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Josh gave me a dirty look and turned back to
his Dodge truck.

“Fuck you, Jeff. Just because I don’t have a
diesel-eating truck doesn’t mean she doesn’t have power.”

“Yeah, whatever you say Josh. Your truck has
no balls, dude. I’m just saying.”

Just then Ari and Heather came walking out of
the house each carrying a small box. Ari’s eyes caught mine and her
smile instantly faded. By the time she walked up to me, she had
nothing in her eyes but anger.

“Can I please have my keys back? Heather and
I are going to head out now. We’ll just meet y’all at the deer
cabin.”

I handed her the keys, and
she snatched them out of my hand and pushed past me.
Yep, this was going to be a long two
months.

“I thought we were going to drop off your
Jeep at your place, so you could ride with me,” I said.

Well, that changed the moment you dropped
everything and everyone for Rebecca. I don’t want to be stuck while
you’re running back into Austin whenever she needs you.”

“Ari.”

She turned around and held up her hand.

“The time to talk about it was right before
you decided to walk out that door. I’m sick of talking, thinking,
and listening. I’m done Jeff. If I hear about her and that baby one
more time, I’m taking off this ring, and that will be the last
thing I throw at your ass.”

So, it looks like I won’t be bringing up the
whole baby room thing anytime soon.

***

The drive out to Mason by
myself sucked. Gunner called and said they had landed earlier than
they thought. They were going to head straight out to the
ranch.
God, I can’t wait to talk to
him
. I was at a complete loss as to what to
do.

We all pulled up to Gunner’s grandparents’
house. Garrett and Emma came walking out with Ellie’s dog Gus
running behind them. He headed straight to Ari’s Jeep. Ari bent
down, giving him hugs and kisses. Ari’s laugh moved through my
body, and I couldn’t help but want her again. Emma walked up to Ari
and held her at arm’s length. She smiled with a questioning look,
and Ari smiled back at her. Gus won’t leave Ari alone as he kept
jumping up at her.

“Afternoon, Garrett. Have y’all heard from
Gunner?” I said after I was finally able to pull my eyes away from
Ari. She looked so damn beautiful. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of
her this whole week. There was something so different about her.
Maybe it was because we were engaged now. I shook my head to clear
my thoughts.

“It seems like you’ve got some heavy shit on
your mind, Jeff,” Garrett said with a straight-as-hell face.

“You never were one to beat around the bush,
were you?” I said as I shook Garrett’s hand.

Josh walked up and slapped me on the back
before he shook Garrett’s hand.

“Back to your question, Jeff. Yes, we heard
from him a little bit ago. They’re only about an hour out,” Garrett
said.

“Yeah, we would have been here sooner,
but…um, I had some shit to take care of,” I explained.

Josh let out a laugh and
shook his head at me.
Bastard.
He should be the one with the damn crazy-ass
pregnant girl, not me.

“Yeah, well…sometimes we have to step in the
shit to move past it, Jeff. Did Gunner give you the key to the
cabin?”

What the fuck does that
mean?
“Um…yeah, he gave it to me. I guess
we’ll head over there now. Josh’s truck has Gunner’s stuff since he
put most of his stuff in storage. I think Ari and Heather were
planning on heading into Mason to grab something to
eat.”

“No, we decided to stay here. Emma made a
King Ranch casserole that sounds yummy. Plus, I want to be here
when Ellie gets back,” Ari said, walking by arm and arm with
Heather.

I watched as Ari, Heather, and Emma made
their way into the house with Gus jumping on Ari the whole way. He
would not leave her alone. She kept yelling down at him. She looked
so damn cute, trying to be all stern with him.

***

Josh and I emptied the trailer on his truck,
and then we brought my truck and trailer over to my place. By the
time we were done, I was starving. Somehow, I had gotten a text
message from Ari, saying Gunner and Ellie were back.

Josh and I headed back to
the ranch house. The moment I saw Gunner’s truck, it felt a ton of
bricks had lifted off of my shoulders. We got out of the truck as
Gunner came walking out of the house.
Man,
that bastard looks fuckin’ happy.
He walked
up to Josh first and gave him a hand-shake and slap on the
back.

Then he walked up to me. He shook my hand but
pulled me in toward him.

“What the fuck did you do to Ari?”

I pulled back and looked at him,
confused.

“What the hell kind of greeting is that? I
didn’t do anything to her. Why?”

“Grams and the girls didn’t hear us pull up.
When we walked in the door, Grams was holding Ari while she was
crying her goddamn eyes out. Ari brought us up to speed about
everything that had happened. She can’t stop crying, Jeff. Man, why
the fuck are you not using your head with Rebecca?”

Holy shit.
I couldn’t believe it. I was getting the same damn
lecture from the one person I thought I would be able to talk to. I
threw my hands in my hair and started to walk down toward the barn.
I needed to get away.

“Jeff, hold up, dude. Talk to me,” Gunner
said as he came up behind me.

“What do you want me to say, Gun? I’m losing
my goddamn mind. I thought, out of all people, you wouldn’t be the
one jumping down my throat because Ari is hurting. What about me?
How the fuck do you think I feel? I don’t want to have a baby with
Rebecca. I want to have a baby with Ari and only Ari. I’m being
pulled in two different directions. If this baby is mine, I’m not
walking out on it like my good-for-nothing father did. I want to be
here for him, even if Rebecca is the mother. I don’t know how to
make Ari understand that. I don’t know how to take away her pain,
Gunner. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her from hurting. I
just seem to be making it worse. Rebecca isn’t helping with her
needy-ass self either.”

Gunner sat down on a hay bale and looked up
at me. “Jeff, have you told Ari all of that?”

I sat down on the bale next to him and put my
head in my hands. “No, not in those exact words.”

“Well fuck, dude. Don’t you think it would
help her to understand your need to jump when Rebecca says how
high? You owe her the truth, Jeff. If you don’t tell her, she’s
just going to just keep thinking the worst. Right now, to her, you
are putting Rebecca above her. It needs to be Ari first. Find out
if this baby is even yours. If he is, then be the best damn Dad you
can be. Just remember who your world is right now, dude.”

I lifted my head and looked at Gunner. I knew
he was right.

“What the hell, dude? Marriage made you
smarter.”

Gunner started to laugh. “Something like
that.”

“I’m sorry your honeymoon got cut short.
How’s your dad?”

Gunner’s smile faded some.

“When we landed, I talked to my mom, and she
said that he’s doing better. It was a mild heart attack, but she
said it scared the shit out of him. I still can’t believe that she
talked him into coming here. Gramps and Grams are celebrating their
fiftieth anniversary in a couple of weeks. I know Grams is really
excited about her boy being here. They were already planning on a
big party, but now, I think it just turned into something
bigger.”

“That’s good, Gunner. How was your honeymoon?
Did y’all have fun?”

The smile that lit up Gunner’s face was so
infectious. I had to smile back at him.

“It was amazing. I never in my life thought
that I would be as happy as I am with Ellie. We had a blast. Did
you know that she is deathly afraid to swim in the ocean?” Gunner
said with a laugh.

I laughed with him shaking my head. “I
thought she would be okay with it since the water is so clear. She
won’t swim if she can’t see in the water.”

Gunner nodded his head and then looked at me.
His smile faded as he glanced down at the ground.

“Jeff, I’m sorry this shit is happening with
you and Ari. I really want y’all to just be happy. I really think
you need to talk to Ari and help her understand the position you
are in. I’ve never seen Ari so emotional, and it really freaked out
Ellie. She told me that since she’s known Ari, she has never seen
her cry that much. Grams ended up taking Ari to her bedroom.

“Fuck. She’s been so emotional the last two
weeks. I really fucked up when I told her she was being a bitch
about it.”

“Oh, holy shit, Jeff.” Gunner pushed his
hands through his hair as he stood up. He started to walk toward
Big Roy’s stall. “Dude, you need to stop blaming this on Ari. Man
up, asshole, and go talk to her before something else happens. If
you keep your feelings in, Jeff…you’re gonna lose her. I’m pretty
sure that if you do lose her again, you might not have another
chance at getting her back.”

I grabbed a handful of oats and walked up
next to Gunner. I knew he was right. I needed to talk to Ari, and I
needed to do it soon.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ARI

It felt so damn good to just
cry. I hadn’t wanted to fall apart in front of Gunner because I
knew he would tell Jeff, but I couldn’t help myself.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
This whole Rebecca pregnancy thing was really
throwing me for a loop. Emma brought me into her room, so we could
be alone.

After I got my crying fit over and done with,
I looked up at Emma, who was just sitting there, waiting for me to
get my shit together.

“Ari, honey, I need to ask you
something.”

“Of course Emma, ask me anything.” I said,
trying to give her a smile.

“Arianna, are you pregnant?”

What the hell? Holy shit, where did that
come from?

I had to laugh. “No, Emma.
Rebecca is the one who was is pregnant.” I said as I looked down at
my stomach.
Wait. When was the last time I
had my period? Holy fuck!
I didn’t get it
last month, but I thought that was just from the stress of Ellie’s
wedding and thinking about Jeff asking me to marry him.
I’m on the pill. I can’t be pregnant. Oh. My.
God.
I missed a few pills a month or so
back.

I snapped my head back up at Emma. She was
smiling at me like she knew already. Her powers seemed to know no
bounds.

I gasped. “Oh. My. God.”

“Ari, I need you and the girls to go into
town.”

“What for? Why now? Emma! You can’t plant
that seed in my head and then expect me to just go buy you butter
in town for Christ’s sake!”

Emma started to laugh as she wrapped her arm
around my shoulder, holding me close.

“Ari, the moment you stepped out of that
truck today, I knew. You have a glow about you, darlin’. Your skin
looks beautiful. The fact that you are so emotional is another dead
giveaway. I need you, Ellie, and Heather to go into town and buy a
pregnancy test.”

Holy hell!
My head was spinning. Just then, there was a knock
on the door. Emma called out for whomever it was to come in. The
door opened, and it was Jeff.
Oh
shit.
I looked at Emma with a pleading look
in my eyes. She smiled at me and nodded her head.

Standing up, Emma said, “I’ll leave you two
to talk.”

As she walked out the door,
she gave me one last look with a smile. I tried to smile back, but
now, my whole body was shaking. I looked at Jeff.
No, this is not happening.
I still needed to be tested for the Fragile X gene. I couldn’t
even think straight. How will Jeff feel about me being
pregnant?

“Ari, baby, we need to talk.” Sitting down
next to me, Jeff ran his hands through his hair and down his face.
He was clearly frustrated.

His cell phone started ringing. That was
weird because it was so damn hard to get a signal out here. He
pulled it out, and I saw Rebecca’s name on the screen. I instantly
felt sick. I stood up to leave but he grabbed my arm and pulled me
back down.

“Damn it, Ari! Please stop running away from
me.” Jeff sent the call to voice mail and tossed his phone behind
him onto the bed.

“I’m not running Jeff. I just don’t want to
be in the same room when you talk to her.”

“Well, I’m talking to you, not her. I need
you to understand something, Ari. You need to know the reason why I
feel the need to be there for Rebecca.”

I started to laugh. “I didn’t realize you had
a need to be there for her, Jeff. I thought you were doing it for
the baby, and that’s all,” I said with as much sarcasm as I
could.

“That’s not what I meant,
Ari. I’m not there for
her
. I’m there for this baby. I don’t
want to start off being a dead-beat father by not being there for
this baby. I don’t want to be like my dad.”

“I get that, Jeff. I really do. But you don’t
even know if this baby is yours! I mean, you drop everything for
her, and it always turns out to be some excuse just for her to get
you to be with her. The baby isn’t even born yet! What’s it going
to be like when it is born?”

“When he is.”

“What?”

“The baby....you said it.
It’s a boy, so I was just saying when
he
is born.”

I just rolled my eyes at him. “Fine, Jeff,
you do what you feel like you need to do. I’m getting sick of
talking about this. I have too many other things that I need to
deal with. I can’t worry about Rebecca and her twisted ways.”