Chapter 18 #2
My life on the line, I’d swear it’s a hickey.
It’s nearly the same shade and size as the ones I left on Emily’s shoulder last night.
She must notice them, too, because her vanilla scent gets stronger again, and her entire body locks down like she’s preparing to run.
Triston’s face pales, and his Adam’s apple moves with a sudden swallow.
I tuck my hand under Emily’s shirt and grab hold of the waistband of her leggings, tracing a few of her stretch marks with my thumb to try and hold her steady.
Penny taps Emily’s knee again, hard enough the smack of it cuts through all the tension brewing. Emily flinches and then drops her eyes from Triston. Penny points at the bag she’d brought over and smacks Emily’s knee a third time. I quietly grab her wrist to keep her from doing it a fourth time.
“Why don’t you open yours first, love bug?” I ask in as calm a voice I can manage. “It’s rainbows, just like your favorite blanket.”
She climbs onto Triston’s leg without invitation.
He sets the flowers next to Emily, tilting them so the petals don’t get damaged.
Then he holds the large bag in front of Penny.
Her cheeks puff out as she reaches into the depths of it.
She pulls out a cream blanket with a bunny attached at one corner.
The inside of the ears and the trim around the blanket are a pink floral.
On the corner opposite the bunny, her nickname is embroidered in sweeping letters.
She presses it to her face and collapses into Triston the exact way she does with me when I’m settling her in for bed at night.
She babbles a bit and then holds out her dog plushie.
Without a word, Triston offers his palm, and she drops the plushie into it so she can wrap both arms around the new blanket.
Damn. Not even Brielle’s managed to find one that gets this much approval.
“You like it?” Triston asks.
Penny nods and kicks her feet.
He blows out a heavy sigh and then focuses on me. “There’s another gift in there, but it probably won’t get the same reaction as the blanket. You can open it later for her if you want.”
His voice has Penny looking back at us. She holds out her hand, pointing at the small blue bag. “Mama,” she says. “Mama.”
“All right, all right,” Emily says, a bit more of her normal humor in her voice. “I’ll open it, love bug. Do you want to pull the paper?”
She holds the bag out. Instead of pulling the paper, Penny digs through the bag like before.
She holds out her clenched fist to Emily.
The card is a bit mangled by the time it makes it into Emily’s hand, but it doesn’t erase the information on it.
It’s made of thick paper, the kind used for weddings and pack celebrations.
When she flips it open, the name and logo of one of the luxury boutiques in Jackson Hole fills the upper portion of the card.
The bottom portion is a branded gift card.
Emily frowns as she looks from the card to Triston, her gaze flicking so fast it makes me nauseous.
The question is clear in her face, but she doesn’t voice it.
Triston clears his throat.
“Scott mentioned you developed pretty severe postpartum anxiety. I thought maybe…” He shrugs and drops his eyes.
He traces the fake laces of Penny’s shoes.
“When we went dancing on the Fourth, you talked with Olivia about how you wanted to get a piece from there, something heirloom that you could pass down if you ever packed up.”
Softness just about takes me out at the knees, no matter that I’m already sitting. I dig my hand deeper into Emily’s waistband, now needing the point of contact for my own sake.
She’d never said that while we were fooling around.
Hell, not even when we were just existing.
Those comments were ones she made to the girls.
The only reason I know is because I’d asked Mom what to get her that first Christmas.
I’d wanted it to be something special and unique that wasn’t related to the baby or the house.
Emily was so focused on Misty Mountain and the pregnancy, she’d brushed me off each time I asked for a list with more than just a spa day.
Mom told me about the trunk show Emily’d mentioned back in the summertime.
She’d never brought the store up to me at all.
Triston had heard a conversation that night? And he’d remembered it all this time?
Emily’s scent pulses, and Triston swallows again. Hard. His hand falters where he’s still tracing the fake laces. Emily flips the card over and frowns.
“How…” She clears her throat. “There isn’t an amount on here.”
Triston nods.
“What’s the amount?”
His eyes are unfathomable as he drinks her in. Penny wiggles off his leg and runs back to the bubbles, the blanket in one hand and trailing along the ground. Triston carefully sets the dog plush in the rainbow bag.
“There isn’t one,” he admits after nearly a full minute. “I set up an account with them. It doesn’t have a limit.”
Holy hell. I’d saved for nearly eight weeks to buy the small pendant I’d given her that first Christmas. It had been more than my rent in town at the time, and the only reason I’d really been able to get it was the Christmas bonus Ethan had given all of the ranch hands.
I knew in theory just how much those sponsors must pay him, but having it so plainly laid out is still hard to swallow.
Penny screeches, and Triston’s focus whips to her.
Her hand is straight out, grabbing at him in the way she does when she wants someone to come to her.
Then she smacks the blanket on the top of the whale, tears lining her eyes between one breath and the next.
He runs a hand through his hair and clears his throat again.
“The flowers are for you, too,” he says without looking at either of us.
Then he stands and walks to Penny, grabbing the bubble mix from where I’d set it beside me without missing a step. She giggles as he refills the reservoir and the first round of new bubbles come out from the top of the whale.