Abruptly Chase cocked his head at a listening angle. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Laredo asked, coming alert.
“A noise. I thought it came from outside,” Chase replied, then glanced at Cat. “You’re already up. Go see if anyone’s there.”
“I think you’re hearing things, Dad. But I’ll go check.” Like him, Cat knew there was an off chance that Wade might have arrived. The possibility had her walking a little more quickly to the entryway.
Chapter 13
When Cat looked out the window next to the front door, the view was obscured by the heavy snowfall, driven by blustering winds. Through the wintry veil, she could just make out the darker shape of the big-timbered barn in the distance. But there was nothing else, no vehicle and no human.
Any sense of disappointment she felt quickly gave way to relief. Cat didn’t want to think about Wade being out in this storm. Just hearing the muted howl of the wind almost made her shudder at the thought.
She returned to the living room. “It must have been the wind you heard, Dad,” she told him, then included the others. “It’s really getting bad out there. I can just barely make out the shape of the old barn. Visibility is down to less than a hundred feet. I’m glad you all arrived when you did.”
“And so say all of us.” Sebastian raised his glass in a toasting gesture that offered a whole-hearted agreement with her sentiment.
“Personally,” Laura began, “I’m rather glad that we’re suddenly in the midst of a full-fledged blizzard. It snows occasionally in England, but the storms don’t have the violence that Montana can dish out. I’ve missed that a little.”
“Leave it to you to find it exciting,” Trey muttered in a mixture of exasperation and resignation.
“Please, no lectures on the losses the Triple C could suffer from this,” she countered. “I’m well aware of all the problems this will bring. But the storm’s here. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop it, so I’m choosing to enjoy it.”
Trey started to reply, but Jessy broke in. “Let’s not start bickering, you two.”
Sloan supported her by changing the subject. “Dallas, would you like to look at Laura’s pictures of the restoration work they’ve been doing at Crawford Hall? We’re finished with the album.”
Banding with them, Dallas readily agreed. “Yes, I would.”
Laura closed the album and handed it to her.
“What’s the next project you’re going to tackle, Laura?” Sloan asked to keep the conversation going.
“Face it, Trey.” Laura grinned at her twin brother. “We’re outnumbered. We’ll have to do our squabbling when we’re alone.”
“Like always.” He smiled back at her.
“Your next project,” Sloan persisted, slicing a silencing look at Trey.
“I have nothing major planned.” Laura paused and made eye contact with Sebastian, a smile edging the corners of her mouth. “Just some minor redecorating of the bedroom next to ours.”
“Really,” Jessy said with some surprise. “I thought you just did that one last year.”
“We did,” Laura admitted, then paused and glanced again at Sebastian.
He turned his hands in a palms-up gesture, then left the choice to her. “This is as good a time as any to tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Now Cat’s curiosity was piqued.
“That we’re converting that bedroom into a nursery.” She said it with all the calmness of someone commenting on the weather, then laughed when her words registered on the faces of her family.
“You’re going to have a baby.” Jessy was the first to actually say it, in a stunned but happy murmur.
After that everyone chimed in, flooding both soon-to-be parents with congratulations and questions. Foremost among the latter was “When?”
“End of July, first of August,” Laura told them.
“How long have you known?” Jessy gazed at her daughter, still marveling over the prospect of her daughter becoming a mother.