At a certain age, people expect you to have certain experiences under your belt. When you're a teenager, it's your first kiss, your first drink, and your first time. In your twenties or thirties, it's marriage and kids and a career doing something you love.

When you get older and still you haven't hit some of those milestones, people start looking down on you, judging you, wondering if there's something wrong with you. He's twenty-two! Why hasn't he been in a serious relationship? He's twenty-eight! Shouldn't he be married with a couple kids? He's thirty-one! Why hasn't he ever said I love you to a woman... or anyone?

I didn't take those three words lightly. For such a long time I never thought it would be in the cards for me. I was the guy that was always left out to dry, thrown on the curb, unwanted and forgotten.

Sometimes, it takes just one moment to change everything. Sometimes it's not a moment, sometimes it's a person. Carly Atwood was the woman that changed everything. I fell in love with her and I fell in love hard. It terrified the shit out of me, but at the same time it felt right.

God knows, nothing had ever felt so right.

We spent the next six weeks getting to know each other some more and falling into an easy routine around the ranch, which mostly involved her bed, or my bed, or the shower...

It was such a new and weird feeling to be so... happy.

It was the last week of October and Carly was still getting over the flu. Most of the kids she gave riding lessons to had it at one point or another in the last few weeks, so inevitably it was her turn.

I was fully expecting to get hit by the bug sooner rather than later too.

"Are you feelin' any better?" I asked when I came into the main house to check on her after turning out some of the horses. She was lying on the couch in the living room, looking through different categories for something to watch on Netflix.

"I've been drinkin' water, ate a couple saltine crackers," she shrugged, lifting her head up when I sat down and putting it in my lap. "Did you give Lady some exercise?" she asked. Even when she was sick in bed – or on the couch in this case – she was still thinking about her horses and the ranch.

"Indeed I did," I said, running my fingers through her hair.

"You checked on Callie?" she asked.

"Yeah, Juno actually let me get close," I grinned triumphantly. She was very protective of her little one, and while Carly had no problem getting close, I was only beginning to make some progress. "The vet called too, I left a note on your desk... nothin' urgent, he said to just call back when you're feelin' up to it," I told her.

"I'll try to do some work today," Carly said determinedly.

"Don't over-do it though," I warned.

"I won't," she smiled. "Maisy is comin' over a little later anyway... she's got some news she wants to tell me. She's been real secretive about it," she added.

"Mm, well you two don't cause too much trouble," I chuckled.

"With Maisy, can't make any promises," she laughed weakly.

"Alright, well I'm gonna go run some errands in town if you don't need me for anythin'... get somethin' for dinner... You gonna feel like eatin' anythin'?" I asked.

"I think I'll stick with soup again, just to be sure," she sighed, reaching up to touch my face. "Your beard's gettin' scruffy," she smiled.

"Is that you tellin' me I should shave?" I laughed.

"No, it's sexy," she said softly. "Just don't let it get crazy like when you first got here... you looked like a scary homeless person," she giggled.

"Duly noted," I nodded.

There was silence for a while as we both turned our attention to the television. I continued to stroke her hair and she eventually started dosing off, her eyes drooping shut. "You know somethin' I'm kind of hungry for," she murmured suddenly.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Those burgers you made the other day on the barbecue. You should grab the stuff you'd need to make 'em... we can eat that tomorrow... or whenever I start feelin' less like crap," she said with muted enthusiasm.

"Will do," I chuckled.

"I saw John in the driveway," Maisy grinned when she let herself in a little later that afternoon, dropping her purse on the little table near the front door and kicking off her flats. "Diggin' the beard," she added with a terrible attempt at whistling her approval.

"You should've seen his beard when he first got here," I sighed, sitting up on the couch and stretching my arms and my legs out in front of me. I was starting to feel a little better: John made me a sandwich before he went to shower and I was able to keep that down... so I was pretty optimistic.

"What were you two up to today?" Maisy asked, wriggling her eyebrows at me as she fell down on the couch. She took my hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, snuggling in close.

"He was outside all mornin' doin' his chores and mine... and I was on a date with the toilet bowl," I admitted. "Sorry to disappoint," I chuckled when Maisy made a face.

We ended up talking a little more about John, which proved to be less annoying than I would've thought it would be four months ago. I liked talking about him, despite the awkward questions Maisy had a tendency of asking. We also talked about John and Darryl's bromance and how they were hanging out a lot of their own volition, without their nosy significant others trying to set them up together.

It was kind of cute, really.

"They're goin' huntin' on Saturday with Steve, did John tell you that?" Maisy asked.

"No, it hasn't come up," I shrugged.

"Darryl is lookin' forward to it. Anythin' that involves guns or ATVs or drinkin' a lot of beer..." Maisy shook her head and sighed.

"Boys and their guns," I laughed.

"Boys and their guns," Maisy agreed. "Your boy can probably give mine a run for his money... bein' in the army and all," she added.

"He was a medic," I explained.

"Don't they have guns too?" Maisy wondered.

"Mm, I don't know. He doesn't talk about his time overseas. He's been havin' some trouble sleepin'... and it's been gettin' worse... I'd be surprised if he sleeps more than three or four hours a night. I haven't mentioned it to him in a while... every time I do he bites my head off... But he's been talkin' in his sleep now and a couple nights ago it got pretty bad..." I admitted, feeling a heavy weight lift from my shoulders. I was worried, and Maisy was the only person I felt I could talk to about this.

"Is it PTSD or somethin'? I mean, he got hurt didn't he?" Maisy asked.

"Yeah, there was an incident... he talked to me about it the first night he came back. A couple of the guys he served with were killed," I frowned.

"Oh gosh, wow," Maisy whispered.

"Yeah, I'm not a psychologist or anythin', so I don't really know the symptoms or anythin'... He's not like, fidgety or anythin'... doesn't have any mood swings or stuff..." I shrugged.

"He should really talk to somebody," Maisy said.

"I know, I just don't know how to talk to him about it," I told her. "Anyway, what's up with you? Didn't you have somethin' you wanted to tell me? The suspense is kind of drivin' me crazy." I grinned, making myself a little more comfortable on the couch.

Maisy glanced down at her hands, which were pressed against her stomach.

"Darryl and I didn't uh... leave Nashville alone after our honeymoon," she grinned.

I was sick, so my brain was a little fuzzy, but it didn't take me long to realize what she was saying. I stared at her.

"No way, you're not–?" I trailed off.

"I'm pregnant," Maisy beamed.

"Oh my God, Maisy! I'm so happy for you!" I exclaimed.

She hopped to her feet and crossed the living room, reaching inside of her purse for her phone. She handed it to me, showing me the ultrasound photos.

"We found out for sure last week. I'm due on June 1st next year! My mama seemed a little worried about it when she found out, says we're still a little young... but my in-laws are so excited! Darryl's sister had a baby last year so everyone's excited, we'll be raisin' them together... just two years apart," she gushed.

"That's so amazin', oh my God, I think I'm gonna cry!" I giggled as unshed tears threatened to fall.

"It is, I'm really happy... it wasn't planned, but I mean... we wanted kids eventually... so what if it's a year or two earlier than anticipated?" she shrugged.

I hugged her tight and we both giggled and cried for a while, happy tears streaming down our cheeks.

She left a while later and I was feeling well enough to walk her to the door, hanging out with her for a few minutes on the porch before she made her way to her car.

Maisy's news was still on my mind when I returned inside, and I was still smiling like an idiot when I closed the front door. But then, in a split second, something in my brain clicked, my heart fell into my stomach and figurative warning bells started to go off. The flu-like symptoms, the craving for John's burgers...

It could all be a big coincidence...

Wait a minute.

Oh my God.

I stopped dead in my tracks on my way back to the couch, my brain working overtime, trying to figure out the math. I grabbed my phone from the coffee table and checked my app.

My period should've started five days ago.

I was late.