13. Amelia
Amelia
“So, Reed, do you plan to be in the baby’s life?” Mom asks as we sit in the living room of their loft.
We haven’t been here for five minutes, and the woman is already getting down to business. She’s never been one to pussyfoot, but the speed with which she moved to the topic of my pregnancy is astounding.
“Yes, ma’am,” he says, not even taking a moment to think about his answer.
“What does that look like to you?” she replies, fixing her skirt over her knee. She dressed up for this occasion and looks way more intimidating than she really is.
“Ma. Stop. He just found out. He hasn’t had time to think about much,” I tell her as I sit at Reed’s side, our shoulders touching.
Reed reaches over and takes my hand, but he keeps his gaze locked on my mom. “It looks like I’ll be moving to Chicago.”
Ma tilts her head as she appraises him. “Really?”
She says exactly what I’m thinking. I’m flabbergasted. Never in a million years did I think Reed would uproot his entire life because of the pregnancy.
“Yes, ma’am,” he says again.
“And you can do that? There are no cattle around here,” she replies.
Dad’s face is tight. He looks like he’s liable to snap at any moment. He’s staring at Reed like he’s the enemy who did me wrong, instead of this being a joint venture in upending both our lives.
“My uncle lives here and owns a business. I can work for him to support the baby and Amelia.”
“I don’t need supporting,” I tell him.
“Baby,” Reed says with a squeeze of my hand. “We’re in this together.”
My dad clocks the motion, but the only way I can tell is because his gaze dips to my legs, where our hands are resting. “You two hardly know each other,” my father says, finally wading into the conversation.
Ma gives Dad a look that says one thing—shut up. “Where will you live?” she asks before turning her gaze toward Reed.
He’s in the hot seat, but he’s handling it well. Better than any other man who’s ever tried to be in my life has handled sitting across from Vinnie Gallo. “With Amelia.”
“Um, no,” I say immediately. This is moving too fast. Hours ago, Reed didn’t know about the pregnancy, and although my life is about to change forever, I still have complete control of everything. “Who made you boss?”
Reed’s eyes swing my way, and he studies me. “You’re my boss, M, but you’re going to need help. And that’s going to come from me.”
“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Let’s take a step back for a minute,” I tell him, pulling my hand out of his grip. “You’re moving too fast. I’m not ready for a roomie. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m going to have a baby in a few months.”
“We’re going to have a baby,” he corrects me.
I groan and drop my head. “I think you need more time to really think about what you want. Don’t make any big decisions until you put more thought into it.”
Reed’s gaze doesn’t move from mine. The man truly is beautiful, and every time I look at him, my belly still flutters. “No thinking required.”
“Obviously,” my father mutters.
“Our daughter doesn’t need your financial assistance,” my father says, giving Reed a hard stare that would make most men want to vanish into the shadows. “We’re more than capable of helping her with anything she or the child needs. You don’t need to worry about them wanting for anything.”
“She may be your child, but she’s carrying my child,” Reed says, his voice strong and unwavering. “She may not need my financial assistance, but she’ll need someone around to help. And that man is going to be me.”
Dad leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees. His size is intimidating. Not to me, but to most people. My father’s always been nothing but a big softy when it comes to me. “I think my daughter is the one who’s going to make that call, buddy, not you.”
Oh boy. This isn’t going well. Not for Reed. Not for my parents. Not for me.
“I don’t need money from any of you,” I add.
“I have a job and a bank account. I’m completely self-sustaining.
I don’t know why you both are talking about me like I’m not in the room or able to run my own life, but news flash, I am.
I’ll make my own decisions about my life.
I’m not a teenager who got pregnant by mistake and needs support so I can finish school and make something of my life. I’m a full-grown woman.”
“Everyone needs help, Amelia,” Dad says.
“I don’t think I could’ve survived my pregnancy and the first year of your life without your father,” Ma adds. “I’ve never been so exhausted in my entire life. You may not think you’ll need help, sweetheart, but you will.”
“I don’t need it yet,” I tell her. “I haven’t even fully processed the fact that I’m having a baby. I need time to work through it all before my life is turned upside down and everyone makes decisions for me.” I glance at Reed. “And that includes you.”
Reed lifts his hands. “I’m not here to boss you around, M. I’m here to help.”
“So far, I have three people all telling me what I’ll need or should do, but no one’s asking me what I want. It’s my life.”
“It is,” Reed says, his voice soft and comforting. “It’s your life, but it’s also our baby. What do you want?”
“You really want to know?” I ask Reed, looking at him with so much skepticism.
He nods.
“I want time.”
“Time?” Reed asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I need time to think and process.”
“I can give you time,” he says.
“You need to go back home and see if you’re willing to give up your life. You’re still in shock and need time to process everything.”
“There’s nothing to process, Amelia. We’re having a kid together.”
“I’m having a kid,” I tell him.
“Stop that,” he says. “You may be the one giving birth, but the baby is ours. I’ll give you time, but I’m still landing here to be near our kid and you. Doesn’t matter how long I take, I’ll still come to the same decision.”
“I kind of like him,” Ma says.
“I do too, and I hate it,” Dad grumbles.
“You can’t walk away from your family’s business,” I tell him.
“I can. The ranch runs itself.”
“I doubt that,” I snap, trying to rein in my agitation over the entire conversation.
“We have an entire team who works the land and animals. I’m only a small part of the business. As soon as my parents hear about the baby, they’ll insist that I move here or you move there.”
My eyes widen. “There’s no way I’m moving to freaking South Dakota. I’m never leaving Chicago.”
“Then I’m moving here,” he says quickly.
The man is infuriating. “You need time too.”
“I don’t,” he says with a shake of his head.
“I need a drink,” Dad says as he pushes himself up to standing. “Who else wants one?”
“Me,” I say, raising my hand, but I know I can’t have one. Just another thing about being pregnant that pisses me off.
“That’s what got you into this situation,” Ma says. She knows almost everything about the weekend, except what we did the final night. If I have my way, they’ll never find out about the marriage.
Even if Reed moves here, I give him a few months before he packs his bags to head back to the wide-open spaces of South Dakota.
“I’m good,” Reed says, ignoring my mother’s rather snippy comment.
“Want a water instead, baby?” Ma asks, going back to her usual sweetness.
“Sure,” I mutter.
Dad heads to the kitchen and I’m hopeful we’ll have a few minutes of silence, but of course my mother has other plans.
“So, tell me about your family, Reed,” she says. “I want to know more about the man who’s going to be my grandchild’s father.”
I scoot back and settle into the soft cushions of my parents’ overpriced couch. “Here we go,” I mumble.
“My parents are still married after forty-five years.”
“Happily?” Ma interrupts.
Reed nods. “Yes, ma’am. I have three sisters and two brothers.”
“Do they work on the ranch too?” she asks.
“No, ma’am. My youngest brother Lee does, but mostly because he doesn’t know what the hell he wants to do with his life and my parents treat him with kid gloves since he’s the baby of the family.”
“Naturally,” Ma says.
“My family has lived on the same land for generations, and we’re the biggest cattle ranch in the state.”
“And you’re willing to walk away from that?” she asks, staring at him like she has doubts.
Ma’s acting like a detective working a crime case. I’d be here for it all if it weren’t for the fact that Reed’s the father of my baby and would be in my life—whether I want him to be or not—forever.
“Absolutely,” he says without a moment’s hesitation.
“How do you think they’ll feel when they hear the news about the baby?” Ma asks.
“They’ll be over the moon.”
Ma tilts her head as her eyebrows furrow. “Really?”
He nods. “They’ve been begging us all to have kids. They want grandbabies more than anything, and none of us are in a hurry.”
“No other kids for you, then?” she adds.
I hadn’t even thought to ask Reed if he has any other baby mamas out there in the world. I wouldn’t think there’s much to do in South Dakota besides get drunk and fuck. He could have an entire gaggle of little ones at home, and I wouldn’t even know it.
“No, ma’am. I’ve always been responsible.”
“Until Vegas,” she says, her lip curling when she says the last word.
Reed shifts his body. “Until Vegas,” he repeats.
“He didn’t do it alone,” I add.
“Clearly,” Ma says.
“You’re being awfully judgy,” I tell my mother. “Were you and Dad responsible when you two first met?”
Dad walks back into the room as I ask the question and lets out a loud laugh. “Oh, hell no. It was a wild time.”
I throw out my arm and wave my hand. “Just because your ovaries weren’t firing on all cylinders and mine were doesn’t give you a reason to look down on me, Ma.”
My mother touches her chest. “Baby, I’m not looking down on you. I’m looking down on him.” She says with an extended finger, a perfectly manicured tip toward Reed.
“We were equally drunk,” Reed says, lifting his hands. “And that was your daughter’s fault.”
“You’re going to blame her?” Dad asks as he gives me a bottle of water.
“I’m blaming her for how drunk I got, but not for anything that happened afterward,” Reed says.
“How is it her fault?” Ma asks, taking a glass of wine from my dad’s other hand.
“She’s a wild one,” Reed replies.
“She is my kid,” Dad says with a chuckle as he sits back down in his chair next to my mom across the living room from us.
“She doesn’t back down from a challenge.” Reed rubs the back of his neck. “If I really have to blame one person, it’s all Cassie’s fault.”
“That girl is nothing but trouble,” Ma says. She’s never liked Cassie.
Ma spent years trying to steer me away from Cassie, but she always failed. Is Cassie trouble? Absolutely, but that only drew me to her—much to my mother’s dismay.
“She made you go to Vegas and lie to me about it,” Ma says.
“She didn’t make me do anything.”
I don’t know where any of this is coming from. My mother is acting like a helicopter parent and like I’m a teenager. She’s never like this. Hell, she wasn’t even close to this when I was actually a kid.
“You flew across the country and didn’t tell me.”
“I’m an adult, Ma. I could fly to Europe and I wouldn’t need to tell you about it.”
“Oh boy,” Dad mutters against the rim of his drink.
“You’re right, but why didn’t you tell me?” she asks.
“Because you don’t like Cassie.”
“I’ve always been right about that girl,” she replies. “She’s nothing but trouble.”
“She plays a mean game of truth or dare, though,” Reed adds.
My mother turns her attention to Reed. “Oh, really?”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Reed’s talking too much.
He wouldn’t.
He can’t.
He needs to keep his mouth shut.
“Can we get back to my pregnancy and what Reed’s doing?” I beg, but no one’s paying any attention to me.
“Did she dare you to sleep with my daughter?” Ma asks Reed, staring at him down her nose.
This isn’t going the way I hoped.
“No, she dared me to marry her. Sleeping with Amelia came after.”