Page 44 of Promised to the Cowboy

The thought warms my chest.

So does the fact that I know exactly where Gabriel is without having to look. Somewhere in the machine shed with Daniel, probably pretending to listen while Ethan argues with a piece of equipment that offended him.

Eight days.

That’s all it’s been.

Eight days since we heard our daughter’s heartbeat.

Eight days since Gabriel looked me in the eye and called herourgirl.

And earlier, he told me—again—that I was family.

I turn the glass slowly between my palms.

Family.

I’ve spent my whole life traveling light. One duffel bag. One horse. One truck. Never unpack too much because sooner or later, you’ll be leaving again.

Now I have maternity clothes hanging in the wardrobe upstairs.

Peppermints in my pocket because Captain Winky expects them.

And every morning, without fail, Maggie pours me decaf and feeds me like she thinks I’m growing a football team.

It’s terrifying.

Not because I want to run.

Because I don’t.

“Can I join you, or would you prefer to be left alone?”

Startled, I turn to see Jenna.

“Please.” I pat the step beside me. “Anything to stop me arguing with my own thoughts.”

She grins and sits beside me, one hip bumping mine as she lowers herself onto the step. “I hear Gabriel filled you in.”

I nod. “Yeah. What a shitshow.”

Jenna chuckles. “That’s one way of putting it.”

I smile into my glass. “Gabriel said he wanted me at the meeting tomorrow. Told me I’m family.”

Jenna raises an eyebrow. “And how do you feel about that?”

I don’t answer straight away because I don’t know how to explain what that sentence has done to me.

“It’s always been just my mom and me. Then just me when I joined the rodeo circuit. I’ve never been anybody’s family before. Not like this.”

Not where Delaney plans my maternity wardrobe with military precision. Where Maggie remembers I like extra butter on my toast. Where the Suttons make plans for next month as though they simply assume I’ll still be here.

“I keep waiting for someone to realize they’ve made a mistake.”

Jenna smiles. “They won’t.”

“You sound awfully sure.”