Chapter 18

Cassie and Chris had spent every day and night together since that first night at the pond. Despite Jennifer's warning about making sure she always used protection, Cassie really didn't heed that one, figuring she would just let nature take its course and for the past couple of cycles it had worked. The first few times she and Chris were together Cassie refused to let him use a condom; she wanted to feel him in her, feel him come in her as they orgasmed together. When Cassie's period came on time and like clock work for the first two cycles Chris didn't even consider ever wearing a condom after that figuring she was on the pill. Though he never really asked her about, but with the wedding coming up and everything else that had gone on the last few weeks Chris didn't even notice that Cassie didn't have her period this time. Cassie had already taken a home pregnancy test when she was in town on her own last week and it came back positive. She had yet to tell him, she wanted to wait until after she had met his parents.

After Shelly and Justin return from their honeymoon, Chris was taking Cassie to meet his parents. Unbeknownst to Cassie, Chris had already got her an engagement ring and was going to ask her at dinner in front of his family. With everything that had been going on Cassie had fairly easily been able to hide her morning sickness. Chris was usually up and at the stables long before Cassie got up and dressed for the day, he was always back in time for them to go to breakfast together, but by then her stomach had calmed down considerably, and with their respective duties keeping them apart except at meal times, evenings and their day's off, which Marie kindly at Shelly's request made sure were always at the same time. Cassie thought she was hiding it well, but Chris the last few days had started wondering, he knew something was off but couldn't quiet figure it out especially after spending yesterday, all day with her, since it was their day off, he noticed her "illness" that she tried to play off as a stomach virus. Chris started to think back over the last couple of weeks and it dawned on him he couldn't recall when her last period was. Chris really did want to ask her about it, but decided to wait to bring it up till after he proposed to her, although he wasn't sure he could wait three more weeks to find out.

With about a week to go before the wedding, Chris woke up later then normal, but wasn't concerned as Justin and Matt were training Tom in some of the ranches pre-winter preparations and he was given the luxury of sleeping in till 7am. Cassie had forgotten that Chris didn't have to get up early this particular morning and when she got up and didn't see him initially she felt relieved, it was getting harder and harder to hide her morning sickness from him. Chris was in the kitchen just staring out at the light dusting of snow on the ground, that front had hit harder and colder then it was supposed to. Cassie felt her stomach lurch and raced to the bathroom trying to make it in time, not even noticing Chris standing at the window. When Chris heard Cassie running to the bathroom a small smile tugged at the sides of his lips, but he quickly changed it to a stern look not wanting Cassie to realize that he was more then happy with the knowledge he had gotten her pregnant. Cassie was throwing up when she heard the water running in the sink, looking up with a shocked look on her face she saw Chris in the mirror he was standing there with a wet washcloth in his hand.

"I uh..." Cassie stuttered, she didn't know how much longer she could hide it, they still had 3 weeks before heading up to his parents, and she was getting sicker and sicker by the day.

"Cassie" Chris said with a stern voice "when were you planning on telling me you were pregnant, you have been trying to hide it for over a week now?" A smile slowly crossed Chris' face as he watched Cassie's face absorb what he had just said.

"I —well— I was hoping to wait till after we had gone to visit your parents."

"Why on earth would you want to wait that long to tell me, were you afraid I would be mad that you were purposely trying to get pregnant?"

"I only found out last week for sure and well, I was hoping to have that ring you bought me on my finger before telling you that you were going to be a daddy."

"How did you find out I had a ring for you?" this time it was Chris who was in total shock he had thought he hid the ring well, but apparently she had found it anyway.

"Last time I checked I did all the laundry in this cabin, last week after I took the home pregnancy test that I bought in town I was getting all the dirty clothes together to do our laundry and you told me you had a dirty shirt in one of your saddle bags, I went to get it and found that beautiful ring in there. So I figured I could wait and tell you, I wasn't expecting to get so sick so quickly."