“Taylor,” I whispered.
With tears streaming down her face, Taylor ran down the stairs and into my arms.
I wanted to cry out in pain, but I couldn’t. I wrapped my sister up in my arms as we both stood there and cried.
When we finally pulled apart, Taylor wiped her tears away. “I’ve missed you so much, Meg.”
My heart felt so at peace as I looked at my beautiful little sister standing before me. “I’ve missed you more, Tay.”
Then I came face to face with the bluest of blue eyes.
“Grams,” was all I could say as she took my hand in hers.
“Welcome home my sweet girl.”
Tears fell freely as I scanned over the scene. I never in a million years would have imagined missing these girls as much as I had. Bending down, I called out for Mireya. When her little arms wrapped around my neck, I felt a complete peace move through my body.
Home.
I was home.
Grayson
ALMOST TWO WEEKS had passed since I brought Meagan back to Texas. In those two weeks we had done everything from attend barn parties, celebrated belated birthdays we missed, shopped for baby clothes, and I had learned to do more to a cow than I ever wanted to know in my lifetime.
I stood and looked out over the Texas hill country as I took in a deep cleansing breath.
“Feels good don’t it?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I smiled as I watched my future father-in-law walk up.
“I thought the air in Colorado was amazing. But something about this place . . . I can’t put it into words.”
“Texas air has something in it. Something that reaches down and grabs ahold of you tightly and never lets go.”
I nodded as I looked back out over the countryside.
“Is there a reason you asked me to meet you on some random piece of land off of Highway 1871?”
With a deep breath through my nose, I slowly blew it out as I nodded my head. “Walk with me for a minute, Brad.”
Brad followed me as we walked up the short hill and came to a stop at the top.
“Holy shit, look at that view of the Llano River.”
With a smile, I took in the rolling hills. It was beautiful and the more I stood there, the more I knew I was doing the right thing for my family.
“It looks like a picture,” I said as I turned to Brad. “I need your advice.”
His eyes met mine as he let a small smile play across his lips. “Okay.”
“I know everything that happened to Meagan has been a shock to her and she feels safe here. I also know, I’ve never seen her so happy like she has been these last two weeks. With the baby coming, I’m starting to think Meagan is having second thoughts about living so far away.”
Brad’s eyes lit up and I had to give him credit, he tried really hard to hold back his excitement. Trying to look serious, he nodded and said, “I’m not going to lie to you, Gray, knowing y’all are having a baby and living so far away is going to be really hard for us. I also know, if the tables were turned, it would be hard for your mother if you both lived here.”
I had already talked to my mother last night for two hours about the possibility of moving to Texas. She agreed, it would be much easier for her and James to travel to see us than it would be for us to travel to Texas.
“That’s true,” I said in a thoughtful voice. “But, the person I care the most about is who I want to make happy.”
“Meagan,” Brad said as tears built in his eyes. Looking away, he blinked rapidly.
“Would she be happy here, Brad? Ever since I’ve met her, she’s only talked about leaving Texas, not buying a hundred acres of land. I’m not a cowboy and I’m not looking into getting into cattle and all that shit.”
Brad laughed and shook his head. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me, Gray.”
“I was thinking though, with all the land, we might be able to start a camp for kids who have been bullied or who are from underprivileged homes. I know you don’t care for my previous job, but I made a lot of money and invested it well. I have enough money to purchase this land and build a house on it out right. Once we get settled, we could start looking into the camp.”
Brad stood there and stared at me as I moved from foot to foot. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and I started to wonder if I shouldn’t have brought up my old job.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Yes. I mean I know I have to talk to Meagan about all of this and I know how much she loves her job, but I also see how full of life her eyes have been since we’ve been here. Grace checked into a few jobs around the area for Meagan. She’s made it clear she wants to keep working after the baby and hell, she can even start her own company if she wants. I’ll support her in whatever she wants to do.”
Brad took a step toward me as I took a step back. He took another step as I took another back. We did this about five times before he finally snarled his lip and asked, “Why do you keep backing away from me?”
“I don’t know. I’m kind of picturing you doing something to hurt me for some reason.”
With a raised brow, he asked, “Like what?”
“I don’t know. To be honest, you scare me.”
Brad smiled a triumphant smile. “I simply wanted to give you a slap on the shoulder, Gray. Your mother should be very proud of the man she raised. I know I’m proud of you son. My heart is overwhelmed to know that my daughter has a man who loves her so much that he has made her happiness his number one concern.”
Tears built in my eyes as I stared at him. “That . . . that means more to me than you will ever know, sir.”
Brad walked up and pulled me into a quick hug as he slapped the living shit out of my back before he pushed me away.
“All right, enough of that shit. Now how are you planning on running this idea by Meagan?”
I grinned and said, “Well, after being around everyone as much as I have been, I figured out that my go-to guy on all things romance was either Gunner or Josh. So I hit them both up for an idea.”
Brad shook his head as he mumbled, “Stupid romantic bastards. What did they say?”
“Picnic, right here in this spot.”
Brad rolled his eyes. “That would be a solid plan. Keep her eyes closed so she doesn’t know where you’re taking her.”
“Yes, sir. Josh said the same thing.”
Brad frowned. “Of course he did. Make sure you have it all set up ahead of time, so you’ll need to talk to the realtor.”
“Oh, Gunner already arranged all that for me. He was the one who told me about this piece of property. He already talked to the agent and got it all squared away.”
Brad shook his head. “Good ole, Gunner.” Shaking his head again, he let out a chuckle as if thinking of a memory. “Well if you buy it, this would make a great place to get married.”
My eyes lit up as an idea hit me. Placing my hands on Brad’s shoulders, I gave him a quick shake. “That’s a great idea! I need to get it planned right away!”
I took off jogging back toward my truck as Brad called out, “What idea did I give you? Is it better than Gunner and Josh’s?”
“You want to do what?” Lauren asked me as she stood outside Alex and Grace’s flower shop.
Alex held up her hands and began waving them. “Wait. Gray, are you hearing yourself? Because you’re talking so fast that I’m not even sure I understand what you’re saying.”
“A wedding. I want to plan a wedding for tonight.”
Grace laughed. “Tonight?”
“Yes. Tonight.”
“As in today tonight?” Lauren said as everyone looked over at her.
“Um . . . yes?” I said as I stole a peek over to Colt who smiled and gave me a let-it-go look.
“You don’t even have a marriage license,” Grace said.
With a chuckle, I looked at Grace. “I don’t want to do a real wedding, I want to reaffirm my love for Meagan a
nd I want her whole family there. How about that?”
Libby did a little jump as she said, “We can totally do this! We can totally put this together. It will be like a pre wedding! Alex, Grace, all you need to do is make a bouquet for Meagan.” Libby turned to Lauren. “Lauren, all you need to do is find Meg a beautiful white dress and your closet is full of beautiful clothes.”
Lauren smiled and called out, “Oh my glitter! I have the perfect dress in mind!”
“Once she gets back from spending the morning with Taylor, I’ll do her hair and tell her you planned a romantic dinner for two and doing her hair gives me an excuse for having some one-on-one girl time with her.”
Smiling, I looked around the small group. I’d never met a group of people like them. There wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do for each other and I was amazed at how they opened their hearts up to me.
Noah walked up and gripped my shoulder. “Welcome to the family, Gray.”
Blowing out a deep breath, I shook my head and said, “Damn I’ve missed you, Noah.”
Noah pushed my shoulder back and laughed. “Falling in love has made you a pussy. Come on, let’s get this all taken care of so we can go out and celebrate the good news.”
Meagan
I SAT IN a chair in the middle of Libby’s living room as she pulled my hair up and began messing with my make-up.
“Lib, it’s just dinner in Fredericksburg. It’s not like I’m getting married.”
“Why would you say that?” Libby asked as she walked around and stood in front of me with a shocked look on her face.
Narrowing my eyes, I tiled my head and gave Libby a look. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” she asked as she dabbed at my lipstick and fixed a curl hanging down.
“Something is going on. Taylor was acting weird today, Gray was acting weird, and now you’re acting weird.”
Libby let out a nervous laugh. “You’re paranoid, Meg.”
Dropping my shoulders, I thought about it. Was I being paranoid? Probably.
“Have you enjoyed being home the last few weeks?”
Happiness bubbled up inside of me, but was quickly replaced with dread. For all those years I’d repeated over and over I didn’t want to live in Texas. I didn’t want to live in Fredericksburg or Mason. The last two weeks all I had been thinking about was living here. Being close to my friends and family. Every time I thought about the baby, I had to fight back the urge to cry.
Gray was so happy with his job and he was a detective. There was no way he could move to small-town Texas and even come close to that. Then there was his mother. No way would he ever even think of leaving her even though James had asked her to marry him.
“What’s wrong, Meg? You look lost in thought and a million miles away.”
I pressed my lips together and forced a fake smile. “Nothing. I guess I’m feeling a bit queasy.”
“Oh yes, the morning sickness that lasts all day.”
The sound of a car pulling up had my stomach twisting, but in a good way. “Gray,” I whispered. I’d only seen him once today and that was this morning before I left to spend the morning with Taylor. We’d talked a few times on the phone and I could tell something was weighing on his mind. I had planned on talking to him about my conflicting feelings about living in Colorado tonight at dinner.
Libby rubbed my shoulders and said, “You’re all done. Wait until your baby daddy sees you.”
The door opened and Luke and Grayson walked in laughing about something. My body warmed at the sight. Grayson fit into our little group like he’d been there his whole life. It was another reason I was struggling with going back to Colorado. Sure, I had Melissa there, but really no friends. Not like my friends here.
Grayson’s eyes met mine as his smile turned to a look of pure fascination. “Meg, you look beautiful.”
I glanced down at the off-white dress Lauren had insisted I wear along with my cowboy boots.
My hair was pulled up and pinned to perfection, according to Libby.
With a shy grin, I kicked at nothing on the floor and sunk my teeth into my lip as Grayson made his way over to me. His hand came up to my face where he softly brushed his thumb across my skin.
“Holy shit. Is Meg blushing? Seriously, am I seeing this with my own eyes? Meagan Atwood has been bitten by the love bug and it makes her blush.”
My eyes shot behind Grayson as I pinned Luke with a pissed off stare. “Fuck off, Luke.”
With a wink, Luke gave me a head pop. “And there she is, always buried deep down inside waiting to come out.”
Grayson laughed as he slid his arm around my waist and led me to the door. “We need to get going.”
Peeking over to Libby, I gave her a thumbs-up as we headed out the door while Libby yelled out, “Don’t mess up her hair! I can only imagine the kind of sex you two have!”
Grayson opened the door to our rental car and shook his head. “Why does everyone think we have hot sex?”
With a shrug, I gave him a sexy grin. “Because I tell them about our sex.”
“Oh. So you think we have hot sex?”
“Let’s just say, staying with my parents the last two weeks has really caused me to have a build up and I’m pretty sure I’m going to need a release soon. Very soon. And all I can think about is our hot sex.”
“My god,” Grayson whispered as he shut the door, pulled out his phone and typed away. When he got in, I looked at him and asked, “Who were you texting?”
“Noah. I asked him to book us a room in Fredericksburg for tonight.”
I chuckled at first then shook my head. “No way. My parents will know what we’re doing.”
Grayson drove down the driveway and laughed. “Um, Meg, we’re engaged to be married and we’re having a baby. I think the idea of us having sex is pretty solid now.”
Wringing my hands together, I cleared my throat. It was now or never. “Gray, I was wondering if we might talk about something.”
His hand came across and grabbed mine as butterflies danced about in my stomach. “Of course we can.”
Damn it all to hell. How do I say this? Where do I start? What if Grayson wants one thing and I want something else? After all, I’m changing the way the game is played in the middle of the damn game.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I tried to work it all out in my head as Grayson continued to drive. I wasn’t sure how long he had driven for before I realized he was not heading toward Fredericksburg.
“Ah . . . where are you going?”
“I want to show you something, but what was it you wanted to talk about? You got super quiet.”
“Well . . . these last two weeks home have been pretty amazing. I mean, I know all the stress of what happened and everything. But I um . . .”
“You’ve been enjoying being home with everyone.”
Swallowing hard, I nodded my head. “I have enjoyed it. Have you?”
His smile was so big I couldn’t help but smile back. “I’ve really enjoyed myself. But then I’ve always loved coming to visit here in Texas.”
Ugh. He said visit.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I dropped my head back against the seat and wondered how in the hell I could sit here and ask him to give up his career to move to the middle of fucking Texas!
My eyes opened when I felt him turning and driving down a gravel driveway.
“Where are we going?”
Grayson stopped the car and handed me a handkerchief. “Turn away from me, baby, and let me put this on. Where we are going is a surprise.”
My stomach jumped. Surprise?
“What kind of surprise?”
With a low rumble coming from his chest, Grayson leaned his lips close to my ear and said, “One I have a feeling you’re going to love.”
I still needed to talk to him about the confusion I was feeling, but it could wait. I was dying to see what he was going to show me.
We drove for a good five minutes b
efore the car parked and Grayson said, “Hold on and I’ll come around and get you.”
The excitement in Grayson’s voice had me feeling giddy as I held onto his hand as he led me to wherever we were going.
With a giggle, I asked, “Are we there yet?”
“Almost.”
Coming to a stop, I waited patiently for Grayson to take off the blindfold so I could see where we were. The only thing I knew for sure was we were outside.
“Ready?”
With a nod of my head, I laughed and said, “Yes! I want to see where we are.”
He was standing behind me as he placed one hand on my hip while pulling the blindfold off with the other. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust but when they did, I took in a breath of air. “Oh my, Grayson that is a beautiful view.”
“Yes it is.”
I slowly shook my head as tears built in my eyes. It was in that moment that it really hit me. I loved Texas. I wanted to be in Texas, near my family and friends. But I wanted Grayson more than anything and Colorado was his home.
“Meagan?” Grayson whispered against my neck.
“Yeah?” I managed to say without letting out the sobs I was desperately holding back.
“Turn around.”
I didn’t want to pull my eyes from the view. The Llano River meandered below us as a slight wind blew my curls around. The blue sky touching the green valley was almost more beautiful than the snow-covered Rocky Mountains.
“Meg?” Grayson said as he put pressure on my hip for me to turn.
When I turned around, I saw everyone standing behind Grayson. My jaw trembled as I looked at the people I loved so much. My father and mother stood up front with huge smiles on their faces. Grams and Gramps were even there standing next to Gunner and Ellie.
My head slowly shook as I looked back to Grayson. “I don’t understand.”
Taking my hand in his, Grayson’s eyes teared up. “Meg, I found us the perfect place to get married.”
My eyes widened. We hadn’t really talked about where we would get married.
“Oh . . . I think it would be a perfect place to get married too,” I said.
Grayson cleared his throat as his blue eyes pierced mine and held me for the longest time. “I also think it would be the perfect place to raise our family.”