Epilogue
Ginger
Dallas and I have been married for a year now. Taking a chance on this cowboy was the smartest decision I made. Our life is full of laughter, crazy times and steamy nights.
I smile remembering the wild situation we got ourselves into last week. Since our ranch is surrounded by land and there are no neighbors in sight, we decided to make love on the back deck.
Except we locked ourselves out without a stitch of clothes.
“What’s so funny?” Dallas asks behind me.
I continue mixing the chocolate chip cookie dough. “I was thinking about when we got locked out of the house.”
“It was funny until I scraped the underside of my balls climbing in through the window. Thought I’d died.”
I laugh and drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking pan. “What were you doing just now? You were in the bedroom for a long time.”
“I was preparing a gift for the special day.”
I turn around and glance at him.
He’s completely naked with a big blue bow wrapped around his cock.
“What the hell?” I laugh. “What special day?”
“I figure we could make our own special day.” He shakes his hips. “Come and unwrap this gift.”
“It’s not my birthday or yours. It’s not Christmas or Valentine’s Day. So I’m not sure a gift is necessary today.”
“Well, I can’t take it back. I don’t have the receipt. And we don’t want it to go to waste. Hmm?” He comes up behind me and nuzzles my neck.
Nausea rolls through me. Gagging, I lean over the sink where I dry heave repeatedly.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
I put my hand on the ache in my lower back. “I don’t know. I haven’t felt well lately.”
“Why didn’t you tell me. Let’s get to the doctor.” He grabs one end of the bow to yank it off. “Holy fuck that hurt!” He cups himself and goose steps toward the bedroom. “I’ll grab some jeans. Hang on.”
I start mentally adding weeks in my head. My last period…what…I could be…
“Dallas!”
He runs back into the room with one leg in a pair of jeans. His face is pale. “What?”
I close my eyes.
“You’re worrying the shit out of me,” he says, discarding the jeans and picking me up to carry me to the sofa.
“I think I might be…possibly…pregnant.”
His eyes widen. “Seriously? I’ll go get a pregnancy test. No, I can’t leave you alone. I’ll ask mom to do it.”
He quickly calls and tells his mom what’s going on.
She’s probably in the middle of making treats for the family night we’re all getting together for later, I know she’ll drop everything for me. She’s become a second mom.
Dallas paces the floor right beside me.
“You might want to cover my gift before anyone gets here,” I say.
He glances down as if surprised to find he’s naked. “Good idea. Aw…look at that mark. Damn bow.” He retrieves his jeans and puts them on, carefully zipping them. Then he sits beside me and rubs my back, and I can tell his mind is a million miles away.
“Where is she? She should be here by now,” he says not even ten minutes later. “I’ll put on a shirt and then call her.”
“Dallas. Sit.” I put my hand on his. “Take a deep breath. What’s going on?”
My big handsome cowboy’s throat works. “Marshall was telling me the other day how hard giving birth is for a woman and I don’t know.” He rakes his hand through his hair. “I’m excited at the possibility of having a child, but I don’t want you to hurt and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I have to stay by your side and make sure I’m here to unwrap your special day gift in the future.”
He laughs then winces. “I don’t know what the hell was up with that bow.”
“It’s the thought that counts,” I tease.
The front door bursts open and Elizabeth rushes in and hands me a pharmacy bag. Hot on her heels is Ned and my dad. He moved to town not long after Dallas and I got married and I’m glad he’s around.
He paces the floor the same way Dallas did.
I don’t mind everyone being here. If the test is positive, I’ll be able to share the news right away with the people I love and if it’s negative, I’ll be surrounded with the support.
“Okay, here goes.” I gather the pregnancy tests and go into the bathroom with Dallas. “It won’t take long,” I tell him after I use them.
I sit on the edge of the tub, and he sits beside me. We hold hands and I know that like me, he’s probably thinking of all the possibilities. A daughter. A son. Growing our family. The memories we’ll make. How much love our child will receive. How his parents and my dad will spoil him or her.
I bite my lip. “I can’t check.”
“I’ll do it.” Dallas gets up and goes to the counter where I left one of the tests. “Two lines,” he says, voice raw. “Does that mean?”
“Maybe. I’ll take a second one.”
When I finish the second test, we sit back down on the side of the tub until the time is up.
“I can’t look this time,” he says and I hear it in his voice, how badly he’s hoping it’s true.
I cross the room, take a deep breath, then check. “It’s positive,” I manage to say before I burst into tears.
Dallas leaps up and pulls me into his arms. We share a short, private moment just standing with our arms locked around each other and our foreheads pressed together.
Then we rejoin our family in the living room.
“It’s positive,” Dallas and I say in unison.
Our parents shout with joy and then they all begin to cry. My father turns his back on everyone and his shoulders shake.
“Your mother,” he whispers when I come around to hug him. “She would have loved this.”
And I think about the loss of her from my dad’s perspective knowing how I’d feel if I lost Dallas. I don’t know how he carried that kind of hurt. “Daddy, she knows. I’m sure she knows.”
“We’ve got some shopping to do,” Ned announces.
My dad wipes his face. “Baby furniture,” he says. “A crib, a dressing table…what else?”
“Baby clothes,” Elizabeth adds.
The three of them start talking about making a list and the best, safest items for a baby.
Dallas and I slip out onto the porch. He wipes away my tears and I wipe his. “Where I am.” He touches my heart. “Where you are.” He touches his heart.
He kisses me and then we stand together looking toward the horizon, facing a future we know will be full of love. If this moment was a photo, it would be captioned This is everything I ever wanted.