Cherished (Wanted #4)(52)
Author: Kelly Elliott

“We have to go to the doctor, but Jessie thinks she is a little over two months,” I said with a smile plastered on my face. “Speaking of, we were heading to my folks’ house to break the news to them before you showed up.” I rolled my eyes.

“Ah hell, Scott, please let me come. I really want to see the look on your mom’s face. She’s gonna piss her pants. First, her baby boy did not marry the richest girl in the state of Texas. Then, you go off and knock up a simple country girl, and you’re not even married. You’re going to hell, you bastard,” Lark said as he gave me a sad face.

I punched him in the arm. “Fuck off, asshole. Make yourself at home. We’ll be back in a few hours. Sorry to leave you hanging like this, but we just went to the store, so everything is stocked up in the kitchen.”

Lark stood up and smiled. “My fault for showing up a day early.”

I said good-bye and headed back downstairs. Jessie was sitting on the sofa, pouting.

“Baby, pouting just makes you look sexy as hell.”

She stood and stomped her feet. “Scott, I don’t want to go. Can’t you just tell them yourself?”

I walked up and grabbed her hand. “Come on, we have one stop before we head to my folks’ place.”

My heart had been pounding since Scott had pulled out of the driveway. The idea of going to see his parents always made me feel sick, but now…I really felt sick. I already knew what was going to happen. They would look at me like I was something to be stomped on, and then they’d pull Scott to the side and question the hell out of him.

Scott turned in the opposite direction of his parents’ house and started driving toward the river. They owned the ranch that butted up to Scott’s ranch. I was guessing that they’d probably bought more land near the river.

Scott and his parents pretty much owned most of the land around here. Garrett…well, actually, Gunner and Jeff now owned the second-largest chunk of land. With Scott taking over his family’s breeding business so that his dad could focus on his partnership in an oil company, his parents were hardly ever in Mason anymore. And that was fine by me.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“I need to show you something before we go to my parents’ place. I already told Mom we were running late because Lark had shown up a day early.”

I let out a huff. “Great, she’ll just blame me for making us late.”

I looked out the window and put my hand on my stomach. I smiled, thinking about our child growing inside me. Not even Mr. and Mrs. Tight-Ass Reynolds can spoil this for me.

Scott pulled down a dirt road that ran along the backside of his property and his parents’. It led down to the river, and it was one of the first spots where he had taken me on a date. I smiled, remembering back to that day. I remembered Heather telling me about how Josh and she had made love by the river for the first time, and it always made me swoon.

How romantic.

I couldn’t help but smile, thinking about that date with Scott. He had come down a few hours before and set up an old quilt, picnic basket, and a bottle of wine for dinner by the river. By the time we had shown up, ants had been all over the place, and I remembered standing there, looking down at the old quilt covered in ants, and laughing.

I let out a giggle. Scott reached over and grabbed my hand. I instantly felt that jolt of electricity, and my stomach took a dive.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“I was thinking about when we started dating, and you brought me to the river to have dinner, but then we found ants everywhere.”

Scott shook his head. “Oh my god, that pissed me off so bad. Fuckin’ ants.”

I laughed harder and kissed the back of his hand. I looked over at him and almost couldn’t believe that he was mine, that I was actually going to have his child. The feeling of love just engulfed my whole body, and I had to look away because it felt like I was going to cry.

As Scott turned down the same little road as on our first date, I noticed he sat up a little straighter. I peeked over at him, and he was smiling from ear to ear. I looked out the front window to see what he was smiling at, and I sucked in a breath of air.

“Oh my word. What’s going on?” I asked in almost a whisper.

There was a white tent set up right next to the riverbank with a small black wrought iron table. There were four people walking back and forth from the tent to a trailer that said Bon Vie Chef Services.

Scott parked the truck and jumped out. I watched as he walked up to one of the men in white and shook his hand. For some reason, I was frozen in the truck. Scott turned and walked to the passenger side of the truck. He opened the door and held out his hand for me.

I looked down at him and said, “What’s going on?”

The moment he gave me that panty-melting smile of his, I knew this was his way of making up for our first failed attempt at a picnic here. I couldn’t help but smile back at him as I held my hand out and hopped out of the truck.

“We’re celebrating,” he simply said.

I giggled. “The baby?”

He stopped and turned me toward him. He leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose. He let out a small laugh. “Among other things.”

Scott grabbed my hand and walked us over toward the table. One of the gentlemen pulled the chair out for me, and I thanked him. He poured me a glass of spring water and then one for Scott.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Reynolds, Ms. Rhodes. We will start off with butternut squash bisque since there is a bit of a chill in the air today. That will be followed by your main course of roasted lemon chicken with sage, thyme, and rosemary along with roasted root vegetables in a walnut dressing. For dessert, Mr. Reynolds has chosen the blueberry crumb cake. Mr. Reynolds, would you like a glass of wine?”

Scott looked up and smiled as he shook his head. “No, thank you. I’ll stick with water.” He looked back at me and smiled.

I knew he wasn’t drinking wine because I couldn’t have a glass.

“Scott, oh my god, this is all way too much!” I said.

“I don’t think it’s enough. We have a lot to celebrate,” he said with a wink as he reached for my hand.

When they brought out the soup, it hit me how hungry I really was. I practically devoured it in two bites. Scott grinned and seemed very pleased by my healthy appetite.

I took my last bite of chicken and leaned back in the chair. “Oh wow. That was probably some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. Scott, I don’t think I could eat dessert. I mean, it sounds so yummy, but I’m stuffed.”