20. Emerson
CHAPTER 20
Emerson
M y parents won’t make eye contact with me. For an entire week, Mom has gone out of her way to avoid my eyes as we eat dinner or pass in the halls.
And Greg—well, he’s a little more vocal about his disapproval.
“So you don’t know who the father is, or you just won’t say?” he asks at dinner. It’s the same question he’s asked at least once a day.
“Greg, I’m sure she’ll let us know when she’s ready,” Mom placates him, handing me a plate of dinner rolls.
I change the subject to politics, and let Greg ramble on for the next twenty minutes, so I can tune him out and finish my meal.
Even though I have no appetite, I finish the grilled chicken and vegetables. The baby’s health is the most important thing to me.
I thank them for dinner and head to the room where I am staying. Calling it my room feels wrong, because I don’t want to get too comfortable here.
Greg barely cleaned out his study to make room for me, so I’m never going to be able to live here with my baby. I have no idea where I can put all of the baby’s things when that time comes.
But I am stuck for now. At least until the baby is born.
I’m far enough along now that I can learn the sex, but I have to find a new OBGYN in Austin. And without insurance, I have to wait to get approved for medical assistance.
I’m doing my best, though. I’m still taking my prenatal vitamins and going for daily walks. I talk to the baby every morning and night, placing my hands on my growing belly when we’re alone.
A knock sounds, and then my mom opens the door.
“Hi.” I gesture for her to come in.
She sits down on my bed. “We need to talk.”
My stomach sinks. “Okay,” I respond, tentatively.
“How could you let something like this happen?” Mom asks as she grabs my hand. “You’re such a smart girl, Emmy.”
“You’re the one who always says every life is a miracle,” I reply dryly.
She scowls. “That doesn’t change the fact that you’re unwed and behaved stupidly,” she counters sharply. “I thought you would have learned from my mistakes.”
Her harsh reprimand burns me, and she seems to immediately hear herself. “I didn’t mean?—”
“I know what you meant, Mom,” I say stiffly. “You didn’t want me to be pregnant and unwed, too.”
“And abandoned by the father,” she adds. “Is that what happened?”
My God. History really does repeat itself, doesn’t it?
“Mom, I’m going to be all right,” I tell her. “I’m a Ward woman, remember?”
She sniffs, and I realize she’s been fighting back tears.
Shifting where I sit, I press my hands into the blanket between us. Mom watches me, her eyes wide and glossy with guilt.
“Mom, I’m really tired.” The lie is bitter on my tongue. “Think I’ll try to get some sleep.”
“It’s so early, and?—”
“You know how being knocked up takes it out of you,” I interrupt gently. I lean in and kiss her cheek, forcing a smile.
I mean it as a joke, but she doesn’t smile. Doesn’t even try.
“Oh, Emmy, I love you. You know I only want what’s best for you.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I love you, too. Good night.”
I scoot to the far edge of the bed and curl toward the wall, drawing in a shaky breath as she quietly slips out.
Maybe I should reevaluate things with Mae and Will. Would it be possible for us to move into a bigger apartment or a house together?
I slump onto the bed, shaking my head. Why should my friends have to jump through hoops to restructure their lives for me?
I’m stuck and scared.
Reaching for my charging phone, I consider texting the triplets again, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
Sure, I made a mistake by not telling them about the baby sooner, but I won’t beg them to be in my life.
Voices outside the door turn my head toward the threshold. I strain as my mom’s pitch comes closer.
“Emmy?” It’s a weird tone.
I stand and amble toward the doorway. “Yeah?”
“Are you still awake?”
“Uh-huh.” I open the door and look at my flustered mother. “What’s wrong?”
Greg appears behind her, looking just as bewildered. “You have visitors,” he growls, his eyes flashing, but mostly in confusion.
“Visitors?” I echo, pulling the door open more. “Mae?”
I pop my head around the corner and look toward the front door, but I can’t see anyone from my vantage point.
“It’s definitely not Mae,” Mom counters. “Men. Three of them.”
Blood drains out of my face, and my pulse rushes into my ears. “Brothers, maybe? Triplets?”
Greg folds his arms over his chest. “Emerson, when we agreed to let you stay here, there were certain unspoken rules?—”
“I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation, Greg,” Mom interrupts, looking anxiously at me.
“They’re my employers at the ranch.” I meet Greg’s eyes. “And I don’t need permission to talk to the people I work for.”
“You see?” Mom tells her husband. “You don’t always need to be so suspicious, Greg!”
My breath catches as I open the screen door and find them standing on the walkway. The three of them command attention—tall, broad-shouldered, and unmistakably out of place in this suburban setting. Brock surveys the property with a measured gaze while Owen and Toby stand beside him, their presence alone making the small yard feel somehow smaller.
My mom and stepdad linger in the doorway as I step onto the porch nervously.
The guys don’t see me yet.
“Hi,” I call out warily.
In unison, they turn to face me. Relief floods their faces, and they step forward.
I turn to look at my mom and Greg. “Can you give us a minute, please?”
“Don’t be long,” Greg warns me. “The neighbors…”
I hold back my retort and wait for them to close the front door before descending the steps to join the triplets on the lawn.
“What are you doing here?”
“We tried to call you when you first left, and we decided to give you space when you didn’t return our calls. But you took too much space.” Toby stares down at me. “So, we decided to come and check on you.”
My heart pounds so ferociously that I’m sure they can hear it. “Honestly, I didn’t think you wanted to hear from me, based on the way we left things.”
“That’s why we’re here.” Brock tucks a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “We want to make sure there is no miscommunication. We are here because we want to be here.”
My face burns, and I look away.
I’m sure my mom and Greg are watching from the window, but I don’t care. I lean into his hand, and he caresses my cheek, his fingers lingering on my skin and sending waves of warmth through me.
“I’m sorry,” I choke. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You should have just talked to us,” Toby growls, closing in around me. “Why didn’t you just?—”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Owen interjects smoothly. “It’s all in the past. What matters now is that you’re here, and we’re here. But we will go if you ask us to leave.”
I raise my eyes and look at them, taking in compassion and understanding despite everything I’ve put them through.
“I want you to be here.” And I’ve never wanted anything more.
“Good.” Brock sounds relieved as he releases me. “Does that mean you’ll come back to the ranch with us?”
I’m stunned by his abrupt offer.
“Just like that?” I ask, blinking. “Or do you mean… Oh…” They must want a DNA test. “We can just do the test here in Austin.”
They look at one another in confusion.
“What?” Brock laughs. “No, we’re not talking about the test. We want you to come back and stay at the ranch.”
Hope bursts out of me. “You do?”
“We missed you, Emmy,” Owen says, his voice gentle. “The ranch isn’t the same without you.”
“It’s not just about the baby,” Toby adds quickly, stepping closer. “We want you. Your smile, your quick thinking, the way you care about everything so deeply.”
Brock nods, his usually stern face softening. “You brought something to the ranch that wasn’t there before. You make each of us better.”
“Even if there was no baby,” Owen continues, “we’d still be standing here asking you to come home.”
I look from one man to the other in disbelief. “No matter who the father is?”
Blinking, I listen, my heart still drumming wildly.
“We don’t want to do a DNA test at all,” Toby blurts out.
Brock glares at him. “You have the finesse of an elephant in a crystal shop, you know that?”
“But what he said,” Brock continues. “A DNA test wouldn’t matter, anyway. We’re identical triplets. The test would be inconclusive.”
I feel foolish for not realizing sooner what should have been obvious.
“And you already know that we share everything anyway,” Owen continues. “We’d be honored to raise this baby as our own no matter which one of us is the father.”
Tears well in my eyes. “Really?” I whisper.
Brock squeezes my hand. “What do you say? Do you want to pack up and get out of here with us tonight?”
My head swivels back toward the house where Greg glowers at us all from the living room window.
“Yes. Definitely yes,” I tell them.
I hold myself back from kissing all three of them. “I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to my mom and stepdad, though.”
“Let me,” Toby offers.
“No!” Owen and Brock snap.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Owen offers as I retreat toward the house.
I pause, considering it. “No. I need to do this myself.”
They head toward their truck to wait for me. I inhale deeply as my mom and Greg confront me in the entranceway.
“What in heaven’s name was that about, Emerson Grace?” Mom demands.
“I’m going back to Pine Sky Ranch,” I inform her. “Permanently.”
Dumfounded, she follows me toward the tiny room at the back of the house. “Those men are your employers ?” she asks dubiously.
I glance over my shoulder at Greg who isn’t buying it.
“They own the ranch.” I pause, wondering if I should tell them. And then I figure now is as good of time as any. “And they are the fathers of my baby.”
I close the door before either one of them can react to my bombshell announcement, leaving me time to pack up my belongings in the aftermath.
I’m not sure what will happen when I get back there, or how this unconventional arrangement will play out, but I do know that being away from the Collins brothers these past two weeks has been utter hell for me.
I’m going back to where I belong. With them.
My hands fall on my belly.
Back to where we belong. Everything else will fall into place from there.