The Cowboy's Surprise Baby

A door slam and thumping footsteps heralded the entrance of Brock and the boys. “Momma, why are you hugging Auntie Amy?” Zach asked, looking concerned.

Cassie leaned down low and ruffled her son’s hair, sending a pang through Amy’s heart, just as it always did when she saw mothers interacting with their children. “Auntie Amy is doing me a favor, so I was saying thank you with a nice big hug. She’s going to be in the wedding with us,” Cassie explained.

Carter’s face broke into a wide grin. “We’re going to be in the wedding, too! We get to hold the rings and stand next to our uncles!”

Brock held out a hand for each of the boys to high-five. “That’s right. Y’all are going to do me proud, I know it.”

Carter and Zach both puffed with pleasure.

“So I know now’s not the time, what with your imminent date and all,” Cassie said, turning back to Amy, “but we need to get you fitted for your bridesmaid dress soon so there’ll be time to alter it before the wedding. We’re less than a month away at this point.”

Amy nodded, taking her role as bridesmaid very seriously. “I’ll be here for whatever you need,” she said earnestly.

Brock cut into the sweet, sisterly moment. “Wait, you have a date? With who?” he asked, sounding almost protective.

Cassie gave Amy a worried look, as if she was waiting to see if she’d already slipped up as a sister and confidante. Amy gave her brother a steely gaze. “I’m going on a date with Jack Stuart, and you are not to say anything overprotective or big-brotherly about it.”

Brock held up his hands in mock surrender. “I wouldn’t think of it. Have fun, my adult sister who can make her own decisions.”

Amy and Cassie both smiled in relief.

“But if he tries to get fresh with you—” he began, pointing a finger in warning.

He was cut off when Cassie shoved him out the door. “Sorry about that,” Cassie said, grimacing.

Amy laughed. She’d forgotten what it was like to have a big brother around watching out for her. It was a little obnoxious, sure, but also nice in its own way.

“So, let’s talk about the wedding,” she said, filling the silence.

Cassie shook her head. “Nuh-uh. We’re not done here. Next is makeup and hair.”

Amy twirled a strand of her blond hair around one of her fingers as she was dragged into the bathroom. “How do you know how to do all this stuff?” she asked.

She’d assumed her doctor sister-in-law was just as clueless as she was, but it seemed very clear that she was wrong. Cassie shrugged as she opened a drawer of brushes and powders. “I have a sister. This is what you do when you’re bored over summer vacation.”

Amy had never felt like she’d missed out having only brothers, but now she wondered what it would’ve been like to grow up with a sister. She couldn’t go back and change her childhood, but maybe she’d be able to have the closeness of a female sibling now, as an adult. The thought made her smile as she closed her eyes so Cassie could apply eye shadow.

* * *

JACK WALKED TO the door of the McNeals’ ranch house, a combination of nervousness and excitement turning his stomach into knots. He could well remember being seventeen and feeling that same emotion as he stood waiting for Amy. That was on the occasion of their true first date, when he had nearly convinced himself that it was all a hallucination or something. Or a cruel prank.

It was funny how history repeated itself, he thought as he quelled the sudden voice insisting Amy wouldn’t be home. What if she’d changed her mind and taken off again, leaving him without explanation for another decade?

Jack took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It opened almost instantaneously, and he breathed a secret sigh of relief. Amy stood there in all her glory and then some.

“You look...” he began, but words failed him as he took in the sight of her.

Amy’s long blond hair cascaded over her shoulders in wavy curls, and her dress was a blue that made her eyes sparkle. Or maybe they were sparkling because she was looking at him.

A man could hope.

When his eyes landed on her scuffed cowboy boots, his expression broke into a wide grin. “My girl knows how to dress for a night out on the town, that’s for sure,” he commented, chuckling.

For just a split second, Amy’s smile faltered and Jack wanted to smack himself. He’d forgotten that this wasn’t a decade ago, and Amy wasn’t his girl anymore. But then the moment was gone and they were just two strangers standing awkwardly, unsure what came next.

“Is this okay? Since I wasn’t sure where we were going, I didn’t know how to dress,” Amy said as she stepped out onto the porch and closed the front door behind her.

The old Amy would have put some attitude behind the words, teasing Jack for his insistence on making even the most mundane outings a surprise. This time, however, it was just an explanation, nothing more. “You look perfect,” he said, earning him another nervous smile.

Jack suddenly felt like this date was a bad idea. She had always been feisty to the point of exasperation, and even a simple compliment rarely went unchallenged. Now she seemed timid, nervous, and he panicked at the thought that she had changed so much and he would forever lose the perfect picture of her he had in his mind. He told himself this was just a strange moment, and they were both acting a little odd because of it.

After waiting all day filled with too much energy, Jack was already exhausted trying to live each moment in the present and the past.

He made a declaration then and there to give up the constant comparisons. Tonight was about having a nice first date with a beautiful woman.

As if to prove it to himself, he held out his hand to shake hers. “Nice to see you again, Miss Amelia. Thank you for agreeing to go out with me. I know many women would hesitate at a date with a stranger, but I’m sure glad you accepted my offer.”

The light in Amy’s eye sparkled, and she put on a really terrible Southern Belle accent. “Well, I do declare that it was a might unbecoming of me to allow your advances while I was unchaperoned, but a girl of my age must defy the rules on occasion or she may live the rest of her days as an old spinster.”

Jack tried to keep a straight face, but he was wildly unsuccessful, and soon they were both laughing.

“I seem to have come to the wrong house. I was picking up Amy McNeal, not Scarlett O’Hara,” he finally managed once the bout of laughter had passed.

“Well, I have never been so insulted in my life!” Scarlett-Amy exclaimed, putting her hand to her heart so dramatically that it sent them both back into giggles.

Jack felt relief course through him. Some things had changed, certainly, but she was still Amy.

They walked down the porch steps, still chuckling, and Jack had to restrain himself from wrapping his arm around her and pulling her in for a kiss. If she wasn’t ready yet to be “his girl” again, she probably wasn’t ready for a make-out session in the driveway.

To be fair, he wasn’t sure if he was ready for that, either. The flood of feelings just being near Amy was almost overwhelming; kissing her could send him right over the edge.

Instead, Jack rushed to the passenger side of his truck and opened the door for her, bowing slightly as he did so. She bobbed her head in appreciation and settled into the seat as he walked around to the driver’s side.

“So, where are we going?” she asked the moment he was inside the vehicle.

Jack shook his head. “So impatient,” he commented, starting up the vehicle.