A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek #2)(18)

Jo Ellen, however, was more concerned about what Amy had heard than her sudden appearance in her bedroom doorway.

“Jo Ellen might be pregnant,” Emma Leigh blurted.

As Grady’s girlfriend gasped, Jo Ellen rounded on her sister. “Em!”

“What?” Emma Leigh shrugged. “We all know she and Grady are going to tie the knot someday; they’ve been together since they were, like, five. She’s practically our big sister already. And now is definitely the time for a bit of insightful advice from someone with more experience than us.”

“What in the world makes you think I have any kind of experience with this?” Amy squawked.

Jo Ellen wanted to melt through the floor. If Grady’s girlfriend—who loved all things baby—could appear so appalled over the idea of her being pregnant then she could only imagine how the rest of the family would react.

“What do we do?” Em asked, scooting supportively closer to Jo Ellen. “What if she is…you know?”

Amy swallowed audibly and slowly moved to the bed so she could sit on the edge and send Jo Ellen a sympathetic wince. “How sure are you?”

“Not at all,” Jo Ellen confessed.

“She’s late,” Emma Leigh butted in. “And Joey is never late. Hell, she’s what keeps me on schedule every month.”

“Well.” Amy very serenely set her hands in her lap and licked her lips. Jo Ellen couldn’t contain how grateful she was that Amy had finally settled down after the initial shock. “I guess the first thing to do is find out one way or another. So just stay calm before there’s anything to freak out about. Okay?”

Both Emma Leigh and Jo Ellen nodded. “Okay.”

“So, Emma Leigh,” Amy instructed, turning authoritative. “You go with your sister to buy a test, then you,” she instructed Jo Ellen, “take it, and we’ll act from there.”

Again, both twins nodded. They squeezed closer together, pressing their shoulders against one another.

“But what if I am?” Jo Ellen couldn’t help but whisper the dreaded possibility.

“Then you talk to Travis.”

“Oh, God.”

Travis. How in the world could she tell him if she was pregnant? He hated kids, and he’d probably hate her for having one.

Then there was the whole possibility it wasn’t even his. For the space of half a second, she hoped she and Cooper had gone all the way. If she was pregnant with Cooper’s baby, she knew without a doubt he’d stand by her. His family would support her. No matter what happened, she could depend on a Gerhardt.

As if knowing she needed more support, Emma Leigh crushed her fingers even more tightly around Jo Ellen’s.

“You two made the decision to conceive together,” Amy rattled on, “so, I say you need to make the decision about what to do about it.” She paused and bit her lip as she slid an uneasy glance between the two girls. “But baby-raising is a lot of work. Two parents would make it so much easier. Do you think he’d marry you?”

She almost blurted out yes. Cooper would marry the mother of his baby in a heartbeat; that’s simply the kind of person he was. Then she remembered they were talking about Travis, and she shrank back, uncertain. Of course, she and Travis had talked about marriage. But that was for some time in the distant future, after college. They hadn’t even graduated from high school yet. She didn’t want to receive a diploma with a married name on it.

Lord above, she didn’t want to have a baby while she was still in high school. Legal age or not, she was too young to have a baby.

What had she gotten herself into?

“I…” She licked her lips. “I don’t know. I think so.” Maybe. Hopefully; or maybe Travis would desert her like a yellow-bellied coward and let her deal with all the fallout by herself. Sadly, that sounded a bit more his style.

“He better,” Emma Leigh growled. “Or I’ll—”

“Amy?” A voice called from somewhere outside the room, a voice sounding very much like Grady’s. “You up here?”

All three girls on the bed froze as footsteps drew near. They gaped at each other before Jo Ellen frantically whispered to Amy, “Don’t tell him. Please.”

Appearing in the doorway, Grady paused when he saw his girlfriend. His face instantly brightened. “There you are. I saw your car outside.”

Jo Ellen felt a strange nip of envy as Amy sprang off the bed and swept toward him. So much love swirled between the two of them the emotion oozed out their pores and filled the entire room. Even Grady, who was usually gruff and somber, turned light and lovable whenever his girlfriend was around. Jo Ellen had to wonder if she and Travis were so obviously in love like that. For some reason, she had a bad feeling they would never excel to this level of devotion.

It was disheartening; especially now.

“I missed you this week,” Grady murmured, nuzzling his nose into Amy’s cheek before he planted a sweet, smacking kiss to her temple.

“I missed you too” Amy closed her eyes and nuzzled back.

“Dis-gus-ting,” Emma Leigh called from beside Jo Ellen. “Can’t you two go somewhere private for that?”

“Oh, that reminds me.” Amy pulled away from Grady long enough to glance at the twins then turned back to him. “You’d help support me and marry me today if I was pregnant, wouldn’t you, Grady?”