Lifting my eyebrow, I grinned as I said, “You’ll be okay alone with my father?”
Grayson shrugged and said, “I saved your life, how can he possibly not like me now.”
My mother chuckled as she made her way outside. “He’ll be just fine, Meg. Go spend some time with Grace.”
“Do I need to change?”
With a sneaky smile, Grace shook her head. “Nope. We can leave this second. You don’t need anything.”
I chewed on my lip at the idea of leaving Grayson. I knew I was safe, but I also knew I was that much more safe with him near me. He must have read the confusion on my face because he gently pulled me closer to him and kissed my lips softly. “I would never leave your side if I thought anything would happen to you.”
“I know. I’m sorry, I guess I’m just trying to figure out how to process what happened and how I move on from here.”
His hand came up and pushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m almost positive you’re going to be happy once you get there, babe.”
“I have my phone, if Daddy bothers you, call me and I’ll be there.”
Grayson laughed as he kissed me once more and stepped out of the way while I followed Grace to her car.
Once we got into her car and started talking, everything seemed to just fall into place. It was as if I hadn’t ever left Mason at all.
I hadn’t been paying attention to where we were going until I realized we were pulling up to the Mathews’ main gate. “What are we doing here?”
“You’ll see,” Grace said.
“Have you talked to Libby? I really want to see the baby. I bet he is so big now.”
Grace giggled. “Almost six months old, the little bugger.”
My stomach fluttered knowing I was carrying a baby. I’d watched three of my friends already have kids and I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I’d have wanted it as bad as I did.
Driving down the familiar driveway, I asked Grace a million questions about being pregnant. When she pulled up and put her car in park, I turned and grinned so big I was sure my cheeks would cramp.
“Grams and Gramps.”
“The best place on Earth!”
“Hell yeah it is,” I softly spoke as I took in the familiar white ranch house.
The screen door opened as I got out of the car. My hand came over my mouth as I watched my girls all pile out onto the porch. Alex was holding Bayli’s hand as she walked along her side. “Oh my God! Bayli is walking!”
Grace laughed and wrapped her arm around mine. Libby was standing there holding Trey in her arms as Mireya jumped all around calling out my name.
Lauren stood there with a smile on her face that caused me to smile even bigger. She looked beautiful with her blonde hair all pulled up and piled on top of her head. “Lauren looks amazing!”
“Yeah, she really does,” Grace said as we started walking toward the porch. That’s when I saw my sister.
“Taylor,” I whispered.
With tears streaming down her face, Taylor ran down the stairs and into my arms.
I wanted to cry out in pain, but I couldn’t. I wrapped my sister up in my arms as we both stood there and cried.
When we finally pulled apart, Taylor wiped her tears away. “I’ve missed you so much, Meg.”
My heart felt so at peace as I looked at my beautiful little sister standing before me. “I’ve missed you more, Tay.”
Then I came face to face with the bluest of blue eyes.
“Grams,” was all I could say as she took my hand in hers.
“Welcome home my sweet girl.”
Tears fell freely as I scanned over the scene. I never in a million years would have imagined missing these girls as much as I had. Bending down, I called out for Mireya. When her little arms wrapped around my neck, I felt a complete peace move through my body.
Home.
I was home.
Grayson
ALMOST TWO WEEKS had passed since I brought Meagan back to Texas. In those two weeks we had done everything from attend barn parties, celebrated belated birthdays we missed, shopped for baby clothes, and I had learned to do more to a cow than I ever wanted to know in my lifetime.
I stood and looked out over the Texas hill country as I took in a deep cleansing breath.
“Feels good don’t it?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I smiled as I watched my future father-in-law walk up.
“I thought the air in Colorado was amazing. But something about this place . . . I can’t put it into words.”
“Texas air has something in it. Something that reaches down and grabs ahold of you tightly and never lets go.”
I nodded as I looked back out over the countryside.
“Is there a reason you asked me to meet you on some random piece of land off of Highway 1871?”
With a deep breath through my nose, I slowly blew it out as I nodded my head. “Walk with me for a minute, Brad.”
Brad followed me as we walked up the short hill and came to a stop at the top.
“Holy shit, look at that view of the Llano River.”