He met her uncles, and talked shop with them, which was sort of sweet, and not anything she would have ever thought she would... She had never really imagined bringing a man home to her family.
And here she was.
Bringing home a man she was marrying. Having a baby. Moving into this mysterious phase of life that she had always been a little bit afraid of. And she couldn’t say that she wasn’t scared now; it was just that Alison had made her feel like maybe fear wasn’t something to be avoided. Not quite so much.
“Can you stay a few extra days?”
That question came from Alison late that afternoon.
“I... I guess so. Why?”
“Well, we’re enjoying having you,” Alison said. “I think your dad is enjoying having Wolf close at hand so that he can instill a little bit of fear in him.”
Wolf was currently out in the barns, watching the various ranch proceedings.
“Wolf doesn’t scare very easily,” she said.
“I’m sure he doesn’t,” Alison said. “But your dad is a terrifying man.”
Alison looked...pleased by that. Violet cleared her throat.
“Right,” Violet said. “I mean, I’d like to. If he wants to.”
“Also, I was thinking I could try and arrange an appointment for you with my OB. She was great with the boys.”
“Oh,” Violet said, her stomach going tight. “Yeah. I guess I do need to do that.”
“Probably just to get your dates and all that.”
“Yeah,” Violet said. But it made her nervous. And it was something that she... She couldn’t help but think she was avoiding it slightly. Because what if something was wrong? What if something was wrong and it disrupted this little pocket of happiness she’d created with him? And how would... How would she be enough to keep him around? If there was no baby?
“Great, I’ll call her. I bet she can squeeze you in in the next few days.”
Violet hesitated. “It’s going to be really impractical for me to have my doctor visits here.”
“Is there a doctor nearer to where you are?”
She thought back to the tiny town, and how she and Clara had basically explored the extent of it in an afternoon.
“I guess not. At least... I might as well go to somebody in Copper Ridge because I’m going to have to drive at least an hour, I’m sure.”
“Right,” Alison said. “I’ll make arrangements.”
When she passed Wolf in the hall that night, tension flared hot between them.
And after looking to see if anyone was around, she pushed him back against the wall and kissed him.
He was ravenous, and she loved it. And they were breathing hard when they pulled away from each other.
“I can’t believe we have to have separate rooms,” he grumbled.
“My dad is traditional,” she said. “Oh. They want us to stay. For a few days? Alison made me a doctor appointment.”
“Oh,” he said. “A doctor appointment. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. It’s the doctor appointment that you go to just to make sure everything is okay.”
“When is that?”