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Oh. My. God.

“Jeff...”

He kissed my stomach and stood up. Turning me
around, he slowly started to take off the corset. Once it was
untied he let it drop to the floor.

I turned around and saw the lust in his eyes
as his gaze traveled up and down my body. Then, his stare landed
back on the small round bump at my stomach.

“Ari, you’re so damn sexy. I can’t wait to
see your stomach grow bigger with our child.”

He’s trying to kill me. He has to be.

“Jeff, please make love to me…after you turn
off the tub because it’s fixin’ to spill over.”

“Shit!” Jeff ran over to the tub and turned
off the water.

I let out a giggle as Jeff walked back over
to me. He lifted me up and moved me over to the lower counter next
to the sink.

“The water will get cold,” I said with a
smile.

“Then, I’ll drain it and fill it up again.
Right now, I’m going to make love to you.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. No matter how
many times he’s said that to me, it still caused me to get
butterflies in my stomach.

“Okay.”

And make love, he did. We started out in the
bathroom, and then lifted me up and moved me to the bedroom where
he gave every square inch of my body attention. I’d already had two
orgasms, and I thought I was going to die if I had another one.

He rolled us over, so I was on top.

Sweet mother of Jesus, he
feels so good.
I didn’t want to stop, but I
felt the familiar feeling building up inside of me. Just as I
started to come, Jeff sat up and wrapped his arms around me, and
came with me.

We sat there for a few minutes, just holding
each other while we caught our breath. Then, I felt the baby move.
I knew it was the baby because that feeling was getting stronger. I
was pretty sure it was a boy, only Jeff could produce a son who
could make me feel him move around earlier than he should.

“I love you, Jeff.”

“I love you so much more, baby. Let’s go sit
in a hot bath.”

He let go of me, and I collapsed onto the
bed.

“I’ll just wait here while you take your fine
naked ass in there to draw me a bath.”

“You got it, babe.”

***

The moment I slid down into
the hot water, I let out a sigh and closed my eyes. Thank God this
day is over. I loved our wedding, and it was more than I could’ve
ever dreamed of.
But fuck, I just want to
go to Paris.

I felt Jeff get into the tub with me, so I
moved up so he could slide in behind me.

I leaned back onto his chest, and now it was
his turn to relax and a sigh.

“So, Paris, huh?”

He let out a chuckle. “Yep, we leave tomorrow
afternoon. Ellie did me a huge favor by making sure your passport
was up to date.”

“Well, she wasn’t very sneaky about it. She
just came out and asked.”

Jeff started laughing. “Damn that girl. I
really wish she would get pregnant soon,” Jeff said, his voice
turning sad sounding.

I put my hands to my stomach, silently
thanking God for our blessing.

“She will, baby. She just needs to relax and
stop worrying about it. Let’s get back to Paris. What made you pick
Paris? Est-ce parce que je parle si bien le Francais?”

I knew Jeff had no idea what I’d just said,
so I let out a giggle.

“Yes,” Jeff said with a laugh.

I turned around and looked at him. “Do you
know what I just asked?”

He smiled that big ol’ smile of his and
nodded his head.

“Alright, smart ass, what did I say?”

“You asked if it was because you spoke French
so well.”

“Je pense que le bébé est un garçon.”

Jeff sat up really quick. “How do you know
it’s a boy?”

Oh my god!
“I don’t! I said that I think it’s a boy. When did
you learn French?”

Jeff leaned back and took me with him. I
could feel his chest moving up and down, so he must have been
laughing.

“The day Gunner and Ellie got married, I was
giving him hell about being so damn romantic. I said something
about taking Ellie to Paris when she got pregnant. I liked the idea
of taking you to Paris because I remembered you and your parents
talking about when you went to France before and how much you loved
it there. When y’all started speaking in French at dinner, I wanted
to know what you were saying, I bought Rosetta Stone for French
that night, and I’ve been trying to learn the language since
then.”

I sat up, turned around in the bathtub, and
looked at him.

“Vous imbécile romantique.”

“I think you just called me romantic,” Jeff
said with a wink.

“Close. I said you romantic fool! Je t’aime,
Jeff.”

“Je t’aime, Ari.”

Turning to face him, I wrapped my legs around
him in the bathtub and smiled.

“I’m ready, baby, if you think you can handle
me,” Jeff said with a wink.

“Bring it on, Mr. Johnson, ‘cause Mrs.
Johnson is one horny pregnant woman.”

“Fuck yeah!”

***

Jeff and I collapsed on the bed around 4 a.m.
I couldn’t move, and I was starving. I rolled over and cuddled up
next to him. He was already asleep, and the motion of his chest
going up and down was relaxing me even more.

I thought back to our wedding day yesterday
and the night that followed. I didn’t think I’d ever be as happy as
I was right now.

Then I smiled when I thought about the
baby.

That statement wasn’t true. This was just the
beginning of many more happy moments.

Just the beginning.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR

GUNNER

Late May

I walked around on the slab and took notes.
Ellie hadn’t been feeling good for the last two weeks, so she took
a trip into Austin with Ari for a change of scenery and some
shopping. The house was coming along nicely. Now, we just needed it
to stop raining so damn much, so the framing could get going.

I looked up and saw Josh
driving up in the Jeep.
What the hell?
This is a nice surprise.

He jumped out of the Jeep and came walking up
to me, reaching to shake hands.

“Dude, what a nice surprise.”

Josh smiled and slapped me on the back. “You
couldn’t have picked a better spot on the ranch to build y’all’s
house. Nicely done, bro.”

I smiled as I looked around. Our tree, the
same tree where it’d all started, was going to be in the back yard
of our new house.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want it to be anywhere
else. My dad is pushing the hell out of me to get this house done.
He’s tired of living with Gramps and Grams. To be honest, I think
that’s why they are traveling so much.” I said with a laugh.

“Where are they now?”

“Las Vegas!” I said with a chuckle.

My drill instructor father had turned into a
carefree wild and crazy man ever since his heart attack last
year.

“What brings you out here?” I asked.

“Jeff, needed some help taking care of some
things, and I think a few of those mares are ready to pop. With Ari
so close to the due date, he just wanted an extra hand around. I
knew about a month ago, so I stopped taking in new orders, and my
dad is covering for me. I sure needed the break from work.”

I laughed and shook my head. “You know Jeff
is going to work your ass to the bone, and I might call on you as
well.”

“Bring it, dude. The more work the better.
You know I love it out here, and this shit is relaxing for me.
Besides, I needed out of the city. If it wasn’t for Lynda, I think
I would move out this way. I love Fredericksburg. I really think I
could easily move the business out there and still be close enough
to Austin to do work there.”

“Damn, dude, that would be awesome to have
you closer.”

“Yeah, if only Lynda wanted the same thing I
wanted, I’d be set.”

“How are things with y’all?”

Josh shrugged his shoulders.

“Have you seen Heather since Ari and Jeff’s
wedding?” I asked.

“No, I heard some shit though that bothered
me.”

Fuck.
I knew where he was going with this. Ellie and Ari had tried
to talk to Heather, but they couldn’t seem to get through to her.
Heather had turned to going out and partying all the time, so much
that even Amanda was worried about it.

“What did you hear?”

“Just that she’s been partying a lot. Do you
remember Smitty from UT?”

“Yeah, I remember Smitty.”

“He said she goes out every weekend. Do you
know if any of that’s true?”

“I hate to say this, but yeah, Ellie and Ari
have been really worried about her. She seems to go after her
school shit hard all week, and then ever Friday and Saturday night,
she goes out and drinks with a few friends from school. When Ellie
tried to talk to her about it, she said it’s the only way she could
forget for a while.”

“Forget what?”

“Dude, that’s the million dollar
question.”

Just then, I heard my truck driving up. I
smiled when I saw Ellie jump out.

She ran over and hugged Josh. “It’s so great
to see you.”

“Ellie, you look beautiful. Country air seems
to agree with you rather well,” Josh said as he spun Ellie
around.

“Josh, you can’t stay away for so long like
that.”

“Josh is talking about moving out toward
Fredericksburg maybe.”

“No kidding. Heather just interviewed with
the elementary school out there. Did you know that?”

Josh looked surprised as shit.

“Um, no, I had no idea. I haven’t talked to
or seen her since the wedding. Last I knew, she was going to
interview with Mason.”

“Yep, she did, but she hasn’t heard back from
them yet. She’ll be graduating this summer, so we plan on having a
big party for her. You’ll come, right?”

“Of course, you can count on me being there.
Alright, y’all, I’m gonna let ya go. I’m gonna head on back up to
the house and say good-bye to Garrett and Emma. I’m sure Jeff has a
laundry list of shit for me to do. Maybe we can all head out to
dinner tonight?”

“Sounds good bud, I’ll give you or Jeff a
ring later on.”

Ellie and I watched as Josh got back in the
Jeep and headed back up the ranch house. I looked over at Ellie,
who had a shit-eating grin on her face.

“What’s with the grin?”

She turned to look at me and winked. “Oh,
nothing, it’s just that Josh is in for a little surprise when he
gets to Jeff and Ari’s.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of surprise, Ellie
Mathews?”

“Ari and I talked Heather into coming out and
staying for a few weeks until summer classes start. She agreed and
said she needed to get out of Austin to get away from the
partying.”

“You little devils. Did Ari know Josh was
coming out?”

Ellie looked at me like I was stupid. “Of
course, she did, and she also knew that Lynda was going to Costa
Rica with her parents for a few weeks.”

I let out a laugh.

“You know what else I found out from Heather
that explains why she’s been acting the way she has?”

“What?”

“Lynda told her at the wedding that Josh
asked her to marry him, but they just hadn’t made it public
yet.”

“What the fuck? Are you kidding me?”

“Nope.” Ellie said, popping
her p. “I hate to say this, Gunner, because Lynda is your cousin,
but I don’t trust her one bit. She is jealous of Heather, and I
think she’ll do or say anything to keep them apart. When Heather
told us what Lynda said, all Ari had to do was look at me, and I
knew what she was thinking. The Push-Josh-and-Heather-Together
Plan
has officially started,” Ellie said as
she turned around and looked back in the direction where Josh had
just left.

I pulled her into me and hugged her. “Be
careful, Ells. Don’t push them too hard baby. Just let them find
their way back to each other.”

Ellie turned and looked at me. “They are both
so unhappy. Why can’t they see that Gunner?”

“It’s the same reason why Jeff and Ari
couldn’t see it…or at least, Jeff couldn’t see. Come on, enough
about them. I want to give you a tour of our house.”

We jumped up onto the slab, and I started
pointing out where the kitchen. living room, and master bedroom
would be.

“Did you keep the small little study, the one
that’s in the master room, in the plans?”

“Yeah. Why? I thought you said it would make
a great reading room. It’s too late to change it now, babe The slab
is poured.”

Ellie started walking over to the area in the
master bedroom that would eventually be the little study. Facing
out toward our tree, it would be all solid windows.

“No, of course, I don’t want to change it.”
She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.
While unfolding it, she said,

“It’ll make a beautiful reading room and a
great little nursery for the first few months after the baby comes
home in December.”

“Yeah, it would make a great…wait, what?”

Ellie turned around holding up the piece of
paper. I walked closer to her. The closer I got the slower I
walked. That’s a picture of...

I looked up at her. “Is that a sonogram,
Ellie?”

She turned the picture around and looked at
it. When she looked back up at me, she smiled.

“Yes, it is, Drew. Say hello to our
baby.”

I was standing in front of her, and then I
slowly started to sink down to the cement floor until I landed on
my ass.

“Baby, you’re pregnant?” I asked.

She sat down on the slab next to me and
handed me the picture.

“Yep, looks like your little vacation in
March to New Orleans did the trick. I’m due December ninth.”

“How far along are you?” My voice
cracked.

“About ten weeks. When I missed my period
last month, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Then, I missed this
month, and I’d been feeling so sick. I asked Ari to go with me,
just in case it came back negative. I didn’t want you to be
disappointed. I didn’t even take a home pregnancy test. I’m sorry
you weren’t there for the first sonogram, but Dr. Wyatt wanted to
check out the baby as soon as the test came back positive.”