A Cowboy's Secret Baby

by Savannah McCarthy

  They loved Wyatt and he loved them.

  And suddenly, they were gone.

  Liz didn’t know what to do.

  Slowly, the chatter around her came back into focus. Everybody was talking about the news. Even in Nebraska, Wyatt was a big deal.

  She’d run out of that lecture hall in tears and dove head first into her dark dorm room. She thought about calling Wyatt, but she could hardly think straight. She was devastated and struggling herself, so she did a cowardly thing. She unfollowed him on all social media accounts and sequestered herself in her dorm room.

  She missed class after class and almost flunked out of school entirely, before her parents finally made a surprise support visit. They talked and cried and after they left, Liz found enough strength to carry on with her life. She felt ashamed that she hadn’t contacted Wyatt. She felt guilty for blocking him out of her life. But she was young and by the time she was able to start classes again, she felt like the weight of her mistake was too big to rectify. So, she just ignored it and went on with her life. Trying to forget the tragedy, trying to forget him.

  Liz’s phoned buzzed alive and woke her up from her weighty reverie.

  It was her mom, texting back with only an unopened link.

  Liz opened it.

  She tented her brows as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. A celebrity gossip site had opened up. She scrolled down and her eyes widened at the title of the article.

  Hunky Hockey Hero Melted By Old Flame?

  She scrolled down further and audibly gasped at the center frame picture. It was a discretely taken action shot of Wyatt, Bindi and her playing at the ball pit that morning.

  Her shock quickly turned to a soft smile as she saw how happy they all looked together.

  A frown followed shortly after that, as she cringed at the gross invasion of a private moment.

  Just then, a knock came at the dressing room door and nearly dropped her phone at the surprise of it all.

  “Can I see?” It was Wyatt. How long had she been in here?

  “Just a second!” she called back, as she scribbled a response to her mom’s text.

  It’s complicated, she replied.

  The truth was, it all hadn’t felt so complicated before she’d opened that link, but now she was thinking about the reality of being with Wyatt. He was a big deal, was she ready for that kind of attention? Could her secret survive the scrutiny? Could she?

  Chapter 12

  Wyatt

  She looked incredible. The most gorgeous woman to ever exist. And she was giving him a chance to win her back!

  “That’s the one,” he insisted, after taking an extra second to make his opinion seem legitimate. Truth was, he’d known it was perfect the moment he’d laid eyes on her—or maybe it was just her who was perfect.

  Liz seemed frazzled; Wyatt thought he knew why.

  “Don’t worry,” he assured her, taking a step forward and taking the price tag between his fingers. “These numbers are pretty much just for show. We let people haggle around here, in the spirit of the wild west and all that.”

  “Oh,” Liz looking down. “I didn’t know.” She seemed only half-present. Wyatt didn’t want to push her, so he just explained.

  “Yeah, we should probably fix that. If you didn’t know, then most people probably don’t—kind of defeats the whole purpose, right? I’ll have to work on getting the word out.”

  “So, you just expect regular people to shop here?” Liz asked, coming out of her funk.

  “Yeah. The shop doesn’t make much money, if any really, but I don’t mind if we operate the whole ranch on a bit of a loss. I have more than enough money to keep this place going until the heat death of the universe. Everyone from Watford seems to love it here, so it feels like the least I can do.”

  Liz considered the explanation. “So,” she said, putting her finger up to her lips, “then how much can I get this dress down to?”

  Wyatt smile. His index finger found its way up to his own lips. “Hmm,” he pretended to think long and hard. “How about I give it to you for an hour of your time?”

  “That’s all!?” Liz blurted out through a big grin.

  Wyatt reached out into the air between them and fanned Liz with open palms like he was trying to calm down a hot horse.

  “Okay, Okay—two hours!”

  The two of them laughed uproariously at their makeshift haggling.

  Liz stretched out her final considerations, making a show of contemplating his offer until Wyatt interrupted again.

  “Also—and I don’t know if this is a deal breaker or not—but I do come with the dress,” he smiled.

  “Oh, in that case...” Liz hummed, before throwing out her arms like a showgirl, “I’ll take it!”

  Wyatt pumped his fist in celebration. Liz stumbled from laughter and he stepped forward to steady her. His fingers sunk into her exposed arm—the intimate touch made his skin tingle.

  Liz looked up at him. A final wave of giggles escaped from her mouth, then a silence filled the air between them.

  Wyatt gazed into her rich caramel coloured eyes and felt a fit of passion take over his senses. He inched closer towards her and, when Liz didn’t pull away, he closed his eyes and led his lips to hers.

  Dinner was wonderful.

  It felt just like old times, but better.

  They were both in such amazing moods that only good memories seemed to cross their minds. They laughed and held hands and fed each other food until they were blue in the face and then they just talked, completely full and satisfied yet always hungry for more of each other.

  “I missed this,” Wyatt said with a sparkle in his eyes. He slunk down in his chair, happy.

  The two of them were in a backroom at La Palette, the fanciest restaurant in all of Gold River. Wyatt had subtly led Liz in through the back entrance and alerted his staff beforehand. He didn’t want to risk word getting out of their reconnection just yet—there was still so much to figure out with Alec. Would the ex-convict come looking for him? Had his obsession faded or grew during his time behind bars?

  Wyatt didn’t want to think about him, about that. The past 24-hours had been amazing and he didn’t want to let some looming threat tug away his little slice of peace. Still, he had been in constant contact with security over the course of the day, getting updates from on-location staff as well as from those doing some detective work abroad.

  As much as he wanted to ignore the darkness of his past, he knew that if he was ever going to truly get back with Liz once and for all, he couldn’t risk being caught off guard. He would have never even have bothered answering his phone while he was with Liz otherwise. Wyatt could tell it bugged her when he took his eyes off of her for the glowing screen. She had been coy about it though and hadn’t prodded at all.

  They had changed; this time around could be truly different.

  Wyatt reached his hand out across the table; Liz took it. They intertwined their fingers and stared deeply into each other’s eyes. She looked magnificent in her new dress.

  “Was it worth it?” he asked, gesturing towards her elegant garment.

  Wyatt liked catching Liz off guard with vague statements like that. Seeing her touch her lips as she tried to figure out what he was really asking always made him realize how deeply in love with her he truly was.

  Liz didn’t hesitate this time though; she knew what he was talking about. “Yes,” she rubbed his thumb, “these last two hours have been well worth the dress.” Then, she leaned in like she meant to share a salacious secret with him. Wyatt leaned towards her and turned his ear to her mouth. “Truth is though,” she whispered—Wyatt could hear the smile on her lips, “I would have done it for free.”

  Those lips shot forward and gave his cheek a gentle kiss.

  Wyatt felt complete. He’d do whatever it took to make things work this time.

  Suddenly, the table started to vibrate. Wyatt rolled his eyes and sighed, thinking his phone had ruined yet
another precious moment, but when he leaned back, he saw that it wasn’t his phone that was ringing, it was Liz’s.

  Her smart phone had been so silent the entire evening that Wyatt had nearly forgotten it was even there. It buzzed beside Liz’s cutlery, face down. She quickly checked and then turned it back over without answering.

  “Who is it?” Wyatt asked curiously. He could feel his gut tighten at the possibilities. He realized they still hadn’t discussed what they had been up to romantically during the years between their last meetup. Deep down, he had simply hoped that Liz had been like him; unable to fully move on and essentially resigned to everlasting loneliness. He knew it was selfish, but it made him feel special to imagine himself as her only option, just as he thought of her as his—still, the reality of the situation wasn’t so clear cut. A different truth had smacked him in the face the very moment they had met again.

  Bindi.

  Wyatt tried not to think about it, but the truth hurt. Liz had been with someone else and relatively quickly after their second separation. Bindi was 5, going on 6, which meant she must have been conceived almost immediately after their last rendezvous. It was painful to think about where that left him. Had Liz had someone waiting in the wings? Maybe she’d indulged in a quick rebound, a one night-stand—Wyatt wouldn’t blame her. The worst-case scenario was that she’d been involved in her own tragedy...

  He hadn’t asked—it had barely been 24 hours, after all. Bindi was wonderful, but knowing that Liz had started a completely separate life to his made his heart clench in a way that was all too familiar. His absence in her life had become irredeemable.

  Liz hesitated for a moment, before flipping her phone back around and showing him the screen.

  Wyatt tried to contain his sigh of relief. One missed call showed up on the screen and it was from her mom, not some ex-boyfriend. “Why didn’t you answer?” he grinned. He knew Liz had a good relationship with her mom, if not a distant one.

  “I can talk to her anytime,” she answered. “I’m enjoying this right now. I’ll call her on my way home.”

  “How’s Cathy been?” Wyatt asked. He was very fond of Liz’s parents. They’d always been good to him, even comforting him on their own after the passing of his parents. Liz had been nowhere to be found, but Cathy and Jim had been on call and ready to lend their familiar soothing voices.

  “Good,” nodded Liz. “Nosy as ever.” A smirk suddenly crossed her face. She shook her head and opened her phone up. “Look what she sent me while I was trying on your dress. I guess I should have been expecting it, but so soon?”

  She handed him the phone and Wyatt looked down at the glowing screen.

  His heart stopped.

  Hunky Hockey Hero Melted By Old Flame?

  Oh no, no, no.

  He instinctively scrolled down and visibly flinched at the picture. Wyatt’s head started to swim as he saw how many times the article had been shared on social media. His hands started to tremble and Liz’s phone dropped from his grip, bouncing over the table cloth until it landed face down.

  “Hey!” Liz shouted, half- amused and half-upset. “Be careful with that thing!” She reached across the table and grabbed her phone and then inspected it to make sure nothing had cracked. “What’s wrong?” she finally asked, when she was sure her phone hadn’t been grievously injured. “It’s not that big of a deal,” she tried to assure him. “I’ve already dealt with the tabloids twice before; I know I can handle the attention.” Her finger found her lips. “Though, I do suppose it’s different this time, with Bindi. I don’t want her privacy to be invaded so egregiously. We’ll have to be careful, but we can manage.” She reached out her hands across the table but Wyatt didn’t reach back. He was in a daze; he’d barely heard what she’d said.

  “Wyatt...” he heard Liz’s sweet voice call to him from the other side of his abyss. It echoed in the emptiness. Slowly, he faded back to consciousness. His head was on fire.

  He had to tell her the truth.

  Wyatt cleared his throat. The happy dinner threatened to implode around him. Word was out about their reunion and it meant that Liz and Bindi were in possible danger. He quickly checked his phone for an update, hoping beyond hope he had missed a ‘good-news’ text from one of his private detectives—he found no such luck.

  He put his phone away and reached out across the table, finally taking Liz’s hands. He could feel his fingers still trembling. Liz was trying to calm him, but a look of increasing concern was forming on her beautiful face.

  He didn’t mince words or lead with a preface, he just said it. “Alec Garland is out of prison...”

  Liz immediately shot backwards. Her hands flung away from his and left him feeling cold and alone. She covered her gaping mouth, stifling the gasp that threatened to shatter the wine glasses at the table.

  “No,” she whispered behind the cover of her palm. “Are you sure?”

  Wyatt just nodded. He hadn’t just taken Rick at his word; he’d immediately hired a small army of private detectives to look into the matter. They had all found the same thing: Alec was a free man. What none of them could seem to tell Wyatt just yet was where Alec was. His location was an important step in determining whether or not he was still a threat.

  Liz slowly let her hands wander back to Wyatt’s trembling limbs. “I’m sorry,” she told him, her eyes glistening with withheld tears. Her voice was so filled with sympathy.

  She knew all about Alec. Wyatt was filled with fear that the news would drive her away. He didn’t care about his own safety as much as he cared about leading a normal life with Liz and Bindi. That would be impossible until he could find out Alec’s motives. Word was out that he and Liz were in each other’s lives again; if Alec Garland was looking to hurt him, he’d now have another target to aim at.

  Wyatt tried to settle himself. He looked into Liz’s darting eyes and took a deep breath. He could tell she was confused on what the article she’d shown him had to do with him telling her this.

  “I’ve put some people on the case of finding out what he’s up to, but until then there’s no telling if he’s still dangerously obsessed with me or not,” he confessed. “I could have dealt with the idea of him trying to chase me down alone, but now that it’s out there that we’re involved with each other again... he might come after you and Bindi, just to spite me.” Wyatt squeezed Liz’s hands. A lump was caught in his throat. He swallowed and closed his eyes, trying to ease the pain of his throbbing skull. “He’s already taken away two people I love...” he eked out.

  When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Liz was finally understanding his grave reaction to the article. Suddenly, her eyes darted to the ceiling and she jumped out of her seat. “Bindi’s alone right now!” she nearly screeched. Her face was full of panic.

  Wyatt kept his grip tight on her hands. Gently, he pulled her back down to her chair. “Liz, do you think I’d be so foolish?” he asked, putting on a brave face for her. “From the moment I found out about Alec’s release, I’ve had a security detail put in place for all three of us. This whole restaurant’s surrounded, the ranch is on high security alert, and you better believe Bindi and the daycare center are being watched like hawks by the best that money can buy.”

  Liz shook her head. She was calmer now, but entirely unsatisfied. “I need to see my daughter.”

  Wyatt could only imagine what she was going through. He didn’t try to hold her back. Together, they left the restaurant and went to go get Bindi.

  Chapter 13

  Elizabeth

  Bindi was, of course, safe and sound. In fact, she was better than just safe and sound, she was overjoyed, if a little bit sleepy.

  She smiled when she saw Liz rush into the daycare and accepted her rattled mother’s bear hug with glee. Liz held her little girl tight, trying to quell her racing heart. It helped.

  She let Wyatt deal with staff while she whisked Bindi from the building. The burly cowboy followed close behind.

  “
Liz. Liz!” he shouted after her, as she stormed out into the soft summer night. “Where are you going!?”

  “Home,” she shouted back, barely thinking.

  She stomped away in a determined daze, trying to remember where she’d parked. Wyatt quickly caught up to her and gently grabbed hold of her shoulder. His strong hands stopped her in her tracks. She felt completely overwhelmed—all she could think to do was whip around and glare at him.

  “Please Liz, just take a second,” Wyatt pleaded. His thumb brushed against her arm and snapped a modicum of sense back into her reeling mind.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked. She was trying to hide her fear from Bindi, but her voice trembled. She buried her face into Wyatt’s chest.

  “What’s the matter, mommy?” asked Bindi, ever perceptive. The little girl yawned and leaned against her mother’s leg for support. Liz ran her fingers through her hair.

  She took a deep breath of Wyatt’s earthy musk and felt calm enough to take a step back.

  “Nothing, sweetheart,” she assured Bindi, bending down to her level and kissing her on the forehead.

  Wyatt crouched down so that he was on their level. Despite his concerns, he had a cool, reassuring smile on his lips. He was being strong enough for the both of them right now.

  “How was your dinner?” he asked Bindi.

  Bindi stretched out and wrapped her arm around Liz’s neck. “Pretty good,” she yawned. “I’m tired.”

  “Would you like to stay at the ranch tonight?” Wyatt asked, catching Liz off guard.

  “Wyatt...” she whispered, her voice filled with warning.

  Wyatt gave her a calm but desperate look. Liz understood his concern, but she wasn’t so sure she wanted to give in.

  “Okay,” said Bindi with a lazy head nod. She wiped her eyes with tiny balled up fists and leaned deeper into her mother.