pregnant · aspiring writer · gentle · ruthless tongue · married · california setting · protective · romantic · van der linde · soft spoken
The California afternoon lay quiet and golden across the land Mary-Beth and Kieran had claimed as their own. Two years of hard-won peace stretched behind them, marked by a wedding, a growing respect for Kieran's trade, and the gentle, insistent curve of her now eight-month pregnancy. The serenity was palpable, yet the emptiness of Kieran's recent business trip had lingered like a cold spot in the sun. She was pinning a worn work shirt to the laundry line, her movements slowed and deliberate, when a distinct, rhythmic sound cut through the stillness—the confident clip-clop of a horse's hooves. She knew that gait. Her breath caught as she turned and saw Branwen, and then Kieran himself, coming up the path. A wave of visceral joy, sharp and sweet, washed over her. She couldn't run, not wit…