The Cowboy's Little Surprise

by Barbara White Daille

  * * *

  “I’M TELLING YOU, Paz, you should’ve seen the look on those kids’ faces when I told Tina to book Cole into the hotel.” Jed laughed and slapped his hand on the kitchen table.

  “You were careful, I hope?”

  “Well, of course, I was.” He took the baby from Paz’s arms. “After all, I didn’t tell her to give him a room in our family wing, did I? Now, that would have been a dead giveaway.” He looked down at the baby. “Your great-granddaddy’s got more smarts than that, hasn’t he?”

  “Tina has smarts, too,” Paz said.

  “And plenty of them,” he agreed. He shook his head. “It’s not easy getting anything past that girl. She already questioned me. You’d have thought I wanted to bring a live bull into the hotel, instead of just a cowhand. But my answers satisfied her.”

  “And now?”

  “Now we sit back for a bit and watch the fun. It won’t do to rush things, or for sure Tina will think something’s up. Cole, too. Although I do need to make a note to see Pete tomorrow.”

  Paz was already well into her menu for tonight’s supper, but she looked up from her preparations. “Did you talk to Cole at all?”

  “I did. After you left the dining room I tracked him to the sitting room. He tells me he doesn’t want to settle down.”

  Her eyes widened. “You asked him that already?”

  “Yep. I figured it’s best for us to find out what we’re up against as soon as we can. And along the way in our conversation, I planted a few seeds.” He smiled down at the baby again and chucked her under her chin. “Wait and see. We’ll have a bunch of little ones like you running around here in no time.”

  * * *

  WHEN ALLY CALLED late that afternoon with an urgent request to meet after work, Tina had jumped at the chance. She needed the exercise to relieve her stress and the space from her family. Most of all, she needed to leave the hotel. Thanks to Cole, the home she had always loved suddenly seemed more like a prison. And he hadn’t even moved into the Hitching Post yet.

  As if she could outrun her thoughts, she picked up her pace.

  It took Ally a moment to catch up. “Guess who I saw today,” she said.

  Thinking she meant Cole, Tina almost missed a step. But, no, her best friend wouldn’t tease her about him. “Your cute wrangler?”

  Ally rolled her eyes. “I saw the wheels turning, Tina. You analyze the fun out of everything. But you’re right—and he’s cuter than ever.”

  “And by my analysis of your grin, I’d say you finally got him to look your way.”

  “Right again. I gave him the come-hither look, like in all those old movies my mama loves, and he couldn’t resist.” She batted her mascaraed lashes. “His name’s Stan, he’s from Dallas, and he’s working at Rollins Ranch.”

  “Permanently?”

  “For the season. Unless I can get him to change his mind.”

  Would Cole change his mind about some things, too, now that he knew he had a child? She wondered how long he expected to keep his room at the hotel. How long he planned to work for Jed.

  How long he would stay in town.

  And she couldn’t help wondering whether he would make a genuine attempt to get close to Robbie.

  “Hello?” Ally said.

  She blinked. “Sorry. I’m just tired.”

  “And...?”

  She sighed. “And...Cole’s taking a room at the Hitching Post.”

  “What?”

  She gave her friend an abbreviated version of what had happened over the past few days.

  Ally came to a halt on the sidewalk. “No. Now what are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea yet. But keep moving,” she directed over her shoulder. She had tossed and turned all night. If she stood in one place, she might fall asleep on her feet.

  “I don’t see him hanging around for very long,” Ally said in that uncanny way she sometimes had of reading Tina’s mind. “After all, he already left once before. Why don’t you just wait him out? Maybe if you don’t make a big deal over him with Robbie, he’ll disappear again. If you want him to disappear, that is... Do you?”

  “I don’t know.” She looked down Canyon Road to the red-tinged mountains in the distance. Except for college classes and licensing exams, she’d rarely gone beyond Cowboy Creek’s town limits. In the past five years, Cole hadn’t ventured back over the line. No matter his situation at the moment, what were the chances he would want to live here permanently? “I have no idea what his plans are.” She sighed. “Part of me hopes he’ll stay for Robbie’s sake. I don’t want my son growing up without a daddy.”

  “Like you did.”

  “Like I did,” she agreed.

  And part of her hoped Cole would stay...for reasons that, as analytical as she might be, she couldn’t seem to figure out. Those reasons were too hazy to explain to Ally. Too complicated even for her to think about right now.

  Deliberately, she changed the subject and told Ally about the arrival of her cousins.

  “Bet your abuelo’s happy. It’s been a while. What’s going on with them?”

  “Jane’s busy and out of the country half the time. And Andi’s still with her in-laws in Scottsdale. She’s had the baby, a beautiful little girl.”

  “Did she lose her flat stomach?”

  “No. She’s already back to her prepregnancy shape.”

  “Humph.” Ally race-walked a few feet ahead, then slowed down again. “Skinny little rich brat.”

  “Stop, Ally. Those days are over. You can’t keep calling her that just because we’ve got trouble watching our weight.”

  “Ha. The only thing I watch is my mama’s burritos—when I’m eating them.”

  Tina laughed. “Sure. And too many goodies from in there.” Ally had slowed again, this time on the sidewalk in front of SugarPie’s. Tina grabbed her by the elbow and propelled her past the bakery.

  “Oh, all right,” Ally said. “Besides, who’s got trouble? You know I like that old saying, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.” And she always did. This afternoon, she wore a tie-dyed leotard with red micro-minishorts—and of course, her purple running shoes. “I’m sorry.”

  She had said the words so solemnly, Tina stared at her in confusion.

  “I feel terrible about Andi losing her husband. You know I do.” Ally shrugged. “But other than that, really, why are you worrying over what I say about those girls? Growing up, they wouldn’t give you the time of day—even when they wore all those fancy watches you liked so much.”

  “One watch each, Ally. It was the fourteen necklaces and bracelets I coveted.”

  “Don’t be such an accountant.”

  Ally smiled to take out the sting. Tina hadn’t felt one. She was used to her friend’s teasing about her job.

  Yet Ally’s comment had also hit a serious note.

  Two years younger, Tina had always looked up to her cousins. When their families came to the ranch for vacations, Andi and Jane had brought the latest clothes, which she had no money of her own to buy back then. They’d worn makeup, which she never used. They had both been so slim, sophisticated and beautiful, Jane with her black hair against milk-white skin and Andi with a princess’s blond hair and blue eyes.

  They had always been closer to each other than they ever had been to her, though she was Jed’s granddaughter, too... The illegitimate daughter of his son and the hotel cook’s daughter. As a result, Jane and Andi had always made her feel second-best.

  Jed, oblivious to all that years ago, now expected her to work with them. And she would. She had grown up and gotten over her childhood feelings, even if uncomfortable memories sometimes resurfaced.

  She had experienced that more than she’d wanted to this week.

  “Look,” Ally said, “don’t let those women get you down. They’ll be gone soon, anyway, won’t they?”

  She nodded. “Yes. They’re only staying a week or two. But they’ll be back to help Jed. Eventually.” She explained Jed’s p
lans to revitalize the Hitching Post. “Meanwhile, Andi’s going to talk to a few friends about wedding planners. Jane’s job keeps her on the run, but when we’re ready, she’s going to set up a website.” She took a deep breath. “And since I’m the one with the accounting degrees, I’m taking care of the first phase. Financing for the renovations.”

  “Renovations?”

  Ally came to a halt once again. This time, Tina didn’t prod her. Instead, she stopped and stared at the building beside them. The bookstore was one of her favorite places to spend time when she came to town. The store’s front window currently held a display of children’s classics, every one of which she knew nearly by heart. Every one of which she had planned to read to all of her and Cole’s children.

  Ally rested her hand on her shoulder and said just the words Tina had hoped she wouldn’t say. “But...the hotel...your home...”

  She shrugged. “That doesn’t matter.”

  Ally blew out an exasperated breath. “Because those girls want to get the place all fancied up.”

  “No, because Jed wants it that way.”

  “But this isn’t right. I know you don’t want anybody making changes to the hotel.”

  “That doesn’t matter, either. These are Jed’s dreams.”

  Her own dreams, the ones she hadn’t been able to share even with Ally, had slipped away. She had done nothing to try to catch them. She shouldn’t have wished for things that could never be hers in the first place.

  She shouldn’t wish for anything now.

  * * *

  AT LAYNE’S THAT EVENING, Cole helped unpack boxes while she put her son’s clothes away in his closet. He watched her gaze go yet again to the bedside table and the clown with the clock in its stomach.

  Finally unable to contain his irritation, he muttered, “I can take a run to the L-G Store and pick up a half gallon of ice cream.”

  Again, she looked at the clock. “Let’s wait awhile. It’s early yet. Terry promised he’d take Scott to the Big Dipper tonight.”

  “And how many promises has he broken in the boy’s lifetime?”

  “Plenty,” she admitted. She turned back to the closet.

  He opened a few more packing boxes and went back to the subject of his previous thoughts. Tina. He had decided to stay at the Hitching Post to see the child, not her. Then why couldn’t he get her out of his mind?

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  “Neither do I,” he said before he could catch himself. He looked up at Layne, who stood in the bedroom doorway looking at him, her expression puzzled. Time to improvise. “I don’t understand how one child not even five years old yet could wind up with so many clothes.”

  She laughed. “As you said the other day, I have friends. But what I still don’t understand is why you’ve decided to stay at the ranch.”

  Because he’d taken a stand with Tina, and he wouldn’t back down.

  And because it would put him closer to his son.

  But he couldn’t say either of those things to Layne.

  He looked around him. “The bedrooms here are spoken for and, with all those boxes in the living room, I was finding it hard to breathe.”

  “Since when have you been claustrophobic?”

  Since I saw Tina again.

  He tried to smile.

  “You’re the one who insisted on sleeping there,” she reminded him. “I offered you my bedroom. No, that’s not your real reason... I’m wondering if Tina Sanchez has something to do with your decision.”

  He froze. “Why would you think that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know...for one thing, it seems odd that you didn’t say a word about staying at the ranch until you came back from there this afternoon. And for another thing, I’m remembering when we were in high school and for a while I heard nothing but ‘Tina this’ and ‘Tina that.’”

  “Yeah. ‘Tina, the slave driver.’”

  She laughed. “Yes. Before that, I don’t think I’d ever seen you sit down with a textbook. At first it was all about the homework she made you do. Then things changed, and it wasn’t ‘Tina, the slave driver’ anymore.”

  “Your memory must be going. And that’s not why I took the room.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And I still haven’t heard a reason for you to stay out there.”

  “Okay, you’ve got me. I didn’t want to admit this, but that couch of yours isn’t big enough. And before you say it—”

  “I know. You won’t take my room.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, have it your way until you’re ready to tell me the truth.” She grabbed an armload of Scott’s clothes and went to the closet.

  He stacked T-shirts and socks onto the bed and thought again of Tina. Who knew what would have happened if he hadn’t walked away from her that day in the cafeteria.

  But why should he take the brunt of the blame? As he’d said to her this morning, he might have considered staying in town...if she had told him the truth.

  “Layne.”

  She looked at him over her shoulder. Whatever she saw made her turn to face him. “What’s wrong?”

  “You know Tina’s little boy?”

  “Of course, I know Robbie. Tina and Paz bring him into the shop once in a while. He’s a little older than Scott, about four.”

  “Yeah.” He set his jaw and stared at her for a moment. Then he demanded, “Did you also know he’s my kid?”

  Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She clutched the pile of T-shirts she was holding to her chest. “No. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  He shrugged. “Didn’t know myself till this week.”

  She put her hand to her mouth to cover her gasp. Her eyes filled with tears.

  He looked away. He knew Layne. She wasn’t faking her responses. Any thoughts he might have had about her keeping the truth from him disappeared.

  “Oh, Cole, I’m sorry.” She leaned against the closet door frame. “I can’t... I just... I don’t know what to say.”

  “I didn’t mean to dump this on you right away. Or at all. You’ve got enough to worry about.”

  “Don’t be silly. You’re my big brother. Cole...how could she not tell you?”

  “We were together only once. By the time I could have seen she was pregnant, I was already gone.”

  She shook her head. “I had no idea. Well...I might have wondered how much you liked her, but I never thought you’d slept with her.”

  “You’d never heard folks talking?” He forced a laugh. “After all, you work in the biggest gossip mill in New Mexico.”

  “People talked about it when she got pregnant. They wondered. You know how Tina is, always so quiet. So private.”

  “Yeah.” Quiet and calm, never feeling the restlessness he did. Never wanting to go anywhere outside Cowboy Creek.

  “I’ll bet no one ever asked her who Robbie’s father was. Not even Sugar.”

  “Maybe she did but wouldn’t tell you, since I’m your brother.”

  Immediately, she shook her head. “No. You know how Sugar is, too. And she’s such good friends with Paz and Jed. She’d have been all over me to get you back here to do the right thing.” Again, she tried to cover her gasp. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t what I was thinking. I meant that’s what she would say.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said grimly. “It’s nothing I haven’t thought already.”

  “Would you have settled down, if you’d known?” she asked. “With Tina?”

  “Marry her?” He’d never told Layne just how close he’d come to that with another woman. He shook his head. “I’m not marriage material. But all the folks around here would expect a man to do just that.”

  He thought about what Tina had said this morning.

  I’m the trustworthy one standing here. I’m the one who doesn’t run from responsibility.

  Hadn’t that been just what he’d done when he’d walked away from Garland Ranch without giving notice? And then when he’d left town and never looked back?

>   He wasn’t about to do that now.

  Maybe he didn’t have what it would take to be his son’s daddy. But he had to try.

  As if she had read his thoughts, Layne said softly, “What are you going to do?”

  “For now, get to know the boy.”

  And that was only his first step.

  His apology to Jed had reinforced the decision he’d already made, before he had even known he’d had a son.

  He would never again walk away from anywhere—or from anyone—without taking responsibility for his actions.

  Chapter Seven

  Cole had stayed at Layne’s for the night, then packed up his duffel bag and tossed it into the pickup, ready for his move to Garland Ranch.

  He walked past the corral on his way to the barn and, as usual, his gaze went toward the hotel. Judging by the couple of cars in the parking area, business must have picked up since yesterday. The Hitching Post could have guests for him to entertain at supper tonight. He shook his head over Jed’s idea.

  At least the plan would buy him more time with his son.

  No doubt Tina would be around, too. He hoped he’d have better luck handling the upcoming encounters with her than he had getting her out of his mind last night. Anger had fueled most of his thoughts, until his teenaged memories of her had started to surface. Memories he didn’t want to think about right now.

  Inside the barn, he found his new manager in the small office at a desk piled high with paperwork.

  When Pete saw him in the doorway, he gestured toward the heel-scuffed stool that had always served as a guest seat. “Take a load off.” He looked at his desk and grimaced. “There’s no job on earth I’d rather have than running a ranch. But I guess you always have to take the good with the bad.”

  “True enough.”

  “Speaking of which...” Pete shoved aside a stack of folders and rested his elbows on the desk.

  “What’s up? Are you giving me my walking papers already?” The thought bothered him more than it should have. He was used to moving from ranch to ranch. He preferred it that way.