Page 65 of All I Need (Hearts of the South)
“No. I had it done last year, about a month before the shooting.” An irritable frown drew his brows together. “You would not believe how long it took me to convince the urologist I was serious and wasn’t going to change my mind later. He kept trying to tell me I’d find some young woman, settle down, and regret having it done. Not happening. I am not cut out to be anybody’s dad, and I know it.”
The raw honesty had to be one of the sexiest things she’d ever experienced. She smiled and leaned into him. “You realize this conversation makes me want to do way more than make out with you on this couch.”
He kissed her, hard, and rose. He extended a hand. “Later, when we get home. Right now, let’s gooohandaahover baby stuff we don’t get.”
Keeping their hands linked, she led him to the formal dining room, which sure enough looked like a baby-rama. The room sounded like one too, as Hamilton was fully awake and not happy about it. Rob cradled her against his shoulder, pacing the length of the room and patting her small back while she fussed and grumbled.
Savannah caught Emmett’s eye, and he grinned. He leaned one shoulder against the doorway and released her hand.
“You think the kid has enough clothes?” Savannah lifted one small dress from the stack of garments. The white cotton had yellow flowers embroidered across the smocked front.
“Listen, some days she goes through as many wardrobe changes as we did for pageants.” Amy laughed and slid her fingernail under the tape on a brightly wrapped package. She lifted the top from the small garment box and parted the tissue paper. A smile tipped the corners of her mouth. “Oh, that’s cute.”
She held up a sleeper with “Daddy’s Little Girl” embroidered on the chest.
“Who is it from, dear?” Their grandmother waited, pen poised over the notebook where she was recording gifts and givers.
Amy pulled a vellum rectangle from the tissue paper and stilled, her mouth going tense and taut. Rob stopped midstep, his gaze on her face. His eyes narrowed. “What?”
“It’s from Jake Stringham.” She dropped the sleeper and card back in the box and pushed it away. “That’s just weird.”
Their mother glanced up at Rob. “He was one of your groomsmen, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah.” The syllable emerged edgy and tight.
“You’re friends with Jake Stringham?” Surprise colored Emmett’s voice behind her.
“Not anymore.”
“Good. The guy’s a total a—” Emmett coughed. “Um, jerk. GSP let him go a few months back after some incidents, and he hired on at the EMS station a couple of months ago after he recertified as an EMT. They put him in an ambulance with Nikki Pantone for a probationary period. He lasted about a week.”
Rob’s entire posture went impossibly rigid. “He’s in Chandler County?”
“Yeah. None of the local agencies will touch him, and he’s working in the guard shack out at McGee’s.”
“Great.” Rob rubbed a hand over his mouth. He held Hamilton with the other, fingers splayed protectively across her back. “Just…great.”
“Rob, it’s probably nothing.” Amy shook her head. She cast a skeptical glance at the gift box. “Maybe it’s a peace offering.”
Rob and Emmett produced matching sounds of male disparagement. Rob pointed at the present. “I don’t care what you do with it, but don’t you ever put it on my daughter.”
“No,” Amy agreed, her voice small.
Despite their best efforts, the interlude left a shadow on an otherwise bright day. They passed the rest of the afternoon, finishing ooh-ing and aah-ing over baby gifts and finally leaving close to sunset. During the drive home, Emmett dozed off near Thomasville, and Savannah cast occasional glances at him, face relaxed in slumber. She flexed her fingers over the wheel, her ring finger not feeling as oddly empty as it had for months.
When she pulled into the parking lot of their complex, darkness hovered, broken by security lights. She killed the engine and rested a gentle hand on his knee. “Emmett.”
He roused, blinking, and scuffed a hand across his eyes. “Hey. Sorry.”
“For what?” She circled his knee with her fingertips.
“Falling asleep on you like that.”
“No problem.” She smiled, still caressing his knee. “We’ve both had a catnap, so we should be rested.”
“Yeah?” He grinned and shifted in the seat. “We might just have to find something to do.”
“Definitely.” She pulled her keys from the ignition and pushed the door open. He retrieved his phone from the console and tapped a quick text, one she knew without asking was to Landra. After a reply blipped on his phone, he met her at the sidewalk and grabbed her hand to pull her into a loose embrace. Her arms about his neck, she walked backward, drawing him toward her door. “As much as I like you in that suit, I really want to get you out of it.”
