Chapter 12 Beckham
BECKHAM
Parker’s movements seemed hesitant as we stepped into my parents’ house, and rightfully so. Not only had it been a long time since she’d seen my family, but she was also pregnant. All of that resulted in dozens of questions I was sure she didn’t know how to answer.
As soon as we passed the threshold of the front entry, Parker stopped. The entire room did, too. One glance turned into four, which turned into all eyes on her.
“Parker!” Lettie exclaimed breathlessly, like she’d been just as nervous before our arrival. Had they thought she’d bail? That her presence was only a rumor?
Lettie crossed to her, not sparing Parker’s stomach a single glance as she wrapped her arms around her. Parker returned the gesture, and the sight warmed something inside me.
Lennon, my oldest brother, stood in the living room with his arm around his girlfriend Oakley’s shoulders. Reed was in the kitchen with his girlfriend, Brandy, a platter of buttered corn placed in front of them like they’d been working on it when we walked in.
“Well, look who it is,” my mom said, setting a pair of tongs down on the counter by Reed and Brandy.
I quickly shot her a look warning her to take it easy, but she waved me off and swooped in right as Lettie stepped away.
Parker was stiff as a board as my mom’s arms wrapped around her.
But as my mom ran a hand in circles over her back, Parker loosened, melting into my mom like she was the roots of the family tree Parker had missed so dearly, grounding her in the storm that was her life.
I’d run headfirst through pounding rain and dangerous blizzards time and time again to save Parker from the flood. This house had always been her safe haven, and Charlotte was her umbrella from the pain.
Parker wouldn’t be alone in any of this, and my mom hugging her like she hadn’t been gone a day was proof of that.
The two parted and my mom squeezed Parker’s hand, a tear-filled smile on her face.
“Are you doing okay, sweetie?” my mom asked.
Parker nodded, looking like she was holding back her own tears. “I’m okay.”
My mom sent me a speculating look to confirm, and I dipped my chin. I didn’t allow myself to live in a world where Parker wasn’t okay.
“Parker, this is Oakley,” Lettie started, toning down the excitement a bit as she gestured to the auburn-haired woman who was now beside her. She could likely tell this was a big step for Parker, and I appreciated my sister for not hesitating to loop her in.
“Hi.” Parker sent Oakley a soft smile. “I’m not sure what they’ve told you about me, but in case it was bad”—she narrowed a teasing glare on me before continuing—“I was best friends with Beckham growing up.”
I crooked a brow. “Is that what we were?”
Parker gave me an all-knowing look, a blush painting her cheeks, before she fell into easy conversation with the girls.
After introductions and warm welcome-backs, my mom packed us all around the dining room table.
With the sun setting earlier in the day, it was too cold to enjoy dinner on the porch tonight—her favorite place to see her large family laughing and smiling as they dug into a home-cooked meal.
We could bear it with the heaters on, but she’d likely kept us inside for Parker’s and Sage’s sake.
All through dinner, the obvious was avoided. Parker was pregnant, and no one brought it up. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of my family with that, but it was coming. I only wished I knew when so we could both prepare. Hell, we should’ve discussed logistics well before arriving here.
Once dinner was done, Parker insisted on helping the girls clean up.
Meanwhile, my brothers forced me to join them on the front porch.
I’d been reluctant to leave Parker’s side for the fear she’d be ambushed alone, but Lettie had sent me a reassuring look before I slipped out the door with my jacket on and baseball cap pulled low.
Lennon leaned his elbows on the wood railing, beer beside him, as he stared out at the barn faintly illuminated by the lights on either side of the barn door.
Reed had his arms crossed and a frown aimed my way.
He had every right to be a little hard on me right now.
I’d been spiraling for months, and now I showed up to dinner with a pregnant Parker.
He likely thought she’d been the source of all of my troubles the past few months.
It didn’t help that I hadn’t been entirely honest with them about Parker over the years.
Telling your family the truth about the girl you fell in love with could be tricky, so I’d lied about some things to save myself their concern.
Bailey was taking small sips of his beer, giving his hands something to do. We all felt a little awkward. A little off. But Bailey especially, because as far as he knew, I’d been in contact with Parker while she was gone. And that…was a lie.
“Alright, out with it,” I said, stuffing my hands in the pockets of my jacket. “You all have something to say, so say it.”
The three of them exchanged glances. Bailey shifted on his feet, Lennon avoided looking at me, and Reed was straight scowling.
“She’s pregnant,” Reed stated. There was never any fucking around with him.
When we were younger, he and I loved to get into loads of trouble around the ranch.
Then something changed in him, and women became a sore subject.
Being with Brandy was slowly changing him, but it’d take a lot for Reed to stop being so damn broody.
I gave him a blank stare as if that fact wasn’t obvious.
“She is.”
A cricket chirped somewhere below the deck. A cow lowed out in the field.
Bailey clanked his beer down on the table and slapped his hands together. “Okay. I don’t like this.” He pinned me with his gaze. “We’re all wondering”—he did some weird hand motion—“how.”
I tilted my head. Waited for him to go on.
When I was met with nothing but silence and expectant stares, I said, “Well, when a man and a woman—”
Lennon took a long sip of his beer while Bailey held a hand up and interrupted. “We all know where babies come from.”
“Okay, then you know how she’s pregnant,” I concluded.
Reed’s frown couldn’t have gotten deeper if it tried.
“Is the baby yours?” Lennon asked, finally speaking up and shoving off the railing.
I rolled my lips together. Parker and I had discussed it in the truck, but we hadn’t come to a final agreement because of Sage’s injury.
Either way I put it, I could end up upsetting her.
And that was the last fucking thing I wanted to do.
I didn’t want her to have to deal with the onslaught of questions about the father if I said the baby wasn’t mine, but I also didn’t want to stake that sort of claim if she didn’t want me being that figure in the baby’s life. At least, for now.
“He’s as mine as he’ll get.” There. That was good enough.
Reed let out a disbelieving half-ass chuckle. “We all know that baby isn’t yours, Beckham. My question is, why does the whole goddamn town think it is?”
“It’s a boy?” Bailey asked right after.
“It’s a boy,” I confirmed before directing my attention at Reed. “How do you know he’s not mine?”
“You wouldn’t have been in such a shitty downward spiral if Parker had been in town,” Reed grumbled.
Lennon nodded his agreement.
“What’s this, gang-up-on-Beckham night?” I knocked back my water, emptying the bottle. “Where’s Callan when I need him?”
“Did you know she was pregnant?” Lennon asked. His look of concern softened me up a bit, but not enough.
“No.” And if I had thought she was off happy with some other man, it likely would’ve tipped me over the edge. I lost Garrett, but losing Parker for good, too? There were only so many things a man could handle.
“So that’s not why you punched me?” Reed arched a brow like he didn’t believe it.
“I punched you because you hit a sensitive topic just to get under my skin,” I gritted out.
Bailey sipped his beer, watching our interaction like we were some form of entertainment. “If you ladies want to hash it out—”
“How’s that sensitive topic treating you, Beck?” Reed’s question was quizzical, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out why he was pushing this. “She comes back into town, pregnant—”
“Leave her out of your goddamn mouth,” I bit out.
“Feeling protective because she’s pregnant with some other man’s baby?” He kept at it, teetering on the fine line that was nearly nonexistent when it came to Parker. Someone so much as thinks of her wrong, I punch them. End of fucking story.
“What’d she do to end up on the run from the baby daddy, Beck? Think to ask her that? Find out what you’re getting yourself into?”
My fist clenched, muscles pulsing with the urge to reenact what I’d regretted doing for months.
“I don’t plan to hurt him.”
All heads swiveled to find Parker’s silhouette filling the doorframe.
Lennon cursed while Bailey let out a low whistle. Reed, on the other hand, had the brains to look regretful.
“If that’s what you think I’m here to do, to make him clean up some mess I was involved in, it’s not. I came to Bell Buckle for my dad’s funeral.”
Shock lit all their faces. Not many people in this town cared for Parker’s father, so aside from the outsiders who attended his funeral, Bell Buckle had stayed in the dark about his passing.
“That’s whose funeral you went to?” Bailey asked me.
I nodded.
“I was going to leave after,” Parker went on.