Wildflower Ridge

by Sherryl Woods

  “I know that, but I find myself watching everyone like a hawk, worrying that the next drink will be the one that makes them a menace on the road.” She gave a rueful shrug. “I guess I’m not likely to be the life of the party ever again, am I? In fact, I’m sure there are those in my family who blame me for putting a damper on all our gatherings.”

  “I’m sure your family understands exactly where you’re coming from. How could they help it?” He regarded her intently. “Maybe sometime you’ll tell me more about your husband.”

  Sharon Lynn was startled by the suggestion. “You want to hear about Kyle? Why?”

  “Because he was important to you. Why is that so shocking?”

  “Because no one else even mentions his name anymore.”

  “Maybe they’re afraid of bringing up bad memories.”

  “I suppose, but it makes it lonelier, you know? As if he never even existed.”

  Cord held out his hand, waited until she’d put hers into it again. “We’ll make a deal then. Anytime you feel like talking about him, you come to me and I’ll listen.”

  “You won’t mind?”

  “I’d only mind if you thought there was anything you couldn’t share with me.”

  She stared at him in amazement. He meant it, too. What a remarkable man Cord Branson was! It wasn’t the first time she’d thought that, but it made her wonder how many more surprises her relationship with him was likely to hold. Just knowing that he understood her feelings about possibly losing Ashley, knowing that he shared those feelings, was a small comfort. Knowing that he would listen if she needed to talk about Kyle or the accident made her feel doubly blessed. His offer had been a generous one.

  “Thank you.”

  He gave her a quizzical look. “For?”

  “Listening to me go on and on.”

  “Now, darlin’, that was my pleasure. It gave me a reason to stay right here with my two favorite girls.”

  Ashley gave him a toothless smile as if she’d understood exactly what he was saying. Sharon Lynn’s smile was more restrained. There was a huge lump in her throat that wouldn’t quite go away. How much longer would either of them have their baby girl to hold and fuss over and love?

  She turned away so he wouldn’t see her tears. “I hate this,” she murmured. “I hate this endless waiting.”

  “Me, too,” he said quietly. “Maybe you should call Justin and see what he’s learned. Get it over with.”

  “I don’t know if I dare. I’m not sure I want to know the answer.”

  “It’s the not-knowing that’s a killer. Once we know, we can deal with the rest.”

  She sighed heavily. “I suppose you’re right.” She reached for the phone at the end of the counter and dialed the sheriff’s office. She was surprised to find the old dispatcher back on the job.

  “Hey, Becky, is Justin around?”

  “No. He’s gone over to Garden City. Is it urgent? I can get him on the radio and tell him to call you.”

  “That’s okay. Just tell him when he gets back. That’s soon enough.”

  “Will do.”

  “How’s the baby, Becky? I thought you had another week of maternity leave coming?”

  “I did, but Justin started growling around here and the temp just up and quit on Friday, so here I am.”

  “I know he’s glad to have you back.”

  “That’s what he says today. By tomorrow my return will be old news and he’ll be jumping down my throat like always.”

  “Yes, but you know how to growl right back,” Sharon Lynn reminded her with a laugh. “Justin has never intimidated you.”

  “That’s because we’ve known each other since kindergarten. I know all his dirty little secrets. Whoops, I’ve got another call coming in. You take care now.”

  “Bye, Becky.” She hung up the phone slowly.

  “No news?” Cord asked.

  “Justin’s in Garden City. He’ll call when he gets back.”

  “Do you think he’s over there checking out the lead?”

  “The dispatcher didn’t say.”

  “But you think that’s what he’s gone over there for, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “Garden City’s not his jurisdiction. I don’t think he’d be over there otherwise.”

  “Then we wait.”

  “Don’t you need to get back out to White Pines?”

  “Not until we know something,” he said.

  “But Daddy—”

  “Your father will understand.” He gave her a look suggesting she might as well stop arguing. “Now how about heating up a bottle for our girl? She’s beginning to get fussy.”

  “I’ll take her,” Sharon Lynn offered.

  “No, you won’t. She’s just fine right here with me, aren’t you, sweet thing?”

  The baby reached up and looked for all the world as if she were patting his cheek in agreement. Cord had a silly, enchanted grin on his face that almost broke Sharon Lynn’s heart. He might not have said the words, he might be taking this wait with stoic patience, but he had every bit as much at stake on the outcome of Justin’s investigation as she did.

  When she had the bottle warm, she came out from behind the counter and stood beside Cord as he fed the baby. When Ashley was sucking lustily, he glanced at Sharon Lynn, then reached over and slid his arm around her waist, drawing her closer. It was an intimate gesture, one that reminded her all too vividly of how thoroughly, solidly masculine he was, but there was nothing sexual about the loose embrace.

  So why was she suddenly imagining the sweep of his hand from her waist to her hip, the slow caress of her breast? Why was she tingling in a totally unexpected and purely feminine way? Why in the midst of panic, with the threat of losing Ashley imminent, why was she feeling so totally and thoroughly alive again? She wasn’t at all sure she wanted to know the answer to that.

  They were still close together when the first of the customers came in wanting lunch. She left his embrace with reluctance, stepped away from him and the baby. It was only a few feet, with merely a narrow span of Formica separating them, but suddenly she felt colder and more alone than she could remember feeling at any time since Kyle’s death.

  * * *

  After making a call to Cody to explain the delay, Cord lingered at Dolan’s for the rest of the afternoon. He couldn’t bear to leave Sharon Lynn to face the wait alone. Truthfully he wasn’t sure he could have endured the wait any better out at White Pines, even if Cody had tried working him to death.

  The truth was he was stunned by the speed and depth of his feelings for Sharon Lynn and the baby he’d refused to put down all afternoon. Every time he was with them that initial tug of yearning he’d felt to turn them into a family grew into something more and more powerful. As impossible as it seemed, the bond between him and Sharon Lynn was already deep and lasting, every bit as strong as if they’d been husband and wife and shared the birth of this child.

  For the first time in his life, he wasn’t afraid to admit that he was gut-deep scared. Not of the emotions. They’d felt right to him from the beginning. But of losing it all, everything he’d found here in Los Piños. Justin Adams had the power to take it all away from him, if he came back from Garden City with news that the baby’s mother wanted her back. He feared that losing Ashley would break the bond between him and Sharon Lynn, that she would shut him out and face her grief all alone, as she’d apparently done after losing her husband.

  At the thought of Kyle Mason, he realized what he should have guessed sooner. Mason was the man he’d heard about whose ranch might be up for sale. Sharon Lynn was the widow he’d been told might be anxious to sell. Oddly enough, none of that mattered now. He had far more important things on his mind.

  By closing time, there still had been no word from Justin. Sharon Lynn was a basket case and even the baby seemed to hav
e picked up on their uneasiness. She’d been fussing for an hour and nothing they tried seemed to soothe her.

  “Why don’t we all go out to dinner?” Cord suggested. “The wait will be easier if we’re not just sitting around staring at each other.”

  “Do you honestly believe there is anything that will make this easier?” she asked skeptically. “Besides, Ashley’s not settling down. We’ll just be on edge the whole time we’re at the restaurant.”

  They were still debating the issue when her cousin Dani came in. She honed straight in on the crying baby.

  “What’s the matter, sweetie?” she said to Ashley, lifting her out of Cord’s arms. She frowned at the two of them. “Judging from the expression on your faces, it’s little wonder she’s crying. What’s up?”

  “We’re waiting to hear from Justin,” Sharon Lynn said.

  “Ah, I see. I thought that might be it.” She glanced from Sharon Lynn to Cord and back again. “Why don’t I take the baby back over to the house and put her to bed? You two go have a quiet, relaxing dinner and stop worrying.”

  “But what about Justin?” Sharon Lynn protested.

  “I’ll send him to the restaurant if he gets back before you do,” Dani said.

  “Don’t you need to get home to your own kids?” Sharon Lynn asked.

  “Hey, what’s the matter? Don’t you trust me with the little one?”

  “Of course, but—”

  Cord snagged Sharon Lynn’s hand. “Let’s take Dani up on her offer. We won’t stay out long, but we both need the distraction.”

  Her glance went from him to the baby. “I don’t know,” she said fearfully.

  “Well, I do,” he said.

  “Me, too,” Dani chimed in. “Go. This little peanut and I will be just fine.”

  “You’ll send Justin to the restaurant?” Sharon Lynn asked worriedly.

  “I told you I would,” Dani reassured her, already bundling the baby up in her snowsuit and blankets for the walk home.

  Sharon Lynn continued to look uneasy, but Dani gave her a quick hug and headed for the door. Cord watched with amusement as she brushed off Sharon Lynn’s last-second concerns, then gave him a wink.

  “Try to make her eat,” Dani called back to him. “A little lasagna will put some color back into her cheeks.”

  As soon as she was out of sight, Sharon Lynn sighed heavily. “I suppose we might as well get on with it.”

  “Having a nice dinner, making a little conversation is not supposed to be torture,” Cord reminded her.

  “Sorry. It’s just that—”

  “It’s just that you’re worried. Well, so am I, but I am also starved, so take pity on me and let’s get going.” He grabbed her coat and purse from the back room, then guided her toward the door.

  Even as she allowed him to help her into her coat, she grumbled, “How could you possibly be starved? You wolfed down two cheeseburgers and a large order of fries not three hours ago.”

  He grinned. “I had no idea you were keeping such close track of my diet.”

  “I just worry about seeing your arteries clog before my very eyes.”

  “Next time I’ll order a salad,” he promised as he took the key from her hand and locked up. “Italian okay with you?”

  “Whatever.”

  Despite her lack of interest, he noticed that once they walked in the door of the restaurant, she seemed to perk up a little. The aroma of garlic and tomato sauce tended to do that for some people.

  “Lasagna?” he asked when they’d been seated. “I gather from what Dani said that it’s your favorite.”

  “Yes, but I’ll never be able to eat it,” she insisted.

  “Eat what you can and we’ll take the rest home.”

  “You’re every bit as pushy and annoying as my cousin, do you realize that?”

  “If you’d give me just a little cooperation here, there would be no reason for me to be pushy and annoying.”

  She almost smiled at that. Her lips began a slow curve, then snapped into a tight line. “I don’t know. Something tells me that’s just your nature.”

  He teased and tormented her all the way through dinner. She ate most of her lasagna, probably without even realizing that she was lifting the fork to her mouth between barbs. To Cord’s amusement, when her plate was almost empty, she stared at it as if a thief had snuck in and stolen her meal.

  “Hungrier than you thought, I guess,” he observed mildly.

  “I had no idea,” she murmured.

  “Turns out I’m a halfway decent distraction.”

  She met his gaze evenly and this time the smile built slowly and stayed in place. “You’re a miracle worker.”

  “I’ll put that on my résumé when I’m out of a job again.”

  “You were the one who said my father would understand about you being here in town with me.”

  He shrugged. “I might have stretched the truth just the teensiest bit. I told him I’d try to get back for evening chores.”

  “Cord, what on earth were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking that you needed me more than your daddy did.”

  “But this job was so important to you. I’ll call him. I’ll explain.”

  “You’ll do no such thing. I’ll talk to your father. If he wants to fire me over this, there will be other jobs.” Hopefully right here in Los Piños, but if not, well, he’d worry about that when the time came. He was pretty sure Cody was a reasonable man and that his concern for his daughter would make him lenient with Cord under the circumstances.

  He glanced across the table and saw that Sharon Lynn was gathering up her things.

  “Hey, darlin’, where’s the fire?”

  “We’re going home right this second. You can drop me off and then go on out to White Pines and try to straighten things out with my father.”

  “I’m not leaving until we’ve heard from Justin and that’s that.”

  “But—”

  He met her gaze evenly. “No buts, Sharon Lynn. That’s final.”

  She regarded him with amusement. “Are you sure you don’t have Adams blood in you?”

  “Meaning?”

  “You’re as stubborn and single-minded as anybody in my family. Believe me, that is not a compliment.”

  He grinned at her disgruntled tone. “You’d do well to remember it, though. I always, always get what I’m after.”

  Chapter Eight

  Sharon Lynn was shivering by the time they reached her house, though Cord couldn’t tell whether it was from the bitter cold temperature outside or from anxiety. It was plain that she dreaded walking in to find Justin waiting for them, but as it turned out Dani was alone, flipping through veterinary medicine journals as the baby slept in her portable crib in the bedroom.

  She glanced up at their entrance, surveyed Sharon Lynn closely, then gave a little nod of approval. “Much better. I don’t know if it was the food or the fresh air that did it, but you look a hundred percent better than you did a couple of hours ago.”

  “Any word from Justin?” Sharon Lynn demanded without even acknowledging Dani’s observation.

  “Not a peep.” At Sharon Lynn’s crestfallen expression, she added, “Maybe that’s a good sign. Maybe the lead he thought he had didn’t pan out.”

  For an instant there was a spark of hope in Sharon Lynn’s eyes. “Do you think that could be it?”

  “Of course it could be,” Dani assured her.

  Cord wanted to believe that as desperately as Sharon Lynn obviously did, but he wondered. What if Justin’s being out of contact all day meant that the lead had actually panned out and taken him in a new direction? What if he’d been gone so long, because he was following it straight to the mother’s doorway?

  Dani continued to study her cousin closely. “Are you going to be oka
y?” she asked worriedly. “Want me to stick around?”

  Sharon Lynn didn’t answer. Her gaze kept straying toward the bedroom.

  “I’ll be here,” Cord said finally. “She won’t be alone.”

  Dani grinned at him. “Then I’d say you’re in good hands,” she told Sharon Lynn as if her cousin was actually paying attention, which she hadn’t been since they’d walked in. Her focus was totally on the baby down the hall.

  “I’ll pop into Dolan’s in the morning before I open up the clinic to see if there’s been any news,” Dani added. “If you need me in the meantime, call.”

  Sharon Lynn nodded absently, then wandered off, leaving Cord to thank Dani for looking after the baby.

  “If they take the baby away, she’s going to take it hard,” Dani said, staring after her worriedly.

  “We both will,” Cord replied grimly. “She’s strong, though. She’ll do okay.”

  “And you?” Dani inquired, regarding him thoughtfully. “How will you do?”

  “If I’m going to be any good to Sharon Lynn, I’ll have to do okay.”

  “For someone who just arrived in town, you’ve been very kind to her.”

  He had the feeling there was both concern and surprise behind the statement. “She matters to me,” he said simply.

  Dani’s eyes widened a bit. “You really mean that, don’t you? It’s not all about the baby, is it?”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s not all about the baby.”

  She smiled slowly. “Life’s funny, isn’t it? Sometimes love smacks us between the eyes when we least expect it.” She stood on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “You’ll be good for her, I think. Good luck. You’re going to need it. It won’t be easy convincing her to take another chance with her heart, especially not if she’s lost the baby, too.”

  “Easy doesn’t matter. It’s the result that counts.”

  She laughed. “You’ll do just fine, Cord Branson. No wonder Grandpa Harlan’s already given you his stamp of approval. With that, you don’t need to worry much about the rest of us. We usually fall into line eventually. As for Sharon Lynn, she desperately needs someone like you in her life, whether she’s ready to acknowledge that yet or not.”