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“I’d like to stay in Hamilton for a few extra weeks. Look around, take it all in.”
“Are you serious? Do you want to move here?”
He held up his hands and laughed. “Hold on now, I’m not saying that. But if my only daughter is going to be living here, starting a new business, and possibly getting married someday, I want to be a part of it. I’ve missed so much, and I don’t want to miss anything else.”
My hand came up to my mouth, and I couldn’t contain my sobs.
“Would you like it, if I stayed and checked out the area?”
I did the only thing I could. I nodded and stood up. My father stood as well, and I launched myself into his arms. “Nothing would make me happier, Daddy. Nothing.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
TIMBERLYNN
April
“One month to go,” Lincoln said as she slowly sat down in one of her kitchen chairs.
Kaylee laughed. “Three more for me! Or is it four? Hell, I can’t even remember anymore.”
I smiled as I placed grass into Morgan’s Easter basket. “The weather looks like it’s going to be perfect for Easter on Sunday.
Kaylee smiled as she looked at the baskets I was making. “I’m so glad. This past winter was hell with those three major storms. I thought at one point I was going to punch Ty after he took the butter from me and hid it.”
Lincoln moaned. “I’m so glad you’re out of the butter phase.”
“So am I,” I added.
Kaylee shrugged. “I think this little girl is finally giving her mother a break with the morning sickness and weird cravings.”
“Are you still not finding out the sex of the baby?” I asked Lincoln.
“Nope!” she said as she popped the P. “I really want to be surprised. I’m looking forward to seeing Brock’s face. Deep down I’m thinking it’s a boy. Your father says he’s almost positive it’s a boy from the way I’m carrying. And how hard the little guy kicks. Stella is still set on a girl.”
A warm sensation ran through my body at the mention of my father. He had stayed those few extra weeks after New Year’s to check out Montana and spend time with me. He’d helped me set up my new business, and I’d already gotten two rescue horses and three clients to train.
Dad had formed a bromance with Ty Senior, fell hard for Stella’s home cooking, and learned that the hospital in town was in need of a consultant with a new wing they wanted to build. Needless to say, they didn’t waste time bringing him on considering who my father was in the medical industry. Dad bought a cute little house right outside of town with a short commute to the hospital and ended up selling my childhood home back in Georgia. The fact that he had moved here to be with me still made me teary-eyed when I thought about it. He came over every Tuesday night for dinner with me and Tanner and joined us every Sunday night at Stella and Ty Senior’s house for their weekly family dinner. We still had a ways to go with our healing, but with both of us going to a counselor together, and Dad seeing one of his own, things were progressing well.
“Do you think he snuck a peek at your last ultrasound?” Kaylee asked.
Lincoln laughed. “Don’t even let Brock hear you say that. He’ll try to talk Frank into giving him the information.”
I laughed as I tied a yellow bow on Morgan’s basket. “There. Finished.”
Lincoln sighed happily. “Oh, Timberlynn, thank you so much. I don’t have the energy to put into anything right now, so you’ve saved me. I don’t remember being this tired with Morgan.”
“That’s because you didn’t have two kids then. You only had Blayze, and I swear that boy could probably take care of himself if he really wanted to,” Kaylee said.
We all laughed, then turned when we heard the sound of male voices growing closer.
Brock, Ty, and Tanner all walked into the kitchen. Brock saw Lincoln sitting in the chair and rushed over to her. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
She giggled. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just tired.”
He kissed her quickly on the lips, then bent down to kiss her stomach.
Ty was currently talking to Kaylee’s stomach and telling their child how much he loved him or her, while Tanner came up and kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in weeks.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said.
Brock laughed. “Why is it every time you tell her you have a surprise, it’s a horse?”
“Or a puppy! I’m still jealous,” Kaylee said.
Tanner had bought me a silver lab for Valentine’s day. We named her Millie, and she was the perfect dog. Tanner was training her to bird hunt while I trained her to jump up into bed and snuggle on the sofa when I said it was movie night. Millie was meant for me, but she adored Tanner and followed him everywhere.
“Kaylee, we’re about to have a baby and you want a puppy?” Ty said with a disbelieving laugh.
Kaylee rolled her eyes. “If Lincoln can handle two kids and a newborn, I’m pretty sure I can handle a puppy and a newborn.”
I smiled as Ty let out a sigh, then he winked at Lincoln when Kaylee wasn’t looking. I must have had a curious look on my face, because Tanner leaned in and whispered, “She’s getting a black lab puppy in her Easter basket.”
I gasped, then covered my mouth.
“What?” Kaylee said as she narrowed her eyes at me. “You know something.”
With a shake of my head, I turned to Tanner in an attempt to change the subject. “What’s this surprise you have for me?”
“A hundred bucks it’s another horse,” Ty called out.
Brock pushed Ty. “I already said that. That’s my bet.”
Ty shook his head and said, “No, you didn’t call it, I did. It’s my bet.”
Tanner rolled his eyes and then winked at me, which still gave me butterflies in my stomach. Then he turned and faced everyone. “You’ll have to wait until later. I believe right now, Ty, you challenged me to a roping contest.”
“Lord, not again,” Kaylee groaned. “Ty, the boy did it for a living. He won a championship doing it. Why do you insist on challenging him every month?”
“I do it so that that boy, as you call him, can get some roping time in because I’m a damn good brother. And I’ve been practicing this month, so I think I can beat him.”
Everyone laughed.
“Blayze will want to be there, Ty. You know how upset he was last time y’all did it without him,” Lincoln stated.
“Where is he?” Tanner asked.
Brock smiled and shook his head slowly. “He’s with Mom and Dad. He spent the night the
re last night. Said he missed spending time with them, but I think he just wanted to be away from us since he got into trouble.”
I placed my hand over my chest. “Oh, he is so sweet. I find it hard to believe he would ever get into trouble.”
“Ha!” Lincoln said as she reached for Brock to help her out of the chair. “He was called to the principal’s office at school last week.”
“Why?” Kaylee and I asked at the same time.
Brock laughed, and Lincoln hit him as she answered. “It’s not funny, Brock.”
“It’s kind of funny,” Brock stated. “He was called in for telling his teacher he didn’t think she picked very good books to read during reading hour.”
“Then,” Lincoln added as she gave Brock a side eye, “he proceeded to hand her the books he felt she should be reading.”
“Oh. No,” Ty said. “I hope he didn’t find Tanner’s collection of old naughty magazines.”
“My collection? Dude, those were yours and Brock’s! Beck and I begged y’all to share those with us,” Tanner said.
Lincoln chuckled and shook her head. “No, thank goodness it wasn’t that. But now I’m gonna have to make Stella search your old rooms before he does find them. He gave her books on roping and raising cattle, and the best one of all was raising a calf for beef. That one made two little girls in the classroom burst into tears, which made Blayze tell them it was okay. Then he proceeded to ask where they thought their hamburgers and steaks came from. One of the little girl’s mother called us to let us know her daughter now refuses to eat anything made from a cow.”
I covered my mouth to keep from laughing. Ty, Tanner, and Kaylee all laughed out loud, and Brock did his best not to.
“Y’all think it’s funny,” Lincoln said, then pointed at Kaylee. “Your time is coming. Just wait.”
Ty reached over and rubbed Kaylee’s stomach. The way he looked at her made me swoon.
Then Tanner took my hand, and I went from swooning caused by one Shaw brother to full-on heart palpitations from the Shaw brother I loved so dearly.
“Come on, let’s go rope some cows,” Tanner said, guiding me to the door.
