"We're going to castrate them," Mark said with a smile. All the men groaned slightly.
"Oh," Emily said and felt herself blushing.
"It's just all part of ranch life," Mark said with a shrug.
"Isn't he too young to do that?" Emily asked with concern.
"He's a big guy," Mark said and patted Trevor on the head. Emily didn't have the heart to say no to anything her boys wanted.
"This stew sure is great," one of the guys said in between huge bites.
"Well, you have Mary to thank. She did all the cooking today," Emily said fondly.
"Thank you Mary," all the boys chorused together.
"You're very welcome."
The guys inhaled their food and then headed out the doors as quickly as they'd come in. "I'm getting quite attached to those boys," Mary said as they all left.
"I know how you feel," Emily agreed with her. The two women cleaned up the dishes and started prep work for dinner.
Their days continued in much the same way. Mark stayed closer to the house and let his hands get more things done, as he worked with Trevor every available moment. Emily spent her time in the kitchen and would sneak out with her boys any chance she got.
Over the next couple of months her stomach started to round slightly, not enough to show much but just enough to prove there was a baby growing. Mark would lay there for hours in the evenings, rubbing her stomach and talking to their growing baby.
He was an incredible father. Trevor loved him so much and he'd already gotten the nursery ready for the baby. She was content to spend her days cooking and visiting with Mary and her nights in her husband's arms. She was finally allowing herself to accept her life was great and nothing was going to ruin it.
Chapter Eleven
"Do you really have to go?" Emily whined as Mark was packing his overnight bag. He'd gotten called to Montana for some urgent business. She normally would've gone with him but Trevor had a field trip the next day and she'd already agreed to chaperone it.
"Believe me, I don't want to leave," he said to her, as he paused in his packing, to pull her close to him and kiss her softly.
Mark slowly undressed his beautiful wife and loved her gently, not wanting to leave for even one night. They hadn't spent a night apart since their wedding day. He was going to miss her more than he could imagine.
They got dressed and she walked with him downstairs. He kissed her one more time before heading out the door. He turned back to see a tear falling down her cheek and almost said to hell with it and walked back in. He hated to see her hurting.
"I'll be fine, I'm just going to miss you," she reassured him, when he paused as if undecided in what he should do.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked her while he stood by the car, unsure of whether to open the door or not.
"I'm going to be fine. This is just pregnancy hormones acting up," she reassured him.
"I'll be back before you even realize I was gone."
She stood watching until the car was out of sight. Walking into the house, she was engulfed with loneliness. The hands were all out on the North pasture, several miles away. Edward was at his families for a few days and Mary and Scott were doing some shopping. She wasn't normally all alone in the huge ranch house and she decided she really didn't like the feeling of it.
She decided to walk down to the far barn where new kittens had been born a couple weeks back. She knew the sight of them would definitely cheer her up until Trevor returned home from school.
Emily walked down the path to the now familiar barn. She went inside, which felt a bit eerie since no one was anywhere around. She laid there petting the kittens, feeling sorry for herself.
She heard a noise behind her but before she was able to turn around and see what it was, she felt a shooting pain in her head and all went black.
Mark reached the airport when his cell phone rang. He picked it up, thinking it would be Emily calling for one last goodbye.
"Hey Mark, you can cancel the trip, we got the issue solved," the voice said.
"Are you sure?" Mark asked but he was already turning his car around to head towards home.
"Yeah we got it all fixed up. You can stay there, where I know you really want to be," the man said with a chuckle in his voice.
"You got that right. I would much rather be with my family," Mark said with a relieved sigh.
"What's going on over there, you're all falling head over heels?"
"We've just discovered it's much nicer to have a beautiful woman at our side every night than to be out trying to find a new girl every weekend," Mark said sincerely.
"I think I will go ahead and hold onto my bachelorhood," his friend said and then hung up the phone.