Pryce squeezed his eyes closed, straining to visualize the answer to the question Chloe had read from the study guide app on her phone.

“C’mon. You know this one,” Chloe insisted.

He heard a thud and opened his eyes to see Dani banging her forehead on the tabletop across from him, her frustrated groan muted with a yawn.

Pryce tossed his half-eaten donut onto his plate. “I told you I couldn’t do this.” He popped to his feet, sending the chair screeching across the hardwood floor. “I can’t even…think!”

He was never going to get his veterinarian license at this rate, traveling back and forth to Billings every week, only getting sporadic weekends with Chloe and Jonah thanks to his schedule at the equine clinic. This wasn’t working. He grabbed the chair and crammed it back under the table.

Her eyes wide with insecure remorse, Dani stared up at him. “Pryce, I’m sorry,” she offered. “I wasn’t directing that at you. I’m as burned out as you are. I don’t know what made me think I could test out of my last two semesters.”

“We’re all burned out,” Chloe agreed.

“No. It’s not…” He sighed, then leaned against the counter, rubbing the tired sting from his eyes. “Sorry, Dani, it’s not you.”

He’d spent the whole night studying, or trying to. Anything to distract him from obsessing over Chloe’s next doctor appointment. He glanced at his watch. Hours. He still had hours before he’d see his unborn child for the first time. The waiting was killing him, which was crazy considering he didn’t want to go in the first place. Not because he didn’t want the baby. He did. More than anything, but…

This child will be born of sin and touched by the devil.

He closed his eyes and forced his mother’s judgmental voice out of his head, but the dozens of horrifying images of severely deformed babies she’d shoved into his face still haunted him. Before he’d even thought to tell his mother about the baby, she’d already heard through the town gossips. When he and Chloe went to see her, she’d had her whole twisted spiel queued up and ready to spew, images and all.

“I told you,” Chloe said, reaching for his hand and pulling him to her. “Everything will be fine.”

Pryce looked down into her trusting, loving eyes. He wanted to believe her, but his faith was tested with every memory of those images. Even if they didn’t find anything wrong in the ultrasound today, and their child was born healthy, that didn’t mean it would be healthy forever. There were innumerable things that could go wrong, and it could all be his fault.

“Is there something we should be worried about?” Dani asked. “Did the doctors find something in the first ultrasound you had?”

Chloe shook her head, but her gaze remained on him. “It’s his mother,” she said with a bitter snarl.

“Oh, shit,” Dani groaned. “What did she do now?”

Pryce stood numb as Chloe recounted the highlights of their visit.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dani’s eyes narrowed with anger. “Your mother thinks because the baby was conceived before you and Chloe were married, that it will be born deformed or something?”

“Also, because I’m bisexual and married to your brother, too,” Pryce added.

“And because I’m a ‘half-breed’,” Chloe snipped. “Let’s not overlook that little detail.”

Dani gasped. “She said that?”

“Yep.”

“Is she really that crazy?” Dani asked, mouth agape in shock.

“No, she’s that evil,” Chloe corrected her. “She’s an emotional terrorist.”

“She’s not evil,” Pryce argued.

Chloe turned in her chair to look back up at him. “You’re defending her now?”

Pryce shoved his hands into his hair. “No, I’m not defending her.” God, help me. “She’s my mother.” They didn’t understand. Honoring and respecting his parents and elders had been drilled into him since birth. Even though he’d denounced every other tenant of his mother’s religion, disrespecting her still felt repulsive, even if Chloe was right.

“Do you see how screwed up I am?” His stomach rolled, rejecting the glob of sugary doughnut he’d eaten. “How can I possibly be a good father?”

“Don’t you dare believe a word that toxic sociopath says.” Dani got up and came around the table, squatting beside Chloe’s chair. She laid a hand over Chloe’s stomach, then took Pryce’s hand and brought it to lay beside hers. “My niece, or nephew,” she added to placate Chloe’s insistence on having a boy, “will be the most healthy, beautiful baby ever born.” She looked up at Pryce, a brow arched in defiance. “She’ll have Chloe’s compassion, and your goodness and incredible talent. Add in Jonah’s irresistible charm,” she said with a dramatic eye roll, “and a little of the McLendon stubbornness, and y’all are going to have the perfect baby.”

Pryce’s stomach tightened further and he looked away, glancing out the window above the sink before either of them saw the doubt in his eyes her last words conjured. His mother’s damming judgements hadn’t been the only thing keeping him up at night.

The baby Chloe was carrying didn’t have a drop of McLendon blood running through its veins. They hadn’t had to guess who the father was when the doctors gave her an expected due date. The timing was close to when Jonah first came home, but not quite close enough. If the doctors were right, this baby—his baby—was conceived before they even knew Jonah was home from Alaska.

They hadn’t told the McLendons outright the baby wasn’t Jonah’s, but they could do the math for themselves. No one had even questioned it. He loved Jonah’s family. They were the only family he had now, but could they really accept his child as one of their own? After all the generations of bad blood between their families? He wanted to believe they would, but what if he was wrong?

He looked back down at Chloe’s moderately rounded belly, sliding his hand around to the side where they’d first felt the baby kick. Jonah had sworn to love this child as his own, and Pryce had no doubt he would, but what if having the McLendon name wasn’t enough?

“Don’t let her ruin this for you, Pryce.” Chloe took his hand and moved it to the other side of her belly, where he felt their baby kick again, the unexpected thump releasing a rush of reluctant hope that their baby was going to be okay.

“Oh, wow!” Dani giggled. “That is so cool.”

“You’ll see.” Chloe glanced up at the clock on the kitchen wall, then raised her hand to his face. “In a couple of hours, you’ll see our beautiful baby, and I expect this to go away for good.” She ran her fingertip over the crease between his brows. “Well, at least until he’s born,” she added, slanting Dani a challenging grin.

Dani laughed. “If you’re so sure, why didn’t you let them tell you the baby’s gender at your last ultrasound?”

“I wanted to, but Pryce couldn’t make it, and I wanted both his fathers to find out together.”

Chloe glanced up at Pryce, making him feel like a total shit for missing her last doctor’s appointment. Which, of course, he was a total shit, having invented a last-minute vet emergency instead of being by her side where he’d belonged.

Dani clicked her tongue as she rose and walked back to her seat, saving him from having to own up to the total dick move. “Wish all you want, sister. That baby will be the next all-state girls roping champion, and the youngest to boot if I have anything to do with it.”

“You gonna teach her all the way from Texas?” Jonah said from the doorway, and everyone startled.

Everyone but Pryce.

Damn.

Pryce licked his lips as he inhaled the familiar scents of motor oil and gasoline. He’d never been a gearhead like Jonah, but man, did he ever appreciate the view. Nearly seven feet of chorded muscle mass draped in oil-smudged skin he knew tasted of salty sweat and pure male testosterone. His mouth watered at the mere thought of—

“Don’t. Do. That.” Chloe scolded Jonah as she pushed from her seat. “Sneaking up and scaring me like that isn’t good for the baby.” Jonah’s hand landed on her belly before he stooped down and kissed her. The only thing sexier than his mechanic husband, was seeing him kiss their beautiful pregnant wife the same way he kissed him. “And don’t go taking her side. I told you, it’s going to be a boy,” Chloe teased.

Pryce watched them for a few seconds while his heart pumped fresh blood back to his brain, then he noticed Dani’s sad smile. He resisted the urge to give her a reassuring hug, knowing she’d only brush him off with her usual denial.

Pryce had been as shocked as the rest of the family when Dani broke the news that she was moving to Texas after her and Clay’s wedding, but Jonah had taken it personal, though he’d never admit it to her. Her brother hid his disappointment behind their usual sibling banter, as did she, but Pryce knew the truth. They were going to miss each other when she was gone. Still, Jonah was being a jerk by bringing up Texas every time he saw her. He knew how hard this decision was for Dani.

“That’s what video calls are for, jerkwad.” Dani scooped up her notepad and phone from the kitchen table. Pryce watched her mask of thorny sarcasm fall into place to hide a flicker of regret. “At least I won’t be able to smell you from Texas.” She wrinkled her nose. “God, what did you do, bathe in gasoline before you came home?”

Jonah looked down at his shirt, then cursed as he stepped away from Chloe. “I had to change out a gas tank on one of the rigs at the shop. It’s been a crazy morning trying to get out of there in time.”

“It’s gonna get even crazier if you don’t hurry and get cleaned up.” Chloe looked at the clock on the wall again. “We have to leave for Billings in an hour, and your mom, Breezy, and Gran will be here in forty-five minutes.”

“Is your aunt coming?” Jonah asked.

“Aunt Bev’s going to meet us there.”

Pryce’s chest tightened to the point of aching. He curled his clammy hands into fists and took a deep breath, wishing Chloe hadn’t invited every female in the family. He could barely hold it together in front of her!

“Hey, man.”

Pryce opened his eyes, not even aware he’d closed them.

Jonah jerked his head toward the bedroom with a wink.

“Subtle,” Dani coughed into her hand, then rolled her eyes as Jonah walked away.

Pryce’s feet propelled him across the kitchen before he’d even decided to follow him.

“Forty minutes!” Chloe hollered after them.

“I only need ten!” Jonah yelled back as he pulled Pryce into the bathroom and slammed the door closed, then pinned him against it. “Maybe fifteen,” he corrected, pressing himself against Pryce in the most distracting way.

“Jonah-mmmph.”

Pryce groaned at the feel of Jonah’s mouth crushing against his, prying his lips apart with insistent flicks of his tongue. He welcomed the rush of Jonah’s taste, letting him plunder and take as much as he wanted. He loved it when Jonah kissed him this way, with urgency and demand that obliterated every thought in his head but what it felt like to be possessed by the only man in the world who could make him feel so alive and wanted.

He gripped Jonah’s hips and tugged him closer, searching out every point of contact he could, drawing a gravelly groan from Jonah when their cocks finally met and ground together.

Jonah tore his mouth away, his chest heaving as he worked to unbutton his shirt, cursing when he missed one. “I need this. I’m nervous as fuck about today.”

Working at the buttons on his jeans, Pryce froze. “You are?”

“Sure.” Jonah shrugged and dropped his oil-stained uniform shirt on the floor behind him, stumbling as he pulled off his boots, each one tumbling into the growing pile of clothes on the floor. “The last appointment was just a little blob on the screen. Have you seen these 4D ultrawhatevers? They’re crazy real.”

Pryce clamped down on his bottom lip as any distraction Jonah’s kiss had provided evaporated. He’d seen his share of 4D ultrasounds at the equine clinic, but he’d stayed as far away from the internet as possible since seeing those damn pictures his mother had forced on him.

“We’re going to see our kid, man. What if she looks like you?” Jonah chuckled, tackling him back against the door.

Pryce closed his eyes and tried to let Jonah’s kiss take him back to where they started, but he couldn’t, and Jonah noticed.

“I was joking,” Jonah said against his lips.

Pryce swallowed. “I know, but—”

Jonah gripped his jaw, forcing him to look up at him. “Stop.”

Pryce looked away, but Jonah tightened his grip, inching so close his warm breath tickled his lips. “Stop worrying,” he demanded. “No matter what your mother says, our baby is going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” Pryce argued.

“Does it matter?” Jonah countered. “Are you going to love this baby any less if it’s not perfect?”

“Of course not.”

“Then stop worrying about those pictures,” Jonah continued. “Your mother is a fruitcake hell-bent on destroying any happiness we find.”

Pryce held his gaze, biting back the infuriating urge to defend her.

“We’re a family now, Pry, and Chloe needs us to be there for her today.”

Jonah nipped at his lips, measuring his response before he closed his eyes and did it again, then again. Pryce wanted to give Jonah what he was asking for, but his head was so fucked up that the rest of him felt numb.

Jonah sighed, the disappointed sound making him feel like an even bigger fuck-up. Pryce melted against the door, unable to look him in the eyes.

“Hey.” Jonah demanded he meet his gaze and Pryce reluctantly complied. “Christ, man. You really are screwed up about this.”

Pryce withered beneath the weight of his scrutiny, wishing he could make his body respond the way Jonah needed. The way he needed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t.” Jonah stiffened against him when he tried to move.

“I can’t do this right now.” Pryce shoved at Jonah’s chest, but Jonah refused to budge. He needed to get out of there before he made things worse.

“It’s okay,” Jonah insisted, gathering Pryce’s wrists in his hands, holding them between them until Pryce relented. “I didn’t mean to push you.” A sheepish grin pulled at his lips as he leaned his forehead against Pryce’s. “I mean, yes, I was pushing you, but I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

Pryce shook his head. It wasn’t Jonah’s fault. None of this was his fault.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Jonah murmured, locking his arms around him. “I promise, man. You’ll see.”

Male pride swelled in Pryce’s chest, making him want to push Jonah away. He didn’t need to be coddled like a child, but there was something about being held in his arms, the feel of his smooth chest beneath his cheek, moving to the rhythm of his deep even breaths that soothed him and made him believe the words he spoke. Chloe always said Jonah gave the best hugs. He’d admit to feeling a bit jealous of that at times, but if this was the way she felt when he hugged her, he’d have to admit she was right.

Two hours later, he wished he was back home, being held in those strong arms. Instead, he was sitting in a chair that might as well have been a rock, holding Chloe’s hand as she lay on the exam table in the obstetrician’s office.

Jonah placed his hand on his knee and Pryce jolted. He met Jonah’s gaze, but whatever magic he’d weaved before wasn’t working this time, and his leg began to bounce again.

The door opened, and everyone in the room sucked in an excited breath. Gabby, Gran, Aunt Bev, Breezy, and Dani all parted to let Chloe’s doctor inside.

“Wow,” the doctor said, eyeing everyone as he made his way into the room. “My technician told me I had an audience waiting, but I wasn’t expecting this.”

Chloe smiled sheepishly. “They told me I could invite family. I hope it’s okay.”

Gabby stepped up behind Jonah, her brows pinched in concern. “We can wait outside if it’s too much,” she told Chloe.

The doctor waved her off. “It’s no problem for me, as long as the parents-to-be don’t mind.”

“No, I really want you here,” Chloe said.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Aunt Bev sighed with relief. “I don’t think I can wait another day to see my first grandniece.”

“Grandnephew,” Chloe corrected her.

“A great-aunt, huh?” The doctor’s eyes widened with genuine surprise. “I would have never guessed.”

Aunt Bev giggled, her cheeks blushing. “I don’t believe you, but I appreciate the effort.”

The doctor laughed, pulling his stethoscope from around his neck. “It’s no effort at all,” he said with a flirty wink.

Pryce’s ears began to ring as his heartbeat raced. Great. While Chloe’s doctor swiped right on Aunt Bev, he was about to have a freaking heart attack.

“I guess I better get to the real star of this show,” the doctor said. “How are you feeling?” he asked Chloe as he adjusted the pillows behind her.

“Great, now that the morning sickness is finally gone.”

“Good. And dads? How are you feeling?”

“Great,” Jonah said with an anxious chuckle as he straightened in his seat.

“Oh man, you look really nervous.” Pryce glanced up to see the doctor was talking about him. “Here.” He grabbed a blue plastic bag from a dispenser on the wall, then handed it to Pryce. “You weren’t here for the first one of these, were you?”

Pryce glared at the doctor as he snatched the bag from his hand.

“Don’t worry.” The doctor chuckled. “This is the one to write home about,” he said, winking at Aunt Bev again. “That is, if there are any friends or family members who aren’t already here.”

Pryce clenched the bag in his fist until his knuckles turned white.

The doctor cleared his throat and turned to the monitor, punching a series of buttons. A hand landed on Pryce’s shoulder, and he jerked his head back to see Gabby standing behind him. She didn’t say a word, only smiled as she caressed soothing circles on his back.

When he turned back around, Chloe’s gown was pulled up, and the doctor was applying the clear gel to her belly. Chloe turned and looked at him. The sight nearly crushed him. Her skin glowed. Her eyes sparkled with uncontainable excitement. He wished he’d brought his camera, but doubted he’d be able to capture all the things making his heart hammer inside his chest.

This was it. He knew without a doubt this would be the day he’d look back on for the rest of his life and know that, at least for a moment, he’d had everything.

The doctor switched on the monitor, but Pryce kept his gaze on Chloe. He memorized every tick of her lips, the way her eyes widened or narrowed as she studied the screen. He counted her breaths and the tears that slipped from her eyes before she swiped them away.

“There you are,” the doctor said in a jovial tone, and Chloe’s face lit up.

“Wow.” Jonah sat forward. “It’s really grown since last time.”

Pryce continued to watch Chloe, reading her reactions, living for every smile.

“That’s what healthy babies do,” the doctor said.

“Oh look!” Dani squealed behind Jonah. “There’s a hand!”

“And a foot!” Gran and Breezy said in unison with watery voices.

“Let’s switch over to 4D and meet baby McLendon,” the doctor said.

Gabby tightened her grip on his shoulder.

The room fell silent.

Pryce held his breath, his heartbeat thundering in his ears.

The room suddenly echoed with a collective gasp as everyone stared at the screen. Everyone but him. The woman he loved had tears streaming down her cheeks, her lips quivering as she turned and met his gaze, then released a broken sob that betrayed her mile-wide smile. “Pryce, look,” she said, reaching for his hand. “Look at our beautiful baby.”

Pryce took his wife’s hand, his own clammy and trembling as she pulled him closer, and he forced his gaze from her face. The second he looked at the monitor, their baby turned, as if to look back at him. Its tiny, perfect lips turned up into a smile that looked just like Chloe’s.

“Oh, Pryce, honey, did you see that?” Aunt Bev asked in awe.

Time stopped as he stared at the miracle on the screen, moving and kicking, perfectly formed and infinitely more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen in his life.

“Heart, lungs, kidneys, ten fingers and ten toes,” the doctor counted off. “Everything is developing just as it should be.”

Awestruck, the world tipped back and forth, the ground shifting beneath Pryce’s feet as Jonah yanked him into his arms. “I told you everything would be fine,” he said, taking his face between his hands. Pryce tore his gaze away from the screen and looked up at Jonah. “I told you.”

The impact of relief broke him. The breath he’d held deep inside his lungs came rushing out in one long cry and he crumbled against Jonah’s chest. Months of fear and worry vanished, leaving a gaping hole in his chest that was instantly flooded with love.

The sudden weightlessness set his head spinning. He fisted his hands in Jonah’s shirt and held on for dear life as a laugh bubbled up from deep inside. “I love you,” he laughed against Jonah’s neck, the words feeling wholly inadequate. “I love you so damn much, man.”

“Um, hello?” Chloe said beside them, her watery giggle jolting them apart.

“Shit.” Pryce swiped at his eyes. “Sorry.” He cupped her face between his hands and pressed his forehead to hers. He stared into her teary eyes, wondering how he could possibly deserve her. “I love you,” he said in a breathless whisper, peppering her face with tender kisses. “I will love you and our baby for the rest of my life.”

“I hope so,” she said with a teary chuckle. “Because I can’t raise our daughter without you.”

Pryce stilled. He drew his head back and stared at his wife. “Daughter?”

She tipped her head at the screen, and Pryce looked over his shoulder to see the undeniable image on the monitor.

“Yes!” Dani exclaimed in a hushed whisper. “I knew it!”

“A girl?” Jonah leaned toward the screen, his jaw slack, his eyes wide as saucers when he finally looked back and locked gazes with Chloe. “We’re having a girl?”

Chloe nodded with excitement.

“We’re having a girl!” Jonah shouted, sending Pryce scrambling for purchase as he rushed to Chloe and crushed his mouth to hers. She laughed against his lips, then squealed as Jonah pulled Pryce into their kiss.

Pryce was left reeling when Jonah bolted away, rushing to his mom. “We’re gonna have a baby girl!” he shouted as he picked her up and twirled her around, then did the same with Dani.

“Put me down, you big dork!”

The hammering rhythm in Pryce’s ears subsided, replaced by a chorus of giggles and sniffles. He turned to see everyone in the room huddled together, swiping at their own tears, and Breezy gave him a watery smile. Gratefulness propelled him toward his half-sister. “Thank you,” he said as he tugged her into his arms. “Thank you for everything you’ve ever done for me.”

“I am so proud of you,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck.

He hugged her tighter, eager to impart some of the hope that now filled his heart to overflowing. He couldn’t wait for her to experience what he was feeling. If anyone deserved this much happiness, it was her. “You’ll get your miracle, too,” he whispered in her ear. “I promise.”

She was still trembling when he finally let her go. Gabby handed them both tissues, swiping at her own tears before she pulled Pryce into a hug, too. “Thank you,” she said, her voice holding a genuineness he’d never heard from his own mother. He stiffened in her arms, unsure of how to respond. “You have given this family the most precious gift anyone could give.”

Pryce’s brows furrowed as his secondary fear churned to life, threatening his newfound joy. He broke away and looked into Gabby’s eyes, seeing none of the judgement he’d feared he’d see. “You really mean it, don’t you?”

Gabby’s smile faded. “Of course, I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

Pryce considered letting it go, but he looked over at their baby on the monitor, then at Chloe and Jonah, and he knew he had to know the truth. Their daughter deserved the truth.

“You know I’m the biological father, right?” he told Gabby. “Not Jonah.”

Gabby tipped her head in confusion, her brows dipping further. “Yes,” she said hesitantly, glancing between him and Jonah.

“This baby will have the McLendon name, but that’s all.”

Gabby’s eyes widened as his point hit home. “Pryce, honey.” She laid her hand on his arm. “Do you think that I—that we—will love this child any differently because Jonah isn’t the biological father?”

Pryce looked down at her hand on his arm, then over to Jonah’s grandmother and Dani, searching for the truth in their eyes.

“Oh, you fool of a man.” Gabby yanked him into her arms, her hug so fierce he stumbled backward. “A name isn’t what makes a family.” She cupped his face between her hands, her kind, brown eyes glistening with tears. “Love, Pryce. Love is what makes a family. This child will have far more than the McLendon name. She will have our unconditional, never-ending love. All of it. Just like you.”

Equal measures of relief and utter disbelief raced through his veins as he gave her a jerky nod.

“We love you, honey,” she said and pulled him back into her arms.

This time Pryce hugged her back, catching Jonah’s gaze over her shoulder. The corners of Jonah’s mouth quirked up into a grin, the same grin he’d fallen in love with, the one that said everything was going to be okay. And for the first time in his life, he truly believed it.