“Now this I've got to see,” Mandy said, crossing her arms across her chest and resting them on her ample belly.
He didn't know what irked him more. The fact that Lillian had pulled another fast one on him by dropping off some kid at the ranch, and claiming it to be his son, or the fact that Mandy and Corrine seemed to be taking such pleasure in something that was obviously meant to make him squirm.
“I know it's a shock,” Mandy started to say, but Mitch cut her off.
“That's quite the understatement.”
“But you do know who this Lillian person is, right?” Mandy asked. “I mean, she's not some stranger who happened to drive on by?”
No, Lillian was definitely not a stranger. “I know her.”
“Then is it possible she's telling the truth about this is your son?” Corrine asked.
He stared down at the baby and mentally counted the months since he'd last been in Baltimore. The last time he'd seen Lillian.
“It's a possibility.”
Corrine shrugged and smiled. “Well, then there you have it. Looks like we have a baby on the ranch sooner than we thought.”
Mitch stared down at the baby. No, it couldn't be. A baby? How was a baby going to fit into things on the ranch?
Corrine's sympathetic voice carved its way into his shock. “I really hate to do this to you, but I've got food in the oven that needs my attention.” Corrine left the room.
“I wish I could help you right now, too,” Mandy said. “But we're already stretched with all this cooking, especially now that Alice has gone home with a migraine.”
Those few little words sucked all the air out of the room for Mitch. “Wait...wait...you can't leave me alone with...with--”
Corrine pointed to the yard. “Do you see that crowd out there? They're here for us. They didn't have to leave their ranches to do this, but they did. I've got a lot of mouths to feed. Come sundown, after all the work they've done, they are going to be mighty hungry for some food. I wish it were different, but we can't help you baby-sit right now.”
Mandy moved past him, eyeing the baby with dreamy eyes. “A little later when things slow down some, I can give you a break.”
Mitch started gently bouncing the baby as he stirred. The kid looked so tiny in his big arms. “What do I...what's his name?”
Corrine poked her head in for just a second and said, “Jonathan.”
Then they were gone. And he was alone. With a baby.
* * *
Sara brought her sedan to a full stop at the gate announcing The Double T Ranch. It had been a long time since she'd visited Hank and Corrine Promise. Their spread was bigger than she'd remembered. But then a lot of changing happens in nine years. Mandy had mentioned hard times last year when she'd visited, something to do with Hank's health. But by the look of things, it seemed the hard times had past. She was glad for that.
She hit the gas pedal and pushed past the gate. A long string of cars and pickups trucks lined the side of the drive. As she approached, she saw a large green and white striped tent set up in the back yard with tables and chairs arranged beneath it. It wasn't until she got closer that she saw a team of people engrossed in erecting a post and beam barn.
It was a real honest to goodness old-fashioned barn raising. Now that was something you didn't see every day in Los Angeles.
There were people crawling all over the yard like ants picking up crumbs at a picnic. Sara parked her rental at the end of the line and walked along the row of cars leading to the festivities. The smell of manure and freshly mown hay drying in the sun filled her nose as she walk by grazing cows in the pasture.
A trickle of sweat made its way down her chest as she felt the heat of the sun. She should have changed into a pair of shorts and her sneakers before she'd left the airport, she thought. Her coral silk sleeveless blouse and pants were clinging to her skin after the long ride from the airport.
Clutched by anxiety and the overwhelming desire to run, she made a beeline for the house before anyone recognized her. With any luck, she'd spot Mandy first and have a private meeting before barging in on her parents. Odds were her mother was here already, having been the housekeeper at the Double T for more than fifteen years.
The screen door slammed, drawing her attention to the house. There'd be less people inside on such a hot day. Maybe she'd be able to find Mandy there before anyone spotted her.
Slipping past a group of blue-haired women tearing at a pitcher of iced tea under a low hanging cottonwood tree, Sara rushed up the brick path to the front door that faced the driveway. As she approached, she heard the plaintive sound of a baby crying, and the deep, almost groan, of a male voice. An extremely exasperated male voice.
The urgency of that voice had her bolting into the house without knocking.
The tall, dark-haired man pacing the living room, bouncing the baby was much too pre-occupied with trying to stop the baby from crying to notice her. He had his broad back to her, but it couldn't possibly be Beau, Sara quickly decided. She'd seen pictures of the wedding when Mandy had visited. Even with his back turned, she knew he looked different. And Mandy's baby wasn't due for at least another two or more months according to her last letter.
Dropping her purse on the oak end table, Sara advanced across the carpeted floor, worrying more about the poor infant than startling the man with her silent entry.
“Keep that up and you'll be smelling baby vomit on your boots for the next month,” she said.
The man swung around with the sound of her voice. It wasn't Beau, but she did know the face. She'd seen him before. But she couldn't quite place where.
“Oh, thank God someone is here,” he said, relief bursting to life in his sun-tanned face.
His bright eyes were a deep sapphire blue with flecks of gold and gray that reminded Sara of sunset and sunrise all in one. Although his skin was indeed a bronze color from the long days he no doubt spent in the Texas sun, his nose was slightly red and peeling. A testament to his fair skin. Sweat lined his dark brows as they creased.
“They all left me alone. He's been crying, and I have no idea what to do.”
“Poor baby,” she said, standing near enough to now stroke her finger across the baby's smooth cheek.
“Thanks.”
“No, I meant the baby. His mother should be brought up on charges for leaving this child with the likes of you.”
The man heaved a sigh. “At the moment, I couldn't agree with you more. Do you know anything about babies?”
“I know it's not good to bounce him around so much. It'll give him an upset stomach.”
“He's been crying forever.”
Sara rolled her eyes and couldn't help but smile. A cowboy had the stomach for castrating a bull, but some were so helpless when it came to babies. She actually felt sorry for him. “I'm sure it only seems that way.”
“No, I swear. And I don't know what he wants.”
“If he's been crying a long time, he may have colic.”
“Colic? You mean like a horse?” he croaked.
Sara chuckled quietly at the horrified look her gave her, thinking how good it felt to do that after so long. “Yeah, something like that.”
The man gulped. “Sometimes we have to put down horses with colic.”
“Trust me, you're not going to have to do that for the baby. When was the last time he had a bottle?”
He looked at her blankly. “A bottle?”
“Yeah, has he been fed? You know, formula you put in a bottle to feed the baby? You're not going to give him a slab of steak fresh off the grill at his age. Or maybe his mother is nursing?”
The man's broad shoulders sagged. “Look, I know how to raise cows and horses. I'm an imbecile when it comes to a baby.”
Sara quirked an eyebrow. “So it seems.”
She reached out, rescued the baby from the man’s arms, and stretched the baby belly-side down over the length of her arm, cooing to help soothe the baby. With a practiced hand, she c
hecked his diaper to find that it was still dry.
“I take it this is not your baby.”
His blue eyes grazed the baby. For a moment, he looked a little lost himself. With a sigh, he said, “Can you help me?”
Sara glanced around the living room, on the sofa and the floor in search of a diaper bag. She found one snug between the sofa and end table. “See if there is a bottle in that diaper bag. If there is, bring it into the kitchen.”
She walked into the kitchen, holding the baby with one arm, and searched the pan wrack above the stove. She took a stainless steel pan from the wrack and filled it with hot tap water. The kitchen was filled with delicious smells of food that suddenly made her remember she hadn't eaten anything since that morning.
The man came into the kitchen rifling through the diaper bag until he pulled out a bottle filled with baby formula. Taking it from his hands, she placed it in the pan to warm, suddenly glad that her time volunteering at the daycare center back in LA made her feel useful here. At least it took her mind off her anxiety for a moment.
“Aren't you going to give the bottle to the baby?”
“How would you like to eat a cold steak for dinner?” she said softly, not wanting to jar the baby. Although he was still crying, the sobs weren't as extreme. After a few minutes she pulled the bottle from the water, tested it on her arm as she walked back into the living room. She perched herself on the edge of the sofa and placed the nipple into the baby's mouth. Immediately the infant took hold and started suckling.
“Oh, thank God,” the man said, running both hands over his head as silence filled the air. “I thought he was never going to stop.”
“He was just hungry. That's all. Babies can't skip meals like grownups can.”
“You must have had a lot of practice doing this. You're a natural.”
“I know a thing or two about children.”
“What did you do, raise all your brothers and sisters?”
“I volunteered at a daycare for a while.”
The man sat on the opposite end of the sofa and appeared to finally relax a little. “Daycare, huh? I'll have to remember that. I'm eternally in your debt.”
Sara tossed him a wry grin. “That's a bit extreme, don't you think? All I did was give him a bottle.”
“You wouldn't say that if you'd been here the last half hour.”
The man was really staring at her for the first time now that he wasn't preoccupied with a crying baby. She shifted uncomfortably as his blue eyes pierced her and then seemed to brighten just a notch.
“I know you. We've met before.” His smile was of the high wattage variety, complete with perfect white teeth and dimple marking his cheek.
Sara had thought she'd recognized him and now that he seemed familiar with her, she realized she must have at some point before she’d gone to Los Angeles.
“I'd offer to shake your hand, but they're a little busy. I'm Sara Gre…uh, Sara Lightfoot,” she said, catching herself when she almost gave him her former married name.
His face lit up. “We have met. A long time ago here at the ranch. Alice's daughter, right?”
She nodded. “How do you know?”
“Mitch Broader. I started working here at the ranch on weekends my last year of high school.”
“Mitch.” She thought back to the years before she'd run away, before she'd met Dave and her world shifted so rapidly. “I remember a tall lanky kid with a colossal crush on Mandy who always poked around the barn whenever we were around.”
He shot her a lopsided grin that made her insides flutter just a bit. “And all this time I thought I was being charming.”
Sara chuckled.
“Your mother didn't mention anything about you coming home.”
Anxiety hit her square in the stomach. “She didn't know.” Trying to turn the attention off her, she asked, “What's the baby's name?”
“Jonathan.”
“Well, hello there, Jonathan,” she crooned as she stared down at the baby in her arms. He’d taken the bottle quickly and was now on his way to falling back to sleep.
“Is his mom outside helping with the barn raising?”
Mitch groaned. “If I know Lillian, she's probably out raising Cain.”
She felt a frown crease her forehead. “Then, this is your baby?”
“I...I'm not sure.”
“You don't know?”
Mitch's face grew tight. “He's my responsibility right now. Beyond that I know about as much as you do.”
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry.”
“Forget it. At least you got him to stop crying. I never knew how good silence sounded.”
She looked down at the tiny infant, who seemed drugged by the formula he'd just consumed. “He looks just like you, you know.”
“He's a baby. All babies look alike,” Mitch said, the tension back in his face.
But it instantly vanished as the screen door slammed shut and the two of them looked up at the doorway leading to the kitchen.
Sara's stomach wound into a tight knot and she quickly handed the sleeping baby back to Mitch.
“Sara. Sara, is that you?”
#
Chapter Two
She knew the voice without even looking at her face. It sent a rush of childhood memories flowing through her, settling in her heart.
When she turned back to the doorway, Sara found Mandy standing in the doorway.
“Uncle Hank thought he saw you walk into the house. Aunt Corrine said it couldn't possibly be. But I knew better,” she said quietly, her hands clutched together over her ample belly.
Sara shrugged. “You didn't tell anyone about your visit to LA?”
“You asked me not to,” Mandy said, coming into the room now. She stood in front of Mandy and looked her up and down.
“God, you look terrific,” Mandy said. “You cut your hair shorter.”
Sara's fingers instinctively went to her much shorter hair. Dave had said that her long hair was what attracted her to him during the short time they dated, but it was the first thing he'd insisted she change when they moved to Los Angeles. He didn't want her to be the little Indian girl he'd fallen in love with. She wasn't glamorous that way. Or so he'd said. At the time, she agreed. So she'd cut her hair and colored it. Back then, she just wanted to please him. Now she hated herself more than him for it.
“I'm still deciding on it.”
“No, it looks perfect for you. Come here and give me a hug.”
“It's so good to see you again, Mandy.” The initial anxiety of coming home and facing her past was beginning to ebb. Sara had known it would be difficult to see familiar faces again, But seeing Mandy made things easier.
“You didn't tell my mother?”
Mandy pulled from her embrace, still holding her shoulders. “No one knew. You weren't certain you'd be coming so I didn't see any reason to get anyone's hopes up.”
Sara gave a wry laugh. “I suppose with my track record that was a good idea.”
“Never mind about that. It took a lot of guts to leave LA.”
“No. Leaving LA was easy. Leaving Dave...now that was harder than I imagined.”
Sara and Mandy seemed to fall into such companionable conversation that the years apart didn't feel as long as they actually were. And yet, in some ways it felt like forever.
Mandy reached out and hugged her again. Emotion rose up her throat and lodge there, leaving her to think about how very different her life would be now if Mandy hadn't valued their friendship enough to seek her out again in California.
“I'm sweating,” Mandy said, her voice cracking, letting Sara know that emotion had gotten the best of her as well.
“I don't care,” she replied, laughing through her tears.
“I'm going to ruin your silk suit.”
“I'll buy another one. I've missed you.”
It was one thing to be greeted so warmly by Mandy. It was something altogether different with her parents. The way she'd left,
and how she'd been since leaving the reservation, left a lot to be desired. Family was so important to the Apache people, and Sara had tossed hers away like a piece of crumpled newspaper.
“My mother, is she here?”
Mandy glanced at her, tears clinging to her eyelashes, and shook her head. “She was here earlier, but wasn't feeling all that well. Corrine sent her home. She'd been working so hard to get ready for the barn raising and...well...”
“What?” Fear settled deep in the pit of Sara's stomach. “Is something wrong with her health?”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that. She's just been tired lately. And you know Alice. She's such a workhorse. You can't get her to slow down enough to take a breath.”
Vaguely disappointed that she'd missed her mother, Sara contemplated her next step. She was going to have to surprise her parents by going to the reservation. It would have been easier to meet her mother at the Double T with the support of close friends surrounding her. Now she'd have to face her family alone.
* * *
Mitch felt out of place watching Sara and Mandy's homecoming. So, instead of eavesdropping, he focused his attention on a homecoming of a different kind in the way of the sleeping baby in his arms.
What did he know about the bond between children and their parents? His own childhood wasn't the greatest. If this were his kid, as Lillian claimed, wouldn't he be able to feel it? Wouldn't there be some spark of emotion inside of him for this child?
His pulse pounded against his skull like a jackhammer just thinking about it. If this was his kid, he fully intended to do his part. But what if it was just another one of Lillian's ploys? He'd learned firsthand she didn't care much about who she hurt when she wanted something. The only question was, what did she want?
Adding an innocent child to one of her schemes was definitely something Mitch didn't think even Lillian would stoop to.
Mitch couldn't help but feel sorry for the baby. If he wasn’t this baby’s daddy, then this baby would be mighty lonely without a father in his life. And that was something Mitch knew about first hand.
But what if Jonathan was his son? He didn't have a clue of what to do? There was so much work at the ranch now that they'd expanded to include the new rodeo school. Hank, owner of the Double T Ranch and Mandy's uncle, was hardly in a position to take on more even though last year's bypass surgery had brought him back up to speed again. No one, especially Mitch, was willing to risk him having a relapse.
His Heart for the Trusting (Book 2 - Texas Hearts (Contemporary Western Romance) Page 2