Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
My mother walked up to my father and took his hand, tears in her eyes. He looked at her, then back to me. It only took him a few seconds, and he knew. I could see him rapid-fire blinking to keep from crying himself.
“Maverick and I are going to be parents somewhere around June twenty-first.”
The entire room and beyond erupted into cheers. I saw Kipton jolt, then put her hands on her stomach and laugh. Apparently, all the cheering must’ve made the baby move. Hunter leaned down and kissed her belly.
I felt my own eyes pool up, and it wasn’t until Maverick pressed a kiss to my forehead and whispered, “I love you both,” that I let them fall.
A line soon formed, and everyone took turns congratulating us. A few asked questions, like was I feeling sick, how many weeks were we, and if we were going to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.
Nathan was the only person who already knew, and it was because he’d caught me throwing up in a bucket in the barn four times. It hadn’t taken him long to put two and two together. I’d sworn him to secrecy, and was honestly surprised he’d kept it.
The last two people to approach were my mother and father. Mom embraced me, while Dad pulled Maverick in for a bear hug.
“Was it planned?” Mom asked.
I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t. It was a mistake on my part.”
“But a wonderful and blessed mistake,” Maverick added.
Mom grinned. “So you’re happy?”
“We’re over the moon,” he replied. “I’ll be honest, I kind of freaked when we found out. I really want to be a good dad.”
My father put his hand on Maverick’s shoulder. “You’re going to be an amazing father, Mav. I couldn’t be more happy or prouder than I am right now.”
“You know, you don’t have to rush and get married. Plenty of people have kids without being married,” Mom stated.
I placed both of my hands over my still-flat stomach. There might have been a little bit of a bump, but not much. “We talked about it, and we really would like to be married before we have this little one.”
Turning to Dad, Mom said, “They were thinking New Year’s Eve.”
“Just family, no one else,” I quickly added. “We want it to be simple and something we share with only those we love.”
Dad and Mom both smiled, and Dad said, “I think the best wedding is the wedding you want. You tell us what you want, and I’ll make it happen.”
“Well, I know it will be dead of winter, but I was hoping maybe we could do it in our barn.”
Both of their eyes went wide.
“Wait,” my mother said, holding up her hands. “You want to get married outside, in the barn? In December? In Montana?”
Maverick and I both chuckled.
“Maybe we should save this conversation for later, Stella is frantically motioning for me to go set the table,” Maverick said.
We all chuckled. “You’ll quickly learn that keeping a bunch of hungry Shaws waiting will do you no favors,” Mom said.
Maverick rushed over to help get everything set while Dad grabbed a few platters of food.
Mom held me back by my arm, pulling me into the butler’s pantry.
When I couldn’t decipher the look on her face, it suddenly felt as if a lead weight had been dropped on my chest. “Are you disappointed, Mom?”
She gaped. “No! Not at all, Lily. I just want to know…how was it a mistake on your part?”
I felt my cheeks flush. “Well, with the fire, and then me moving in with Maverick to make sure he took it easy, all while still working and just…the craziness of it all, I missed my birth control pills more than once. I know better, but I honestly just forgot about them and then…well…you know.”
She covered my heated cheeks with her hands. “I’m so beyond excited to be a Grammy, I can’t even tell you.”
I felt my eyes fill with tears, but I blinked them away. “I’m excited, too, Mom. I love him so much, I don’t even know how I didn’t see it years ago. Maverick said he fell the moment he met me in the barn.”
Her eyes lit up. “Ahhh, that’s why you want to get married in the barn?”
I nodded.
“I think it’s romantic. And sometimes we don’t always see the things that are right in front of us. That doesn’t mean they don’t mean just as much.”
“If you two are going to keep hiding away, could you at least grab the gravy boat while you’re in there?” Grams asked when she poked her head into the room.
“Come on,” Mom said, as she laced my arm with hers and I snagged the gravy boat. “Let’s go feed that baby!”
The sound of a vehicle crunching through the freshly fallen snow had me glancing up to see who was headed toward the barn. When I saw who it was, I pulled the horse I’d been exercising to a stop.