He did.Maybe better than she did because he knew just how devastating the news was going to be and she didn’t.
He felt the warmth of her arm through the sleeve of her jacket, the subtle tremor that suggested she was more afraid than she was letting on.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“I want to do it right,” he said quietly.“Show you everything so you can see the whole picture.”
He studied her profile, trying to catch some clue as to what she was feeling right now.Her face alternated between revealing nothing and flashing through too many emotions for him to catalog.
“Will I wish ...”She trailed off, but he guessed where she was going.Will I wish I didn't know?That you never told me any of it?
“Probably,” he said because she deserved honesty.“But the information’s going to come out eventually, and I’d rather be the one to tell you.I don’t want you surprised by it.I don’t want the rumor mill to get the facts wrong and for you to hear things that might be even more upsetting than the truth.”
She smiled faintly.“You’re a big fan of facts, aren’t you?”
“I am.Even if they’re not what we want to hear, at least they end our speculation and fretting.”
She blurted, “I wasn’t speculating and fretting before but I’m definitely going to, now.”
“I won’t keep you waiting long.I just want to double-check everything one last time.”He added quietly, “When I show you the evidence, I want you to remember this moment.Remember how I was standing right here beside you.That I’m on your side, come what may.No matter what happens, you won’t have to face it by yourself.”
“That sounds ominous.”
He searched her face then said plainly, “I’m not going to sugar coat it for you.You deserve—how does that go?—the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
The kids were still absorbed in the stall, oblivious, but he could tell Bonnie was hyper-aware of him.He read it in the slight turn of her shoulders toward him, in how she didn't pull away from his touch.
Their gazes met and he did his best to convey silently,You can lean on me if you need to.
She did lean.Slightly.Enough that her shoulder brushed his arm.
“Got it,” she said.“I’m not alone.Just ...”She hesitated.“Just tell me when it’s coming.”
“I'll let you know when everything’s ready.”
“MOM!”Noah's voice cut through the silence.“Sully says I can give Blizzard a BOTTLE!”
“Noah Thomas Watson.Indoor voices around the calves,” Cassidy snapped.
Gray grinned.She soundedexactlylike her mother.
Bonnie shot him a chagrined look.“She didn’t learn that tone from me.I swear it.”
He smirked back.“Sure she didn’t.”
“I know, I know,” Noah complained more quietly.
Gray absorbed the chaos—the children, the calves, the barn full of new life and the easy warmth between Bonnie and her kids—and felt the rightness of it settle deep inside him.All of this was good.Grounded.Solid.
Was this what a happy family felt like?
He wouldn’t know.His mom, his brothers and he loved one other.But most of their energy as a family had been devoted to surviving.Keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table.They’d rarely had fun or joked around or just enjoyed one another’s company like this.
Bonnie was smiling at her children as the rosy light of sunset kissed her cheeks with pink and then magenta.He could hardly tear his gaze away from her, she was so beautiful.It wasn’t just how she looked, although she was a very attractive woman.Her beauty came from inside.She lit up with it when she looked at her kids or when one of them made her laugh.
Huh.Did love make people attractive?Or was it the act of loving someone else that made a person so appealing to him?
He filed away the question for future consideration and went back to watching Noah feed Blizzard a bottle.
