Chapter 1 #3
She rolled her eyes, but more importantly, she lifted the mug to her lips and took a cautious sip. Her nose wrinkled, but she swallowed. “Nice and warm.”
“You cold?”
When he would have gotten up to grab her a blanket or put more wood on the fire, she glared at him. “I can be warm enough and still say something warm is nice. Stop babying me.”
“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands in agreement.
But he watched her. Closely. Because…
Screw it. If he was wrong, then maybe she was truly sick, and she’d be too weak to kill him.
Tucker reached under the couch and pulled out a plastic bag. “Speaking of babies..."
He sat there, motionless. The package extended forward while Ginny’s eyes grew as big as saucers.
Yeah, well, she’d said the word first, not him. He nudged the bag at her. “It’s a test kit.”
She didn’t move. Just clung to her mug like it was a life preserver and she’d found herself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
“A test kit to find out if you’re pregnan—”
“I figured that part out,” Ginny informed him, still not taking the package. “I don’t need it.”
Tucker folded his arms over his chest. “Why are you doing this? Which, by the way, your sister Dare totally warned me you would do.”
That got Ginny moving. She put her mug aside and leaned forward, red finally colouring her cheeks. “You talked to Dare about me needing a pregnancy test?”
“Not recently,” Tucker admitted. “But since we haven’t been using birth control for six months, and you told Dare that less than twenty-four hours after we decided to ditch it, yes, I’ve had a couple conversations about pregnancy and tests and etcetera with her.
Each of which I told you about and you’d remember if you weren’t so befuddled right now. ”
“But I am befuddled, and it’s just. A. Cold,” Ginny all but shouted before pressing her hands to the sides of her head. “Oh my God, I’m an idiot.”
Tucker was at her side a second later, arm draped around her shoulders.
Surrounding her as best he could, holding her tenderly.
“You are not an idiot, but you are either sick or possibly pregnant. And since it would be good to know which, do you think you can go pee on the nice present I bought you?”
She snickered softly, nuzzling her face into the curve of his neck. “I’m sorry I yelled.”
“It’s okay. I get it.”
“Yeah, well, maybe it’s me who’s got it this time.” She snickered again. “I do want a baby with you. I haven’t been obsessing over it, though. Just figured we can keep having fun and it’ll happen when it happens.”
He squeezed her shoulders, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. To her forehead. Tilting her face up so he could kiss along her jaw. “It has been fun, and if you’re not pregnant, we’ll keep having fun. Also, not just to get you pregnant. I like sex with you, Ginny Stewart.”
“Ditto, Tucker Stewart.” She reached down and picked up the plastic bag. Peered in. “Okay. Let’s go find out if I’m drinking chicken noodle soup for my cold or diving into pickles and ice cream.”
Tucker stood and pulled her to her feet, tucking her against his body and savouring the warmth and the way she leaned into him, hands curled around his biceps. “Either way, I love you. I’m here for you.”
“I know.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”
The wind outside whistled against the rafters, a soft tone that made the inside of the house feel safe. Home.
Ginny took his hand, lifted the test kit, and tugged him toward the bathroom.
Softer now, the wind eased. The temperature leveled out as a thick layer of clouds rolled in overhead.
Covering the sky, the grey and black clouds turned the night sky into a solid, starless canvas.
Nothing to see, no trace of light, as if waiting for the next brush strokes to fall and continue the story.
One final gust rattled the barn door hard enough that it sprang open, the children not having pulled it tight. The cold outside a harsh contrast against the warm animal-scented air in the barn…
Dustin sprang to his feet and hurried to push the door shut, the cold spinning into the barn deep enough to make him shiver.
He stopped for a moment despite the temperature to stare up into the sky. Dark, blank.
Lonely.
Enough. Shutting the door firmly, he strolled back to the stall where Patchwork Annie had decided to have her pups. Probably didn’t need to supervise, but he was on night duty, and the border collie was special.
Dustin had liberated the beast from his uncle’s ranch a year earlier. She adored him, and Annie was his more than any of the other working dogs around the Silver Stone ranch. Hell, he had the bill to prove it.
She glanced up as he settled on a nearby bale.
Close, but not too close. So far, Annie was doing just fine without his help, curled up in the warm nest made of clean straw and a couple of blankets he’d brought for her.
A row of three puppies nestled against her belly, with maybe one or two more to come.
In a while he’d go and work through the list that Tucker and Ashton had left for him. But the night was young, and his shift wasn’t over until six a.m. There was no reason he couldn’t linger a bit longer.
He leaned back against the stall wall, propped his boots up on another bale and stared into the rafters. No reason he couldn’t be the one to work nights most of the time.
There was no one for him to go home to.
Pity party, much?
Dustin shook his head. Yeah, maybe it was stupid, but he had to admit he wanted what his brothers and sister had—someone who was theirs, through and through, for all the right reasons.
He might be young, but he’d seen how happy his siblings were.
He’d watched them build those connections over the past years.
Only made sense to want that same happiness for himself. To want to give like that to another person…someday.
Patchwork Annie made a soft noise. Dustin snapped his attention off his musings and back on her. “Hey, darling. You okay?”
She wagged her tail as he settled beside her, the pups a small mass of warmth under his palm. He stayed close for another hour until all the puppies had arrived, then brushed Annie’s head gently.
“I need to get to work. You done good, mama,” he told her after leaving her fresh water and a snack near at hand.
Annie rested her head on her paws and let out an enormous sigh. Contentment in every inch of her as the six pups lined up at her teats wiggled and squirmed as they nursed.
Dustin chuckled as he rose, humming softly as he began his chores. A night working in the quiet of the barns was on his agenda.
And for now, it was enough.
If you’d like to find out what comes next for Dustin, and how he finds the perfect person to share his world with, A Rancher’s Vow is the final book in the Stone of Heart Falls series.