Page 9 of Rancher's Pride
He sighed and hugged me tighter. “Want me to call Mom?”
“Yeah.” I squeaked out, my nose burning again while more tears threatened to fall.
After all these years, would she be happy to see me?Be angry with me for leaving and all the secrets I was bringing home with me?
I had too much baggage. I should have stayed gone, or gone to wherever my sisters had ended up.
My heart ached with the need to see my mom. I hadn’t stopped long enough to thing about it over the last five years but I missed her smile, her gentleness, and her love. Whatever her reaction to me coming home will be, I’m going to have to deal with it later.
CHAPTER SEVEN
NASH
“Nash, I need help.” I watched Nora fly around the room like she’d done this a million times. “Nash, stand down here with me, please.” The room spun, and I was sure I’d heard her wrong.
Did she just ask me to stand at Fallon’s feet?
“Nope.” Shaking my head, I fought the urge for the world to go black. There was no way I was waking up to Kipp, slapping my face. Oh, he’d like that for sure. A chance to smack me around with a valid excuse. “Can’t do that”
Nora turned and stared me down. She was the nicest woman I’d ever met, perfect for my best friend, but when that switch flipped we all went running, and well, the switch had definitely flipped. “Nash, I can’t do this alone. It’s just like delivering a calf.” If she could have killed me with her eyes, I'd havebeen on the floor already. “And you’ve done that more times than you can even remember.”
“She’s a woman, Nora, not a cow. It’s not the same.” I took a step back and had decided I was a bobble head because I was still shaking my head no.
Nora moved closer to me and grabbed my shirt, and pulled me toward her. “Hells bells Nash, you’ve probably seen a million vaginas. What’s one more?” Pulling me back to her side, she didn’t let me go.
“I’ve never seen this one. It feels wrong. It’s Fallon.” I’d known her since the day she was born, and I’d loved her almost that long. Not like I loved Tayla and Lark. They were like sisters, but something was always different with Fallon. We had a unique connection.
“Fuck you Nash, you’ve seen this one too. Don’t pretend to be all high and mighty.” Fallon propped herself up on her elbows and glared at me.
“You what?” Kipp bellowed from the doorway. He stood in the doorway, his bulky frame blocking almost all the light and his eyes shooting bullets at me. If he’d been pawing at the ground like a bull getting ready to charge, it wouldn’t have surprised me in the slightest.
“Kipp Miller Jr. if you don’t get your ass out of this room, I will whoop it myself.” Nora shouted as she pointed to the door.
His glare turned from me and softened as he looked at his fiancé. They’d had a wild ride getting together, but their son Cooper and the baby she would have in the spring changed him. He’d been grumpy andornery, but with her he was a totally different man. “You sassing me?” He arched his brow, crossed his arms, and leaned against the door, trying to hide his smirk.
“Fucking right, I’m sassing you. Close the damn door on your way out.” Nora was the only person on the planet who would get away with talking to Kipp like that. If it had been me or one of our other business partners, we would have been in a fistfight, but not Nora. He just nodded and looked back at me.
“We’re talking about this later, Nash.” His statement didn’t scare me. We’d had fist fights for things less important than this, but this was taking being a territorial brother a little far.
“Yeah, no you’re not. It has nothing to do with you, Kipp. I didn’t yell at you when you slept with Hattie,” Fallon said through gritted teeth, as she breathed through another contraction.
“I didn’t sleep with Hattie. I made out with her and that was ten years ago.” He looked at Nora, smiling anxiously.
“Yeah, well, she was crushed, and she was my best friend. Consider us even. Now get out.” She flopped back down on the bed, trying to catch her breath.
“Nash is like your brother, Fallon. It’s gross.” Kipp frowned, and I looked at him like he had five heads. “Seriously, why?”
“Kipp, he was never like a brother. You just didn’t pay attention. Yes, I slept with your best friend. If youdon’t mind, I’m not really in the mood to discuss this. Out!”
I looked at Kipp who was still seething, especially after Fallon’s declaration. “Whatever fun we had is over. I’m not here to do anything other than keep my kids safe.” She looked over to me, her eyes filled with sadness and a sparkle of mischief. She might be telling Kipp what we had was over, but even with a sweaty brow and gritted teeth, something in the air told me this was just the beginning of the shake up Fallon had planned for my life.
“Are we seriously discussing ex-lovers while you’re having a baby, with no doctor?” Nora exclaimed as she looked at Fallon, before she threw her hands in the air. “This family is nuts.” She shook her head.
“This isn’t over.” Kipp bellowed, pointing at me.
“Yes, it is. You heard your sister. Get. Out.” Nora had marched over to Kipp and pushed him out of the room, slamming the door as he stood there grinning at her. I swear he was the only man I’d ever known that enjoyed pissing the woman he was sleeping with off this much.
The door flew open, and I was sure Kipp was ready to spar again, but Julie stood in the doorway. Her slight frame somehow filled the opening. “Mama.” Fallon sounded like she was five again. Her voice was tiny, tired, and relieved to see her mom.
