Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (19 page)

13

              Charlie and Matthew rode out early the next morning checking fences. Both men were confident that Big Jesus let the horses out to distract Freddie and Sean away from the farm so he could conduct his murderous plans in peace, but he’d repeatedly denied doing so.

              “I’m not Wyatt Earp!” he’d said. “I’m not going to mess around with the stupid ponies.”

              That left the ranch hands in a position of having to check every inch of a fence to see how the mares had gotten out on their own. Considering Vinnie’s advanced age, any breech she could take advantage of was likely large enough to give the younger, fitter horses easy access to freedom. Freddie and Sean had started checking the fence to the South while Charlie and Matthew went north.

              Matthew had just shared most of the details about his date with Jenn.

              “You see, I told you she was into you!” Charlie exclaimed. “Dancing under the stars sounds pretty damn romantic.”

              “It was romantic,” Matthew said with a grin. “Jenn’s a really nice woman.”

              “But?” Charlie prompted after a long moment went by.

              “What do you mean, but?”

              “You’ve got a beautiful woman who’s all into you,” Charlie said, “and she even knows your back story and that hasn’t sent her running for the hills like you were worried about happening.”

              “True,” Matthew agreed. That fact in particular had amazed him. Amy had been very forthcoming with her thoughts on what Matthew’s conviction would mean for his future dating prospects. To say she’d been less than charitable would be an understatement.

              “And yet here you are, just all mellow about the whole thing.” Charlie turned in the saddle to stare at his older brother, puzzled. “Why the hell aren’t you over the moon about this?”

              Matthew shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it doesn’t feel real yet.” He’d been with Jenn until nearly dawn, when the two of them parted ways to go home to their respective ranches for morning chores. He’d managed to grab a few minutes of shut eye and some much needed pain medication for his shoulder before his brother was pounding on the door, telling him it was time to get to work. “Maybe I don’t want to get too excited in case this turns on me.”

              “Dude. She’s not going to turn on you. Not all women are like Amy.”

              “Amy had every reason to turn on me,” Matthew said.

              Charlie shook his head. “You should talk to Ada. She’s got a whole different perspective on that situation.”

              “What different perspective could there be?” Matthew asked. “Amy made that money, and I spent it without her permission.”

              Charlie shrugged. “She’s got a whole line about when a couple marries, they’re in everything together.” Matthew started to reply, but his older brother waved him to silence and continued to explain. “Like with the ranch. We’re both working on making it better. That means we both contribute, and we both have a responsibility to keep an eye on how things are working out.”

              Matthew nodded. “Amy was doing that.”

              “Really?” Charlie said. “If a quarter of a million went missing out of our bank account, you’d better believe Ada would notice that faster than a greased rattlesnake slides down a hillside.”

              Matthew grinned. “That’s pretty fast.”

              “The fact she wasn’t keeping an eye means either that money wasn’t as all fired important to Amy as she said it was…”

              “I don’t know about that,” Matthew said. “Money’s the only thing Amy really cares about.”

              “Then she would have paid attention to it. The fact she didn’t means she never really thought about what it meant for you to be there, a real person, with access to that kind of cash. Did she ever ask you where you went, all those nights you were out there at these MMA matches?”

              Matthew shook his head. “She was always working all the time.”

              “Sometimes women prioritize their careers over their relationships,” Charlie said. “That’s not necessarily wrong – sometimes you’ve got no other choice – but if your attention is all the time on the job, who’s to blame when the relationship starts to suffer?”

              “I just felt like I was never really good enough for her,” Matthew said. “She wanted a much better lifestyle than I could provide.”

              “Let me tell you something,” Charlie said. “A lifestyle isn’t about how much money you make. It’s not about what neighborhood you live in or whether you drive the right kind of car.” He smiled, thinking back over some of Amy’s complaints he’d heard about over the years. “It’s not about being seen eating in the fanciest restaurant, or being able to play golf on the most exclusive courses.”

              “For some people, that’s exactly what having a lifestyle is all about.” Matthew said.

              “But you’re not one of those people,” Charlie said. “You’ve got enough brains in your head to appreciate the simple things in life. Having a safe, warm place to be. Having work to do. Having a woman who enjoys spending time with you. That’s what really matters, when you get right down to it.” He waved his hand. “All that other stuff? It’s just bull shit people get hung up on because they can’t see how important these other things are.”

              “You think Jenn’s got that all figured out?” Matthew said. “Because I can’t handle going through this whole routine again.”

              Charlie laughed. “With Jenn, you’d better get ready to love horses. Because I’ll tell you what. That girl lives for her horses. She knows every one of them on her place the way a mother knows her children. If you’re going to be part of her life, they’re going to be part of your life.”

              “I can learn,” Matthew said. “But I’m not sure she’s not into me just because of this.” He tapped his bandaged shoulder. “Getting shot at apparently turns you into a hero.”

              Charlie snorted. “I got shot at too and I’m not getting any bounce out of it.”

              “Really?” Matthew gave his brother the side eye. “That little wife of yours didn’t give you any extra love and affection after you rushed in to save her?”

              Charlie blushed. “I didn’t say that.”

              “Besides,” Matthew said. “I honest to God just assumed he was out of bullets after he shot. It never even dawned on me that he might have another shell in the gun.”

              “I assume you’re not telling Jenn that part of the story,” Charlie said.

              Matthew laughed. “I may be stupid, but I’m not crazy.”

14

              Ada’s back hurt. At first, she didn’t think too much about this. Life on a working rough stock ranch came with more than its share of physical labor. Just that morning, she’d filled the grain bins, mucked out stalls, and gave the farrier a hand when he came to trim the horses’ hooves. It was the type of day that would leave anyone feeling a little tired and achy.

              She made herself a hearty lunch to make herself feel better. A thick juicy hamburger was exactly what the doctor ordered when you’re feeling run down, Ada thought, watching carefully over the frying pan as the meat sizzled. The aroma wafted gently up to her nose – where it instantly triggered waves of nausea the likes of which Ada had never experienced before.

              She hurriedly shut the stove off and ran for the bathroom. Thankfully, she made it just in time. After, Ada felt so tired and achy that she decided to do something she never ever did. She climbed the stairs to the bedroom she and Charlie shared, kicked off her boots, and crawled into bed.

              Ada fell asleep almost instantly. Normally, she was a woman prone to very vivid dreams. Her nightly visions was generally filled with the events of her day, mixed together with surreal bits stolen from whatever TV show she might have been watching before bed. But during this nap, Ada didn’t dream at all. She was completely and profoundly asleep, slumbering for the better part of the afternoon before blinking herself awake in shock.

              “Holy Mother of God,” Ada announced to the empty room. “I’m pregnant.” She flattened her hand over her stomach. There was no reason for her to believe that she was with child; it would be, she thought, much too soon to know if her recent lovemaking with Charlie had borne any results. That being said, she just knew that something inside her had changed, remarkably.

              She got out of bed and walked around their bedroom. On Charlie’s side of the room, there was a set of French doors that led out onto a porch. She pushed the doors open and walked out just in time to see a gorgeous Texas sunset. As the sun slipped down the far side of the Western sky, it painted everything in a deep pink light, turning the landscape rosy.

              “If you’re a girl,” Ada said, “I’m going to call you Rosie.” She smiled at the sun set. Maybe the universe knew something that she didn’t, just yet.

              Her back no longer hurt, but Ada was ravenous. She padded downstairs, taking great care to avoid looking at the half-cooked hamburger that still sat in the frying pan. That would have to be a treat for the dogs later, she thought. Right now, just the thought of it made her queasy.

              There were crackers in the closet. Ada grabbed a pack of them and chowed down. Their bland, salty taste helped her stomach calm down. Then Ada got her car keys and made a quick trip to the drug store. There was no way she could know she was pregnant and not know for sure for even a minute longer.

              The clerk at the drug store smiled when she saw Ada’s purchases. “You’ve got pickles, beef jerky, crackers, and a pregnancy test?” she asked. “Honey, that last item isn’t going to tell you anything the first three didn’t.” She beamed at Ada’s belly. “Congratulations, little Mama. We can’t wait to meet your bundle of joy.”

              “I hope you’re right,” Ada confessed. “I’ve been so ready to start a family.”

              “Be careful what you wish for,” the clerk cautioned. “One you get that system started, it can be very hard to get it to stop.” She laughed. “There’s a reason I’ve got six kids.”

              “I’d be all right with that,” Ada said.

              “You say that now,” the clerk replied. “Wait till all six of them need school clothes and glasses. Then the whole footloose and fancy free lifestyle seems a lot more appealing.”

              Ada scooped up her bag. “I’ll take my chances,” she said.

              The clerk nodded. “That’s what we all do in the end.”

Normally, it took about twenty minutes to travel the short distance from the ranch to the drug store. Today, however, every slow moving tractor and piece of farm equipment for one hundred miles appeared to get on the road in front of Ada and keep her from making it home.

“Oh, come on,” she said, as yet another hay wagon pulled onto the road in front of her. “You have got to be kidding me.” The road was relatively flat and straight; it didn’t even begin to curve for at least a mile. Ada decided that she’d take a chance and pass the hay wagon, even though doing so would also commit her to speeding past a honey wagon and two tractors as well.

She signaled and pulled out. She got by the hay wagon quickly, and was cruising along at nearly sixty miles an hour when she passed the honey wagon. That’s when Ada caught the first glimpse of headlights coming around the far corner. There was a tractor trailer, headed her way, and he showed no inclination of slowing down.

Ada looked to the left. If she went off the road on that side, there was a better than good chance she’d roll her vehicle. The shoulder dropped off sharply before leading to a wide, shallow irrigation ditch.  It wasn’t a great option.              

The tractors weren’t moving fast enough to give her any space to sneak into their lane, either, she realized frantically. The only choice left to her was to speed past the entire convoy. Ada pressed the gas pedal to the floor, forcing the car’s engine to revy as high as it would go. The speedometer read 65, then 70, then 75.

The tractor trailer was getting closer by the second. Ada could almost see the faces of the insects splattered on the big rig’s grill when she was finally able to sneak back into her own lane. When she looked up at the truck driver, he was flipping her off.

“Fuck you too, buddy,” Ada growled. “Like you never made a mistake.”  The thought of the vulnerable little baby nestled in her womb brought her to tears. Ada rubbed one hand over her still-flat stomach while she brought her car back down to a more manageable speed. “I’m sorry, honey,” she said, apologizing through her tears. “Mommy’s never going to put you in that kind of danger ever again.”

The rest of the trip home was uneventful. Ada pulled up in front of the ranch house. Looking down the road a ways, she could see Charlie and Matthew riding in her direction.

“Well, let’s see how instant this instant test really is,” Ada said. She sprinted from the drive way to the bathroom, leaving her bag of pickles, beef jerky and crackers midway on the floor.

The box was difficult to open. She fumbled with the cellophane wrapper and then the blister pack holding the test in place.

“Oh, come on!” Ada exclaimed. “Do they have to make this purposefully difficult?” At last, she tore all of the packaging materials away, leaving her only with the test strip.

“No lines, no baby,” she muttered, as she performed the test. “Come on,” she said, watching the little test strip window. “Let me see a line.”

The instructions had cautioned that a newly formed pregnancy might return only a weak or hesitant test result, signified by a very faint blue line. The more established the pregnancy, the bolder the blue line would be.

The blue line Ada found herself staring at was a vibrant deep navy blue.

“Holy shit,” she said, shivering. Suddenly the room was very cold. Even though she’d suspected she was pregnant – even though she’d told herself she knew she was going to have a baby – Ada found that having this knowledge confirmed by an independent, objective pregnancy test was a real game changer for her. This wasn’t wishful thinking. This was science, telling Ada that at last, her dream was going to come true: she and Charlie were going to have a baby.