Page 124 of Wilde Flame

I lifted my head and looked at my father. “Yeah?”

He laughed as he entered my small office in the cattle barn. “I said your name at least five times. Where were you?”

I sighed. “Sorry, lost in thought, I guess.”

A knowing smile grew across his face. Everyone always told me that I was the mini version of my father. We had the same blue eyes, but my mother said mine were more silver at times. Otherwise, we had the same shade of brown hair. Same build, even the same height.

“I’ve seen that look before on plenty of men. That’s the look of a man who’s thinking about a woman.”

Sitting back in my seat, I nodded. “I was thinking about Lilibeth, yes.”

He took a seat in the chair in front of my desk. “Your mother told me you’re going for an ultrasound today, and you might be able to find out if it’s a boy or a girl.”

Nodding, I replied, “Today is the day.”

“And are you going to find out?”

“I think so. We talked about it last night. Dad…can I ask you a question about when Mom was pregnant?”

“Sure you can.”

“I imagine growing a baby is tiresome.”

He laughed and nodded in agreement.

“Was Mom tired a lot? Lilibeth falls asleep almost every night on the sofa. I end up carrying her to bed, and I’m afraid one of these nights I’m going to trip on the way up to her room.”

His brow lifted, and I knew what he was thinking.

I cleared my throat. “We’re not together in that sense...yet.”

“Is there a reason why? If you don’t mind me asking.”

I squirmed in my seat, not sure how I felt about discussing my sex life with my father. I cleared my throat. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I just want to show Lilibeth she means more to me than just sleeping together.”

My father nodded. “May I be frank with you, son?”

I narrowed my gaze. “It depends on what you’re going to be frank about.”

He chuckled. “Have you been reading up on the pregnancy? Week eighteen, right?”

I nodded. “I was in the beginning, but I’ve fallen off on reading as much as I should.”

“Your mother did nap often, especially when she was pregnant with you. She was teaching full time, and I’m sure that didn’t help. There’s one thing I remember about all of her pregnancies, though.”

Leaning forward, I asked, “What?”

Now it was his turn to look uncomfortable. “How to say this delicately, since I’m talking about your mother…” He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them. “Okay. There comes a time during the pregnancy where a woman has…needs.”

“Like sleeping?”

A strained laugh came from him. “No, son. Not sleeping. Needs.”

“I mean, her cravings are really weird. The other night, I found her dipping pickles into ranch dressing. The night before that, she was eating mac and cheese with lima beans in it.”

“Lima beans?”

“I know! I don’t think I’ve even eaten lima beans before and I honestly don’t even know where the beans came from.”