Chapter 10
KYRA
Kyra couldn’t believe the change she was seeing in Adam.
He made her breakfast every morning and dinner every night.
He regularly asked her what she planned to eat for lunch, and then he would scold her if it wasn’t healthy enough.
She couldn’t fathom what had gotten into him, but she wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t love it.
“Give me something to do, boss,” she insisted one morning. “Please. Sitting around the house all day is driving me crazy.”
He rubbed his chin in thought. “I guess you can feed the horses, but only if I help you.”
She couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “You know I can handle it by myself. I’ve been handling it since my first week here.”
“You shouldn’t be lifting anything heavy right now,” he said.
“Because?” she prompted.
He grimaced and, apparently, ultimately decided to lie. “Because you could hurt your back. You don’t want to hurt your back, do you? That sort of injury never really goes away, you know.”
“You sound like my grandfather,” she said with a chuckle. “Come on. Let’s go feed the horses. I promise I won’t lift anything over ten pounds.”
Going to the stables always made Kyra happy.
The barn was an early big project she had taken on around the ranch.
It was now a beautiful dark green with bright green trim, and it looked so welcoming on the horizon.
Not only that, but she’d helped Adam fix the roof, too.
Even after they’d… taken things too far, they’d both worked together and gotten that roof repaired.
The horses were in a much drier, warmer environment now, and not a moment too soon, because as soon as they entered the barn, Adam pointed to one of the horses and said, “You two have something big in common.”
It took Kyra a moment to figure out what he meant. But when she walked over to pet the horse’s nose, she couldn’t help but notice. “She’s pregnant?”
“Yep,” Adam confirmed. “Very pregnant.”
Suddenly, this sleek, black horse became Kyra’s favorite.
“Oh my gosh, have you been getting extra treats? Tell me the boss has been giving you extra treats. It’s unforgivable if he hasn’t.
” The horse, whose name was Ellie, was not one of Adam’s, she knew.
But she felt it should be spoiled all the same.
“Go ahead and give her some apple slices,” Adam said. “I brought some especially for her.”
Kyra nodded in approval. “Excellent. As it should be.” She fished around in the cooler Adam had packed and found a bag of fresh apple slices.
Ellie nickered and pawed the ground in anticipation as Kyra approached with the bag.
Kyra patted her on the nose again as she fed her one apple slice after another.
“You eat well, mama,” she said, “and I will, too. I promise.”
Adam chuckled from across the barn. “So that’s all it takes to get you to listen to advice, huh? I just have to be a horse.”
“I’ll listen to your advice,” Kyra said.
“Promise?”
She nodded and followed as he made his way out of the barn. “Of course I will. You’re my boss, aren’t you? I’ve been behaving myself, haven’t I?”
He turned back long enough to say, “Remember you said that.”
They spent the rest of the day repairing the roof on the detached apartment. Kyra had been wondering why it was taking Adam so long to get around to it. But truth be told, she was rather enjoying living with him in the main house, so she didn’t mind.
Adam wouldn’t allow her to join him on the roof, of course.
He seemed completely averse to allowing her to do anything physical these days.
But he did have her occasionally fetch tools for him and place them into a bucket, which he would then haul up onto the roof.
She felt kind of ridiculous standing there waiting for him to ask for a new tool.
After a while, she took to singing pop songs to entertain herself.
Once, she stopped, and Adam hollered down at her. “Why’d you stop?”
“I don’t know,” she called up to him. “I forgot the lyrics.”
“Pick another song then,” he said. “Or start over. Be my radio. Your voice is beautiful.”
All of a sudden, Kyra felt her face get several degrees hotter, and she knew her cheeks were bright red.
She couldn’t remember him giving her such a straightforward compliment before.
She wouldn’t have guessed he even had it in him.
After thinking for a moment, she chose another song.
It was one she had heard playing on the radio in his truck.
At the time, he’d taken a moment to turn the volume up on that song, which was the only way she knew he liked it.
She sang and noticed the hammering noises that had been coming from the roof of her tiny apartment had grown silent. Less than a minute later, his head peeked out from over the edge. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, so she kept on singing.
Then he said one word. “Louder.” And she knew he was essentially turning the volume up again.
Proud that she’d found some music he would like, she sang louder and kept it up for much of the rest of his time on the roof.
She chose several songs she’d heard while driving with him.
It went from songs he would turn the volume up for to songs during which he just didn’t change the station.
Once, while she was resting her voice and sitting on the upturned bucket, he called down to her. “How do you know the lyrics to all these songs? Do you listen to them regularly or something?”
She shrugged, though she knew no one could see her. “Not really. I’ve always had a pretty good memory.”
His chuckle found her ears somehow. “I hope you pass that down to the kid,” he said. “He’ll be lucky to have a naturally good memory. Mine’s not nearly as good as yours is.”
She blinked and took a moment to process what he’d just said. “He?”
“Or she, I don’t know.” A moment later, his head peeked back over the side of the roof. “Do you know? I forgot to ask.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I decided I want it to be a surprise.”
“Old-fashioned, huh?” he said. At first, she thought it was a criticism, but then he said, “I like that.”
Kyra felt her face grow hot again, and she looked at her feet to hide her blush since he was still looking at her.
“Finish the roof,” she said, fully aware that the smile she was wearing came through in her voice.
When she looked up again, he’d already gone back to the repair, and she went back to singing another song, which he eventually joined her in, occasionally forgetting the lyrics, but clearly having a great time regardless.
They worked so well together that she couldn’t help feeling confident they would never really part. Their life together felt inevitable, like the destiny her mother often spoke of.
When the roof was finished, she helped him put his tools away. He dusted off his knees and sighed in satisfaction. “Well, that’s done now. I can finally cross it off my list.”
“And I can finally move back in.” Kyra tried to smile, but found it was difficult when she thought about leaving the main house. She didn’t really want to go. Living with Adam had felt so right, so natural.
“You should stay in the main house,” Adam said all of a sudden.
Kyra had to remind herself to close her mouth. “What?”
“I said you should stay in the main house.” He didn’t look at her as he suggested it, and she wondered whether that was because he didn’t want her to see how he was really feeling.
But did he hate the idea or did he love it?
“Winter’s coming, and that apartment doesn’t stay as warm as it should. Stay in the main house.”
She bit her lower lip. “Wouldn’t that be an imposition?”
“No,” he said without hesitation. “It’ll be more convenient for me anyway. I won’t have to check on you regularly.”
“You would check on me regularly?” she asked, probably failing to hide the hope in her voice.
“Of course I would. I’m not going to let a pregnant woman get sick on my watch.” He paused and seemed to correct himself. “On my property, I mean. For legal reasons.”
“Mm-hm,” she said, a playful lilt in her tone. “Yeah, that makes sense.” She tried to keep her response casual and carefree. In truth, her heart was pounding at the idea that he might actually be coming around. Maybe she didn’t have to be a single mother? Maybe she’d found her partner for life.
Later that afternoon, as she rested on her bed, she thought about all the little hints Adam had given her throughout the day.
More and more, she was allowing herself to hope.
Because he’d always been so guarded in the past, she had reason to believe his loosening up a little now meant something.
He’d sent her back early and insisted on finishing up around the ranch himself, so she had time to herself.
All she could think to do was call her mom. So, after making sure Adam wasn’t being stealthy somewhere in the house, she pulled out her phone and dialed.
“Hey, honey, what’s going on?” Jasmine said when she answered. “How are you feeling these days?”
“Pretty good,” Kyra answered. “The morning sickness is a lot better, anyway.”
“Glad to hear that. How’s the job been?”
“Good.” Kyra rolled onto her back and crossed one knee over the other.
“Better than good, actually. Mom, he’s being so different.
Like… he’s being nice, I guess. He made me move into the main house during the storms. And now he’s insisting I stick around through the winter.
He keeps making sure I’m safe and warm and fed. ”
“Fed?” Jasmine asked. “What’s that mean exactly?”
“He makes me meals every day. Breakfast and dinner. He gets on my case if I don’t eat a good enough lunch.
Honestly, it’s worse than living with you.
” She couldn’t help laughing, and her mother joined in.
“I can’t help getting the feeling that he really does care.
He’s just not comfortable saying it out loud. ”
On the other end of the call, she could hear her mother sigh. That wasn’t a good sign, but Kyra had never been good at heeding bad news. She was too good at hope. “Honey, you have to lower your expectations, or you’ll be disappointed.”
“No, I really don’t think I’m imagining it this time, Mom,” Kyra said.
She could feel some skepticism creeping in, but she didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“He’s not a person who acts nice as a reflex.
I’d even argue that it’s abnormal for him.
But he’s been nothing but sweet to me. It can’t be totally meaningless, can it? ”
Jasmine sighed like she wasn’t enjoying this conversation at all.
“It probably does mean something,” she said, though there was a note of caution in her voice.
“But it might not mean exactly what you’re hoping it does.
I know you, and I know your heart can fly so high sometimes on just a crumb of hope.
It gets you through tough times like a dream, so I’m not telling you to change at all.
In this case, though, there’s another person on the other end of your hope.
If he can’t live up to your expectations…
” She paused, and Kyra felt like an anvil had just been dropped on her chest and left there.
“If he can’t live up to your expectations, his failure could hurt both of you badly enough that there’s no coming back from it. ”
Kyra sat in silence for a minute, considering what her mother was telling her.
Jasmine didn’t cut into her thoughts. She knew this wasn’t a tantrum or anger.
She knew her daughter would stop to think any time a new idea presented itself.
This was something Kyra had always appreciated about her.
Any quirks Kyra had that were sometimes misunderstood by other people were not only understood but valued by her mother.
Finally, Kyra broke her silence. “I understand what you’re saying, Mom, but the hope is getting me through right now. I’ll try to keep reality in mind, though. I promise.”
“I get it,” Jasmine said, and Kyra knew she was telling the truth. “You go on hoping. Maybe things will turn around soon. What do I know anyway? I’m often wrong, as you know.”
“So often,” Kyra quipped, and her mom laughed at that.
“I love you, honey,” Jasmine said. “And I’ll support you no matter what happens. You do know that, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Kyra felt a warmth in her chest. A safety net was a good thing to have when you needed courage to take a risk or two.
Her mother, having taken the risk of opening and running her own business without help, knew that more than anyone.
And she was willing to be there for her daughter, no matter what.
Feeling overly emotional for some reason — she assumed it was hormones — Kyra decided to end the call before she burst into tears.
“I should get going,” she said. “Adam will be back soon.”
“OK,” Jasmine said. “Call me if you need anything else.”
“I will.”
After Kyra hung up the phone, she lay back and held it to her chest for a moment.
Right now, her life was scary and a little overwhelming.
Things had changed so fast. It felt impossible to keep up with all the changes, no matter how hard she tried.
But she reminded herself that change was what she had wanted.
It was what she had hoped for. Maybe this wasn’t exactly what she’d had in minde, but she’d be wrong to try to convince herself she was unhappy with it.
Whether Adam wanted in or not, Kyra Powell was going to be a mother. In a way, it was a dream come true. And in her mom, Kyra had a wonderful example to follow.