Chapter 11 Kick #2
Her intense gaze settled on me.
“Isabel and I are together. And it’s serious.” I reached for Isabel’s hand on the table. “She’s important to me.”
My mother’s face broke into a smile so wide it crinkled the corners of her eyes. “I knew it. The moment you walked in, I knew.” She stood from her chair and came around the table to embrace us both—first me, then Isabel, holding her a beat longer. “Welcome to the family, mija.”
Isabel’s emotion was apparent when she responded. “Thank you.”
Ma returned to her seat. “This calls for a celebration. Tomorrow, I’ll host a luncheon at the Stonehouse.
All the women of the family.” She began counting on her fingers.
“Saffron, Alex, Jaicon, Addison, Eberly, Ainsley, Daphne. You are the final member to join our family, Isabel. Let us welcome you properly.”
Isabel’s hand tightened on mine.
“That’s very generous,” she said, “but you don’t have to go to any trouble—”
“Trouble?” Ma laughed. “This is not trouble. This is joy. Besides, I’ve been looking for an excuse to get everyone together.” She reached across and patted Isabel’s hand. “Say yes. Let us do this for you.”
Isabel looked at me, and I gave her hand a gentle squeeze—in support, not pressure. This was her choice.
“Yes,” she said. “Thank you. I’d like that.”
“Wonderful.” Ma clapped her hands together. “I’ll make the calls tonight. Noon tomorrow. The men can entertain themselves.”
I hadn’t yet figured out how I’d be able to sneak away to meet with Los Caballeros, and this would give me the perfect opportunity. I excused myself a few minutes later and stepped out onto the back porch with my phone. Snapper picked up on the second ring.
“I heard you’re headed home,” he said.
“Actually, we’re already here. Listen, Ma just invited Isabel to lunch tomorrow at the Stonehouse. All the women.”
“Good timing. We should schedule the meeting then. Same time, different location.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“I’ll let everyone know. How is she?”
I looked through the window at Isabel and my mother, still talking at the table.
Isabel was smiling at something Ma had said—a real smile.
Seeing her here now made me realize how significant her transformation was.
Her hair hung in loose curls that, until a few weeks ago, I didn’t know she had.
She wore no makeup except for a little lip gloss, and instead of the fancy clothes she’d always been decked out in, she had on jeans and a sweater.
“I’m telling you, you won’t recognize her.”
“What’s that mean?”
“I’ll let you see for yourself. Anyway, she’s good. Nervous, but good.”
“She’ll be fine. Ma’s inviting Saffron, right?” he asked.
“Definitely.”
“I’ll let her know, and she’ll stick by Isabel’s side. Ease her into the group.”
“Thanks, Snap.”
“I’m glad you’re home. I’ve been missing my little bro.”
“Little? I’ve got at least two inches on you, bro.”
“Yeah, whatever. See ya tomorrow.”
I ended the call and went back inside. It was good to be home. I hoped Isabel ended up feeling that way too. Not that this trip would be easy on her. I just prayed that the rest of the women in the family were as kind to her as Ma was.
She was quiet on the drive to my place after dinner. Her head was turned toward the window, watching the familiar streets pass by.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Your mother is…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “She just accepted me. No questions, no judgment. She hugged me like I was already family.”
“That’s who she is.”
“It’s not who anyone else has ever been. Not with me.”
I parked in the driveway and cut the engine, taking in the house I loved but so rarely spent time at. Up until I went to Whitmore, it had been the rodeo that kept me away. I couldn’t even imagine returning to that life now.
“There’s something I wanted to ask you,” I said, shifting to face her. “While we’re here, do you want to tell people about the baby?”
She was quiet for a moment. “She already knows, doesn’t she?”
“Probably. She’s kind of that way.” I smiled. “But she won’t say anything until we give her the okay. That isn’t her way.”
“You can tell people if you want to.”
I brought her hand to my lips. “I’m not telling anyone anything. It’s either the two of us together or not at all. And if you want to wait, we’ll wait.”
“Say we do it. How?”
“Here’s what I’m thinking. I’ll ask my brothers to come to the Stonehouse before lunch tomorrow. We’ll make the announcement together—you and me. Then the guys will leave, and you can have lunch with the women.”
“All of them at once?”
“Rip the bandage off.”
“Okay. Might as well.”
Yeah, I hated how defeated she sounded when, until we left Whitmore, having the baby was something we were both so excited about, but I wouldn’t push.
We got out of the car, and I grabbed our bags from the trunk.
As she stood, looking out at the view of the night sky from the floor-to-ceiling windows that were one of my favorite things about this house, I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. “This is where we made this little one,” I said against her ear.
When she stiffened, I knew what she was thinking. The last time we’d been here, I said horrible things to her. I wished so much I could go back in time and relive that morning.
“Kick—” she started.
I turned her in my arms and kissed her before she could finish. Her eyes searched my face.
“Let’s make new memories,” I said. “Starting tonight.”
She smiled then. It was slow and warm, and the tension melted from her shoulders. “New memories.”
I led her to the fireplace and knelt to start a fire while she settled onto the thick rug in front of it. The kindling caught quickly, flames licking at the logs, casting dancing shadows across the room.
When I turned to face her, she’d removed her sweater. Underneath, she wore a simple cotton tank top that clung to the new fullness of her breasts.
“Come here,” she said.
I went.
We took our time. No urgency, no desperation—just slow, deliberate exploration.
I mapped her body with my hands and my mouth, relearning every curve and hollow, paying attention to the ways the pregnancy had changed her even in the last couple of days.
She was more sensitive now, gasping at touches that used to make her sigh, arching into my hands with an eagerness that made my heart pound.
“Isabel, I…I…God, the way I feel about you…” I kissed her throat, her collarbone, and the space between her breasts, wishing so much I could utter what I really wanted to say. That I loved her.
She pushed at my shirt and jeans, stripping me bare.
“Show me,” she whispered.
So I did.
The fire crackled beside us as I sank into her, as her legs wrapped around me and her fingers dug into my back. We moved together in the flickering light, finding a rhythm that built slowly, steadily, until she shattered around me with a cry that echoed off the high ceilings.
I followed her over the edge moments later, burying my face in her neck, her name on my lips.
After, we lay together on the rug, a blanket covering us, watching the fire burn down to embers.
“New memories,” she murmured, her fingers tracing slow circles on my chest.
“The first of many.”
She tilted her head to look at me, her eyes soft in the dying firelight. “Kick?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“I’m scared.”
“Tell me what of.”
“Feeling too much.”
“Me too.” My lips brushed her forehead. “Wanna know what I think we should do about it?”
“Sure.”
“We let it happen. Love is a good thing, Isabel.”
“Love?”
I leaned down and kissed her stomach. “We love this baby even though we haven’t met her yet.”
She nodded. “We do.”
“So, I think it’s time we allow ourselves to love each other too.” I brought my face closer to hers, stared deep into her eyes, and let myself say what was becoming too hard for me to keep inside. “I love you, Isabel.”
She didn’t say it back but she curled closer, her hand coming to rest over my heart. For now, that was enough. It had to be.
“Rascon?” she whispered a few minutes later.
“Yeah?”
She put her mouth as close as she could to my ear and whispered, “I love you too.”
I held her tight, wanting to hear her say it again. Wanting to say it to her again too. But I didn’t. The gift she’d given me was so much more than I’d expected. It wasn’t enough. It was everything.