“Before I met you, I’d been knocked around by life a bunch, and so had you. We both had every reason to believe that happily ever afters weren’t meant for us. But if we’d kept trying to protect ourselves from getting hurt, we’d have missed out on all of this.” I waved a hand to indicate the orchard I loved, the man I hopelessly adored. “Our life happened because we took risks. Because we kept hoping and let our hearts be open to it. Because we worked hard and stuck together.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right.” Webb blew out a long, slow breath and threaded our fingers together. “I’ve been an asshole, haven’t I?”
“No, not an asshole, per se, but…”
Green eyes full of regret met mine. “But I let myself get paralyzed by fear, and I pushed you away.” He looked out at the pasture. “I’m scared we’ll be disappointed again—it seems like all I hear these days are the horror stories—but I tried to keep it to myself. I thought by not talking about myfears, I was being strong for you and not ruining your excitement. I was specifically tryingnotto hurt you. But I did, didn’t I?”
He was so serious. So solid and dependable. So verygood. And so very misguided.
“You pulling away hurts me more than anything, Webb.” I shifted to look at him more fully. “Our life is amazing, but it’s never going to be perfect. There are going to be bad times. Heartbreaks, like the ones we’ve had. But I don’t need you to be strong and protect me from them. I need you to be beside me, sharing the bad timesandthe good ones.” I took a deep breath and admitted, “I thought maybe you regretted trying again.”
Webb’s eyes widened in horror. “Ah, baby, no. Fuck, no. Never. I… I want this. More than I can even explain. I want to grow our family, and I love those babies so much already. I just… I don’t know how to reconcile myself to it, you know? Loving them and feeling so fucking helpless that something could happen to them before they’re even here. You’d think I’d be used to that feeling after having Aiden, but this is different. It’s like we’re an extra step removed, you know? It’s hard to believe that it’s really happening, that it’s really going to be okay.”
“I feel the same. But seeing the ultrasound pictures—” I hesitated, half expecting Webb to throw me off his lap and go find a chore that needed done, but his gaze remained steady. “It made me fall in love with them even more. They’rereal, Webb. Little arms and legs and fingers?—”
“And noses?” Webb supplied, showing hehadbeen listening earlier. He smiled slowly. “I think… No, IknowI’d like to see that. And then… and then maybe we can start talking about the nursery. We’ve only got five months to plan, right?”
Unexpected tears made my eyes burn and my visionwaver. “Right! Hardly any time at all. So maybe we should tell everyone that they’re coming?”
Webb nodded. “You’re right. We should— Wait.” He froze for a second, and then he scooped me off his lap, set me on my feet, and grabbed my hand. “I have something to show you. Something you’re really going to love. Let’s go upstairs right now.”
“Is the thing your… bugle?” I demanded. “Because if so, I’m going to need at least ten more minutes to recover first.”
Webb threw back his head and laughed, sounding lighter and freer than he had in months. Then he gave me another of those Webb Sunday kisses that made my head spin and my dick perk up more than I’d thought possible.
“Make it five minutes,” I said breathlessly, my lips still clinging to his. “Possibly two if you keep kissing me.”
He laughed again. “Is this what Knox and Gage meant about gettingverylucky with the rooster? Because if so, Pecky is definitely double-underline-worthy,” he said.
Then he brought me upstairs and proved it.
CHAPTER SIX
WEBB
The worst partabout hosting a secret baby-announcement-cookout for the bunch of weirdos who had all, at one time or another, called Sunday farmhouse home wasn’t the food prep or the tidying.
It wasn’t the chaos or the noise, which were basically family traditions.
It definitely wasn’t that my siblings and their partners felt relaxed and comfortable enough to kick off their shoes, fetch their own drinks, and flop on our couch.
It wasn’t even that I had to try to be sociable, when what I’d really wanted to do after a day in the orchard was bring my husband upstairs and continue making up for the week of sex I’d denied us.
It was that my uncle didn’t trust me to man my own damn grill.
“Back up, firebug,” Drew said, hip-checking me out of the way and snatching my tongs from my hand. “You’re not burning another batch of drumsticks on my watch.”
“That happened one time!” I protested.
“At least twice that I recall.” Jack—my now-former bestfriend—popped open a beer and took a seat next to Hawk on the porch stairs.
“More like half a dozen,” my traitor sister, Emma, said from her perch on the porch railing, daring to sound aggrieved.
“Face it, Webb, you’re kind of a repeat offender.” Gage looked up from his phone with a pitying glance. “Drew’s taking the tongs for your own good.”
I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. “You know, that reminds me, Gage, I have the most amazing thing to show you over by the barn. Come see!”
Gage started to rise, but Knox leaned over and put a proprietary hand on his thigh, keeping Gage beside him on the porch swing. “Don’t fall for it, baby,” Knox said mildly. “The ‘amazing’ thing Webb wants to show you is the cow pasture. He’s going to pretend he can understand what the cows are saying and tell you he’s uncovered their plots.” Knox paused before adding, “Again.”
