Baby My Baby (A Ranching Family) Read Online Free PDF Page A

To talk to him. To have a life together.
    But that never happened and for some reason, that night, she’d finally accepted that it never would. That she’d never be first on his list of priorities. And she’d finally admitted to herself that she couldn’t accept it any longer.
    She’d sat up the rest of the night and when his alarm went off at five the next morning, she’d told him she was divorcing him.
    And he hadn’t really argued.
    Beth swallowed back the lump that memory could still put in her throat.
    He’d moved in with his maternal grandfather while Beth filed the necessary papers and finished tax season, wrapping up her job and her life on the reservation at about the same time the final decree was handed down.
    Then she’d packed her things. And, for the first time, she’d begun to wonder about some of what was happening to her physically. And what wasn’t happening, and hadn’t for a long while.
    So, just before she was set to leave, she’d gone in to see Cele.
    That was when her friend and doctor had told her that missed periods and fatigue were not because of the stress of divorcing a man she would have rather had a future with.
    So this is what has to happen to get him to take notice, she thought.
    Unfortunately, it was too late.
    Too late for anything more than wondering if things would be different had she known on that last night they’d made love that she was already carrying his child.
    Beth got out of bed and pulled on the clothes she’d been wearing when she’d arrived. How much easier it would be if she’d divorced Ash because she didn’t have any feelings for him anymore. Because she wasn’t attracted to him anymore. Because sparks couldn’t be ignited between them.
    But the fact that she still cared didn’t change anything.
    She’d learned very well what being married to him was like and there was no going back to it.
    Not that Ash would even want her back.
    * * *
    The sound of her brother’s voice drifted to Beth even before she reached her friend’s kitchen. Linc was teasing Kansas about how deprived he’d felt not seeing her the night before.
    When Beth joined them she found Linc sitting on a kitchen chair with Kansas on his lap. The evidence of their playful affection gave her an instant twinge of jealousy that she fought back.
    “Morning,” she said to announce herself.
    “Hi,” Kansas responded with a laugh in her voice as Linc nibbled her earlobe. Then she pushed out of his arms and stood.
    Beth was grateful for that.
    “How about some breakfast?” Kansas offered. “I’ll make you pancakes and top them with powdered sugar and a few sprinkles of fresh squeezed orange juice like we used to have after our sleepovers when we were kids.”
    Beth smiled at the memory. She and Kansas had grown up together, but their friendship had really blossomed when they were teenagers. They’d spent a lot of time together through junior high and high school, then drifted apart when they’d gone off to different colleges and over the years that followed. But it was good to rekindle that friendship now. Especially when Beth really needed a friend.
    What she didn’t need was food. Her stomach was still in knots. “Let’s do our special pancakes another time. I’m not hungry right now.”
    “Coffee? Tea? Milk?”
    “Nothing. Thanks.”
    Kansas refilled Linc’s cup and then sat on a separate chair. Beth took a third, all the while feeling strongly her brother’s unwavering stare.
    “I think you got things confused last night, Liz-a-Beth,” he finally said, using the name he’d teased her with when they were kids, clearly meaning to soften the chastising tone in his voice. “I was supposed to come here to be with Kansas and you should have been the one with Ash.”
    Beth grimaced. “How did it go?”
    “It was no party, I’ll tell you that. We didn’t know what the hell to say to him and he sat there waiting for you damn near till midnight. I couldn’t leave him alone