The Cowboy's Baby Blessing

by Deb Kastner

  “If you ask me, I’d better watch your three and nine, too, with that woman.”

  Seth chuckled, but it was a dry sound nearly devoid of amusement, and Rachel knew why.

  Seth was right. Whatever Trish had planned, it would be a lot more difficult for her to accomplish with Rachel sitting at the table with them, even if she didn’t say a word.

  Ha! As if she would be able to hold her tongue with that woman. If she tried to threaten Seth, or Caden’s well-being, Rachel would not be held responsible for what happened after that.

  Yes. Rachel had every reason in the world to go—even if she was bolting forward when she’d just this morning once again resolved to pull back.

  Just this one time, she promised herself.

  Seth needed a friend, someone who understood his situation. She could be that friend for him. She would go with him to meet Trish, and then afterward, if things went well, she’d have to talk to Seth about what had happened on the Fourth of July and how it should never happen again. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation, but she knew it needed to take place.

  Or if things went badly, she would wait until an appropriate moment at a later time and offer him whatever kind of support he needed to deal with Trish.

  “Of course I’ll go,” she said, putting a hand on his arm. “You couldn’t keep me away.”

  He visibly relaxed at hearing that.

  “Thank you,” he said simply, though the words were profound. “Now I’d better finish mowing so we can impress that inspector of yours with your world-class landscaping.”

  “You mean your world-class landscaping.”

  He grinned. “I say we both take credit for it.”

  * * *

  Seth mowed the front and back lawns of Rachel’s house, trimmed her bushes and cut back her roses, snipping a few stems to present to Rachel as an impromptu bouquet.

  It might have come straight from her own flower bed, but Rachel reacted as if he’d purchased an enormous bouquet of exotic flowers and had it sent by special courier, instead of given her a half-dozen thorn-ridden roses.

  “Careful,” he said as he transferred the small bouquet into her hands. “These roses aren’t the hotbed kind. They have thorns.”

  “I’m not sorry the roses have thorns,” she replied. “I’m just happy that the thorns have roses.” She chuckled. “See? You’ve been rubbing off on me. I’m looking at the bright side of the world instead of dwelling on the overcast.”

  They’d evidently switched places, because he was seeing clouds all over the place.

  “I have a feeling it’s going to be difficult to keep a positive attitude today,” he admitted. He glanced at his watch. “Speaking of which—I guess it’s time for me to face the dragon.”

  Rachel laughed. “Oh, Seth. You crack me up sometimes. Does that make you Saint George?”

  “Don’t I wish.”

  They arrived at Cup O’ Jo’s about five minutes early, but Seth knew Trish was already there, given the ridiculous-looking stretch limo parked on the other side of the street, taking up practically half a block of parking spaces.

  He reached for Rachel’s hand and gave it a squeeze as he blew out an unsteady breath.

  “Let’s do this thing.” He straightened his cowboy hat, stretched his neck muscles both ways and tried to relax his shoulders.

  Trish was seated in a far corner booth. Her eyes lit up when she spotted Seth, but her lips drooped into a pouty frown when she realized Rachel was with him.

  “I thought we were going to meet privately,” Trish argued as they approached the table.

  “You said that, not me,” he said. “Besides, anything you can say to me, you can say to Rachel.”

  “Why? Is she your fiancée? Your girlfriend?”

  The question threw Seth for a moment.

  After last night’s kiss, he didn’t know what they were—somewhere in the indefinable space between being close friends and something more. He knew what he wanted them to be, but he wasn’t going to go announcing his intentions to Trish before he’d discussed them with Rachel.

  “I’m a friend,” Rachel said firmly, taking a seat in the booth across from Trish and scooting to the farside so Seth could sit beside her.

  A friend?

  Was that how she saw him?

  “Whatever,” said Trish with a dismissive wave. “Seth, it’s you I need to speak with.”

  “About what?” he asked cautiously as Jo set steaming mugs of coffee in front of the three of them.

  Trish took one look at the contents of her mug and pushed it aside. “I don’t do coffee. Bring me some chai tea.”

  If Jo was thrown by the woman’s rudeness, she didn’t show it. She merely picked up the mug Trish had shoved away and smiled at Seth and Rachel.

  “Enjoy your coffee,” she said with a pert grin.

  Trish turned her attention back to Seth. “I’m here to talk about Caden, of course,” she said, as if it was obvious.

  And it was.

  He’d known from the beginning that Caden played into this somehow; he just didn’t know the details yet.

  But the very thought of Caden being caught in the middle of some tug-of-war made him bristle, even after he’d promised himself he was going to remain calm and composed.

  Rachel reached for his hand under the table and linked his fingers with hers.

  “What about Caden? Why don’t you get right to the point and tell me why you’ve flown clear across the country to visit a child you’ve shown absolutely no interest in before this week?”

  “Well, he is my nephew,” Trish stated, pressing her crossed forearms onto the table and leaning forward. “As his auntie, of course I’m worried about his welfare. He has no one to care for him now.”

  “He has me.”

  “Yes, well, that’s what my lawyer told me after he attended the reading of Tracy’s will. His understanding was that Tracy and Luke were very specific that Caden’s guardianship should go to you.”

  “Exactly,” Rachel said.

  Where was this leading? Had Trish really expected to inherit Caden’s guardianship after she’d completely alienated her family?

  Why would she even want it?

  She turned the question on him.

  “You’re a good-looking single man. Why would you want to be burdened with a baby?”

  “Caden is not a burden,” Seth replied through gritted teeth. Despite his determination to be civil, this woman was really poking at his sore spots.

  He didn’t like where this conversation was going.

  Not at all.

  “If you ask me,” she said, although no one had asked, “it doesn’t make any sense at all for you to have him. I mean, let’s face it. If you adopt Caden, you’ll be a single father. Why would you want to do that to yourself? Forget having any time for yourself. Forget dating. No woman wants a man burdened down with a child.”

  Trish slid a sidelong glance at Rachel and sniffed, as if she didn’t like what she saw.

  He didn’t know if Rachel was aware of how hard she was squeezing his hand at Trish’s scrutiny, but he could tell Trish’s words bothered her. He unlaced their fingers and made a big production of putting his arm around her shoulders.

  What did Trish know, anyway?

  When Seth looked at Rachel, he saw the most beautiful woman in the world—not only on the outside, although in his eyes she was that, but on the inside, because he’d seen her heart.

  He’d thought his action would reassure Rachel, but if anything, her shoulders tightened even more and she curled down in the booth.

  Trish’s expression changed as she narrowed her eyes on the two of them.

  “You will also have to ditch other things you probably enjoy, like live sports
games,” Trish added. “You won’t be able to play poker or go out with the boys to hit the bars.”

  Seth raised his eyebrows.

  Wow.

  Trish was really shooting in the dark here, trying to guess what he considered to be a priority in his life, and she was missing by miles.

  Well, maybe not the live-sports part, but that was a small sacrifice to make for Caden’s sake. He could watch his favorite teams on his big-screen television. Not to mention the fact that he had loads of relatives who would be all too happy to take Caden for the day if Seth somehow happened to score some prime tickets.

  Even better, it wouldn’t be long before he could take his son to live games with him—teach him all the ins and outs of every sport. Teach him to throw a football and catch a baseball in his little mitt. Seth could coach Little League. And he would definitely show Caden more parkour moves. The kid was already somersaulting forward and backward like a pro.

  Seth was actually excited over the prospect as he saw it, which he expected wasn’t the outcome Trish anticipated when she’d made the comment.

  Despite his anxiety, he experienced a moment of true joy. Trish had no idea how much he’d come to love Caden. And that love was going to be what saved the day.

  He wasn’t going to be a good father.

  He was going to be a great father.

  “You can see where I’m going with this,” Trish continued, tapping her fingers on the table.

  “No, not really,” he said, hoping what he was thinking was wrong.

  It just had to be.

  “It’s just not right for my sister to hand off her kid to a perfect stranger instead of a relative.”

  “I wasn’t a stranger to Tracy. I was very close friends with both her and Luke. In fact, Luke was my closest friend growing up. I was best man at their wedding.”

  “Maybe that explains their poor decision making,” Trish said.

  “I’m sorry. What?”

  Seth had had enough. At this point, he just wanted to get up and walk away. There was nothing Trish had to say that he wanted to hear.

  He was preparing to do just that when Trish spoke again, freezing him in his tracks.

  “Let’s not bring lawyers into this, okay? I think we’re both reasonable adults and can work it out right here between us.”

  “Work what out?” Rachel asked.

  He was glad she spoke, because in his anger, he had completely lost the ability to form words.

  “The details,” Trish said.

  She made a dismissive gesture as if none of that mattered.

  “For me to take Caden off your hands.”

  Chapter Ten

  Rachel was worried about Seth. After Trish had made her bold proclamation regarding Caden, which both Rachel and Seth had feared, Seth got up and stomped out of the café, not even bothering to pay for his coffee.

  Jo had stopped by their table to ask if everything was all right, but of course it wasn’t. Trish didn’t care to speak to Rachel, and Rachel couldn’t speak for fear of bursting into furious tears.

  Jo had graciously said the coffee—and the tea, with emphasis—were on the house. Rachel had thanked her. Trish had not.

  Rachel had gone searching after Seth, but no one had seen him. He wasn’t at the ranch. Samantha was still watching Caden and hadn’t heard from Seth at all. Neither had his parents.

  Eventually, Rachel returned to her own house and waited, assuming Seth would call or come over when he’d cooled down and was ready to talk.

  They had a lot to go over, to work through, in order to eliminate any possibility of Trish making good on her threats to try to take her nephew away. Caden would stay with Seth, if Rachel had to dump her entire life savings into paying a good lawyer to make sure of it.

  It was all she could do to pull herself together, but she wanted to appear composed so she could give Seth the support she knew he would need when he sought her out.

  Seth was a strong man, but even the strongest men sometimes needed a shoulder to lean on.

  She was determined to be that shoulder.

  Except he never came.

  She’d waited until after midnight to go to bed and woke early for church, hoping he would be there.

  He wasn’t, and neither were any of the rest of the Howells and Davenports.

  Rachel assumed they were with Seth, helping him come up with the best solutions to use to fight against Trish. If she was being honest, it hurt her feelings that Seth hadn’t included her in his plan making. After all, she’d been there when he’d met with Trish. She knew better than anyone what he was up against.

  But, she told herself every time those thoughts rose, he was with his family, which was where he should be. Those were the people Seth would be counting on to keep Caden safe.

  They were Caden’s family.

  She was just a friend.

  When Monday morning came, Rachel had no choice but to switch her thoughts and attention to the upcoming inspection of her day care.

  She didn’t expect Seth to bring Caden by. Not under the current circumstances. It was understandable that he would want to keep Caden by his side. If the whole family had missed church on Seth and Caden’s behalf, she doubted that he’d drop Caden off at a day care and leave him there, even if that day care was hers.

  Everything inside the house was spick-and-span and in perfect order, thanks mostly to Zooey, who had offered up her Saturday to do a deep cleaning. Seth had taken care of everything on the outside. Both the front and back lawns and the flower beds were as neat as she had ever seen them. And the new play set was the triumph of them all.

  She was nervous, as she always was before an inspection, even though she knew everything was up to standards and she’d done all she could do to see that it went well. She’d been doing in-home day care in this house for long enough that she would have thought she’d be completely confident in the outcome, but there was still that slight little niggling doubt that she had overlooked something important and she would lose her life’s work and ability to care for her family.

  The day-care kids started trickling in and she set everyone up at the craft table to make puppets out of paper bags. Zooey didn’t have summer school on Mondays, so she was crouched at the preschool-sized table, helping the kids cut funny mouths out of colorful construction paper with blunt-edged child safety scissors and paste googly eyes on their projects.

  When the doorbell rang at just after ten, Rachel was as ready as she would ever be. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

  “Seth,” she said in surprise, ushering him and Caden inside. “What are you doing here?”

  “Sorry we’re late,” he said, placing Caden on the floor so he could run and join his friends at the craft table.

  “Is everything okay?”

  A shot of anxiety passed through Seth’s gaze and then it was gone, as quickly as it had come.

  “I didn’t miss the inspector, did I?”

  “No. Actually, when the doorbell rang, I thought it was her.”

  Rachel’s home inspection wasn’t what she wanted to talk about, but she respected Seth’s unspoken wishes and remained on the topic he had introduced.

  “Awesome. I want to be here when she gets her first look at the playhouse.”

  “Which is no doubt the pièce de résistance of the entire day care. You outdid yourself.”

  “It was for a worthwhile cause.”

  “The senior center?” she asked, thinking back to the day of the auction, when Zooey had won the bid on Seth on her behalf.

  How much had changed since then. Now she couldn’t imagine her life without Seth and Caden in it, even if it was merely in passing when Seth dropped Caden off for day care and picked him up again. At least she’d still be able to
spend a big part of her days with that precious little boy who had stolen her heart just as thoroughly as his new daddy.

  Which was why it was so crucial that Caden stay with Seth.

  Those two special characters had changed her life for the better.

  “Not the senior center,” Seth said softly, shaking his head. “You.”

  Her.

  Not the senior center. Not even the day care.

  Her.

  She didn’t have time to reflect on what that might mean, because the inspector chose that moment to arrive.

  The she turned out to be a he, and he was very impressed with the work Seth had done on the play set. A weekend hobbyist and do-it-yourselfer, he blatantly admired Seth’s skill and workmanship.

  The kids came out to play and crawled all over the new equipment. Seth got sidetracked helping a couple of the preschoolers across the monkey bars. The inspector formally approved her day care.

  Rachel was relieved that there was one less thing to worry about, but as she called the kids inside for carpet time and out-loud reading time, her mind turned back to the situation of Seth and Caden.

  Seth lingered as she read the kids a story and then read the same one again as an encore. The little ones liked the repetition.

  She fed them a snack and then it was nap time.

  “Coffee?” she asked Seth, who was standing in the middle of the indoor imagination center, pushing a toy truck back and forth with the toe of his boot.

  “Sounds good,” he whispered, so as not to wake the children.

  She gestured toward the kitchen and he followed her inside, where he sat down across from her at the table after she’d served him coffee.

  “I was worried about you when you took off that way,” she said bluntly. They had only forty-five minutes to talk before nap time was over, and she didn’t want to waste even one second on trivialities.

  “Yeah. Sorry about that. I needed some time and space to clear my head. But I should have called or texted you or something to let you know I was okay.”