Page 77 of Crashing the Altar
Penny scrunched her nose as she lifted her eyes. “Was it that obvious?”
“Maybe not you alone. Women love babies.” He tossed a thumb in my direction. “But this guy was so distracted he could barely remember what color his pieces were.”
That was a bit of an exaggeration. I wasn’t that out of it.
“They were blue,” I declared with confidence.
Tucker chuckled. “Hate to break it to you, bud, but you were red.”
I blinked at him. “Wait. Seriously?”
Both he and Penny nodded in confirmation.
Yikes. Red and blue weren’t even close.
“All right, you’ve made your point. We’re headed back on the road soon, so hopefully, we won’t blow our cover before then.” I looked down at Penny. “There won’t be any hiding it when we get back, though.”
She nodded, releasing a heavy sigh. “I know. I need time to wrap my head around it first before facing the reactions of others. Can’t imagine they’ll be too favorable with how we went from zero to sixty on this whole thing. Three months ago, you were just my best friend. Now you’re my husband, and we’re having a baby.”
“Don’t do that. I was never ‘just’ your best friend.”
Her eyes softened, and a smile touched her lips. “Not to us. But that’s how everyone on the outside will see it.”
She wasn’t wrong. And if there was one thing this town salivated over, it was scandal. Once the baby news broke, it would fan the flames of gossip that had been sparked when Penny ran from the altar.
I could understand her reluctance to offer herself up on a platter for public judgment.
This was our life. People needed to keep their opinions on how we chose to live it to themselves.
“I think you underestimate your family and friends,” Tucker chimed in. “They’re going to be thrilled for you.”
It took effort to bite my tongue. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I would catch hell from the man who’d given me life once he learned I’d gotten Penny pregnant so quickly. In his mind, I would only be playing into his belief that we were doing nothing more than playing house, unequipped to handle adult responsibilities.
I was more determined than ever to prove him wrong.
Buzz buzzzzzzz. Buzz buzzzzzzz.
As groggy as I was, it took me a minute to place the source of the audible vibrations. Blinking my heavy eyelids in the darkness, I realized my phone was ringing.
With a groan, I rolled over. Swiping my cell from the nightstand, I accepted the call before bringing the receiver to my ear.
Voice roughened by sleep, I rasped, “Yeah?”
“Tripp, sorry to wake you, but I’ve got an emergency over here.”
Of all the people to ring me up in the middle of the night, I’d have never guessed that Colt Winfield would be on the other end of the line. He, along with his two brothers, owned a cattle ranch outside of Rust Canyon in the opposite direction of where Sullivan Ranch lay.
Though his wife was good friends with my sister, we ran very different operations, so we didn’t often cross paths in business.
“Colt? Fuck. What time is it?” It barely felt like I’d closed my eyes for more than a minute or two before I’d been rudely awakened by his call.
“Little past two.” His words had a strained edge to them.
“Why are you calling again?” I couldn’t remember if he’d already told me. It was too early, and my brain was struggling to focus.
“Most of our calves dropped weeks ago, but we must’ve missed one. Sheer dumb luck that Emmett happened upon a heifer laid up in the dark laboring. She had a rough go of it.” He blew out a breath. “Too rough. We’ve got a uterine prolapse on our hands, and if we don’t get it dealt with soon, she’s not gonna make it.”
As a rancher myself, I could appreciate his desperation. The loss of animal life also meant a hefty financial loss on the books for the Winfields.
