COWBOY AND THE BABY, THE

by Ferrarella, Marie

  In the center, connecting the two wings, was not just the lone kindergarten class but a preschool class, as well. There were only three children enrolled for the fall term in the preschool class. The teacher who oversaw the kindergarten class did double duty with preschoolers as well since each class was held at a different time of the day.

  Accustomed to larger schools, not to mention larger classes, Devon thought the whole thing seemed charming and quaint. Julia Shaw had arranged to meet with her on the school grounds and had taken her on a tour of the entire building before conducting the interview.

  Cody had insisted on taking the day off to bring her to the school and to introduce her to Julia.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know,” Devon had protested when he’d told her. “I can drive over myself,” she reminded him, since she had her own vehicle.

  He’d let her talk until she was finished and then said, “Humor me.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured as an afterthought.

  He’d merely smiled at her and replied, “Don’t mention it.”

  He made her feel special and beautiful for no reason at all, but she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop—because it always did.

  * * *

  THE INTERVIEW, CONDUCTED in the principal’s office, lasted all of thirty minutes and that included the tour. Julia Shaw was an attractive blonde who looked more like a model than a newly appointed school principal.

  When the interview ended, Julia sat back in her chair and smiled at her as she nodded. “Well, I’m satisfied,” she told Devon. And then she extended her hand. “Welcome aboard, Devon. The fifth-grade position is all yours.”

  Devon looked at her in disbelief. “Don’t you want to send for my records first to verify everything?” she asked uncertainly.

  “Yes, I will definitely check your credentials and references, but I’m confident in my decision.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Why?” Julia asked her, amused. “Did you lie about them?”

  That caught Devon completely off guard. It took her a second to find her tongue. “No, of course not.”

  Julia spread her hands. “Well, then I know all I need to know. Besides, I went to school with Cody. If he’s vouching for you, that’s certainly good enough for me,” she informed the younger woman. “Moreover, you sound as if you really like children.”

  “Oh, I do,” Devon assured the principal with feeling. She loved not just their innocence but their honesty, as well. As far as she was concerned, children were far more trustworthy than adults.

  “I thought so,” Julia said with approval. “Well, here’s the employment packet the board makes me hand out. Just fill out the forms and bring all that back with you on the first day of school. I’m planning on holding a meeting before then, but I’ll let you know the date once it’s set.” Rising to her feet, she coaxed, “C’mon, I’ll walk you out.”

  Julia led the way through the hall. Stopping at the front door, Julia pushed it opened and held it for Forever’s newest teacher.

  Cody was waiting just outside the entrance. As soon as the door opened, he crossed to it.

  “How’d she do, Jules?” Cody asked the woman beside Devon.

  “Thanks to you, a crisis has been avoided. We have our teacher,” Julia told him. Looking at Devon, the woman smiled. “See you in the fall.”

  Once the principal had retreated back into the building, Cody beamed at Devon. “Congratulations! Why don’t we go to Miss Joan’s and I’ll buy you lunch so we can celebrate?”

  Her smile was somewhat forced. “No, that’s all right.”

  “You’re not hungry?” he asked. For someone who had just gotten the job he thought she was hoping for, Devon didn’t exactly strike him as being overjoyed—or even very happy.

  “I’m too excited to eat,” she told him. “Everything’s happening so fast.”

  Cody abruptly stopped walking and just looked at her. “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” he replied. “I’m just waiting to see your nose grow.”

  She blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “Like Pinocchio when he told a lie,” he explained.

  Indignant, she squared her shoulders. “I’m not lying,” she protested. And then she sighed. Cody was going to keep looking at her until she came clean. “You didn’t tell me you knew her that well.”

  “Knew who that well?” he asked. Devon had managed to lose him without taking a single step.

  “The principal. Ms. Shaw. Julia,” she finally said.

  He shrugged. “I went to school with her,” he admitted, and then asked, “So?”

  She shrugged, embarrassed by how she was feeling, but unable to shake it off. “Nothing. She just seemed rather taken with you, that’s all. Did you two date or anything?”

  “No to both questions,’ he told her. And then it hit him. “You’re not jealous of Julia, are you?”

  “Of course not,” she said much too quickly.

  “Because there’s nothing to be jealous of,” he assured her. “She had a crush on Connor for a while, but I doubt if she even noticed me until I asked her about a teaching position for you.”

  “How could she not notice you?” Devon challenged. The woman had to be blind not to react to Cody’s looks, Devon thought.

  “Very, very easily,” he assured her. “And I think it’s very cute that you’re jealous.”

  “I am not jealous,” she retorted, and then thought better of it. There was really no point in protesting the obvious. “Well, maybe a little.”

  He laughed and then he kissed her, right there in the street. Her heart shot up to her throat and then fell down again, pounding hard. “You’re messing with my head,” she told him.

  “Seems only fair because you’re messing with mine,” he told her as he held the passenger door open for her.

  “I need a clear head to think about my next move,” she said as she got in.

  He rounded the hood and got in on the driver’s side. “Which is?” he asked.

  “Finding a place for Layla and me,” she told him. The words tasted almost bitter in her mouth. “I mean, that’s the next logical step, isn’t it? I can’t expect to impose on you and your family indefinitely.”

  He studied her face before answering. “I wasn’t aware that you were imposing,” he told her. “But if you feel awkward about staying now that we’ve—” How could he put this delicately, he wondered, searching for the words. He finally settled on a euphemism. “—now that we’ve been together, I understand. Although,” he went on as he put his key into the ignition, “if it’ll make you feel better, what happened the other night—and the nights after that—doesn’t have to happen again.”

  Devon felt her stomach sinking. “Then you do think it was a mistake,” she concluded.

  “If it makes you leave, then yes,” he told her simply. Then he felt honor bound to add, “But honestly, no, I don’t think it was a mistake.” He challenged, “How could I?”

  Devon shook her head. She didn’t know what to think. “You’re confusing me.”

  He put the question to her point-blank. “Do you want to move?”

  Devon bit her bottom lip, and then said, “I should.”

  “That’s not what I asked you,” he pointed out. “I said do you want to move.”

  This time Devon pressed her lips together, knowing what she thought she should say and what she actually wanted to say.

  “I’ve never been part of a household where people care about each other, where they watch out for each other. I have no right to be here, but I do know that I am very grateful for the time I got to spend at your ranch with your family.”

  “It doesn’t have to end,” he told her. “At the very least, there’s no rush for you to leave anytime soon. L
isten, we’re all crazy about Layla and, this way, there’s always someone there for her, freeing you up to do what you need to.”

  “But that’s imposing,” Devon insisted.

  There was that word again. Cody was not about to back off. “We don’t see it that way.”

  “You can’t speak for the others,” she told him. For all he knew, his siblings were counting the minutes until she left.

  “Sure I can. After you’ve been through as much as we have together, you get to know what the others are thinking and feeling. And I can tell you with certainty that if I let you move out without at least trying to talk you out of it, the others will have my head, no doubt about it. I might not be the best-looking guy around, but I promise I’ll look even worse without a head.”

  She had no idea why, but that struck her as funny. So funny that she couldn’t stop laughing for a couple of minutes.

  Finally, when she did, she told him, “You’re crazy, you know that?”

  Yeah, crazy about you, Cody thought.

  “Whatever you say,” he said out loud. “Now, about that lunch at Miss Joan’s,” he reminded Devon. “This way, you can tell her the good news. Miss Joan loves being the first one to hear good news.”

  Devon inclined her head. He’d won her over with that argument. “Okay, sounds good.”

  “Knew I’d convince you,” he said.

  Now all he had to do was convince her about the rest, Cody added silently. And that, he had a feeling, was not going to be easy.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Despite her background, Devon had never been one who allowed herself to be consumed by worry. For the most part, she’d always managed to face life with a healthy resilience, determined not just to take whatever fate threw her way but to triumph over it. No matter how bad the situation might be, she had always found a way to stay true to herself and forge on. She felt that, as long as she kept moving, she would survive.

  But all that was when she only had herself to think about. She didn’t have just herself to think about anymore. Now she had to view things through the eyes of a mother, always mindful that there was a little person who was totally dependent on her. A little person whom she needed to watch over and take care of.

  Not exactly an easy feat when she didn’t even have a dollar to her name.

  That was what Jack had left her when he took off—nothing. He’d stolen not just her love but everything he could put his hands on. That included her credit cards and the money in her wallet. All the money she had managed to save up.

  All the money she had in the whole world.

  Devon had been quick to cancel all of her credit cards—there’d been only two—but the money, perforce, was a lost cause. As was ever getting back the necklace and earrings her mother had left her.

  Being completely penniless made her extremely aware of the fact that she couldn’t provide even the most basic of things for her baby.

  Thanks to Cody, she had a job that would begin in the fall, but that still didn’t pay any of the bills right now. The fact that she couldn’t pay for anything had her frustrated beyond words, not to mention exceedingly hemmed in.

  Stress and tension all but radiated from her.

  Certainly this tension was not lost on Cody. He felt it the moment he got home and walked into the kitchen to see her.

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  It was far better to meet any problem head-on than to pretend that it wasn’t there. In Cody’s opinion, the latter approach only made things fester and grow worse. Besides, he preferred things out in the open.

  Devon hardly spared him a look. With Layla dozing in her bassinet in the corner, Devon was busy preparing dinner.

  “No,” she bit off.

  Cody didn’t believe her. “You’re pacing,” he pointed out.

  She shrugged off his observation. “I’m getting dinner ready.”

  Cody frowned slightly. It was time to correct that, he thought. “About that—” he began.

  Devon stopped dead, but she still didn’t turn toward him. “Getting sick of my cooking?” she guessed, her voice on edge.

  He’d always been good at picking up both blatant signals and subtle nuances. There was a definite shift in her voice as well as her personality. Devon was being defensive for no reason that he could see.

  “No, nobody’s even remotely tired of your cooking, but we talked it over and decided that it wasn’t fair to keep having you make the meals, no matter how good they are.” Cassidy had even voiced the feeling that it was taking advantage of Devon.

  Devon raised her chin as if she was preparing for a fight.

  “You talked it over?” she repeated. “When?”

  Definitely defensive, Cody thought. He was going to have to tread lightly here until he discovered exactly what this was all about.

  “Last night,” he answered mildly. “There’s no doubt about the fact that you really have a gift when it comes to cooking,” he assured her. “But we feel that we’ve been taking unfair advantage of you by letting you do all of it these last two months.”

  That was how she was paying them back for allowing her to live there. She thought they’d already had this discussion. “What else am I supposed to do?” she asked, some of her annoyance coming through.

  Cody shrugged. He hadn’t thought of anything specific. “Something else,” he told her. “You have a life.”

  “Not really,” she countered almost defiantly.

  “Okay,” he said, taking her by the hand and leading her off to the side. They were alone in the kitchen, but bringing her into the alcove created more privacy in case someone else walked in on them. “What is this really all about?” he asked.

  She lifted her chin again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She sniffed.

  Cody continued watching her, determined to wait her out. When she said nothing, he resorted to coaxing. “Level with me, Devon. What’s bothering you?”

  She wanted to snap and tell him to stop badgering her, that there was nothing wrong, nothing bothering her. But even as the words rose to her lips, she owed him the truth. There was something bothering her.

  “Layla needs to go in for her two-month checkup,” she told him.

  “Okay,” Cody allowed, waiting for Devon to get to what was bothering her.

  Devon threw up her hands impatiently. “I can’t take her.”

  Cody asked the first thing that came to his mind. “Something wrong with your truck?”

  Devon closed her eyes, searching for a vein of inner strength. “No—”

  “Because if there is,” Cody continued, “I can take the two of you in. No problem.”

  “It’s not the truck,” she firmly emphasized. Devon found she had to struggle not to raise her voice.

  “Then what is it?” Cody asked patiently.

  So far, Devon seemed to be talking in riddles and he really hoped that they were coming closer to the problem so he could know what was bothering her and what omissions he was dealing with.

  Devon threw up her hands again. “I can’t afford it,” she cried. “I don’t have any money to pay the doctor.” Just admitting it embarrassed her.

  “Is that all?” he asked, relieved that it wasn’t anything that was actually serious.

  “That’s not an ‘all,’” Devon declared, frustrated. “That’s everything.”

  Didn’t he see that? Didn’t he see how awful it felt not to be able to provide for her daughter’s basic needs at all?

  Cody had a solution, but he tested the waters slowly, not know how it might affect Devon. “I can pay for it,” he volunteered.

  Her eyes almost blazed as she cried “No!”

  The woman just had too much pride as far as he was concerned. It made things difficult
.

  “All right,” he qualified. “I can lend you the money to pay for it.”

  Devon shook her head. “I already owe you too much.”

  “There’s no running tally on any of this,” he told her.

  Her pride was wounded and hemorrhaging. “I told you before, I am not a charity case.”

  That again, Cody thought. It took effort to curb his impatience. “And no one said you were,” he insisted. “Look, did it ever occur to you that it might make me feel good to help you?”

  “Why would it?” she asked. “You’ve got better things to do with your money than throw it away like that,” she insisted.

  “My money, my decision. Besides,” Cody continued, raising his voice to stop her from saying anything further, “we do things differently here. A lot of the people the docs treat at the clinic either pay the visits off slowly or make a trade.”

  “Trade?” Devon repeated. She wasn’t sure what he meant by that.

  Cody smiled. “One hand washes the other. Like you cooking for us in exchange for your room and board,” he pointed out, hoping that would put a lid on the subject once and for all.

  But Devon shook her head. “It just doesn’t feel right.”

  They could go around and around about this all night. “It’s right if we say it’s right,” he told her once and for all.

  Rather than concede, Devon took the so-called argument they were having in a completely different direction.

  “I’m getting much too dependent on you,” Devon complained quietly.

  He kind of liked having her depend on him. It made him feel useful in an entirely different light. “And that’s a bad thing because...?”

  Devon stared at him. “Because someday, when I least expect it, you’ll grow tired of carrying me and suddenly, the rug’ll be pulled out from under my feet and I’ll go plummeting down into this deep, dark abyss.”

  Okay, now it was making sense to him. “That’s a very colorful scenario, but it’s not going to happen.”

  “There are no guarantees in life,” she insisted.

  Cody’s eyes met hers. He felt the same ache within him that he always did lately. An ache that had its roots in fear. Fear that she was going to just disappear on him. That one day, he’d reach out for her and she wouldn’t be there.