His surprise? Decking their child’s room floor to ceiling in Dallas Cowboys paraphernalia.
“You were awfully certain we were having a boy,” Pen said with a giggle as she stepped into the room.
“I was.” And then the ultrasound proved him wrong. He shook his head but he didn’t have a single ounce of regret about the outcome.
A daughter with Pen’s gorgeous blue eyes? He’d take it. He’d have to scare off testosterone-infused boys once she was a teen, but he’d worry about that later. This was Texas. He had a shotgun.
“Zach.” Pen searched the room, her eyes landing on framed posters of the players, a mobile featuring footballs and cowboy hats, and on the shelf, a signed football in a case. He’d gone all out. The mother of his child faced him.
Fingers shoved in his front pockets, he explained with a shrug. “Maybe she’s a Cowboys fan.”
“Clearly you’re one.”
“Honey, I’m in Dallas. I’m a Cowboys fan.” He took a look around for himself. He was pretty damn proud of the cool stuff he’d picked out. “We can tone it down a little.”
“A little?” She lifted a blanket thrown over the crib that resembled a football field—green with the yardage marked in white. “Really?”
“I wanted to surprise you. You’re surprised. Mission accomplished.”
“Yeah. I’m surprised, all right.” She rested her hand on the crib and palmed her belly, not yet as big as it would be. He felt a firm tug in his chest. “I’m grateful that it’s a girl after your mother told me how big you two boys were.”
“When did she tell you that?” She hadn’t mentioned talking with his mother.
“Last week. She stopped by my office.”
A pair of chairs flanked a side table with a lamp and, yes, a Cowboys lampshade, and Pen sat in one and beckoned for him to sit in the other one.
She opened the side table drawer as he sat, coming out with his crocheted baby blanket he hadn’t seen in decades.
“She dropped this off for our daughter.”
“It’s blue.” He took it, then gestured around the room. “Matches the theme.”
“She apologized for her reaction. I know she wanted to smooth things over. She wasn’t proud of herself. I didn’t hold it against her, though.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” he said. “You take issues on. You don’t push them off on others.” And just so Pen didn’t think he meant it any other way, he amended, “That’s a compliment.”
“I know it is.” She inhaled and held her breath for a few seconds and that tug in his chest turned uncomfortable. What else did his mother say when she stopped by?
“Is there more?”
Pen released the breath she’d been holding. “Elle said... Well, she brought up a woman named Lonna. Then she told me she never thought you’d fall in love again.”
His shoulders stiffened. He kneaded the super-soft blanket in his hands, avoiding looking at Pen. His mother knew about Lonna, of course, but what gave her the right to barge in on his fiancée and offer her opinion on his heart, for God’s sake?
“I bring it up because your mom thinks we’re in love.”
That lifted his head. He watched her carefully. “She doesn’t know anything about Lonna.” The edge in his voice forced him from his seated position. He dropped the baby blanket on the chair and paced to the door.
“Did you love her? For real?”
Anger stopped him in his tracks. As if he was only capable of “unreal” relationships? His eyes went to the stairs leading to the front door, but he didn’t run away from problems any longer. He ran toward them. He ran back to Texas, ran headfirst into a Vegas wedding to prove to himself he was “fine” and ran straight to Pen when she delivered news most men would’ve run from.
He faced Pen, leaned on the jamb and shoved his fingers back into his pockets. She lifted her hand to push a lock of hair from her face, and the diamond ring he’d slipped onto her finger glinted in the sunlight streaming in through the Cowboys-blue curtains.
Zach was a lot of things but he wasn’t a liar. So, he told Pen the truth. “Yes.”
She took the news well, simply nodding. But she wasn’t done.