Page 78 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
She went to open her mouth, went to say something, but nothing came out and all she could think about was the test that she’d left in the bathroom. She walked past the glass and padded back, retracing her steps. It had been minutes, and if it was positive again…
She was pregnant.Mia was smart enough to know that two tests weren’t going to be wrong.
She heard a noise, turned and walked out, her fingers clenched tightly around the plastic stick.
“Mia, what’s going on with you?” Tanner asked, standing in her hallway.
Mia held up the test, moving toward him, waiting forhis eyes to drop from hers to the result. The moment he read it and clicked, his eyes returned to hers.
“Mia,” he said, shaking his head. “Oh hell,” he muttered, stepping forward and opening his arms.
She ran into them, crying softly against her brother’s chest, holding him tight. She wanted to be happy. She didn’t want the tiny baby growing inside of her to feel her pain and think he or she wasn’t wanted. And the last thing she wanted was for Tanner to feel sorry for her. But damn, it felt good to share it and let him hold her instead of shouldering it alone.
When she finally pulled back, Tanner couldn’t have been further from pitying her, she could tell from the look he gave her.
“I’d say let’s have a beer, but maybe we should try something else,” he said with a chuckle.
Tanner put his arm around her shoulders and they walked back out to the kitchen. He’d cleaned up the glass and when he made a move to the fridge, she gratefully sank down into a chair at the table.
“I don’t want to be insensitive here, but have you thought about what you want to do?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah,” Mia touched her stomach, already feeling protective. “I can’t do anything other than love what’s been given to me.”
Tanner smiled. “I figured as much. Is it—”
“Sam’s,” she said for him. “Yup, the one and only.”
They stood, staring at one another, Tanner looking like he didn’t want to open his mouth and say the wrong thing, and her trying to figure the whole thing out in her head.
“You want to keep this to yourself for a while?” Tanner asked.
Mia let go the breath she was holding. “Yeah. I think so.”
Tanner nodded. “I know I haven’t had the best track record keeping your secrets, but this,” he said, his smile kind, “thisis a secret you can trust me with. This is yours to share. I’m not going to be picking up the phone to Ange or Cody, you have my word.”
Mia stepped into her brother and hugged him, laughing when he wrapped his arms around her and bear hugged her, swinging her around.
“You’re going to be one hell of an uncle,” she said with a giggle.
“Don’t I know it!”
Any other time she’d have slapped him for being so damn arrogant, but today it was kind of comforting.
“Want me to make you an iced tea?” he asked.
Mia went to laugh then bit the inside of her lip, deciding not to make fun of him. Tanner had never,everoffered to make her anything in her life, let alone tea. She didn’t even know he was capable of making iced tea. “That’d be nice, thanks.”
She went and curled up on the sofa, tucking her legs up as she stared out the window. It was raining, the soft pitter-patter on the roof making her smile. It was the perfect type of day to be holed up inside, and it wasn’t often she lazed a day away instead of keeping busy outside.
Since Sam had walked out, she’d tried to keep herself busy, working Tex and slowly gaining his trust. But it was progress, and her father hadn’t said anything about putting him down. He’d mumbled about the exorbitant amount of money the stallion now owed them, but he hadn’t said anything else and she was certain he was proud of how she was dealing with the previously untameable horse, even if she couldn’t take credit for the transformation.
Sam could. It was Sam who deserved all the credit forTex, and as much as she hated him, despised everything he’d done to her, she had two things to be grateful for now. Saving a stallion destined for death, and the baby she suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about.
A shudder tickled down her spine, made her cringe. A baby who was never going to know her father. A baby who was one day going to ask her why all the other children had daddies and he or she didn’t.
She’d be lying if she didn’t wish that it had happened differently, that the Sam she’d known and fallen for had felt the same, that no one else had been involved, that he’d been with her when she realized that something wasn’t right, that there was a life growing inside of her.
“Everything’s gonna be fine, sis,” Tanner said, passing her the tea. She didn’t tell him that he’d put it in the wrong glass, just smiled back at him, not so sure but hoping he was right.
“I know. Everything happens for a reason, I need to keep telling myself that.”
“Just because this asshole—”
“Stop,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t, Tan. I want to hate him so bad, but…” she sighed. “I’d rather just try to forget he ever existed.” Mia knew how silly that sounded, given the huge reminder she was going to have in her life, but she didn’t want to become bitter and twisted.
“Fine,” he said, grunting. “But don’t you expect me to throw my arms around him and sing Kumbaya.”
Mia laughed. “Hey, I said I didn’t want to hate him, I didn’t say you couldn’t.”
