Free The Last American Cowboy by Vanessa Devereaux Page A

children, especially right now.
    * * * * *
     
    I peed on the home-pregnancy-kit stick I’d picked up at the grocery store on my way home. Here I was, sitting on the countertop in the bathroom and waiting for the result. I had another couple of minutes and couldn’t bear to look at it.
    “Mommy.”
    It was Lily. She was trying to open the bathroom door I’d locked just in case she strolled in and asked what the stick was for.
    “What is it, honey?”
    “I need to tinkle.”
    “Can you wait a few more minutes?”
    “No, I got to go bad.”
    “Okay, honey, just hang on.”
    I picked up the stick, slid it into my pants pocket, and headed into the hallway, where poor Lily was holding her crotch and jigging up and down.
    “All yours.”
    She rushed inside, and I went to my bedroom and sat on the bed. Two minutes had definitely passed now. I pulled the stick out of my pocket, still afraid to look down, but I had to know.
    I placed it on the bed and glanced down, feeling suddenly lightheaded when I saw the test was positive. I put my hand to my mouth and felt bile rising up, remembering what Blake had said in the shed during the rainstorm the first day we’d met. I’d hate to get you pregnant…. Well, sorry to say you have, cowboy.
    “Mommy.”
    Lily’s voice startled me, and I shoved the stick under my thigh.
    “I did a poopy, too.”
    I couldn’t help but smile at her complete honesty. “I guess we should think about getting something to eat.”
    “Chicken fingers.”
    “Okay, chicken fingers it is. And come here, honey.”
    She walked into my room, and I sat her on my lap, hugged her, and kissed the top of her head. How was I going to deal with having a baby I hadn’t planned for?

 
     

     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eighteen
     
    “You’re what?” asked my mother when I broke the news to her several days later.
    “Yes, you heard correctly. I’m having a baby.”
    “Fiona, haven’t you heard of birth control?”
    “We used condoms.”
    “You should have gone on the Pill if you knew sleeping with this cowboy was going to be a regular thing.” My mother handed me a cup of coffee, which I didn’t think I should be drinking anymore.
    “I know, I know.”
    “So how does he feel about it?”
    “I haven’t told him yet.”
    “You think he’ll want to marry you?”
    “Mom, I’m not a teenager and, these days, people don’t get married just because they’re having a baby.”
    “You want to marry him?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “You love him?”
    I nodded. I’d fallen in love with him big time when he’d spent the weekend with us, and I’d seen what a great guy he’d been with my daughter.
    “And then there’s Lily to think about,” I said, deciding to take my chances and drink the coffee.
    My mother patted my hand. “There are other options these days. Adoption… You could even consider an abortion, Fiona.”
    I shook my head. “No, I’ve already decided I want to keep this baby.”
    My father chose that particular moment to walk into the kitchen after his early-morning stroll. “What baby?” he asked.
    “The cowboy you thought was very charming has gotten your daughter in the family way,” said my mother.
    “Does that mean I have to get out my shotgun?” asked my father.
    I hugged him, loving my dad for his sense of humor and making fun of the whole awful situation.
    * * * * *
     
    I couldn’t spare the time to fly to Montana to break the news to Blake in person, but I hated the thought of telling him about his impending fatherhood over the phone, and e-mail was definitely not the way to do it either.
    I picked up the phone and pressed the area code for Montana but then put it down again. How did you even begin to tell a guy you’d only known for three months that you were having his baby? Shit, the two of us weren’t even really dating.
    I bit my nails and thought I’d just get it over and done with. I stabbed at the numbers, my heart beating faster as I heard the