in her ear. Pete stood and added his congratulations.
“Are you sure?” Lindsay asked Gil. “When Pete was there the other day, you laughed and said—”
Gil and Pete hurriedly interrupted.
“I wasn’t agreeing with Pete!” Gil said in a rush.
“I didn’t mean—I was just talking in general,” Pete assured her.
Kelly stared at Pete, her gaze accusing him of some heinous crime. “Really,” he protested, “some women aren’t—I mean, they don’t—” He took another look at Kelly’s stare and gave up defending himself.
Gil sat down and pulled Lindsay into his lap. They cuddled, whispering, and occasionally kissing, and the others sat in silence, trying to ignore them.
Finally Lindsay looked at her friend. “You were right, Kelly, he does want our baby!” She beamed at them all.
“Of course he does, Lindsay. Everyone knows he’s crazy about you,” Kelly assured her, smiling at both Lindsay and Gil.
Pete frowned. There was a bittersweet tone to her words and her expression that caused him to question her past. She had gotten married when she was pregnant, but Lindsay had assured the Crawfords that Kelly and her husband loved each other. Six months later, before she gave birth, he’d been killed in a rodeo accident.
Pete had assumed Kelly had refused to date anyone because she’d still been in mourning. Now he wondered.
“Uh, I imagine most men are excited about their first child,” he said, watching Kelly closely.
After a hesitation, Kelly said, “Yes, of course.”
She glanced down at her watch and looked back at the doorway, unconsciously reminding him of the ordeal she was going through. Yet she’d taken the time to help Lindsay.
It suddenly occurred to him that Lindsay’s news would excite his mother. “Have you told Mom? She’s going to be over the moon. You know how she wants a grandchild nearby.” His brother Logan had one baby and another on the way but they were two or three hours away in Texas.
“Not yet. I had to tell Gil first,” Lindsay protested.
“You’ve told him. Why don’t you go call Mom and Dad,” Pete suggested.
Lindsay and Gil jumped to their feet and hurried out of the waiting room after a quick word to Kelly.
Rafe suggested to Mary that they walk a little. He said his left leg went stiff if he didn’t move around every once in a while. Mary leaped at the opportunity to nurse someone else, since she couldn’t nurse her grandson.
Suddenly only Pete and Kelly remained in the waiting room.
He cleared his throat. “Thanks for helping Lindsay.”
She was pacing the room, and she turned to stare at him. “I didn’t do anything.” She started walking again.
“Yes, you did. You calmed her down and got her to talk to Gil. I’ve never seen her that upset.”
She paused again. “A woman is very upset during pregnancy. Her hormones are out of balance.”
“Were you that way when you had Drew?”
Her eyes darkened, and she turned away, pacing again. He barely heard the “yes” she muttered.
“He’s a cute baby.”
She seemed surprised by his words, which made him feel defensive. He didn’t hate children just because he didn’t think he was cut out for fatherhood. He didn’t think he had the patience a child needed.
“He’s a little boy, almost two years old,” she said. Then she sank her teeth into her bottom lip and her eyes filled with tears. She quickly turned away.
Pete stood and put his arms around her. To his surprise she didn’t protest. He figured tomorrow she’d slap him if he tried to hug her. But tonight, she’d hold on to any port in a storm.
“He’s going to be fine, Kelly. Tomorrow, you’ll be laughing about your fears.”
She sniffed and muttered against his chest, “Maybe not tomorrow. It’ll take longer than that.”
“Yeah. How long will it take before you forgive me for what I said to your mother? I know I was rude and I apologize.” He hadn’t meant to bring up that subject, but he couldn’t help himself.
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