Gabe (Men of Clifton Montana Book 2) (10 page)

Emma sat
on her sofa, placed her hands over her face, and let the tears go. She needed
to get a pregnancy test to make sure and then call her doctor if the test
turned out positive, but she
couldn’t help thinking
what people were going to say. What would they think of her? She jumped inside
her skin, her heart slamming in her chest, when she heard Olivia call her name.
She wiped her face with the backs of her hands and sighed before calling o
ut for her to come in. Olivia strode in and stopped dead in
her tracks.

“Did he
do something to hurt you? Because if he did, I will personally cut his balls
off,” Olivia told her.

Emma
shook her head. “No. Gabe didn’
t hurt me. I think…
I think I may be preg
nant.” Her
voice choked. When Olivia didn’t say anything, Emma glanced up at her not
knowing what to expect.

“Didn’t
he use a condom?” Olivia asked through clenched teeth.

“He did,
yes, but I’m late and I’m never late.”

Olivia
sighed, and then sat down
beside her, wrapping an arm
around her shoulders. “First time for everything, I guess. You need to make
sure.”

Emma
nodded. “I know but the minute I go in the pharmacy to pick up a test, it will
be all over town that I’m pregnant.”

“I’ll
get it for you,” O
livia said. Emma looked at her in
disbelief. Olivia snorted. “You think I care what the locals think? They don’t
know me and it will drive them crazy trying to figure out which cowboy I did
the nasty with.”

Emma
laughed through her tears. “Liv, you are som
ething
else. I’ll love you forever if you pick it up for me.”

“
Pffft
…you’ll love me forever anyway.”
Olivia stood up, and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll go right now. I should
be back within thirty minutes so try not to freak out while I’m gone.”

Emma s
at there as patiently as she could while Olivia was gone.
Stacy was at the front desk so it was covered. Emma had already prepared lunch
and knew what dinner was going to be so no one would miss her for a while. She
jumped nervously when she heard Olivia c
ome in the
back door. Hurrying, she met her in the kitchen. Olivia smiled at her.

“Well,
the gossip tails are wagging.” Olivia laughed as she handed Emma the test. She
took it from Olivia’s hand and stared at it. “It ain’t going to do it by
itself, Emma gi
rl.”

Emma
took a deep breath, nodded and returned to her apartment with Olivia on her
heels. Olivia took a seat on the sofa while Emma went into the bathroom. When
she emerged a few minutes later, she was unable to hold back the tears.

“Are
those happy tea
rs because it’s negative or sad tears
because it’s positive?” Olivia asked her, tilting her head in ardent curiosity.

“I’m
pregnant.” Emma started crying in earnest this time. Olivia jumped up and put
her arms around her and she was suddenly grateful for h
er friend’s comforting arms. They sat together on the sofa with Olivia
muttering soothing words, but Emma was flabbergasted. Thinking she was pregnant
was one thing, knowing it was another thing completely. How was she going to
tell Gabe? Pulling away from
Olivia, she stood up and
took a deep breath. She knew what she had to do first.

“I have
to tell Gabe,” she whispered, and then shook her head. “How is he going to take
this?”

“I can
go with you. You know, in case he’s a dick about it,” Olivia said with a
smirk of a smile.

Emma
grinned. She knew Olivia would go to bat for her friends. It didn’t matter how
big or small the opponent was, she stood up to them. She took care of her own.
“I’ll go alone. If he’s a...dick about it, I’ll let you know.”

Olivia
burst
out laughing. “You must be stressed. You’ve
never used the word dick before.”

Emma
laughed and it felt good. “Maybe I have been hanging around you too much.” She
hugged Olivia, remembering Gabe commenting on the same thing. She grabbed her
purse, and head
ed out for a confrontation at Gabe’s
ranch.

Her
stomach was in knots the entire ride there. Emma pulled up to the barn, parked,
and asked one of the ranch hands where Gabe was. He pointed to the hay barn.
She entered the barn, stopping to let her eyes adju
st.
The barn smelled of newly cut hay. The floor, covered with pieces of hay made
her steps silent. Gabe was at the end of the barn stacking the bales. Taking a
deep breath, she walked up to him. He lifted his head and when he saw her, he
smiled. She could
n’t dig up the effort to smile back,
and watched as his smile died. He met her in the middle of the barn. She could
smell the sweat coming off him and found it sexy as hell. Looking up at him,
she gazed into those dark eyes and couldn’t bring herself to sp
it out the words. She heard him sigh.

“You’re
pregnant,” Gabe muttered and his shoulders drooped.

Emma
gasped. “How…
how
did you know?”

Gabe
took his gloves off, reached for her hand, and in silence led her into the
house to the living room. She’d always lo
ved this
home and felt comforted by it, but right now, her insides were anything but
calm. She took a seat on the sofa and Gabe sat down beside her, holding both
her hands. He cleared his throat. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what he
had to say.

“Gabe
?” she whispered as her stomach fell. Something was wrong.
Something he didn’t want to tell her.

“The
first time we were together,” Gabe stammered. “When I went into the bathroom to
take care of the condom, it was…broken.”

“Broken?”
She felt anger pour ove
r her. She jumped up pulling
her hands from his. “You didn’t think to tell me?” she shouted. Gabe reached
for her but she pulled back. “Do not touch me,” she said through clenched
teeth.

Gabe ran
his hand down his face. “I didn’t want to tell you, in case
you turned out not to be pregnant. I didn’t want to ruin
what happened between us.”

“That
was weeks ago, Gabe. You’ve had plenty of time to tell me.”

He
shrugged. “I was hoping you weren’t pregnant. I decided to…wait it out and
see.”

Emma was
shaking with
anger. “Well, you see now.” She wanted
to hit him, her hands tightened into fists. “But you don’t have to worry about
anything. I’ll take care of it.” She turned to leave when Gabe grabbed her arm
and spun her around.

“You’ll
take care of it. What the hell
does that mean? You
will not get rid of my baby.” He bared his teeth at her.

“I have
no intention of getting rid of the baby. I’m telling you not to worry about it.
I can raise it on my own.” She blinked back tears and wished she was anywhere
else but whe
re she was.

“The
hell you will. We’ll raise it together. We’re going to get married, Emma. Our
baby will have two parents at all times, you hear me? I won’t be a part-time
father.” Gabe was shouting at her now.

“Married?
Are you out of your mind? What cent
ury are you living
in, Gabe? No one has to get married nowadays.”

He
leaned in and put his face down close to hers. “We’re getting married and
that’s that.” Gabe straightened to his full height and glared down at her.
“Once we’re married, you’ll move in he
re. I plan to
be a part of my child’s life before he even enters this world. Make the
arrangements or I will, Emma. Believe me, darlin’, when I say I’ll get you to
the altar one way or another, I mean it.” He turned away from her and stalked
out of the hou
se, the back door slamming behind him.

* * * *

Everything
happened so fast even when the day came three weeks later, Emma found it hard
to believe she was standing in a church exchanging marriage vows with Gabe
Stone. The only people in the church were
B
ecca
, as her maid of honor, Jake, as
best man, her parents, and Olivia and Wyatt who sat separately in the pews.
Counting the minister, there were nine of them in attendance. Definitely not
the wedding Emma had imagined for herself someday.

Her eyes
misted
up as she repeated her vows, her voice
trembling. Gabe spoke his with conviction. Her gaze shifted to
Becca
and she saw her smiling at her.
Other than herself, Gabe, and Olivia, no one knew the wedding was because she
was pregnant. She hated lying to them
. They were her
family now. She and Gabe decided to tell them all once they were back at the
house. Gabe would tell his brothers and Emma would tell
Becca
and her parents. She glanced
toward Olivia sitting in a pew alone. Olivia winked at her. Emma then lo
oked to where Wyatt was sitting. He was leaning back in the
pew with his arms folded across his chest. The expression on his face was
unreadable. Emma had the feeling Wyatt knew nothing was as it appeared. She
took a deep breath, and brought her attention
back to
Gabe when they were pronounced husband and wife. She turned to face Gabe. He
cupped her face in his large hands, kissed her, and the
n whispered against her lips, “
W
e’ll
be fine, darlin’.”

Gabe
smiled at her, and she shyly smiled back. Why she was
suddenly
shy, she had no idea. The man had seen her naked, so being married shouldn’t
change anything. She caught herself before she snorted. She knew the reason.
She was married to a man who didn’t love her. Of course, it changed things. It
changed everyt
hing.

Emma put
on a smile even though she didn’t feel it as
Becca
hugged her.

“I’m so
happy for you,”
Becca
said with true elation. Emma
hugged her back, feeling like a fraud. Jake kissed her cheek, and then shook
Gabe’s hand while Olivia hugged Gabe. She
whispered
something to him. Emma saw Gabe jerk back, swallow hard then nod his head. Emma
frowned at Olivia as she came toward her and hugged her.

“What
did you say to Gabe?”

“I told
him if he hurt you, his balls would be mine.” Olivia grinned slyly.

Emma
burst out laughing and looked toward Gabe. He smiled at her
but swept his gaze over to Olivia. Emma watched Olivia wiggle her fingers at
him and grin. Gabe ran his fingers around the collar of his dress shirt, and
Emma stifled a true smile.

Everyone
went t
o Gabe’s home after the wedding to celebrate.
Emma knew she had to tell
Becca
and her parents what was going
on. They all assumed she and Gabe had fallen in love and just couldn’t wait.
Gabe planned to tell his brothers the truth too. When everyone was ful
l from cake and food, Emma took
Becca’s
hand, nodded for her parents to
follow her, and led them to the bedroom. Olivia followed. Once inside, she
turned to face
Becca
and her parents wringing her
hands.

“What’s
wrong?”
Becca
asked her eyes wide with worry
. Emma’s parents stood by the door and stared at her. Emma
had a feeling they already suspected the truth.

Emma
sighed. “Gabe and I didn’t get married because we fell in love. I’m pregnant.”

“Pregnant?”
Becca
grabbed Emma’s hands. “Didn’t he
use a condom?”

Olivia
laughed. “That’s what I said.”

Becca
swung around to face Olivia. “You knew about this?” Emma
knew she was hurt because no one had told her.

“I’m
sorry,
Becs
, but it wasn’t my place to tell
you.” Olivia put her arm around her best friend and
Becca
nodded her agreement.
Becca
reached out and pulled Emma into
a hug.