Pregnant With The Rancher's Baby

“That’s wonderful,” Bria said, breaking the silence as she stepped forward to hug him and Jessie. God bless her, Bria could read a situation faster than anyone he knew and always seemed to know exactly what to say to ease the tension.

“I’m so excited for you,” Summer McClain added happily, shifting her daughter to her hip in order to reach out and hug Jessie.

“We’ve got another baby shower to plan,” Lane’s wife, Taylor, spoke up enthusiastically. “I’ve got some new appetizers in mind that will be perfect for the refreshments.” A personal chef, Taylor was always looking for reasons to try new recipes on the family.

“When is the baby due?” T.J.’s wife, Heather, asked.

“In late March or early April,” Jessie answered. Nate could tell by the tone in her voice she was relieved that no one had asked about a wedding.

“Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?” Mariah asked, giving Jaron a pointed look. Every time one of the sisters-in-law became pregnant, Mariah and Jaron argued about what gender they thought the baby would be. It appeared this time was going to be no different.

Jessie smiled as she shook her head. “I’m having an ultrasound in a couple of weeks to find out.”

“Congratulations,” Sam finally said, stepping forward to give Jessie a brotherly hug. He stared hard at Nate. “I think this calls for a beer, don’t you?”

“Great news,” Ryder said, wrapping Jessie in a bear hug. When he put his hand on Nate’s shoulder, Nate could tell by Ryder’s iron grip that he was about to be escorted to the bar for his brothers’ interrogation.

“Jessie, if you don’t mind, we’d like to take this bonehead back to the bar to toast your good news,” Lane explained, handing his baby son over to his wife, Taylor.

“I don’t mind,” she said, smiling. “It will give me a chance to ask your wives what I can expect with a newborn and what baby products they’ve found to be the most useful.”

As his brothers walked him back into the barn, Nate heard the excited voices of the women as they offered their suggestions on what they thought Jessie might need to get ready for the baby. He wasn’t the least bit surprised. Whether she realized it or not, she and the baby were already considered members of his family and everyone would do whatever they could to help her and make her feel welcome.

“Okay, what’s the story, bro?” Sam demanded when they reached the bar.

“And why didn’t we hear that the two of you are making plans to get hitched?” T.J. asked as he motioned for the bartender to get them all a bottle of beer.

“You all know about as much as I do,” Nate admitted as they walked over to a more private area away from a group of their friends. “Jessie showed up yesterday to tell me she’s about four and a half months pregnant, I’m the daddy and when I told her we’d get married as soon as possible, she flat-out refused.”

“You told her you’d marry her instead of asking her to be your wife?” Lane asked, his expression incredulous.

“Way to sweet-talk a woman, bro,” Jaron said, shaking his head. “Even I know better than to do that.”

“For a ladies’ man, you sure screwed that up,” Ryder stated disgustedly.

“And you tried to give me advice on how to talk to a woman when Heather and I first started seeing each other.” T.J. took a swig of beer from the bottle in his hand. “I’m glad I had the good sense not to listen to you.”

Sam folded his arms across his chest and glared at him. “How do you intend to straighten this out with her, Nate?”

“I’ve already come up with a plan,” he answered, watching the women and kids reenter the barn. They all looked as if they were having a lot better time than he was at the moment.

“You want to run this scheme of yours past us and get our input before you try to execute it?” Lane asked.

“Yeah, the way you messed up that proposal, it sounds to me like you need all the help you can get,” Jaron added.

As much as he had riding on the outcome, Nate figured he could use some advice from his brothers and especially from Lane. Having the opinion of a licensed psychologist definitely couldn’t hurt and might just give him the edge he needed to convince Jessie of his sincerity.

“I got her to agree to stay with me until after Thanksgiving so we can work out joint custody and how we’re going to raise the baby,” Nate answered. He stared across the dance floor at Jessie and the rest of the women. “And while I’m at it, I’m going to pull out all the stops and show her that I really do want to get married.”

“The way things have gone down with you two in the past, you’ve got your work cut out for you.” T.J. stated what Nate was certain all of his brothers were thinking.

“It for damned sure isn’t going to be easy,” Ryder added.

“And there’s no margin for error,” Lane warned. “If you don’t get it right this time, they’ll be passing out ice water in hell before you get a second chance.”

Nate nodded. No matter how scary it was to commit himself to one woman, especially knowing that he’d have to reveal everything about his past, he had too much to lose not to do everything in his power to make things right between them. “I’m going to get Jessie to agree to marry me or die trying.”

* * *

As Jessie listened to Nate’s sisters-in-law discuss possible themes for the baby shower they were planning for her and the refreshments they might serve, she couldn’t help but feel envious of the strong family bond the women and their husbands shared. Over the past couple of years, Nate had told her a little about his blended family, and how he and Sam met the other four men they called brothers when they were placed in the foster care system.

Sent to the Last Chance Ranch as teenagers, the six boys had found their salvation as well as each other, thanks to a kindhearted man named Hank Calvert and his unique set of rules to live by. The boys he fostered had stayed tight throughout the ensuing years and from what she could see, the women they married had become just as close.

“When you find out the baby’s gender do you intend to tell everyone or let it be a surprise?” Heather asked.

“I thought I’d let everyone know the gender, but keep the name secret until the baby is born,” Jessie said, resting her hand on her stomach. “I know it sounds strange, but I’d like to introduce him or her to everyone by name.”

“If you don’t mind, could you let us know what you’re having as soon as you have the ultrasound, Jessie?” Summer asked, smiling. “That way we’ll know what colors to use for decorations.”

“And if you’ve chosen the colors for the nursery, that might be useful as well,” Heather added as her little boy, Seth, ran up to hand her a bouquet of dried weeds he’d obviously picked out of a hay bale. After she thanked him and gave him a kiss, he rejoined the other two toddlers. “T.J. gave me a bouquet of flowers the other day and Seth tries to mimic everything his daddy does.”

“That’s so sweet.” Jessie found the little boy’s gesture very touching and she knew for certain she would be just as happy having a boy as she would having a girl.

“It would also be helpful if you register at one of the baby boutiques in Waco as soon as you can so we can put that on the invitations,” Bria suggested, bringing the conversation back to the shower they were planning.

“They’re using some of the most unusual combinations of colors these days,” Taylor commented as she shifted her baby son to her shoulder for a burp after he finished the bottle she had been giving him. “I hadn’t even considered the colors I used until I saw them in one of the baby boutiques.”

“I hope you get to decorate with a lot of pink and purple for a little princess,” Mariah stated as she got up from the bale of straw she was sitting on to walk over to the three toddlers playing with the box again.

“That’s only because she wants another excuse to argue with Jaron,” Taylor confided. She got up and picked up a diaper bag. “Time to get this little man changed and settled down for the night.”

As Taylor walked out of the barn toward the house to get her son ready for bed, Bria explained the ongoing disagreement between Mariah and Jaron. “Whenever one of us announces that a new baby will be joining the family, Mariah insists it will be a girl and Jaron is just as determined it will be a boy.” Shaking her head, she sighed. “It’s their way of dancing around the real issue between them.”

Jessie nodded. “Nate mentioned that Jaron and your sister have been attracted to each other for years, but he thinks he’s too old for her.”

“When she was eighteen, a nine-year gap in their ages did make a difference in maturity and experience,” Bria said. “But now that she’s twenty-five and he’s thirty-four, Jaron is the only one who thinks it still matters.”

“I’m twenty-six and Nate’s thirty-three. Neither of us have given the seven-year age difference a second thought. I wonder why he’s so insistent that it’s a problem?” Jessie asked, frowning.

“If you can answer that, you will have solved one of the mysteries of the universe,” Summer stated as she hurried over to keep her daughter from trying to stand on a pumpkin.

An hour later as she helped the women clear the refreshment table, Jessie was more envious than ever of the love and devotion they all shared. They might be a blended family, but they were closer than some people she’d seen who were related by blood.

She sighed heavily as she thought about her own family. For whatever reason, her parents had never seemed to care if she and her older brother had a close relationship. Of course, her brother had been a junior in high school when she was born and as with most teenage boys, he thought he had better things to do than to pay attention to his baby sister.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t really all that close to her parents either. Her mother and father were real estate brokers and when they weren’t busy selling mansions to the überrich residents of Houston, they were attending a social function at the country club to make more contacts for their agency. About the only time she could remember them paying all that much attention to her was when she told them she was going to become a registered nurse instead of earning a business degree in college. They had both been extremely disappointed with her decision and couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to follow in their footsteps like her brother had done.

That hadn’t changed since she graduated and started her career. Sadly, she didn’t hold out a lot of hope they would react any differently when she finally told them about the baby either. They were simply too caught up in brokering real estate deals to be bothered with family. And the only reason they had more to do with her brother was because he was just as driven by the almighty dollar as they were and had joined the family business.

“Do you have plans for Thanksgiving, Jessie?” Bria asked, bringing her back to the present. “If not, we’d love to have you spend the day with us.”

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