Page 37 of More Bite than Bark

Sandy’s admonitions of how Elle would never snag a rich husband if she continued to act like a heathen still echoed in Hex’s ears, he had no doubt Elle still heard them and he marveled at how relaxed and real she was with him.He still didn’t know how she’d gathered the nerve to walk out of the wedding, much less tell her mother that it would never happen.Just another example of the core of iron Elle kept hidden from the world.

“What do you say we do a little shopping?”Hex leaned back in the booth and watched as she pushed her plate away and rubbed her slightly distended belly.

She frowned slightly.

“Shopping?”

“Yeah.I saw one of those baby stores not far from here.I thought we could walk through.You don’t have to get anything, but you can start getting an idea of what we’ll need what kind of crib you want, that kind of thing.”

She was quiet for a moment, watching him.He wondered what she was thinking but stayed quiet as he waited for her answer.

“Yeah, let’s do it.Walking around a while would do me good after all this.”She looked down at the table and their empty dishes.“I ate way too much.”Elle rubbed her belly.“I’m gonna be the size of an elephant before this kid gets here.Then you won’t want to look at me, much less be seen with me.”

Hex clenched his teeth while he fought to keep from cursing.That was her mother’s voice in her head, he had no doubt.He’d do his best to change that, but it would take time, he knew.

“I hate you thinking like that, Elle.I’d want you even if you were four hundred pounds and I’d be proud to be seen with you.It’s you I love and not your size.I want you to eat when you’re hungry, take care of yourself and that little one.That’s what I care about.”He signaled the waitress, got their ticket, and handed over his credit card.“Come on, let’s go see what all we’re gonna need to get in the next few months.”He said once he'd signed the ticket and dropped enough cash on the table for a tip.

Hex stood and offered Elle his hand.She put hers in his and let him tug her to her feet.He couldn’t resist his need to wrap an arm around her waist as they left.Remembering what she’d said about the truck being high, he took her to the passenger side and helped her up into the seat before going around to get behind the wheel.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Ididn’tknowtherewasso muchstuffyou need for a baby,” Elizabeth said as they made their way from the large store back out to Kevin’s truck.She was more than a little stunned by not just the variety of the things you thought about but all the little things in the store.Pacifiers, bibs, nipples, nipple cream, blankets, bassinets and more.She had a couple of friends from school that had children, but she’d never spent much time around them.

She had no clue where to start and what she needed and what was just fancy crap to sell to a new parent who had no clue, but that they would never actually use.And she was sure there was more than a little in there that she would never use, she just didn’t know what.

“I’m sure we won’t want or need all of it, but I don’t know what we will and what we won’t,” Kevin said as he walked her around to the passenger side of his truck.“We’ll need to talk to someone and get some opinions before we start buying stuff.”He helped her up into the seat, closed the door and went around to the other side.“We need to think about when we’re going to tell people.The only person I can think of that I’d trust to ask is Mother, but if we tell her, she’ll tell your mama, so we can’t do that until we’re ready to tell her.”

Elizabeth covered her face with both hands and cringed inwardly at the thought of what Mama would say.She loved Mama, but Mama worried too much about things that just plain didn’t matter, at least in Elizabeth’s opinion.Mama had always been more concerned with what people thought than what was actually happening and since Elizabeth had been old enough to think it through, she hadn’t agreed.

This wouldn’t be the first time Elizabeth had been on the wrong side of what Mama thought was right, but it would be the biggest issue.And Mama would be horrified.

Elizabeth knew she should tell Mama herself, but right now she couldn’t even think much about it.The thought of Mama’s reaction, what she would say, made Elizabeth’s stomach churn and her chest ache.

“Can I think about it a while?”She dropped her hands and looked at Kevin.

He didn’t look away from the road as he nodded.“Of course.The last thing I want to do is push you into something you’re not ready for, but this is something that you’ll only be able to hide for so long.”

He glanced her way, as if trying to gauge her reaction to his words.He was right.She knew her body would give away her secret all too soon.She didn’t need that long but a couple of days to get used to the idea and steel herself for the things she had no doubt Mama would say?That would be helpful.

“I know.I’ll have to do it soon, but I don’t want to.”

Kevin reached over and took one of her hands, squeezing it gently.

“I’ll go with you if you want.”He glanced her way again.“Anything I can do to make it easier for you, if I can do it, I will.”

“Thank you.”She squeezed his hand back, some of the churning in her belly easing.She trusted him.She always had.

Looking back at it now, she knew that was why she had come to him all those weeks ago.Her trusting him was how she’d gotten in this mess, and it seemed fitting that even though he wasn’t the one who’d created the mess, that was all on her, he would help her through it.

Maybe it was a sign of what was to come.She needed to learn to lean on someone.She’d known for some time that Michael would never be the person she could lean on.He would never be the kind of person she could trust to handle things when she couldn’t manage, even for a brief time.And if he’d tried, it would only have made things harder for her, because he would have made sure she knew how much of an inconvenience it was for him.That had been something she’d never cared for about him, but it had been something she thought she could ignore.Now, as she leaned on Kevin and all he did was offer to take more for her, she knew she’d made the right decision.

“What do you want to do with the rest of the evening?”he asked, glancing over at her in the waning light.They’d spent most of the afternoon in the baby store and now the sun had almost set.

“I have a couple of ideas, if you’re up for it…” She let her words trail off as she watched him.What she really wanted to do was to go back to the house and climb him like a tree, then pass out and sleep the rest of the night, but didn’t know if he had anything he needed to do.

“Do I want to know?”Kevin shot her a suspicious look before turning his gaze back on the road.

“That depends.I thought we might get naked and see what we can think of to do after that.”