Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
brIAN
Iwas up early the next morning. I left Caitlin sleeping while I showered and dressed quickly.
I made a quick stop at the sheriff’s office to find that it had been a quiet night before heading out to grab coffee and pastries at Carly’s place.
By the time I arrived home again, Caitlin was just coming downstairs, dressed in one of my t-shirts.
“I thought we had a day off together,” she said and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I wanted to spend more of it in bed.” She kissed me in a way that had me thinking that taking her back to bed was a very good idea. But then I remembered my plan.
Hearing about the baby had rocked my world in a good way.
I wanted a child with Caitlin. I hadn’t known how much until she’d told me that she was pregnant.
With that, the pieces of my life started to fall into place.
The biggest piece was that I wanted to convince her to raise our baby right here in Poplar Springs.
I’d built a whole plan around working her up to the idea.
“I thought we’d do some shopping for baby stuff and maternity clothes for you,” I said as I led the way into the kitchen and put our breakfast on the table.
She looked down at her flat stomach and raised an eyebrow at me. “I think you may be jumping the gun. I don’t need maternity clothes yet.”
“I like to be prepared.” I pulled out a chair for her. “We should make a list of what we need. Between the various stores in town, I think we can get most of it.”
“You want to shop for baby items? In town?” she asked and reached for a coffee.
“This one’s yours,” I said, handing her one. “Decaf.”
She huffed. “I can drink caffeinated coffee. I looked it up on the internet. I just need to practice moderation.”
“Doesn’t hurt to play it safe. And you should ask a doctor about your diet at your first appointment.”
“Have you set that up?” she asked, and I couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not.
“No, I thought you’d like to choose your OB, but the decision should happen soon, right?
” According to Dr. Google, those take-home tests could indicate a positive pregnancy as early as ten to twelve days.
But the first time we got together was at that motel in Beaumont, which was about six weeks ago.
So that meant she could be anywhere between four and eight weeks pregnant.
I didn’t try to figure out the math, but I’d checked it on multiple sites.
Around thirty-five weeks to go, which seemed far too short a time to convince her that we could have a good life with the baby here in Poplar Springs.
“I’ll get a recommendation from Aurora and make the appointment. Do you want to come?” She glanced at me tentatively.
“Hell, yeah.” I wouldn’t miss it. “Let’s eat and then we’ll go take a look through the shops.”
We enjoyed the pastries and coffee before heading out to the shops along Main Street. Our first stop was a furniture store, specializing in handmade oak pieces. We stopped to look at a rocking chair and then a crib that converted into a bed for when the baby got older.
“I like the look of that,” I said as I ran my hand over the wood. “It seems substantial.”
“Can I help you, sheriff?” A smiling saleswoman approached us, her gaze shifting between Caitlin and me. She was drawing conclusions, and I didn’t mind a bit.
“Just getting some ideas today, but thank you. We’ll be back,” I said and guided Caitlin from the store. “I think we should shop for clothes next.”
Caitlin didn’t dig her heels in, but she dragged her feet as we entered Hastings General Store and made our way to the baby section. “Everyone’s looking at us,” she murmured.
We’d drawn several glances, but who cared? “So?”
“Two plus two is four, Brian,” she said in a whisper. “Everyone is putting it together and realizing I’m pregnant. That’s why shopping in a small town is a bad idea. We can’t be anonymous here. In a larger town, no one would notice us.”
“You don’t want people to know you’re having my baby?” I kept my tone light, but she put her hands on her hips.
“It’s not that.” She was cute in her exasperation.
“It just doesn’t make sense to put ourselves on display like this.
And for what? We can’t buy anything anyway.
Not when we don’t even know where we’ll live.
What if we need two of everything? One set for your house and one for my apartment?
Shouldn’t we figure that out before we do any shopping? ”
I shook my head at that and drew her to me. “One set because we’ll be living together.” I kept my eyes on her, noting the uncertainty but hoping I could smooth it away. To me, there was only one option. I wasn’t going to be separated from her or our child.
“How can you be sure?” she asked.
“Because I am, darling.” I kissed her lightly on the lips before she could raise more questions or objections.
I reminded myself that I still had time to show her that living in Poplar Springs with me was the life for us.
The sublet on her apartment hadn’t run out yet, so she wouldn’t be rushing back anytime soon.
“We better look at some outfits. We don’t want the baby to be naked.
People’ll talk.” I directed our attention to a rack of baby outfits and selected two.
“Boy or girl?” I held the tiny articles of clothing in front of me like I’d seen women do in stores.
“What do you think? I’m concerned about color because girls can wear blue, but boys can’t wear pink. That’s a rule.”
“It is? I think you’d look great in pink.” She tapped me in the middle of my black T-shirt. “It would suit your coloring and make your green eyes pop.”
“Not happening,” I said with a fake scowl, glad she was joking with me. “Maybe we should buy a couple of each color.”
She took the outfits from me and put them back on the rack. “I think we should wait until we know what gender the baby is.”
“Really?” I tipped my head to the side and gave her my best smile. “Those are pretty cute. We don’t want to miss out.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “If you insist on getting something, I like this.” She pulled out a white one-piece outfit with a yellow duck on the front. “It’s gender neutral.”
“Works for me,” I said, taking the item and going to the counter to pay. When we were headed out of the store, we bumped into a man on the sidewalk who was tapping buttons on his phone.
“I’m sorry…” Caitlin began apologizing before freezing in her tracks. “Dad?”
“Caitlin, your mother said you were in town. Good to see you.” Dave Baker glanced up before returning his attention to his phone, making me wonder about the truth of his statement.
What kind of father didn’t even give his daughter a hug?
I wanted to spin Caitlin’s dad around and tell him to actually see his own daughter.
“I meant to come over to the house,” Caitlin’s voice was tentative, “but I’ve been working a lot.”
“Working’s good. And you might as well do it here as in Austin.
I don’t know whatever made you think you could be successful there.
” Her father was looking at her now, but it wasn’t a welcoming expression.
“Coming home was the right choice. Now you can stop wasting time and money chasing that foolish tattoo shop dream.”
I watched as Caitlin controlled her face and took a deep breath. “Dad, Brian and I have some news to share. We’re going to have a baby, and—”
Dave’s phone rang. “Not now, sweetie. Work call. I need to take this.” He walked off as he answered his phone.
What the hell kind of father was that man?
Had he not heard her say she was having a baby?
I was ready to chase him down and pitch his phone into the street.
Before I could move a step toward Caitlin’s dad, I saw her shoulders slump in defeat.
Instantly, I was drawn back to her and put my arm around her.
I’d known her relationship with her parents was rocky, but I was still shocked by how unfeeling her father had been.
And from what she’d let slip, her mother was even worse.
“It’s okay,” I said, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Lots of people will be happy for us.”
“But he’s my dad.” She gave herself a shake and broke from me. “I’m done shopping. Let’s go home now.” She began walking quickly down the sidewalk, forcing me to catch up to her.
“Okay. How about we spend the day together doing something else?” I said. “Maybe we can binge that series you were telling me about.” I wasn’t a fan of period shows where everyone was dressed up like a peacock, but for her, I’d watch every episode.
“Sure. Sounds good,” she said, but there was no enthusiasm left in her voice. I mentally cursed Dave Baker for taking that from her.
We’d just entered my house when my phone rang. I checked the screen and saw it was Sofia. It would be work-related, probably something that would take me away from Caitlin when she seemed to need me. It couldn’t be helped though, I thought, as I answered the call.
“Hey, Brian, we’ve got a situation here,” my chief deputy explained. “You need to come.”
“What is it?” I saw Caitlin glance over her shoulder at me as she went into the living room and sat on the couch.
“The two Bobs had a fender bender in the lot outside the mayor’s office.”
Bob McCall and Bob Jackson were longtime members of the town council and also members of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. Most days, the two of them were the best of friends. But every now and then, not so much. This was obviously one of those times.
“You know how they are,” Sofia said, and I did know.
I’d had to escort Jackson from a town meeting one night after an argument with McCall got too heated.
The two had an old feud that would flare up at odd times, though it rarely erupted into anything more serious than shouts and fist shaking.
Sofia filled me in on the rest of what she knew before hanging up.
“I need to go deal with this,” I said as I stepped into the living room and dropped my hand on Caitlin’s shoulder. Sofia said that McCall was threatening legal action against Jackson and the town. I had no idea what the grounds for that lawsuit would be, but I knew I had to be there to sort it out.
I couldn’t walk out on Caitlin, though, not after what just happened with her father.
“Of course.” She gave me a smile that wasn’t quite real. “It sounded serious. You’d better go.”
“I’m sorry about cutting short our day,” I said, feeling torn between her and my responsibilities. “I don’t know how long this will take.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I get it. Go.”
I gave her a quick kiss and strode out the door, too aware that I was repeating what I’d just seen her father do. I was prioritizing my work over her, something she’d obviously had more than enough of in her childhood. But I’d find a way to make it up to her. Somehow.