Page 58 of Wild Heart

And then she turned toward the sanctuary below, toward everything that was waiting.

The community gathering had been Olivia’s idea, a thank-you celebration for volunteers, donors, and town council members. A way to mark the beginning of the sanctuary’s next chapter. Folding chairs dotted the open lawn, fire pits glowed beneath the wide Colorado sky, and a string of white lights swayed above the tables like stars caught in a net.

Laughter drifted across the field. Someone had brought a fiddle and was playing tunes near the grill, while kids dartedbetween picnic tables chasing each other with glow sticks. On the surface, everything shimmered with lightness. But Natalie felt like she was walking underwater.

The sounds around her, cheerful conversation, clinking glasses, distant music, were muffled, dreamlike. She moved from group to group offering polite smiles and vague nods, but her gaze searched for one person only. Mason.

Her hands shook when no one was looking. She had rehearsed the words again and again since she’d climbed down from that ridge. She had written them in her journal. Whispered them to herself in the mirror. But none of her practice had prepared her for this. Her special secret was heavy. Tucked beneath her ribs. Pressed behind her lungs. Living in her belly. And tonight, it had to be spoken.

She glanced around the gathering and spotted him near the back fence, speaking with Davey. Firelight lit the edges of his jaw, turning his profile to bronze. He wore his flannel shirt open over a gray T-shirt, the sleeves pushed up, revealing forearms marked with tiny scratches and the kind of calluses earned by real work. His hair, a little longer now, lifted in the breeze, and when he laughed at something Davey said, his whole face changed.

He looked young. Lighter. Hopeful.

That made her chest contract. She felt Olivia appear beside her, like a ghost stepping into view.

“You okay?” her friend asked quietly, offering her a cup of cider.

Natalie nodded too quickly. “I’m fine. Just… thinking.”

“You’ve been thinking so hard you haven’t spoken all night.”

Natalie tried to laugh but it caught in her throat. “Do you think he’ll be happy? When I tell him my news.”

Olivia gasped, then smiled and didn’t ask who or why orwhat. She didn’t need to. Her expression softened, and she looked out across the crowd to where Mason and Davey stood.

“I think he’ll be something,” Olivia said. “You’ll never know which until you tell him.”

Natalie drew in a long, shaky breath. “I’m terrified.”

Olivia placed a hand gently on her arm. “That just means it matters.”

She nodded once, then handed back the cider, untouched, and turned toward Mason.

Her feet felt heavy, like every step toward him was encumbered by baggage from the past, the shadow of betrayals, and the unknown of what this revelation would shift between them.

“Mason?” she said when she reached him.

He turned instantly, as though he’d been waiting for her voice. His eyes searched her face, cautious and open all at once.

“Can we talk?”

His shoulders tensed, but he nodded. “Of course.”

Davey looked between them and murmured something about grabbing more firewood, vanishing into the blur of flickering lights and laughter.

Natalie led Mason away from the center of the lawn, past the tables and glowing lanterns, past the music and warmth, toward the edge of the pasture. Here, the shadows thickened, and the sounds of celebration blurred into the quiet of rustling grass.

They stood a few feet apart, the space between them alive with things unsaid.

She looked down, then up. Then down again. Her fingers curled into fists and unfurled again.

“I don’t know how to say this,” she began, voice barely above a whisper.

Mason stepped forward slightly. “Just say it.”

She drew a breath like she was plunging underwater. “I’m pregnant.”

The words tumbled out and hung there, unanchored. For a heartbeat, nothing moved.

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