Wyatt set a plate in front of me without a word. Sat down across from me with his own. Looked at me in that steady way he had, like he was taking stock, making sure.
"Amber says hi," I said.
"Amber…” he frowned. “Amber Bowen from town? She knows?”
"Amber knows everything," I said. "She has for months."
Something moved across his face. Not quite surprise. "How many people did you tell?"
"Just her." I picked up my fork. "She's a vault."
He looked at me.
"She really is," I said. "She just—she needed to know. She's my person."
He was quiet for a second. Then, like it cost him something to admit it: "Good. You should have someone like that."
I looked at him across the table—his kitchen, his t-shirt on my back, his baby, his puppies asleep in the next room—and felt something settle in my chest so completely it was almost like exhaling.
"I have a few of those now," I said.
He looked at me for a moment. Then he picked up his fork.
"Your parents," he said.
I winced. "Yeah."
"They're going to have opinions."
"My dad is going to want to have a conversation with you that involves sitting on the back porch and probably a shotgun he won't actually use."
Wyatt's expression didn't change. "I can handle that."
"I know you can." I pushed food around my plate. "My mom is going to cry and then immediately start planning things, which is somehow worse."
"What kind of things."
"Baby things. Shower things. She's been waiting for grandchildren since I was approximately seventeen." I paused. "She's going to love you, for what it's worth. She already thinks you're good people."
"She doesn't know me."
"She knows you've been good to me on the ranch for six years." I looked at him. "That matters to her."
He was quiet for a moment, working through something.
"I want to do this right," he said finally. "I know the timing is—I know it's not conventional. But I don't want you to be something I'm hiding. Not anymore."
"You never wanted that," I said. "That was me, remember? I suggested the secret."
"You suggested it because I made you feel like you needed to." His jaw worked. "That's on me."
I opened my mouth.
"It is," he said. Flat. Not arguing, just stating. "I'm not going to pretend otherwise."
I let it sit.
"So what does it look like?" I said. "Going public, I mean. Given that your entire family already knows."
