A Valentine for the Cowboy

by Rebecca Winters

  “It’s Don Shapiro.”

  “Oh, Mr. Shapiro. I’m afraid my uncle isn’t here. If this is urgent bank business, I can reach him at home and have him call you.”

  “Whoa, whoa, honey. I’m calling to ask you out to dinner. Are you free tonight?”

  “No, I’m not,” she said so fast it surprised even her.

  “In other words I’d be stepping on Eli’s territory.”

  Suddenly she heard her cell phone ring. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. “Mr. Shapiro? I have to take another call and can’t talk now. I’m sorry. Good-bye.”

  Brianna hung up before clicking on her cell without checking the caller ID. “Hello?” she said.

  “Hi, it’s Lindsay.”

  “Oh, I’m so glad it’s you.” She leaned on the counter in relief.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing really. I just hung up on a nuisance caller.”

  “Oh dear.”

  It was too late to worry that she’d offended the bank manager her uncle did business with. Don Shapiro had been way out of line the first time she’d met him, let alone now. “What’s new? How’s the pregnant mom feeling?”

  “I’m fine, thanks, but I thought you might want to know what Ken told me before he left for work.”

  Brianna went on alert. “Go on.”

  “While he was on duty last night, Eli Clayton brought his little girl into the ER at four in the morning with a bad case of croup.”

  “Oh no—” Poor Libby... Brianna’s body broke out in perspiration.

  “That’s what I said. Ken knew I’d met them when you and I went out for dinner recently. He said she’s been hospitalized. I don’t know anything else, but I thought that maybe you’d want to know, if you hadn’t heard already.”

  “I do!” she cried. “I’m going over to the hospital right now. I’ll get back to you later. Thanks so much for letting me know.” She clicked off.

  It was closing time anyway and Brianna quickly closed up the store, and then got in her truck and drove to the hospital a mile away. She took the elevator to the pediatric wing and approached the male nurse working on a chart at the nursing station.

  “Excuse me. Do you know if Libby Clayton is still a patient here?”

  The nurse lifted his head. “She is. Are you a relative?”

  “No. I’m Brianna Frost, a friend of the Clayton family. May I see her?”

  “Sure. She’s in room W1124 down that hall.”

  Brianna thanked him and walked past five doors. When she opened door to Libby’s room, she saw Eli walking around, holding his sleeping daughter in his arms. Her breathing sounded noisy. It wrenched her heart.

  Eli looked across the short distance and stared as if he couldn’t believe Brianna was standing there.

  Her mouth had gone dry. “Lindsay called me at work. Her husband told her you’d brought Libby in.”

  “That’s right. He was the attending physician.”

  “Yes. Is it okay that I’ve come?” she whispered without moving.

  “There’s no one we’d rather see.” His words filled her with relief. “Please, sit down.”

  Brianna took off her parka and hung it over the back of a chair. “Is she better than she was in the middle of the night?”

  “Yes, even though it sounds bad. They took an X-ray and gave her medication in the emergency room. The pediatrician advised keeping her overnight just in case. Around seven this morning she was given an oral corticosteroid to reduce the inflammation and swelling. If all continues to go well, I’ll be able to take her home tonight.”

  “Thank Heaven. Do you know how she got it?”

  “No. It’s a virus. Hers grew worse, but at least she’s resting more comfortably now.”

  “I take it you haven’t left her for a second. Has your mother been here?”

  He nodded. “You just missed her and Wymon. They went out to buy a cool mist steamer for her room.”

  “I’m glad they’ve been here for you. Have you had dinner yet?”

  “The orderly left a tray, but I haven’t touched it.”

  She noticed it on one of the tables. “Would you let me hold her so you can eat?”

  “You want to?”

  “I’d love it.” She’d tried without success to keep the tremor out of her voice.

  “You’re sure?” he asked. The blue of his eyes darkened with emotion. “Even though you said good-bye to me?”

  She deserved that. “I was upset that night,” Brianna answered honestly. “Your daughter is so precious, Eli. Of course I want to hold her. I’ll try not to wake her up.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He walked over and placed Libby in her arms. She was viscerally aware of the difference between his hard-muscled physique beneath his white T-shirt and jeans, and the tiny slip of a thing that was his daughter, dressed in a fuzzy onesie dotted with teddy bears.

  The motion caused Libby’s eyelids to flutter open. Her blue eyes, so much like her father’s, stared up at Brianna.

  “Hi, darling. Do you remember me? I’m Brianna.”

  “Bree,” she croaked out the first part of her name and squirmed to sit up.

  “Yes. Bree.” She helped her to get up. The little girl put her arms around her neck and clung to her. Brianna held her against her heart and felt the breaths she took. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better.” She rocked her back and forth, loving the feeling of those arms holding on to her.

  Though he sported a slight beard and looked exhausted, Eli’s face broke into a smile as he stood there watching them. “I do believe you’re the reason she’s suddenly acting so normal.”

  Brianna smiled up at him. “Her daddy is all the medicine she needs, but you’d better sit down and have something to eat so you don’t pass out from fatigue.”

  “I look that bad, huh?”

  She averted her eyes. Brianna didn’t dare tell him how good he looked to her, even now.

  He walked over to the table and lifted the cover off the dinner plate before sitting down a few feet from her to eat.

  Libby swung her head around and pointed at him. “Dada.”

  “Yup! That’s me, sweetheart.” He handed her half of his roll. She reached for it and took a bite.

  Brianna squeezed her. “It looks like you’re hungry.”

  He nodded. “That’s a good sign she’s getting better.”

  He’d just finished his meal when a man entered the room. Eli stood. “Dr. Ennis? This is my friend, Brianna Frost. Her uncle owns Frosts’ Western Saddlery.”

  The older man nodded. “Of course. I’ve been in there many times.” He walked over and hunkered down in front of Brianna. “Don’t move. Just keep holding her while I check her lungs.” He put the stethoscope to his ears and moved it around. Libby tried to squirm away.

  In a minute the doctor got to his feet. “It’s clear she’s improving, Eli. You can take her home and keep the cool steam going. Sleep in her room tonight to listen for any changes in her breathing. I’ll go out to the desk and sign the release papers.”

  Eli looked relieved. “That’s the news I’ve been waiting for. Thanks, Dr. Ennis.”

  “My pleasure. The miracle is that children rally fast.” He smiled at Brianna. “It was nice to meet you. Libby seems very fond of you.”

  “She’s a darling.”

  “When she was born, she was the cutest baby in the nursery. Now she’s even cuter.” He patted Eli’s shoulder. “Call the office tomorrow and give me a report.”

  The two men walked out into the hallway.

  Brianna kissed Libby’s cheek. “The doctor’s right. With that heart-shaped face, you are the cutest thing in the world.”

  “Let me just check her diaper and then we can leav
e.” Eli had come back in and plucked her out of Brianna’s arms. His daughter protested as he carried her over to the crib.

  “I’ll find her parka.” It was hanging in the closet along with his sheepskin jacket. “If you want, when we go down to the lobby, I can hold her while you get your truck and warm it up.”

  “I’d like to take you up on that on one condition.” He snapped up Libby’s sleeper suit and put the parka on her. Brianna’s heart thudded while she waited for the rest. “That you follow us back to the ranch in your truck and help me put her to bed. Now that you’ve made an appearance, she’s going to be very upset if you leave. But if you have other plans...”

  “No. I’ll just phone my aunt and tell her I’ll be home late tonight so they won’t worry,” she said, hoping her face didn’t give away just how happy she was that he had asked.

  “That’s good to hear.” Eli shrugged into his jacket and then reached for Libby. “Come on, sweetheart. We’re all going home.”

  We’re all going home. The sound of that sent a thrill through Brianna’s body.

  A hospital orderly appeared with a wheelchair.

  “Really?” Eli questioned. The look on his face was comical.

  “Sorry,” the man said. “Hospital rules.”

  Eli sat in the chair and held his daughter. One dark brow lifted. “You’d think I’d just given birth,” he muttered.

  Libby chuckled as she walked alongside them to the elevator.

  * * *

  THE WOMAN KEEPING pace with them looked sensational in her melon-colored sweater and designer jeans. Eli felt like a fraud being wheeled out in the chair, but Brianna’s gentle laughter sweetened the experience.

  “I’ll hold her,” Brianna said when they reached the hospital entrance. Libby went right into her arms with no fuss. Eli thanked the orderly and took off for the parking lot. He started up the truck and brought it around to the entrance. When he felt it was warm enough, he left the engine running and went inside to get Libby. But the second he took her from Brianna’s arms, she started to cry.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. She’s coming home with us.”

  Brianna walked with them out to the truck and waited while he strapped her inside and gave her some plastic, colored keys to play with.

  “I’ll see you in a minute, Libby. I promise.” She kissed her cheeks before he shut the door on her croaky cries.

  “Where’s your truck?”

  “Right down this row. I’ll hurry.”

  “Drive safely. I couldn’t handle another emergency tonight.”

  “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Eli waited for Brianna and then pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the ranch. His daughter whimpered while he kept an eye on Brianna’s truck in the rearview mirror. Before he’d been able to phone her Sunday evening after his trip to Thompson Falls, his daughter’s condition had deteriorated. On Monday she’d gone from bad to worse. When he’d seen Brianna enter the hospital room tonight, he’d thought he was hallucinating.

  Without this crisis bringing them together unexpectedly, there was no telling how long it would have taken him to get Brianna to talk to him. He silently thanked her friend Lindsay for letting her know what had happened.

  For some reason, Libby had responded to Brianna from the very first time she’d seen her at the gem shop, and those feelings were obviously reciprocated. Otherwise she would never have come to the hospital after telling him good-bye. Now she’d willingly agreed to come back to his house.

  When they reached the driveway, she pulled up her truck alongside his. They both got out. His family had left the porch light on. He went around to pluck Libby from her car seat, while Brianna gathered the diaper bag and little toys that had fallen on the drive over, and then they walked inside the house.

  Wymon had made a fire and left more lights on to welcome them. Eli carried Libby through the living room and down the hall to the nursery. The room held a twin bed, a dresser, her crib and a rocking chair.

  “Is Sarah here?”

  He removed Libby’s parka and put her in bed with the white polar bear she loved. “No. She goes home on weekends. On Sunday, when I realized Libby was sick and I’d have to stay home from work on Monday, I told her not to come in for a few days. I’m planning to stay home tomorrow, too.”

  After taking off his jacket, he switched on the new steamer his mother had set up and turned to Brianna. She’d removed her parka, too, and had put it on the bed with the diaper bag and other things. “If you’ll stay with her, I’ll go in the kitchen and get her a bottle of apple juice.”

  “Mmm, juice. That sounds good, doesn’t it, Libby.”

  His little girl had gotten to her feet and clung to the crib railing. “Dada,” she called to him as he left the room.

  When he returned a minute later, he discovered Brianna holding her in the rocking chair. To his relief he could tell her coughing was much less severe and she seemed animated.

  Eli walked over and handed the bottle to her. She put it right in her mouth and drank. Brianna looked up at him. “I think she’s happy to be back in her own room.”

  That wasn’t all she was happy about. “Yup. There’s no place like home.” Eli reached for a book sitting on the small pile on the dresser. “This is her favorite. When she’s through drinking, she’ll love reading it with you.”

  “Ooh. Goodnight Moon. Can you say moon, Libby? Mooooooooon.”

  Libby pulled the bottle away and he heard her say “Mooooooo,” in a croaky voice.

  The moment was so precious that both he and Brianna burst into laughter. “That’s her sixth word,” he said.

  Their gazes collided. “You’ve been counting them?”

  “Yes. She can say Dada, Nana and Sol. Around you, she has now said Bree, bye and moo. I’ll have to get her a cow so she knows the difference.”

  “Maybe you’d better buy a wolf, too. You know. Howling at the moooooooooooooooon?” As Eli chuckled and Libby said the word again. Brianna kissed the top of her head. “You’re a very smart girl, you know that? But I think it’s time you went to bed.”

  Eli gathered Libby in his arms, aware of Brianna’s sweet fragrance on her. He lay her down in the crib to change her diaper one more time. He didn’t realize Brianna had left the nursery until after he’d finally gotten his daughter to sleep. Leaving the small night-light on, he tiptoed out of the room to the bathroom across the hall to wash his hands.

  His breath caught when he walked into the living room and saw Brianna sitting by the fireplace, her pale hair illuminated by the glow from the flames. She appeared deep in thought.

  “Brianna?”

  She turned to him and stood. Her parka lay across the end of the couch. “I hope your crisis is over.”

  “I’m sure it is, and you had a part in her fast recovery, but there’s another crisis I need to deal with now.”

  He could tell she was the slightest bit out of breath. That was how he felt whenever he was around her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You and I need time alone together. By Sunday, Libby ought to be much better. Mom will want to spend time with her. I’d like to take you out for dinner and talk. It’s important. Last Saturday Libby and I went to see my ex-wife.”

  Her face blanched. “She saw Libby?”

  “Yes. There are things I need to tell you about what happened. If I come pick you up at five, will you be ready?”

  Several seconds passed before she nodded.

  Now he could swallow. “It’s getting late. If you’ll wait a moment, I’ll phone Wymon and ask him to follow you home.”

  “Thank you, but please don’t. We don’t live that far apart.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. “Then will you let me put my phone number on your cell? I w
ant you to call me when you’ve reached your uncle’s.”

  “All right.” They exchanged numbers. Before he could help her, she’d already put on her parka and started for the door.

  Eli walked her out to her truck and made certain she was safe. He tapped on the window so she’d lower it. “You coming to the hospital tonight meant more to me than you know. I guess you don’t need to be told Libby was a new little girl after you walked in the room.”

  “I’m glad she’s doing so much better,” Brianna said. “Take care of yourself, Eli. I’ll see you on Sunday at five.”

  Her warm breath in the cold night air made him want to reach through that window and pull her into his arms. He hoped she was having the same feelings and thought maybe that was why it took her a whole minute to start the engine.

  Eli stood there and watched until her truck disappeared around the bend. A new chapter in his life had begun. He could feel it. Though dead on his feet from worry and lack of sleep, he felt exhilarated as he walked back into the house to get ready for bed.

  Five minutes later his phone rang. She couldn’t have reached her uncle’s yet. Something had to be wrong. He picked up without checking the caller ID. “Brianna?”

  “Brianna, huh?” his brother teased. “So that’s what has been going on while I’ve been getting the tar knocked out of me on the circuit!”

  “Toly!”

  “Yeah. You do remember me, but you sound out of breath.” Eli needed to calm down. “Mom said Libby had been in the hospital with croup. Is she all right?”

  “Yes. I brought her home earlier tonight.”

  “That’s a relief. So who’s Brianna?”

  His heart raced. “Brianna Frost is a woman I recently met.”

  “Hmm. She must be very new if I haven’t met her.”

  “She actually came to the rodeo with her aunt and uncle to watch you and Mills.”

  “You’re talking Clark Frost?”

  “Clark’s her uncle. She works at the saddlery.”

  “Is she blonde?”

  He blinked. “Yes.”

  “Then she’s the one Asa Harding has a crush on!”