“I… I love you, too. I want to try again,” she admitted.

I’d thought Claire would be my only child. Being blessed with her was good enough for me, but getting Sarah back, making a family with her?

“You want to make a baby with me?”

She nodded. “I’m not sure about five though.”

I laughed then, wiped my eyes because they were filled with tears like hers. “We can ditch the condoms and work on it all you want. But I want a ring on your finger if we’re going to put a baby in your belly.”

She smiled then, brilliantly. Even with her cheeks splotchy and the weight of our loss heavy on my soul, this was one of the most perfect moments.

Sarah was mine, and she’d have my name. And give me our child.

17

SARAH

I sat in Huck’s arms for a while. Keeping me on his lap, he’d settled back against the rock. We talked. Whispered. Kissed. There was no ring, but we were engaged. There was no sex, so we hadn’t made a baby, but we would. We had our entire lives before us. Together.

Eventually we got up and made our way back to the stable hand in hand. Huck didn’t seem to want to let me go, and I was content with that. We peeked in on Maple and the puppies, but they were alone and nursing. We walked up to the main house, but it was quiet. Huck assumed Alice had gone into town with Thatcher and Claire.

Whenever I thought of the baby, I’d think of it as the one we’d lost. I wasn’t alone now. I would carry my own grief about it and so would Huck. But we had each other to lean on now.

And it wasn’t a secret any longer. The baby wasn’t mine to hide.

“Stay with me,” he said, tugging me so I was pulled into his arms again. His lips settled on the top of my head as he hugged me. “Stay here on the ranch.”

“What about Claire? And Alice?”

“I’m thirty-two years old. I’m not sixteen trying to sneak you in. Besides, Alice is the one who put me in the bachelor auction in the first place. It’s all her fault.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I tipped my head back and looked up at him. “Her fault?”

“She’ll take the credit, I’m sure.”

“And Claire?”

“She’s little. She just wants you to be her mommy. You good with that?”

Have a five-year-old? I smiled. “I’m good with that. Then yes, I want to stay here with you.”

“Let’s go get a few of your things. We can figure out the rest.”

He held the door open for me as I climbed into the passenger seat of his police SUV, then leaned in and buckled my seat belt. Then kissed me.

I could do my own belt. Huck knew it, but I loved the gesture, saying without words that he’d always protect me. I certainly didn’t mind the kiss or the look in his eyes that promised more.