I’m not sure that was winning. Ace being kidnapped and stabbed. An alliance with Gianna Milano, which involves a wedding.
But I guess they did win. Ace is alive. Our baby is fine, and Sterling Ranch remains untouched.
"Hell yeah, we did." Ace tries to raise his fist for emphasis, and the IV line tugs, and he stares at his own arm as if it's betrayed him. "Why's my arm got spaghetti on it?"
"That's your IV, Mr. Sterling," the doctor says patiently. "Please don't pull on it."
Ace growls, and I try so hard not to laugh.
"It's my spaghetti arm, I'll do what I—" He stops. His eyes drift down to my stomach. And everything in his face changes. The fog burns off all at once. "The baby."
"The baby's fine," I say quickly, pressing his hand to my bump before his heart rate spikes. "Perfect. Strong heartbeat. The size of a peach this week."
He stares at my stomach. Then at me. Then back at my stomach.
"A peach," he repeats. "We grew a peach."
"We did," I say with the biggest smile on my face.
"That's the best fruit." His eyes are welling up. "Harper. That's the best fruit. Our kid is already winnin'."
Jett loses it completely in the corner. Even Hunter is wiping his eyes and pretending he isn't.
The doctor checks the monitors. "He'll be like this for a few hours while the sedation wears off. This is all normal. Heart rate is good. Responses are good. He's a very lucky man."
"Ain't luck." Ace's thumb strokes the curve of my bump. His eyes are already getting heavy again, but he's fighting it, holding onto me with his gaze the way he holds everything in life, past the point anyone else would let go. "I heard her. She brought me back here."
"Heard what, baby?"
"Countin'." His lids drop, but the grin stays. "Eight seconds. Heard you the whole time, Goldie. Just kept... gettin' back on until I came back."
His breathing deepens. His hand goes slack on my stomach, but it stays there, even in sleep, covering our peach baby.
I lean down and press my lips to his forehead.
"Welcome home, cowboy. I love you more than life itself," I whisper.
Behind me, Jett’s blowing his nose like a trumpet. "I'm naming the baby's first pony. I've earned it."
"You absolutely have not," Colten says.
With that, the room is full of the sound I love most in the world.
The Sterlings, laughing.
Everything is finally going to be okay.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
Ace
I can remember patches of waking up.
I remember the spaghetti. The peach. I remember telling a doctor I was in heaven, which, given the company my soul keeps, was optimistic.
Mostly, I remember my Harper.
She's alive.
