“Then how the fuck is she pregnant with your baby Jeff?”

I ran my hands through my hair again.

“She told me she was seven months pregnant. I ran into her at Rebels, the weekend before Thanksgiving and we…...we um…...” I looked up at Mark and he was glaring at me. Fuck….

“You fucked her Jeff? How many other girls are going to start showing up saying you got them knocked up! You promised me that you used protection! You PROMISED!” Ari screamed so loud it caused me to jump.

“I did Ari! I did use a condom baby. She’s claiming it broke but I was not drunk when it happened and I would swear on my life the condom did not break. Ari I swear on my life!”

Ari stepped back away from me, no……no God please no.

“Why didn’t you tell me you got a call from her? You must have gotten the call right before we came over. Why didn’t you say anything?” Ari shouted at me.

“Ari I was going to tell you I swear to God but I wanted to talk to Rebecca in person. To see if she was even telling me the truth because I didn’t want to hurt you unless…...unless…...”

“What Jeff. Unless it was true…...well now I know. I think we need to step back and take a break.”

Fuck no……no way I was going to let her walk away from me again! Goddamn it I was going to fight for her with everything I had.

“NO! Ari this does not change the way I feel about you baby. I love you Ari. I want to marry you; I want to have kids with you I want….”

Ari started crying and shaking her head. She put up her hand to get me to stop talking.

“Do you know I was just talking to Ellie about this just the other day. I was telling her how excited I was to know that one day…...one day..…” Her voice was breaking. Mother fucker…...I fucking hated Rebecca Moore with everything I had right now.

“One day, I would be able to tell you we were expecting a baby. I wanted to see your face; I wanted to be the one to see your fucking face when you were told you were going to have a baby! Would you want a boy or a girl? Would you even care? I just wanted to be the one to tell you that.”

“Baby I do want to have kids with you……more than you will ever know!” I walked to her and reached out for her.

“DON’T TOUCH ME! I will NEVER be the person who had your first child because you got some fucking whore knocked up. SHE gets to be the one who has your first child Jeff…....NOT me!”

I looked over at Ari’s father who was standing there looking torn. He looked at me with almost pleading eyes. What the fuck was I suppose to do!

“Ari I swear to you I’m going to find out if this baby is mine. I really don’t think it’s my baby, I will get it taken care of I promise you.”

“Well it looks like you’re going to have to wait a few months to find that out now aren’t you! Until then I don’t want to see or talk to you.”

“What?!”

“Now Arianna don’t do something based on your emotions right now sweetheart. Let Jeff talk to this girl before you do anything rash.”

I could not believe Mark was on my side. If that was my daughter I would tell the fucker to leave and never come back.

Ari turned to her father and glared at him. He took a few steps back and turned to walk away a little.

She turned back to look at me. I could not lose her again. I won’t lose her again!

I dropped to my knees in front of her. “Ari please, don’t do this to me. Please don’t leave me again……I beg of you!” I felt the tears running down my face and I didn’t give two shits. I was pretty damn sure we now had an audience.

Ari was crying as she looked down at me.

“I love you Jeff, more than anything but I can’t handle this right now. I need time……I need to be alone and away from you while you work this out. I’m not leaving you……I just…...I just need to be away from you.”

“Ari…...please tonight was supposed to change everything. Please.”

“I’m going back to the cabin. Please do not come there. I’m going to ride home with Amanda and Brad tomorrow. Please just…...just……just leave me alone for awhile Jeff. If you love you will just leave me alone.”

She turned and walked away from me. I fell over and buried my head in my hands and just lost it.

I felt someone trying to get me to stand up. I heard Brad and Josh telling me to stand up. I could barely stand. Once I got up I saw Ari getting into the jeep and driving off to the deer cabin.

Mother fucker…...not again……she was leaving me……again.

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR

Ari……

Jeff dropped to his knees in front of me and started to cry.

“Ari please, don’t do this to me. Please don’t leave me again….I beg of you!”

Oh Jesus Mary and Joseph………fucking hell! My heart was breaking in two. I loved him so much but I was so fucking pissed right now. I wanted nothing more than to get down on my knees and comfort him. But I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. He took something away from me tonight. Something I was never ever going to get back. The chance to give him his first child, the thought made me start to cry.

“I love you Jeff, more than anything but I can’t handle this right now. I need time…...I need to be alone and away from you while you work this out. I’m not leaving you…...I just…...I just need to be away from you.”

“Ari…...please tonight was supposed to change everything. Please.” Oh god Jeff please stop begging me please!

“I’m going back to the cabin. Please do not come there. I’m going to ride home with Amanda and Brad tomorrow. Please just…...just……just leave me alone for awhile Jeff. If you love you will just leave me alone.”

I turned and walked away from him…...again. This time it was so much fucking harder. I knew he never meant for this to happen. It was both of our faults. Well no not really. It was that dickwads fault for not being able to tell me he loved me and then going on a three month man whore mission.

I can’t believe he was going to ask me to marry him tonight. Why didn’t my dad just wait to tell me about the fucking restraining order? WHY?!

Oh that bitch was smart to get that fucking thing. I so wanted to go right that minute and……and……well I can’t say what I wanted to do cause the stupid bitch was pregnant!

That stupid mother fucking son of a bitch stupid ass wipe dumb mother……Oh god……

I cried the whole way to the deer cabin. I almost hit two mother fucking deer on the way. Stupid animals, oh god I didn’t mean that! What the hell is wrong with me?

I wish Ellie was here. Oh god how I wish I could call her. I pulled up and saw a few small lights on. I was so tired all of a sudden. All I wanted to do was get into bed and sleep. I sat in the jeep and thought about the first time Jeff and I made love.

It was the night of Brad and Amanda’s wedding. They got married at the Driskill hotel and Jeff had booked a room there that night and I didn’t know it. The way he couldn’t tear his eyes off of me during the whole wedding ceremony should have been my first clue. Of course the slutty dresses Amanda had us all in that showed nothing but our cleavage to the max helped with his lust that night. Talk about not being able to breathe all night in that damn dress.

The room had been perfect. Simple but filled with LED candles and rose petals spread all over the bed. It was on the historical side of the hotel and had a balcony looking down onto Sixth Street. There were massage oils and lotions and chocolate covered strawberries. Oh god……it was magical. It was magical because Jeff was so sweet and gentle. After talking to Ellie I was not so nervous about my first time. She said it had hurt but after awhile it felt wonderful. She was not fucking kidding.

It was amazing.

I sighed as I got out of the jeep. Amanda and Heather would probably be coming to get their stuff. I’m sure once they heard what happened they would want to check in on me. I just really wanted to get out of this dress and these boots and just sleep. I opened up the door and almost fell over.

Oh no! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOO! The whole room was covered with Stargazer Lilies. I mean the whole room was filled with them. There were bouquets of them in flower vases with blue bonnets mixed in. There were bouquets that had the stems wrapped in a light pink satin. Oh my god. One bouquet was so big……it was sitting in an old bucket with other wild flower bouquets. The smell in the room was unbelievable.

It was…...perfect.

It would have been perfect. I was so mad at my father for ruining this for me. OH GOD JEFF! He must have spent a fortune on all of these flowers.

I started to slide down the door and cry. I put my head down on my knees and just sobbed. I slammed my head back into the door and just screamed as loud as I could.

“MOTHER FUCKER!” I ruined everything because I couldn’t just let him explain. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

I sat there and cried so hard I felt like I could not breathe. Oh my god Jeff…...Oh god…...why did I walk away and tell him not to come here. If I had only known.….ARGH! I’m so stupid!

“Oh god why?? Why did this have to happen? WHY!” I screamed out. Then I heard a small knock on the door.

That must be Amanda and Heather. I slowly got up and opened the door.

I sucked in a breath of air as I saw the only man I would ever love standing there. He came for me. He didn’t walk away this time.

He came for me……….

Epilogue

A year and half later

Ellie…….

The late afternoon sun felt so good on my face. It was a beautiful December day. There was just enough of a cool breeze coming off the Llano River to make me wish I had grabbed a light sweater. The peacefulness of being out here was so nice and it finally felt like things were starting to settle in. The house was finally done and we were all moved in. I absolutely loved the way it turned out and I loved it even more knowing Gunner designed it from top to bottom.

He worked so hard the last year on that house while also trying to learn everything about running the ranch. Garrett was so wonderful; he never pushed Gunner into it too fast. He knew how important the house was to Gunner and me. Thank god it was finished now and at just the right time.

The firm that Gunner interned for in college, and still did some part time work for, loved the house so much they asked if they could feature it on their website. I was so proud of him. I had to smile thinking about when they called and asked to come out and take pictures of the finished house. He was so proud.

It was a two story ranch style house with a full wraparound porch on the first floor. The kitchen was amazing with tons of cabinet and counter space. Double ovens and a huge six burner range. The breakfast nook was nothing but windows. Hell the whole house was nothing but windows. Gunner insisted it be that way. He wanted to make it seem like when you were standing in the house you felt like you were outside.

We built the house right near our Oak tree that was now in our massive back yard. Gunner had put up a four board black plank fence all around the house and the Oak tree. The front and back yard probably totaled an acre of land. He said he wanted to make sure his kids had a manure free yard to play in someday.