Goodbye Girl (Hidden Lane Ranch) (14 page)

I woke up and
reached for Clint before remembering he left and told me he was going to town
real quick. I stretched and winced, my body sore from the day before. I
shivered as I thought about Seth, reminding myself he was locked away and
couldn’t hurt me anymore.

I got up and
went to the bathroom. When I was done, I put on my slippers and padded into the
kitchen. I hoped I would find Mary alone; there was something I wanted to talk
to her about.

“Hey there,
how you feeling?” she smiled at me. She was sitting on the couch, reading and
drinking some tea. “Can I get you anything?”

I shook my
head and sat down next to her. “Where is everyone?”

“As you
probably already know, Clint went to town and took Eliza with him. Wyatt’s
still sleeping.”

“Can I talk to
you about something?” I asked.

She reached
out and took my hand. “Clint told us he asked you to marry him and you said
yes.” She smiled wide and I squeezed her hand.

I nodded. “Yes,
I’m thrilled, but I wanted to talk to you about something else.”

“Sure sweetie,
is everything ok?” She set her tea down and turned to give me her full
attention.

“No. Yes. I
don’t know.” I shrugged. “Part of the reason I wanted to go into town alone
yesterday was because I wanted to get a pregnancy test.”

She gasped. “Does
Clint know?”

I shook my head.
“No. I wanted to be sure when I told him.”

Her eyes
filled with tears. “Oh dear, you don’t know how excited this makes me!” She
clapped her hands together.

I laughed and
held a hand up. “But I’m not sure yet. I have to figure out how to get a test without
letting him know.”

She sat for a
minute and I could see the wheels turning. “I’ll run into town today and get
one. I need a few things anyway.”

“Are you
sure?” I asked

She nodded and
I felt relieved. “Thank you, Mary.”

She leaned in
to hug me. “You know you can call me Ma.”

We both had
tears in our eyes when we heard Clint’s truck pull up. “Please don’t say a
word.”

She held a
finger up to her lips. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

Eliza came
flying in the door. “We’re home!” She called out. Clint wasn’t far behind her. I
smiled when I saw him, loving the way the butterflies fluttered in my stomach
when he smiled at me.

Wyatt came
into the room yawning. “Oh my God you guys! Can’t a guy sleep around here?” He
walked over to the coffee machine and poured a cup. Mary always had a fresh pot
brewing all day.

Eliza brushed
past her brother. “It’s almost three in the afternoon. It’s time to get your
lazy butt out of bed. Besides, you missed the good news. Clint and Rachel are
getting married.” She beamed, proud to be the one to tell him.

He looked over
at us and grinned. “Awesome! Congrats, big brother!” He walked over to Clint to
shake his hand and hug him. Then he walked over to me and kissed my cheek. “I’m
excited to officially have you as a sister.” I smiled back at him.

Clint joined
me on the couch and squeezed my knee. “Since everyone is here and nothing is a
secret in this family, I might as well do this here.” What was he talking
about? He already asked me to marry him and everyone seemed to know about it.

He kept his
eyes on me, a wide smile on his face, as he reached into his pocket. He pulled
out a tiny black box and I brought my hands up to my mouth. I don’t know why,
but I hadn’t even thought about a ring.

He got down on
his knee on the floor in front of me and my hands started to tremble. I’d
imagined proposals like this only happened in the movies and not to me. My eyes
filled with tears and I heard his mother say his name softly.

He opened the
box and I made an ‘O’ shape with my mouth. It was a gorgeous ring, a simple
princess cut with a white gold band that had some diamonds in it. It was
perfect.

He removed the
ring, and took my hand in his. “Rachel, we already talked about this, but I
want to make it official.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “I’ve loved you
since the moment I saw you in the diner late that night. I had a feeling you
were the one and over time I’ve become more than certain that you’re the person
I want to spend the rest of my life with.” The tears were flowing down my
cheeks now; in fact, there probably wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

“Clint,” I
started to say but he held up his hand to stop me.

“Let me
finish.” He slipped the ring on my finger. “We’ve been through a lot and there
were so many moments yesterday I was scared I’d lost you forever. When I
thought about my life without you, I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I
made a promise when I got you back I wasn’t going to let you go; I was going to
make you mine forever.”

A sob escaped
my throat and he reached up to wipe my tears. “Will you marry me?” He finally
managed to choke out.

“Yes!” I
exclaimed and jumped from the couch into his arms, almost knocking him to the
floor. “Yes, Clint, I’ll marry you.” I pulled back, my arms still around his
neck and kissed him fiercely. “I love you.”

Everyone
around us clapped and we stood up, hugging each of them. When things calmed
down a little, Wyatt went off for a shower and Mary headed to town. She had a
few things to get and wanted to cook us a celebratory dinner. Before she left,
she came over to me and assured me she would pick up the pregnancy test for me.

I was a ball
of nerves waiting for her to get back. Clint and Wyatt had to go out to do some
chores. I managed to shower and get dressed, despite stopping every five
minutes to check out the rock on my hand. I still couldn’t believe this was my
life.

To think that
it wasn’t that long ago I was feeling helpless and not sure what I was going to
do. The best decision I ever made was to get in that car and leave Buffalo. Scratch
that - the best was deciding to stop at that diner that night.

When I was
done getting ready, I headed back into the family room. Eliza was on the couch
watching one of her
Housewives
shows. I never usually watched much
reality TV, but she’d gotten me hooked on the shows; it was something we did
together weekly, making popcorn and having some wine. When I sat down, she
grabbed my hand to look at my ring.

“I’m so
excited for you guys. It’s a beautiful ring.” She set my hand down and turned
toward the TV. “He took me with him to pick it out but he didn’t need me. He
found this one right away and knew it was the one for you.”

I held it up,
admiring the way it flashed in the sunlight. “He picked it out on his own?” Somehow
the thought of him taking the time and doing it all himself made it seem even
more special.

“Yep. I was
driving him nuts making the clerk pull out every ring when he knew he had the
right one.” She laughed. “He was like a little kid when he bought it - so proud
of himself and he couldn’t wait to get it home to give to you.” She turned back
to me again. “Have you thought about what kind of wedding you want?”

I giggled and
shook my head. “Not really. This has all happened so fast.”

“Well, I was
thinking something small here at the ranch. It could be perfect.”

I nodded. A
little wedding here on the ranch actually
did
sound perfect. “We haven’t
talked about it yet, but I do know one thing. Eliza, would you be my maid of
honor?”

Her eyes
filled with tears and she squealed. She jumped up and down in her seat and
threw her arms around my neck. “Yes! I would be honored!” She let go of my neck
and stood up. “I have to get my notebook. We have so much to talk about and so
much to plan.” She was off before I could stop her. I laughed and shook my
head.

Mary came
through the door then and I got up to help her with her bags. “Hey,” I greeted
her.

“Hello dear.” She
nodded at one of the bags I was carrying. “It’s in there. Go ahead, I got the
rest of this.”

“Thank you.” I
was so anxious to see if I was pregnant or not. I set the bag on the counter
and fished around until I found the pregnancy test in a smaller brown paper
bag. I looked around and ran off to my bedroom, shutting the door quietly
behind me. I went into the bathroom and nervously took the test out of the bag.
I sat on the toilet, reading the directions on the box.

What if I was
pregnant? Instead of the dread I’d felt in the past when I’d had a pregnancy
scare once or twice, I was excited. I loved the idea of starting a family with
Clint. I had a feeling he’d be just as thrilled. And he already asked me to
marry him, so I wouldn’t have to always wonder if he was with me just for the
baby.

I took a deep
breath and opened the box. Here goes nothing.

I set a timer
on my phone and was about to sit down when I heard a knock on the door and
Clint walked in. Shit! “Rachel, are you ok?” I hadn’t shut the bathroom door
tight and he pushed it open slowly, tentatively peeking his head in.

Before I could
even move, he looked down and saw the test on the edge of the sink. “What’s
that?” he asked, reaching for it.

I smacked his
hand away. “Don’t touch it.” I looked down at my phone. “Time’s not up yet. I
still have a minute.” My palms were sweating as I waited for his reaction.

He looked up
at me and grinned. “Is this what I think it is?”

I nodded and
smiled tentatively back at him.

“Are you -? Are
we-?” he stammered.

“We’ll soon
find out,” I laughed.

He peered down
at it. “What does a plus mean?”

My heart
jumped into my throat. “That means I’m pregnant.”

“You’re sure?”

I handed him
the box so he could read it. He grabbed it and read it before tossing it aside.
“Wahoo!” he exclaimed. “We’re having a baby!”

I jumped into
his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist. “Why didn’t you tell me you
thought you were pregnant? And how did you get the test?”

He set me on
the edge of the counter. “I wasn’t sure. Yesterday when I ran my other errands
I was going to pick up a test. I wanted to be sure before I said anything. This
morning while you were getting my ring, I told your Ma and she offered to pick
me up a test when she ran to the store. You guys were outside so I was able to
sneak it back here.”

He glanced
down at my stomach and touched it. “A baby,” he muttered in amazement. His eyes
filled with panic. “Will we still be able to have sex?”

I laughed and
hugged him. “Yes, Clint, we can still have sex when I’m pregnant.”

“Whew,” he
mumbled in relief. “Can we tell everyone else?”

“Yes, might as
well. We could use more good news after yesterday.” He helped me off the
counter and took my hand. We walked back to the living room where the rest of
the family was. Mary was deep into her preparations for dinner and Wyatt and
Eliza were watching TV.

“Hey
everyone,” Clint said loudly. “We have more news.”

I stole a
glance at Mary and winked at her. She smiled from ear to ear but kept quiet. I
was happy to be the one to give Mary her first grandchild.

“Oh my God
will you two stop,” Wyatt muttered from the couch. “I’m going to puke from the
happiness coming from you two.” Eliza reached out and punched his arm. He
scowled at her and rubbed his arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Quit being
such an asshole,” she scolded him. “What’s up?” She asked, turning to us with
her usual charming smile.

Clint took a
breath and squeezed my hand, looking down at me. “We’re pregnant.”

Eliza screamed
and jumped off the couch. She tackle hugged me before I even had a chance to
say anything. “I’m going to be an aunt!”