“In both cases, I go to the emergency room with you and forget about the bar bunnies,” he answered. “Here’s another scenario. We decide to get into a real relationship, not a false one, have three more kids, and then you leave me. Will you still let me be a part of my children’s lives?”
“After what you’ve done for me, I could never shut you out of our kids’ lives,” she told him. “But why would I leave you after we have four babies together?”
“Because you wake up one morning, take a look at me, and figure that you could have done so much better,” he answered. “We could play this game all day, darlin’, but why don’t you get dressed. Let’s go get some ice cream, or maybe even a burger and fries, and let this all soak in for an hour or so.”
Alana nodded, but she still had a lump the size of an orange in her throat. Knowing that she was pregnant changed everything. She couldn’t tell her dad about the lies, and she damn sure couldn’t call off the wedding. All she could think about when she stepped behind the curtain to get dressed was that she was going to have one helluva time writing vows.
“Hey, did you remember that Daisy Days is this weekend?” Pax asked from the other side of the curtain. “Memorial Day weekend is coming right up, and then our wedding party will all be here in the middle of the next week. Think we should invite them to come a little early so they can enjoy the festival?”
How could he talk about a dumb old Texas celebration when her whole world had spun completely out of control? “Let’s think about it tomorrow. I imagine that they’ll be doing good to get away from their ranches for the rehearsal dinner and wedding, though.”
“Fair enough,” Pax agreed. “We gave our hired hands the weekend off. What are y’all doing over at your place?”
“Same thing.” She pulled on her bikini underpants and splayed out the fingers of both hands on her stomach. If she had inherited enough of her mother’s genes, she’d go back into shape fairly soon after the baby came, but there would be stretch marks. Few women got through a whole pregnancy without those battle scars. Would Pax even be able to look at her with her belly button turned inside out and all those ugly purple marks on her belly?
“I guess we won’t be ridin’ the Ferris wheel at the carnival, will we?” he asked.
Was he trying to take her mind or his off the fact that they were expecting a baby? Alana wondered. Learning that the two of them were going to have a baby had to have been as much of a shock to Pax as it had been to her. That had to be why he was jumping from one topic to another.
“No, and we won’t be having a beer either, but we can eat funnel cakes and fried pickles,” she answered.
“And cotton candy, and I’ll even buy you a daisy to wear in your hair,” he offered.
“That’s right sweet.” She pushed the curtain back and stepped out into the room. His eyes started at the toes of her cowboy boots and traveled up to her eyes. “Man, you are one beautiful woman.”
“You won’t be saying that come Christmas when I’m only about six weeks from delivery. I’ll be looking like a baby elephant or maybe a beached whale, and I won’t even be able to bend down and tie my shoes,” she said.
Pax stood up and pulled her into his arms. “Darlin’, you’ll always be gorgeous in my eyes, and I’ll tie your shoes for you any day of the week.”
“I’ll be holdin’ you to that,” she said.
“It’s a promise,” he told her, “and I’ll even seal it with a kiss.”
* * *
When their lips met, Pax’s knees went more than a little bit weak and he could feel her heart thumping against his chest. He had kissed a lot of women and gone to bed with his fair share, but a kiss from any of them had never affected him like this—up until that moment not even Alana’s. Did that mean he was falling in love with her, in a real sense?
She took a short step back, ending the kiss, and smiled at him. “Okay, cowboy, you promised me food, so while we eat let’s go talk about how we’re going to tell Daddy this