Stone Cold Cowboy(111)

“Hurry up. I want you here with me.” He hugged her close, then removed his arm so she could slip from the bed and run into the bathroom.

On her way out, she stared at the big man in the bed, his arm stretched out to her empty spot, his face half buried in the pillow.

So handsome. The man she loved. The man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. The man who’d nearly dropped to his knees and cried because he thought she’d lost their child. A man who cared deeply for his family, her, their baby.

“I’m so lucky,” she whispered to her father in heaven. She missed him and wanted him to know she was okay.

For the first time since she left her shift at the diner, she felt okay. She had Rory.

The thing with Connor weighed on her. Rory tried to get her to go see him in the hospital before they left, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. He’d nearly gotten her and Rory killed. If he wanted to make things right with her, he’d have to come to her. She wasn’t going to make things easy for him anymore. Instead, she’d focus on herself, Rory, their baby, and the future she wanted more than anything.

She pressed her hand to her grumbling stomach and bypassed the bed and headed for the stairs. Bell might have filled her up with fluids, but Sadie needed something to fill her belly. She padded down the stairs and walked into the dim kitchen. With the lights out, she opened the fridge and pulled one of the apples out of the vegetable bin. She closed the fridge and set the apple on the cutting board and sliced it up. She took a bite of the crisp, sweet fruit and chewed thoughtfully, wondering what else she could have with it. She opened one cupboard after the next, looking for anything that sounded good. She found the peanut butter and pulled it down, knocking over a can of peas. It thumped on the counter, rolled off, and thwacked the floor. She bent over to pick it up, stood straight, and caught herself on the counter when the dizziness hit again. Afraid she’d pass out and hit the floor, she quickly sat, leaned back against the cabinet, and put her head down, waiting for her stomach to settle and her head to stop spinning.

The lights flicked on and Grandpa Sammy stood in the doorway staring down at her, sitting on the floor in her nightgown. “Are you all right?” He rushed to her side and squatted next to her, his big hand on her shoulder.

She blinked away the spots in her eyes from the bright light. “Sorry I woke you. I seem to be a bit off balance.”

Grandpa Sammy narrowed his eyes on her, stood, went back to the kitchen doorway, and yelled, “Rory, get down here.”

“I’m fine. You don’t need to wake him, too.” Sadie pressed her hands to the floor to push herself up.

Grandpa Sammy pointed a finger at her. “You stay put.”

She sank back to her butt and stared up at him and the anger simmering in his eyes.

“Um, I’m really okay.”

Rory pounded down the stairs and rushed into the kitchen, wearing nothing but his jeans, zipped and barely hanging on to his hips. He spotted her on the floor and pushed past his grandfather. He knelt beside her and brushed his hand over her hair. “Sweetheart, what happened? Are you okay?”

“She’s pregnant, isn’t she?”

Rory’s eyes went wide, then filled with resignation. He kept his back to his grandfather and stared at her. He cupped her face and brushed his thumbs over her cheeks. “Dizzy again?”

“A little bit. I’m hungry.”

“Bell said you might be when I got you home and the stress and trauma wore off. I should have fed you before I put you to bed.”

“It’s okay. I came down to make a snack.”

Rory tucked his hands under her arms and lifted her up and right off the floor. He set her on the counter and handed her a slice of apple. “Eat.”

She took the apple and bit off a huge bite.

“I want an answer,” Grandpa Sammy demanded.

Rory sighed and spun around to face his grandfather. “Yes, she’s pregnant.”

“Holy shit,” Colt said, stepping into the room behind Grandpa Sammy.

Ford followed with an “Oh my God.”

Sadie wasn’t sure any of them was happy for them, or upset by the news. She grabbed a spoon from the strainer by the sink and dipped it into the peanut butter, stuffing it in her mouth and licking off the creamy peanut goodness. She’d let them work it out. She was too tired and hungry to participate.

“We talked about this. I told you to make sure you did things right,” Grandpa Sammy scolded.

“I’m pretty sure he did it right,” Colt said, a silly grin on his face. “She’s pregnant.”

Sadie covered the laugh that bubbled up from her gut and licked peanut butter off the spoon again, hiding the smile on her lips. Rory glared at her over his shoulder.