Jace felt another pang of envy somewhere deep in his belly. Cochran won her love so easily. Would he ever be able to do the same? Lord knew he desperately wanted to know what it felt like to have Bree love him.
The baby was reaching for Jace again. He hesitated, thinking she might not be ready to give him back.
“It’s okay. He wants who he wants.” She handed him the baby.
He watched her, but her expression didn’t change. She was still smiling at the baby.
“He’ll change his mind in a minute or two, won’t you, baby boy?” She lightly pinched his arm, which made him giggle and hide his face in Jace’s chest.
“Peek-a-boo,” she said, and went behind Jace’s shoulder.
Cochran leaned to where he could see her, and giggled again. Jace kept turning his body so they could continue their game. He was dizzy from spinning around, but he didn’t want to stop. There was no better sound in the world than hearing Bree and Cochran giggling together.
“This is how I imagined it would be,” she said after they sat down on the grass to let Cochran scoot around them. “Aunt Bree and Uncle Jace.”
He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help himself. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. “God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered.
She closed her eyes. “I’ve missed you, too.”
He wanted to ask her why she’d pulled away from him, but he didn’t. He’d gotten more advice about Bree in the last couple of days than he’d gotten about anything in his life. The person whose opinion resonated the strongest was Liv. She’d told him to slow down and give Bree time. Billy and Ben both told him to go after her, but it was Liv he listened to.
“Everything you told me was right,” he said instead. “He’s wonderful. And I feel the same way you do. I can’t begin to describe the love I feel for him. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
She smiled, picked Cochran up, and kissed his forehead. Jace leaned forward and did the same. As he was about to pull back, he stopped. She was too close, and he couldn’t stop himself. He kissed her forehead too, and then pulled back.
She looked at him. The smile left her face, but the look that replaced it was curiosity, not anger.
He closed his eyes, and willed himself not to speak, not to tell her that he wanted this with her more than anything else in life. The two of them, holding a baby between them, a baby they both loved. Not their nephew, but their own baby. He bit the inside of his cheek in an effort to keep his mouth shut and not let out the words that would scare the shit out of her.
“How long are you in town?” she asked softly.
“A couple of days. We’re meeting with a rough stock contractor in Larkspur, and then with Billy’s mom and dad. The guys want to start a satellite operation here. We haven’t talked about it, but Billy and Renie may want to settle back here full time.”
“I doubt it. I know Renie’s happy being close to her mom. By the way, I’ve never heard you call her that.”
Jace shrugged. “Hearing all of you call her that has sort of rubbed off on me, and I guess she’s got good reasons to be happy, since she’s pregnant and all.”
“Who is? Renie?” Bree felt as though Jace just hit her. Renie was pregnant? Why did that make her feel…hostility? And envy. “That’s wonderful,” she said, although she couldn’t have meant anything less.
“Billy told me last night. I get the feeling he wasn’t supposed to, so, uh, don’t let on you know.”
“No, of course I won’t. It must be early on.”
“He said they’d be having a baby in eight months, so I reckon that’s early on,” he grinned at her.
“You know enough about it, Jace, to know it is. Even though you may know more about the gestation periods of horses and cattle.”
“That’s right, little lady. I’m a humble ranch hand.” He pretended to tip his hat to her.
Tucker walked out on the porch. “Blythe wants to know how many for dinner,” he shouted over to them.
“Oh, good Lord,” whispered Bree, “I hope she’s not planning to cook.”
Tucker was closer to them by the time she finished her sentence. “We?
??re goin’ over to the Pattersons’ for dinner. Dottie wants to know how many.” He winked at her.
“Oh, uh, sorry—”