They sat there under the stars in a comfortable silence until Joey finally hopped down. "I can't feel my butt anymore."
Drake laughed and stood himself. "The boards do get a little rough."
"Look, Drake. I'm sorry. I'm not a thief, but I couldn't bear letting them stay hungry."
He shushed her. "I understand, and under the circumstances, I would have done the same thing. You are welcome to whatever you need while you're here."
"We'll get feed tomorrow, and I'll replace the bag we used."
"No need."
"Yes," she responded, "there is a need. Fair's fair."
He brushed his finger across the bandage on her cheek. "I just wish I could make this better as easily as I made the feed problem better."
She stared at him but didn't speak. She had no way of putting into words how he had already made things so much better in ways she had never anticipated.
Chapter Ten: Making a Scene
Drake Hale
Drake decided if he ever saw another biscuit, roll, or loaf of bread, it would be too soon. Sarah returned from yet another trip to the bathroom with a cold towel on her face.
"Are you okay?"
She shook her head. "I swear. If I have to smell this stuff much longer, I'm going to throw up one too many times and the baby is going to come flying out."
He chuckled. "I don't quite think that's how it works."
"I know," she groaned. "This morning sickness is crazy. It's all day long, and I should already be done with it."
It was only nine in the morning, and they had already been baking for two hours. Drake shoved another tray of dinner rolls in the oven and grabbed his mug of coffee. "Can I ask you something?"
Sarah sat down heavily and glanced up at him. "Why am I suddenly scared?"
"You don't have to be scared. But you know how our brothers all now happily married, even after years of saying they had given up on finding the right person?"
"Yeah?" Sarah's voice was still full of suspicion.
Drake knew he was leading the conversation to where he was probably going to be sorry, but like watching a train wreck, he just couldn't stop himself. "Do you ever wonder if you'll find the right person? Your one?"
She rubbed her belly as she stared at him. "You don't think I have?"
He shrugged. "You haven't left the house since you told us you were pregnant. Not like you had been. You were always gone before."
"And?" Her brow lifted. He knew if he pushed her much harder, he was going to get a blast of her temper.
"I just assumed that you had kicked the father to the curb. He hasn't been here, so if you haven't gone anywhere, it stands to reason that you're not together. And if you were so happy with the dude, you wouldn't keep him a secret.""
She watched him so long that he had to wonder if she was weighing her options of how to respond. "What if he just doesn't know that I'm knocked up?"
Boom! He had to say that he hadn't even contemplated that possibility, but it suddenly intrigued him. "Really?" He went to refill his mug. "Why hasn't he come looking for you? You can't exactly keep a kid from him." It didn't make any sense if she just cut off contact cold turkey. Any normal man would come searching for what he'd lost.
She let out a deep sigh. It was far from the instant "mind your own business" speech he had been prepared for.
"I don't know what I'm doing, Drake. So, if you're info collecting for Colton, just tell him that I'm trying to work it all out."
"I'm not going to insult you and say that he hasn't asked me what I know. Same with Mom. But if you ask me to keep it between us, just know that I will." He meant every word of it. He and Sarah had been close during their teenage years, since they were the youngest. She had been his confidante on the days that grief and guilt about his father tore him apart. And lord knows she had kept some of his secrets from their wild and reckless days.
