Chapters (62)
- Cover
- Half Title Page
- Books by Katie Powner
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Ads
- Back Cover
As Jeremy pulled up to the stoplight, Bea looked out the window and cringed. The jacked-up Ford F-350 in the neighboring lane towered over them like Saddle Peak. She was still getting used to being dwarfed on all sides when on the road. In California, the Toyota Matrix fit right in. In Montana, it stood out like a Shetland pony in a herd of wild mustangs. Plus, Dad wouldn’t stop nagging about how its tires weren’t fit to face a Montana winter. “Why’d you trade the Blazer for that thing?” he’d asked three times now.
In Santa Clara, it was all about gas mileage. But she’d missed the sound of a Power Stroke diesel engine.
“I still can’t believe it.” Jeremy reached over and squeezed her knee. “We heard our baby’s heartbeat.”
“Yep.” Bea kept her eyes on the window. “Pretty amazing.”
Jeremy didn’t comment on the lack of enthusiasm in her voice. Maybe he didn’t notice. It wasn’t that she had been unmoved by the sound of her baby’s heartbeat coming through the monitor when the doctor pressed the wand against her stomach. She had been. Very much. It was just that the resolute thumping sound had made it all so real. So tangible. So inevitable.
What was her problem? Seriously, she acted as if she were dreading the arrival of her own child. Why wasn’t she crying happy tears every time she thought of holding the little bundle in her arms? Why couldn’t she beam and count down the days like a normal person?
“Which do you want to get first,” Jeremy asked, “the vitamins or the Orange Julius?”
The doctor had insisted she start taking prenatal vitamins with folic acid immediately.
“Orange Julius.”
He smiled over at her. “You got it.”
As Jeremy drove toward the mall, Bea surreptitiously studied his face. They’d had a good first year of marriage in Santa Clara. Despite a few bumps, they’d made a lot of great memories, but he’d never looked like this. Happy and content.
Okay, and sexy. Ha. Maybe that was her hormones talking. Or the ruddiness in his face and slightly more defined muscles in his shoulders that she could only attribute to the hours he’d put in on the Duncan farm.
“I think Montana agrees with you,” she said.
His dimples appeared. “I’ll admit, it’s way different here than I expected.”
“How do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I feel like I can breathe here. The world just stretches out in front of you for miles and miles.”