The Cowboy's Triple Surprise

by Barbara White Daille

  “Jed was missing from the table at the Hitching Post tonight. Tina said he’d made plans with Mo for supper at SugarPie’s.”

  She frowned. “Grandma’s supposed to be meeting some of her friends. Female friends.”

  He shrugged. “Well, I guess Jed got himself invited along.”

  “That wouldn’t take much,” she agreed.

  “Since they’re tied up, I thought you might need an extra pair of hands. Have I missed the rounds tonight?”

  “No. I expect at least one of the babies to wake up and be ready to eat soon.”

  “Good. Having three kids to practice with has made me feel like I’ve passed a crash course. In fact, I think I’m due for some kind of merit badge.”

  She lost the fight not to smile. “I have to admit, I think I need one, too. And a medal for stamina. Between feeding and diapering, I’ve been putting one baby down only to pick up the next one.”

  “Like a merry-go-round that doesn’t stop.”

  “Just like that,” she said, surprised at how accurately he’d described what she had been feeling.

  She should tell him to go. Patsy would soon be here with the bottles for the evening feeding, and the babies would awaken, and again she would have to see Tyler hold them close and carry them to her. Watching him this morning had been heart wrenching. She didn’t want to have to face that again. She didn’t want her babies to get used to having him around.

  “Time for a bed check?” He tilted his head toward the cribs.

  She hesitated, then gave in, only because she would never turn down a chance to look at her babies. “Let’s go and see.” Dr. Grayden had given his okay for her to get up and moving. In fact, her good progress was a deciding factor for her upcoming release from the hospital. She pushed aside the sheet covering her and stood.

  Her eagerness had nothing to do with walking beside Tyler, with standing beside him in front of the cribs and looking down at the babies they had brought into the world. It had nothing to do with wanting to lean into his warmth and let him wrap his arms around her. Nothing to do with wishing, just for a few minutes, that being with their babies would somehow instantly make them a family.

  After a moment, he reached down to touch Timothy’s hand. “There’s that fist again. Looks like this one’s going to be a fighter.”

  “He’ll need to be when he has to stick up for his little brother and sister.”

  “They ought to learn to do that for themselves.”

  “Well, yes. But it will be good for Jamie and Bree to have a protector if the schoolyard bullies start pushing them around. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters to do that for me.”

  “Me, either. I didn’t have anybody sticking up for me when I was a kid.”

  “Except your parents, you mean. The way Grandma did for me.”

  He laughed shortly. “My parents were the last ones to have my back. My father would tell me to fight my own battles, then push me outside again to ‘face down my fears.’ And my mom went right along with that.”

  “When you were still in school?”

  “Yeah. High school. Grade school. Kindergarten.”

  “That’s awful.”

  “That’s my old man for you.”

  No wonder Tyler had talked about children becoming independent the minute they became adults. He had never known what it was like to receive a parent’s unconditional love, the way she did from Grandma. Then again, he might be viewing his father from the perspective of a grade schooler or kindergartner.

  “Maybe,” she said, “in his eyes, he was helping you. Maybe trying to—”

  “Trying to make a man out of me? Yeah, so he said. I hope that’s not the way you plan to go about it with the kids.” As if he felt uncomfortable, he looked back at the babies. “Anyway, these three were only born a few minutes apart from each other. Who’s to say Bree won’t be the leader of the pack? Equal rights from nursery school on.”

  She laughed. “I like that idea.”

  A smile played on his lips, softening the hard lines of his shadowed jaw. She liked that, too.

  Sobering, she looked down at the babies again. She didn’t want to like anything about Tyler. She didn’t want to see anything else that would bring back memories they had shared. But that was an impossible wish.

  With a sigh, she stroked the small patch of hair atop Bree’s head. The color wasn’t as dark as Tyler’s. But like her brothers’, Bree’s brown fluff was already much darker than Shay’s blond hair. Chances were, all the babies would eventually have a shade much closer to Tyler’s rich, dark brown.

  She would always have visual reminders of him, whether or not she wanted them—and she didn’t. A few minutes of feeling closer to him couldn’t make up for the fact he chose not to stay.

  Chapter Twelve

  After an early breakfast at the Hitching Post, Tyler left the hotel. The sun was already bright, promising a warm day. Long, empty hours stretched ahead of him, and he planned a ride to fill up some of that time. He couldn’t have described his surroundings, could never have found his way back to the hotel later on, if not for Freedom. He trusted the stallion to be his eyes and ears.

  More than once, he had acknowledged he’d long passed the point he should have headed back to Texas. That wasn’t going to happen while he had unfinished business here.

  He returned from his ride midmorning, and had just settled Freedom in his stall again when Cole came into the barn.

  “Tyler, we meet at last. You’re making a real habit of disappearing. I went to the dining room for breakfast, and Jed said you had eaten already. And when I finished reading Robbie a story after supper last night, I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

  “Keeping tabs on me?”

  “No. But it looks like I might have to start, just to make sure you stay out of trouble. Where’d you run off to last night?”

  “The hospital.” During the evening visiting hours, his conversation with Shay about the babies had given him the feeling he had made a degree of progress at winning her over, that he had taken one step down the road to making her understand he was serious about helping her...financially.

  “How are Shay and the kids? Tina went into town to see them the other day and said those babies are really something. Then again, she says that about every kid.”

  “They are something, all three of them. Cutest babies I’ve ever seen.” Not that he’d seen many of them that up close and personal. “Smart, too.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got a big helping of fatherly pride there.”

  He shrugged. “Just stating the truth. When I went back last night—”

  “Back? You mean you went there before?”

  “Yesterday morning. What’s the matter, doesn’t the Cowboy Creek gossip make it out here to the ranch?”

  Cole snorted. “Sometimes I think it all gets reported in here. Jed always knows what’s going on—though I’m not knocking him. I told you before, he’s got a good heart. Now, what makes these kids of yours so smart?”

  “When I picked them up out of their cribs again last night, they recognized me.”

  “How could you tell?”

  “They smiled at me.”

  Cole snickered. “Man, newborns don’t smile. They were only making faces at you because they were passing gas.”

  “No, they weren’t.”

  Now the other man laughed out loud. “You think you have this new-daddy role figured out, don’t you?” When Tyler frowned, Cole raised both hands. “Calm down. I’m just pulling your leg, not picking on your kids.”

  The comment made him think of what he’d said to Shay about his father not supporting him. He hadn’t intended to tell her that, but her easy assumption about his parents being as caring as Mo pushed him into it.

  “There won’t be anybody picking on Timothy once he gets bi
gger.” He went on to tell Cole about the little boy’s strength, Bree’s patience, Jamie’s playfulness...and a handful of other things. He hadn’t realized he’d noted so much in just a couple of visits with the babies. After a while, he had to force himself to come to a stop. “Guess I’m boring you with all these stories.”

  “What are you talking about? I’ll be trying to one-up you with stories of my own as soon as Tina has the baby. Speaking of which, you ought to think about staying around till then.”

  Suspicion made Tyler snap his response. “What for?”

  “I already let the boss know I’ll be taking time off once the baby arrives. We’ll be shorthanded. That might be a good opportunity for you to slide right into a permanent spot here on the ranch. If you and Shay get a few things settled and you decide to stay, you’ll need the work.”

  “Not going to happen, so don’t go trying to play matchmaker.” He’d already warned Jed about that, too.

  “You ought to know.” Cole shrugged. “Well, whatever happens, I’m taking the break. I might already be a daddy, but this is the first time I’ll be around to see my son or daughter as a newborn. And this time, I’m not missing out on a thing.”

  When Cole walked away, Tyler stood deep in thought. Once he was gone from Cowboy Creek, there would be lots of new things happening with the babies, plenty of progress he’d never know about.

  What did that matter? As Shay had reminded him, he didn’t plan to get attached to the kids. He didn’t intend to stick around. But while he was here, he had to stay close to her. It was plain from their truce last night that helping her with the babies was the key to earning her trust.

  * * *

  TYLER DROVE ALONG Canyon Road, the center of Cowboy Creek, feeling in a better frame of mind than he had in quite some time. After leaving the barn, he had run into Jed in the hotel hallway. The man claimed he’d been trying to hunt him down.

  Between Jed and Cole, he didn’t lack for people keeping an eye on him. But any irritation he might have felt fled once he’d finished talking with Jed.

  Now, in the hospital parking lot, he tapped the hood of the car for good luck.

  According to Jed, Shay had been given the okay from her doctor to bring the babies home. Upstairs, he found her in her room. Today her hair was smooth and flowing down her back. She wore a loose yellow top, jeans and a pair of running shoes. A small overnight bag sat on the floor beside the chair.

  She looked at him in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  That seemed to be her standard question every time she saw him. Maybe his luck wasn’t going to hold out, after all. “I’m taking you and the kids home.”

  “Grandma said she was picking us up.”

  “Jed told me Mo asked for help. Something about her women’s circle and a big project they have to wrap up. She needed a stand-in, and Jed volunteered me. Are you ready to go?”

  He could see the indecision in her face, the reluctance to accept his help at odds with the excitement at taking the kids home. So much for the truce he thought had been struck between them.

  His luck held—her excitement won out.

  “Yes, we’re ready. Annabel’s on her way with the wheelchair.”

  His mind flashed to the image of her being carried by stretcher to the ambulance. “Wheelchair? Is something wrong?”

  “No. It’s just a hospital rule.”

  “Oh.” He forced a laugh. “Yeah, they have a lot of those around here.”

  She went to the cribs. He followed. The triplets were out of hospital wear today, too. They wore knitted caps and were wrapped in knitted baby blankets—blue for Timothy, green for Jamie and yellow for Bree.

  “Three colors this time,” he said.

  “Yes. I didn’t want to go with traditional pink and blue, anyway, and the reason for all the colors is, I didn’t know how many of each we’d need.”

  “You didn’t find out the sex of the babies beforehand?”

  “No.” She smiled. “I wanted to be surprised.”

  At least there had been some news she hadn’t held back from him.

  He glanced down again. “Well, you’ve got a pair, anyhow,” he said, lifting Bree from the crib. He didn’t care what Cole had told him—the baby’s smile proved she recognized him. “She’s all dressed up to match her mom.”

  “I didn’t think of that,” Shay said softly. “These were the first caps and blankets Grandma made, so I wanted them to be the first the babies used.”

  “Good idea. And since there are two of you dressed in yellow, obviously that color wins.”

  “I didn’t think about that, either. But it’s not a contest. We’re all in this together.”

  Her words hung in the air for a long moment, and he wondered if she’d said them deliberately. We meant her and the babies. It didn’t include him.

  The silence stretched on as they stood there together, staring down at both boys in their cribs. Watching the babies sleep seemed to cast a spell over him, helping to push away some of his tension.

  Annabel’s cheerful arrival broke that spell. She had brought a couple of nurses with her to help carry the babies. A teenager wearing a volunteer badge said she had come along to assist with everything Shay had collected over the days she’d spent here. He noted she—or maybe a nurse—had put the three stuffed animals and the mug with the balloons on the windowsill.

  He was still holding Bree. “I’m the official driver. I can carry Bree downstairs and take a bag of those gifts, too.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Annabel said.

  “Let me guess. You’re not allowed to let me do that.”

  “You’ve got it.” She gave him her small, sympathetic smile. “But as you’re the chauffeur, you can go downstairs and bring your vehicle to the rear entrance of the building. You do have car seats for all three of the babies, don’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  To his satisfaction, this earned him a full smile from every female in the room—except Bree, who had fallen asleep snuggled against his chest.

  * * *

  THEIR RELEASE FROM the hospital turned out to hold more surprises than Shay had expected.

  The first had been seeing Tyler walk into her room and announce why he was there. She still wondered about Grandma’s sudden absence. Yet, to her secret shame, she couldn’t manage to suppress her little rush of happiness at knowing Tyler would help take the babies home.

  She also couldn’t keep from eyeing him when he wasn’t looking. The sight of him standing in the bright sunshine streaming through the window beside her bed was enough to dazzle her. But it was the details that held her gaze. His dark hair gleamed, his belt buckle sparkled and his boots shone, as if he’d made a special effort to dress up this morning.

  He had definitely made an impression with all three nurses and the teenage volunteer.

  After he had left the room, the staff escorted her to the elevator for the trip downstairs.

  “Was that your boyfriend?” the volunteer asked.

  Keeping her gaze focused on her babies, she simply shook her head.

  “He’s a friend of Jed Garland’s,” Annabel announced. “Just came to give Shay and the triplets a ride home.”

  “Well,” one of the other nurses said with a laugh, “any friend of Jed’s is a friend of mine.”

  “Mine, too,” the teenager said eagerly.

  Listening to the women’s conversation as they waited for the elevator, she fully expected them all to request Tyler’s autograph when they saw him again downstairs. Or, in the case of the volunteer, to ask him for a date.

  The little rush running through her now was a surge of pure jealousy, something she had no right or desire to feel. Resolutely, she pushed it down and determined to forget it. She didn’t care who went after that cowboy.

  The second surprise arri
ved when they reached the lobby, where a reporter from the local newspaper greeted them.

  “Smile for the camera,” she called.

  Shay didn’t need the encouragement. From the moment she had woken up that morning, she had been smiling from sheer happiness at the thought of taking her babies home.

  Worry over how she would get rid of Tyler once they got there didn’t make her quite as happy.

  When he walked into the lobby, the reporter immediately latched on to him.

  “No pictures,” he said quickly. “I’m only the designated driver.”

  “Just one shot,” she said, pretending to pout.

  Shay frowned. He wouldn’t believe in that act, would he? And what was wrong with the reporter, anyway? They had gone through school together, and in all those years she had never once seen the woman act this way.

  Then again, the teenager and the two younger nurses were fawning over Tyler now, too, trying to convince him to take advantage of the photo opportunity. And yesterday, Patsy had giggled like a teenager.

  Maybe his playboy charm was irresistible to any woman.

  Maybe she shouldn’t beat herself up for having fallen so hard and so fast. But she certainly wouldn’t let herself fall again. She cared for him now as much as he had ever cared about her—which meant not one bit.

  Her two attendant nurses put her sons into her arms, and she forgot about Tyler altogether...until he spoke again.

  “I’m happy to hold a baby for the photo,” he told the reporter, “as long as Shay agrees.”

  All five women swung their heads in her direction. Tyler stared at her, too. She stiffened, then forced herself to relax. With him acting so accommodating, she couldn’t afford to look like the bad mom in this situation. Besides, after only a minute, the photo shoot would be over and they could be on their way.

  All that mattered was her babies were going home.

  The thought made her smile again.

  Evidently taking that as an agreement, the reporter set them up for the photo. Shay sat in the wheelchair holding Timothy and Jamie. Tyler stood behind them with Bree in his arms.