Taking A Trip With An Outlaw

Chapter 17 - A house is not a home without you

Chapter Seventeen – A House is not a home without you

Weeks went by as Grace recuperated from the bullet, she wouldn’t forget that day when Granger demanded for her to stay awake whilst he ran to get Liam. She had closed her eyes as she waited and when they returned kept them closed to see their reaction. As they began to argue she decided to awaken, to be faced with shock and a full blown kiss on the lips from Liam causing her to groan in pain.

As the time had gone by Liam, Fred and Granger had been in and out as they announced that they were building a house for both her and Liam and one close by for Granger as he had announced his retirement. He claimed that he’d had enough stress to make a young man old in an instant.

Grace had laughed at that.

For weeks Grace had continued to feel sick and se decided to pull the point up to the doctor, she hadn’t had her period in a while but drew the conclusion that it was the stress and the wound she’d had in the ribs.

As Doc Rutherford wondered in that morning she decided to ask about the symptoms to which he looked back at her shocked.

“When did you begin to feel sick Miss Bradshaw?”

“I told you to call me Grace, and it must have been before I was shot, that day actually”

“So a couple of weeks ago, and when did you last have your time of the month?”

Grace thought she hadn’t had her period in weeks! “It hasn’t been for a while” she ducked her head as her cheeks flamed.

“Have you been involved in sexual intercourse within the past month or so?”

Grace faltered, there had been that night with Liam. But surely not. It couldn’t be! She couldn’t be pregnant!

“I can’t be!” she whispered aloud

“I’ll take that as a yes” Rutherford spoke “If you are indeed pregnant Miss… Grace, then we’ll have to wait and see if the bullet had an effect on the baby, or how you carry the baby. As you haven’t miscarried I can presume everything is good for now and I’d say you must at least be 6-8 weeks pregnant. The bullet still may have affected the growth of the baby, but only time will tell. Congratulations Miss Bradshaw.”

With that Rutherford left the room to be replaced with a grinning Liam. Grace remained shocked as she thought about being a mother, at the same time she felt great worry for the baby to know if her baby, no this baby belonged to Liam too, their baby would be OK.

Oh God! That was another point. What would Liam think? Did he want children? Did he want her to have his children?

As the thoughts whirled in her head Liam saw Grace’s pale colour and all but ran to her side to grab her hand.

“Are you alright?”

Grace quickly shook away the feelings and smiled “of course, I was just feeling a little ill earlier but Rutherford said that was normal and it’s passed now”

Liam smiled reluctantly, he could still see that Grace was hiding something but didn’t want to press the issue. He squeezed her hand as his smile returned.

“I have something to show you!” He laughed like a big child as he helped her to her feet and walked her out the building. Carefully he lifted her to the horse and he mounted Muck behind her. As he carefully rode across the land Grace noticed the house in the distance and gasped.

“Is that…”

“Ours” Liam interrupted kissing the bottom of her chin

Grace turned with awe and wonder splayed across her features and returned his kiss on the lips.

“I can’t believe it!”

“Fred and Pa helped, but they’re not here for now. They’ve left me to show you the house.”

Grace laughed as Liam stopped the horse in front of the house, it had a small white fence and a porch which showed the large door with the red shuttered windows.

Grace smiled as Liam helped her slowly towards the house and as he opened the door and she saw the inside she burst into tears.

“Grace whatever is wrong?!” Liam pulled her close

“Oh Liam, I’m afraid you’ll hate me. I promise I didn’t know otherwise I wouldn’t have been so careless and now things aren’t right!” Tears poured down Grace’s face as Liam used his thumb to wipe them away

“What is it my love, you’ve got to tell me what’s wrong”

“I’m pregnant” Grace whispered, her breath hitched as she waited for Liam’s response

“Really?” Liam asked as the smile spread across his face

“Yes” Grace replied “But Rutherford said the bullet may have harmed the baby, I’m about 6-8 weeks now and the bullet may have caused damage”

Liam’s smile fell a little before he continued “I don’t care Grace, this will be our baby no matter what”

“You mean you still want me after everything? After putting your child in danger? We might still lose the baby?”

Liam’s smile dropped then “Of course you silly woman! You didn’t know and it’s our child! If we lose the baby then we can always try again. I’m not saying it won’t hurt if we lose this child, but I won’t ever let you go. I want to marry you Grace, I want you to be the mother of our children. I want to come home and see you waiting in our house for me so I can kiss you senseless every day.”

“It’ll be me coming in to see you Liam” Grace smiled as she corrected “Are you sure? We can’t be sure what the future holds Liam?”

“Of course I’m sure. You can never be sure what the future may bring! This house wouldn’t be a home without you.”

As the birds sang outside the house that was a home to the couple they stood in the living room deeply enveloped in a passionate kiss, one thing was certain – no matter what happened in the future, they’d be ready to face it, together.