A Baby on the Ranch

by Stella Bagwell

  For long moments she didn’t say anything, and then slowly she turned and tilted her face up to his. “If that’s true,” she said accusingly, “then why wasn’t I raised with my brothers and sister? Why was I sent to Texas?”

  Lonnie glanced away from her, drew in a bracing breath and tightened his hold on her shoulders. “Because you—” He forced his eyes to return to hers. “Because Amelia had been having an affair and she didn’t want her family to know about her pregnancy.”

  Katherine’s hands instinctively pressed against the mound of baby she was carrying, and Lonnie could see from the torn look on her face that she couldn’t imagine any circumstances that would make her separate herself from her child.

  “All right,” she said, then swallowed convulsively. “If that’s the case, then who is my father?”

  “I hate to have to tell you this, Katherine. But your father was Noah Rider.”

  If possible, she went even whiter, and her lips began to move but no sound was coming out.

  “No-No-ah?” she finally whispered.

  Lonnie started to nod, but he didn’t have time. Before he could respond, she wilted like a sunflower, and he caught her just as she fell against his chest.

  Chapter Two

  “Whoa! Whoa, now, Miss Katherine! Don’t you faint on me!”

  With his hands gripping her upper arms, Lonnie attempted to steady her. To his relief, she stayed upright, but her neck couldn’t seem to hold her head straight, and her gaze was blank.

  Cursing under his breath, Lonnie quickly scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the couch. As he eased her down on an end cushion and propped a pile of throw pillows against her back, she began to protest.

  “You can let go of me now. I’m…okay,” she said stammered weakly. “I just had a woozy moment. It’s passed now.”

  Reluctant to loosen his hold on her, Lonnie kept his fingers tightly fastened around her arm as he sat down on the cushion next to her. “I think I’d better take you to the emergency room,” he said with concern. “Just to make sure you’re okay.”

  She looked at him, and her cheeks flushed pink, a sign that relieved Lonnie. At least her blood was pumping at a regular rate again.

  “No! I’m fine, really. My head swam for only a few seconds. And that’s not unusual for a pregnant woman. Believe me, if I feel the least bit woozy in the morning, I’ll head to my obstetrician.”

  The Deaf Smith County sheriff looked at her with faint skepticism. “I don’t know much about pregnant women. But you’ve had a shock and—”

  “I’m tough,” she quickly interjected. “Besides, now that I’ve had a few moments to collect myself, I’m beginning to think about all you’ve said. And I might as well tell you—I’m not at all convinced that I should take any of your story at face value. As far as I’m concerned, a letter doesn’t prove anything. Anyone could have written it.”

  She straightened her slumped shoulders and reached up to push several strands of disheveled hair from her face. The movement caused the grip of his fingers on her arm to loosen, and Katherine likened the feeling to a piece of hot iron being pulled away from her skin. She’d been around men before. Even rugged, outdoor types like Sheriff Lonnie Corteen. Yet she couldn’t remember one, including the father of her baby, whom she’d reacted to as violently as she had this man. It didn’t make sense. He wasn’t what she’d call handsome. He was tall and rawboned and his features were more rough than smooth. Hooded blue eyes set over a big nose. Hollow creases bracketed a wide, roughly hewn set of lips. The angle of his jaw and the jut of his chin were strong, even a little arrogant. Everything about him was potently masculine, and it embarrassed her to be reacting to him in such a downright sexual way.

  “No,” he said slowly. “A letter doesn’t necessarily prove anything. After all, it could have been forged. But for what reason? What would anyone gain out of making up a story like this?”

  Katherine couldn’t think of one thing anyone might gain, and that unsettled her even more. Saying Celia wasn’t her mother was like saying the sun didn’t rise in the east. “I would know my mother’s handwriting,” she quickly informed him.

  He looked at her regretfully. “Don’t you mean your aunt’s handwriting?”

  Her nostrils flared as she took in the meaning of his question. “Celia McBride was my mother. She’s the only mother I’ve ever known. And I…I think it’s despicable that you’ve come into my home and questioned the veracity of my family.”

  “I’m not questioning anything, Miss Katherine. This is the story Seth Ketchum gave to me. And Seth doesn’t lie. He’s a Texas Ranger.”

  And that was close to being godly, Katherine thought as her stomach tilted wildly. Honor and truth were a motto the Rangers lived by. But that didn’t mean this Seth person was automatically right. He could have gotten his information confused. It was some other woman, not her, that had been born to Amelia Ketchum all those years ago!

  “I’m not saying that your friend is lying about any of this. I’m just thinking that he could have received misinformation.”

  The sheriff reached for her hand and she allowed his big fingers to wrap around hers. The size of his hand and the rough skin of his palm reminded Katherine that he was a big, tough lawman. Yet she felt a unique tenderness in his touch as his fingers gently squeezed hers.

  Shaken by that contradiction, she glanced away from him and swallowed.

  Lonnie said softly, “I understand this is a whole heap of information for you to take in at once, Katherine. And if I were in your shoes, I’d probably be protesting a lot louder than you are. I’m not asking you just to take my word for the truth. I realize you need facts. And so do the Ketchums. That’s why they asked me to find you. If you’re really their half sister, they want to know it. Don’t you?”

  She slanted a woeful glance at him as fear of the unknown crept over her like a night shadow. “I don’t know. I pretty much like things the way they are.”

  Sighing, he pushed a hand through his hair. Katherine couldn’t help but notice it was thick and slightly wavy, the color somewhere between russet and chestnut. For a person with red highlights in his hair, he had darkly tanned skin. From hours spent in the Texas sun, she supposed. That could only mean he did much more than sit in a sheriff’s office behind a wide desk and bark orders to his deputy.

  Why are you even noticing these things, Katherine? It isn’t like you to be thinking about a man in this way. Stop it! Before it gets you in trouble.

  The little voice in her head made her want to laugh with self-mockery. What was she thinking? A man had already gotten her into trouble. She was facing the future of raising a child alone. But she was bound and determined to do it and do it well. Just as her mother had raised Katherine all on her own.

  “But you might like things better with a family,” he reasoned.

  The suggestion caused a fissure of pain to creep slowly between her breasts. Of course she would like a family. Since she was old enough to remember, she’d longed for siblings. But Celia had always told Katherine that a family had to have a daddy to have babies and they hadn’t had a daddy in their little family. As a child, that reason had been enough for Katherine to quit asking her mother to give her a sibling. But later, when she’d grown up, she’d often wondered why her mother had never married and given them a true family. Was it because Celia hadn’t really been her mother? No! That couldn’t be. The woman simply hadn’t trusted men. Ben had hurt her and she’d never wanted to be hurt again. Katherine certainly couldn’t blame her mother for being gun-shy about marriage. Especially now that Walt had deserted her like a pile of oily rags.

  “Maybe,” she said to Lonnie. “But being part of a family isn’t—it’s not just something you can learn how to do! And besides, these people don’t know me. And once they did, they might not want me in their family. I don’t want to go through that sort of rejection. Not for any reason.”

  His brows lifted slightly as he studied her face
. “Does this mean—are you actually beginning to believe that Amelia Ketchum and Noah Rider are your true parents?”

  Was she? No! It was going to take more than a sheriff and a letter to persuade her.

  Her mouth set in a grim line, she looked at him. “I’m sorry, but no.”

  “I’m sorry, too,” he murmured as his eyes flicked regretfully over her face. “Because I think you’re turning away from a wonderful, loving family.”

  Her gaze fell to his big brown fingers wrapped around her pale hand. To have such a man as Lonnie Corteen sitting here holding her hand and talking about family was unbearably sweet. So much so that she knew she had to pull away from him. She had to quickly put an end to this whole disturbing episode. Not only the story of the Ketchums, but also her time with this man.

  Pulling her hand from his, she slowly pushed herself to her feet. “I understand you’re only the messenger and you’re trying to help. But I’m really not up to this. In fact, I’m very, very tired. I’m going to have a bite to eat and lie down.”

  She was asking him to leave and Lonnie certainly couldn’t argue. But it bothered him that nothing was settled. It also bothered him to say goodbye to the woman. He felt an unexplainable need to hang around and protect her. From what, he didn’t know. Hell, it looked as though he was the only one giving her a problem.

  “Yeah. Maybe you should,” he agreed. Rising to his feet, he collected his hat from a spot on the floor near the armchair. As he settled it down on his forehead he looked to see she was about to rise to her feet. Swiftly, he waved her back down. “No need for you to get up, Katherine. I’ll see myself out. But there is something I need to know before I leave.”

  Her brows arched with question. “Yes?”

  “When can I see you again?”

  She sat straight up and stared at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t leave town with things as they are. We’ve got to talk about this. You’ve got to decide what you’re going to do so that I can tell the Ketchums.”

  Katherine said in dismay, “I can’t tell you something like that now!”

  “What about tomorrow?”

  She smacked a palm against her forehead. “No! I don’t—I don’t even want to think about it tomorrow or the next day! Just go back to Hereford and tell the Ketchums…tell them I’m Celia McBride’s daughter and that’s all I want to be!”

  He was closer to the door than to her, but her words caused him to return to the couch and look down at her. “I can’t do that, Miss Katherine. It wouldn’t be good for them or for you.” He grimaced as he studied her bright cheeks against her pale, pale face. “Do you have a friend you can call? Someone who can come sit with you? You looked pretty peaked, and I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone.”

  Squaring her shoulders, she pressed her lips into a straight line of disapproval. “I don’t need anyone. I’m not a weak woman, Mr.— I mean, Sheriff Corteen. Not physically or mentally. I’ll be just fine. Don’t worry about me.”

  Lonnie would worry about her, but there wasn’t much he could do about her situation. Especially when she didn’t want his help. Sighing to himself, he walked over to the door. “All right, I’m leaving. But I’m not leaving Fort Worth. Not until we’ve hashed this all out.”

  Lonnie stepped out into the cold night and, across the room, Katherine fell back weakly against the pile of throw pillows.

  “I’m telling you, Seth, this isn’t going to work,” Lonnie said into the phone the next morning as he sat on the edge of his motel bed and swigged weak coffee from a foam cup. “You or Victoria or Ross will have to come here and try to talk some sense into the woman. She doesn’t believe a thing I say.”

  The Texas Ranger on the other end of the phone let out a long sigh. “Look, Lonnie, I’m not a bit surprised the woman doesn’t believe the story you told her. My Lord, it sounds crazy even when I hear it myself. Obviously she’s going to need some time to let all this sink in.”

  Lonnie reached for one of the fresh doughnuts he’d collected from the motel lobby. A continental breakfast wasn’t like biscuits and gravy, but it would do until he got home.

  “Well, that’s probably true,” Lonnie agreed. “But I sure can’t hang around here while it sinks. I’ve got a county to see after.”

  “I understand that, Lonnie. If you have to go home, you have to go home. But I was sure hoping you could persuade her to talk to us. She’s our sister, we’d like for her to be a part of the family.”

  Lonnie swallowed a huge bite of the doughnut before he replied. “I tried, Seth. And to tell you the truth, I probably pushed her a little too much. Uh, I haven’t told you this part yet. But the woman is expecting a baby. Real soon,” he added while recalling the sight of her bulging waistline. “And I felt bad about giving her such a shock. But once I was there, I didn’t have much choice.”

  “A baby!”

  “Yep. In about three weeks, she said.”

  “Is she married?” Seth asked.

  Lonnie reached for another doughnut as he tried not to think about Katherine being pregnant and alone. “No. Seems like she doesn’t want to be, either. I guess the daddy must have left her bitter about that. Anyway, she appears to be pretty much all by herself. Celia died a couple of years back from kidney failure.”

  Seth was silent for a few moments, and Lonnie figured his friend was thinking the same thing he’d been thinking since he’d met Katherine McBride last night. She was obviously going to need help. A woman shouldn’t bear a child and then come home to an empty house.

  “That’s not good, Lonnie. Not good at all.”

  “Well, I could be wrong. She may have plenty of friends who might see after her. I don’t know. I tried to ask her about that last night, but she’s pretty touchy and more or less put me in my place before I could get anything out of her.”

  “Hmm. That’s a surprise. You always were good with women. That’s why I wanted you to meet with Katherine. I thought if anyone could talk to her, you could.”

  Lonnie snorted with disbelief. “Me, good with women? Seth, something must have happened to you since you’ve gotten married. I’ve had one…well, one girlfriend in my lifetime, and that was an experience I wish I could forget. Other than helping them cross the street or listening to their civil complaints, I don’t know anything about them.”

  Except that they were unpredictable and capable of dealing a man more pain than any bullet from a criminal’s gun, Lonnie thought grimly.

  Seth chuckled. “Don’t feel badly, Lonnie. None of the rest of us men know about them, either. But you seem to be able to communicate with them. That’s why you’ve got to go back and try to reason with the woman. She needs to go to the ranch where Victoria can keep an eye on her. And since Victoria is expecting a baby herself, it would make it even better if the two women could be close.”

  Seth’s sister, Victoria Ketchum Hastings, was a medical doctor with a busy practice in Aztec. She was also married to the under sheriff of San Juan County, New Mexico, and the two were expecting their second child in January.

  “I’m sure Katherine has her own obstetrician. At this late stage of things she probably wouldn’t want to leave Fort Worth and change to a different doctor.”

  “Hmm. See, that’s why you’re good with women. You think about those little things. I just think about the big picture. Thank God, Corrina understands me. But that still doesn’t change the fact that my half sister needs help.”

  Lonnie swallowed down the last bite of his doughnut before he said, “Well, Seth, I can’t tell you how to give her any help. The last thing she said to me was to tell you Ketchums that she’s Celia McBride’s daughter and that’s all she wants to be. I don’t think she would welcome any of you into her life. Not now, at least. She needs to simmer on all of this for a while.”

  “Yeah. But her being pregnant changes things, Lonnie. We don’t have time to let her simmer. We need to help her.”

  Lonnie frowned. “Seth, I don’t
understand why you feel beholden to help this woman. You’ve never met her. You don’t know what kind of person she is,” he pointed out. “She might not be worthy of all this help you want to give her.”

  “Is that the impression you got from her?” Seth countered.

  Heat suffused Lonnie’s face. It wouldn’t do for Seth to know all the intimate impressions he’d had of beautiful Katherine McBride.

  “No,” Lonnie agreed with a sigh. “She seems like a nice girl. And it’s pretty obvious that she could use a helping hand. But it just surprises me that you and your family have gone to such lengths to find her.”

  “She’s a Ketchum, Lonnie,” Seth explained. “Well, technically, she’s not, but she has our mother’s blood, and that makes her family. Plus, Noah was her father. And we all loved Noah. Maybe we wouldn’t have if we’d known he was carrying on a love affair with our mother while he was the T Bar K foreman. But we didn’t know it. And anyway, I guess all of us children have agreed that Mom had good reason to look elsewhere for love. God knows, she sure didn’t get much from Dad.”

  He paused, and Lonnie could hear the squeak of a desk chair and then the clunk of Seth’s boots against the floor. Apparently his friend was pacing now and that was enough to tell Lonnie how important this whole thing was to the Ketchum family.

  “Lonnie, I know you’re probably thinking I should let sleeping dogs lie, but I believe Mom would be happy, real happy if she knew we were reaching out to Katherine and attempting to make her a part of the Ketchum clan. That’s why I want you to go back there and try one more time. Tell her there’s a home waiting for her at the T Bar K. Ross and Bella would welcome her with open arms. We all would.”

  Lonnie grimaced as he swallowed the last of his coffee. “Hell, Seth, she won’t go to your family ranch in New Mexico. The T Bar K is more than seven hundred miles from here. I doubt I could even talk her into going as far as my ranch in Hereford to meet with you, and that’s only half that much distance.”