Ooh Baby, Baby

by Diana K. Whitney

  “Hmm?” Travis glanced up at the hovering clerk. “No, just looking. Thanks.”

  The clerk followed his eye. “That’s real brushed suede, just like the big guys wear. And this—” he fingered the supple white fringe “—is hand-beaded. Pretty, ain’t it?”

  Travis nodded, but the items blurred under his stare, replaced by the image of two fat, drooly little faces. He could practically hear the twins in his mind, their delighted little squeaks as he wound up their musical toy. He could feel their soft warmth in his arms, the wriggle of their tiny muscles growing stronger every day. God, he missed them.

  And Peggy. Hardly a minute went by he couldn’t see her face in his mind, smell the flowery sweetness of her hair. Thoughts of her crowded everything else to a small corner somewhere in the back of his brain. The rodeo gave him no joy anymore. He was empty inside. He was miserable.

  He was in love.

  But it didn’t matter. Peggy didn’t want him, and Travis couldn’t blame her. She needed a real father for those babies, not some broken-down cowboy with nothing to his name except an old truck and a pocket full of dreams.

  So no matter how much it hurt, Travis was determined to respect her wishes, to stay out of her life, far away from her and from the babies he’d come to love as if they’d been his very own.

  “So how ’bout it, mister? I can give you a great price.”

  Travis blinked, looked up. “Sorry, can’t use ‘em.”

  He stiffened his shoulders, trashed his soda and headed back to the arena, determined to put Peggy Saxon and her beautiful babies out of his mind forever.

  But that night, as he drove toward another rodeo, another town filled with strangers, the little hat and vest were in the back seat.

  * * *

  “It’s about time you called.”

  Travis shifted his weight, plugging one ear to block out traffic noise from the interstate. “Been kind of busy, sis. So, how’s everybody doing?”

  “Well, let’s see. Danny loves school, only calls when he wants money. Jimmy sprained his big toe and acts like he’s gonna be crippled for life. And Ted’s in love with a chesty blonde he met at the Pak ‘n’ Sav. That’s about it.”

  He switched the cell phone to his left ear and blew out a breath. “How’s, umm, everybody else?”

  “Asking about anyone in particular, are you?”

  Pinching the bridge of his nose, Travis swallowed the urge to make a rude suggestion. “You know who I’m talking about.”

  “Sure I do. I’d just like to hear you say her name out loud.”

  “All right. Peggy, dammit. Are you happy now?”

  She was silent a moment, then her voice softened. “The question is, are you happy?”

  Travis had never been unhappier in his life. “Sure. Why not?”

  “I just thought you might regret walking out, throwing Peggy and those babies to the wolves.”

  He straightened. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  A pained sigh filtered over the line. “Do you care?”

  “Don’t mess with me, Sue Anne. I’m not so far away I can’t come teach you some manners before I plant myself on Peggy’s front porch and find out what the devil is going on.”

  “Well, that might be a little problem. Come next week, Peggy isn’t gonna have a front porch. In fact, she isn’t gonna have a house.” Sue Anne paused for effect, then added dramatically, “They’re bulldozing the duplex to build a new strip mall.”

  “Oh, Lordy.” Travis clamped the phone hard enough to crack plastic. “You mean she and those babies are going to be thrown out into the street?”

  “Sad, isn’t it?”

  “There must be a mistake. No one on earth is cold enough to do that. I mean—” Travis switched ears again. “What’s going to happen, Sue Anne? What’s she going to do?”

  “Well, she’s sure’n the devil not going to sit there with those babies and watch the walls come down around her ears,” Sue Anne snapped. “She’s leaving.”

  Travis’s heart sank like a stone. “Where’s she going?”

  “The way I figure it, you lost the right to ask those questions when you walked out. Oops, the dispatch phone is ringing. Got to go.”

  “Damn it, Sue Anne, don’t you hang—”

  Grinning madly, Sue Anne cradled the receiver, unplugged the house phone so Travis couldn’t call back and gave the silent dispatch unit an affectionate pat.

  “That ought to do it,” she muttered aloud, then cupped her hands behind her head, propped her feet on the desk and wondered if her brother would make it to Grand Springs by sundown.

  * * *

  After ripping a gluey line of sealing tape to bind the cardboard flaps, Peggy tossed the dispenser aside, flipped the carton over and loaded a lamp, shoe boxes of her cherished photographs and her beloved travel books. There was extra room in the carton, so she left it open, pushed it into the corner and glanced around, disheartened by the chaos.

  Packing was second nature to her, but the immense volume of baby things added a whole new dimension to the moving process. She couldn’t box up infant supplies in advance, because she used everything every day. Sometimes every hour.

  She’d even discarded the notion of packing Homer and Bertha, fearing the twins wouldn’t be able to sleep without the company of the stuffed Texan elephants that had shared their cribs from the beginning.

  Moving day would be utter pandemonium. Still, there must be something she could do in advance to ease the final crunch.

  Peggy wandered into the kitchen, which was muddled with smaller boxes bristling with cooking utensils. A soft trill caught her attention. She smiled at the furry orange face peering through the screen. “Hi, sweet boy. Are we ready for supper?”

  The cat issued an agreeable meow, perked up as Peggy reached for the kibble box, then hung back as she went out to the porch. The wary animal still wouldn’t permit her to touch him, so she refilled his plate, then watched from behind the screen door as the hungry stray slunk over to gobble up his meal.

  She fretted about the poor little fellow, wondering what would happen to him when she was gone. If only she could get close enough to catch him, perhaps—The front door suddenly vibrated as if being pummeled by a jackhammer. Peggy nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around, clutched her throat and froze. There was another explosive burst, as if someone was trying to pound the door down.

  She eyed a butcher’s knife jutting from a half-packed carton, ignoring the rational voice in her mind that reminded her criminals rarely knocked.

  The frantic pounding continued. “Peggy! Open the door.”

  Her mouth went dry. She tottered forward. That sounded like— “Dang it, Peggy, I know you’re in there. Open the dadgummed door.”

  “Travis,” she murmured. It took a moment for the shock to subside. When it did, Peggy leapt forward, sprinted through the living room, hurdled a stack of linens and yanked open the door.

  Words stuck in her throat, backed her breath into her lungs. He stood there in a sweat-stained T-shirt and floppy leather vest, wild-eyed, utterly disheveled and gloriously unkempt. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything except stare mutely and wonder if this was some kind of cruel dream.

  Travis swallowed hard, scanned her quickly, then his gaze settled on her face. His eyes softened, growing wary as he glanced over her shoulder into the cluttered room. His lips thinned. “It’s true, then. You’re leaving.”

  “Yes.”

  Apparently interpreting her nervous step back as an invitation, Travis opened the screen and strode inside. His tight gaze swept to a lopsided stack of cartons. “When?”

  She clasped her hands to keep from hugging him. “This weekend.”

  Travis laid a hand on the sofa, eyeing the heavy furniture, the piled packing crates. “You can’t manage all this on your own.”

  “Jimmy’s bringing his pickup truck. He and Ted will help with the heavy stuff. It should only take three or
four trips to get everything transferred.”

  “Transferred?” Travis frowned, cocking his head. Peggy didn’t much care for the glint in his eye. “Transferred to where?”

  “The management firm that rented me this place also manages an apartment complex on Mill Street,” she replied, completely mystified by his stunned expression. “I’ll be moving into one of the units.”

  “Mill Street is only a couple of miles from here.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “But I thought you were leaving town. Hell, I thought you were leaving the danged state.”

  “Why would you think that…? Uh-oh.” Peggy covered her mouth as Travis’s eyes narrowed into mean little slits. She tried to swallow a smile, failed and finally extended a pleading hand. “Now, Travis, I’m sure it’s all just an innocent misunderstanding.”

  Travis hooked his thumbs in his jeans, scowling darkly. “There’s nothing innocent about my sister. She’s devious as the devil himself.”

  “I’m sure Sue Anne meant well.” Peggy’s smile faded as the realization sank in. “So that’s why you came back, to say goodbye?”

  He shrugged, twitched, was suddenly fascinated by a twisted shard of tape stuck to the carpeting. “Not exactly,” he muttered, poking the sticky lump with his booted toe. “I, uh, figured I might kind of, well, tag along.”

  “Tag along?”

  “Just to, you know, make sure you got settled and such.” Travis tugged his earlobe, avoided her gaze. “Then I figured I might hang around.”

  “Hang around,” Peggy murmured, feeling like a confused parrot. She licked her lips and tried to form a cohesive thought by repeating herself yet again. “Tag along and hang around.” It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense. “But why?”

  “Oh, Lordy.” Travis yanked off his hat and wiped a forearm across his brow looking miserable as a whipped puppy. “I’m not fixing to interfere in your life or anything, honest to God, I just want to…ah, well, you know.”

  “No, Travis, I don’t know. I don’t even have a clue.”

  He licked his lips and angled a glance toward the hall. “How’re the twins? Bet they’ve sprouted plenty in the last three weeks.”

  “Travis—”

  “Oh, all right.” Tugging on his hat, Travis set a determined jaw and folded his arms like a shield. “Thing is, I just wanted to be close by in case you needed me. Now, don’t go getting riled.” He uncrossed his arms, holding his palms out like matching stop signs. “I know you can take care of yourself. God knows how many times you’ve told me. And I know you don’t want me getting in your way.”

  “Oh, Travis, that’s not—”

  “Now, I don’t blame you, honey, I surely don’t. I haven’t got beans to offer a woman like you, and someday you’re going to find a man who’ll make a fine husband and daddy.” The words seemed to choke him, to force him to spit out every syllable like a bad taste.

  Travis took a breath, avoided her stunned gaze and continued, running the words together as if he feared the slightest pause would be fatal. “But right now you’re on your own, so I figured I’d kind of hang close just in case, you know, on account of if you ever needed a friend, I—” he coughed, folded his arms again “—I’d be there.”

  Peggy was touched to tears. “You’d do that…for me?” Her voice quivered with emotion. “But why?”

  “I promised I’d never leave you,” he said simply.

  A lump of pure misery wedged in her throat.

  She covered her eyes for a moment, gathered her courage, then faced him with as much fortitude as she could muster. “Under the circumstances, I wouldn’t be fair of me to hold you to that promise, Travis, and I won’t.”

  “I hold myself to it.”

  “But you’d have to give up the rodeo, that ranch in Texas you’ve been saving for—”

  His head snapped up. “How’d you know about the ranch?”

  “Sue Anne,” she replied, waving that away as irrelevant. “The point is, that by keeping a promise I never asked you to make, you’ll end up losing everything that’s important to you.”

  Travis studied her eyes, then glanced away as if disappointed by what he’d seen. Or perhaps by what he hadn’t seen. “I’ll admit rodeo means a lot to me, and so does the ranch, but I reckon you and the babies mean a darn sight more.” If he heard Peggy’s shocked gasp, he made no indication. Instead, he continued to stare into space with sad eyes and a determined stance. “Now, I don’t want you to be worried about me expecting something in return, because I respect how you feel about commitments and such—”

  “It’s a lie,” Peggy blurted, then groaned at Travis’s startled expression. She bit her lip, squared her shoulders and decided that no matter what the outcome, Travis deserved the truth. They both did. “When I said I wanted you to leave, that I wasn’t ready for a commitment, it simply wasn’t true. I lied.”

  Clearly, he was bewildered by the revelation. And hurt by it. “I suppose you had your reasons.”

  “Yes, I did.” Reaching up, she tenderly touched his face, urging him to meet her gaze. “I lied because you are too noble, too selfless to be trusted with your own best interests. Don’t you understand why I couldn’t let you give up your life, your dreams?”

  Travis shifted, scratched his forehead. “No, ma’am, can’t say that I do.”

  Peggy clutched the open folds of his leather vest, hoisted up on tiptoes and whispered against his lips. “Because I love you, Travis Stockwell. If you can’t see that, you’re every bit as hardheaded and dense as your sister claims.” She brushed a sweet kiss across his mouth, then withdrew nervously, waiting for his response.

  His eyes were dark, veiled. “Do you really mean that?”

  “The part about you being hardheaded and dense as a stone? Oh, absolutely.”

  “The other part, the love part.”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “I really mean it.”

  Travis’s Adam’s apple twitched and his fingers flexed at her shoulders as if he wanted desperately to haul her into his arms. “I love you, too, honey, so much it hurts just to think about it. I’d be proud if you’d marry me, Peggy, but before you answer, I want you to know that I promise to get me a real job, one that pays enough so you and the twins will never have to worry about money again.”

  “You’ve got a real job, cowboy.”

  He shook his head, set a stubborn chin. “Following the rodeo circuit means being on the road half the year. I won’t leave you and the babies to fend for yourselves.”

  “You won’t have to.” Peggy smiled and tickled a messy strand of sun-streaked hair peeking out from under his hat. “Trust me.”

  * * *

  Sue Anne sniffed and wiped her moist eyes. “So, I guess that’s everything?”

  “I think so.” Peggy rechecked the twins’ car-seat straps, then exited the back seat of Travis’s pickup and brushed her palms together. “Are you sure all that furniture isn’t going to get in your way? I mean, we can always rent a storage shed—”

  “Oh, pish. We got piles of room in that old garage, don’t we, babe?” Sue Anne elbowed her husband, who blinked as if he’d just awakened on a new planet.

  “Hmm? Oh, sure, sweet cakes. Lots of room.” Jimmy beamed, slipping an arm around his wife’s shoulders and glancing over at Travis, who was at the rear of the pickup. “Need any help?”

  Travis stepped over the hookup tongue where the roomy fifth wheel was connected to the old diesel pickup truck. “Nope, all hooked up and ready to roll.” He patted the trailer’s shiny skin, and Peggy rejoiced at the glowing pride in her husband’s eyes.

  She met him at the curb and slipped an arm around his waist. “Our first home,” she murmured, eyeing the gleaming fifth wheel that would provide all the comforts during their travels. They planned to follow the circuit for the next few years, until the twins were ready for school and they’d saved enough for the ranch Travis had dreamed about.

  As for Peggy, she frequently pinched he
rself to make sure this wasn’t all a wonderful dream. “I’m so excited. I swear, this is the most fun I’ve ever had standing up.”

  “Is that a fact?” Travis chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Maybe I can come up with something even better.”

  “Ooh, I can hardly wait.” She batted her eyelashes. “My stars, Mr. Stockwell, I had no idea how truly inventive cowboys could be.”

  “The truth is, Mrs. Stockwell—” he lowered his lips to her ear and whispered “—you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  “Newlyweds,” Sue Anne snorted. “Can’t keep their horny hands off each other.”

  “Disgusting,” Jimmy agreed, grabbing his wife’s bottom.

  Travis beamed, rubbing his hands together. “We’d better hit the road. We’re due in Kalispell tomorrow.”

  Sue Anne’s stoic expression crumpled beneath a flurry of hugs, manly backslaps and teary farewells. “Drive careful,” she called as Peggy and Travis climbed into the truck cab. “Y’all call when you get there, hear?”

  “We will, and don’t forget that we’ll be back for Thanksgiving.” Peggy waved out the open window, then settled back in her seat, smiling.

  Travis reached over and took her hand. “Any regrets?”

  “Not a one,” she replied, rubbing her cheek against his knuckles. “I’m looking forward to being a rodeo wife. Who knows, I might even take up barrel racing. Sue Anne makes it sound like great fun.”

  “I’ll make you happy, honey. I swear.”

  Peggy’s gaze bounced from her husband’s solemn face, to the back seat where the twins were safely tucked in their carriers, and finally landed on the orange cat curled contently in the trailer window. “You already have, my love. You already have.”

  About the Author

  A three-time Romance Writers of America RITA® Award finalist, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee and finalist for Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence, Diana has published thirty romance and romantic suspense novels since her first Silhouette Books title in 1989. Diana has conducted many writing workshops and has published several articles on the craft of fiction writing for various trade magazines and newsletters. She is a member of Authors Guild, Novelists, Inc., Published Authors Network and Romance Writers of America. She and her husband live in rural Northern California with a beloved menagerie of furred creatures, domestic and wild!