36
Wyatt and LaRiah’s house sat quiet in the afternoon sun, warm light spilling across the front porch and catching on the windows like the place had been waiting for them.
Rose sat in the back seat of Luke’s truck with Eli’s hand wrapped around hers.
She had been nervous before.
Now, as Luke pulled into the drive and parked, nervous felt too small a word for what was happening inside her.
Her stomach twisted. Her chest felt tight. Her throat already burned with tears she had promised herself she would not cry too soon.
Not before they asked.
Not before LaRiah even had time to understand what they were asking.
Eli glanced over at her. “You still with me?”
Rose nodded.
He did not look convinced.
She tried to smile. “Mostly.”
Luke turned slightly from the front seat. “We can wait.”
“No,” Rose said quickly.
Edye looked back at her, soft-eyed and calm. “There is no shame in needing a little more time.”
“I know.” Rose squeezed Eli’s hand. “But if I wait, I’ll keep waiting.”
Eli lifted her fingers to his mouth and kissed them. “We’ll do it together.”
Rose nodded again.
Together.
That had been the only thing keeping her steady through all of this. Every appointment. Every test. Every ugly, sterile word that had made her body sound like a broken thing instead of the place where she had hoped to grow their baby.
Eli had not once made her feel broken.
Not once.
Even when the doctor explained that Rose had an ovary on one side with no fallopian tube, and a fallopian tube on the other side with no ovary, Eli had only reached for her hand and held it so tightly she had felt his wedding ring pressing into her skin.
The doctor had said natural pregnancy would be impossible.
Impossible.
Rose hated that word.
But then there had been another word.
Donor.
Hope dressed in science.
Complicated hope. Costly hope. Hope that required asking for something so personal Rose could hardly think about it without losing her breath.
Luke opened his door first. Edye followed, then Eli stepped out and helped Rose from the truck.
She looked toward Wyatt and LaRiah’s front door.
Luke knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened. LaRiah stood there in jeans and a loose blouse, her hair pulled back, her smile bright with surprise.
“Well, this is unexpected.” Her gaze moved over all four of them.
Wyatt appeared behind her, one arm braced over the top of the doorframe. “Y’all look like a committee.”
Luke’s mouth curved faintly. “That obvious?”
“Painfully,” Wyatt said.
LaRiah stepped back. “Come in. is there ranch business serious enough to require emotional backup?”
Edye glanced at Rose.
Rose took a breath and walked inside.
The house smelled like coffee, baby lotion, and something sweet.
Maybe cinnamon. Maybe vanilla. Something warm and lived-in.
A basket of folded laundry sat on one end of the couch.
A small pair of socks rested on the coffee table.
Toys were scattered across the living room floor in bright little pieces of ordinary happiness.
And in the middle of it all, Wyatt and LaRiah’s son sat on a soft rug with blocks spread around him.
He looked up when they entered.
His eyes went wide.
Then he grinned.
Rose stopped so suddenly Eli almost bumped into her.
The little boy held up a block like he had discovered gold. “Da!”
Wyatt chuckled. “That’s a block, son, but close enough.”
Rose’s throat closed.
She had seen babies before. Held babies. Smiled at children in stores and at ranch gatherings. She had even played with Nia and Malik countless times without falling apart.
But this was LaRiah’s child.
Her sister’s baby.
A little boy with soft cheeks, curious eyes, and the kind of open trust only children had before the world taught them caution. He reached for another block, missed it, frowned at the betrayal of distance, then leaned forward with intense determination.
Something inside Rose folded.
Eli’s arm came around her waist.
LaRiah noticed.
Her smile softened. “You want to say hello?”
Rose nodded because words were not available.
She walked to the rug and lowered herself down carefully beside him. The little boy studied her face with solemn interest.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Rose whispered.
He blinked, then slapped one hand on a red block.
Rose picked it up and handed it to him.
He accepted it, considered her for another moment, then placed it on top of another block with the dramatic seriousness of a tiny architect.
Rose laughed, but it broke at the edges.
The baby looked pleased with himself.
She sat there for a while, letting him show her blocks and knock them over. When one rolled toward her knee, she rolled it back. He giggled, and the sound went straight through her heart.
Eventually, he crawled closer, then pulled himself against her leg.
Rose froze.
LaRiah said softly, “He’s fine. You can pick him up if you want.”
Rose lifted him carefully.
He came willingly, warm and sturdy and sweet-smelling, his little hand landing against her necklace as he settled into her lap.
Rose closed her eyes for one second.
Just one.
Long enough to keep from crying outright.
When she opened them, everyone was watching her.
Luke stood near the doorway, his expression quiet and protective.
Edye sat beside LaRiah on the sofa, one hand pressed to her own knee like she was holding herself still.
Wyatt leaned against the arm of the couch, but his eyes were no longer teasing.
Eli remained close, his face full of love and pain.
Rose looked down at the baby in her lap.
He patted her chest lightly, then grabbed at one of her curls.
“Ow,” she whispered, laughing through the ache.
LaRiah smiled. “He has strong opinions about hair.”
“He has good taste,” Eli said, his voice rough.
Rose looked at him.
He nodded once.
It was time.
Eli moved to sit beside Rose on the floor. He rested one hand on her back.
“We came because we need to talk to you both about something,” he said.
Wyatt straightened.
LaRiah’s smile faded into concern. “Okay.”
Eli looked down briefly, then back up. “Everybody knows Rose and I have been trying to get pregnant.”
LaRiah’s face softened at once.
Wyatt took the chair beside the sofa, his attention fixed on them.
Rose kept one arm around the baby and rested her free hand on his soft little back.
“We kept hoping it would happen,” she said.
“Month after month, we kept thinking maybe this time. Maybe the timing was wrong before. Maybe stress. Maybe touring. Maybe we just needed to relax, which, by the way, is a terrible thing people say when they don’t know what else to say. ”
LaRiah gave a sad little laugh. “It really is.”
Rose nodded, but her eyes were already burning again. “We finally went to a doctor. A fertility specialist. We wanted to find out if there were problems and…”
Her voice failed.
The room blurred.
She pressed her lips together, fighting the sob rising in her throat.
Eli slid his arm around her shoulders. “They found a reproductive issue.”
LaRiah’s hand moved to her mouth.
Eli continued, steady because Rose could not be. “Rose has an ovary on the left side, but no fallopian tube on that side. On the other side, she has a fallopian tube, but no ovary.”
Wyatt’s hand found LaRiah’s.
LaRiah gripped it.
“The doctor said Rose can carry a baby,” Eli said. “Her uterus is healthy. But there’s no way for her egg to travel where it needs to go. Natural pregnancy isn’t possible.”
“Oh, Rose,” LaRiah whispered.
Rose blinked hard, but tears slipped down anyway.
The little boy in her lap looked up at her with sudden seriousness, then pressed one damp hand to her cheek.
That did it.
A broken laugh escaped her as she kissed his palm. “Thank you, baby.”
Eli’s voice got rougher. “If we want Rose to experience pregnancy, if we want to try IVF, we have to use a donor egg.”
Silence settled over the room.
Not empty silence.
Understanding silence.
Wyatt’s hand tightened around LaRiah’s, and before Rose or Eli could ask the question they had come to ask, LaRiah looked from Eli to Rose.
“You want my eggs?”
Rose stopped breathing.
Eli answered quickly. “We know it’s a big ask.”
“A huge one,” Rose whispered.
“And we will completely understand if the answer is no,” Eli said. “No anger. No guilt. No pressure. We mean that.”
Rose nodded, tears sliding freely now. “We just wanted a child as close to coming from me as possible. You’re my sister. If there was a way for the baby to have a piece of my family line and for me to carry him or her…”
She shook her head, unable to finish.
Edye reached for Luke’s hand where he stood behind the sofa.
Luke was quiet, but his eyes were bright.
Wyatt looked at Rose, then Eli. “What’s the alternative?”
Rose sniffled and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “The doctor gave us information about donor programs. We could choose someone through a service.”
“And if that doesn’t work,” Eli said, “we’d adopt.”
Wyatt nodded slowly.
His gaze moved to LaRiah.
“It’s your body,” he said softly. “So it’s your decision.”
LaRiah looked at him.
Wyatt lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “But I can’t imagine saying no.”
Rose’s breath caught.
All eyes turned to LaRiah.
For a moment, she did not speak.
She looked down at her son, sitting in Rose’s lap, still holding Rose’s necklace in one small fist. Her eyes moved over him with a love so deep Rose felt it. Then she looked at Rose.
LaRiah shook her head, closed her eyes, and let out a breath that sounded like it came from the bottom of her heart.
“Of course I’ll help.”
Rose stared at her.
The words reached her, but they did not make sense at first.
Of course.
I’ll help.
Her mind could not absorb something that big so quickly.
Eli could.
He was already moving.
He rose from the floor and crossed to LaRiah, pulling her into his arms with a broken laugh. “Thank you.”
LaRiah hugged him tight. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“Yes, I do.” Eli’s voice cracked. “I will thank you every day for the rest of my life.”
Wyatt stood, and Eli hugged him too, hard and grateful.
“Thank you,” Eli said again. “Both of you.”
Wyatt held him for a moment, then clapped his back. “Family shows up.”
Eli stepped back, wiping his face with both hands.
Rose was still sitting on the floor, the baby in her lap, tears falling silently as the truth finally opened inside her.
LaRiah had said yes.
The dream had not closed.
It had opened wider.
LaRiah came to the floor and knelt in front of her.
For a second, the sisters only looked at each other.
Then LaRiah reached for her son, shifting him gently to the rug beside them. He complained for half a second, then found a block and forgave everyone.
LaRiah pulled Rose into her arms.
Rose collapsed against her sister, sobbing.
“I’m sorry,” Rose cried. “I’m sorry to ask this. I know it’s so much.”
“Hush.” LaRiah held her tighter. “You are my sister.”
“But it’s your body and your time and your family and Wyatt and the baby and…”
“And we will figure out every part of it,” LaRiah said. “We’ll talk to doctors. We’ll ask questions. We’ll make sure it’s safe. But if I can help you have this, Rose, of course I’m going to help.”
Rose clung to her.
Eli came back to sit beside her, wrapping an arm around both women as much as he could.
Edye was crying openly now.
Luke handed her a handkerchief.
She took it and pointed at him. “Do not say a word.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were thinking something.”
“I was thinking I should get another handkerchief.”
Edye sniffed. “That would be wise.”
The soft laughter in the room broke some of the heaviness.
Eli leaned close and kissed her temple. “You okay?”
She looked at LaRiah. At Wyatt. At Luke and Edye. At the little boy in her lap who had no idea that his mother had just offered Rose the kind of gift that could change everything.
“No,” Rose whispered, smiling through tears. “But I think I’m getting there.”
LaRiah reached for her hand and squeezed it.
Rose squeezed back.
For the first time in months, maybe longer, the future did not feel like a locked door.
It felt like a door someone she loved had opened from the other side.