by Tina Leonard
His navy eyes had turned so flat, so strange.
Maybe he’d come back soon.
SAM TOLD HIMSELF he was being a royal jerk. He knew he was. But it was like everything in him was screaming to run!
He wasn’t about to talk to any of his brothers about Seton’s big news. His big news, too. They couldn’t understand, because they weren’t him. They’d never grown up knowing that they were somehow different from the rest of the family, a piece that didn’t quite fit. And he couldn’t really hide from that knowledge anymore, not now that he was going to be a father.
It was time to face the facts that he’d always known might come out during the lawsuit. He’d been aware that a real chance existed that whatever truth was hidden about him could have been revealed.
He’d ignored the fear and concentrated on keeping the family home. If Bode had known anything, he hadn’t made a peep.
But now Sam had a reason of his own to find out what he could. It was time to finally figure out why he had, as Jonas had put it all those years ago, come later.
What Seton didn’t understand was that babies were a miracle—but everyone, even children, needed to know their place in the world. And he never had.
Chapter Ten
After a month of Sam’s relative silence, during which Seton was positive he was suffering over finding out he was going to be a father, he walked out of their bedroom wearing black boxer briefs that were practically painted on him. Seton blinked, and realized she hadn’t seen Sam entirely nude since she’d told him about the baby.
“I’ve been thinking about this,” Sam said, “thinking about it a lot, actually, and I’ve decided you can look. In fact, I’d really appreciate it if you did.”
Seton’s eyes widened as she put down the file she’d brought home to work on. I certainly am looking, she thought. “Look?”
His jaw clenched. “Do what you were doing in the beginning. When I told you to quit digging around in my past.”
“Oh.” Seton sank into a chair. “I can do that if you’d like.”
“If you’re not too busy,” Sam said. “I know you’ve been bothered a lot by morning sickness—”
“Not that bothered,” Seton said.
“Morning, noon and night. Didn’t you go to the doctor because you felt so weak?”
Seton frowned, not wanting to be reminded of how embarrassing it was to have been so sick around Sam. He’d been patient—but he also hadn’t tried to make love to her. She couldn’t tell if he was trying to be considerate or was displeased about the baby. Either way, she missed him holding her. “I’m fine now. I’ve been working for the past couple of weeks.”
“Something I’m not certain you should be doing.” Sam glanced at her stomach. “Shouldn’t you be taking care of little Sam?”
Seton shook her head and went back to the makeshift office they’d set up in a back bedroom. “Little Samantha is just fine.”
He popped his head into the room. “Do we know it’s a girl?”
Seton laughed. “It’s much too soon, Sam. Anyway, what specifically do you want me to look for?” She was so distracted by her half-nude husband that concentrating was difficult.
He flung himself into her office chair. “I think the best place to start is what happened to our parents. It’s something we should know, and now that it’s clear Fiona wasn’t entirely honest with us, we’d all like to find out.”
“We?” Seton took in Sam’s wide, bare chest and his strong, muscled arms and shivered.
“I discussed it with my brothers. We’re officially hiring you.”
“You don’t have to hire me.” Seton didn’t complain when Sam pulled her into his lap. “It shouldn’t be that hard for me to find out where they’re buried, at least. Someone has to have a death certificate.”
Sam busied himself by peering inside her blouse. “I may like having a baby, Seton. I think you’re filling out.”
She playfully smacked his hand away. “Focus, Sam. This is important.”
“It most certainly is.” He picked her up and carried her down the hall into their bedroom. “We’ll talk about it some more in about an hour.”
Okay, Seton thought, as Sam held her and touched her in all the ways she liked to be touched. An hour sounds marvelous, now that you’ve noticed me again.
She’d wondered if he’d lost interest in her because of the baby. They hadn’t talked about it....
“Sam,” Seton said slowly, as her husband laid her on the big bed they shared, “was it because of the morning sickness that you’ve stayed away from me?”
He raised his head from where he’d been kissing her neck. “You seemed like you had enough to deal with.” He sneaked her top down, found her bra straps of sudden interest. “This is pretty, babe. Have you been buying new lingerie?”
She smiled. “Certain changes are necessitating new purchases.”
He pushed the straps off her shoulders and kissed along her collarbone. “Anyway, just for the record, I wasn’t staying away from you per se. I was waiting my turn. Baby seemed to have taken over your body, and I was willing to wait. Do I get extra points for patience?”
She closed her eyes, telling herself that now was not the time to make her confession. But it had been agony when Sam had been “waiting his turn.” She hadn’t known why he didn’t seem to desire her, yet she hadn’t wanted to ask. Had feared it was because of the surprise pregnancy.
It seemed to Seton that the best thing to do would be to make a fresh start in their marriage and go forward without any more doubts, especially now that Sam seemed to trust her enough for her to look into what she knew was a very private and painful matter for him.
“Sam,” she said suddenly, “I missed you.”
“Not half as much as I missed you.” He’d found a nipple and was torturing her, and it was all Seton could do to gently take hold of her husband’s face, stopping the moment.
“I have to tell you something,” she said, looking into his denim-dark eyes, “and this is not going to be easy for me.”
He pulled back for a moment, staring at her intently. Seton thought she’d never seen a more sexy male. Shivers ran all over her, mixed with nervousness from her worried conscience.
“I’m listening,” he said.
Seton drew a deep breath. “I was taking fertility drugs.”
He blinked, pulled back from her. “What?”
She nodded, holding his gaze.
“Why? I mean, I guess the answer’s obvious, but—”
“I didn’t think I could get pregnant. At least not easily. And I didn’t know why you were marrying me. At the time, it seemed like maybe you just wanted me in order to get the ranch. I wanted a baby more than anything.” She looked down at her hands. “I guess that sounds selfish. I mean, I didn’t even know if we’d ever make love. You didn’t seem that interested in me that way. And I was perfectly happy when we used condoms.” She looked back at Sam. “I just wanted the chance to get pregnant if we ever got around to deciding that we wanted a baby. It seemed like a very far-off eventuality, considering the parameters under which we were marrying.”
Sam didn’t say anything. Seton’s heart seemed to contract as she felt him withdrawing from her emotionally.
After a long moment, he sighed. “I wish you’d told me in the beginning, but it’s too late to worry about now. I’ve seen my brothers around their kids, and surely I can handle fatherhood, too.”
“I know you can. We’ll do it together,” Seton said. “Sam, I promise I’ll never keep anything else from you.”
He rolled her over and gave her a tiny smack on the fanny. “You bet you won’t, because I’m going to be keeping a close eye on you from now on. In fact, I noticed that you have a sonogram marked on the calendar for tomorrow, and I will be attending. Just so you know.”
He got up from the bed. Seton gazed after him wistfully, realizing her husband’s desire for her had dissolved. Or the mood had changed.
She was s
till glad she’d told him. They couldn’t have a relationship with secrets between them.
“Thanks, Sam.” Seton got up from the bed, too, and padded into the kitchen. “It’s my eight-week sonogram, so I was hoping you’d want to see our baby.”
“Well, I do.” He came over and kissed her temple, then went to the door. “I’m going to finish helping my brothers with some chores. Do you mind if I tell them you’ll start doing your P.I. thing on the family tree?”
Seton smiled, glad Sam was putting his trust in her. “Yes. I’ll do my best.”
He nodded and left.
Seton was completely aware that, although Sam hadn’t said it, she’d shaken him with her confession. She’d felt a split form in their relationship, though he’d tried to sound as if everything was all right.
She knew it wasn’t.
DR. GRAYBILL SMILED WIDELY as he looked at Sam and Seton the next afternoon. “Quadruplets,” he said. “Don’t see those very often. Congratulations, Mom and Dad.”
“What?” Sam’s question was like a thunderclap in the small room. The nurse and technician chuckled at his shock. “Four babies? There has to be a mistake!”
Dr. Graybill shook his head. “I don’t think so. We can, of course, order you a more in-depth sonogram later on. In fact, I suggest you go to Santa Fe for additional consultation with a doctor who specializes in multiple births. There will be a lot of things you’ll need to know that are a bit different from a standard, single-fetus pregnancy.” Dr. Graybill grinned. “Too bad Fiona isn’t here. She’d hand you the blue ribbon, Sam.”
Seton stared at her husband, feeling the blood drain from her face. Dr. Graybill seemed certain. He’d diagnosed all the other Callahan women in the family with their pregnancies. She doubted he’d made an error. “I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “My sister is pregnant with only one baby.”
Sam gazed at her, looking shaken. “I think we know why you’re not having just one. We can probably figure that out, can’t we?”
“I saw Dr. Stewart in Santa Fe,” Seton told Doc Graybill. “I was taking fertility drugs to give me a boost, because I didn’t think I could get pregnant.”
“Well, you did just fine, one way or the other.” The doctor clapped Sam on the back. “Amazing about you Callahans. Some of you just seem anxious to have your whole family at once.”
Sam looked at Seton again. She could tell he was dumbfounded, and not happy. For that matter, neither was she. Four! She tried to catch her breath.
“You’re not going to faint, are you, Seton?” Dr. Graybill asked, and she shook her head.
She wasn’t going to faint, but she was certainly worried she was going to wind up with four babies, and minus one husband.
THE TRUCK RIDE HOME with Seton was quiet. Sam’s thoughts whirred in his head. Two would have been a shocker. Three babies would have been tough to handle. But four—four!—almost seemed like life was having a good belly laugh at him.
“Damn, Seton,” he finally said, “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
“I know.”
She seemed too stunned to say anything else. Sam reached out and put his hand over hers. “Lamb chop, if you’re always this efficient, you’re going to make me look bad.”
She didn’t smile the way he’d hoped she would. Sam sighed and turned his attention back to the road. He didn’t feel like laughing, either, and the joke had been poorly timed. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“No, Sam.” Seton sighed. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”
“Yeah, it is,” Sam said, “maybe. I mean, some of my brothers had multiples without a boost.” He shrugged. “Maybe those drugs worked and maybe they didn’t. We’ll never know, so it does no good to regret it. I’ll be happy with four sons. I think.” He frowned. “That’s almost as many as our mom and dad had over several years.”
Seton looked out the window, pulling her hand away from his. Sam sighed. They’d work it out.
They had to.
He just wasn’t sure how.
“I GUESS I WIN, after all, just like we planned in the very beginning,” Sam told his brothers as they sat upstairs in the library, having a weekly meeting. Actually, they weren’t meeting as much as trying to absorb Sam’s super-huge news. “If there was anything to win, I would. However, since Bode’s given up the fight and the ranch has been divided, I get four bundles of joy just because I’m the lucky one in the family.”
“Lucky or the best shot,” Rafe observed. “That’s like one of those pool moves where one ball hits several others and they all sink. Always looks so easy on TV.” Rafe grinned at him. “That’s kind of what you did, a one-shot multi-pocket, bro.”
Judah raised his glass. “I think it’s the luck of the baby. We’ve always known Sam had it easier than the rest of us.”
“Easier!” Sam glared at his brothers. “I don’t see how four babies is going to be easier, on me or Seton.” He shook his head. “The doctor said something about bed rest coming sooner with quadruplets, but I could barely focus on what he was saying. In fact, I think I might have been a little light-headed,” he added thoughtfully.
Pete laughed. “That’s shock, bro. Every dad gets it. Some worse than others.”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about my wife.”
“What’s to do?” Creed asked. “Whether you like it or not, you’ve been blessed with four babies. In a few days, you’ll get excited about it. I think.”
Sam wasn’t certain. At the moment, he thought his overriding emotion was fear. Who the hell am I? How can I be a father?
“Personally, I think it’s hellaciously amusing that Seton snuck up on you like that,” Judah said. “I remember when you said you weren’t going to be caught by a woman, that you weren’t going to be a sad sack running after a female. Seton went ahead and pulled the trigger for you, times four.”
His brothers laughed. Sam scratched his head, still not sure what he thought about his little wife’s plan. “It wasn’t supposed to go this way. She and I were just going to get married, no strings attached. Sort of.”
“Ha,” Pete said, “that’ll teach you to try to plot your future. When it comes to wives and babies, it’s all about hanging on for dear life.”
Yeah, but his brothers were so happy with their wives. Sam wondered if he and Seton would ever get to that stage.
He sort of felt she’d been dishonest, but that wasn’t true. She’d never made any secret of how much she wanted a child. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Sam said. “I think I should be mad at her, but I’m pretty certain I’m just freaked out.”
“Well,” Creed began, in a kindly tone, “too bad there’s nothing for you to win anymore. Thanks to Bode, we’re free men again.”
Sam shrugged and raised his glass when his brothers did, toasting his news. Part of him knew he should be with Seton at this moment. She had no one to talk to, not really. There was her aunt, and maybe her sister, if Sabrina was around, not to mention four other Callahan brides on the ranch. He sighed. “I better go. I’m pretty sure I should be celebrating with my wife. Not with you laughing hyenas.”
That set his brothers off on a great wave of guffaws—turkeys!—and so Sam slunk off, not sure how a man who wasn’t ready to be a dad could be suddenly expecting quadruplets.
Four little babies who were going to need him.
He had to pull himself together.
Chapter Eleven
“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Seton said two weeks later, and Sam raised his hands high in the air.
“I surrender,” he said. “I don’t think I can wrap my poor slow brain around any more of your news bulletins, love.”
She shook her head. “Maybe you need another law case to take on. You’re sounding out of practice, for the bulldog attorney you’re supposed to be.”
She smiled as she stared at her computer screen, and Sam took a seat beside her with a deep sigh. “Is this going to work for you as
a pseudo-office? We can make more adjustments, but I have a funny feeling you’re not going to be going to your office in town much longer. Even I can see that you’re growing more bountiful.”
“I have a little while longer, I hope,” she said, “and this office you put together for me is nice. Thank you, Sam.”
This time she smiled at him, and Sam’s heart filled up. He was still glad he’d married her, even if she was a tricky little thing. Secretly, he liked the fact that he had to stay on his toes around her. Seton was so sweet and so kind that he hadn’t been able to stay disgruntled with her for long.