The Cowboy's Baby Blessing

by Deb Kastner

“I agree. I want to think the best of her. She’s Tracy’s sister. And even though they were estranged, I know Tracy loved her and always wanted to reconcile. But something about Trish rubs me the wrong way. She doesn’t seem...sincere.”

  “Which leads us back to square one,” Rachel said with a sigh. “Why is the woman here, and what does she want with Caden?”

  “Nothing good, I don’t imagine. Honestly, I’m afraid even to speculate.”

  “I understand how you feel. The magnitude of possibilities are frightening, to say the least. But I think if we talk through it, you’ll be better prepared when you meet with her.”

  “My gut turns over every time I think about having to see her again. I don’t want to hear anything she has to say, and I don’t know why she’s so adamant about meeting with me alone.”

  “Don’t you?”

  Rachel could have been teasing him, but Seth doubted it. Her tone was dead serious, and he knew she was thinking the same thing he was—that Tracy was after him romantically.

  “Well, if that’s what she’s looking for, she’s barking up the wrong tree.”

  “I think finding out that Caden’s guardian is a handsome single man is just frosting on the cake for her.”

  “I’m no one’s frosting.” Despite the seriousness of their conversation, one side of his mouth kicked up.

  Rachel had just said she thought he was handsome.

  Well, she’d said she imagined Trish thought he was handsome, but wasn’t that the same thing?

  Too bad thinking about the coming meeting with Trish had to spoil the moment for him. He wasn’t able to revel in Rachel’s attention.

  “What I don’t get is why she was asking about Caden when she clearly had no interest in spending time with him. I’ll tell you this—I’m not inclined to let her anywhere near my child.”

  “I think she wants something from him.”

  “What could Caden possibly give her? He’s only two, for crying out loud.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe there was something in the will.”

  “She wasn’t at the reading of the will—she sent a lawyer in her stead.”

  “Did they leave Trish anything that might somehow be misconstrued to be connected with Caden?”

  Seth furrowed his brow. “I don’t think so. I have to admit I don’t really remember the details. I was pretty broken up having Tracy die so soon after Luke. And I was trying to wrap my mind around the reality that I’d just become the legal guardian of their son. Everything from that time is really foggy. I assume Trish was left something. I think the lawyers met together afterward. If there were any concerns, wouldn’t the lawyers have brought it up then? I never heard that she was contesting the will or anything.”

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the air left his lungs in a whoosh, as if he’d been sucker punched.

  “Could she really do that, do you think?” he asked, his voice ragged.

  “Contest the will? I don’t know. Maybe. But why would she want to do that? There’s no doubt in my mind that she has no interest in raising Caden herself.”

  “I don’t know.” He inhaled sharply and then shoved out a breath. “I just don’t know.”

  “I don’t, either, but if that’s what she has in mind, we’ll contest it.”

  She caught what she’d said, and even in the dark of twilight, Seth could see the blush that slashed across her cheeks. He didn’t know what she had to be embarrassed about. He was glad she was by his side, supporting him.

  “I mean you will contest any claim that she makes to challenge the will. It seems to me that it’s all straightforward, right? In black and white. And you know Luke and Tracy would have made it airtight.”

  “Well, if it comes to that, and I pray it doesn’t, I’ll make an appointment with the lawyer who executed Luke and Tracy’s will. But frankly, I have to say I’m concerned. Trish seems a little off-kilter to me. I don’t know how to deal with that. Plus, she came in a limo and insisted on staying in a five-star hotel. I’m guessing she has way more money than me—enough to hire a fancy lawyer. What if they find a way around my guardianship?”

  Rachel grimaced. “Okay, it was my idea to speculate, and now I’m going to say we ought to stop. I’m sorry, Seth. All I’ve managed to do here is stress you out even more than you already were, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. We don’t know anything yet. Let’s wait and see how it plays out. I’m certain Samantha wanted me to help you calm down when she suggested we take a walk together.”

  Seth choked on his breath and it was his turn to blush. “What do you mean?”

  Maybe she had seen Samantha’s wink and the teasingly mouthed words after all. But Rachel only looked confused by his question.

  “She knows we’ve become close friends. I figure she thought I could be a sounding board for you to work through your worries and settle a little bit—not rile you up as I’ve apparently done.”

  “Close friends,” he repeated, unlacing his fingers from hers and putting his arm across the back of the bench so he could turn her way and hopefully read her emotions in her eyes.

  She touched his face, skimming her fingers across the line of his stubbled jaw.

  “You’ve been clenching your teeth since the moment Trish appeared on the green.”

  “Have I?” He leaned in closer, inhaling the coconut scent of her shampoo. Why was it that that particular smell was suddenly so incredibly enticing?

  “Seth, I...I hope you know you can always count on me. I want to be there for you, whenever and wherever you need me. I know you already finished with the playhouse, and you’re doing great with Caden, so there’s no reason you need to call on me. But if you want to, I’m offering my friendship, with no obligations attached.”

  “Whenever?” he repeated, his voice a ragged whisper. “Wherever?”

  It wasn’t that his problems with Trish and his fears about Caden disappeared, exactly. Rather, they melded with the dozens of other emotions rising to fill his chest. He desperately craved human touch, but not just anyone’s.

  He wanted to feel that connection with Rachel, and it was unlike any feeling he’d ever before experienced. His chest warmed and his skin tingled as his gaze dropped to her lips.

  They’d been through a lot together these past few weeks. He trusted Rachel completely. With her by his side, and aided by prayer, they could face this new challenge.

  Together.

  “Whenever?” he asked again softly, close to her ear. Her warm breath fanned his cheek. “Wherever?”

  At the audible catch in her breath, he slid his arm down around her shoulders.

  “How about here? Now?”

  He saw the answer in her deep brown eyes, luminescent in the moonlight.

  “Thank you,” he said, softly brushing his lips over hers. “For being there for me. And for Caden.” Each phrase was followed by a kiss, and with each kiss he lingered just a little bit longer on her soft, full lips.

  She was oh, so sweet.

  Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck and he removed his hat as he slanted his head to deepen the kiss.

  He was beyond speaking. He could only feel, not only the gentle press of her lips against his, but all the emotions behind them.

  The whiz and pop of fireworks sounded in the distance, but Seth was too absorbed in Rachel, in making fireworks of their own, to even notice the vibrant colors lighting up the sky.

  Chapter Nine

  The next morning, Rachel awoke to the sound of a lawn mower directly outside her window, the growl of its engine too close to be that of a neighbor’s.

  She really didn’t want to be pulled from her dreams—the ones where she was kissing Seth under the magnificent glow of fireworks.

  But when she came
fully awake—well, as awake as a person could be before her mandatory two cups of coffee—she realized it wasn’t a dream at all.

  Seth had kissed her last night, and it was one of the most wonderful moments of her life, second only to the first time she’d held Zooey in her arms.

  With semiwakefulness also came the doubts and fears, sneaking up on her before she had the ability to keep them at bay.

  Yes, Seth had kissed her—but why? Was it the result of true emotions, those that had slowly grown over the time they’d spent together the past few weeks? Her response to him came from exactly that.

  But afterward, she realized he could merely have been reacting to the shock of Trish’s arrival, needing the feel of one heart connecting to another in order to ground and reassure him, all precipitated by the day’s events.

  What if his kiss had meant nothing at all?

  She couldn’t blame him for seeking comfort during such emotional upheaval. It was a very human thing to do. And the truth was, she was more than ready to give him whatever emotional support he needed.

  Even if it left her own heart in peril.

  She was beginning to care for Seth in a way that went far beyond the solid friendship they had developed, and that put her in a precarious position, totally open and vulnerable to being hurt.

  She could very well end up with a broken heart.

  She’d had other relationships in the past, but none that compared to what she had with Seth—the bond of friendship that was the foundation of other deeper emotions she’d never experienced before.

  But there was so much more to consider than just how she felt, even if Seth felt the same way about her.

  A relationship with Seth might not even be in Seth’s best interest. Seth had his hands full to overflowing learning to be Caden’s father and a single parent. And a ranch owner.

  And now there was Trish.

  Even if pursuing a relationship had been a remote possibility before, this would be the worst of all times to do so. Seth needed to keep his head on straight, not be distracted by the staggering emotions a new relationship invariably brought.

  Finally, what about Zooey? And Caden? Yes, Zooey had encouraged her to try for this relationship, but she knew her daughter would still be hurt in the end if things went bad. And Caden—that precious toddler had become so much a part of her life that she couldn’t imagine no longer being in his world. If they broke up, Seth might even remove him from day care. What then?

  She scoffed at herself. She was borrowing a load of trouble where, at least for the moment, there was none.

  And there was none because there was still time for Rachel to apply the brakes and avoid this potential train wreck altogether.

  Whoa, Nellie.

  She was shaken from her reverie by an engine cutting out and starting again. Now she was certain there was no doubt about it. There really was someone mowing her front yard.

  Curious, she peeked out through the curtain and was surprised to find Seth plowing straight, neat rows across her grass, Caden happily strapped in a backpack and enjoying the ride.

  What on earth?

  Wrapped in a plush cotton robe, she tiptoed up the stairs to see if Zooey had been wakened by the noise, but in typical teenage fashion, the girl was sound asleep.

  Rachel took a moment to tuck Zooey’s comforter around her shoulders and then she brushed her daughter’s hair back and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, just as she used to do when Zooey was around Caden’s age.

  She quietly closed the door to Zooey’s bedroom and returned to her own room to throw on jeans and a T-shirt and run a brush through her bedhead hair.

  She didn’t think about makeup until she was already out the door and Seth had spotted her. He waved and killed the engine on the lawn mower.

  She must look a mess.

  Too late now.

  Blame it on lack of coffee.

  “Why are you mowing my lawn?” she asked bluntly as he jogged up to her.

  Again, that lack of coffee...

  “Because it needed to be mowed.”

  “Yes, that’s true, but my question is, why are you mowing my lawn? It’s seven o’clock in the morning on a Saturday. No one gets up at seven o’clock in the morning on a Saturday to mow someone else’s lawn.”

  “I do. I’ve already eaten a good breakfast and have been for my run. Bright eyed and bushy tailed,” he said with a cheesy grin.

  “So I see,” she said wryly.

  “I borrowed your lawn mower out of your shed. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Why should I mind? Mow away to your heart’s content. That’s one more thing I can scratch from my list of things to do before the inspector comes.”

  He nodded. “That’s the plan. I know the inspector is coming to evaluate your day care on Monday, so I thought I’d do a little more spiffing up so your place really shines.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes before her emotions even caught up with her.

  “You remembered.”

  Seth reached up and gently wiped away her tears. “Of course I remembered, sweetheart. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”

  It was an intimate, caring gesture, made even more so by the kindness in his eyes. Apparently, he was prepared to embrace what had happened between them the evening before and move forward with their relationship.

  And she wanted that, too—wanted it so much it terrified her. She’d never been a runner before, but she felt like running. As far and as fast as she could.

  She barely stopped herself from scurrying backward. She was an adult and should act like it, but she might as well have been an angst-ridden teenager, as discombobulated as her mind and body were acting.

  She wanted to throw away every reason why being with Seth was a bad idea and just do it, follow her heart for maybe the first time in her life.

  But she would not follow those inclinations, because she couldn’t. Because too many people depended on her to keep her head on straight.

  “That’s so sweet,” she told Seth, and meant it with all of her heart.

  “I think the inspector is going to be happy with this place, especially when she sees how much your kids adore you.”

  Rachel laughed. “That will be the one day they all decide to act up. Anyway, it’s not the children she’ll be examining. She’ll be checking off a list of standards every in-home day care in the state must adhere to. Thanks to you and my beautiful new play set, I have high hopes that I’ll pass with flying colors.”

  His hand moved from her face to her fingers, which he squeezed lightly.

  “You will. And if for some reason they find something that needs fixing, I’m your man.”

  I’m your man.

  He said it so casually and yet so genuinely, accompanied by a grin that could charm the wrapper off a lollipop, that his words slipped straight through the cracks of the walls she’d so carefully put up and plunged right into her heart.

  She might know in her head what was best for all involved, but her wayward heart didn’t care to listen to what her mind had to say.

  “If you want, I can come over tomorrow and—” Seth started, but he was interrupted by the ring of his cell phone.

  He pulled it out of his pocket, checked the number and scowled deeply.

  “It’s her,” he confirmed. “Who would have thought that she was an early riser? I pictured her as the type who stayed up until all hours of the night and then slept until noon.”

  Rachel had reached pretty much the same conclusions about the woman. She chuckled and nodded toward the still-ringing phone. “Are you planning to answer that?”

  “If I ignore her, do you think she’ll go away?”

  “Doubtful.”

  He sighed and answered the phone.
<
br />   “This is Seth...No, you didn’t wake me. I was up.” He paused as Trish spoke on the other end of the line. “All right. Where do you want to meet?”

  Again, a pause. Seth’s jaw tightened, and Rachel slid her hand into his free one.

  “No, that’s probably not going to work. Listen, I have a better idea. There’s a café called Cup O’ Jo’s on the end of Main Street. You probably saw it when you drove in—er, came into town in your limo. You can’t miss it. There’s a hitching post and water trough out in front of it.”

  He rolled his eyes and covered the receiver. “She just called Serendipity a hick town,” he mouthed.

  “Actually, people often ride their horses to the café, so the hitching post gets a lot of use,” he informed her.

  Rachel covered her mouth so Trish couldn’t hear her snickering in the background.

  While it was true that Cup O’ Jo’s occasionally saw a horse hitched to its post, it wasn’t exactly a regular occurrence the way Seth was painting it, gently mocking Trish’s closed-minded perceptions of the town. Trish probably thought she’d stepped back in time by at least a century.

  “All right. I’ll see you at two.”

  Seth hung up and half groaned, half growled from deep in his throat.

  “This is one meeting I’m definitely not looking forward to,” he said.

  “I know. I’ve been praying for you since the moment Trish showed up yesterday.”

  “And I appreciate that. It means a lot. But can I ask you for another favor? It’s a big one, and I won’t blame you if you say no. But I’m really uncomfortable with the idea of meeting Trish alone, even if it’s in the middle of Jo’s café.”

  “I don’t blame you. She was trying to get you to meet in a private place, wasn’t she?”

  “As if I’d even consider that.”

  “That woman has an agenda you know nothing about—and she seems to have a thing for you, too. It’s wise to meet her in a public place. Plus, you know Jo will be watching over you, with your best interests at heart.”

  “Right. That was my thought when I suggested the café. I know Jo will subtly—or not so subtly—keep an ear on the conversation and break in if she thinks she needs to. She’s not shy about that. But I would really like it if—” he took a deep breath and plunged on “—if you would agree to come along with me for moral support. I’d feel so much more comfortable with you watching my six.”