Chapter 25 Jake
TWENTY-FIVE
JAKE
“Thanks.” Julia smiled as I handed her a bottle of water. She’d taken one look at the buffet table laden with catering from Bite and Brew and turned a little green.
I’d quickly steered her to the other side of the ranch’s living room, which was covered in pink baby decorations for Caitlyn and Brian’s baby shower.
The couple was expected to arrive any minute now.
I would be glad to get this show on the road.
I was excited about having a niece, but this kind of party really wasn’t my thing.
Too much pink, and I had no interest in playing any of the games.
“Julia was telling me about your agreement over Twister. He’s a great horse,” Shannon Cafferty said when I joined the two women and Declan.
“We’re still working out the details,” I said, not wanting to get into it. I’d been successfully avoiding going there with Julia since the night we’d made love in my bedroom.
“I’ve switched to artificial insemination entirely,” Shannon said, and I looked at her in surprise. I remembered the conversation we had outside Martin Ranch Supply when she’d been wrestling with whether to use live cover or AI.
She saw my look and held her hands up in surrender. “I know. I never thought I would, but Declan put me in touch with a colleague of his who shared a lot of interesting data. Once I got over my stubbornness, I had to admit that it makes more economic sense and also widens my options for semen.”
“A lot of breeders are making the switch,” Declan said.
“It’s safer for the animals and we catch the mares at their best chance of conception,” Julia added.
“I don’t care for it,” I said, unable to stop myself from commenting. “The research shows that conception is more likely with live cover.”
“You risk injuries that way, though,” Declan pointed out. “Injuries that could easily be avoided.”
“Nature’s been following that method since the beginning of time.
” I knew about the worries Shannon had when one of their stallions hopped the fence to mount one of her senior horses, but this wasn’t what we were talking about.
We were talking about intentional breeding and I didn’t see any reason to change what worked.
“We’d be living without cars and electricity if humanity thought that way,” Julia argued, turning toward me.
“That sounds overly dramatic,” I said. Both Shannon and Declan immediately found an excuse to back away from the conversation, which was probably wise.
“Dramatic?” she echoed. “You’re not concerned about the safety of your mares should a stallion get too rough and cause injuries?”
“Not if I’m keeping an eye on them. It’s easy enough to put a stop to anything potentially dangerous before it goes too far.”
Julia crossed her arms. “Of course, you’d have to come to an agreement with the stallion’s owner before any of that could take place,” she said.
“And I said I wasn’t ready to talk about it.”
“All I’m asking is that we agree on the details of Twister’s stud fees, put it in writing, shake hands, and be done with it. That’s not being dramatic. That’s business, which you claim you want.”
“I do. I want Twister to mate with my mares, but we’ve got time to figure out the details.”
“Do we? The clock’s ticking. Some of your mares will be ready soon. I’d think you’d be worried about that.”
“And I’d think you’d be worried about where we’re going to live after the baby’s born.” I’d kept my voice low, but she glanced around anyway.
“What’s there to worry about? I have a perfectly nice home in which to raise a child,” she said.
“I’m not arguing that. The problem is that I don’t live at your home, and I thought we’d be raising the baby together. Also, when are we going to tell people about the baby? I’m tired of keeping it a secret.”
“Soon, okay? I’m just…” Her focus went to the windows that overlooked the back porch. The shower guests were all clustered around us. “What’s going on?”
“Does it matter? We’re having a conversation.” I hadn’t intended to get into this with her right now, but it was too late to draw back.
“We are, but our conversations don’t lead to decisions, and I’m getting tired of that,” she said.
“I don’t like to fight with you.” I felt the collar of my shirt chafing against my skin. “It makes me feel like I’m losing control of my emotions. Why can’t you simply let me take care of everything?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by everything?”
“You, the baby, the ranch. That’s what I was raised to do. It was what my father instilled in me and my brothers. We take care of our responsibilities. Why don’t you get that?”
She glared at me, her voice dropping low enough that I had to strain to hear her. “And I was raised to value my independence. I won’t be controlled by you or anyone else.” Her face was turning red, which I knew wasn’t good for her, so I tried to dial it back.
“I’m not trying to control you,” I said. “I’m trying to steer you to what’s right about Twister and the baby.”
“That’s the very definition of controlling,” she argued.
At that moment, my mother threw the door open, and I caught a glimpse of Brian with his arms around Caitlin. Shit, something had happened.
“I think they got engaged,” Julia said from next to me, picking up on the situation before I could make sense of it. “You better go congratulate your brother.”
“Come with me,” I said, reaching for her hand. She kept it at her side for a second before putting it in mine.
“We’re going to iron this out later. I mean that.” She had a fixed smile on her face as we crossed the room, but her words were serious.