by Mary Leo
“Nor on mine,” Jet said from behind her. Coco whirled around to see Jet standing in her bedroom doorway, his hat in his hand, still wearing his overcoat.
“You came.”
“Did you doubt that I would?”
“Not this time. They want to take Lily. The woman said that you called her.”
“I was confused. Calling her was a mistake that I deeply regret.”
“What do we do now? I don’t want to give her up.”
“Neither do I.”
Coco’s eyes watered. “But what if she’s not yours? Will you still fight to keep her?”
“Yes.”
Coco couldn’t help but smile.
“Why the change of heart?” she asked.
“I realized that I love her and I love you. I was scared to admit it. Scared that you didn’t feel the same way and once again I’d have to steel my emotions.”
“What’s giving you the courage to say all of this now?”
“Because I know what I want, and it’s you and Lily and I’m willing to fight for you both. I’m so very sorry for what I said yesterday and how I acted. I was such a fool. Can you ever forgive me?”
Coco could no longer stop the tears that spilled down her cheeks. She loved Jet Wilson more than she could put into words.
“I forgave you as soon as I heard your voice,” she said.
They fell into each other’s arms, and kissed while Lily cooed on Coco’s shoulder.
Drew entered the room, clearing her throat, announcing that she’d arrived. “We tried our best to keep Ms. Oberlin away,” she said, “but as soon as she realized you and the baby weren’t at Holy Rollers, she marched right back here. She’ll be here any second.”
“Well, tell her she can’t have Lily,” Jet said, pulling an envelope out of his coat pocket then handing it to Coco. “She’s mine.”
She stared at the envelope. “But this isn’t even open. How do you know what it says?”
“I always knew, but couldn’t face it. Now I can. Open it.”
Coco hesitated. “I...can’t.”
Jet took it back and ripped open the envelope, and there in no uncertain terms were the results. Baby Lily and Jet Wilson shared the same DNA.
“Sheriff Wilson, I do believe you’re a father,” Coco said after looking at the letter and handing it to Drew, who left the room with it.
Jet smiled and opened his arms. “But will you be her mother?”
Coco nodded. “Yes. A thousand times yes.”
Lily began to fuss, and Jet held them, stroking the baby’s head. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he told her. “You’re safe now.”
And with that, they would each swear for years to come that baby Lily giggled.
Epilogue
Three weeks later
Jet Wilson pulled his SUV to a stop outside the Grants’ ranch house knowing perfectly well this was the beginning of many Sunday family dinners that would now be a welcome part of his life. It was something he’d dreamed about and longed for, and to think that it was becoming a reality after all this time was almost more than he could bear.
He was going to get the full, honest-to-goodness family experience—and he hoped it would be a forever one—where members stuck around, no matter what. And he could put down roots knowing he wouldn’t be “moving on” like he had his whole life.
“It’s going to be okay,” Coco told him as she squeezed his shoulder, glancing into the back seat to see that Lily was waking up, her big eyes looking around as though trying to figure out exactly where she was. “I know you’re nervous about telling my family we’re engaged, but don’t be. They already love you as the town sheriff, Jet, and I know they’re going to love you and welcome you and Lily as part of the family.”
“That’s what scares me the most. Me, big tough sheriff, and look at me, I’m scared of having your family reject me. That I might say or do something wrong...that it won’t be true, that it won’t be what I’d always dreamed... It’s just weird for me, that’s all.” Again, he had the thought of how grateful he was that he could be totally honest with this woman and how reassuring that was.
“It’s Thanksgiving. There’ll be so many people at dinner, even if you did say or do something silly, not that you will...but if you did, nobody would notice. I promise you. And besides, Lily and I are your family now, and we’ll always be here for you. And we know you’ll always be here for us, too.”
He turned to look at her. In the fading light she was even more beautiful than he ever thought possible. “Do you know how much I love you?”
She nodded. “As much as I love you. Now let’s go in and enjoy the evening. Dinner won’t start until everyone is seated. Rules of the house.”
Just then Mayor Sally Hickman and her husband parked next to them. Sally had won the mayor’s race by a landslide, shutting Russ out completely. Last thing Jet had heard about Russ Knightly was that he’d put his estate up for sale and moved to Jackson Hole for good.
“The mayor is here?”
“Longtime friend of the family.”
“I had no idea.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about the Grants.”
“And now I have all the time in the world to learn.”
“Yes, you do. Shall we go in?”
“Not before we kiss.”
He leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. Warm and inviting. It always amazed him how each time they kissed he felt her love and passion race through his body, matching a surge of happiness and that unmistakable feeling of completeness. He had a hunch...one so strong that he didn’t doubt it...that it would always be like this between them. His wish, his dream, had come true—a woman who loved him, a child to cherish forever and an extended family to welcome him into their folds.
When he and Coco pulled apart, she said, “I love you, Sheriff Jet Wilson, and I can’t wait to be your wife.”
“Maybe we should elope.”
“Can’t. My family hates to miss a wedding...and speaking of weddings, we should probably have a small one. Something always goes wrong when my family plans for a big wedding. It never seems to go off right the first time.”
“Well, we already have the license and isn’t Father Beau coming to dinner?”
“What are you saying?”
Jet knew it was a crazy idea. One that he could never have imagined just a few weeks ago, but it was an idea that made perfect sense now. Why not?
“In order to make sure nothing goes awry at our wedding, Doctor Coco Grant, will you marry me now? Tonight? Before dinner? All your family and, from what you’ve told me about your parents, most of your friends are probably already inside. Why don’t we use this night to officially start our lives together? I have a feeling Lily would like it if we did, and I know for certain that I would. So, my love, will you marry me, right here, right now?”
A wide grin spread across her lovely face. “Why, Sheriff Wilson, you couldn’t have made me any happier. Yes, I will marry you right here and right now.”
“You will?”
“I will. Everything about our relationship has been spontaneous from the beginning. Why should we change it?”
“Okay then. But how do you think your family will take to this?”
“Are you kidding?” She beamed at him.
So, in the hour that followed, while the turkey browned in the oven, and those good Idaho potatoes boiled in a pot, he, Jet Wilson and Coco Grant exchanged wedding vows in front of her entire family, many friends, including Drew—who instantly became Coco’s maid of honor—Drew’s parents and Nash Young—who stepped up, of course, to play the part as best man. All the while baby Lily stared wide-eyed at the loving couple from Mildred Grant’s arms.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,
” Father Beau said. “You may kiss the bride.”
And with that, the group erupted with hoots and good wishes, as baby Lily tried her best to add her own voice to the resounding glee in the room.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this cowboy romance from
USA TODAY bestselling author Mary Leo,
check out these other titles in her BRIGGS, IDAHO series,
available from www.Harlequin.com!
FALLING FOR THE COWBOY
AIMING FOR THE COWBOY
CHRISTMAS WITH THE RANCHER
HER FAVORITE COWBOY
A CHRISTMAS WEDDING FOR THE COWBOY
A COWBOY IN HER ARMS
A COWBOY TO KISS
Keep reading for an excerpt from TWINS ON THE DOORSTEP by Marie Ferrarellla.
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Twins on the Doorstep
by Marie Ferrarella
Prologue
He was getting too old for this.
A hundred years ago, at twenty-six he would not just have been married but would have had at least three, maybe four, kids. He would have been settled into his life, doing what he could to provide for his wife and children.
Instead, here he was, twenty-six years old and still trying to figure out just what his life would eventually be.
Part of the reason for his surly mood, Cole McCullough thought as he sat up and dragged his hand through his unruly, shaggy, dark blond hair, was that he was spending two nights a week with his six-foot-two body crammed into a bunk bed. Sometimes three nights. And that was because two—sometimes three—days a week, he worked at the Healing Ranch. The Healing Ranch was a horse ranch run by Jackson and Garrett White Eagle, two of his friends. Their sole focus was to take in and help troubled boys, building up their feelings of self-worth by having them take care of and work with horses.
All in all, it was a noble calling—for the White Eagle brothers. Not that he didn’t believe in it. He did. But the Healing Ranch was their calling, their mark in the world.
Just like the family ranch was really Connor’s.
Oh, they had all put in their time, he and Cody and Cassidy, but the ranch, left to all of them when their father died, was really Connor’s baby. The rest of them had worked on it to show their gratitude to Connor. When their father had died so suddenly, Connor gave up his dream of going to college and became their guardian so that he, Cody and Cassidy wouldn’t suddenly find themselves being swallowed up by the county’s social services.
He knew that going to college had meant a lot to Connor, but his big brother never hesitated to give it up. For them.
After getting dressed, Cole paused to throw some water on his face in the tiny bathroom just off the equally tiny bedroom. The area had been added onto the main bunkhouse to give him some semblance of privacy. The main bunkhouse was where the boys stayed when their families—and in some cases, social services—sent them to the ranch. The Healing Ranch was a last-ditch effort to straighten them out. Without the ranch, the next stop would have been juvie—and most likely jail.
Initially, there had been only two boys on the ranch. And then there were four. And, as word of the ranch’s success spread, there were more. A lot more. Which was why he had wound up working here part-time.
The rest of the time, he was on the ranch, helping Connor.
Always helping.
And while there was nothing wrong with helping his older brother, Cole wasn’t building something of his own. Cody and Cassidy had gone on to find their places in life—not to mention that each had someone to share that life with them. Cody was a deputy sheriff and Cassidy was working at the town’s only law office and taking classes at night. And Connor was running the family ranch, just the way he wanted to.
Cole sighed. He was the only one of the family at loose ends, not yet sure what ultimate course he wanted his life to take.
Damn it, he was going to be late getting back to the ranch, he upbraided himself. He wasn’t going to come to any lasting, earth-shattering decisions by brooding. Besides, this life he was living was a hell of a lot easier than what he and his siblings had been faced with after their father died.
With both parents gone, they’d found themselves close to destitute. Even when their father had been alive, there were times when they had barely gotten by. Mike McCullough would hire out to neighboring ranches on occasion to make sure there was always food on the table. When he was alive, they never went hungry.
Without their father, they found that they had to scramble, doing whatever they could to scrape by.
Miss Joan, the redheaded, tough-talking firecracker of a woman who ran the diner, saw to it that they always had enough to eat. Not one who believed in handouts, she’d made a point of having them work for their supper.
“Work’s hard on your hands, but good for your soul,” she’d maintained more than once.
So she gave them work. Cassidy had been her youngest waitress to date, Cody did cleanup at the diner, and as for Cole, Miss Joan had him running errands.
Looking back, he was convinced that she hadn’t really needed them to do any of those things, but Miss Joan felt that just handing them the money outright wouldn’t have done them nearly as much good as having them earn it.
She’d been right, Cole thought now with a smile. Miss Joan had instilled a work ethic in all of them, a desire to make something of themselves.
Maybe that was why he felt so restless. He was still looking for his own niche.
“Not gonna find it here, McCullough, rehashing the same old stuff and keeping Connor waiting. Move,” he ordered himself.
There’d be time enough to think about the fact that his life was stalled at the starting gate after today’s chores on the family ranch were done.
With that, Cole paused to grab his hat, turned off the light in his bedroom and opened the door. He had his own separate entrance so that he could come and go as he pleased without having to pass through the bunkhouse and all its residents. Two to three days a week he worked with the boys during regular hours and sat with them in the dining hall at mealtime. But Jackson and Garrett recognized the fact that there were times when a man just needed his privacy, even when there was nothing to be private about.
He opened the door and was ready to step out and greet whatever the day held for him.
Or so he thought.
Cole caught himself a second before his foot would have made contact with the wide wicker basket, kicking it and its contents to the side.
Stunned, Cole froze in place, realizing he had come perilously close to all but drop-kicking the two infants who were nestled in the basket, looking up at him with wide, wide blue eyes.
Chapter One
“What the...?”
At the last moment, despite his shock, Cole swallowed the expletive that was about to burst out of his mouth. Given that he had almost stepped on not one but two infants lying in a basket on the doorstep, it would have been understandable, but inappropriate—at least, to his way of thinking.
It took him a moment to come to grips with the situation, not exactly a run-of-the-mill one by a long shot.
“Okay,” Cole announced, looking around in the pre-dawn light. “This isn’t funny. You just can’t leave babies in a basket like this.” Getting no response, he raised his voice. “You’re not being responsible.”
Nobody answered.
Not one to lose his temper in general, he felt himself losing it now. These were babies, not toys or props to be used in a prank.
He tried again.
“Okay, you’ve had your fun, come out, come out, whoever you are. I’ve got to get going and babies shouldn’t be left outside like this in September. Or any other month of the year, either, for that matter.” Again, Cole had to bite back a few choice words meant for the knucklehead who was behind this practical joke.
Cole looked around.
Nobody came out of the shadows.
One of the babies made a sound, catching his attention.
Crouching down, Cole looked at the two infants wedged together in the basket. They appeared blissfully unaware that they were completely out of their element.
“Where’s your mama, guys? Or girls,” Cole amended. “Sorry, your blankets don’t exactly give me a clue what gender you are.”
He looked around again, but there was still no one coming out to claim the babies or own up to the rather poor joke.