Page 27 of Mountain Man's Bride

I helped her up into the passenger seat of my truck before rounding the hood and getting in on the driver’s side. The quiet background noise of the radio playing old country songs filled the silence, but it was never uncomfortable between me and Ever, even when we were arguing and ready to bite each other’s heads off.

She was my home. It was hard to feel awkward about anything whenever she was around.

The doctor’s office was mostly empty when we got there, which I was happy about. Everlee took a seat in one of the double seats while I went to go check her in and pay her copay. She had her own money now that my trust fund was released, but I still liked taking care of her. It’d bothered her at first to not pay her own way now that she could, but I won that argument.

“How are you feeling right now?” I asked as I took a seat beside her. She leaned against me, resting her head on my shoulder. My arm automatically came up to wrap around her, holding her against me.

“Fine right now,” she told me. When I grunted, she added, “Honestly, Tripp. I don’t feel bad. No nausea. Nothing.”

It wasn’t normal, and I didn’t like it. Hopefully, Dr. Turner could figure out what was going on with her.

Dr. Turner stepped into the triage room, smiling warmly at both of us. “How are you?” he asked.

“Could be better,” I said at the same time Everlee said, “Fine,” which just made me grunt in displeasure. She elbowed me in the ribs, and I couldn’t help it; I cracked a grin down at her.

“I hear you’ve been ill the past couple of days, Everlee,” Dr. Turner started. When she nodded, he gentled his smile. “Well, I hope you two are ready for a child. You’re pregnant, hun.”

My heart stopped beating in my chest before it suddenly began to race. Everlee was frozen against me, her eyes wide and unblinking.

“Ever?” I asked softly, gently turning her upper body to face me. I cupped her cheek, brushing my thumb over her cheekbone. “Sweetheart, talk to me.”

“We never discussed kids,” she blurted.

I chuckled. God, she was adorable. Of all of the things she could’ve said, that was what she went with. “Well, we’ve got to discuss them now because we have one on the way. But we can do that later. You okay?”

She blew out a soft breath before jerkily nodding her head. Dr. Turner patted her knee, dragging our attention back to him. “I want to closely monitor your pregnancy, Everlee. For now, I’m going to consider this a high-risk pregnancy. I want you to take these next few months as easy as possible.”

“That won’t be an issue,” I assured Dr. Turner. “My brothers and I will bend over backward to make sure she’s resting as much as possible.”

Dr. Turner chuckled. “I have absolutely no doubts about that.” He wrote a prescription on a small, blue piece of paper and held it out. I took it from him and slipped it into my coat pocket. “Get that filled; it’s nausea medication. The last thing we need is you throwing up all the nutrients you need. I’ll have the nurse come in and draw some blood, and then I want to see you back in one week to do a pelvic exam and go over more of your pregnancy plan. Sound good?”

“Okay,” Everlee said softly. I gently squeezed her to me before pressing a tender kiss to her temple. No doubt, she was still in quite a bit of shock.

Everlee was quiet for the remainder of our time at the doctor’s office, which worried me a bit. After filling her prescription, I began the drive home, reaching over to grab her hand in mine.

“Talk to me,” I pleaded. “Tell me what’s going on in your pretty head, Ever.”

She turned her head to face me. “Are you okay with this?” she asked. “A baby is a huge responsibility, and I’m not just talking about financially. And there’s guaranteed to be complications with my pregnancy.”

“Sweetheart, I am all in with you,” I promised her. The air in the truck visibly shifted as she relaxed, which made me relax a bit, too. “I want whatever you’re willing to share with me. A baby—” I blew out a soft breath— “that’s a big thing for me. It’s part of you—a part of you that gets to live on. Another part of you I get to love. Of course, I want that. And any complications that arise, we’ll deal with them. Just like we always do.” I gently squeezed her hand. “I’m never going anywhere, sweetheart.”

“I love you, Tripp,” she told me quietly. She rested her head back on the headrest before turning her beautiful eyes back in my direction. “You have no idea how thankful I am that you stepped into my life.”

I brought her hand up to my lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. “You’re the best thing to have ever happened to me,” I promised her.

“Well, what did the doctor say?” Eli demanded to know the second we walked through our door. I swore, my brothers treated my house as if it were their own.

“I’m changing my locks,” I grumbled as I led Ever to the living room. Ignoring my four brothers waiting on answers, I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water for Ever. She took it from me with a grateful smile, and I shook out one of her nausea tablets, handing it to her to take.

“Tripp, Ever—one of you answer us please,” Jesse pleaded. They’d all been worried about her. In the little amount of time Ever had been part of our family, she’d wiggled her way into my brothers’ hearts and souls. They treated her like the little sister they’d never had.

Ever looked up at me, her eyes full of questions as she recapped her bottle and set it on the small, square table beside the couch. I arched a brow at her, and when she nodded at me, a small smile tilting her lips, I turned to face my brothers.

“You’re going to be uncles.”

It took them a moment to grasp what I was saying, and it was comical watching their reactions. Weston just blinked in realization and then smiled. Jesse choked on air. Eli’s eyes grew comically wide before he literally squeaked. And Nash’s reaction was the best out of all of them.

My oldest brother fainted. Crashed straight to the floor. Ever shrieked in alarm, but my brothers and I just laughed before I kneeled beside Nash and roughly patted his cheek. It took him a minute, but he finally blinked up at me.

“I could’ve sworn you said I’m going to be an uncle,” he groaned, shutting his eyes again.

I snickered. “That’s because I did. Everlee is pregnant.”

He grunted. “I’m not taking overnight baby duty.”

That time, Ever was the one who laughed, and damn if it still wasn’t the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard in my life.