Was she going into labor?
It was too soon.
Way too soon.
* * *
Frankie’s steps slowedas she approached the barn. She could hear Trish’s voice and a low rumble that sounded like Brett’s. They were having an intense conversation from what she could overhear, and she didn’t want to intrude.
Frankie understood what had driven her cousin to do the things she had. But Brett had worked so hard on the ranch for Uncle Frank. He’d been more than an employee; he’d been a friend, probably the best friend Uncle Frank had ever had. The two men were so much alike. Frankie loved Brett like she loved Trish, like they were family.
And if they were fighting, she wanted no part of it. So she turned to head back to the house.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Alarm shot throughBrett as he watched Trish’s face go from red with anger to deathly pale. He surged up from where he’d been sitting on the ground to kneel in front of her again. “Trish, are you okay?”
The last thing he’d wanted to do was upset her.
She just sat there on the hay bale, her hands on her belly. Maybe the babies were kicking again.
“You’ve misunderstood me,” he said. “I’m not trying to stop you from doing the petting zoo and kids’ camps. I’m telling you that you don’t need to do them alone.”
Her long lashes blinked as she stared at him.
“We all work together on this ranch,” he said. “No bosses. We’ll help you with the camps.”
She shook her head.
Maybe she didn’t want his help.
“Liam and Elise love the idea, too,” he said. “They’ll help…if you’d rather I not.”
She reached out then and grasped his arm. And the look on her face chilled him. She looked so afraid.
“Trish, I don’t know what’s wrong,” he said, and he was getting scared now. “I really didn’t mean to upset you like this. Honestly, I wasn’t trying to talk you out of doing what you want.”
Her nails dug into his skin a bit, and her beautiful face contorted with a grimace. Finally, he realized what was wrong. She was in pain.
Physically in pain.
“Oh, no…” he whispered. “It’s the babies…”
She bit her lip and nodded, and tears slipped down her face. “It’s too soon…”
He touched her face, wanting to brush all her tears away. But he understood her fear now. It coursed through him, too. She could not lose these babies; she’d already suffered too many losses.
She needed help.
He considered calling an ambulance, but they could take too long to get out to the ranch and that was if they could find it. His brother-in-law-to-be was a paramedic, but Colton had never been out to the Four Corners. Even his sister, Livvy, an ER doctor, hadn’t made the trip out yet. She was usually too busy at the hospital. He grabbed his cell from his pocket and tried calling her, but the call went straight to voicemail. Hopefully, she was at the hospital.
In order to get Trish there as soon as possible, he had to drive her. “We’ll get you to the ER,” he said. “We’ll get you help.”
But right now she just had him.
More tears slid down her face as she bent over her belly, and a cry slipped out.
He slid his arms around her and lifted her up from the hay bale. She wound one arm around his neck as if to hold on while her other was wrapped around herself, as if to hold on to her babies. To protect them.
