“Michael,” Lark said as sadness filled his eyes.
“I like that name. Why don’t you like it?” Jessie asked as she quickly glanced at me.
I shook my head. Lark had told me once when he was drunk that the idea of another girl saying Michael while they had sex made him sick to his stomach, so he had gone by Lark ever since his girlfriend had passed away.
I started to make my way out of the kitchen. “Dude, let’s go and get you settled in your room. I’ll make sure there is at least one room between him and Azurdee, babe.” I gave Jessie a quick smile.
She gave me a weak smile. She seemed to understand what had just happened.
As I helped Lark bring his stuff up to his room, he set his rifle case down next to the bed. I smiled, and he smiled back.
“What? I thought maybe we could get some target shooting in while I’m here. Brought my bow, too. Maybe I can get a buck and show my dad that they do grow ’em big in the hill country.”
I nodded my head. “Hell yeah, we do. I can’t wait for you to meet Jeff, Gunner, Brad, and Josh. I have a feeling you and Jeff will hit it off the most,” I said with a gruff laugh.
“So, which one is having the big New Year’s party?” Lark asked as he put his suitcase on the bed.
“Gunner. They’re going to build a huge bonfire with all the Christmas trees. It’s pretty cool. Just know that they all have kids. Gunner has a little girl, who just turned one, and they’re expecting another one in May. Jeff has
a little boy, year and a half, and a four-month-old little girl. Josh has twins, four months old also. Brad has a little girl, nine months old.”
“Jesus Christ. What in the hell is in the water here? Remind me not to drink it. What about you and Jessie? How far along is she?”
“We have to go to the doctor, but Jessie thinks she is a little over two months,” I said with a smile plastered on my face. “Speaking of, we were heading to my folks’ house to break the news to them before you showed up.” I rolled my eyes.
“Ah hell, Scott, please let me come. I really want to see the look on your mom’s face. She’s gonna piss her pants. First, her baby boy did not marry the richest girl in the state of Texas. Then, you go off and knock up a simple country girl, and you’re not even married. You’re going to hell, you bastard,” Lark said as he gave me a sad face.
I punched him in the arm. “Fuck off, asshole. Make yourself at home. We’ll be back in a few hours. Sorry to leave you hanging like this, but we just went to the store, so everything is stocked up in the kitchen.”
Lark stood up and smiled. “My fault for showing up a day early.”
I said good-bye and headed back downstairs. Jessie was sitting on the sofa, pouting.
“Baby, pouting just makes you look sexy as hell.”
She stood and stomped her feet. “Scott, I don’t want to go. Can’t you just tell them yourself?”
I walked up and grabbed her hand. “Come on, we have one stop before we head to my folks’ place.”
My heart had been pounding since Scott had pulled out of the driveway. The idea of going to see his parents always made me feel sick, but now…I really felt sick. I already knew what was going to happen. They would look at me like I was something to be stomped on, and then they’d pull Scott to the side and question the hell out of him.
Scott turned in the opposite direction of his parents’ house and started driving toward the river. They owned the ranch that butted up to Scott’s ranch. I was guessing that they’d probably bought more land near the river.
Scott and his parents pretty much owned most of the land around here. Garrett…well, actually, Gunner and Jeff now owned the second-largest chunk of land. With Scott taking over his family’s breeding business so that his dad could focus on his partnership in an oil company, his parents were hardly ever in Mason anymore. And that was fine by me.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I need to show you something before we go to my parents’ place. I already told Mom we were running late because Lark had shown up a day early.”
I let out a huff. “Great, she’ll just blame me for making us late.”
I looked out the window and put my hand on my stomach. I smiled, thinking about our child growing inside me. Not even Mr. and Mrs. Tight-Ass Reynolds can spoil this for me.
Scott pulled down a dirt road that ran along the backside of his property and his parents’. It led down to the river, and it was one of the first spots where he had taken me on a date. I smiled, remembering back to that day. I remembered Heather telling me about how Josh and she had made love by the river for the first time, and it always made me swoon.
How romantic.
I couldn’t help but smile, thinking about that date with Scott. He had come down a few hours before and set up an old quilt, picnic basket, and a bottle of wine for dinner by the river. By the time we had shown up, ants had been all over the place, and I remembered standing there, looking down at the old quilt covered in ants, and laughing.