The Cowboy Comes Home

by Roni Adams

  "We?” Tyler's eyes grew wide. “You and me deliver this baby? Here?"

  Beth nodded. “There's no other choice."

  Tyler glanced back to Sara. She was pale white and her face revealed her agony.

  Beth gently guided him with his load towards the bed. “It's okay, Ty. I can do this ... I think. Do you want to drive out and try to get some help or..."

  Tyler shook his head as he helped Sara back onto the bed. “No, I'll keep trying to get a cell signal. I'm not leaving the two of you alone."

  With Sara settled, they moved across the room to the small kitchen. Tyler wrapped his arms around her, but Beth pulled back.

  "I didn't expect you this early. What about Chase? Is he doing all right?"

  Tyler nodded. “Much better. I told Charli it was time for me to get back home. I've been gone too long."

  Beth frowned. “But the job ... you have a job to do."

  He squeezed her shoulders. “The only job I have is finding the right person to oversee the ranch. I've got someone lined up. He can't come in for two weeks yet, but I told Chase I'd be back before then. In the meantime, I'm just a phone call away.” He pulled her closer and lowered his head. “I'm tired of sleeping without you."

  "I really hate to break up this beautiful discussion,” Sara called from across the room. “But I'm in labor over here! Do you think maybe we could save the make-up sex for another time,” she finished in a high, angry squeak as another contraction began. The words now coming out of her mouth were enough to make the toughest of cowboys squirm.

  Ty grinned. No one could swear quite like Sara. He dropped his arms from Beth and crossed the room.

  As he leaned down to wipe the hair off her face, Sara grabbed hold of his shirt and yanked him down to her. “I changed my mind. I want to go to the hospital; I want doctors! A whole freakin’ department of them. And drugs, Tyler, get me drugs!” She gripped tighter. “I can't do this. I am not having this baby here like some damn pioneer woman. Get me the hell out of here, Ty, or I will kick your ass from here back to Abilene. You hear me, Tyler? This is your brother's fault. Now you get me out of here or I will make you sorry you ever walked through that door!” Her last words trailed off on a scream as her entire body folded and contracted and she released his shirt. Tears leaked unchecked from the corners of her eyes.

  Tyler grabbed her face in both hands. “Look at me, Sara!” Her eyes were wild but she stared back at him. “Beth and I are right here, and we're going to get you through this. You can do this, Sara, I know you can. Beth is going to help and so am I. We're your doctor and your nurse. You can hit me, scream at me, whatever you have to do, but we're going to do this together and everything is going to be fine. I promise."

  God please let it be okay. It has to be okay. Within her pale face, her eyes were crazed and scared to death.

  "Beth,” he called, glancing over his shoulder.

  Her eyes met his and she nodded. “I'm going to wash and get everything together."

  He returned his attention back to Sara.

  Another contraction started and Sara's face scrunched up. “Oh, Ty. Oh my God, something. I feel something. I have to push! I can't push ... the baby ... oh God!” She cursed again and panted hard as another contraction rolled through her.

  "Don't push yet. Hold back. Just a few more minutes, okay?” Beth called from across the room.

  He helped Sara through that contraction and then glanced around. The room was warm but he figured warmer was better if they were bringing a brand new baby into it. Leaving her in between contractions, he tossed more logs onto the fire and picked up an extra blanket before joining Beth at the sink and scrubbed his hands alongside her.

  "It's going to be okay. You can do this,” he encouraged.

  Beth glanced up, then over at her sister and back to him. “What if something goes wrong? Oh God, Ty, I..."

  "Nothing is going to go wrong.” Tyler emphasized this with a shake of his head. “Women had babies for years without a hospital. You've delivered lots of babies. You can do this."

  Beth glared and hissed, “Animals, Ty. I've delivered baby animals."

  Sara began to groan, alerting them to another contraction.

  "I'm going to check her.” Beth picked up a package of latex gloves she'd set out next to her medical bag.

  He grabbed a handful of towels and followed her to the bed.

  "Sweetie, I'm going to pull the blankets down and check you. I want to see if I can see the baby.” Respectfully, Beth moved the blankets.

  Tyler handed her the pile of towels and watched as she slid them under Sara's hips. When she lifted the flannel shirt that covered Sara's thighs, he turned away, listening as Beth soothed her sister, talking to her throughout her examination.

  "On the next contraction, Sara, I'm going to try to feel the baby. I don't want you to push, just go with it so I can see how far along we are."

  "O-okay,” Sara panted.

  Tyler kneeled next to the head of the bed and wiped Sara's brow with a damp cloth. “You can do this boss lady. You can do anything you put your mind to. This baby is so excited to get here and see us that he can't wait. Someday we'll all sit around and tell him the story of this, and he'll be so proud of you.” His voice cracked and his eyes burned with held back tears. He was already so proud of her, of both of them. Living on a ranch, the number of births he'd witnessed in his life was too many to count, but this was a first. The first time he'd ever helped a human being come into the world, and it was his niece or nephew. Very cool. He gave up another prayer of thanks that he happened to come home today, at this particular time, and found their truck.

  Exhausted, Sara flopped back against the mattress.

  Beth sat on the foot of the bed, her hand on her sister's bared leg. She looked over to Tyler. “I don't think it's going to be much longer."

  He nodded. “What can I do to help you?"

  "I think we've got it covered, at least I hope so."

  Another contraction started and they both moved into position again.

  "Sara if you feel like pushing this time, bear down and let's see what happens.” A few seconds later Beth was the one to cry out. “I see it! Sara, I see your baby. Oh my God, it's a dark head."

  The contraction subsided and Sara fell back to the cot. Beth laughed and met Tyler's eyes. “I could see the head. When she contracts again, I want you to help her lean up and into it. Get behind her and support her shoulders against you and..."

  The door flew open and they both shot their gazes to the door just as Buck and Cord stumbled through. Buck's eyes were wild. When he saw Sara, Tyler didn't even think it took him two steps to cross the cabin floor.

  Buck reached the bed and Tyler stepped away as his brother wrapped his wife in his arms.

  "I can't believe this. How the hell..."

  "Not now, Buck, you can fight about this later.” Beth shifted her position. “Right now, your baby is just about to get here."

  Tyler stepped back and watched his brother and Sara. The look of fear and insanity that had filled her eyes moments ago was gone, replaced by a fierce determination as she squeezed her husband's hand. Buck still looked scared to death, but he talked to Sara in soothing tones, saying words that he'd never heard his big brother say before. They were corny endearments that at any other time, he'd rile Buck to hell about. But, right now, watching him rub Sara's head and touch her face, he was so moved he couldn't even speak.

  A hand settled on his shoulder and he turned to Cord. They crossed into the kitchen portion of the cabin letting the others handle things.

  "We finally got Beth's text as we reached the road,” Cord said from beside him. “Got here as fast as we could. Did this come on all of a sudden?” He touched the kettle on the stove and then re-ignited the flame underneath.

  "Apparently, she was in labor when Buck left this morning but wouldn't tell him because she was more worried about the flooded north pasture.” Tyler glanced across the room, not wantin
g Buck to overhear him.

  Cord's mouth dropped open, and he shook his head.

  Tyler shrugged. “You know Sara, the ranch before anything else."

  Cord grinned. “Somehow, baby brother, I think that's all about to change."

  "Okay, Sara, let's do it,” Beth hollered.

  Cord and Tyler moved closer but kept a respectful distance.

  "Here it comes. It's crowning ... here's the head."

  "I see him! I see him!” Buck called out.

  Beth blocked their view for the most part but when the baby's head slid out of Sara and Beth cried out, he couldn't help but peek. Beth shoved her finger into the baby's mouth and wiped the mucous off the nose at the same time.

  "Okay, honey, now the shoulders. Easy, give it your best push."

  She didn't have to ask again as, in a swoosh, the red-faced, gooey covered infant was lying on the towel on the bed. Beth laughed and cried at the same time. “It's a boy, guys. It's a big, beautiful boy."

  The baby let out a wail, squirmed and wiggled. Beth lifted him up and laid him on Sara's stomach.

  Tears rolled down all their faces. Cord moved next to the bed and handed her the surgical scissors. In seconds the cord was cut and the baby was wrapped up in warm towels and lying on Sara's chest. Buck's large hand covered the baby's back completely.

  Tyler watched Beth expertly deal with the messy necessities of a birth, and within minutes, the blankets were pulled back down over Sara.

  Following her into the kitchen area, Tyler took one look at Beth's face, shoved a chair under her butt and pushed her head down between her knees. “Breathe, Angel. Breathe."

  Cord brought a flask of whiskey over. “Here, drink this,” he ordered.

  Beth lifted her head and took a sip then shook her head. “No, I'm fine. The room just spun there for a minute, but I'm good.” She handed the flask back to Cord. “God, I was scared to death."

  Tyler bent over and wrapped his arms around her, and she buried her head in his stomach. “We all were, but it's all good. She's fine and so is the baby.” Tyler kissed her head.

  "Okay guys, we've waited long enough.” Cord moved back across the room. “What's our nephew's name?"

  Keeping her hand tight in his, Tyler led Beth to the others.

  Sara smiled up at Buck. “Beauford Samuel Tyler Weston."

  Beth laughed. “Poor kid."

  "We'll call him Bo.” Sara grinned. “We would have named him after you Beth, but we figured that was pushing our luck."

  Tyler gazed down at tiny Bo. He wasn't sleeping; his tiny eyes were open and taking in this new world.

  Beth reached for him. “Why don't you guys let me clean him up, and then I'll bring him back."

  Cord shoved his arms into his rain coat. “I'm going to go to the road and get an ambulance out here and then call Flo."

  "Oh my God, Flo!” Sara's eyes widened. “She's got to be losing her mind."

  Cord crossed the room and leaned down to kiss their sister-in-law's cheek. “You did a great job. She'll be so proud—then she's going to kill you when she finds out what you did."

  Sara chuckled. “I'll just hand her this beautiful baby and she won't touch a hair on my head."

  Tyler clapped his hands together. “Hey, you know what this means, don't you?"

  They all looked his way and he grinned. “It means Flo now has someone else to fuss over and will leave the rest of us alone."

  It only seemed a few minutes passed before they heard the ambulance coming, and within a short time, Sara, Buck and little Bo were loaded in the back and headed to Houston General.

  Beth glanced at the mess around the cabin and sighed. “Did we really just deliver a baby? Here in the middle of the pasture?"

  Tyler laughed. “You did an awesome job. I am so proud of you."

  Beth pulled the blanket from the bed and set it aside, then pulled the soiled sheets off. Tyler held open a plastic garbage bag and she shoved them in. “Flo will love dealing with this mess."

  "Flo is going to be flying so high the next few days nothing will rattle her."

  Beth paused and watched Tyler extinguished the fire. God, she missed him. “Ty?” she began hesitantly. “Can I talk to you about something?"

  He turned, his brows dipping in worry as he stood.

  "It's not bad ... at least I don't think it is.” She crossed the room and took his hand. “While you were gone, I made a decision about us."

  "Beth..."

  She watched him blanch and fear filled his eyes.

  She reached up on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Teasing his lips apart with her own, she tried to quell his fears by pouring her heart into her kiss. Within seconds, flames ignited, and by the time they came up for air, Beth's head was spinning.

  "Okay, okay. Before we go down that road...” She laughed and pushed back from his arms. “Tyler, I don't want you to give up the position at the Circle S. I want you to stay in Abilene, permanently."

  He shook his head adamantly. “I won't do that. In fact, if it's an issue, I'll tell Chase right now that he'll have to finish up with the new guy or Cord will have to help him.” He pulled her into his arms and rested his head on her hair. “I promise I won't go back. I swear to you. I knew I was away too long. I can't blame you for wanting to give up on me again."

  She pulled back and slapped a hand over his mouth to stop his tirade. “Will you stop and listen to me for a second?” Beth waited for him to nod, then removed her hand and continued. “I don't want you to come home because I'm going to be moving to Abilene."

  His eyes flew wide then he frowned. “Move to Abilene? You can't do that. What about your practice? Your career?"

  She put her hand back over his mouth. “I'll still have my career. There's several practices within sixty miles of the ranch. I'll work for one of them."

  Tyler pulled her hand down. “But what about your own practice? What about Grant?"

  "We've talked.” She smiled in understanding. “He knows that I need to be with you. Honestly, Ty, after what we just went through with Sara, I don't want to be away from you again. I want that to be us next time.” Her voice broke. “I don't mean I want to start a family tomorrow, but I want to be with you and that's all that matters. I can work anywhere."

  Tyler shook his head. “Are you sure? I don't want you to regret this. What if you change your mind down the road? What if I do?"

  Beth frowned and stepped back, her shaking hand fluttering to cover her chest. “About us?” she squeaked.

  Tyler grabbed her into his arms and kissed her. “Don't even tease about that. I have no doubts about us. I meant about moving to Abilene."

  "Then we'll deal with it, together. Maybe in a few years, we might decide we want to come back here, maybe have our kids here or something, who knows. But by then, you'd hopefully have someone in place that you trust, and I could always come back.” She clung to him. “I'm not worried about that; all I know is, right now, I need to be with you, every night. Not a few times a month or whenever we can squeeze each other into our schedule. I need to be with you, wherever you are."

  "Seriously?” He looked unsure. “If you're just doing this for me, I mean..."

  She took his hand and brought it to her cheek. “Of course I'm doing this for you, and for me. For us. I want to be with you and that's what's important. If I can't find a job at one of the offices out there, I can work the ranch with you."

  She splayed her hands across his chest. “And if that doesn't work.” She glanced up under her lashes. “I'll stay home and make dinner and babies."

  She slid her hands up under his T-shirt and spread them against his warm chest. “Do you think you can handle having me around every day?"

  Tyler grinned and slipped his hands under her shirt, cupping her breasts and making her heart race.

  He leaned close. “Do you think anyone will miss us if we ‘clean up the cabin’ for a bit longer?"

  Beth shook her head. “I t
hink we're pretty safe here for a while. Everyone will be focused on seeing that new baby."

  "So then here's the thing.” A wicked grin tilted his lips. “You're the young daughter of a rancher who's come west to stake his claim in the land. I'm the neighbor's son and I've come over to see if I could help you with anything.” He took her hand and led her to the bedside then reached into the tote for a clean blanket and laid it on the braided rug on the floor. “Your parents are gone and you and I have been waiting for this moment for a long time."

  Beth's pulse quickened with anticipation. She grinned and reached for his belt buckle. “As long as you promise to make an honorable woman out of me when my parents catch us..."

  Tyler lifted her chin with his finger. “All kidding aside, you know I'm marrying you right? I mean, enough of this nonsense about not talking about the future."

  "Well, I might need some convincing. A girl doesn't like to think she's easy to get, you know."

  Tyler smiled slowly. “I'll spend all the time you need. By the time this rain stops and we can drive back to the house, you'll be so convinced..."

  She lost the rest of his words in her hurry to yank the sweatshirt off her head. Beth soon faced him wearing nothing but her panties. “We don't have a lot of time, cowboy. My parents could be back any minute."

  Grinning wide, he ripped his own shirt off his shoulders and stepped out of his jeans. “I saw them heading into town. You can't fool me, rancher's daughter. They won't be back for hours."

  She giggled at the inflected promise in his words. “Well, I do have chores to get done before they get back."

  He reached for her as they sank to the blanket. “I'll tell you what, if you let me ravish that delectable body of yours, I'll do all your chores."

  Her insides boiled over at the visual. “Oooh, my hero."

  Beth laughed as Tyler laid her on her back and covered her with his body. She gazed up into his brown eyes and threaded her hands into his hair. “I love you,” she whispered.

  He paused above her, a cherished smile softening his face and filling her heart to bursting.