Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 277(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Brookes nods, his expression serious. “We share everything, Janey. That means the responsibility, the medical history, and the legal right to protect both of you.”
It’s a pragmatic admission that makes the family we’re building feel like more than a dream; it makes it a fortress.
“And the nursery,” Brookes adds.
Mason’s face softens. “Yeah. The nursery.”
I blink back fresh tears. “Where?”
“The room across the hall,” Mason says.
“The one with the morning light,” Brookes adds.
I know the room. Pale walls. Wide window. A view of the pasture where the horses graze at sunrise.
“It’s perfect,” I whisper.
Mason smiles. “Then it’s theirs.”
“Theirs,” I echo.
Brookes kisses my belly. “You hear that, little bean? You’re already getting the best room in the house.”
The ridiculous sweetness of it breaks me open all over again.
I tug him up and kiss him. Then Mason. Then both of them in turn, until I lose track of where one kiss ends and the next begins.
Eventually, we end up tangled beneath the blankets, bodies warm and heavy, the sharpest edge of need softened into deeper sensation.
Mason spoons me from behind, one arm tucked beneath my head, the other draped over my waist. Brookes lies facing me, his hand resting over the small life growing inside me.
Their palms overlap on my belly.
I cover both with mine.
Brookes’s voice rasps when he says, “You’re home now. With us. Where you belong.”
My eyes sting, but I smile.
I close my eyes, safe and claimed and full in every possible way. Their bodies surround me, their hands protective over the small life growing between us.
This is what I was so afraid to want, but taking chances, even the scary ones, brought me here. To two rugged, loving cowboys who see every part of me and still choose me, giving me space to breathe between them. To a life I never imagined, but one that already feels like the only place I truly belong.
I smile into the darkness.
Whatever comes next, I’m excited to face it with my two handsome cowboys by my side.
Epilogue
Janey
The waiting room at the imaging center is quiet except for the low hum of fluorescent lights and the occasional rustle of magazines. I sit between Mason and Brookes, their big bodies bracketing mine like living shields. Mason’s knee bounces like it’s trying to beat a hole through the floor. Brookes sits on my right, one palm resting warmly on my thigh, his thumb stroking slow, soothing circles through the fabric of my dress.
They’re both trying so hard to look calm. Neither one of them is succeeding.
Mason keeps glancing toward the hallway every time a door opens. Brookes has read the same paragraph in an outdated fishing magazine three times without turning the page.
“You know,” I say softly, “if either of you grip me any tighter, I’m going to lose circulation.”
Mason looks down at our joined hands and immediately loosens his hold. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
Brookes sets the magazine aside, as if relieved to stop pretending. “We’re not nervous.”
I raise an eyebrow.
He clears his throat. “Fine, I’m a little nervous.”
Mason huffs. “I’m a lot nervous.”
I laugh, feeling overcome with warmth for my big, nervous cowboys. I’m nervous, too. Of course I am. There’s a fluttery, breathless feeling beneath my ribs that hasn’t let up since we parked outside. But under the nerves is a glowing, bubbling happiness I can’t quite contain because today we get to see our baby.
Our baby.
Even now, weeks after I found the strength to tell my mom exactly how I felt, the words feel so precious.
My morning sickness finally eased two weeks ago, and I’ve started to feel like myself again. Or maybe like a new version of myself. My body has been changing in small, secret ways. My nipples have darkened to a deeper rose. There’s a firm swell low on my belly now—nothing dramatic yet, but I catch myself touching it constantly.
My skin looks softer in the mirror, and my eyes brighter. My body feels fuller, warmer, and more alive.
This is real.
Mason’s thumb brushes over my knuckles. “You okay?”
I look up at him and smile. “I’m perfect.”
His face changes when I say it. The worry doesn’t disappear completely, but tenderness softens the hard lines of him.
“Yeah,” he murmurs. “You are.”
Brookes leans in and presses a kiss to my temple. “Whatever happens in there, we’ve got you.”
“I know.” I look from one of them to the other, my throat tightening. “I’ve never known anything more.”
Mason squeezes my hand again, gentler this time.
When the technician finally calls my name, all three of us stand.
The young woman in scrubs blinks at the sight of us. Her eyes move from me, to Mason, to Brookes, then down to the chart in her hand.
“Janey?”
“That’s me.”
“And…” Her gaze flicks between the two men again. “Who is the father?”
The question lands awkwardly in the small waiting area. Once, it might have made me shrink. Once, I might have stammered, blushed, apologized for taking up space in a world that likes its love stories neat and easily explained. But not anymore.