that he made it so easy to love him back that it wasn’t going to be a problem. He loved me in such an open-hearted, all-or-nothing way that I couldn’t help but join him in that vulnerability.
Who knew the rewards of vulnerability could be so high?
We did so much of what we’d always done. Eating together, making music, or just sitting in the comfortable silence. When he rubbed my feet I was now hyper aware of the undercurrent of attraction between us, but his gentle care still filled me up and set me at ease.
When I geared up to call Louisa to ask her to be at my baby’s birth, he was sitting across from me, a silent support.
Louisa picked up on the third ring, her face popping up on the video call, the long brown head of one of her horses nudging her shoulder.
“Libby!” she said in delighted surprise. “How are you, dear? Is everything okay with the baby?”
“Yes, everything is fine. I’m doing good. What about you?” I asked, the awkwardness of our strange relationship rearing up. We got along fine, but we’d never been close, and I somehow felt like I had less claim on her since Jonas was gone, but it also felt like she had more claim on me since I was going to have her grandbaby, so I had no idea where that left us. But after how wonderful she’d been when she visited me after the disastrous photo, I knew I wanted to try. My list of family was too small as it was.
“Oh, I’m just plugging away as usual.” She stepped out of the barn and into the sunshine.
“So,” I dove in. “Louisa, I was wondering something.”
“What’s that?” She smiled, and that smile put me at ease. She didn’t look anxious or suspicious. She just looked happy to hear from me.
“I was wondering if maybe you’d want to come down here, ya know, when I have the baby? I know it’s a long way,” I said quickly, not wanting to pressure her. “So I understand if you can’t, but if—”
“Oh, Libby!” she interrupted with a hand to her heart. “I would love to.”
“Really?”
“Of course. That would just…mean the world to me.” She swiped at her tears. “You know, I’ve been telling Kent how much I wanted to be there and he kept telling me that I should just talk to you about it, but I didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself.”
I shook my head. “You are not a nuisance, ever.”
“In that case, would you mind terribly if I come a couple weeks early? I don’t want to intrude, but I would just hate to miss it.”
“Can you be away that long?”
“For this, I will figure it out.”
Sean suddenly came to sit by me, popping his head into the frame so Louisa could see him. “Thank you so much, Louisa. I know this means a lot to her. She tries to hide it, but she’s pretty nervous about the whole thing.”
Louisa shook off the bit of surprise that Sean’s appearance had created. “Well, of course she is,” she said matter-of-factly. “Every new mother is nervous. Shoot. Every experienced mother is nervous. It’s a challenge unlike any other, but I’ll be there to help you through, okay?”
I nodded, my grin almost too big to allow me to speak. “Okay.”
“You two have a good evening. I’ve got a flight to arrange.”
I laughed and waved goodbye.
♪♫♪
Sean and I had discussed the option of having him come with me to my OB appointments, but we agreed that the likelihood of it turning into a circus was too high. We were both annoyed by the necessity of that decision, but it was just another example of the price we paid for Sean’s fame. Nick accompanied me instead, and we had become close friends out of necessity. When you have a man coming to OB appointments with you and sitting in the waiting room, you have to find stuff to talk about. I mostly plied him with questions about his girlfriend and teased him about how being around me and my pregnant self was good practice for when he became a family man. Turns out, I could make tough-guy Nick blush. It was like having a new toy.
Of course, our getting along meant that there’d been an article or two with photos of us laughing or smiling, suggesting that I was getting cozy with my bodyguard. I was indignant at first, but as soon as Nick told