by Leanne Banks
The doctor’s sudden epithet sent a chill slithering up Tate’s spine. “You’re dilated to eight centimeters and we’ll have to work fast if we’re going to get the baby turned,” Martinelli said, lowering the sheet. He stripped the glove off and started for the door. “I’ll get one of the residents and be right back.”
As the doctor walked from the room, Tate blew out the breath he hadn’t been aware of holding. He wasn’t quite sure what to do next. In light of the problem facing her, Marilou might want one of her sisters by her side.
“Would you rather have Faith or Ann Elise in here with you, darlin’?”
“No. I want you with me.” She bit her lower lip a moment before she whispered, “Please don’t leave, Tate. I need you.”
Gazing down at her, he saw a mixture of pain and fear clouding her pretty emerald eyes, but he also saw the trust that he’d walk through hell before he betrayed. “I love you, darlin’. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right here with you.”
A tear trickled down her cheek as she reached up to touch his jaw with trembling fingers. “I love you, too, Tate Carson.”
Emotion filled his chest and he leaned down to kiss her with every ounce of feeling he possessed. When he raised his head, he smiled. “We’re going to get through this just fine. I promise.”
“I need…to push,” Marilou panted.
Tate watched the doctor stare at the ultrasound monitor as he mashed on the side of her belly. “Not yet,” Martinelli said, his gaze glued to the fuzzy-looking picture on the screen. “We’re almost there, but I need you to hold off just a little longer, sweetheart.”
She groaned. “I…can’t. I have…to push.”
Tate had never felt more helpless in his entire life than he did at that very moment. The contractions were coming faster, lasting longer and at times seemed to overlap. He’d gladly take her place if it meant that she’d finally get some relief. But since that was impossible, he intended to make sure she did everything the doctor and nurses had told them would make this whole ordeal easier for her.
“Come on, Marilou,” Tate said, cupping her face with a shaky hand. He turned her head until their gazes met. Her eyes were clouded with pain and he had to swallow hard to get the words past the lump clogging his throat. “You can do this. Just look at me and concentrate on how much I love you.”
He wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing, but after a second or two her eyes focused on his and she began blowing quick, sharp breaths through her mouth. “That’s it, darlin’. You’re doing great.”
What seemed like an eternity later, but couldn’t have been more than a couple of minutes, the doctor stopped pushing against Marilou’s stomach to stare at the monitor. Grinning, he gave them the thumb’s-up sign. “The baby is in position and we’re good to go. You can start pushing now, Marilou.”
Tate felt relieved and scared to death all at the same time. They’d passed one hurdle, but they still had to make it through the delivery.
But Marilou didn’t give him a chance to dwell on his conflicting emotions. Without waiting for any further instructions from the doctor, she scrunched her eyes shut, grabbed her knees and started pushing with all her might.
When she lay back against the pillow to catch her breath, Tate kissed her forehead. “What can I do to help you through this, darlin’?”
“Support my shoulders…with the next…contraction,” she said, panting from the exertion.
“You got it,” he said, determined not to let her down.
“Here comes another one,” she said, her voice strained.
Taking hold of her shoulders, Tate helped her lean forward as she redoubled her efforts with the next round of pushing. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to get to the end of the ordeal as soon as possible. With the doctor shoving around on her stomach between every contraction, she’d been through hell.
Tate was so busy helping Marilou that he failed to notice the flurry of activity going on around them. But when he glanced up, he noticed that several things had changed. Carts had been wheeled into the room with a variety of sterile instruments neatly laid out on top, the bottom part of the bed had been removed, and some kind of poles with strange looking troughs had been attached to each side of the bed frame.
Then everything seemed to go into fast forward. The sheet covering Marilou was shoved aside, Doctor Martinelli took his position to deliver the baby, and the nurses took over coaching Marilou. Tate had no idea why one of the women insisted that he put on a pair of latex gloves, then move to the end of the bed with the doctor, but remembering the lecture from the crusty old nurse, he did as he was told.
“I need for you to give me a big push, Marilou,” Martinelli said.
Standing beside the doctor, Tate was struck absolutely speechless as he watched the top of the baby’s head appear, then slowly emerge from Marilou’s body. He’d never experienced anything as terrifying or as amazing as watching her give birth.
“Step a little closer, Dad,” Martinelli instructed. “Now put your hands down here to help catch your baby.”
As if moving through a dream, Tate followed the doctor’s orders, and within a matter of seconds, the baby slid out into his waiting hands. Time stood still as he gazed down at the squirming infant, but when she opened her eyes to look up at him, he instantly fell in love with the baby girl everyone thought he’d fathered.
“Is my baby all right?” Marilou asked, her voice sounding surprisingly strong for all she’d been through.
Glancing up, Tate’s vision blurred as he smiled at the woman he loved. “She’s fine, darlin’.”
Marilou looked stunned. “I have a little girl?”
He nodded. “You sure do. And she’s just as beautiful and perfect as her mother.”
“She’s absolutely gorgeous, Marilou,” Ann Elise said, leaning over the hospital bassinet to touch her new niece’s baby soft cheek. “I think she’s going to look like Tate when she gets older.”
Marilou glanced over at Tate sitting across the room with Joe and Gabriel. When their eyes met, his smile caused her heart to skip a beat. She’d fallen hopelessly in love with him, but could he really love her?
He’d been the first to confess his feelings, but that had happened during a very stressful moment in her labor. Did he mean it? Or had it been something said due to the emotional intensity of the situation?
“Have you two picked out a name for her?” Faith asked, bringing Marilou back to the present.
“Not yet,” Tate answered, his gaze never waivering from Marilou’s. “That’s something we have to talk about this afternoon.” He winked, warming her all the way to her soul. “Among other things.”
“I don’t know about everyone else, but I intend to spend this afternoon taking a nap,” Gabriel said, yawning. “I’m getting too old for these all-night New Year’s parties.”
“They are kind of rough,” Joe admitted, grinning.
“Not nearly as rough as the New Year’s party Marilou and Tate attended,” Faith said sympathetically. Leaning over, she hugged Marilou. “We’re going to leave now. You and Tate need some time alone with your new angel.”
When Faith stepped back from the side of the bed, Ann Elise took her place. Giving Marilou a hug and a light kiss on the cheek, she smiled. “Get some rest, sweetie.”
The men stood up to shake Tate’s hand.
“In a few years, you’re going to have a line of boys a mile long, just waiting for a smile from that little girl,” Gabriel laughed.
“Congratulations, Carson.” Joe smiled at Ann Elise. “One of these days, we’ll be adding to the family.”
Marilou and Faith both spoke at once. “Ann Elise, are you—”
Their sister shook her head. “Not yet. But Joe and I have talked about getting pregnant right after we get the new practice opened.”
Grinning, Gabriel cleared his throat. “Faith and I have been talking about that possibility, too.”
Her smile radiant, Faith
walked straight into her husband-to-be’s waiting arms. “We’re going to start trying as soon as we get married.”
“Who’s going to keep track of the bet this time?” Marilou asked, grinning. “I’ll say Faith’s pregnant by Easter.”
Joe laughed and pulled an ink pen and paper from his coat pocket. “As the winner of the last pool, I’ll keep track of this one.”
By the time everyone selected the months they thought Faith and Gabriel’s baby would be conceived, congratulated Tate and Marilou on the birth, and left for home, the baby woke up to nurse.
Marilou watched Tate gently pick up her daughter, then walk over to sit down on the side of the bed, facing her. When he handed the baby to her, his expression took her breath.
“Thank you, Marilou.”
“For what?”
“Everything.” He reached out to cup her cheek with his large palm. “This has been the best Christmas and New Year that I’ve ever had.”
The love she saw shining in his dark brown eyes made her heart skip a beat. “I feel the same way, Tate.”
As if he’d read her earlier thoughts, he smiled. “I meant what I said when you were in labor, darlin’. I love you more than life itself.”
Her chest filled with emotion. “I love you, too. So very much.”
He looked down at the baby in her arms. “And I love her.” Touching the infant’s soft cheek with his finger, he glanced back up at Marilou. “It was one of the proudest moments in my life when Ann Elise said she thought the baby looked like me.” His expression turned serious. “Does Bridges have dark hair?”
Marilou couldn’t help it. She laughed as she remembered how sensitive Harlan had been about his hair, or more accurately, the lack of it. “What little hair Harlan has left is pale blond.”
Tate grinned. “So she really does look like she has my hair?”
“Yes.”
He held her gaze for several long seconds, then cleared his throat. “Marilou, what do you think about making all this real?”
Afraid to hope, Marilou wanted to make sure she understood. “You mean—”
“Everything,” he said before she could ask. “The engagement, my being the baby’s daddy—I want it all, darlin’.”
Moisture blurred her vision as she nodded. “I want that, too.”
A wide grin spread across his handsome face. “Marilou Baker, will you marry me and let me be this little girl’s daddy for real?”
“Oh, yes,” Marilou said through her tears.
Tate’s arms were immediately around her and the baby. “Darlin’, you’ve just made me the happiest man in the whole damned state of Texas.”
The baby chose that moment to protest the delay in getting her next meal.
When he released them, Tate smiled. “Our daughter is going to work herself up into a real hissy fit if you don’t feed her.”
His referring to the baby as their daughter made Marilou’s heart soar. Happier than she’d ever imagined, she arranged her gown and lifted the baby to her breast.
Tate moved to sit beside and slightly behind Marilou, then wrapping his arms around her and the baby, he pulled them back against his wide chest. “I want to hold both of you for the rest of my life,” he whispered close to her ear.
With Tate holding her and the baby, they spent most of New Year’s afternoon deciding what to name their daughter, when they were going to get married, and where they were going to live.
“I’ll call the Mission Creek Inn tomorrow and see if we can reserve the garden for the first Saturday afternoon in May,” Tate said.
Marilou’s breath caught. “How did you know I’ve always dreamed of getting married there?”
He smiled. “I overheard you telling your sister.”
“I love you, Tate Carson. You’re the most thoughtful man I’ve ever met.”
“I just want to give you your dreams, darlin’.” He tightened his arms around her and the baby. “Are you sure you want to live on the Circle C? It’s a lot different than living in Corpus Christi.”
Marilou didn’t have to think twice. “Corpus Christi is my past. My future is here with you and the baby.”
“I’m glad,” he said, kissing the side of her head. “While I was out yesterday morning to get the flowers for your aunt and my mom’s graves, I stopped by and arranged for a contractor to start work next week on all the remodeling ideas you had for the ranch house.”
“You did?” She glanced over her shoulder at him.
“Yep.” He grinned. “By the time you’re on your feet, the work crew will have everything ripped out and they’ll be ready for you to pick out what you want.”
Before she could tell him she didn’t care what the house had in it as long as they were together, there was a soft knock on the door.
“How is Mission Creek’s newest resident and her parents?” a well-dressed woman of about fifty asked, entering the room.
“Couldn’t be better,” Tate answered cheerfully.
“Wonderful,” the woman said, smiling. “I’m Laura Kingston. I work in the records office here at the hospital and I need some information for your daughter’s birth certificate.”
“What do you need?” Tate asked.
Ms. Kingston smiled. “Have you decided on a name for your daughter?”
“Her name is Maria Elizabeth,” Marilou said, smiling down at the baby in her arms. Their choice of what to name the little girl had been easy. She and Tate had decided on Maria for his mother and Elizabeth after Aunt Beth.
“I also need your names,” Ms. Kingston said.
“My name is Marilou Baker, and the baby’s father’s name is—”
“Tate Carson,” he said, sounding as proud as any first-time father possibly could.
Marilou turned her head to kiss his lean cheek. “I love you, Tate Carson.”
“And I love you, darlin’,” he said, his slow smile promising a lifetime of undying devotion.
Happier than she’d been in her entire life, Marilou held their daughter close, and snuggled into the arms of the man she loved with all of her heart and soul. She had everything she’d ever dreamed of, and all because she’d decided to come home for the holidays.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Leanne Banks, Dixie Browning and Kathie DeNosky for their contributions to the LONE STAR COUNTRY CLUB series.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Books S.A.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7214-3
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
FAITH’S SUGAR PLUM DADDY
Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Books S.A.
CHRISTMAS EVE REUNION
Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Books S.A
NEW YEAR’S BABY
Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Books S.A
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