Earth and Sky

always is, I suppose. In the kitchen.”

    They didn’t have time to plot more strategy before the rarely used doorbell rang.

    “Hugh?” Hunter asked.

    “No way.” Izzie shook her head. “He knows the door isn’t locked.”

    “Then who…?” Hunter stopped talking when he heard his mother’s voice in the hallway.

    “Miranda, what a pleasant surprise!”

    Izzie looked at Hunter, and Hunter switched between gazing at Grant and Izzie. “Oh, crap. That’s all we need.”

    “Let’s go into the living room.”

    “Shit,” Izzie muttered under her breath just as the door to the hallway opened. They could see the surprise in their mother’s face when she noticed the living room was occupied.

    “Hunter,” his mother acknowledged. “You’re back.”

    Hunter nodded at her but couldn’t stop looking at Miranda, who seemed very nervous and was avoiding his gaze. He had no idea what she was doing there, but he knew it couldn’t be good. Something in his gut told him to be on his guard.

    “Izzie, darling, could you make us some tea?” Beth asked her daughter in the usual calm, take-charge sort of way she carried herself. “And bring the cookies I made yesterday.” Her gaze briefly traveled to Grant and Hunter, and they could see her wondering what the wrangler was doing in her living room, but the look passed within moments, and her courteous smile returned for Miranda.

    Hunter knew his mother was just being the perfect hostess and her pasted-on smile had nothing to do with any affection she might feel for Miranda. More than once his mother had spoken in less than affectionate terms about Hunter’s ex-girlfriend over dinner, so there was no doubt in Hunter’s mind about how his mother felt. It was one of the reasons he’d never brought Miranda home—the other being that he’d never had any inclination to marry her in the first place.

    “So, darling,” his mother continued. “What brings you here?”

    Hunter quickly looked at Grant before listening to Miranda’s answer with more than a little apprehension. Grant seemed calm, but then Grant didn’t know what to expect, and although he was hotheaded, Hunter had never known Grant to worry about things he had no control over.

    “I actually came here to speak to Hunter,” Miranda replied softly. Hunter didn’t miss the quiver in her voice. He also didn’t miss the way she touched her belly with her hands before looking at him. His throat went dry.

    “Hunter and I are going to have a baby.”

    At that moment, Izzie walked into the room and almost dropped the tray with the tea china. Hunter jumped up to help her, glad for the distraction. He took the tray from Izzie and put it on the table, occupying himself with setting the cups upright again.

    Nobody spoke, and Hunter didn’t dare look at Grant. His mother had turned white and, to Hunter’s surprise, had lost the smile she only ever wore around company. Miranda had returned to gazing at her clasped hands, and Izzie sat down with her mouth in a very unladylike gape. Hunter saw Izzie look at Grant, but he didn’t dare to follow her gaze.

    The silence seemed to last forever, and it was Izzie who finally managed to break it. “When are you due? I’m calculated for March,” she said calmly, as if this was a civilized afternoon tea party among casual friends.

    “February,” Miranda answered, not hiding how stunned she was at what Izzie had said. After all, this was a small town; news traveled, and everyone had heard how Izzie had dumped her rodeo boyfriend months earlier.

    “You’re pregnant?” their mother asked with a less-than-steady voice. She was looking at her daughter, not at Miranda.

    “Yes, Mother,” Izzie answered, surprisingly calm.

    Her words were barely cold when they heard the front door bang shut, almost immediately followed by the hallway door opening and Hugh blazing in. “Is Danny okay?” He looked around the room at the assorted company and raised his eyebrows. “Izzie called to tell me Danny needed me,” he said by way of apology. “I didn’t realize”

    Hugh didn’t finish his sentence, because Hunter’s mother gasped and sagged down into her chair. Izzie immediately went to her side, looking immensely worried. “Mom, are you okay?”

    From the corner of his eye, Hunter could see his mother nodding. This was the woman who hadn’t even cried a single tear when she was told her husband had died. Hunter had never known her to be