The Texan's Baby (Texas Rodeo Barons)

by Donna Alward

  “Good. Now, someone will be along soon to take you up to the ward. Get some rest, okay? And try to relax.” He gave an encouraging smile and ducked out again.

  “Your family is probably here by now,” Chris said, rubbing her arm. “Will you be okay if I go talk to them and then meet you upstairs?”

  “You called them?”

  “Of course I did. They’re your family.”

  “I hurt you so badly last night, Chris. Nicole told me you resigned.”

  “We’ll talk about all that later. We have tons of time. You just rest, okay?”

  She nodded and he kissed her forehead. “I’ll see you upstairs really soon.”

  He made his way back to the waiting room and found Brock and Julieta there, as well as Jet and Daniel pacing anxiously.

  “How is she?” Brock asked quickly, looking up from his wheelchair.

  “So far everything is okay.” Relief swamped him once more, just saying the words. “They’re keeping her here for twenty-four hours to be safe.”

  “I just saw her this morning. Fool girl is working too hard.” Brock stared pointedly at Jet.

  “She’s tougher than you give her credit for,” Chris replied. He saw Nicole, sitting away from the family, watching him now but with her phone in her hands. She’d stayed. She really was a good friend. He was sad to resign on the one hand—AB was a good place to work. But it had felt so right, making that decision, that he knew it was time to move on. Make his own life on his own terms.

  “Nicole, come on over,” he called out, motioning with a hand. “This is Nicole Bennett.” He introduced her to the assembled family. “She brought Lizzie in. They were having coffee together.”

  Julieta shook her hand. “Thank you for staying with her.”

  “Nicole Bennett from AB Windpower?” Brock looked up at her shrewdly. “You’re merger girl.”

  “I am. I’m also a friend of Chris’s.”

  “So I’d heard,” Brock answered. “Thank you. For calling him and shoving those two back together. Wish it were better circumstances, but whatever.”

  Chris figured he could be knocked over with a feather at that point. He hadn’t counted on Brock’s support for their relationship. “Nicole, this is Brock, and his wife, Julieta, and Jet and Daniel.”

  He watched as Nicole shook everyone’s hands, but when she came to Daniel, he thought the clasp lasted a little bit longer than the others and a hint of color touched her cheeks. Interesting.

  “Are the others coming?” he asked. He got the feeling that the Barons tended to show up en masse to a crisis, much like they had when Brock had been injured.

  Jet nodded. “Yep. Jacob’s on his way back from the job site, Savannah will come as soon as someone relieves her at the store, and we called Carly, although she’s home in Houston.”

  Good. Lizzie wouldn’t be alone, especially if he had to run out for a bit. “They’re taking her upstairs to the obstetrics ward,” he explained. “I’ve got to run out for a little while, so do you think you could keep her company up there until I get back?”

  “Just try to stop us,” Daniel said.

  “I’d better go, too,” Nicole added. “Now that everything’s settled down. Tell Lizzie I said goodbye, will you?” She smiled. “I’ll walk out with you, Chris.”

  They stepped out into the sun and walked to the general parking lot. “You have something planned?” she asked him, stopping by her car and searching her purse for keys.

  “Yeah. Something.” He smiled down at her. “It’s time to make things right. I was angry last night and hurt and I walked out rather than fixing things. I need to fix them now.”

  Nicole put her hand on his arm. “I think Lizzie had to figure a few things out first, too. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Keep me posted, will you?”

  “I will.”

  “And forget about going to work tomorrow. Look after your family.”

  His eyes stung. “Thanks, Nic.”

  “You got it.”

  He left her there and went to his truck. He didn’t want to be gone long and there was a lot for him to do in a short amount of time.

  But one thing was for sure. He was going to make it right. Now that he knew Lizzie loved him, too, everything was within his grasp.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lizzie stretched in her bed, waking from a restless sleep. It had taken her a long time to drop off last night. The bed was strange, the sounds were strange, the lighting was strange. If she hadn’t been determined to follow doctor’s orders to the letter, she might have checked herself out and gone home for the night.

  Once she had fallen asleep, she’d had vivid dreams, none of which she could remember now—except for the last one, which featured Chris watching a young boy ride a horse around the arena at Roughneck.

  “Good morning,” came a soft female voice from beside the bed.

  Lizzie scrubbed her eyes and looked over. “Carly! Oh, my gosh, you didn’t need to come all this way. I’m fine.”

  Her sister looked especially young today, in a wrinkled T-shirt and jeans and her hair in two braids instead of one. Lizzie remembered back when Carly was small with cute pigtails that fell to her shoulders. For a while, Lizzie had been the one to put in the elastics until Carly was older and could manage her hair on her own.

  “It’s not that far. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

  “Of course I’m okay. They’re taking very good care of us.” She put her hand on her tummy.

  “I’m glad.” Carly came over and sat on the bed. “Can I get you anything? Water? Juice? Steak and eggs? Dad said your iron’s down.”

  Lizzie laughed. “No. But I’m so glad you’re here.” She held out her hand, and after a moment Carly took it.

  “Me, too.”

  They were quiet for a few minutes and then Carly spoke up. “Since we were all at the ranch the last time, I’ve been thinking of Mom.”

  “I think of her sometimes, too.”

  “I look at how much you already love your baby and I...I wonder how someone could just walk away from us, you know?”

  “I’m not sure we’ll ever understand, sweetie.”

  “Are you still scared about being a bad mom?”

  Wow, talk about your hard questions early in the morning. Lizzie rested back against the pillow. “Sometimes. But if I do, I know I’ll have lots of help to get through it.”

  Carly’s gaze shifted to an enormous bouquet of flowers on the windowsill. “Are those from Chris?”

  Lizzie nodded. Chris had returned last night, bringing her pajamas to wear instead of the hospital shirt, and also her toothbrush and makeup bag, flowers and her favorite fruit-and-yogurt cup from the deli. “It was rocky there for a while, but I think things are going to be all right.”

  “You really love him, huh?”

  Lizzie frowned. “Sweetie? Are you okay?”

  Carly smiled back. “Of course. I just... Well, I miss being close by at times like these.”

  “You could always move back.”

  Carly laughed, but Lizzie saw something in her eyes that made her worry. Shadows. What was going on with her baby sister?

  “I don’t think so,” Carly replied. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “The doctor scheduled another ultrasound for this morning. If it’s all good, and my bleeding has stopped, I’ll be good to go home.”

  “And will that home include Chris?”

  There was a knock at the door and the man in question poked his head inside. “Safe to come in?”

  “Of course.” Lizzie beamed up at him. She still couldn’t get over how easily he’d forgiven her. But then, he’d apologized, too, last night, for not talking it through better and walking away instead of staying and working it out.

>   He’d been so right. About why she held herself back, about her fears. It wasn’t until she’d seen him come through the curtain in the emergency room that she truly knew. He had become everything. If she had a hope of being happy, she needed to let go and just have faith.

  “I should go for now.” Carly stretched out her neck and Lizzie realized that there was a spare blanket on the floor.

  “Carly, did you sleep in here last night?”

  “Only after about two o’clock.” She gave a hesitant smile. “I didn’t want you to be alone if anything happened.”

  Affection for her sister overflowed. “I love you, sis. Thank you.”

  “That’s what I’m here for,” Carly replied. “I’m going for coffee. I’ll give you guys some privacy.”

  Chris came in and kissed her briefly. “How’d you sleep?”

  “Meh.” Lizzie looked up. “Weird dreams. Do you suppose I could get up to use the bathroom? Plus I need to brush my teeth.”

  “Sure.”

  She took a few minutes to straighten her hair and splash water on her face. Her breath was minty-fresh but she was pretty unspecial when she looked in the mirror. No makeup, plain ponytail, cotton pajamas. Ugh.

  At least the spotting had stopped during the night. When Lizzie came out, her breakfast had arrived and she was happy to have it. Last night she’d been too upset to eat much. As Chris drank his coffee, Lizzie filled up on scrambled eggs, toast and oatmeal.

  “I want to talk to you,” he said, “but first I want you to drink this. Doc says you need to for your ultrasound today.”

  She took the bottle of water from his hands and uncapped it. “What do you want to talk to me about?” she asked.

  “The future,” he replied, and she lowered the bottle.

  “I know you resigned your position with AB, Chris. But I know they’ll tear it up if you say you’re going back. You didn’t need to do that to demonstrate anything to me. I was completely in the wrong.”

  “I don’t want to go back.”

  She met his gaze. He sounded so sure of himself. So confident. “You don’t? You’re sure?”

  “The one good thing about leaving your place the other night was that I had a chance to really think about what I wanted. Me. Not what someone else wanted or expected. I’ve done that for too long. And I don’t want to hurt anyone but at some point I have to live the life I want. And that life does not include running the AB office here in Dallas.”

  “It doesn’t?” Did that mean he was leaving the city, too? God, she hoped not. Not now, when they were just starting to figure out their feelings.

  “I’m a rancher at heart. I love the horses. I always have. Working with them would be a dream come true.”

  “Oh, Chris, I’m so glad.” She reached out and found his hand, squeezing it tightly.

  “Which brings me to the next thing.” He drew in a breath, let it out. “Since I know I love you, and you’ve said you love me, I was thinking maybe we could stop pretending to be in love and make it the real thing?”

  She smiled, feeling a little shy and a whole lot happy. “I think that’s a fine idea,” she answered.

  “I mean really real,” he continued, and his expression turned serious. His eyes were dark and beautiful as they looked into hers. The same eyes that had drawn her in that very first night and made her lose herself. Only this time she wasn’t as afraid. Only a little.

  He reached into his pocket. “Lizzie, I don’t want us to just be a couple. I want to make this official, with promises and commitments and a lifetime ahead of us.” He held up his hand and she saw the sparkle of a ring between his thumb and finger. “I love you, Lizzie. And I realized yesterday that even if there wasn’t a baby I’d love you anyway. I want to be there to hold your hand in the bad times and to laugh with you in the good. I just want you, Lizzie. And whatever life we might build together.”

  “Oh, Christopher...” She swiped at the tears that clung to her lashes. “Yesterday when everything was going wrong I just wanted you beside me. From the beginning you’ve been my safe place. I don’t know how or why but I looked at you and things clicked into place, so quickly it was terrifying. I thought I’d ruined it forever.”

  “Not even close,” he murmured. “Will you marry me, Lizzie? And let us make a home for our baby?”

  She nodded and held out her hand. He slid the ring on it and then gathered her in his arms. They held each other for a long time, taking strength from each other, giving love and acceptance.

  Eventually they sat back, and he held her in his arms, much as he had the previous afternoon. “I was thinking,” he mused, “that we might put in an offer on that ranch close to Roughneck. You’d be close to your family and the commute isn’t too bad.”

  Excitement fluttered in her heart. “The colonial with the pillars? It’s beautiful.”

  “I’d like to work with rodeo stock.” He gave a shrug. “I was thinking of talking to your brothers and dad about some options and the possibility of partnering up to use the arena. What do you think?”

  “I think it sounds perfect.” Not only that, but there was a satisfaction and enthusiasm in his voice that she loved to hear.

  There was a discreet knock at the door and a technician stood in the entryway with a rolling machine. “It’s time for your ultrasound, Ms. Baron.”

  She nodded, giving an emotional sniff and looking down at the ring, a perfect square-cut diamond set in platinum. She was going to be a wife and mother—two roles she couldn’t have imagined even six months ago and now was looking forward to rather impatiently.

  Chris moved to the other side of the bed while the technician set up, and then they both watched as she used the wand to scan Lizzie’s uterus.

  “There you are.” The wand pressed deeper in one spot and the technician clicked some buttons on the machine. Lizzie tried to crane her neck around but the tech moved the wand. “I promise I’ll let you see, I just need to get some data first,” she said with a smile. “Is this your first ultrasound?”

  Chris nodded. “Yes. Well, except for yesterday’s in the emergency room. We weren’t sure we’d be able to see anything. Scary.”

  The tech smiled again. “Well, there is definitely a baby, no worries there.” She clicked a few more buttons and it seemed to Lizzie that it took forever. Finally she swiveled the machine a little. “Okay, Mom and Dad. Here’s your little one.”

  She worked the wand a bit, trying to get the best picture, and then suddenly Lizzie saw it. A perfectly formed head with a button nose, the torso, arms and legs. Inside her. As they were watching and marveling, the baby moved, and the technician laughed. “Playing hard to get,” she joked, and taking her time, she scanned again until they got a perfect picture of a delicately arched spine.

  “Your doctor will be in to talk to you later, but you can rest easy. Your baby is still snug as a bug in there.”

  “Can we get pictures?” Lizzie asked, knowing she’d want to preserve this moment forever.

  “Of course.” She handed Lizzie some tissues so she could wipe off the gel.

  The pictures came back before the doctor arrived, and Lizzie and Chris snuggled together on the bed, looking at them.

  “That’s our baby,” she whispered, wondering if she’d ever felt this happy before in her life.

  “Our family,” Chris corrected. “That’s what we are, Lizzie. Family. For always.”

  She twisted around and kissed him until she heard a throat clear from the direction of the hallway. She looked up and grinned. The whole family was there. All her brothers and sisters, her dad, Julieta, even Anna and Alex. For so long she’d felt alone. The one who had to take care of everyone else. Right now, though, they were all here for her, and their love and concern went straight to her heart.

  She looked at Chris and saw al
l the love she’d ever need in his eyes, and then she nodded. “You’d better all come in,” she said. “We have news.”

  * * * * *

  Be sure to look for the next book in the

  TEXAS RODEO BARONS miniseries!

  Follow the family saga in Trish Milburn’s book:

  THE TEXAN’S COWGIRL BRIDE

  Available from Harlequin American Romance

  in July 2014!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from THE SEAL’S BABY by Laura Marie Altom.

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  Chapter One

  “Sam? Where the hell are you?” Southern Oregon’s dense coastal fog absorbed Heath Stone’s words, rendering his words useless in the search for his dog, who lately felt like his only friend.

  Heath had let him out the previous night at 2200 for his usual evening constitutional, but the dog had caught the scent of something, and a chase ensued through the forest thick with sitka spruce, western hemlock and red cedar. Heath had spent the entire night searching the pungent woods, his footfalls silent on winding pine needle-strewn paths, all the while fighting the urge to panic.

  Now, in dawn’s fragile light, with his heart empty from mourning Patricia and the pain still too raw, he couldn’t even consider suffering another loss. “Come on, Sam! Quit fooling around!”

  Heath clapped, then whistled, hoping the shrill sound carried.