A Bride, A Barn, And A Baby

For a moment he wasn’t sure what to do. He wondered if he should ask her if she needed anything. But suddenly he had a sickening realization of what she’d wanted to talk to him about. He understood perfectly.

He stood there for a moment, seeing stars and cursing under his breath as reality sank in.

Someone knocked on his front door. Zane answered, knowing it would be the driver. He steeled himself before speaking. It wasn’t the driver’s fault that this day had become a huge cluster of bad timing.

“Hey, man, sorry to keep you waiting,” Zane said, to the guy. “I’ll be out in a minute. Just as soon as I take care of something.”

“Not a problem,” the driver said. “I just wanted to make sure you knew I was here. The name’s Raymond. May I carry your bags out to the car?”

Zane cast a quick glance over his shoulder to see if Lucy had emerged from the bathroom yet. Then his gaze fell to the time, which was displayed in glowing green numbers on the front of his DVR. It was already after four o’clock. His plane was supposed to take off at just before seven o’clock and he still had a half-hour ride to the airport.

“Thanks, but no. I’ll bring them when I come out.”

A moment after Raymond left, Lucy emerged from the bathroom, clutching a wad of toilet paper. Tears trailed down her cheeks and she shudder-sobbed when she looked at Zane.

He finally gathered his senses enough to go to her and put an arm around her and walk her to the sofa.

“Lucy, did you come over here to tell me you’re pregnant?”

* * *

“The bride wants to drape every single wall in the barn in gossamer tulle,” said Juliette Lowell. “From floor to ceiling. The ceilings are so high. I don’t know if that’s even possible. Is it?”

Juliette was Lucy’s friend and neighbor. Her family had owned the property to the south of the Campbell ranch for generations. Now she was the owner of a wedding-planning business called Weddings by Juliette and was sending a lot of brides and grooms to the Campbell Wedding Barn.

Lucy shrugged. “We haven’t tried anything like that before, but I suppose anything is possible.”

By the grace of God, she managed not to snort. Because, yeah, after the turn of events in her life, anything could happen. Proof of that was that she was pregnant with Zane Phillips’s baby. So, yeah, anything was possible. Well, maybe not anything. Not the good things—not that this baby wasn’t good. She just hadn’t had a chance to wrap her mind around it yet. And she had to do that and find out if Zane had gotten the job in Ocala before she could find the good in anything these days.

After Zane guessed her news, he hadn’t exactly fallen to one knee and professed his undying love. Not that she’d expected that. Well, okay, she wouldn’t lie. It would’ve been nice if he’d declared that his eyes had been suddenly opened and he realized he couldn’t live without her. But he hadn’t. Zane had reacted like a man in shock, and then he had gone to Ocala to interview for his dream job.

In all fairness, he’d offered to skip the trip. She’d insisted he go. Basically, she’d pushed him into the hired car that had been waiting to take him to the airport. And how about that—a hired car. As if paying for overnight parking wasn’t more than adequate, Hidden Rock Equestrian had actually sent a car and driver. This ranch was no rinky-dink outfit. No wonder Zane wanted the job so badly.

A wave of nausea crested. She inhaled and rode out the feeling. She wasn’t sure if it was caused by the pregnancy or the reality that Zane might really be leaving. But she couldn’t think about that now because Juliette was saying something to her.

“What?” Lucy asked, feeling dazed.

Juliette was staring up at the apex of the pitched ceiling.

“I asked you what the ceiling measures at its highest point.”

Lucy followed Juliette’s upward gaze. “Oh. Umm... I have no idea. I mean, I could take a guess, but I don’t know exactly.”

It was a long way up, that was for sure. Tall enough to accommodate a second story, which was planned in another phase of the renovations Lucy would do to the place once she had generated enough capital. She’d already implemented phase one, which turned the formerly ramshackle barn into a place suitable for fairy-tale weddings. It had cost a lot of money to make a place hospitable while keeping the rustic integrity that was so popular with brides these days. She was taking the renovations slowly, keeping an eye on her margin so that she didn’t get in over her head. With the way things were going, the steady stream of bookings would allow her to pay cash for the next phase of renovations sooner rather than later.

But now that she was pregnant, she might have to rethink things. She might have to use some of the money she was allocating for renovations for hiring extra help.

She was pregnant.

The reality kept washing over her in waves. Each time it hit, the force of it threatened to knock her down.

Juliette was frowning at her. “Are you okay?”

Again, Lucy wanted to snort. Because she was so far from okay right now she didn’t even know where she stood. But the only thing she could do was say she was fine, because she and Zane hadn’t had a chance to discuss matters fully. There was no way she could confide in anyone else about it right now. Not that she didn’t trust Juliette. In fact, Juliette was one of the most trustworthy people she’d ever met.

But talking to anyone about it before she and Zane came up with a plan just wouldn’t be right.

“I’m fine.”

“You just don’t seem as if you’re all here today.”

Oh, she was all here—plus some. Literally.

Since none of life’s usual rules seemed to apply anymore, they might as well try something they’d never attempted before and cover the barn’s walls in shimmery gossamer. At least it would be pretty.

“Is your client supplying the tulle or are we?” Lucy asked.

“I’ll have to confirm with her,” said Juliette. “But judging from how hands-off this bride has been, I’d wager that she’ll want us to provide it. That’s been her MO so far. She wants a miracle and expects us to make it happen. You know, no biggie.”

Juliette laughed and Lucy forced herself to laugh right along with her.

Lucy could’ve used a couple of miracles herself.

Zane had nearly missed his plane to Florida because after he had guessed what was going on—that she was pregnant—he had insisted he couldn’t leave her. That was why she hadn’t wanted to tell him after she saw his bags sitting by the door and learned that he had gotten the interview. The only way she had been able to convince him to go was by pointing out that nothing would change while he was gone, she would still be pregnant when he returned and they would talk about it then.

Reluctantly, he’d gotten in the car, and he’d texted her an hour later to let her know he was at the gate and his plane was boarding. At least he hadn’t missed it. But Lucy would’ve been lying if she said she wasn’t a little worried about this job interview. This was the big one. Nothing had fit until now, and at the rate he’d been refusing offers, she was beginning to hope that maybe he really didn’t want to leave. But just looking at his face as he told her about the Hidden Rock job, she knew this one was different.