He smiled gently up at her. She was the cutest thing he’d ever seen, and he would have liked to spend more time with them, get to know them, maybe become their friend. “It’s okay. I’m not leaving for good. I have some things to figure out back home, and then I’ll be back, whether she likes it or not. She’s not getting rid of me that easily.” He shrugged again, adjusting the duffel slung over his shoulder. He notched his chin toward the loft. “I left my pistol in the cupboard over the fridge, I won’t be able to take it with me on the plane. I don’t think she’ll need it since she brought her own, but if you could let her know it’s there…” Free nodded. Travis bobbed his head once, his lips pressing together before exhaling heavily. He would be back, soon. “Anyway, if someone wouldn’t mind giving me a ride, that would be great.”
“She’ll come around,” Seren said, stepping forward and down the steps to wrap him in a hug. She was tiny compared to his size, but he hugged her back. “Don’t let her push you away.”
“Like I said, she’s not getting rid of me that easily,” he murmured, clearing his throat of the emotion that clogged it. “Fuck, this sucks, I won’t lie. But I’ll be back. I promise.”
“I’ll drive you,” Free said, digging his keys out of his pocket. “And then when I get back, I’ll have a word with her—”
“Freeman Thorp, you will not badger her,” Jodi said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring up at him. Shelooked at Travis then. “We’ll get her to come around. You’re stuck with us now, too.”
“Sounds good,” he laughed, though it sounded forced and sad to his own ears. She skipped down the few stairs to hug him hard around the middle. “I’ll see you all soon.”
Levi shook Travis’s hand with a gruff thank you and farewell, and then Free was leading him toward a shiny, cobalt blue pickup truck with the Blue Haven logo on the doors.
He set his duffel in the back seat of the extended cab truck, then climbed into the passenger seat. Free was behind the wheel a moment later, the truck rumbling to life as he started the ignition. As he backed them out of the parking spot in front of the big house, Travis glanced over at the barn that sat roughly a hundred yards away and the door that stood closed to him.
“I’m sorry, man,” Free said as they rumbled down the long gravel driveway. “She’s the most stubborn, hard headed woman I know—and that’s saying something with my sister-in-law being Shauntelle—but she’ll come around. She doesn’t do well with big emotions, so I’m sure this has been a lot for her to try and work through. She’s crazy about you. All of us can see that.”
Turning them onto the road, Free scrubbed a hand down his face, glancing in the rearview mirror.
“Anyway. We should be to the airport in about twenty minutes or so. I can’t believe she just handed that ticket over—”
“Yeah, well, that’s Red for ya,” Travis mumbled, staring out the passenger window as the world passed by them. They were quiet for a while, the only sound the radio that played a country station filling the cab of the truck.
Free’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he dug it out, his dark brows sliding into a deep V before he answered it, putting it to his ear. “What’s wrong?”
Travis could hear Levi’s deep voice through the phone. “Oh, just your hormonal and overly emotional pregnant wife. She’sbeen crying since you two left. You know I don’t handle her tears well; it makes me feel helpless—so I offered to go get her some ice cream. She’s requested a double Reeses Whiteout.” Free laughed out loud, shaking his head. Travis couldn’t help the smile that lifted the corners of his mouth. Poor thing. “I just wanted to call and let you know that I’m headed out, but Jodi is with Seren at the house. I’ll be back with her ice cream as quick as I can.”
“Thanks, Levi,” Free chuckled again.
“Yeah, well, she’s my baby girl, I can’t let her cry like that,” Levi grumbled. “You spoil her too much.”
“Me?” Free exclaimed, glancing over at Travis with a wide, shit eating grin on his face. Travis rolled his eyes. “You spoiled her rotten for twenty-five years before I got to her. If anything, you laid the groundwork and got her accustomed to that!”
“I’m her dad, it’s my job,” Travis heard Levi argue. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know.”
“Thanks,” Free said again, and then he hung up, sliding the phone into the cupholder in the console between them. He shook his head, blowing out a long breath. “This woman has both of us wrapped around her damn finger.”
“That’s how it’s supposed to be,” Travis chuckled. “You nervous?”
“To be a dad? Christ on a cracker, yes.” Scrubbing his hand down his face again, he nodded. “Every new thing that happens makes me nervous as hell. There’s so much that can go wrong in a pregnancy, man. So much that I didn’t know before, and knowing any one of those things that could go wrong could take her and that baby away from me… And don’t get me started on the fear of actually bringing that baby home.What if I break it?”
Travis grinned, elbowing Free gently over the console that separated them. “For some reason, I don’t think that’s a problem you’re going to have. You’ll be a great dad.”
“Fuck, I hope so,” he chuckled, blowing out a ragged breath, then turned them onto a larger highway, heading north. “You ever wanted kids?”
Travis shook his head. “It’s never been something I’ve thought about, to be honest.”
“Roxy always wanted to be a mom,” Free said quietly, glancing over at him. “Her mom wasn’t the greatest, never around much. She always said that if she got to be a mom, she’d do it right, be better than what she’d had growing up.”
Free’s phone began to ring, buzzing and rattling around in the cupholder between them. He sighed, lifting it to his ear as he answered it. His words were gentle as he murmured, “Hi, sweetheart. I know your dad is on his way to get you ice cream—”
“Free, I think something’s wrong.”
Travis went stock still in his seat as Freeman’s entire body tensed. “The baby? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Jodi rushed to say. Free lowered the phone from his ear, tapping the speaker icon. Her voice filled the cab then. “Free, there’s someone here. We didn’t even see a car pull in, but when I looked over at the barn, there was a—a guy at Roxy’s door.”
Travis’s heart stopped, then thundered back to life.
