The Unclaimed Baby

by Sherryl Woods

  “But…”

  “Can you say the same about him?” he asked. “Or is this all about holding on to that precious baby?”

  Sharon Lynn sighed.

  Her grandfather nodded. “I thought so. I’m not telling you not to go through with it, darlin’ girl. I happen to think it’s a strong match.”

  “Then what are you saying?”

  “Maybe Cord loves enough for both of you, but I wanted you to go into this with your eyes wide-open. Whatever he may have told you, I’d stake my life that he’s not looking for a marriage in name only. You’ll owe it to him to make a real stab at making it work. Can you do that?”

  Sharon Lynn fought her way through panic and an unexpected burst of anticipation to meet her grandfather’s gaze evenly. “I’ll have to, won’t I?”

  “If you’ll listen to a few words of wisdom from an old man who loves you, what Cord is doing to protect you and that baby is a noble and decent gesture not many men would make. A man like that is worth holding on to.”

  “I know that,” she told him quietly. It was a fact that had crept into her heart when she’d least expected it.

  Chapter 16

  Cord figured Cody must approve of his relationship with Sharon Lynn. He gave him time off to get blood tests and paperwork done without so much as a grumbling comment. If he’d had to describe his boss’s mood, he would have called it resigned. Obviously Cody was a man who had given up fighting the inevitable, at least when it came to his willful daughter.

  Their earlier dispute over the designs he suspected Cord had on Sharon Lynn’s property seemed to have been put behind them. Cord had a hunch he had Harlan Adams or Harlan Patrick to thank for that. Or maybe the fact that Kyle Mason’s ranch had been promised to someone else. Thank heaven, he’d talked Sharon Lynn out of giving him her share of White Pines. He could just imagine what Cody would think about that. Cord doubted he would live to walk down the aisle.

  All in all, the wedding plans were moving along without a hitch and with them, Cord’s optimism was escalating. He was all but certain Sharon Lynn wouldn’t duck out on him at the last second, if only because she was clinging to this marriage as the only way to protect Ashley from Hazel Murdock.

  He’d been stunned by the strength she’d demonstrated as she’d withstood her family’s doubts and skepticism. She’d almost had him believing by the end of their impromptu party that she was marrying him out of love. He promised himself that none of them would ever learn from him that nothing could be further from the truth, at least from her perspective.

  Less than twenty-four hours from now, she would be Mrs. Cord Branson. Even though his confidence was strong, he couldn’t seem to keep himself from dropping by Dolan’s on his way to the bachelor party Harlan Patrick had insisted on planning. He wanted to make sure she hadn’t panicked and changed her mind. He wondered if there’d ever come a day when he could be as sure of her love for him as he was of his own for her.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be hanging out with the guys tonight?” Sharon Lynn inquired when he settled into his usual place at the counter.

  “In an hour.”

  “So you thought you’d spend it in here checking up on me?”

  “Now, darlin’, why would I need to check up on you?”

  “To make sure I haven’t bolted.” She gave him a knowing look. “That is what you’re afraid of, isn’t it?”

  “It’s true,” he conceded lightly. “I am afraid you might wake up and notice you’re not getting a great bargain.”

  Her expression softened and she reached for his hand, one of the few times she had ever initiated any contact between them. Her touch was gentle, but it was enough to make his blood roar.

  “You’re wrong about that,” she told him, her tone fierce. “I think I’m doing okay for myself. I just hope you won’t live to regret it.”

  “Can’t happen,” he assured her. “Now tell me what your plans are for tonight. I understand all you ladies intend to go out and kick up your heels.”

  She blushed slightly. “We’re not going out, but I am told that someone has hired a male stripper for the occasion.”

  Cord stared. “Excuse me?”

  “Hey, it wasn’t my idea.” A grin tugged at the corners of her lips. “Of course, it might be interesting in a purely educational sort of way.”

  “Darlin’, any education you require along those lines, you can get from me.”

  She tilted her head and regarded him impishly, “You almost sound jealous. Is that possible?”

  “Not jealous,” he insisted, then searched for a different spin to put on the emotions choking him. He finally settled for describing them as protective.

  She gave him a mocking, skeptical look. “I am a grown-up. This won’t be a complete shock to me.”

  His gaze narrowed. “Exactly how many male bodies are you familiar with?” he asked testily.

  “You mean in the intimate sense?”

  “Yes, I mean in the intimate sense,” he snapped.

  She chuckled. “You should see your expression.”

  “What is wrong with my damned expression?”

  “It’s so very…male,” she said finally.

  Cord studied her intently. “You were teasing me, weren’t you?”

  A full-fledged grin spread across her face. “It was more like a test.”

  “To see how far you could push me?”

  “To see if there was a double standard at work here.”

  “Double standard?”

  “Harlan Patrick says he hired a stripper for your bachelor party. It just seemed to me as if turnabout was fair play.”

  “Couldn’t you have just asked how I’d feel about it?”

  She shook her head. “This was definitely better. I got the pure, unvarnished truth.”

  “Maybe we should just skip this whole prewedding ritual and go home and spend a quiet evening with Ashley,” he suggested. He wasn’t entirely kidding. Tonight was just something he had to get through before beginning what would be the rest of his life.

  Sharon Lynn regarded him as if he’d suggested sunbathing nude at high noon on Main Street. “And disappoint the whole family? I don’t think so. Not when they’ve had to give in about the wedding. Mother is still seething over the fact that we’re having the ceremony in a judge’s chambers, instead of a church.”

  “There wasn’t a choice, given the timetable.”

  “I know that. I’m perfectly happy that we’re doing it this way. I’m not sure I could have coped with all the hoopla a second time.”

  Cord went absolutely still at her words. He took them to mean that the first marriage had been a real one, that this one was only a mockery, that she didn’t want anyone confusing the two. He finally met her gaze and saw that she was regarding him with a perplexed frown.

  “What did you think I meant?” she asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Don’t start evading the truth with me now. I can see in your eyes that what I said hurt you. Why?” At his continued silence, she muttered a harsh expletive he’d never heard her use before. “Cord, surely you aren’t thinking that my comment was meant to imply that that ceremony was more important than this one.”

  “Well, it was, wasn’t it? You were marrying the man you loved and you were doing it for real.”

  “And I lost him just hours after the ceremony. The two events will be forever linked in my mind,” she said. “Do you think I want a repeat?”

  He winced at the explanation. “No, of course not. I didn’t think…”

  She sighed. “No. Why should you? It’s not as if you’re supposed to be able to read my mind.”

  But, oh, how he wished he could. He would give anything to know if there was some tiny little part of her that was glad they were getting married tomorrow, not just to protect the baby, but because of the feelings and chemistry between them, feelings she had thus far refused to acknowledge.

  Don’t, he warned himself. Don’t start w
ishing for things that weren’t part of the bargain. If he did and Sharon Lynn could never live up to his expectations, if she could never let herself love him the way he loved her, then their marriage—however long it lasted—would be hell.

  No, he had to take this one day at a time, just as he’d vowed to her he would. And every day he’d have to pray just a little harder that she’d learn to love him as deeply as he loved her. Perhaps then he’d finally be able to tell her that for him their marriage had never been just about the baby.

  Sharon Lynn awoke on her wedding day with sunlight streaming in through her bedroom window and the aroma of cinnamon buns coming from the kitchen. She and the baby had spent the night at her parents’ house at White Pines, just as she had on the night before her wedding to Kyle.

  She closed her eyes and leaned back against the mound of pillows, trying to remember how she’d felt that day. It was funny, though. The memories hadn’t faded, but the sharp, bittersweet feelings had. Cord was responsible for that. He was giving her a whole slew of new and tangled emotions to deal with, starting with this odd little flutter of anticipation deep in her belly.

  She glanced over toward Ashley’s crib and was surprised to find her gone. Obviously her mother had slipped into the room and taken her downstairs to feed her in order to give Sharon Lynn more time to prepare for her wedding.

  The ceremony was scheduled for eleven. It was barely eight now and she had the luxury of rolling over and going back to sleep if she chose.

  Or so she’d thought. Pounding on her bedroom door suggested otherwise.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead,” Lizzy and Jenny called out as they opened the door. Dani was right on their heels.

  “Shouldn’t you all be home with your husbands?” she grumbled as they surrounded her on the bed and waved a freshly baked cinnamon roll under her nose.

  “That’s a fine welcome, when we’ve come bearing gifts,” Dani retorted, turning over not only the pastry, but a small, flat package that weighed next to nothing.

  “I thought we’d agreed there would be no presents,” Sharon Lynn said, even as she regarded the gift with curiosity.

  “These aren’t presents, exactly,” Lizzy explained, dropping her own offering into Sharon Lynn’s lap. “They’re tradition. Something old, something new, etcetera.”

  “Don’t open them yet,” Jenny warned. “Not till your mom gets up here. She’s finishing up with the baby. That child does like to eat.”

  “She has a perfectly normal, healthy appetite,” Sharon Lynn said defensively.

  “Oh, don’t mind her,” Lizzy retorted. “She’s just trying to stir up trouble. It’s second nature to her. You would have thought marriage and a couple of kids would have settled her down, but it hasn’t happened. If you ask me, Chance hasn’t done nearly enough to tame her.”

  “You should talk,” Jenny shot back. “Hank spoils you rotten, just the way Daddy did.”

  “Ladies, ladies,” Dani soothed, in her traditional role of peacemaker between the sisters. “Let’s not forget what day this is. We shouldn’t be upstaging the bride with all this petty bickering.”

  Just then her mother rushed into the bedroom, looking harried, with Ashley already sound asleep in her arms. “Have I missed anything?”

  “We waited,” Dani told her. She gestured toward the package she’d put in Sharon Lynn’s lap. “Open that one first. It’s something blue.”

  Sharon Lynn dutifully shook the box, then took her time about removing the fancy white paper and neatly tied bow.

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake, hurry up,” Jenny urged. “We don’t have all day.”

  “This is her party,” Lizzy reminded her.

  Sharon Lynn removed the top from the box, lifted the tissue paper and gasped. The bikini panties inside were indeed blue. They were scraps of lace and not much else. She flushed with embarrassment, even as she had a vivid image of Cord’s likely reaction to them. To bad he wasn’t going to see them, she thought with genuine regret.

  “Cord ought to love those,” Jenny proclaimed as if she’d read Sharon Lynn’s mind.

  “Any red-blooded male would love those,” Lizzy agreed. “And Cord is all that.”

  “Girls, there is a mother present,” Melissa Adams reminded them, reaching for the panties. “Hmm, I wonder if your father…”

  Sharon Lynn stared at her in shock. “Mom!”

  “All right, Melissa,” Jenny enthused. “No wonder Cody never takes his eyes off of you, even after all these years. Girls, there’s a lesson to be learned here.”

  Sharon Lynn snatched back the panties. “Get your own,” she advised her mother. “Just be sure Daddy has his heart checked first.”

  “Okay, enough,” Jenny said, pointing to another box. “That one next. It’s something new.”

  After the shock of the last gift, Sharon Lynn was even more cautious about opening this one, especially given Jenny’s daring. Sure enough, inside she found a couple of scraps of lace purporting to be a bra that matched those dangerously wicked panties.

  “Are you sure any of this is for me?” she demanded. “Seems to me as if you all had Cord on your mind when you shopped.”

  “Not me,” Lizzy said. “I’m the practical, down-to-earth one.” She handed over her gift to hoots of laughter. “Quiet, all of you. Now, Sharon Lynn, this is borrowed and don’t you forget it. Hank gave it to me on my wedding day and I want it back.”

  Inside the box was a gorgeous heart-shaped diamond pendant on a gold chain. As far as she knew, Lizzy never went anywhere without it. Because Lizzy washed her hands so often at the hospital, she often left her wedding and engagement rings safely at home, but she always wore the necklace. Her fingers strayed to it again and again, as if it were a talisman. Sharon Lynn was deeply touched that Lizzy would loan it to her, even for a day.

  “It’s for luck,” Lizzy said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it. “That’s what it’s brought me every single day since I married Hank. I just wanted you to get off to a good start this time.”

  Tears welled up in Sharon Lynn’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said in a choked whisper. Lizzy couldn’t possibly know just how desperately she needed a little luck these days, not just for the next few hours but in all the days to come when she and Cord would be battling to keep Ashley.

  “I guess that leaves me,” her mother said, pulling out the box she’d tucked into the baby’s blanket. “These were your grandmother Mary’s. Your grandfather asked that I give them to you today with his love.”

  Diamond stud earrings were inside the jeweler’s box. They weren’t the largest she’d ever seen, but they were the most beautiful—perfectly cut and shooting off sparks of blue fire.

  “He gave them to her on their first anniversary,” her mother explained. “They didn’t have much money then, because he was trying to make a go of White Pines. In later years, he gave her fancier jewelry, but these were always her favorites. I remember her wearing them on every important family occasion. Now you can wear them on the day you start your own most memorable dates with Cord.”

  Sharon Lynn couldn’t prevent another flood of tears. Would they have been so kind, so generous if they knew the truth? she wondered. Probably so, because they loved her and whatever her reasons for marrying Cord, they wished her well.

  “I love you all,” she whispered.

  “Be happy, darling,” her mother said, hugging her fiercely.

  “I’m going to be,” she said, surprised to discover that she actually believed it.

  “Oh, my, look at the time,” Dani said. “We’d better get this show on the road. You can’t be late. Harlan Patrick says Cord’s nervous enough without being left to pace outside the judge’s chambers.”

  The next few hours passed in a blur. The ceremony was little more than perfunctory with its hastily spoken vows and cursory kiss at the end. She and Cord had given in on having a small reception for the family, but not at White Pines where it had been last time. Sharon Lynn had put her foot dow
n about that. She would have been terrified to get in a car and leave when it was over. Obviously understanding why she was being so adamant, Justin and his wife had organized it at their place in town.

  “Let me make up for giving you such a rough time,” he had pleaded and she had agreed.

  He and Patsy had spared nothing. Grandpa Harlan’s housekeeper had cooked a feast and the bakery in town had prepared a small but spectacular wedding cake. Sharon Lynn gazed into Cord’s eyes as he fed her the traditional bite of cake and almost gasped at the longing she saw in his gaze.

  So, she thought, her grandfather had been right. Cord did love her. Please, she prayed silently, don’t let me let him down. Don’t ever let me hurt him.

  Because there was no honeymoon to rush off to, the family lingered at Justin’s. Only when they could postpone their leaving no longer did Cord approach her.

  “If we don’t get out of here soon,” he said, leaning down to whisper the words in her ear as if they were a loving secret, “they’re going to start to wonder if we’re dreading being alone together.”

  In truth, this was the moment she had been dreading. Walking out of here as Cord’s wife, surrounded by good wishes and taunted by broad innuendoes about the night ahead, she knew she was going to feel like the world’s worst fraud.

  “Buck up, darlin’. Let’s give ’em the show they’re expecting,” he said with a devilish glint in his eyes.

  “What—?”

  The word was barely out of her mouth, when he tucked his arm behind her knees and scooped her up against his chest. The short skirt of the white wool suit she’d worn for the occasion rode up her thighs. With an exaggerated survey of her bared legs and a wink at her family, he said, “If nobody objects, I’m taking my bride home now.”

  “It’s about time,” Grandpa Harlan taunted.

  “Cord, put me down this instant,” Sharon Lynn demanded, only to be tucked more firmly against the broad expanse of his chest.

  “And spoil their fun? I don’t think so.”

  He left the house at a pace that left no doubt that he was an anxious new husband. When they turned the corner out of view, Sharon Lynn once again pleaded with him to put her down. “There’s no need now. They can’t see us.”