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“We’ll bring her a pole.”
“If I know Lucy. And I believe I do. She’ll have her own.”
“Then tell her to bring it.”
On Friday night, Jake and Ember were on the porch, looking at the spring constellations. They were sitting on the swing and Jake had his arm around her. She laid her head on his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head.
“We’ve been married almost four months.”
“It’s gone by crazy fast.”
“Time has a way of doing that. Seems like just yesterday I had three toddlers running around out there.”
“They’re going to have toddlers of their own someday.”
“Yeah. Even though they all say they’re in no hurry.”
She looked up at him. “I’m going to ask you this question one more time and then I’ll never ask it again.”
“Ember.”
“Are you going to be fine with having kids and grandchildren a few years apart in age?”
Jake removed his arm from around her and turned toward her as he took her hands. “Ember. I can’t wait to have a child with you. The O’Connell family has always been a little non-conforming as far as traditional families go. I was raised bymy dad and my grandparents. Dad and Genny stepped in when I lost Rachel to help raise my kids. This family will adapt to whatever comes to pass. Kids and grandkids growing up together on this ranch is not going to be a problem. For me, or for anyone else.”
She nodded. “Okay. Good. Because, I’m late.”
“Already? You just went off the birth control a couple of days ago.”
“I know. And if it happened, it wasn’t in the last few days. I switched to something different a month or so ago, and I might not have been completely protected. But it’s just two days. Switching things around messes with your system. It takes time for things to settle down. So it may be nothing.”
“But it could be something?”
“Yeah. It could be something.”
He looked up at the stars for a moment. “Well, shit.”
She patted his knee. “Don’t get too excited. It’s only two days.”
He turned back toward her. “What’s your gut tell you?”
“I’m trying to ignore it.”
“Ember.”
She took a breath. “It’s telling me it’s probably something.”
Chapter ten
"Don't go jumping to conclusions."
Memorial Day weekend in Castle Springs brought people in from all over the county. If you didn’t have relatives to stay with, or weren’t lucky enough to reserve a room at the one hotel in town, then you brought an RV and camped at the rodeo grounds. There was no charge to do so, but you had to put up with the dust and the faint smell of manure.
Once the parade passed through Saturday morning, the main street through town, Castle Road, was closed off at both ends of town with vendor’s booths lining both sides of it. The few retail shops in town put tables on the sidewalk in front of their stores with Memorial Day specials. The booths offered a variety of arts and crafts, homegrown fruits and vegetables, candles, local honey, and tables from the sheriff’s department and the mayor’soffice. There they handed out stickers, pens, and coloring books for the kids.
The park, a block over from Castle Road, is where the food booths set up. You could find everything from hot dogs to kettle corn. And soft drinks to beer in the beer tent. The beer tent was run by the two bars in town. They’d switch off every year, and the proceeds went to a local charity.
J.T. and Sawyer made their way down Castle Road, not paying too much attention to the many booths. They were headed for the park. Once there, they ordered chilidogs from the booth run by the high school football team. They were raising money for new equipment and J.T. and Sawyer added twenty dollars apiece to the price of their hotdogs.
