“I had something else in mind.” His fingertips grazed across my cheek. “A kiss?”
I nodded, feeling a little breathless. His lips touched mine, softly at first, as if he were savoring the moment. The kiss deepened and our bodies came together as it continued. It was the best kiss of my life, but somehow it was different from the other ones we’d shared. This one was deeper, more intimate and emotional. Maybe it was our baby growing in my womb, but I felt that it might be something more.
“Come inside?”
I desperately wanted to say yes. To spend the night in his bed, cuddled up against him, feeling safe and cared for—but I stopped him with a hand to his chest. “Another time. I’m on-call for Kingdom Ranch. Kent’s got several mares ready to foal, and I don’t have my equipment with me in case I get a call in the middle of the night.”
I gripped Jake’s shoulders and kissed him on the lips. “Thank you.”
He wrapped his arms loosely around my waist. “For what?”
“For being you.” I kissed him again—and then scooted out from his arms to head for my truck. I felt both eager and reluctant to put some space between us. As excited as I was for this baby, both of our lives and the vision we saw for ourselves has forever changed and I still hadn’t fully wrapped my head around it all.
SEVENTEEN
JAKE
It was still hard to believe it had been five years since we’d gotten the horrible news about the car accident that took the life of my brother and father. At the time, it’d felt like the entire world had shifted under my feet, leaving me at a loss to figure out what to do or how to move forward.
Finding out I was going to become a father was another paradigm shift, and I was still working to wrap my head around it. I’d agreed to wait to tell anyone about Julia’s pregnancy, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t think about it and dream about it. In fact, it seemed like it was theonlything on my mind. And the more I thought about it, the more excited I became.
While I was out in Eastville, attending a livestock auction in the hopes of finding a new stallion, I couldn’t resist stopping at a bookstore where I picked up a stack of baby magazines and a couple “What to Expect” books for both mom and dad. I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing them at the ranch, so I texted Julia to see if she was available for dinner and then swung by Charlie’s Pride on the way home for some brisket, pulled pork, all thesides, and a fresh made apple pie. She texted back that she was free, so I drove it all over to her place.
I pulled up next to her truck and was unloading all the food when she exited her barn. “That smells amazing,” she said walking over to help me carry everything into her kitchen. “Who else did you invite to the party? That’s a lot of food.”
“Barbeque is always better the next day, you know that,” I teased, “and besides, you’re eating for two now.”
“Two, yes. Not two dozen.” Julia brought the pie box to her nose and took a deep breath. “Still, I’m certainly not turning any of this down. It’s been ages since I’ve been out to Charlie’s.”
She grabbed plates and utensils while I spread all the food out on the table. I stacked all the magazines off to one side along with the books.
“Since neither of us know anything about human babies and everything they need, I thought we could eat and do some research. You know, figure out what car seats are best for trucks, which baby monitor has the highest rating, whether we should look at cradles, cribs, or beds that grow with the child,” I said, eager to get started.
Julia brought me a Coke and she set water down in front of herself before sitting down. “This is all great and I’m happy you’re excited, but doesn’t this feel too soon? What if?—”
I placed my hand on her arm to stop her from finishing that sentence. I’d done some reading on pregnancy worries for women with PCOS. While it was a very real concern that we needed to keep in mind, I wanted to spend a couple hours focusing on positive thinking. Juliawasgoing to bring a tiny human into the world, and he or she would be healthy withall their fingers and toes and would get to wear cute hats and onesies and grow up to ride horses.
“I understand your worry and I’m concerned too, but let’s enjoy the moment and dream a little. Can you do that, sweetheart?” I asked, and she agreed. At that moment, her stomach growled loud enough that Magellan hopped down from where he was sitting, making us both laugh. “But first, let’s dig in. I’m as hungry as you sound.”
For the next twenty minutes, the only sounds we made involved digging into the feast I’d brought. Everything was cooked to perfection and we made a huge dent in the food before we both slowed down.
Satiated, I reached for the magazines and grabbed the one on top. It was aConsumer Reports Top Picks for Babyand they’d reviewed hundreds of products. It was daunting seeing everything all laid out like that and I wasn’t sure where to begin. Julia got up and rooted through a drawer, returning with a sticky notepad and some pens.
“Tag anything that looks interesting or that you think we should research,” she said before picking up one of the books and starting to leaf through it.
“Good idea. What are your thoughts on disposable diapers? From what I’m seeing, they’re bad for the environment, but do we really want to have to wash diapers all the time?”
The discussion continued. We didn’t come to any firm decisions, but we also didn’t argue about anything. We took a break to clear the dinner plates, and while Julia dished up slices of apple pie, I jogged out to the barn to check on the horses one last time and make sure they were bedded down.
When my boots hit the porch, I caught sight of Julia in the kitchen dancing around with Izzy in her arms. Soon enough, she’d be doing that with our child.
Our child.
I imagined her cradling our son or daughter to her chest.
I stepped into her kitchen just as Julia whirled around. Izzy took the opportunity to jump free, so I swept her into my arms. We continued to dance, her head pressed to my chest. There wasn’t any music playing, but we found our rhythm shuffling around the kitchen to the song of our own making.
Julia looked up at me. “Do you need to go home tonight?”
