Chapter Fifteen
Fifteen
At first, Morgan thought Ryan was just being overly ambitious to get her to marry him, but little by little she realized that beneath their squabbling and butting heads, there was merit.
He was a hard worker, something she could appreciate, and he’d done nothing but put her first. Yes, he clearly wanted to cement his legacy, but he’d been working on that all while making sure her needs were not only being met but exceeded.
His old home had been simple and charming, a testament to the humble beginning he’d started with. Each moment she spent with him she realized there were so many layers to this intriguing man. More than she ever thought and she wondered if she’d ever stop discovering more about him.
“Keep your eyes closed.”
Morgan stood in the hallway just down from her bedroom with her eyes firmly shut.
After she’d seen where Ryan had grown up, he’d taken her to the pond and talked about how he’d teach their child fishing.
Then he took her the long way back to the barn and showed her a stall that would house their child’s horse when the day came.
He had everything all laid out for the future, but right now, he had planned something special.
“They’re closed,” she insisted. “But I can’t stand it. What is the surprise?”
The click of a door echoed in the wide hall, and then Ryan curled his fingers around her arm and started guiding her forward.
“Just walk straight,” he advised her. “Almost there and you won’t run into anything.”
She held out her free hand anyway because she had trust issues. “You’re making me nervous.”
Ryan’s rich laughter filled the space. “Open.”
Morgan blinked against the lights as her eyes traveled around the room. She gasped at everything presented before her.
“What have you done?” she asked as she started moving around. She really didn’t know what to look at first.
“I hired a designer to come up with some model plans for the nursery,” he explained. “I had to keep you out of the house for a bit longer when you got home, so I decided to show you around the ranch.”
Morgan turned from the various model displays set up on tables to face Ryan.
“So was that cottage really the house you grew up in?” she asked.
Ryan nodded. “All of that was true and I wanted to show you anyway, so that was the best excuse.”
Morgan walked around the model displays, each on their own stand, and was absolutely amazed at what he’d done for her. Never in her life had anyone surprised her to the point she was nearly speechless.
“I don’t know what you’ve thought of for a nursery,” he went on. “And whether you live here or not, I still want a place for the baby and I want you to decide what the room looks like. You would have more sense than me about this stuff.”
Morgan listened to Ryan as she went back and closely studied the first display.
Her heart felt so full, so happy. She really didn’t know what to say right now because she was still absorbing the fact Ryan had thought to do all of this on his own.
He’d wanted to make a special place for their child and he’d called someone to come up with such intricate plans.
Considering he hadn’t known about the baby for too long, he likely had to pay quite a bit for this rush job. But each and every design was so stunning and utterly amazing.
She trailed her finger over the tiny crib, then the model-sized rocker. This was really happening and she bounced from being terrified to being excited. There was no in between.
“I told the designer different styles I thought you liked or information I’ve taken from your store and the way you dress. You seem to go toward classy with a bit mix of trendy...or that’s what the designer said when I described you.”
Morgan glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “I can tell you told her something about me. I love them all.”
Ryan held his hands out. “Listen, I might wear the same things over and over and I might not know terms or fashion lingo, but that doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention.”
One design had a crisp, clean look to the space with white furniture and pops of green and gold.
Very classy. Another design seemed a little more catered to the ranch with the dark woods, deep gray motif.
There were a couple for each gender that were clearly for a boy or a girl as well, and Morgan honestly couldn’t decide.
“How soon do we need to let her know?” Morgan asked.
Ryan moved to the opposite side of the room where a chaise sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the pond. He rested his hand on the slope of the high back and shrugged.
“I just told her I would be in touch,” he replied.
“So take your time or make notes about changes you want. She said she could add or remove anything and even combine various aspects from each one. I didn’t know if you were thinking something neutral or if you decided to wait to find out the sex.
I’m good no matter what, so that’s your call. ”
That familiar, annoying burn started in her throat as her eyes started to fill.
Morgan couldn’t help but put her head in her hands.
She was so tired of these roller-coaster emotions and riding this pregnancy wave.
Her thoughts were all over the place from happy to sad to scared to excited.
She didn’t even know how to feel anymore. ..not that she could control it anyway.
Ryan was immediately there, pulling her into his warmth and strength.
“Damn it, I knew I overstepped,” he murmured. “I’ll have her come take everything back and you can design whatever you want. I thought this would be a good thing for you and you might like it, but...”
Morgan shook her head and eased back just enough to rest her hands on his chest and look him in the eye.
“No, this is... Well, this is the greatest surprise I’ve ever had.
You mentioned the sex of the baby and everything just hit me, I guess.
I was so shocked when I found out I was expecting and worried about what you would think, what the town would think.
I’m fully embracing the reality that our baby is actually coming and we aren’t just fodder for the gossip mill. ”
Ryan smoothed her hair from her face and held her head firmly in his hands as he leaned closer.
“This baby isn’t a mistake or gossip,” he told her. “We’re going to raise her together and she’ll have the strength and determination from both of us to do anything she wants in life.”
Morgan smiled. “She? You want a girl?”
“I don’t care what we have, but I just see you holding a little red-haired beauty. I’ve had dreams of it, actually.”
“Is that so?”
He’d dreamed of their child? He’d dreamed of their baby looking like her, and Morgan couldn’t help but wonder if his feelings were going deeper than he cared to admit.
“Are you worried?” she asked.
Ryan slid his hands into her hair and tipped her head back. “Not at all. You and I are going to be great parents.”
At least one of them was confident. She used to find his arrogance annoying, but now she found that side of him to be a reassuring quality.
She needed more strength during this time in her life and she found herself drawing from him.
Though the ease with which she could lean on him more and more terrified her, if she could keep this relationship physical and superficial, then she could hold on to her heart and not fall for a man who wouldn’t love her in return.
Morgan took a step back and pulled her dress over her head. She dropped it to the floor and stood before him wearing only her undergarments and boots.
“You know that very large tub I kept trying to share with you?”
Ryan’s mouth quirked as his eyes raked over her body. “I remember.”
“Maybe you’ll join me?”
She didn’t wait for his reply as she walked out of the room. She knew Ryan would follow, and when she heard his boots echoing on that hardwood floor behind her, Morgan smirked all the way into her bathroom.
For now, everything in her world was right...but she’d set the boundaries and all of this was temporary. In just a couple weeks, she’d be back in her home and these passionate nights would just be a memory.
Jonas Shaw, the investigator, had called another important meeting. Morgan had asked Ryan to come with her for support, which really surprised him, but at the same time warmed him. They still weren’t ready to come forward with...
What? The baby? Their unsettled living arrangement?
He didn’t even know what to call their situation. Likely word had already spread about him being at her shop and the two of them not griping at each other anymore. He wanted to be here for her, in whatever capacity she needed.
The Grandins and the Lattimores all gathered at the Lattimore estate per the private investigator’s orders. Jonas only called in both families when he had pertinent information, so Ryan couldn’t help but wonder what new development had taken place.
Morgan caught his gaze from across the spacious formal living area. She’d wanted to stand with her siblings and he didn’t want to intrude so he settled in near Jayden.
Yet just that one look she sent him had his heart racing. How did she do that? In a short time, they’d pivoted from verbal sparring to driving each other wild in the bedroom. But there was more...so much more going on between them. Now wasn’t time or the place to try to figure out his feelings.
“You have any clue what this would be about?” Ryan whispered to Jayden.
“None,” his buddy replied. “But it’s got to be major for all of us to be here.”
Jonas moved through the room and came to stand in front of the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
The tall, slender man had become an ominous staple in Royal since the start of this investigation.
He’d been trying to get to the bottom of Heath’s claims. Why Cynthia had owned papers saying she’d been gifted untapped oil from Augustus Lattimore and Victor Grandin had remained a mystery.
“I’m glad you all could make it on such short notice,” Jonas began as he tapped a folder against his thigh.
“As you know, I’ve conducted several interviews, including ones with Augustus’s former secretary, Sylvia Stewart, and the original surveyor, Henry Lawrence.
I’ve also gone through every piece of paper Alexa could find. I now can share my conclusions.”
Ryan crossed his arms and waited for the announcement as he glanced around the room to the members of both families, who had been friends for generations. The intermingling of their lives had woven so tightly, Ryan knew no bond could break them. They were all in this together.
“We know Cynthia had a brief relationship with Daniel Grandin,” Jonas stated. “Without DNA, it took some time to get proof, but he was indeed Ashley’s father.”
“It seems that when Victor Sr. discovered the pregnancy, he didn’t tell Daniel.
He went to his best friend, Augustus. They came up with a plan to offer Cynthia the oil beneath the Grandin estate as a bribe to remain silent.
Victor didn’t want his son caught up in a scandal.
To sweeten the deal, Augustus Lattimore included his land.
He couldn’t let his best friend’s last name be dishonored by his son’s meaningless affair. ”
The gasps around the room seemed to echo, and Nolan reached for Chelsea’s hand as her eyes went wide at the revelation.
“So the oil rights weren’t an inheritance for Ashley,” Nolan chimed in. “They were a payoff to get our mother to keep a dirty secret.”
Jonas nodded. “It looks that way. I’m assuming the men figured she wouldn’t have the resources to actually claim the oil, so that’s when she later married Ladd Thurston. And you all know the rest of that story.”
Cynthia had gone on to have the twins, Heath and Nolan.
“So once Heath finds out the rights were meant as a cover-up and not an inheritance, what will he do?” Jonathan Lattimore asked.
All eyes turned to Heath’s brother, and Nolan merely shook his head and sighed. “I have no idea, to be honest. He wanted this for our mother, for Ashley. His heart is in the right place. I know not everyone believes that, but he just wants what he thinks belonged to our family.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” Alexa Lattimore finally stated. “This is quite a bit to take in. So, does this end the investigation?”
“Unless I’m needed for more, I believe my part is done,” Jonas claimed.
Silence settled over the room and Ryan tried to study each face. The members of these two families might actually have some closure right now, but again, everything hinged on Heath’s next move.
“I’m sure this will be all the talk at the Christmas party tomorrow,” Zanai whispered to Jayden. “I’ll bet Heath doesn’t show.”
“He doesn’t seem like the type of man who would back down or shy away from scandal,” Jayden replied.
The Christmas party would certainly be all abuzz with gossip but Ryan had his own worries to deal with.
..like the fact he was getting deeper with Morgan.
Morgan was still hell-bent on leaving his house at the end of the month, but he was just as hell-bent on keeping her there and building a life.
He’d been robbed of that before and vowed never again. He needed Morgan to stay.
Because he knew if she walked away from the ranch, she’d never come back.