Cowboy Love on Hold [Love: The Cowboy Way 1] (13 page)

“You okay?” Kimber asked Wade, grabbing his hand and rubbing it as if to wake him up. “You’re worrying me.”

“I…I don’t know what to say. No words I can think of are big enough to describe this moment.” His voice got hoarse and tears welled up in his eyes. “I’m in awe of you.”

One of the babies gave a little cry, almost as if she was heckling him from the peanut gallery. He got to his feet and scooped her out of the crib. “Sassin’ me already, huh?”

Brandon picked up her sister and took the chair on the other side of Kimber’s bed, facing Wade. “Have you thought of any names yet?”

Kimber sat up and leaned over the baby Brandon was holding, placing a gentle kiss on her fuzzy head. “This is Jessica Gardener-Reed, and this,” she turned towards Wade and kissed the baby nestled in his arms, “is Emily.”

Brandon saw his confusion at her words mirrored on Wade’s face. “Can you just do that? I mean, call them what you want?”

“No, I gave them my last name.”

Wade shook his head, still confused. “But your last name is Williams—as you well know because you refused to marry either one of us.”

Kimber stroked Wade’s cheek, smiling when he turned to press a kiss into her palm to show her he wasn’t really mad. “Marriage doesn’t matter to me, Wade. Besides, if I can’t marry both of you, then I won’t marry just one of you.”

“I still don’t get it.” Brandon gave up trying to figure it out and waited for Kimber to tell them what was going on.

“I changed my name last month.”

“So you’re Kimberley Gardener-Reed now?” Wade said, a smile crawling over his face when she nodded. “That explains why you kept sneaking into the den to use the computer a few weeks ago.”

Brandon laughed as the penny dropped. “
And
why you’ve been hiding all the newspapers! I thought it was just some strange thing pregnant women did.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise for you both. I didn’t realize when I started the process that it had to be listed in the notices section of the local paper for two weeks.” She covered her yawn with the back of her hand and slid further down on the pillows. “They almost blew my cover.”

Brandon raised his eyebrows, pretending to be offended when Wade laughed. They joked and teased him all the time about his old job, and Brandon took it in good spirit, knowing it was just their way of dealing with the trauma of that awful day two years ago.

“I could have told you, I suppose.” Kimber smiled, even as her eyes were closing and she struggled to stay awake.

“I know, I know,” he drawled, fighting back a grin. “You could have told me, but then you’d have had to kill me.” Kimber chuckled, and Wade laughed out loud, waking the baby in his arms.

“Go back to sleep, baby Emily,” he whispered, rocking her gently while he crooned at her. “Daddy’s sorry.”

Brandon looked down at the sleeping child in his arms, certain he could see that she had Kimber’s nose and his chin, but maybe he was just imagining it. Emily looked a little like Wade, with her face crunched into a frown and her tiny fists resting against her cheeks. Fraternal twins were a blessing, and Brandon didn’t care who they looked like—they belonged to the three of them.

Watching Kimber give birth had taken everything out of Wade, and Brandon wasn’t surprised to find him dozing off in the chair. Brandon put Jessica in the crib and took Emily from Wade’s arms to place her beside her sister.

By the time he sat back down, Wade was asleep, his head cradled on the arm he’d propped against the wall. Brandon glanced at Kimber’s beautiful face to check she hadn’t woken, and then allowed the emotions he’d been holding at bay while he watched over his family to come crashing down.

He looked around the small cubicle filled with people he would gladly die to protect, and let the tears come. For years, Brandon had lived with the painful belief that Kimber and Wade had taken back their love for him and given it to each other. But now he understood that their love for him had never truly died—it was only on hold until the day he returned.

THE END

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