dawn came up to us with this year’s red velvet birthday cake, a deranged-looking Jackalope head.
“Wait. Does this mean I have a grandson on the way?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.
I lifted a shoulder. “If you want one.”
She set down the cake, then threw her arms open and dragged me in for a powerful hug.
“My ribs,” I squeaked out, and she laughed.
“I can’t wait to meet him and spoil him rotten.”
“Excuse me, this is my birthday,” Stevie said, her hand on her hip.
“Yeah, it’s my bestie’s birthday. Y’all should pay attention,” Jaxon said, shaking his head.
He had grown at least another half inch in the months since he and Sadie had moved to the dude ranch. He was also tanned and building muscle like it was a hobby. The local middle school football coach took one look at him and put him on the team without even asking if he could run.
As it happened, Jaxon could run. Fast. He was an excellent tight end, and all of us made a point to go to his local games, plus any away games that were within a few hours’ drive. He and Stevie would be going to high school next year, and the high school coach had already visited with Sadie to talk about Jaxon’s future.
Early word was going around, and as long as he enjoyed the game and stayed healthy, Jaxon had a bright future ahead of him in football.
Lane stood next to Sadie with his arm wrapped around her waist. Before, she’d been stressed and barely had time to care for herself. Now, she glowed. As much as she and Lane had tried to take it slow and be very smart about things, nothing about their relationship had moved slowly. Months later, they could hardly pull away from each other. For now, they were still in the bunkhouse, though Sadie had moved into Lane’s room while Jaxon had his own room. Everyone seemed to support their relationship, and it wouldn’t shock me if they were married within the year.
“Hello?” Kit called out.
“We’re in the back,” Emery shouted.
Kit appeared under the arched doorway with a small, pretty gift box done up in a bow. Stevie had started helping out at the dude ranch with Jaxon, and we discovered she was really good with the little kids who were learning to ride. Now that she was fourteen, Kit had officially hired her as the kid wrangler, and she worked every Saturday morning.
Stevie took the box from his hands and surprised him with a hug. Kit returned it, even though he looked a little uncomfortable doing so. His eyes landed on Skylar, then quickly darted away. Skylar’s lips flattened, and he crossed his arms over the sparkly blouse he was wearing. There was something going on there, but Skylar had refused to talk about it.
I exchanged a quick look with Kess and knew that we were thinking the exact same thing: Whatever was going on with those two was none of our business.
Even though I was going to get it out of Skylar, one way or another.
Stevie ripped open the box with no concern for the pretty paper and let out a shout of joy.
“A belt buckle?”
“I thought you’d want to wear official Baker Ranch merch when you train the kids.”
“I love it,” she said immediately, undoing her belt and adding the buckle to it. “It’s perfect.”
Kess hugged me from behind. “Jaxon was right, of course. I’m glad we told them about the baby,” he whispered, “but we’ll wait till next week to tell him about the engagement.”
I flushed hot, thinking about how he had proposed to me just last month.
