The Cowboy and His Baby

by Sherryl Woods

  “I saw her,” he admitted. “And her baby.” He watched closely for Kelly’s reaction. She remained expressionless.

  “I see,” she said blandly, keeping her attention focused on the vegetables she was chopping. “How did it go?”

  Cody thought she was working awfully darned hard to feign disinterest. “Fine for the first few minutes, ugly after that.”

  “Oh, Cody,” she protested softly. “Isn’t it time you settled things with her and came home for good?”

  Suddenly he didn’t want to pursue the topic. He needed a break from it. They could get into it again when Jordan got home. Hopefully his brother would have answers that Kelly couldn’t or wouldn’t give him.

  “I don’t want to talk about Melissa right now. First I want to catch a glimpse of that brand new baby boy of yours,” he declared just as Jordan came in and dropped a kiss on his wife’s cheek.

  “Hey, little brother, what brings you by?” Jordan asked, sneaking a carrot from the pile Kelly had just cut up.

  “He’s going to take a kitten,” Dani chimed in. “Can we go see them now, Cody? It’s later.”

  Since going to see the kittens would keep him from having to deal with the subject of Melissa and her baby a little longer, Cody stood and headed for the kitchen door. Dani tucked her hand in his.

  “You should probably take two kittens,” she said on the way out. “One might get lonely.”

  “Listen, young lady, I said one kitten,” he protested over the sound of Kelly and Jordan’s laughter.

  “But you were going to take two last time.” Apparently she caught his stern expression because she gave a little shrug of resignation. “I bet you’ll change your mind when you see them.”

  A half hour later he was back in the kitchen with two kittens in a box. Dani had been giving him very precise instructions on caring for them ever since they’d left the barn. Kelly’s expression turned smug when she saw him.

  “You are pitiful,” Jordan said, shaking his head. “Is there a female on the face of the earth you can resist?”

  “Who are you kidding?” Cody shot back, gesturing to the big tomcat that was curled in Jordan’s lap purring contentedly. “You always hated cats and now you’re surrounded by them. I don’t hear you complaining.”

  “You may not hear it,” Kelly said, “but it is almost the last thing I hear every single night. He says ‘Good night, I love you, no more cats,’ all in one breath.”

  “I do not,” Jordan said, dislodging the cat and pulling Kelly onto his lap.

  Cody listened to their banter and watched their undisguised affection with envy. Until he’d lost Melissa he’d never thought he wanted marriage and kids. He’d been as commitment-phobic as any one of those jerks who made the rounds of the talk shows. Ironically, ever since their breakup, all he’d been able to think about was settling down and having kids. He’d deliberately isolated himself in Wyoming so he’d be far from the temptation to try something at which he knew he’d inevitably fail.

  After all, he hadn’t appreciated Melissa when he’d had her and she was as sexy and generous, as kind and intelligent, as any woman he’d ever known. He’d had a roving eye, just the same. He’d taken her for granted, which everyone in the family had accused him of doing at one time or another. He suspected he’d do the same with a wife. What was the point of ruining some woman’s life for his own selfish longing to have just a taste of the kind of love Jordan and Luke had found?

  “How long are you sticking around? Have you told your boss when you’ll be back in Wyoming?” Jordan asked after Kelly insisted Cody stay for dinner.

  Kelly dished up a serving of stew for him and lingered at his shoulder. “You are not going back until after J.J. is baptized,” she said emphatically.

  Cody glanced up at her. “When is that again?”

  “Next weekend, which you know perfectly well. I sent you an invitation. We’re going ahead with it. Harlan insisted.”

  Something in his expression must have given him away because she frowned. “You ripped it up, didn’t you?”

  Cody recalled the scattered pieces of the pretty blue invitation and felt a tide of red rising in his cheeks. Was the woman a damned witch?

  “Of course not,” he fibbed.

  The response drew a disbelieving snort. “So you’ll be here at least that long,” she said.

  Cody had a feeling once he learned the truth about Melissa’s baby, he wouldn’t be able to get away from Texas fast enough. He’d need to cool his temper for a good long while before confronting her with what he knew. He’d also need time to make up his mind exactly what he wanted to do about the baby she’d kept from him. He intended to learn that truth in the next twenty-four hours.

  “Sorry,” he said eventually. “I can’t promise to stay that long.”

  Kelly glanced at Jordan, then back at him. “Your brothers said you were going to say no,” she said.

  “I had no idea I was so predictable.”

  “Lately you are,” his sister-in-law said. “Lately, you’ve gotten downright boring.”

  He gave her a wry look. “More of that fatal charm, I see.”

  Kelly frowned at his teasing. “What if I told you that Jordan and I want you to be the baby’s godfather?”

  Something deep inside him shifted at the offer. He felt an unexpected warm glow. It was a feeling he told himself he didn’t deserve, especially not if he had a real child of his own he’d never even acknowledged.

  “I’d say you made a lousy choice,” he responded.

  “I told you he wouldn’t even be gracious about it,” Jordan chimed in. “Leave him be, Kelly. He’s as stubborn as the rest of us when he digs in his heels. He’ll change his mind, if we let the idea simmer long enough.”

  “I won’t change my mind,” Cody said. “Sorry.”

  “You say that a lot these days,” Jordan observed.

  “Maybe I have a lot to be sorry for.”

  “Well, this is one thing you can check off the list,” Jordan said.

  He spoke in that matter-of-fact way that indicated he’d reached a decision and wanted no further argument. It was a tactic that might have served him well in business, but it grated on Cody’s nerves.

  “I want you here, little brother,” Jordan stated emphatically. “And I want you to be the baby’s godfather. It’s settled.”

  Despite his annoyance at Jordan’s attempt to snatch the decision out of his hands, Cody could feel himself weakening, feel that odd, empty sensation in the pit of his stomach that always meant the loneliness was taking hold again.

  “Did you check it out at the church?” he inquired lightly. “They’ll probably be worried about lightning hitting the steeple if I show my hide in there.”

  “There was some mention of that, but I believe there’s a general consensus that your soul is still salvageable,” Kelly said. “Please, Cody. We’ve missed you. It’s only for a few days more. How bad can that be?”

  A few days, one hour, any time at all would be hell, especially if he discovered in the meantime that he had a baby of his own. Still, Cody had never been able to resist his sister-in-law. Kelly had been coaxing him into trouble since they were toddlers. Jordan had been too stuffy even at seven to fall in with some of her more outrageous mischief, though there had never been a doubt in anyone’s mind that Jordan was the one she loved.

  “I’ll stick around,” he said eventually. “Long enough to get that nephew of mine in good graces with the Lord. Then I’m heading right back out. Understood?”

  “Understood,” Kelly said meekly.

  Kelly meek? Every alarm bell in him went off. Before he could get too caught up in trying to figure out her angle, she was gone. He was left alone with Jordan, while Kelly went upstairs to tuck Dani into bed. Suddenly the questions that had been tormenting him earlier in the day could no longer be ignored.

  “Kelly mentioned that you saw Melissa and her little girl today, after you left Luke and me,” Jordan said, his
gaze fixed on Cody’s face.

  The comment gave him the perfect opening. “Why didn’t you warn me?” Cody asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “You knew about the baby, didn’t you?”

  Jordan sighed, then nodded. “I saw her once, about eight months ago. She was just a baby.” He scanned Cody’s face as if looking for answers. “What did you think when you saw her?”

  “I figured Melissa and Brian had more going for them than I’d realized. I figured they were a happy little family now.” Cody threw out the possibility to gauge his brother’s reaction. If Jordan knew anything different, he’d find it out now.

  The color washed out of Jordan’s face. “Did you say that to Melissa?”

  “More or less,” he admitted. “Along with offering her my congratulations.”

  “What did she say?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I see.”

  Cody lost patience for the game. He knew darned well that Jordan knew more than he was saying. He could see it in his eyes. His brother was looking everywhere in the kitchen except directly at him.

  “You might as well spit it out,” he told him finally.

  “What?”

  “Whatever has you looking like you’d rather be in Kansas.”

  A faint grin tugged at Jordan’s mouth. “Maybe Houston, not Kansas,” he said. He sighed. “How good a look did you get at the child?”

  “Good enough,” Cody said. He sensed that Jordan wanted him to reach a different conclusion than he’d just offered all on his own. He sucked in a deep breath. “She’s mine, isn’t she?”

  Once Cody had actually spoken the words out loud, Jordan nodded, confirming everything.

  Cody’s heart pounded. An uncommon mix of hope and dismay swirled through him. “You know that for sure?”

  “I saw it right off,” Jordan admitted. “She was the spitting image of your baby pictures. I confronted Melissa about it straight out.”

  Cody felt an icy chill settle over him as Jordan’s earlier comment came back to him. He stood and leaned down to look his brother in the eye. “And that was when? About eight months ago, you said?”

  “Yes,” Jordan replied softly.

  “And Melissa confirmed your suspicions right then and there?” he demanded, the hurt and anger of yet another betrayal slamming through him.

  “Yes.”

  “Damn you, Jordan,” he snapped, backing up to prevent slamming a fist in his brother’s face. “How could you do that to me? How could you keep a secret like that? Didn’t you think I had a right to know? Or was this another one of those big-brother-knows-best decisions?”

  “She pleaded with me not to tell you,” Jordan said simply.

  Cody stared at him incredulously. “And your loyalty was with her and not me?”

  “Why the hell do you think I’ve done everything in my power to get you back here? I didn’t want to lay this on you when you were in Wyoming. I wanted you here, so you could see for yourself. I didn’t want you to accuse me or her of making it up just to get you back here.”

  Cody wasn’t buying it. “No, you were more concerned with keeping your promise to a woman who betrayed me than you were with doing what was right—giving me a chance to know my own child.” He turned on his heel and headed for the door, the box of kittens in tow. “I can’t believe you would do something like this. Maybe family loyalty doesn’t mean anything once you’re a big corporate executive. Is that it, big brother?”

  “Cody, you have it all wrong,” Kelly protested when she came back into the kitchen. Obviously she had overheard the tail end of the argument.

  “I don’t think so,” he snapped, shooting her a look of regret. “Don’t expect me at the baptism, after all. In fact, forget you even know me.”

  Kelly called out after him. He heard the screen door slam behind her, then Jordan murmuring something he couldn’t quite make out. Whatever it was, though, it silenced her. When he looked back as he drove away, he saw them standing on the porch staring after him. He was sure it was only his imagination, but he thought he saw his brother wiping something that might have been tears from his cheeks.

  He slowed the car momentarily and closed his eyes against the tide of anguish washing through him. Melissa had done it again. She had come between him and his family. He vowed then and there it would be the last time. This time he wouldn’t run. He wouldn’t let her control his destiny as he had before.

  Forgetting all about his resolve to let his temper cool, an hour later he was in town, pounding on the Hortons’ front door. Ken Horton, wearing a robe and slippers, opened it a crack. At the sight of Cody, he swung it wider, a welcoming smile spreading across his weathered face. Cody could see Velma’s panicky expression as she stared over her husband’s shoulder.

  “Cody, what on earth?” Horton grumbled. “You trying to wake the whole neighborhood?”

  “Where’s Melissa?”

  “She’s not here,” he said as his wife tugged frantically on his arm. When he leaned down, she whispered something in his ear, something that wiped any lingering expression of welcome from his face. “Go on home, Cody.”

  “Not until you tell me where she is.”

  “Don’t make me call the sheriff.”

  “Don’t make me pound the information out of you,” Cody shot back belligerently.

  Ken Horton regarded him sympathetically. “Boy, go on home and get some sleep. If you’ve got things to talk over with Melissa, do it in the morning, when you’re calmer.”

  Despite his earlier promise to himself to think things through clearly, Cody realized he didn’t want to be calm when he talked to Melissa. He wanted this rage to keep him focused, to keep him immune to the sight of her. He wanted to have this out with her while he was hot with anger, not lust.

  “If I have to knock on every door in town, I’m going to talk to her tonight,” he swore.

  “There’s nothing you have to say, nothing you need to know, that won’t be settled just as readily in the morning,” Horton repeated, still calm, still intractable.

  Cody considered it as much as an admission that he and Melissa had serious issues to resolve, such as his relationship to that baby. He gathered from the warning look Horton shot at his now tearful wife that they didn’t entirely agree on whether Cody had the right to know the truth.

  “Where can I find her in the morning?” he asked finally, resigned to the delay. They all knew he wouldn’t tear through town, creating yet another ruckus he’d never live down.

  “She gets to work about nine,” her father told him.

  “I’m not talking to her at Dolan’s,” he said. “I don’t want the whole town knowing our business.”

  Horton seemed about to offer an alternative when Velma piped up. “That’ll just have to do,” she said. “We’re not telling you where she lives.”

  He couldn’t decide if Velma was worried about him throttling Melissa or if she was simply being protective of her daughter’s secret. Because he wasn’t sure, he backed down.

  “If you talk to her, let her know I’ll be by the minute the doors open. Tell her to arrange with Eli for someone to cover for her unless she wants her personal life broadcast to everyone in town.”

  To his surprise, Ken Horton held out his hand. When Cody shook it, Melissa’s father said, “For whatever it’s worth, Cody, I think it’s about time you two got everything out in the open. The two of you had something special once. Melissa’s been punished enough for making one foolish mistake.”

  He gave his wife a defiant look. “And a man has a right to claim his child.”

  Velma Horton groaned and covered her face with her hands. Tears spilled down her cheeks. Cody wondered at the fear he’d seen in her eyes right before she placed her hands over them. She’d had the same terrified expression earlier in the day. He’d always thought Velma Horton liked him. Now she seemed to think he was some sort of a monster.

  Was she blaming him for running out on her pregnant daughter? Or
was it something more? He wondered what could possibly be behind the expression he’d read in her eyes.

  Eventually, as he slowly walked back to his pickup, it came to him. She was actually afraid that he’d come home to take his baby away from Melissa.

  Was that what he intended? He sat in his truck on the dark street in front of the Hortons’ house, his head resting on the steering wheel. He honestly hadn’t thought beyond discovering the truth and confronting Melissa with it.

  Obviously, it was a good thing Ken Horton had prevented him from seeing Melissa tonight. He needed to get his thoughts in order. He needed to have a plan. For once in his life he couldn’t act on impulse. Too many lives were at stake, his own, Melissa’s, and that darling little girl’s.

  His heart ached every time he thought about his daughter. His arms felt empty, just as they did when Dani climbed out of them or he had to turn Angela back over to Jessie or Luke. He wondered about that vacant place he’d thought would always be inside him and realized that there was someone who could fill it, a child of his own.

  Tomorrow he would claim her. He realized he didn’t even know her name or how old she was or whether she could walk or talk. So many precious details. He sighed. Tomorrow he would fill in the gaps.

  Tomorrow he would finally experience what it was like to feel like a father. Right now it was all too abstract, but in the morning he would hold his child in his arms. Whatever else happened between him and Melissa, he vowed that nothing would ever rip his baby away from him again.

  Chapter Five

  Her mother had warned her. In fact, the first thing out of Velma’s mouth when Melissa had dropped off her daughter for the day had been a detailed description of Cody’s late-night visit. Based on Velma’s panicked reaction, Melissa had been tempted to take Sharon Lynn and flee. She knew, though, that in his present mood Cody would only track her down.

  Besides, hadn’t she resolved just last night to tell him herself about Sharon Lynn? The decision on the timing had just been taken out of her hands. Of course, that also meant that his anger had had all night to simmer. She walked to work, dreading the confrontation that was clearly only minutes away.