Cathy Thacker - The Rancher's Christmas Baby

Teddy understood that, too. His parents had a deeply loving and passionate relationship that seemed to transcend all others. It was no wonder that they were thrown for a loop by this shocking news.

They were—like Amy’s parents and his and Amy’s newly married siblings—the lucky ones. Couples who seemed to have found it all.

Sadly, for him and Amy, that hadn’t happened.

So although Teddy and Amy both still lamented the lack of perfection in their personal lives, they had decided that they’d rather not go through the rest of their lives alone.

Even if it meant making a few hard sacrifices.

“And that’s okay with you?” Travis asked Teddy. “Having a baby through a medical procedure? ”

Teddy shrugged.

“It works for the horses I’ve been breeding. They all seem happy enough. And as long as Amy and I get what we want in the end—kids—who really cares?”

Amy flashed Teddy a grateful smile.

Unfortunately, she was the only other person beside himself, Teddy noted, who looked accepting of the situation.

“Not to put too blunt a point on it,” Dr. Carrigan refuted, his expression as grim and disapproving as Teddy’s own father, “but what about your own sex drives?”

Amy’s fair skin flushed an even deeper pink.

Teddy’s heart went out to her. Embarrassing as this was for him, it had to be harder for a diehard romantic like Amy. He knew she had dreamed of finding her Prince Charming and having that fairy-tale wedding in the community chapel since she was a little girl.

Unfortunately, just when she thought her fantasies were finally coming true and she’d given her heart and soul to Ken Donoho, Amy had been forced to abruptly end her engagement.

Her reasons were never revealed to anyone outside her family and she had never wanted to talk about it since.

Teddy hadn’t pushed her.

Friends did not do that to each other.

He had regretted, however, the damage the failed relationship had done to Amy’s outlook on life.

She no longer trusted romance. No longer yearned for the kind of physical passion that would last a lifetime. She was looking for Security Man now.

And he understood that, better than anyone. After all, his own engagement had also ended abruptly—and painfully. The experience had left him equally mistrusting of the initial “infatuation” stage of a relationship.

Since he had been interested in the long haul—and a woman who was as entrenched in “reality” as he —Teddy hoped he and Amy had at last found what they had been looking for all along. The kind of deep abiding friendship and lifelong commitment that they could use as the foundation for the family they both wanted so badly.

To his disappointment, it looked to Teddy like all their parents could focus on was the lack of intimacy in his and Amy’s union.

“So are the two of you ever planning to consummate your marriage?” Travis McCabe asked warily.

Eventually, Teddy thought. When the time was right.

To his surprise, Amy had other ideas. “We don’t know…um…if that will ever happen.” Amy looked as if she wanted to sink through the floor as she threw her hands up in dismay. “I mean, I know the rest of our lives seems like a long time. But we’ve promised each other no pressure in that regard, and we’re both okay with it either way.”

Teddy’s parents shook their heads, as if they had both somehow landed in a warped fairy tale.

“What about in the meantime? Are you two even going to be living together?” Dr. Carrigan asked, looking at them both as if they had completely lost their minds. An emotion the other three parents also seemed to feel.

“Yes. Of course,” Amy huffed.

“Absolutely,” Teddy concurred.

“Where?” Meg Carrigan inquired. She moved in close to her husband, her brows knit with worry.

“At my place!” Amy and Teddy said in unison.

Luke Carrigan wrapped a supportive arm about his wife’s waist as she narrowed her gaze at the flustered duo.

“Obviously, that remains to be worked out,” Teddy said, grimacing.

“What happens if this marriage doesn’t pan out?” Annie McCabe asked. She stepped closer to her husband, too. Her hand instinctively curled into Travis’s.

Watching the two older couples lean on each other, the way they always had, made Teddy think, That’s the way marriage should be .

Suddenly, he wondered if he and Amy would ever have that special connection. More important, was friendship going to be enough to sustain them?

Or would having a family—and their mutual affection—transform their platonic union into a real marriage?

Clearly, their parents did not think so.

But just because they had reservations did not mean it couldn’t happen, Teddy rationalized.

Furthermore, it wasn’t as if he and Amy hadn’t tried to find happiness the traditional way.

The problem was, romance just hadn’t worked for either of them. And probably, given their temperaments and expectations, never would.

Hence, they were obtaining a family for themselves the only way they could.

Beside him, Amy clearly agreed. “Teddy and I’ve already stipulated that should either of us decide it’s a mistake and want out—and for the record, neither of us expect that will happen—then we’ll get an annulment.”

“As long as we don’t consummate the marriage, it should be no problem,” Teddy agreed.

“It will be a problem if there is a child involved when you two decide this,” Travis McCabe countered.

Teddy knew how seriously every parent in the room took their responsibility toward their children. Luckily, he and Amy felt the same way.

Teddy took Amy’s hand in his, and held it in much the same way his father was holding his mother’s hand. “If we do want to end the marriage and we have a child—or children—by then, we’ve agreed on split custody. Since we both own businesses here in Laramie, and plan to reside here permanently, that should be an easy-enough thing to arrange. Not,” Teddy added, before anyone could interrupt, “that either Amy or I expect it to come to that.”

Amy’s chin took on the familiar, defiant tilt. “Teddy and I’ve been friends forever and we’re plenty old enough to know exactly what we’re getting into.”

“That,” her father remarked grimly, “is debatable.”

An hour later as Amy and Teddy walked out to his pickup truck, she said, “Well, it’s official. Both our parents think we’ve made a huge mistake.”

Teddy started to head for his own side of the vehicle, then stopped and cut across to Amy’s side.

Ignoring her look of surprise—because this was the kind of thing he did for his girlfriends, not his casual female friends—he opened the passenger door for her.

As his wife, she deserved a lot more from him on every level. Starting now, Teddy decided, she would get it. As well as reassurance when she needed it—which she clearly did.

“Look, Amy. We know we’re doing the right thing.” He gazed at her tenderly, smiling until her face lit up and she smiled back. “We’re going to be great parents. Giving each other a baby is the best Christmas present either of us could ever have.”

Hope flared in her eyes, along with the confusion.

Seeing she still needed a little convincing, he gave her a playful tap on the nose. “Trust me on this,” he told her softly. “Once you’re pregnant, once we’re one step closer to our dream, everyone else will be rooting for us, too.”

Chapter Two

As they drove back to the Laurel Valley Ranch, Amy couldn’t help but notice how good Teddy looked in the black Ultrasuede jacket and discreetly patterned tie, or how the dark olive hue of his dress shirt brought out the green of his eyes.