by Ann Yost
A moment later Nicole excused herself. Baz took Hallie in his arms. She felt so good, soft but strong.
A woman a man could count on. “I know you wanted a baby of your own,” he whispered.
She looked up at him, her face shining. “I never told you the rest of that wish. I wanted a baby that was ours. Yours and mine. I have to tell you I wouldn’t trade that little boy for any other baby in the world.”
Baz had no words for that. He pulled her into his big body and closed his arms around her. He buried his face in her springy hair.
Chapter Twenty
Baz cupped Hallie’s face in his hands. Emotions zephyred through him. He couldn’t tell whether they were relief or ecstasy, or lust, or some combination of all three. He lowered his mouth to hers. He intended to give her a quick kiss, just to seal the deal, but the contact hit him with the impact of a speeding comet.
All at once his tongue was in her mouth, and her arms were around his neck. Instantly, he was hard and ready.
“Bed,” he panted. “Now.” He grabbed her hand.
“Your apartment.”
“No can do,” she gasped. “Electricity’s off.”
He didn’t waste time on a curse. “Upstairs then.
My bedroom. Hurry.” He placed her hand on his crotch.
“I see your point.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Halliday. I’m ready to burst.”
He held onto her hand and started up the stairs.
She stopped him twice to sprinkle kisses all over his face and at the bottom of his throat where his tie would normally be.
“Ah, baby, that’s so good. So good.”
“I’m just so happy,” she said.
“I know. Me too. I’ll be even happier when we’re lying down.”
She grinned at him. “Lost your sense of adventure? Remember how fun it was to make love in the truck cab?”
“That was different. There was no chance of running into any family members there.”
“Upstairs it is,” she murmured.
He sent up a prayer of thanks even as he wondered if he’d make it to his bedroom.
They reached the landing only to be greeted by an irritated wail. “Shit,” he gritted.
“I’ll check him. It’ll just be a minute.”
He had become well acquainted with those “little minutes.” They involved diaper changing, bottle heating, feeding time, burping time and Hallie-singing-her-son-to-sleep time.
“I’ve got a better idea.”
He knocked on Cam’s door. “I’ll donate five hundred dollars to the Eden County Chamber of Commerce if you take care of Robert for half an hour.”
Cam stared at him.
“Okay. A thousand. For twenty minutes.”
Cam’s lips twitched, but he managed not to smile. “No problem.”
An instant later they were inside his room.
Another instant later and he was inside her. “Oh, baby, baby,” he groaned. “It feels like it’s been a year.”
She smiled her million-dollar smile, and her eyes turned golden. “It has been a year. Thank God you said no last Christmas!”
He knew she was thanking him for Robert.
“I’m glad you appreciated it,” he said, between kisses, “because it was the last time. I never plan to say no to you again.”
****
Daisy was thrilled when she heard about the heroic efforts of Nadine and Wilbur. Especially Wilbur. She made him a little cape out of one of Robert’s baby blankets and called him “Super Pig.”
She was less enthusiastic about Robert.
Fortunately, Robert was fascinated with her. He kicked his feet and grinned every time she came in the room. Hallie played lots of hands of cards with the little girl. They talked about her role in raising her tiny cousin. Hallie had great hopes that she’d get used to “that noisy baby” in time.
Nicole gravitated toward Asia. Hallie was delighted to see the teenager helping out in the kitchen and confiding the details of her dates with Danny, junior, to the housekeeper.
One morning, a week from the night Baz and Cam arrived home, the family was at breakfast.
Daisy was, as usual, reading to Super Pig and Robert was listening intently. The adults were finishing their coffee, loathe to leave the warm, bright, love-filled kitchen, when the back door opened.
“Surprise,” cried Lucy. “I’d like to introduce you all to the new and improved Jesse Outlaw!”
After a spate of laughter and hugs, Hallie introduced Jesse to both Nicole and Robert. It was a chance for her to practice the story that she’d tell the rest of the world. Jesse questioned no part of it. He just welcomed Nicole with his usual warmth, but his eyes glowed when he saw Robert.
“If you’re not feeling overwhelmed yet, there’s something else I’d like to tell you.”
“Lay it on me, son.”
“I’d like to stay in Eden. If you can use me, I’d like to work at the clinic.”
“Well.” Jesse stroked his chin and pretended to think. “I’ve heard good things about you, boy.
Trouble is, I’ve already got an assistant.”
“We’ve got an answer for that.” Hallie shifted
Robert in her arms. “We thought I could help with the books and paperwork while the two of you handle the practice.”
Jesse shook his head. Hallie stared at him. She couldn’t imagine he’d say no to Baz.
“What I meant was I don’t need an assistant any longer. I’m interested in some free time. Got a number of younger family members I’d like to hang with.” He winked at Nicole.
“What about Wilbur?” Daisy demanded.
“Family members,” he corrected himself, “and pigs. My offer is this: you and Hallie own the clinic jointly. I’ll help out when needed. Be glad to babysit, too.”
“You’ll have to stand in line for that,” Asia said.
The phone in the butler’s pantry rang. Hallie was closest so she excused herself to answer it.
When she returned to the kitchen a few moments later everyone looked at her.
“That was Jake. Mrs. Peach’s sister fell and broke her leg. So Jake needs a housekeeper-slash babysitter-slash-nanny for a month.”
“Forget it,” Baz growled. “You’re not available.”
“Oh, he didn’t ask me. He said he told Sam and Lillie they could choose someone they liked.” What he’d actually said was that he’d made the mistake of letting the kids select their caregiver. She looked at Lucy. “They picked you.”
Lucy appeared tongue-tied.
“You should do it, Luce,” Cam said. “The money will help with your move.”
Baz frowned. “You don’t have to go. I mean, if you’d feel uncomfortable staying there or something,
it’s no big deal.”
“I think you should do it,” Hallie told Lucy. She was convinced there was some kind of chemistry between Lucy and the sheriff. They should check it out. She had become a big believer in chemistry.
“Oh my gosh,” she said to the man who would soon be her husband, “I forgot to tell you. I made an appointment at Eden Memorial for you. It’s on Monday.”
“An appointment for what?”
“A DNA test. It’s no big deal. They take a scraping from inside your cheek and another one from Robert. It takes about a week to get the results.”
Baz glanced at the baby in her arms. “Cancel it.
We aren’t going.”
“Don’t you want to know whether he’s your son?”
Baz lifted the child out of Hallie’s arms. “I already know. Robert is my son. Just like he’s your son. You don’t need to know whether he has your blood type, and I don’t need to know whether he has my tendency to pronate. He’s ours.” He looked around the roomful of people. “He belongs to all of us. Just like we all belong to each other.”
Hallie’s eyes filled with tears of happiness. It was happening a lot these days. She knew Baz had decided not to check the DNA because
he wanted them both to be in the same position. He wanted her to know that it wasn’t blood that held a family together.
Hallie felt his strong arm around her shoulders just as Robert blew a bubble. She had the man and the baby she loved and she intended to take care of them for many, many years.
“We’ll coin a family motto,” Baz said, his voice thick with emotion. “Water is thicker than blood.”
“And love,” Hallie added, “provides the most unbreakable tie of all.”
A word from the author…
I’m from a family of readers and writers, which is great for conversation around the dinner table but not as great when there’s a broken gasket in the toilet tank or the garage door is stuck.
My career has included newspaper journalism, freelance humor writing, and technical writing. I’ve loved fiction since I met Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot, and Puff in the first grade. It has come as a pleasant surprise in recent years to find I love to write about small town people who, through extraordinary experiences, find unexpected depths of passion, jealousy, hatred, and heroism.
My hometown is Ann Arbor, Michigan. I live now in an emptying nest in Northern Virginia with my husband Pete, a retired journalist, and our geriatric golden retriever, Lucy. Our adult children have fulfilled their early promise of being our best friends, although none of them can fix a broken dishwasher, either!
www.annyost.com
www.annyost.blogspot.com
Thank you for purchasing
this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.