Page 61 of Hometown Cowboy
Her face heated at being caught. She couldn’t even pretend she hadn’t been. It was obvious who she’d been staring at.
She made a show of staring at her finger to check for injury. A tiny line of scraped skin stared up at her.
“See? I could’ve taken my finger off!” she exclaimed.
Gabe’s laugh echoed around the kitchen it was so loud. “Nah, don’t think so. Good try though.”
Darby couldn’t help the grin surfacing. “Stop it. I’m pregnant, I’m allowed to be dramatic.”
Gabe shook his head and sighed heavily. “You’re gonna milk this for the whole nine months, aren’t you?”
Darby’s grin said it all. She went to answer him when Gabe’s expression changed.
“Darb? I’m going to tell you something, but please, I don’t want you getting your hopes up, okay? It’s just something I noticed. It could be good, or it might not.” He held up his hands in a shrug. “I’m no doctor, but I hope to God I’m right.”
Happiness seeped from her as if leaking through her pores. Sudden dread gripped her.
“What is it,” she whispered.
Gabe moved closer and peered out through the kitchen door. Seemingly satisfied he wouldn’t be overheard, he faced her.
“When I was at Ryan’s before we were talking about the IVF program we’ve been working on with his cattle. He made an offhand comment and it threw me, so I asked a question and he answered it without thinking.”
Darby frowned. “And?”
Gabe’s face brightened with excitement. His eyes gleamed with suppressed hope.
“The particular thing we were talking about happened in July.”
Darby’s brain ticked over, then she gasped. “You mean…”
Gabe nodded. “Yes! It just slipped into normal conversation. He didn’t even realise he did it.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it in case it was a one-off. But Darb,” he grabbed her shoulders and faced her head-on. “You know what this could mean?”
Heated prickles burned her eyes. “He could be remembering.”
Gabe’s grin engulfed his face. “I don’t want to get my hopes up, or yours, but man… If things start slipping through, surely that’s a good sign, right?”
Darby looked out to where Ryan sat chatting with Max. Hope threatened to bubble up and overwhelm her if she let go of the stranglehold she had on it.
She nodded, too overcome to speak.
If more of these slip-throughs happened, could that mean he would remember their time together? Would he rememberthem?
With his new memories from after the accident, and if he remembered before, would he want to reconnect? Would he still feel as strongly about wanting to marry her to be there for the baby?
Would she be able to resist him a second time if he did?
Her feelings had only grown. She’d managed to lie to herself for years. She loved him. She always had. It was as simple as that. And as ridiculously complicated.
It was why she’d gotten so upset when he’d proposed because of the baby. She wanted him to wanther, not just to do the supposed right thing.
Gabe’s worried face entered her view. “You want to take a minute and regroup? Before we face the hordes and they all know something’s up?”
She sent her big brother a small smile and nodded. “I think that would be a good idea. Does anyone else know?”