19. Tripp
Chapter 19
Tripp
When I opened the door to the cabin, I was greeted by the sight of my wife flat on her back atop the bed. Legs spread, knees bent, she grunted each time her ass lifted off the mattress.
Leaning against the doorframe, I settled in to enjoy the show while remarking, “I like that move better when you’re not wearing any pants.”
Collapsing with a huff, Penny grumbled, “Well, the way things are going, you might get your wish.” A frustrated sigh sounded. “Swear to God, the second Tucker said the words ‘you’re pregnant,’ my clothes stopped fitting.”
It wasn’t all that surprising. The woman was naturally thin, no matter how much she ate. If she was the ten weeks along that Tucker had estimated, it stood to reason she’d start showing earlier than expected.
Latching the door, I approached where she lay, legs sprawled, an arm draped over her eyes. She was adorable when she was being dramatic, though I’d never tell her that and invite her aggravation to shift in my direction .
My knee on the mattress caused it to dip as I crawled closer. I pressed a kiss to the skin exposed by her open fly before speaking directly to her stomach. “If you can hear me in there, your mama’s mad at her jeans, not at you. So don’t pay her any mind and keep growing. We want you all chubby and cute when you get here.”
Fingers sifted through my hair, and I peeked up to find a soft smile gracing Penny’s face. “You’re gonna be a good daddy.”
I hummed. “I sure hope so. I’ve got some time to figure that part out. Right now, I’m focused on taking care of this little one’s mama.”
“My zipper won’t close,” she whined weakly.
“I can see that.”
“What am I supposed to wear now?”
I knew I was stating the obvious when I said, “We’ll have to buy you new clothes. Or we can ask Aspen if she’s got any you can borrow when we go over there tonight. Just to get you through since you’re in a pinch.”
Penny shook her head. “I’m not ready to tell anyone yet.”
My fingers drew lazy circles over the slight swell of her lower abdomen. “Pretty soon, you won’t have much choice. Seems this little one is ready for their presence to be known.”
She blew out a heavy breath. “Thought I’d have more time.”
“How about for now, you throw on a dress, and we call it a day?”
“Can’t very well wear a dress when I ride,” Penny huffed.
That had me rearing back. “Over my dead body are you riding after you admitted to almost sliding out of the saddle because you started to fall asleep.”
“That probably won’t happen again.” Penny waved a dismissive hand.
“Probably?! You’re betting your life, our baby’s life, on probably ?“ My voice rose—along with my heart rate—as the mental image of what it would look like if she did happen to fall flashed through my mind. “You could have snapped your neck!”
She scooched away from me until she sat up against the headboard, arms crossed over her chest defensively. “Oh, I know you’re not telling me what to do, Tripp Alan Sullivan.”
Normally, when she brought out my middle name, that was enough to make me back down.
Not this time.
I fisted the covers, my voice going gruff. “I know you’ve never seen it before, but this is me putting my foot down. No more riding. End. Of. Discussion.”
Her mouth dropped open at my commanding tone before she regained her bearings and shot back, “This ranch is massive. How exactly do you expect me to get around to do my job?”
“Take a UTV. We’ve got half a dozen of them.”
“And how am I supposed to explain that to anyone who sees me out and about?” She raised an eyebrow in challenge.
Both hands went to my head, and I tugged on the short strands of my hair. “I don’t fucking care. Make something up. Tell them you twisted your ankle.” Chest heaving, I yelled, “Are you trying to give me a damn heart attack, woman?”
“That was an awful lot of swearing that came out of your mouth in the past thirty seconds. Kid’s gonna need earmuffs.”
She was trying to deflect, but I wasn’t having it.
Jaw clenched, I gritted out, “I’m not kidding, Penny. You’re done on horseback until spring.”
“Spring? You can’t be serious!” she cried.
“Deadly, sweetheart. Don’t test me. I’ll tie you to the goddamn bed if I have to. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. ”
Penny pursed her lips. “You’re annoying, you know that?”
“Call me whatever names you want. At least if you’re doing that, I’ll know it’s because I managed to keep you from getting yourself killed.”
She gave me an exaggerated eye roll. “Fine. But you’re gonna have to take Echo out. He shouldn’t be punished because you won’t let me ride.”
“I’ll make sure your boy gets plenty of exercise,” I promised.
Cocking her head, she assessed me for a full minute. “Not sure if I’m pissed off or turned on by the show of overbearing masculinity you just put on.”
My hearty laughter filled the air. Venturing closer, I pressed a kiss to her forehead before sliding off the mattress, pulling my dirty T-shirt over my head as I headed for the shower.
“Well, when you figure it out, you know where to find me.” I tossed her a wink as I kicked my boots away and shucked my jeans.
The faucet had barely been turned from cold to hot before she was on me.
Guess the answer to that question was: turned on.
A seven came up on the rolled dice, and most of us seated around the table groaned, ditching half the cards in our hands while Mac picked up the robber and silently deliberated on where to place it, effectively blocking someone’s resource.
“What?!” Penny yelled when he placed the piece atop the wheat where she alone had built a single settlement. “I’m not even close to winning! Why wouldn’t you go after someone who is a threat? ”
Mac shrugged with a grin, unbothered by her outburst. “I live for the chaos.”
“But—but—but,” she stammered before huffing out a sigh and deflating in her chair.
Never let it be said that my wife wasn’t the most competitive person I knew.
“Here.” Aspen stood, cradling a freshly burped Reagan. “Baby cuddles make everything better.” My sister gently lowered our niece into Penny’s arms, and a brilliant smile lit up my wife’s beautiful face.
Seeing Penny with a baby was breathtaking. I could only imagine that when it was our own, the sight would be enough to bring me to my knees.
And because she knew exactly how to get back at Mac, she taunted him, “Was it worth it? Now I have your baby, and I don’t know if I’m ever going to give her back.”
His mouth dropped open, and he turned to his wife to complain about the injustice. “No fair, Aspen. You said I could hold her after she was done eating.”
Aspen waved her finger at Mac. “Tripp went to a lot of trouble to secure me a sister. I’m not gonna let you pick on her.” A wicked smirk teased onto her lips. “How about this: you share the baby now, and in return, you can be the one to get up with her every time she wakes up tonight?”
Mac perked up. “Deal!”
Damn, my sister was an evil genius who knew exactly how to play her husband.
Victorious, Mac turned to Penny. “And you thought you got the better bargain.”
Tucking her chin to her chest, Penny hid her smile under the guise of staring at the sweet baby she held. “Yep, you win. ”
Aspen clapped her hands. “All right, now that that’s settled. Who needs a refill?”
“I’ll take one,” Bex replied.
“Me too,” Penny chimed in.
She reached over the table and collected their glasses, careful not to disrupt the game board. “You guys don’t have to skip out on the alcohol just because I’m nursing. Want me to spike your next round of sweet tea?”
“I’m good. I’ve got an early morning.” Penny played it off like a pro.
“Bex, how about you?” Aspen prompted.
“Uh, I better not.” Bex wasn’t nearly as smooth, her eyes shifting as she spoke.
A sharp gasp rang out, and Aspen’s hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my God. Are you pregnant?”
Penny stiffened beside me. The question hit a little too close to home, even though the heat and suspicion was firmly focused on our friends.
In my periphery, I caught Tucker gripping Bex’s hand under the table, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Bex shut down any hope Aspen had of the pair of best friends becoming moms together with a single shake of her head. “No. Not pregnant.”
There was definitely something going on with those two, but it was none of my business.
“Of course, she’s not pregnant,” Mac scoffed. “If she was, Tucker would have told me. Isn’t that right, bud?”
The way Tucker cleared his throat was telling. “Yep. Sure.”
“See?” My brother-in-law grinned like an idiot, completely oblivious.
Aspen rounded the table to squeeze his shoulder on her way to the kitchen. “My mistake. I forgot you’re totally in the know.” She kept the sarcasm light enough to remain undetected by her husband, but I caught it and hid my laughter with a cough .
Go figure, that didn’t escape Mac’s notice, and his head snapped up, eyes sharpening as he assessed me. “You getting sick? Reagan hasn’t had her shots yet.”
Penny snickered, uttering under her breath, “She’s not a dog.”
“Nah, just got something stuck in my throat.” I made a show of taking a long pull from my beer. “See? All better.”
Mac’s chest rumbled in displeasure. This wasn’t a side of him we saw often, but it would appear he was overprotective of his daughter. I couldn’t fault the guy; my kid was barely the size of a prune, and already, I was prepared to lay down my life for them.
He might be a little off the wall, but he was showing the makings of a great dad.
My niece was a lucky little girl.
“Good thing you have her doctor on speed dial,” Bex joked.
“Yeah.” Mac nodded slowly, his eyes unfocused as though he were already imagining the first time his baby girl caught an illness.
I felt a pang of preemptive sympathy for my sister when that eventuality did come to pass. Mac would be an absolute mess, and she’d have two babies to take care of.
Honestly, I didn’t know how he’d made it through the delivery in one piece.
Game night continued, but my mind was elsewhere. More than once, I had to be reminded that it was my turn, caught staring at my wife with the sleeping infant tucked against her chest. Like there was a gravitational pull, my chin kept coming to rest on her shoulder, peeking down at the tiny angel sent down from Heaven to brighten our lives, all the while imagining hours spent cuddling our own baby once we became a family of three.
It was going to be fucking magical. Everything I ever dreamed but never thought I could have .
When the final game concluded, all but Penny stood to help clean up. Bex followed Mac and Aspen into the kitchen after clearing the snack plates and drink glasses from the table, while Tucker helped me sort the various game pieces and cards, putting them into their designated slots inside the box.
Once he was certain we were alone, Tucker spoke, keeping his voice low enough to avoid being overheard. “If you two aren’t ready to share your news, you might want to stop making heart eyes at that baby, or you’re going to give yourselves away.”
Penny scrunched her nose as she lifted her eyes. “Was it that obvious?”
“Maybe not you alone. Women love babies.” He tossed a thumb in my direction. “But this guy was so distracted he could barely remember what color his pieces were.”
That was a bit of an exaggeration. I wasn’t that out of it.
“They were blue,” I declared with confidence.
Tucker chuckled. “Hate to break it to you, bud, but you were red.”
I blinked at him. “Wait. Seriously?”
Both he and Penny nodded in confirmation.
Yikes. Red and blue weren’t even close.
“All right, you’ve made your point. We’re headed back on the road soon, so hopefully, we won’t blow our cover before then.” I looked down at Penny. “There won’t be any hiding it when we get back, though.”
She nodded, releasing a heavy sigh. “I know. I need time to wrap my head around it first before facing the reactions of others. Can’t imagine they’ll be too favorable with how we went from zero to sixty on this whole thing. Three months ago, you were just my best friend. Now you’re my husband, and we’re having a baby.”
“Don’t do that. I was never ‘just’ your best friend. ”
Her eyes softened, and a smile touched her lips. “Not to us. But that’s how everyone on the outside will see it.”
She wasn’t wrong. And if there was one thing this town salivated over, it was scandal. Once the baby news broke, it would fan the flames of gossip that had been sparked when Penny ran from the altar.
I could understand her reluctance to offer herself up on a platter for public judgment.
This was our life. People needed to keep their opinions on how we chose to live it to themselves.
“I think you underestimate your family and friends,” Tucker chimed in. “They’re going to be thrilled for you.”
It took effort to bite my tongue. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I would catch hell from the man who’d given me life once he learned I’d gotten Penny pregnant so quickly. In his mind, I would only be playing into his belief that we were doing nothing more than playing house, unequipped to handle adult responsibilities.
I was more determined than ever to prove him wrong.
Buzz buzzzzzzz. Buzz buzzzzzzz.
As groggy as I was, it took me a minute to place the source of the audible vibrations. Blinking my heavy eyelids in the darkness, I realized my phone was ringing.
With a groan, I rolled over. Swiping my cell from the nightstand, I accepted the call before bringing the receiver to my ear.
Voice roughened by sleep, I rasped, “Yeah? ”
“Tripp, sorry to wake you, but I’ve got an emergency over here.”
Of all the people to ring me up in the middle of the night, I’d have never guessed that Colt Winfield would be on the other end of the line. He, along with his two brothers, owned a cattle ranch outside of Rust Canyon in the opposite direction of where Sullivan Ranch lay.
Though his wife was good friends with my sister, we ran very different operations, so we didn’t often cross paths in business.
“Colt? Fuck. What time is it?” It barely felt like I’d closed my eyes for more than a minute or two before I’d been rudely awakened by his call.
“Little past two.” His words had a strained edge to them.
“Why are you calling again?” I couldn’t remember if he’d already told me. It was too early, and my brain was struggling to focus.
“Most of our calves dropped weeks ago, but we must’ve missed one. Sheer dumb luck that Emmett happened upon a heifer laid up in the dark laboring. She had a rough go of it.” He blew out a breath. “Too rough. We’ve got a uterine prolapse on our hands, and if we don’t get it dealt with soon, she’s not gonna make it.”
As a rancher myself, I could appreciate his desperation. The loss of animal life also meant a hefty financial loss on the books for the Winfields.
“How can I help?”
With each passing minute, I grew more alert. When I sat up in bed, Penny stirred beside me, rolling over, but thankfully, she remained asleep.
“I left messages for all the vets in the area, but no one’s gotten back to me yet. We could really use Penny’s help.” He sighed. “I know it’s askin’ a lot, and you’re a ways out, but I’m fresh outta options.”
They were an hour away. If I pushed it with no one on the roads at this hour, I could get there in forty-five.
It might not be soon enough to save the heifer in trouble, but I knew Penny would want to give it a shot .
“We’re on our way.”
Colt’s relief was audible. “Appreciate it.”
The line went dead. There wasn’t time to waste.
Hating the idea of waking my pregnant wife even though it was necessary, I gently nudged her, whispering, “Sweetheart, there’s an emergency. I need you to get up. We have to go.”