Loving You (Love Wanted in Texas) (22 page)

“Libby, Luke, I’d like you to meet Jase. Libby is Will’s sister and Heather and Josh are their parents. Luke’s sister is Grace, who is married to Noah. Jeff and Ari are their parents. And this is little Trey and the sweet little girl running around us is Mireya.”

Luke shook Jase’s hand as he held Trey while Mireya sang a song she clearly had just learned.

“Wow! I sure hope there isn’t a quiz after this,” Jase said with a chuckle.

Luke slapped him on the back and said, “If you remember half this shit and you decide to stay with Taylor after today, I’ll be very impressed.”

“Stop that!” Libby said as she playfully hit Luke. “Welcome to the family, Jase. It makes me so happy to see Taylor in love.”

I felt my face heat up as I guided Jase on to the next group. “This is Alex and Will.”

Jase pointed to Will. “Libby’s brother. Parents are Josh and Heather.”

Will raised his eyebrows. “Impressive.”

Alex reached her hand out for Jase’s. “It’s so nice to finally formally meet you, Jase. I’ve heard so much about you. Oh . . . I belong to Gunner and Ellie.”

Jase tilted his head. “You have a daughter if I remember right from Taylor. Bayli?”

All three of us turned to look at Jase while Will replied, “Dude, you’ve impressed me. I sure as hell hope you like football and beer.”

“Very much so,” Jase answered.

Turning to me, Will kissed me on the cheek. “I like him.”

With a chortle, I pushed Will away. “One more and you’ve met them all.”

Jase wiped his forehead. “This is Grace and Noah.”

Noah and Jase shook hands as Jase smiled and said hello to Hope. “And who is this beautiful princess?”

“Oh, yes. I do indeed like you. Good looking, goes right for the kid and starts giving her attention.” Grace turned to me. “I hope he’s good in bed because this one is a keeper.”

“Grace!” I gasped.

Noah laughed and slapped Jase on the back. “So, do you like football?”

They walked off toward the kitchen as Grace pushed me with her shoulder. “Damn that boy is good looking, Taylor. And the whole cowboy hat thing. Meow.”

Pressing my lips together to contain my smile, I nodded and said, “I know.”

“Those blue eyes. Dreamy.”

Glancing over to her, I scowled. “I can’t believe you said that!”

Grace smiled and winked. “Yes you can.”

Rolling my eyes, I let out a quick chuckle. “You’re right. I can believe it. Don’t scare him off, Grace.”

Her mouth fell open. “Like I could scare that boy off? If meeting all of us and spending the day with this crazy-ass family isn’t enough to scare him off, I seriously doubt anything I say would.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “Don’t underestimate your power with words, Grace. You have a gift.”

With an evil laugh, she handed me Hope. “Go see your Aunt Taylor and slobber all over her.”

Hope smiled as I took her in my arms. “She’s getting so big.”

With an adoring smile, Grace traced her fingertip along Hope’s jaw. “I know. I can’t wait for another one.”

My head snapped up to meet her eyes. “What? Are y’all trying?”

Grace never blushed, but when her cheeks turned red I couldn’t help but feel such excitement for her. “I know it’s soon, but we decided one more and we wanted them to be close together. We haven’t told anyone yet I’m pregnant.”

“Oh Grace, I’m so happy for you both.”

Her eyes danced with happiness as she gazed back down at Hope. “Thanks. So things will be crazy at the shop with both me and Alex pregnant.”

Sucking in a breath, I whispered, “Alex is pregnant too?”

Graze froze. “Oh shit.”

My eyes quickly dashed around until I found Alex. How did I not notice? Look at her face glowing. “Holy crap. You, Alex, and La . . . um . . . you and Alex! Wow!”

“Oh no. No way, Taylor Atwood. You were about to say . . .” Grace did a once over and turned back to me. “Lauren. You were about to say Lauren!” She started jumping up and down as she covered her mouth.

“Don’t you dare say a word, Grace. They don’t want to tell anyone yet. They were going to tell everyone today I think.”

“Our little Lauren is pregnant!”

With a giant grin, I nodded. “Yep.”

“Now we just need you to pop one out and we’ll all have kids.”

My smile quickly faded as I looked back at Hope.

“Oh hell. Taylor please tell me you’re not.”

Swallowing hard, I looked at Grace as tears filled my eyes. “I really hope not. I’m not ready.”

“Oh, sweets.” Pulling me into her arms, Grace held me while I held onto her daughter and fought to keep my tears in.

Jase

The rest of the afternoon was filled with meeting more family. I was positive I’d be quizzed after this. There was Jack, Gunner’s father. I’d already met his mother Grace. Ellie’s mother and stepfather were there, Sharon and Philip.

My eyes scanned everyone as I saw Greg and Elizabeth.
Shit. Whose parents are they again?
When I saw Bayli running into Greg’s arms it hit me. Josh’s parents!

And to think there are even more I haven’t met yet. I’m going to have to ask Taylor for a family tree.

Blowing out a breath, I caught sight of Taylor. She was talking to Grams and Gramps. They had to have been the nicest people I’d ever met. Both still so sharp, especially Gramps for being in his late nineties.

Taylor leaned over and kissed Grams on the cheek and made her way over to me. Smiling, she stopped in front of me and said, “So, has anyone scared you off yet?”

Pulling her into my arms, I gently kissed her lips then whispered, “Never.”

“You’ve never said, do you have a big family?”

“No not really. My father’s parents died years before Liza and I were born. His brother, Mike, died in the military when my father was young and Mike’s daughter Kate got married a few years back and lives in Phoenix with her husband. We don’t get to see her very often which sucks. But her mom, Jen, still lives in Llano. My mother’s mom and dad live in New York. They used to come to Texas a lot to visit, but have slowed it down some the older they have gotten. They’ll be here this summer though.”

Taylor softly smiled. “I’d love to meet them,” she said before glancing over her shoulder. “They’ve already done the whole happy birthday thing. We’re just waiting on one more announcement and then we can leave if you want.”

Pushing a piece of hair behind her ear, I nodded. “I’m in no rush, sweetness. It’s whenever you want to leave.”

Colt called out to get everyone’s attention as Taylor took my hand and pulled me closer to everyone. “This is it!” she said with excitement in her voice.

“First. I’d like to wish my grams a very happy birthday again. You’re rocking it at ninety-five, Grams!”

Everyone clapped as cheers rang out. Colt motioned for Alex to stand next to him as well as Lauren and Will.

“Alex and Will, as well as Lauren and I, have an announcement to make.”

Colt turned to Alex who smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek. “You first,” she said.

With his arm wrapped around Lauren’s waist, Colt beamed with pride and happiness. “Lauren and I will be welcoming our first child July 7.”

Cheers erupted as everyone rushed up and started hugging both Lauren and Colt. Ellie was crying as she pulled Lauren to her and held her for the longest time.

When things finally died down, all attention was on Alex and Will. Alex cleared her throat and said, “We didn’t want to ruin this day for Colt and Lauren, but once Colt found out he insisted we make our announcement as well.”

Ellie’s hands went to her mouth as she started crying . . . again. “Will and I are expecting our second child . . .” Alex turned to face Colt and started laughing. “On July 6!”

Taylor jumped as she rushed over to Alex and hugged her. I couldn’t ignore the pit in the middle of my stomach. Taylor hadn’t mentioned anything and I knew she had to have missed her period. We’d been together for just over a month now.

As much as I dreamed of marrying her and having kids, I really wanted to get my life settled. That meant building a house, setting up roots and settling in with Walker on running the ranch. Not to mention the change to taking everything organic. Walker invested a lot of time in the horseracing side of the ranch while I focused more on the cattle. It was a good arrangement and I liked it. It meant long hours though and if I threw a baby into the mix, it meant I would hardly see him or her.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I pushed my hand through my hair and did what I have been doing for the last few weeks. Ignored it.

Once everything settled down, Alex got everyone’s attention. “So . . . I’m not really sure if she is ready to say anything or not . . . but I really wish she would so we can really turn this into an even bigger party. Grace?”

All eyes turned to Grace. She looked around with a shocked look on her face before turning back to Alex. She blew out a quick breath and walked up next to her. “Well. I guess we might as well tell y’all. We’re going to be needing to hire some help at the flower shop.”

“That’s wonderful, sweetheart!” Ellie called out. “Means your business is thriving.”

Grace pinched her face up and said, “Well . . . yes it is but obviously there is something in the water here in Mason. Noah and I are expecting our second child in . . . you guessed it. July. July 24 to be exact.”

“Three new babies! July is going to be busy!” Jeff called out as he wrapped his daughter up in his arms while Ari started crying.

Taylor turned to me and laughed. “Jesus, what in the hell is in the water here?” I asked as she laughed. “I’m not sure, but I’ve got a ton of baby shower planning to do!”

It wasn’t lost on me how much Taylor was ignoring our potential problem just like I was.

Taylor sat nervously on the end of the table, swinging her legs and wringing her hands. “You know you didn’t have to come.”

“I wanted to.”

When Taylor told me she was coming in to talk about getting on birth control and to take a pregnancy test, there was no way I was going to let her come alone.

“So you know this doctor?”

Taylor nodded. “Well, her father mainly. I’ve been to see her once. Her dad delivered almost all of us, I swear. He retired and his daughter took over.”

The door opened and a young female doctor and nurse walked in. “Hi, Taylor. How are you doing?”

“Good,” she answered in a shaky voice.

The nurse sat down and pulled up the screen on the computer. Standing, I introduced myself. “Jase Moore.”

Dr. Johnson looked between Taylor and myself. “Jase is my boyfriend.”

With a satisfied nod, she leaned against the bed. “So, we’re here to talk about birth control and I believe you took a pregnancy test as well.”

“Y-yes. The one I took at home was negative, but I haven’t started so I wanted to be sure.”

Dr. Johnson gave Taylor an understanding smile. The nurse turned to the doctor and nodded yes.

Pressing her lips together, Dr. Johnson turned and looked at Taylor, then me, then back to Taylor. “Honey, I’m guessing since you are here to start the pill, pregnancy is not something you are wanting anytime soon.”

My heart was pounding so hard in my chest I could hardly hear.

I stood next to Taylor as she reached for my hand. “No . . . I mean at least not right now.”

“I want to go ahead and draw some blood to confirm this, but your urine sample came back positive for being pregnant.”

Taylor gasped and squeezed my hand. My stomach instantly felt sick as my entire future flashed before my eyes. Brad was going to castrate me.

Closing my eyes, I pushed all the negative thoughts away. I needed to show Taylor we were in this together. Rubbing my thumb across the top of her hand, I kissed her on the forehead and whispered, “It’s okay, sweetness. It’s okay.”

The nurse quickly stood up and blurted out, “Dr. Johnson, I’m so very sorry. I had the wrong chart pulled up!”

Dr. Johnson pushed off the counter and glanced down at the screen. Speaking softly, she replied, “Oh, Nelly.”

She quickly closed the chart and typed something in and began reading another chart. Turning to look at the nurse, she politely said, “Would you mind stepping outside of the room for a moment, Nelly?”