“Not me. Devyn. They just found out it’s a boy.”
Lora pales. It’s like she got hit by a stun gun. She quickly tries to recover. “Uh, well, congratulations.” She shoves the picture at Andie and turns to leave. “I forgot something in the car.”
“What was that about?” Mom asks. “The woman looked utterly shaken.”
“That was about her hopes and dreams being crushed,” Quinn says. “Lora has been after Aaron since the day she set foot on Devil’s Horn Ranch.”
“Oh, the poor girl.”
I wave it off. “She’ll get over it.”
“I don’t know,” Dad says. “We Pearce men are kind of unforgettable.”
Mom swats him on the back of the head, and we all laugh and then they kiss. “Okay, your father may have a point.”
I pull Devyn into my arms. “What about you? Do you think we’re unforgettable?”
“Definitely. What was your name again?”
Chapter Thirty-eight
Devyn
I wake up feeling strange. The slight queasiness I felt early on has long since gone. In fact, for being twenty weeks pregnant, I feel I’ve done pretty well. I’ve only gained eight pounds. I never really had morning sickness. I’m just now to the point of needing new clothes. The main side effect of all this is how horny I’ve been. Like all the time horny. When I ride a horse—horny. When I go over bumpy roads in the truck—horny. I turn and stare at Aaron—you guessed it.
I love watching him sleep. Usually, he’s up before I am—at the crack of dawn. But since I moved in, he’s been sleeping better. There’s a calmness about him I’ve never seen. It gives me hope that everything really will be all right.
I feel strange again, like I’m having gas bubbles or a nervous twitch. I gasp when I realize what’s happening. Casey must be moving. I still completely, hand on stomach, not wanting to speak or move a muscle, and wait for it to happen again. When it does, I can’t help shedding happy tears. I lie here and revel in the amazing feeling of my child tumbling inside me.
“I’ve never seen you look more beautiful,” Aaron says.
“He’s moving. Casey is moving.”
“I know. I’ve been watching you.” He sidles up next to me and puts his hand over mine. “Where is it?”
“It’s hard to say really. Just an allover feeling. It’s so subtle that I almost didn’t feel it.”
He moves his hand from place to place, stopping and waiting.
“Can you feel anything?”
“No.”
“I’m sure you will soon. The book says it will take other people longer to feel it.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “The book?”
“I may have started reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting.”
He traps me underneath him. “Enjoying your reading cave, huh?”
My old bedroom in the lodge has become my private getaway until the addition in the cabin is finished. I read there. I sew. Occasionally, I even nap. I keep an ultrasound picture in a frame on the nightstand and sometimes stare at it for hours.
I wiggle my hips. “I’m enjoying everything.”
My alarm sounds, and I silence it.
“Don’t you have to meet Andie?”
“I do. I also have to pick up something from the lodge first.” I giggle. “Guess I’ll be a few minutes late.”
He smiles as his lips claim mine.
“I’m jealous,” Andie says, perusing a rack of maternity clothes. “I needed these way earlier than you do.”
“I’ve been living in elastic-waisted pants for three weeks. Either that, or I can’t do up the buttons.”
She pulls a cute top out and holds it up to me. “This will be so much fun.” She adds it to the amassing pile I’m supposed to try on.
“I’m not going to need much; I’ll only wear them for twenty more weeks. Seems like a waste of money.”
“You’ll probably have to wear them longer.”
“Longer?”
She nods. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your body won’t deflate as soon as the baby comes out. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to ditch the maternity clothes a month after he’s born.”
I swallow a bitter pill. “I’m still going to look pregnant?”
“And don’t be surprised if strangers ask when you’re due. That’s the worst.”
“Ew.”
“It may not happen to you. You might fit into your clothes sooner than most. Don’t worry about that now.” She adds a pack of maternity underwear to the pile.
“I need underwear? Can’t I just wear what I have? They can sit low under my belly.”
She snickers. “Watching you get bigger is going to be entertaining.” She holds up a pair of jeans with an elastic panel on the front. “These will fit in no time.”
“Those must be for women much larger than I am.”
She checks the tag. “These are exactly your size.”
My mouth drops open. No way will I ever fit into those.
We pass a rack of bathing suits. Andie looks at me with sad eyes. “You have no idea how bad I feel about forcing you to go to the pool.”
“It’s my fault. I should have told you sooner.”
“You were brave to tell us at all. Thank you for trusting Maddox and me.”
“Thanks for not judging me.”
Her arms come around me. “Like I said, we’re family now.”
“Technically, what will Casey be to you and Maddox. Second cousin?”
“He’ll be Maddox’s first cousin once removed. I googled it. But most people just call them a niece or nephew, and he’ll call us aunt and uncle. Casey and Vivian will be second cousins.”
“I think I have enough to try on now. I’ll have to weed some out to fit my budget.”
Andie pulls a credit card out of her pocket. “No, you won’t. Aaron gave me this. Said he’d disown me if I let you pay. He wants you to get everything you need.”
“But I have a bank account now.”
She pushes me toward the dressing room. “Will you let the man spoil you? It’s one of the perks of being pregnant.”
“I get the idea he would spoil me even if I weren’t.”
She smiles. “That’s because he’s one of the good ones.”
The associate unlocks a dressing room. I step inside and look around. “Someone left something in here.”
“Those are padded bellies.” She picks one up. “It says the size of the pads here. We have six through nine months. It helps you see how the clothes will fit.”
When the lady leaves, Andie picks up the big one and straps it on. She admires herself in the mirror. “I miss being pregnant.”
“Really? But Vivian is barely a year old.”
She shrugs. “That’s the perfect time to start on another one, don’t you think? They’d be less than two years apart. The perfect age for playmates.”
“What does Maddox think?”