Page 65 of Cowboy Mountain Man

“I was very brave.”

“You told Buck he was violating the terms of your friendship.”

“He sneezed on me.”

“He apologized.”

“He did not.”

I cross the kitchen. “What’s going on, darlin’?”

Her smile trembles. That gets my full attention.

“Hope.”

“Nothing bad.”

I stop in front of her. “Okay.”

She takes my hand and brings it between us. “I have one more thing for your list.”

“My list?”

“Things you want.”

I look at our hands. Then her face. She’s blinking too much.

“I took a test yesterday,” she says.

For a second, I don’t understand. Then I do.

My hand goes still in hers. “Pregnant?”

She nods. “I took another one this morning. Just to be sure.”

I look down at her stomach. Back at her. “You’re sure?”

“That’s what both tests are claiming.”

I let out a breath. Try to take another. It doesn’t go as planned.

Hope watches me carefully. “We hadn’t really decided when,” she says. “And I know we were talking about the addition and⁠—”

I pull her against me. She stops talking. My arms close around her. For a moment, I can’t get a word past the weight in my chest.

She presses her face into my shirt. “Harlan?”

“I’m happy.” The words come out rough. I try again. “So happy.”

Her arms tighten. “Oh, good.”

I draw back enough to see her. “You?”

“Yes.”

There are tears on her cheeks. I brush them away with my thumbs. “Scared?”

“A little.”