Sunday was uneventful as they hung around the ranch. Evan finished reviewing the ranch’s financial reports while Ginger finished her article. They swam, rode horses, and made love. After Daniel left, Evan went into protector mode and was preoccupied with the events of the weekend.

On Monday, Evan woke before Ginger which was abnormal so he quietly left the room to start breakfast. He thought about everything that should happen and everything he needed to tell Mitchell. The one thing he wanted to tell, he’d promised Ginger he wouldn’t. As he poured a cup of coffee, he ran his hand over the island when he saw her round the corner. “I’ll never look at this island the same way again. I just hope no one ever asks why I smile every time I look at it.” The twinkle in his eyes made her smile, too.

“Mitchell and Kayla may want to replace it if they ever find out what we did.”

“Not gonna happen. All changes to the house have to be agreed upon by both of us. I won’t agree,” he said with a chuckle to his voice. “But, I made sure to take the cloth to the laundry room to hide any evidence.”

“You’re a pervert, you know that?”

“Yep. I’ll try not to laugh the first time I see Mitchell eat anything off the island top. This is gonna be our secret. I swear.” He held up the boy scouts sign even though the look on his face said something totally different. “Good morning, darlin’.”

“Good morning.” She hugged him. As he kissed his spot she asked, “Will this be my greeting every morning?”

“That’s my plan.”

“What happens when you go back to work and we’re in separate states?”

“I don’t know, but we have a week and a half until then. Here,” he said as he gave her a cup of coffee.

“You’re spoiling me.”

“Also in the plan.” He kissed her temple as she took a few sips. Then asked, “What time can you call the doctor?”

“The office opens at eight-thirty. I’ll call then, but I don’t know if I can speak to a nurse right away.”

“Darlin’, it’s after nine.”

“What? I can’t believe I slept that long.”

“You must’ve needed it. You sending in your article today, right?”

“How did you remember?”

“I wanna know everything you do, so I try to remember. I do recall telling you I wanted to read every page in the Book of Ginger,” he said just before he kissed her. The expression on her face was one of astonishment as if no one had ever cared about what she did. He’d show her he was the one who cared. “Can you call them now?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll have breakfast ready when you get back.”

* * *

Ginger found her phone. She pulled out the notebook with her questions as she dialed the number. Now, she read over them while she waited for the nurse to pick up. The longer she sat on hold, the more nervous she became. When the nurse finally answered, Ginger went over exactly what had transpired. She asked all of the pertinent questions and wrote down the answers. She thanked the nurse and disconnected the call.

While she walked down the hall she saw Evan dip the breakfast he’d prepared. As soon as she was in the kitchen he asked, “What did she say?”

Ginger sat on a barstool as she looked him in the eyes. “First, she said it’s too late for the morning-after pill.”

He nodded in agreement.

“Then basically what the web site said; not to use another patch but to use another form of birth control if I plan to have sex again before my next period. Even though I drank alcohol before I realized my patch was gone, it was probably okay, but I shouldn’t have anymore. If I’m pregnant and it’s a healthy pregnancy, riding the horse shouldn’t have hurt anything. Other than that, I have time to decide if I want to terminate a potential pregnancy.”

Evan’s face paled when those last words left her mouth.

“Is terminating the pregnancy even an option for you?” He looked as if he was going to be sick, but she didn’t know if he was scared she’d say yes or worried she’d say no.

“It was my decision to have sex without a condom, regardless of my birth control being in place or not, so I’m not terminating the pregnancy. If you’ve changed your mind, I need to know now. I won’t ask anything of you if you want out. I promise.”

“Oh thank God,” he said.

With everything swirling around in her head she may have been confused, but she definitely heard the relief in his voice. Maybe he just said those things to keep her here for a weekend of fun-filled sex, but now that reality was hitting, he’d changed his mind. With tears in her eyes, she walked back to his room. It wasn’t theirs anymore. By the time he caught up to her, she’d already gotten out her bag.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m packing so I won’t be a burden for you. If I leave now, I may get home before Kayla and Mitchell leave.”

“Whoa! What did I miss?”

“I heard the relief in your voice after I said I wouldn’t ask anything of you.”

“No, darlin’. You heard the relief in my voice when you said you wouldn’t terminate the pregnancy. Ginger, it wasn’t just your decision, it was mine too. I thought we talked about this.”

“We did, but I thought maybe you’d changed your mind.”

“How can we have forever if you leave?” he asked with a small smile.

“We can’t.”

He walked to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “And didn’t I tell you that’s what I wanted?”

“Yes.”

“Is that what you still want?”

“Yes.”

“All right then. With that settled, how long before you’ll know?”

“I don’t know. If I miss my period, I guess.”

“When will that be?”

She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “I just had it the week before last, remember?”

“Shit. Yeah, it drove me crazy to only touch you. So two weeks?”

“Something like that.”

He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her forehead. “The only time I wanna see you packing a bag is when we go to your house. I’ve already got enough shit on my mind, so please don’t make me worry about you leaving me too.”

“You’re right,” she said as she looked into his eyes.

He ran his hand up and down her back. “Let’s go eat our now-cold breakfast so we can get our work done.”

While Ginger reheated their breakfast, Evan put on his music. As they were moving around the kitchen “The Fighter” by Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood came on. Evan patted Ginger’s ass. “This song reminds me of us,” he said. They were quiet so she could hear it.

“Evan, those words,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“I know. He says them better than I could, but that’s exactly how I feel. I added it to my Ginger playlist.”

“You have a Ginger playlist?”

He smiled. “Yeah.”

She tilted her head to look into his eyes. “What’s on it?”

He motioned for them to sit as he said, “Songs we’ve danced to, made love to even before it was love, songs I haven’t played for you yet. You’ll eventually hear them all.” He shrugged a shoulder and flashed a cocky grin at her.

By the time they’d finished eating, Ginger’s leg was bouncing with excess energy that she couldn’t expend. Maybe she’d gotten used to Evan taking care of that more than once a day. That hadn’t happened yesterday, nor had it this morning. A swim would help her so she went to their room to find a bathing suit. With her back to the door, she searched for a bikini. As she was pulling one out of a drawer, Evan’s voice broke the silence, “Not the green one.” Ginger jumped and placed her hand over her heart.

“You scared me.”

“You’re jumpy. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“I don’t know. I just need to get out. I thought I could burn off some energy with a swim since you aren’t taking care of it.” She had her hands on her hips.

“What? You need me to wear you out, darlin’?” he asked with a concerned smile as he tucked some hair behind her ear.

“Maybe. Yeah. I don’t know what to do with myself.”

Evan placed a finger under her chin and tilted her face toward his. “Why didn’t you say something?”

She closed her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “Gin, open your eyes.” He waited until he saw her beautiful green eyes. “Unless we’ve agreed to play, you tell me what you need. I’ll take care of you, one way or another.”

“Okay.”

He waited, but she just looked into his eyes without a sound. “Well?” Her face grew hot. “Darlin’, open and honest, remember? I admit I’ve been preoccupied so tell me what you need.”

“All weekend you distracted me when my brain went places it shouldn’t, but last night and this morning I’ve been on my own to deal with my insecurities. I can do it. I’ve done it before, but your way seems better and faster. Not to mention, we’d been having sex multiple times a day until yesterday. My body is humming with energy, the kind of energy you take care of so well. I need you,” she ended in a whisper.

Evan pulled his T-shirt over his head. As he reached for hers he said, “I’ll gladly make love to you, darlin’.”

“No. I don’t want gentle. I need…need…”