Claiming The Rancher's Heir (Gold Valley Vineyards #2) - Maisey Yates Page 0,48

an essential part of who she was.

She did this job for the winery. But she was also a sister. A daughter. A wife. Soon to be a mother.

She was interested in other things, and Creed had reminded her of that.

This event, and what happened at the winery, was no longer the highest-stakes thing happening in her world.

She wondered what kind of mother she would be. And she was worried about being a good wife.

About her husband’s feelings for her.

This was satisfying. And it mattered.

But it didn’t feel half so important or potentially fatal as it would have only a few short months ago.

And suddenly she thought maybe the transformation she’d been going through wasn’t so much about becoming a different version of herself, but expanding what it meant to be Wren Maxfield.

Wren Cooper.

A woman who could want more than one thing, care about more than just her father’s good opinion and this winery.

A woman whose definition of love could expand to accommodate a storm.

A woman who could be proud of what she had done all by herself.

It was a relief.

Because she had been worried. Worried that she might have to break all that she was into pieces and scatter them over the sea, bury them there, so she could become something completely and entirely new and foreign to herself.

But she didn’t have to do that. She didn’t.

She could just be.

She didn’t have to worry about whether or not Cricket approved, or if it made any sense to anyone else that she had married her business rival.

That she loved him.

Her life belonged to her now. And she imagined it would change shape a great many more times before it was over.

But they would be shapes formed by her hands, her heart.

And the people she loved.

No, she couldn’t anticipate the landscape and how it would look in the end.

But whatever it was, she knew she would find a way to navigate it, and if necessary, find ways to change it again.

Because she wasn’t easily broken.

She was strong.

And she was trying to find a way to make her bravery match that strength. Her instinct was to continue to protect herself, but she didn’t think the answers lay there. After all, it had been the strangest choices, the bravest choices, that had brought her here to begin with.

From deciding to join forces with her enemy, to kissing him. Deciding to raise her baby. Agreeing to marry him.

There was that honesty again.

Honesty took so much bravery.

Not fearlessness, but bravery indeed.

The party was packed full of people, and everything went wonderfully. She could feel the bonds she was building between her family business and these other wonderful family-run operations here in Gold Valley. She felt connected. In the same way she had felt disconnected that day she’d driven to town and realized all the things she had missed here, she could feel herself growing roots in the place that she had been planted from the beginning.

A place she had always felt might not be for her.

She had anticipated this cross-promotion being a boon for her business, but she had never expected all of this could matter so much to her personally.

Emerson was standing at the station for Maxfield, with her extremely handsome husband, Holden, at her side. Lindy was still standing with her husband.

And Wren made a decision, then and there.

Rather than going over to the station for Maxfield Vineyards, she went to the one that had been designated for Cowboy Wines. And she took her spot next to Creed.

She had no loyalty to a label.

She had a loyalty to this man. To all that he was, and more than that, all that they were together.

Yes, Maxfield would always be her family winery.

But Creed was her family now.

Creed was her heart.

Such an easy decision to make. Because now, she knew exactly who she was.

Eleven

Creed didn’t know what the hell had gotten into Wren tonight, but it was as unsettling as it was arousing. She had been glued to his side the entire evening, tormenting him in that emerald dress that clung to her expanding curves. He loved the way her body was changing. The way her waist was getting thicker, the slight roundness low on her stomach speaking to the life growing inside her.

And, of course, he was enjoying the fullness in other parts of her curves.

She was beautiful in every way, but he was especially enjoying her current beauty because he was responsible for the changes. There was something intensely sexy and satisfying about that.