Jamison
“ S o, you think she’s going to tell us anytime soon?” Ash asked, shoving a pancake in his mouth. smiled at his best friend. The thought of the woman that they had both fallen in love with, pregnant with their child made him so fucking happy. Ash was snooping around Regan’s bathroom about a month ago and found the positive pregnancy tests in her trash can. After he told , they both decided that they would wait Regan out to tell them on her own. Ash figured that she needed time to come to terms with the fact that she was pregnant and didn’t know which one of them was the father. To the two of them, that didn’t matter. In their minds, they were both the baby’s father and they planned on making their family more permanent. They just needed Regan to figure out that they were a family already.
“I think that she’s running out of time and she’s worried about what her next move should be. According to the baby books, she should be getting over this morning sickness phase soon and I’m betting that she’ll start showing after that. Regan is carrying a package with an expiration date and sooner or later, she’s going to have to come clean with the two of us,” whispered.
“Agreed, I just worry that she’s going to get spooked and take off. How do we keep that from happening? Like you said, she’s going to start feeling better soon. We’re running out of time. If we just tell her that we know, she’ll be forced to lean on us and let us help.” Ash made a valid point. knew that his friend constantly worried that Regan was going to leave them and he also worried that would destroy Ash. Neither of them would survive losing her and their baby.
“Just give her a little more time, she’ll come around. She needs to learn to trust each of us and if we force her to tell us about the baby, we’ll never get there.” wanted her to come to them, lean on them, need them. God, he wanted her to trust them again, especially knowing that there was a baby involved now. He was trying to wait; he really was but he also wanted to get their shit straight before their baby came into the world.
“I’ll give it a few more days but I’m not sure that I can wait much longer. It’s killing me to have her living here with us and not being able to touch her or tell her how much we love her,” Ash said. nodded. When she made the demands of not touching her or treating her as anything other than a hired employee, was sure that it would last a week, maybe two, and then she’d be back in their bed. He had to admit that he admired Regan’s resolve, but he was getting sick of hiding his feelings. And he was fucking sick of not being able to touch or kiss her. Most nights, he thought of Regan lying in the next room and it took all his restraint not to go to her and claim her again. was smart enough to know that they wouldn’t get far with Regan unless they played by her rules and that made the control freak inside of him crazy.
Two days later, ran to town to sign some papers at the bank for the cattle that they sold. He hadn’t seen Regan since early that morning when she made them breakfast. She was having a good day until they asked for scrambled eggs. That seemed to be the one food that she couldn’t handle with her morning sickness. A part of him felt horrible that they kept asking her to fix something that made her so sick. But if she thought that they caught on about the baby she might take off and neither of them wanted that. If had to guess, Ash was asking Regan to make him scrambled eggs each morning to force her hand. He knew that Ash was pushing her to tell them about the baby, but still thought it was a bad idea. If she didn’t trust them enough to tell them about the baby then he wasn’t sure that she’d ever be able to trust them again. He hated that they fucked up so royally with her.
stopped into the bank first and within a half hour had all the papers signed. He wanted to celebrate the sale by taking Regan and Ash out to dinner, but he knew that she would balk at the idea. She would consider it a date and knew that dating was off the table for her. He decided that making her a nice steak dinner with all the trimmings was the way to go. She needed to rest and eat and hopefully, she would let him, and Ash take care of her at least for a night.
pulled into the grocery store’s parking lot and ran in to pick up a few things. When he came back out he swore that he saw Regan riding her motorcycle down main street. He almost dropped his bags of groceries at the sight of her speeding past, as if she wasn’t three months pregnant. growled and threw the bags into the cab of his truck, taking off in the direction that her bike disappeared. He was done letting her push them away, especially now that she was taking chances with their baby. It was time for the three of them to sit down and have a come-to-Jesus talk. Regan was going to have to accept that she was pregnant and theirs. He was done waiting her out.
He called Ash, filling him in on Regan’s little joy ride. Thankfully, she headed from town straight home, so he didn’t have to chase her too far. She cut the engine to her bike, walked it a quarter mile up the driveway, and stowed it in the barn where she kept it.
parked his truck and followed her into the barn. “Might as well not spend so much energy sneaking around, honey. I saw you riding through town on your bike.” He blocked the door, crossing his arms over his chest. She pulled her jacket tighter around her body and he didn’t miss the slight swell of her belly. Every instinct in him wanted to go to her, pull her into his arms, and kiss her senseless. Knowing that she was pregnant with their baby made his inner caveman roar to life.
“I’m allowed to ride my bike, . And don’t call me honey, you lost that right.” Regan tried to walk around him, but Ash took up the open space in the doorway to stand next to .
“What the fuck were you thinking, Regan? You can’t just go riding around town on that death trap,” Ash barked.
Regan’s laugh was bitter. “You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do, Ash. You might be my boss but I’m off the clock right now, so go fuck yourself.” Ash’s anger seemed to get the best of him, and he strode across the barn and pulled Regan into his arms. wasn’t sure if Ash was going to hug her or strangle her.
“You can’t take chances anymore, Regan. You’re too important to us, you both are.” Ash cupped her tiny belly, and she gasped.
“You know about the baby? But, how?” Regan tried to back away from Ash but ran right into . It felt like forever since she had been between the two of them.
“We both know about the baby, honey. We’ve known since you took the tests. Ash found them in your bathroom. We were concerned that you were sick and well, he went in there to snoop around.” Regan’s anger boiled up and knew that he was saying all the wrong things. He decided to do things his way because talking things out and telling her how he felt wasn’t working.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew?” Regan sobbed and pulled her into his arms. He hated it when she cried and since she got pregnant, she seemed to cry all the time. She thought they hadn’t noticed all the changes that the baby brought on, but they did.
“I think the better question is why you didn’t tell us, baby. We have a right to know we’re going to be fathers, and every baby needs a dad.” Ash crowded in on her other side kissing her forehead as she cried against ’s chest.
“I don’t know which one of you is the father,” she sobbed.
chuckled. “How could you, honey? We shared you—the baby is both of ours. That was always the plan, Regan. You are ours and this baby is ours.” cupped her little bump with his hand and every protective instinct in his body screamed to life.
“I was so afraid that this baby would divide the two of you and that would kill me. I didn’t know what to do or how you would handle a baby.” Her hand covered both Ash’s and ’s on her belly. “What happens now?”
“Now, you let us take care of you, honey. You and this baby need us, and we want to take care of you both.” hoped that they would be able to convince her to trust them, but he knew that was something that they had to earn.
“I need some time to think about everything. Can you both give me that? I think that I need to take off for a bit and figure my shit out.” Ash dropped his hand from her belly and didn’t miss the panic in his best friend’s eyes.
“Ash, please understand. I just can’t think when you guys are always around. If I let you take care of me and you change your mind later it will kill me. And now we have a baby to consider.”
nodded, knowing that they were fighting a losing battle. Regan was the most stubborn woman that he had ever met. He knew that if they pushed her she would leave. He also knew that if they let her go, even just a few miles up the road, she would be close enough to keep an eye on. He had a plan, he just hoped like hell she would agree.
“You remember Mrs. Lucas, honey?” Regan thought for a moment and nodded.
“She was your last cook,” she said.
“Yes,” continued. “She has a big house and a spare room. You would have plenty of privacy and loads of space. You’d be able to figure out your next move and we would agree to give you the space to do that.” Regan paced in front of them, and they both seemed to hold their breath waiting for her to decide.
“You’re sure she won’t mind having me?” Regan seemed hesitant.
“She would love to have you, honey.” smiled and knew that if his plan worked, Mrs. Lucas would be a good asset to have on their side.
“All right,” she whispered.
kissed her cheek, “Thank you for that, honey. We’ll help you pack and make the arrangements.” He didn’t miss Ash’s sour expression or how quiet he was. Ash didn’t like that Regan was leaving but this was the only way saw them keeping her and their baby long-term.
“You take some time and think about what you want for yourself and our baby. We’ll be right here for you no matter what you decide, honey. You should know that Ash and I plan on being a part of this baby’s life,” said.
Regan gasped, “What if I decide that I can’t be with the two of you anymore?” God, hearing her say those words to them gutted . He took a deep breath willing himself to get through the rest of what he needed to say to her; what they both needed to tell her.
“Regan, we are going to be here for you no matter what.” held her hand in his and it seemed so small in his own.
“We’re in love with you, baby,” Ash whispered and took her other hand into his.
“No,” she sobbed. “That’s not possible. We were only together for a few days.”
“Yeah, and in those few days, we found something that we never thought was possible—our soul mate.” pulled her in for a quick kiss and then released her.
“Not only did we find the woman that we didn’t know we were waiting for, but we made a baby—our baby,” Ash growled. saw the toll that this was taking on Ash and he wanted to make everything better for him, but he knew to do that they would have to let Regan leave. He just prayed that she’d find her way back to them.