Dylan hadn’t expected to choke up while unboxing the Christmas ornaments. He hadn’t realized how many his uncle had from Dylan’s childhood. The realization his mother hadn’t taken any of them with her to California surprised and upset him. Then again, she’d left town the day after his father’s funeral. She’d put the ranch up for sale weeks later and that was when he and his brothers realized she never planned to return to Saddle Ridge.
“Some of these look really old.” Emma carefully unwrapped a wad of tissue paper, revealing a delicate pale pink glass ornament.
“That was my grandmother’s. No, wait. It was my great grandmother’s on my mom’s side.” Dylan sighed. “I remember my mom hanging them high up on the tree when we were kids, for fear one of us would knock them off.”
“Five boys must have been a handful.” Emma rubbed her baby belly. “I’m still trying to grasp the concept of having one child, let alone that many.”
“You’ll do just fine.” Dylan sat on the couch and reached out for her hand, pulling Emma onto his lap. “I have faith in you.”
“I can’t even choose a name. I thought I had one, but the more I say Vienne Sheridan, the more it sounds like a hotel in France.”
Dylan couldn’t help laughing. “It kind of does.” She swatted him and attempted to squirm off his lap, but he wasn’t letting her go. At least not any time soon. “You could always name her Montana.”
“What would be the significance?” She reached for another wrapped ornament. “She wasn’t conceived here and she won’t be born here.”
Dylan’s heart dropped into his stomach like a bowling ball in a vacuum. Granted, they hadn’t settled on anything permanent, or even discussed it further, but he’d thought she would have at least considered the possibility of moving to Montana if things progressed with their relationship. He realized they had only given it a two-week timeline, but even he had hoped it would last longer than that.
“I guess you’ve made up your mind.”
Emma stilled. “About what?” She turned in his lap to face him. “Us?”
He nodded.
“Our two weeks have just begun. I don’t think that’s really fair to ask me. My home is in Chicago and so is everything I own. At some point, I have to go back. I may not have a definitive birthing plan, but my doctor and my parents are in Illinois, so yes, I intend to give birth on my home turf.” Emma sat the ornament on the coffee table. “Does that bother you?”
“I don’t know.” Dylan eased her off him and onto the couch. “I guess it does. After last night and... I don’t know. I kind of wanted to be there.”
“For the birth?” Emma’s brows rose. “Seriously?”
Dylan had never felt more like a fool. He had no business being anywhere near the delivery room, nor did he have any claim to her child. “It was a thought. A bad one, apparently.”
She reached for his hand as tears trailed down her cheeks. “Dylan.”
“Emma, what is it?” He knelt before her. “Don’t cry, baby.”
She struggled to regain her composure. “I never thought,” she said between sniffles, “that another man would want to be there for my baby that way.”
Now it was Dylan’s turn to breathe a sigh of relief. “Honey, babies are the most innocent creatures on earth. Just because she was conceived with someone else doesn’t mean I don’t have the capacity to love her.”
The realization of his words almost knocked him out cold. He reached for the coffee table behind him to steady himself. He had done the one thing he swore he’d never do again. He’d fully accepted another man’s child, and he hadn’t even met the butter bean yet.
“Are you okay?” Emma asked, concern etched across her face. “I think I need to get you some water.” She rose from the couch.
Dylan grabbed hold of her hand before she could walk away. “I don’t need water.” He needed something much, much stronger. “The past twenty-four hours have caught me off-guard. Your presence in my life was a complete surprise. When I’m with you, I feel like a super hero one minute and a lovesick teenager the next. You’ve changed my life in ways I hadn’t thought possible. You opened my heart after it had been welded shut. I’ve devoted so much time to this ranch, I had forgotten what living feels like.”
“I don’t know what to tell you beyond today.” Emma remained standing. “I feel guilty in so many ways.”
“Why?”
“I aggressively sought out this ranch and targeted your uncle. In the process, I disrupted your life along with everybody else’s who works here. I ignored my own child’s needs because of this deal. I should be working on a way to convince you to sell instead of being here decorating the Christmas tree. But the truth is, I would rather be here than any other place in the world.”
“I feel the same way.” Dylan stood to meet her.
“I’ve gone from workaholic to I need a break in a matter of days. And while I’m sure a lot of that had to do with my labor scare, there is a whole other side of me that’s tired. I’m tired of the uncertainty and the stress. I’m tired of constantly trying to get ahead. And even though I’ve been trying to change your mind about the ranch over the past four days, there’s been a sense of relief knowing you never will. There’s also deep loss I still haven’t wrapped my head around. By accepting your refusal to sell, I accept that I failed. And that failure directly affects my child. That’s a hard pill to swallow. And while I’m learning to love it here, I don’t think I can honestly say I’m ready to give up walking up and down three flights of stairs to get to my apartment. Or hailing a cab to buy groceries. Or listening to my neighbor’s kid learn how to play the saxophone. I love Chicago. I love the noise, but I don’t miss going into my office, or any of that stress. I love more about Saddle Ridge than I thought I would. And now I have a decision to make of my own. And it’s a tough one because I fell hard for a cowboy.”
“Really, you fell for me?” Dylan attempted to lighten the burden she carried with a bit of levity.
“Look, I realize I’m unmarried and pregnant and we just had sex on a sleigh, but I assure you, I don’t make a habit out of sleeping around. I’ve had three relationships in my life, this being the third. I don’t take anything that has happened between us lightly, but I have to ask myself repeatedly how much of it is real and how much are my hormones running in overdrive?”
“I’m real and what I feel for you is real. I know it’s fast and unexpected but, honey, we can’t ignore what’s in front of us.”
“You’re right. I’m having a baby. There’s no getting around it. I’d love a father for my child, but she doesn’t need one to thrive. I’d love to have a man in my life to lean on when things get tough, but I can get along just fine without one. And I’d love to have somebody to grow old with and watch the butter bean grow up and have children of her own, but I can survive on my own.”
“So what... You’re resolved to be alone?”
“I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying for this to work I have to want you...not need you and I’m having a hard time distinguishing the two at the moment.”
“I’m not.” Dylan lifted her chin to him. “I want you because I’m attracted to you and I admire your strength and determination even when the odds are against you. And I need you because you’ve awoken me to the possibilities of tomorrow. Possibilities that only exist with you by my side. I could have asked Harlan to decorate the tree with me. He’s one of the most sentimental men I know. We could have shared a beer or two and talked about old times, but I asked you. I needed the strength only you could provide.”
“You don’t even know me.” Emma’s voice was barely a whisper.
“I know enough.” Dylan bent to taste her lips. Her body trembled beneath his touch as his fingers traveled down her arms and to her palms, entwining his hands with hers. He slowly lowered to his knees, and kissed her belly. “And I want to know you, butter bean. I want to see you grow up strong like your mother. She’s a force to be reckoned with. Pay attention, little one. Follow your mom’s lead and you can conquer the world.”
Emma placed her hands on either side of his face, urging him to stand. “You sweet man. You sweet, sweet man.”
Whatever beat ferociously deep within his heart was foreign to him. He’d experienced love before and it hadn’t even come close. Whatever this was, he couldn’t let it go without giving it everything he had. The calendar be damned. He refused to put a timeline on their relationship. However fast or whatever time they had meant nothing. All that mattered were Emma and her baby.
* * *
BY THE TIME Dylan had dropped her off at the ranch, it was well after noon. She managed to sneak in the side door without anyone seeing her. Doing the walk-of-shame wearing yesterday’s clothes is always bad. Doing the walk-of-shame when pregnant was the ultimate worst.
She fumbled with the key in the lock of her room, anxious to get it open before she had to explain her whereabouts. Once inside, she collapsed against the door. Dating took a lot out of a pregnant woman.
Emma smiled when she saw the Christmas tree on the dresser. She’d never look at one the same way again. After making love twice on the way to get a tree, followed by making love all morning under it, decking the halls now had a significantly new meaning.
She crossed the room to the bed, admiring the tiny outfits she’d purchased the day before while she was in town. They had been too precious to pack away last night. They were the first clothes she had purchased for...for... She needed a name.
Emma sat on the edge of the bed and held up a tiny red and white onesie. Technically, it was meant for Christmas, but her due date was February 11, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Her daughter had to have something red to wear for the holiday. She’d blown whatever baby clothing budget she’d set. Amazingly, she didn’t care.
Watching her finances was still important, but it was time to bend the rules a little. She’d been so rigid and laser focused on every detail in her life, she’d forgotten to enjoy her pregnancy. It felt good to let go. A little too good. She could really get used to living in Montana. The people, the views, the stress-free lifestyle...the lack of a job.
Reality check.
The funny thing was, the more Dylan talked about the ranch, the more she wanted to be a part of it. She had some money saved. It had originally been her job-loss contingency plan, then it morphed into the butter bean’s college fund. While it was enough to carry her for a year in Chicago, it wasn’t nearly enough to partner with Dylan.
Was that even an option? Every day she saw more and more possibilities for the ranch. In the same breath, with the increased proposal from her company, Dylan could have a bigger and better ranch. A place where all his employees could still work for him. But was it enough for him...and her? Silver Bells had begun to grow on her. Imagine that. The big city girl contemplating a move to the country. Her mother would die.
* * *
AFTER A DAY of shopping, a stop by town hall to pull the plats on Silver Bells and the neighboring ranch, followed by a chocolate shake and an order of fries, Emma found her second wind to do more baby shopping. She saw a crib and dresser set she loved in a baby boutique, but it wasn’t practical to buy and send back to Chicago. Even if she did wind up moving to Montana, it wouldn’t be until after the baby was born. Until she had a steady income to move toward, she wasn’t going anywhere.
She passed a toy store, and thought about Billy Johnson’s four children who wouldn’t have their father home for Christmas. Her budget could go hide under the covers because she was buying those kids some presents. By the time she pulled back into the ranch, her rental car was full. Front seat, backseat and the trunk. Granted, it wasn’t a very big car, but she’d done some heavy damage to her credit card.
Sandy and Melinda helped bring her packages inside. Between the women working at the ranch and some of the female guests, they spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by the fire in the great room discussing babies, men and all the mistakes they’d made with both.
“How do you know when you’ve found the right man and he’s worth taking a leap of faith with?” Emma asked the group of women.
“You mean, how do you know you’ve found the right cowboy?” Sandy then proceeded to tell everyone there was a Christmas romance brewing.
“I knew there had to be something going on when he insisted you ride up front in the snowcat,” one of the guests said. “We could’ve made room for you in the back. It would have been a little tight, but there was room.”
“He certainly is a fine specimen of a man,” another said. “If I were thirty years younger and fifty pounds lighter, I’d be all over him. Emma, I’d be your biggest competition.”
Everyone laughed until the man of the hour himself appeared.
“Wow, I’m so glad my employees are so fast at their jobs they have time to sit around and chat with our guests.”
Emma hadn’t wanted anyone to get in trouble. She’d done enough damage to the ranch as it was. “Hey now, they’re just on break. They deserve a little relaxation after putting up with you for all these years.”
“Yeah, don’t be such a grouch.” Sandy jabbed Dylan’s arm. “You have a baby on the way. You should be happy.”
“Sandy! I can’t believe you said that.” Emma turned to Dylan, pulling him into a quiet corner. “I swear I had nothing to do with that.”
Dylan shrugged. “No worries. I’ve known Sandy since she was born. She likes to tease. That’s how she landed Luke.” The women’s laughter reverberated behind them. “I see you did some shopping. Is this all for the baby?” He picked up a train set. “Don’t you think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself?”
“The pink and blue bags are for the butter bean. The rest are for the Johnson kids.”
“Emma, that’s a lot of stuff. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did. And let’s just leave it at that.” Emma didn’t want to rehash her guilt. She had enough of it to last a lifetime.
“How would you like to join me for dinner at Harlan and Belle’s house tonight? You already know my brother, but I would like you to meet my sister-in-law. My brother Garrett and his two kids are coming in Christmas Eve. I thought it would be nice to spend some time with Belle and Harlan away from the ranch. Besides, I am sure you and Belle can spend hours talking baby.”
“Taking me to your brother’s house for dinner almost sounds official.” Emma playfully winked at him.
“You’re right, it does.”
She laughed at his comment, only Dylan wasn’t laughing with her. He looked painfully serious. Oh. My. God. He was making them official. Was she ready for that?