THE MAVERICK'S THANKSGIVING BABY Read online

Jesse reached for her hand, linked their fingers together. “We’re looking forward to both.”

  “Good answer,” Dr. Gaynor said. “And I’m happy to report that everything looks great with both your wife and the baby. In fact—” she turned to Maggie now “—you’ve gained two pounds since I last saw you.”

  “I knew I shouldn’t have eaten those Christmas cookies that Nina sent home with us last night,” the mom-to-be grumbled.

  The doctor chuckled. “A special treat every once in a while isn’t going to hurt you or your baby so long as you’re also eating lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and proteins.”

  “I’m eating lots of everything,” Maggie confirmed.

  “Good. That first trimester weight loss could have been problematic, but it’s apparent that you’ve been taking good care of yourself and your baby.

  “Have you felt any movement?”

  “I don’t think so,” Maggie said, her grip on his hand instinctively tightening.

  “It’s nothing to be concerned about,” the doctor assured her. “A lot of first-time moms don’t recognize the little flutters as fetal movement. If you haven’t noticed anything yet, you will soon enough.”

  Dr. Gaynor’s glance shifted from Maggie to Jesse and back again. “Do either of you have any questions at this stage?”

  He looked at Maggie, who shook her head.

  The doctor followed the silent exchange, then directed her next comment to him. “A lot of first-time fathers worry about sex.”

  “Nope,” he said quickly, vehemently. “No worries there.”

  “Good.” The doctor nodded, but she didn’t leave it at that. “But just in case you were wondering, there are absolutely no restrictions on intercourse right up to the day of delivery, so long as Maggie’s comfortable and there aren’t any complications in her pregnancy.”

  “Okay...um...yep. That’s great.”

  Maggie didn’t know if Jesse was looking at her, because she didn’t dare look at him. Obviously they’d had sex—she wouldn’t be here otherwise. But the doctor couldn’t know, thankfully, that they hadn’t been intimate for some time. In fact, for reasons she didn’t understand and that her husband hadn’t bothered to share with her, they hadn’t even consummated their marriage.

  Not that she was going to discuss that with him in the doctor’s office—or anywhere else, apparently. Because although it was a question that continued to keep her awake at night, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know his answer. She didn’t want to hear him confirm that he didn’t want her—he only wanted their baby.

  But she couldn’t help wondering when and why he’d stopped wanting her. When they’d made love the first time after she’d told him that she was pregnant, he’d seemed captivated by the subtle changes in her body, awed by the realization that there was a tiny life growing inside of her.

  Of course, with each day that passed, that tiny life was getting a little bit bigger. And although she’d only gained two pounds since that day, she was barely able to fasten the button on her pants now, which meant that she was going to have to start wearing maternity clothes soon. And if Jesse found her barely noticeable baby bump unappealing, how was he going to feel in a few more months?

  “Are you ready to have a look at that baby of yours now?” Dr. Gaynor’s question interrupted her musing.

  It was only when Jesse squeezed her hand that Maggie realized he was still holding it—had been holding it almost from the minute they walked into the doctor’s office.

  She nodded in response to the doctor’s inquiry.

  “I’ll send the technician in.”

  * * *

  The technician, who introduced herself as Carla, wheeled in a cart with the ultrasound machine on it. It only took her a minute to set up, then she asked the mom-to-be to lift her shirt.

  Maggie’s pregnancy wasn’t yet obvious—at least not to Jesse and not in the clothes she usually wore. In fact, she did such a good job of hiding any evidence of her pregnancy that he sometimes almost forgot she was pregnant—except he knew that she would never have chosen to move to Rust Creek Falls and marry him if not for their baby. He suspected the loose-fitting tops were a deliberate choice, to postpone the inevitable gossip and speculation that would run rampant when her condition became public knowledge. While he understood her reasons, he wanted to shout the news of her pregnancy from the rooftops for all of the world to hear. But because she’d done such a good job disguising her baby bump, he was surprised when she lifted the hem of her tunic-style top and he saw that there was an undeniable roundness to her belly.

  The technician squirted gel onto the exposed skin and pressed a probe to her belly. A rhythmic whooshing sound filled the silence and the fuzzy display on the monitor screen began to take shape.

  “Oh. Wow.”

  Jesse felt stunned—and humbled—as he registered the shape of their baby: the outline of the head and the body, even the skinny little legs and arms, and—most awesome and overwhelming—the rapid beating of the heart inside the chest.

  He had some experience with ultrasounds—mostly with respect to equine fetuses. But this was completely outside his realm of experience. This was an actual human baby—his and Maggie’s baby. He knew that he’d done very little to help grow this miracle inside of her. Yes, he’d contributed half of the baby’s DNA, but since then, he’d done nothing. She was the one who was giving their baby everything he or she needed, the only one who could.

  He wanted to say something to express the awe and gratitude that filled his heart, but his throat was suddenly tight, so he settled for squeezing Maggie’s hand.

  “Your baby is almost eight inches long and weighs about fourteen ounces,” Carla told them. “Completely within normal range for twenty-one weeks.”

  “I’ve gained eight pounds and less than one of that is the baby?”

  “Which is completely normal,” the technician said patiently. “Now that I’m finished with all the measurements, do you want to know your baby’s gender?”

  Maggie looked at Jesse. They’d talked about the possibility but hadn’t made a final decision, and he was grateful that she was asking for his input now. He considered, wavered, then nodded.

  “Can you tell?” Maggie asked.

  “I can tell,” Carla said. “But I never do unless the parents want to know.”

  “We want to know,” she decided.

  The technician smiled. “It’s a girl.”

  A girl.

  Maggie honestly hadn’t thought she had any preference, but she would have guessed that Jesse wanted a boy. But when she looked at him now, trying to gauge his reaction to the news, he didn’t look disappointed. In fact, he was smiling like the proud father he would be in another few months.

  “Were you hoping for a boy?” she asked softly.

  He immediately shook his head. “My only hope is that both you and the baby are healthy.”

  The sincerity in his tone assured Maggie that he meant it. And the way he was looking at her—with warmth and affection—gave her hope that sharing the experience of “seeing” their baby for the first time together might bring them closer.

  The technician gave her a paper towel to wipe the gel off her belly, and the moment was broken.

  “Do you feel up to making another stop before we head back home?” Jesse asked when they left the doctor’s office.

  “Does that stop include lunch?”

  He chuckled. “That stop can definitely include lunch,” he promised. “What do you want to eat?”

  “A burger,” she answered without hesitation.

  “Then we’ll get you a burger.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  They found a diner around the corner from the medical center. It was an old-fashioned-style eatery with Formica tabletops a
nd red vinyl benches and stools lined up at the counter. The menu was quite extensive, offering more than a dozen different types of burgers with countless toppings, French fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, coleslaw or green salad, and milk shakes and ice-cream floats.

  Maggie ordered a bacon cheeseburger and a side salad, then picked at the fries on Jesse’s plate. Not that he minded—it was all he could do to finish the spicy barbecue chicken sandwich on sourdough bread that he’d ordered—but he was curious.

  “If you wanted fries, why didn’t you just order fries?” he finally asked.

  “Because the salad is healthier.”

  “But you’re eating fries, anyway.”

  “Only a few,” she said defensively. “And only after I ate my veggies.”

  He nudged his plate closer to her. “I don’t mind sharing,” he assured her. “I was just wondering about your rationale.”

  “I never even used to like French fries all that much,” she said. “But lately, I can’t seem to get enough.”

  “Any other unusual food cravings?”

  “Red meat,” she said.

  “I noticed we’ve been eating a lot of beef.”

  Her gaze tracked the slice of apple pie that a waitress carried past their table to deliver to another customer.

  “And apple pie?” he prompted.

  She turned her attention back to him. “Sorry?”

  He smiled. “Do you want dessert?”

  “I probably shouldn’t.”

  “Which doesn’t actually answer the question,” he said.

  “I’m not sure if I want dessert or if that pie just looked really good.”

  “Should I get a slice of pie and ask for two forks?”

  “Only if you want pie,” she said. “With ice cream.”

  So he ordered the apple pie with ice cream and two forks.

  After it was delivered, he watched her fork slide through the flaky crust and layers of sweet, sticky apple slices. Her lips closed around the tines of the fork, her eyes drifted shut and she let out a sigh of pure pleasure that stirred an appetite inside him that had nothing to do with dessert.

  She chewed slowly, savoring the flavor, and finally swallowed.

  “You have to try this,” she told him.

  “I ordered it for you.”

  She shook her head. “I’d feel way too guilty if I ate the whole thing myself.”

  So he picked up the second fork and took a bite.

  There was something intimate about sharing a dessert. Maybe it went back to the communal consumption of ancient times, when a hunter shared his catch with his mate and their children, proof of their relationship to one another. Or maybe it was that watching Maggie eat was an incredibly erotic experience.

  The pie was good, but he much preferred letting Maggie savor it.

  Her tongue swept over her bottom lip, licking away the smear of ice cream. He knew that her lips were even sweeter than ice cream, and he had an almost insatiable desire to lean across the table and sample her flavor. It seemed as if it had been years since he’d kissed her, rather than the ten days that had passed since their wedding. But it wasn’t easy holding his want of her in check, and he knew that if he gave in to the urge to kiss her, he wouldn’t be able to stop with one kiss.

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying your dessert,” he said.

  “It’s always a treat to eat something that someone else has prepared.”

  “And I haven’t taken you out to eat anywhere since we got married,” he realized. Equally startling was the realization that he hadn’t taken her out at all before they were married. They had gone out for dinner in LA, and although he’d insisted on paying the bill, she’d chosen the restaurant, so he didn’t figure he should get credit for that.

  “We’re going to your parents’ house for Thanksgiving.”

  “That hardly counts.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t need to be taken out or entertained.”

  And maybe it was because she didn’t that he found himself wanting to make the effort. “I haven’t been a very attentive husband,” he acknowledged. “My only excuse is that I don’t have a lot of experience with this kind of thing.”

  “It’s my first marriage, too,” she said lightly.

  “I meant...dating and other courtship rituals.”

  “I’m your wife, Jesse. You don’t have to court me.”

  “I should have courted you properly before we were married.”

  “I guess we did things a little out of order,” she agreed. “But I’m not sorry, because they got us to where we are now.”

  “You don’t miss LA?”

  “Only my family,” she told him. Then she gave him a half smile. “And the weather.”

  “The weather can be a challenge, even for those who were born and bred in Montana,” he admitted.

  “I asked Lissa how she survived her first winter in Rust Creek Falls—she said she wouldn’t have survived at all if she hadn’t had Gage to snuggle up to every night.”

  “I don’t think I like the idea of you snuggling up to your cousin’s husband,” he teased.

  “I don’t think Lissa would, either,” she admitted.

  And although she smiled, her gaze shifted away, as if she was disappointed by his response. Which made him wonder—had she been suggesting that she wanted to snuggle up to him?

  Before he could decide whether or not to pursue the possibility, the waitress brought the bill to their table.

  * * *

  When Jesse asked if they could make a stop before heading back to Rust Creek Falls, she’d assumed it was to pick up something that he needed for the horses. So she was more than a little surprised when he pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall—and parked in front of a toy store.

  He strode purposefully through the front doors, as if he’d been there before and knew exactly where he was going. Considering the way he doted on his eleven-month-old niece, she would bet he’d been there several times before. He guided her down the main aisle to a section titled Cuddly Critters that was lined with big cubes stacked floor to ceiling and filled with stuffed animals of various breeds, sizes and colors.

  Jesse zeroed in on the pink teddy bears, rifled through the selection, then pulled one out and handed it to Maggie. Her fingers sank into fur that was unbelievably soft and plush. The bear was the color of cotton candy, with skinny arms and legs ending in oversized paws. The head was big, too, with a slightly paler muzzle, a brown nose, and eyes and a half smile stitched onto the fabric. It was, without a doubt, the cutest baby teddy bear she’d ever seen, and when he put it in her arms, her heart just melted.

  She looked up at him. “For our baby?”

  He shook his head. “For you. To remember the day that we found out about our baby girl.”

  “I have a very old pink teddy bear that sits on my bedside table at home,” she said wistfully.

  “I saw it when I was there,” he admitted.

  “My parents gave it to me the day I was adopted.”

  “I guess teddy bears are a pretty common theme.”

  But there was nothing commonplace about his gesture, and tears filled her eyes as she impulsively hugged him, squishing the bear between them. “Thank you.”

  “I should be thanking you,” he said gruffly. “You’re giving me the greatest gift of all in our baby, and I don’t know how to tell you how grateful I am. Looking at our daughter on the ultrasound monitor, I realized how different things might have been...if you’d chosen not to tell me...or if you’d decided to give her away.”

  “I wouldn’t have,” she promised him. “It might have taken me a while to share the news, but I would never have kept it from you.”

  He brushed a strand of hair off her cheek, tucked it b
ehind her ear. His deep blue eyes reflected so much of what he was feeling: affection, warmth—want?

  Her breath caught in her throat as she thought, for one brief moment, that he was actually going to kiss her. She didn’t care if they were standing in the middle of a toy store, she wanted to feel his lips on hers. It had been so long since he’d kissed her, too long.

  But instead of lowering his head toward her, he took a step back, away from temptation. Or maybe she was the only one who was tempted.

  She’d seen the surprise on his face when she lifted her shirt and he realized the tiny curve of her belly was bigger and rounder since the last time he’d seen her naked. And although she was still on the small side for twenty-one weeks, there was no longer any denying that she was pregnant. The body that he’d so thoroughly explored with his hands and his lips back in the summer was growing and changing—her subtle curves weren’t nearly as subtle anymore, and his desire for her wasn’t nearly as palpable.

  She sat with the teddy bear in her lap throughout the drive home and consoled herself with the knowledge that at least now she’d have something to cuddle up with at night.

  It wasn’t what—or rather who—she wanted to be with, but the company of a plush bear was better than nothing...

  * * *

  Maggie went into the office for a couple of hours after she and Jesse returned from Kalispell. He, predictably, went to Traub Stables and warned her that he wouldn’t be home until late. When the phone rang around nine o’clock that night, she thought it might be him calling to tell her that he was on his way home. She was only a little disappointed when she heard her mother’s voice on the other end of the line.

  “I just called to see how you’re doing,” Christa said when her daughter answered. “You had a doctor’s appointment today, didn’t you?”

  Maggie had to smile. “You’re twelve hundred miles away, in the middle of discoveries for a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit, and you remembered the date of my doctor’s appointment?”

  “Of course,” her mother said simply.

  “Everything’s fine,” Maggie told her. “The baby is healthy and growing.”