Daughter! Daniella thought with scorn. How dare he call her that!
“I’m…sorry,” Howard managed.
With her face held expressionless, she said, “So am I,” then left the room.
A moment later she stepped into the bedroom and closed the door, grateful to be alone with the conflicting feelings roiling inside her. Pain. The renewed pain of her father’s callousness. Love. Love for Travis for defending her nonexistent honor so gallantly. Hope. A tiny flame of hope brought on by her father’s reason for coming here in the first place.
And disgust. Disgust with herself for allowing that hope to exist at all.
She hadn’t made it halfway across the room when the door opened and Travis came in. He immediately took her in his arms and held her. “Are you all right?” he whispered against her hair.
Daniella sighed. “I suppose so.”
Travis ran his fingers through her hair and stroked her back. “Don’t worry, love, I’ll straighten him out.”
She felt herself sigh again. “Don’t bother. He made up his mind about me a long time ago. He won’t change it now.”
A few minutes later Travis left her alone in the room, and she paced the floor, trying not to think about her father. Trying not to think about why he’d come.
It wasn’t hard to keep her mind off him, she found. The ache in her back was getting stronger, more persistent, more frequent. And it was developing a set of fingers that reached around her stomach.
Soon Juanita came to check on her, and while the housekeeper was there, Daniella’s water broke. After she and the floor were both cleaned up, she paced again, waiting for the pain to worsen, as she knew it must. But it didn’t. The ache in her back settled to a dull, constant nuisance, but didn’t get any worse.
Daniella skipped dinner, but joined the family for supper. It was a mistake. She’d hoped her father would have been gone. Instead, he sat at the table with a sorrowful look on his face and watched her every move with anxious eyes.
She couldn’t eat. The very thought of food was revolting to her. Instead, she sipped her coffee and pushed the food around on her plate.
Matt and Jason chatted about their day, and Jason finally drew Travis into the conversation. Daniella wasn’t following the talk. It merely buzzed in her ears as the dull ache in her back turned into a definite pain. Every few minutes it grew sharper. She ground her teeth against it, letting out a soft sigh every time it eased.
Getting up from the table at the end of the meal was a relief. She silently led the way into the salon and the others followed. Concentrating on not groaning aloud, she didn’t watch where she was going and stumbled into a small side table. With a jerk, she reached out and barely saved the lantern from crashing to the floor.
The sudden movement brought back the sharp pain she’d been fighting. She gasped and clutched her stomach.
Breathe! she told herself.
Travis started forward, but was nearly bowled over by Howard, who reached his daughter first. “Ella! Are you all right?”
“Oh God!” She laughed hysterically, releasing the tension she’d been holding in so tightly all day. “What I would have given to have heard those words from you months ago.” Her laughter died as swiftly as it had come, and so did the pain.
She looked at her father calmly. “But it’s all right now, Papa. I’ve met too many people since then who feel the same way you do for me to let it bother me anymore. If you can’t accept what’s happened to me, can’t accept these babies I’m about to give birth to, then it’s your problem, not mine.” The pain came again, and Daniella gritted her teeth for a long moment until it passed.
Breathe!
Travis had never been more proud of anyone in his entire life than he was of Dani in that moment. He just prayed that she believed what she just told her father.
A knowing look passed between Dani and Juanita, and the housekeeper rushed out of the room. Travis was puzzled by the exchange and went to his wife’s side, slipping an arm around her. He was appalled when he felt the rigidity of her body. With a finger on her chin, he turned her face toward his. “Dani?”
“Could you help me to our room, Travis?” she asked between gasping breaths. “When I said I was about to give birth, I’m afraid I meant any minute.”
Travis stared at her in stunned amazement. “My God!” His expression slowly turned to one of horror as he understood. She was in labor! “Why didn’t you say something?”
Travis picked her up in his arms, carefully, as if she were the most fragile piece of china and might shatter at any sudden movement, and carried her out of the salon. When he reached their bedroom, he started to lay her on the bed.
“No—please. Not yet,” she said between gasps. She squeezed his shoulder in a grip of steel as the pain washed over her again.
Rosita and Juanita began undressing her. They slipped a fresh nightgown over her head while Travis stood by, helpless and bewildered. He caught a brief flash of bare extended belly, and wondered how such a fragile creature as Dani could possibly endure the ordeal ahead.
When the two Mexican women helped Dani onto the bed, she lay back against the pillow and sighed. Travis saw the braided rawhide strip tied from post to post across the headboard. When Dani reached for it, he broke out in a cold sweat.
“More pillows. I need—” Her voice broke off in a gasp of pain, but Juanita was there, lifting her head and placing more pillows behind her. Finally Dani was propped up in a half reclining position, which allowed her some ease from her discomfort. Her knees were drawn up, along with her gown. Travis felt completely out of place, but his feet refused to carry him to the door.
“I see the head now. When the next pain comes, Señora, push hard,” Rosita instructed calmly.
Travis swallowed heavily. How could they all be so calm? Dani was covered with a sheen of perspiration and her hair clung damply to her pain-contorted face. Twisting her hands in the barbaric looking rawhide strap, she pulled with her hands and pushed with her body. The thin strap broke, and she cried out at her sudden loss of support.
Travis wasn’t given time to think as Juanita shoved him onto the bed. In seconds he was behind Dani, his legs drawn up against the outside of hers. She leaned back against his chest and reached blindly for his arms. He held them out to her, finally understanding the role he was to play. She gripped and squeezed until he thought his bones would snap.
“One more push now, and the shoulders will be out.”
Travis felt Dani tense as the next pain came. Her scream echoed in the room. He felt the blood drain from his face. A moment later there was another cry, this one from a new voice never before heard.
“It’s a boy!” came the cries from the sisters.
Dani gasped for breath and laughed at the same time. She loosened her hold on Travis, and he smoothed the hair back from her face with a trembling hand and kissed the top of her head. He was breathing and sweating just as hard as she was.
The bloody, squalling infant waved tiny fists in the air, angry at being so rudely thrust from his warm nest. Travis stared in awe, feeling suddenly proud and humbled at the same time.
“Let me see him,” Dani begged.
“Just let me clean him up a bit…there you go little man. Here’s your mama, sweet boy,” Rosita crooned.
“Oh,” Dani sighed as she held her son for the first time.
“He’s beautiful! Isn’t he beautiful, Travis?” She looked up over her shoulder. Her face still showed signs of pain, but her eyes shone with an inner light that nearly took his breath away.
“Beautiful,” he murmured. But he was looking at the mother, not the child.
Rosita took the boy and placed him in Lucinda’s waiting arms. Fifteen minutes later, Dani’s daughter was born. When the baby girl was presented to her, Dani gasped in dismay.
“Oh, no,” she moaned. The baby had the same thick, black hair as her brother, but there, at her right temple, was a short, narrow tuft of white. Dani closed
her eyes and swallowed heavily.
Travis witnessed her dismay and knew its cause. “Hush, Dani. She’s beautiful. She looks like you—she’s perfect.”
Dani sniffed back her tears as Rosita took the baby from her arms. Under orders from Juanita, Travis left the bed and stood aside. The babies and Dani were cleaned up and the bed linens changed, then the twins were taken to the nursery and given over to Lucinda for the night. When all the activity was over, Travis found himself alone with Dani.
“My God, Dani,” he said, sitting carefully at her side. “You were magnificent.”
Dani sighed with satisfaction. “You were pretty wonderful yourself. Thank you for staying with me, for helping.”
“Any time, love.” Travis bent down and kissed her tenderly, and she closed her eyes in exhaustion and slept. He left the room to find himself a stiff drink and a bed for the night.
He spent a long uncomfortable night on the sofa in his study. It was way too short for his long frame, and too narrow as well. He would have gone back to his own bed, but he was afraid of disturbing Dani. She was so exhausted and worn out, as well she should be. He marveled again at the miracle of life he’d been allowed to witness, to take part in. He felt a closeness with Dani and the twins that had been missing from his life.
In the past few weeks, since she had let go of her fears, he’d seen her blossom like the petals of a rose kissed by the summer sun. She’d become carefree and happy, quick to laugh and a sheer pleasure to be near. He prayed the scene with her father this morning had done nothing to change the warm, loving woman she’d become.
Loving—now there was a word. Did she love him? Or was she just grateful to him for helping her through a trying time in her life? It had to be more than gratitude he’d seen shining in her eyes these past weeks. It had to be! He needed her love, needed to be able to show his love in return. He’d hidden it from her far too long now.
When dawn finally came, Travis knew he’d never spent a more uncomfortable night in his life.
On the way past the nursery door, Travis heard the babies fussing and Lucinda’s gentle murmur as she tended them. Realizing Dani must still be alone, he hurried to his bedroom door and entered quietly, without knocking.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” he bellowed.
There was Dani, so stiff and sore she could barely move, trying to make her way across the room. At the unexpected sound of his voice, she jumped and uttered a squeak of surprise.
“Travis! You scared the daylights out of me!”
“What are you doing out of bed?” he demanded.
“I was just getting my brush.”
Travis swung her up in his arms and placed her back on the mattress. “You’re supposed to be in bed. You want something, you ask for it.” He brought her brush to her and watched with pleasure while she brushed the tangles from her long curls.
He peeled his wrinkled shirt off and splashed water from the pitcher into the bowl on the dresser. The cold water revived him, driving away the fog of the sleepless night.
“Travis!” Dani cried.
“What is it?” He crossed to her side quickly, instant worry consuming him. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
“What happened to your arms?” She stared, wide-eyed, at his bare forearms.
“What?” What the hell did his arms have to do with anything? “What’s wrong, Dani,” he insisted, reaching to grasp her shoulders as she sat and stared at him.
“What have you done to yourself?” Dismay colored her voice, and she gently ran her fingers over his skin.
Travis followed her fingers with his eyes to the scratches and bruises on his forearms. “Oh, that,” he said with relief. Nothing was wrong, after all.
Dani looked at him with concern. “What did this, Travis?”
“Not what, love, but who.” A slow grin spread across his face, and he leaned to press a tender kiss on her lips.
Slowly her expression changed as he watched her remember his part in last night’s events. Her eyes clouded. “I did this, didn’t I?” she asked softly. Her hand spread across his skin and her fingertips matched his bruises. “Oh Travis, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Hush, love.” He kissed her lightly again. “I wasn’t the one hurting last night. You were. How are you feeling this morning?”
“I’m fine. A little stiff and sore, though,” she added with a grimace.
“Only a little?” he asked doubtfully. After another kiss, Travis slipped on a clean shirt, then helped Dani pile extra pillows behind her back. He was just drawing a chair up next to the bed when Lucinda and Juanita entered with the twins.
“Señora, this son of yours is most unhappy. He says that if you do not feed him at once, he is likely to starve to death in the next few minutes.” Lucinda offered the squalling infant to his mother, and Dani reached for him with eager arms. When she held him close, he immediately quieted and began rooting around on her breast.
Daniella laughed and blushed slightly as she opened the front of her gown. The baby latched on to her nipple with amazing zeal, and she gave an involuntary jerk with his first sucking action.
She whispered a short prayer of thanks, both for her children, and for the realization that her fears had been groundless. The twins weren’t even a day old, but she loved them. Fiercely. They were her own flesh and blood. How could she have thought she wouldn’t love them?
Travis watched the child knead her breast with tiny fists, and a wealth of emotions rose up within him. In all his thirty years, he had never seen a mother nurse her babe. Julia hadn’t shared the experience when Matt was born. He thought this was the most poignant event he’d ever witnessed.
It had been many years since he’d held his own infant son in his arms, and he wanted to hold these babies close to him now. Before he could make a move toward the baby girl, however, Juanita thrust the child into his arms.
“Here, Señor Travis, take her. Lucinda and I must straighten the nursery.” When the two women left the room, a strange sound floated out behind them and Travis’s stunned gaze followed them. Dani asked him what was wrong.
“Nothing,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve just never heard my staid, dignified housekeeper giggle before.” He looked down at the precious bundle in his arms and smiled. “She’s got your ears, and your eyes, too, I think. And your mouth.”
“And my hair.” Dani’s unhappiness over that point was obvious.
“As a man, I happen to find that streak in your hair very attractive. If you’re not careful, you’ll give this little girl a complex.”
When the baby boy’s mouth finally went slack, Dani and Travis traded bundles, and Dani pressed her daughter to her other breast.
Travis studied Dani closely as he cradled her newborn son in his arms. She had a new look about her that hadn’t been there before. A glow, a self-confidence, an inner peace, radiating from her entire being. The only word he could think of to describe the change in her was “magical.”
A knock on the door a few minutes later startled Travis and Dani from their separate reveries, but didn’t disturb the now-sleeping twins. Travis called a reluctant admittance to whoever was disrupting their privacy.
“I hope we’re not intruding, but the suspense was killing us.” Jason and Matt had come to see the newest members of the Colton family.
Howard Blackwood sipped on his brandy and stared at the crackling flames in the fireplace. A grimace of self-loathing marred his features. Even as he’d spoken those harsh, bitter words to his daughter all those months ago, he’d known he was wrong. But how could he ever explain to her?
How could she possibly understand how easy it had been for him over the years to forget the past? When he’d sent her away to Boston, he’d honestly thought he was doing what was right for her. She’d needed some of her rough edges smoothed out.
Then, while she’d been gone, it was easy to pretend, with his new, young wife, that he was young again himself. You
ng and virile and just starting out in life, with no painful memories of the past.
There was no way to justify how he’d listened to Sylvia, let her lead him around by the nose, let her turn him against his only child.
Then Ramón had come along, and the past had been even easier to forget, to ignore.
He closed his eyes in pain. Good Lord, he was a grown man. An old man, even. Weren’t men supposed to be able to think for themselves? He’d been such a fool, listening to Sylvia’s worries about the gossip surrounding Ella’s time with the Apaches. Such a damn, worthless fool.
Just when she’d needed him the most, he’d turned his back on his daughter, his own flesh and blood, and cast her out. God, she would never forgive him for that. He would never forgive himself.
What she’d had to endure, first from the Apaches, then from her own father! But she was married to a good man now. Travis Colton was a son-in-law to be proud of.
Howard rubbed his jaw with a grimace. And he’s got a powerful right hook.
With Colton at her side, Howard could hope that Ella would be happy now, but he didn’t really see how she would ever be able to put the past behind her after giving birth to a couple of little half-breed Apache bastards.
He shook his head in wonder. Travis had carried the twins around in his arms like he was the proudest new father in the world. Like he didn’t even notice all that wrinkled brown skin and coal black hair. Or the streak of white in the little girl’s hair. How could a man accept a thing like that? Why would he even try?
Love, came the unbidden answer. Travis Colton loved Ella. It was in every look, every word the man uttered. A man could overlook a lot of things for love of a beautiful woman. Hadn’t he, himself, shunned his own daughter for the woman he loved?
With another sip of brandy, he silently wished Colton good luck. Love could make a damn fool out of a man, if he was stupid and weak enough to let it.
But he would let Colton worry about his own troubles. Howard had enough to deal with. Colton might claim to accept—no, not claim, he really did accept—the twins as his own. But how was Howard going to deal with having half-breed Apache grandchildren?
Apache-Colton Series Page 36