“You call that a nap?” I teased. “Cass, you slept for over five hours. I tried to wake you up earlier after I woke up from my nap, but you were out. So I went back home, grabbed Sky and the pies you made, and I’ve been hanging with Ty since.”
“Five? Holy crap!”
“Yeah.” I laughed and let my hands trail over her neck, reveling in the deep breaths I was able to take now that I could feel her heartbeat under my fingers. “You feelin’ all right?”
“I feel fine. I’ve been sleeping a lot the last couple weeks, I guess from being pregnant, but five hours. Talk about food coma.” She pushed on Sky until she jumped off the bed, then scrambled off as well.
I followed her out, grabbed three beers, and headed back to the kitchen table, where Jesse and Tyler were, and handed them each one. Amanda sat in Jesse’s lap, and I tried not to let that bother me, but c’mon, she was my sister, there was no way in hell that wasn’t going to bother me. So I made sure my eyes never left Cassidy while she grabbed a plate of food and sliced up two of the pies—not like that was hard. She was so damn beautiful, and watching her had been all I was able to do for a year and a half, so it had become one of my favorite things to do. Especially when she was in the kitchen; she moved around the kitchen like it was a part of her, and she always had some song going on in her head, and every now and then she’d start dancing to it. I loved those times, because when she’d notice me watching her, the blush I loved so much would creep over her face and she’d shoot me one of those blinding smiles. And now? I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed something was going on this last week and a half; Cass had a new smile I’d never seen before, like she had a secret, and it hadn’t once left her face today. I only wished I’d been paying enough attention to notice it before, but I had to admit, I did like the jersey idea.
Just as I looked down at her new jersey, her body started moving to whatever song was in her head and I had to hold back a laugh. God, my wife was cute. Tyler stood up and walked into the kitchen and over to Cassidy; when he reached her, he leaned his hip against the counter and draped an arm over her shoulder. He said something too low for me to hear and she looked up at him to respond. She set down the plate of food, her body automatically sagged against him, and he curled his arm tighter around her. Tyler continued to whisper to her, and I waited for it, the jealousy, but it never came. I hadn’t felt it since Tyler came back from their trip to California in May.
I’d seen Cassidy and Tyler when they were friends, and then I’d seen them together. By the time Cassidy and I were together, she and Tyler were only ever near each other in hostile environments, so when Tyler was finally done trying to keep us apart, I’d stopped worrying so much. When I saw them together for the first time after she got back from California, I wondered how it’d taken me that long to see exactly how Cass responded to him. Like right now, with her leaning into him and his arms around her, sure, they were close, but there was nothing intimate about the way they were holding each other. Ty was her best friend, nothing more.
She laughed about something and turned her head so she and Tyler were both now looking at me. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t move; I knew Ty wanted his time with her. Her hand dropped to her flat stomach; she smiled my smile and mouthed I love you. My chest warmed and I again thanked God for giving me her, and now our baby.
Epilogue
Four years later
G AGE
I WALKED IN and my heart skipped two beats before kicking into overdrive, as was my normal routine when I was looking at my wife. Six and a half years since I watched her climb out of Ty’s Jeep, and she still took my breath away. But right now? Damn . . . Cassidy pregnant had to be my favorite thing. Ever. She had less than a month to go until our third was due, and we were finally gonna have a girl. After our first son, Asher, was born, Cassidy hadn’t wanted to wait too long and we’d had our second son, Jax, named after Cassidy’s dad, Jackson, eighteen months later. Her pregnancy with Jax had been a rocky one, and the delivery was even worse; after both she and Jax made it out fine the doctor delivered the news that Cassidy wouldn’t have any more kids. It’d been a hard blow for both of us, but with having a toddler and a newborn, we didn’t have time to think about it too often. Then by some miracle, this past May we’d found out she was expecting again, and I prayed day and night we’d have a girl. I loved my boys more than anything, but I wanted another girl to spoil besides my wife. So the day we found out we were indeed having a girl, I’d gone and called Mama, told her to take Cassidy out and buy anything pink she could find.
We’d already added another hall and two rooms to the house when we found out she was pregnant with Jax; this way when the boys were a little older they could have their own rooms, and there was no question my little girl was having her own room. Princesses, ponies . . . shit, I didn’t care. As long as she was happy, she could have her room however she wanted. And now we’d still have a guest room for when Tyler and his wife stayed with us.
He’d stayed with us a lot during the winter and summer breaks while still going to UT, but once he graduated, he moved back to California and met someone almost immediately. She was nice, and more important, Cassidy absolutely adored her. They came to stay with us twice a year for a week or so, and although it was already crazy in our house, we loved it. Right now, Aunt Steph and Uncle Jim were in the main house with the family, and Tyler was wrestling on the ground with Asher and Jax while Cass spoke animatedly with Aria, Tyler’s wife. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I almost laughed out loud remembering the first time Aria and Cassidy had met. Cassidy was big pregnant with Jax, and like she and Tyler always did, they fell into each other’s arms and caught up since it’d been a couple months since they’d seen each other. All the blood had drained from Aria’s face when she saw them together like that, and she had turned seriously confused when Cassidy shrieked and pulled her into a huge hug. I’d made it a point to have a long talk with Aria soon after that, and though she said she understood, we all saw it still took a couple more days of seeing them together before it finally clicked. At least it’d only taken her days, rather than my two years.
Glancing over at the clock on the oven, I scratched Sky behind her ears and straightened to go take a shower before the rest of our friends got there.
Ethan and Adam had been having trouble finding jobs after graduation, and after Dana and Adam found out they would be expecting too just a month after Asher was due, Cassidy had had the idea of offering jobs to Adam and Ethan. Both had accepted right away; Dana and Adam had married and moved closer to the ranch within a month of our offering the job, with Ethan right behind them. Jackie stayed with her family for all of two months before she realized three and a half hours was still too far from Ethan and then she had moved out here too. Ethan and Adam ended up being better than some of our other hired ranch hands, and Dad and I had both been glad for the change with them here. We’d been able to let go three of the slacking hands and hire on only Ethan and Adam. Saved us money, saved us a hell of a headache, and I got to work with my friends.
Dana and Adam ended up having twins and decided to stop there, saying two of the same age was more than enough, and Jackie and Ethan had just found out they were expecting number two about a month or so ago. Cassidy loved having the girls closer to her, and more often than not, all the girls and kids were at our place at the end of the workday.