Cowboy Sam's Quadruplets

by Tina Leonard

  Like his wife.

  “So that’s what you dug up, gorgeous,” Sam said as he finished relating his adventure with Bode to her. He cast an appreciative eye over Seton. There was something to be said for having a wife who knew how to find answers. “Why are you all dressed up? Did I miss a doctor’s appointment?”

  Seton smiled. She pulled him from the bunkhouse kitchen, where Sam had found her, and led him down the hall. He thought she was going in the right direction if she had in mind what he had on his.

  “That can’t be all of the story,” Seton said. “There are too many questions. Such as what did happen to your parents?”

  Sam grabbed his wife, halting her as he realized she was about to take a wrong turn into a room that wasn’t their bedroom. “That’s Jonas’s problem. I’ve done all the work for this lazy family that I intend to.” He tugged her close to him and gave her a thorough kissing. “I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me. A weight the size of a horse.”

  Seton touched his face for just a second with her cool, gentle hand. God, he loved the feel of this woman, especially round and cutely plump as she was becoming. “I’m glad you’re happy.”

  “Remember when I told you I didn’t know who I was?” Sam asked.

  She nodded. “I knew who you were, though.”

  “So you said.” He planted a kiss on her nose and tried to edge her a little closer to the bedroom. For some reason, he thought he detected a wee bit of reluctance on her part to be led astray for some early-evening romance. “But now I know who I am, and it changes everything for me. Although I’m not exactly swallowing Bode’s entire tale, he did seem pretty definitive about a lot of details that make sense.”

  His wife smiled at him. “I told you Mr. Jenkins wasn’t the bogeyman you boys made him out to be. He’s got his good side, too.”

  “No, he doesn’t. He tried to work me over for better liquor. Trust me, for a man who won’t part with a penny, he sure does like his spirits to be of the finest quality. Why do you keep trying to get me into another room besides the one I know you know I’m trying to take you to? Has my evening with Bode left a stench on me?”

  “No.” Seton laughed. “Are you sure you’re through with all your news?”

  “Yes.” Realizing their dance wasn’t getting him toward the bedroom, he settled for running his hands over his wife’s derriere. “As I said, Jonas is in Ireland hunting for the redoubtable aunt and uncle. Once he finds them, he can lay Bode’s story on them. I’ve given the pertinent details to my brothers, and they’re as stunned as I am, and last I saw, trying to figure out if Bode was trying to mess with our heads.” Sam grinned. “My gut tells me he likes those little grandbabies of his too much to try any shenanigans at this point.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.” Seton took a deep breath. “All right, if you’re done with your news for the moment, because I have a feeling this will be a developing story,” she said with a smile, “I have something to show you.”

  “Will you be naked?” Sam asked hopefully. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you nude, if you care to take a hint, wife.”

  Seton laughed and pushed open the door to a room Sam realized had been made over into a nursery. “Holy smokes,” he said, his gaze going at once to the four white cribs—four of everything—centered in the room. “What have you been doing while I was gone? Turning this place into a baby factory?”

  Seton looked at him proudly. “My sisters-in-law and sister gave me—us—a baby shower.”

  He blinked. “Did they ever. We’re going to be showered with babies, and snowed under baby crapola.” His heart thundered as the visual reality hit him. “This is actually happening. We’re going to have four babies.”

  Seton laughed again. “Yes, Sam. Isn’t this a fabulous nursery?”

  “I guess so.” He gazed around at all the stuff. “Good thing we moved into the bunkhouse. I think it’s the only property we own with a room big enough to hold four babies at once.”

  “I know.” Seton went over and turned on a motorized swing, setting a pink-and-white bear sitting in it rocking. “Almost everything in here is hand-me-downs from the other Callahan babies.”

  Sam considered the stuffed animal with a frown. “Good. Because my boys aren’t going to play with pink bears.” There were four of them, in four matching swings, but only one bear was getting a ride. The other three sat with equally content smiles on their faces. Sam felt a little sweat start under his hatband. “It’s a lot of stuff, Seton.”

  “Yes.” She laughed at him again. Sam knew his face was frozen, and he couldn’t seem to relax his muscles. “Anyway, the doctor hasn’t said we’re having boys, Sam.”

  “It’s about time one of us Callahans did. We’re going to be having weddings around here until someone finally decides to rename our ranch Rancho Wedding-O.”

  “No.” Seton gently tugged him over to a small settee and curled up in his lap when he collapsed. “And I have more news.”

  Sam’s head was already spinning. “Please don’t tell me the doctor discovered a fifth taking up space in your tiny little stomach. Seriously, Seton, I don’t know how you’re going to hold four babies. You’re a little taller than some ladies, but you’re thin.” He looked at her expanding stomach with some concern.

  Seton nodded. “As always, husband, you’re on the case. I had my appointment today, and the doctor says I’m on bed rest.”

  He blinked. “Is everything all right? Do you feel okay? How come I didn’t know you had an appointment?” He glared at her, not happy that she’d left him out of something important.

  She ran a soothing hand down his arm as she nestled against his chest. “First, you had your own important errands to take care of. Second, you don’t have to go to the doctor with me every time, Sam. It’s boring. You’re sweet to want to, though.”

  “It’s not boring with those kinds of news bulletins.” Sam regarded his wife unhappily. “So if you’re on bed rest, why did you have a baby shower? I’m sure it was more excitement than you needed.”

  “It was a surprise shower,” Seton said. “They didn’t tell you because they said you’d be underfoot if you knew, and I think your sisters-in-law might be right about you.” She gave him a considering look. “You are a bit of a control freak.”

  “Oh, brother.” Sam closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of his wife in his lap. She was all curves and soft skin, and he loved holding her. “Wait,” he said, his eyes flashing open. “Does bed rest mean resting and nothing else in bed?”

  She giggled. “I’m afraid so.”

  Damn. He had a situation of epic proportions in his jeans right at this moment, courtesy of his warm, sweet wife sitting in his lap. Sam groaned. “These four little sons of mine are selfish.”

  “For the next few months, I guess so.” Seton kissed him on the cheek, then on the lips, and whispered, “But I still think we should celebrate your big news.”

  “Which big news?” Sam asked. “I don’t know which news is biggest. It’s all changed my life.”

  “Let’s celebrate it all,” she said, and Sam felt her cool, smooth hand reach into his jeans.

  Maybe this bed rest thing wasn’t going to be as awful as it sounded.

  “THIS BED REST THING is terrible,” Sam told Seton the next day. “I hate leaving you here. I know you have to be bored. And I don’t like the term ‘high-risk pregnancy.’ You said nothing about high risk when you lured me into a sexual adventure yesterday.”

  Seton smiled from where she lay on the sofa. He tried to think if she had everything she needed within reach. The worry was going to kill him.

  “It wasn’t a sexual adventure, Sam, honestly. I’ve put more effort into whisking eggs.” She gave him a teasing wink.

  Sam sighed. His wife did have quite an effect on him. She’d been growing on his heart ever since the day he’d proposed to her and realized he was really just looking for an excuse to tie Seton to him forever. “Don’t remind me. The more I have you, th
e more I want you.”

  “Good. Now just hold that thought for another four months or so.”

  Sam felt himself go pale. Literally felt blood rush from his head. “Four plus three equals only seven months, Seton.”

  “I’ll be lucky if I go seven months, probably. That’s why it’s called a high-risk pregnancy, Sam.”

  He staggered to the end of the sofa to sit beside her. “You’re going to stay totally still and not move a muscle until the doctor says you can. I’ll have Banger’s bring by food every night.”

  “Our generous sisters-in-law said they’d take care of your garbage bin of a gut. Everything is going to be fine. Where’s my nerves-of-steel guy who strikes fear into the meanest hearts in the courtroom?”

  “Gone,” Sam said with a groan. “Finished off. A shadow of his former self.”

  “What a wienie,” Seton said with a laugh. “Go on, please. I’m trying to figure out how to knit a bootie. Today is knitting day, you know. Some ladies are coming to teach me, so don’t lock the door on your way out.”

  Sam kissed her goodbye, not certain she should even be knitting. Not knowing what to do with himself, he made his way out into the sunshine.

  And then, like a mirage, he saw the mystical black Diablos running, their hooves flying as they galloped across the horizon toward the east.

  And Sam knew something was about to happen.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “So it looks like neither one of us will ever wear the magic wedding dress,” Seton told Corinne a week later, when her aunt came out to the ranch to visit and check on the knitting process. “I didn’t want to wear it, because Sam and I were getting married under false pretenses. And Sabrina and Jonas will never get to the altar.”

  Corinne sat on the leather sofa across from the one Seton had taken over. Sam had practically set up a command center for her, with two cell phones, drinks, food, tissues—it looked like a small convenience store—on a nearby table. Corinne eyed all the items and smiled at her niece.

  “Let’s tackle the last worry first. Jonas and Sabrina might find their way to the altar. Your mother’s wedding dress may get worn by one of her daughters. It’s not totally hopeless.”

  “It’s not really Mom’s,” Seton said. “She got the dress from a lady somewhere in Upper Bavaria, where she was from, who claimed that the gown had been worn by someone important, like a duchess or something. I don’t really remember the story. Anyway, it was supposed to have some kind of magical properties. Jackie, Aberdeen, Darla and Julie all claim that when they put on the dress, they knew exactly who the right man for them was.”

  Corinne smiled. “Around here, we enjoy tales of mysticism. I wouldn’t give up on getting Sabrina into the gown. Now, what do you mean, you and Sam married under false pretenses?”

  Seton glanced at the door to make certain no other visitors—or her husband—were about to pop in. “Sam and I knew that Sabrina was never coming back, because she was pregnant with Jonas’s baby and didn’t want him to know. So we cooked up this idea that if we had a pretend engagement party, or even a pretend wedding, she’d probably come home. We went with getting married for real, because at the time, Sam was still thinking about Fiona’s stipulation that the men be married to get their part of the ranch. Only then,” Seton said, taking a deep breath, “Sam got notified at the altar that Bode was giving up the fight for the ranch. So that basically nullified Fiona’s stipulation. There was no longer a rush to divide the ranch up to try to keep Bode from being able to take it.”

  “But Sam wanted to marry you, anyway,” Corinne said.

  Seton nodded. “Which confused me at the time, because we’d already gotten Sabrina home, and goodness knows, that went over like a popped balloon. Jonas and Sabrina probably didn’t say three words to each other. And Sam and I knew we’d made everything worse.”

  Her aunt’s eyes twinkled. “I do seem to remember that they didn’t have a lot to say to one another.”

  “And Jonas left right after the wedding, as if he’d been shot out of a canon. Neither Sam nor I realized until later that his brother was such a dunderhead he never considered that maybe Sabrina is carrying his child.”

  “I can see where the mistake could be made,” Corinne said. “Sabrina had been gone for months. And she didn’t bother to inform him, even though anyone who knows Sabrina knows she’s a fairly direct lady. So I can see how the misunderstanding could develop.”

  “Yes.” Seton was so sad for her sister. “She just doesn’t want Jonas to feel he’s stuck with her, since they never had a real relationship, or so she claims. I’m pretty certain Jonas was crazy about her. In fact, now that we know he can’t find Fiona and Burke, but still hasn’t come home, I think he’s off nursing a broken heart.”

  “What does Sam say?”

  “Sam says—” Seton glanced toward the door once again “—that Jonas is a lightweight in the love department. That Jonas, the great heart doctor, can’t take even so much as a scratch on his own four-chambered ventricular muscle. That was how my windbag of a husband put it.”

  Corinne giggled. “Well, I think Sam’s overstating it a bit. All Jonas knows is that Sabrina is expecting a child.”

  “Yeah. It seems we made everything worse.” Seton looked at her aunt. “And I’ve made everything worse for me and Sam. He acts so happy right now that it makes me nervous. Because I know he didn’t want a child, and now he’s having four. He didn’t really want anything, except to get Sabrina and Jonas together.”

  “And yet here you are!” Corinne said cheerfully. “With so many things happening, one just has to believe it’s all meant to be! Let me get you a glass of water. This July is going to be one of the hottest on record.”

  “Thank you.” Seton accepted the water her aunt handed her, even though she wasn’t thirsty. “I wish I didn’t have this uneasy feeling that Sam’s acting happy just because he feels there’s nothing else he can do.”

  Her aunt shrugged. “He didn’t have to marry you. It seems he wanted to. And he seems to like you well enough, or you wouldn’t be in a family way.” She smiled at Seton. “The difference between you and Sam, and Jonas and Sabrina, is that you and Sam went ahead and jumped in with both feet. No fear.”

  “I’m afraid,” Seton said. “I’m very afraid. I want my husband to be happy.” Actually, she wanted Sam to be in love with her, the way she was with him. “I feel strangely like I trapped him, Aunt Corinne.”

  “Because you wanted a baby.”

  Seton nodded. “Yes. Mind you, I didn’t think anything would happen quite so soon....”

  “You’re worried about nothing, I really do think.” Corinne arranged some cookies on a tray and some fruit beside them. “Sam’s a grown man. He knows how babies are made, Seton. If you’re worried that you don’t have your husband’s heart, it might be due to something else.”

  Seton didn’t know whether she had Sam’s heart or not, that was true. He seemed happy, but it had all happened so fast.... “I don’t think I expected to fall in love with him quite as hard as I have,” she admitted. “I came back here to find out if there could ever be anything between us—”

  “And now that there is, you’re not certain it can be real.” Corinne smiled at her. “Try not to worry so much, dear. No one dragged Sam to the altar. I was there, and as I recall, he was more interested in being wed than you were.”

  Seton smiled. “That surprised me, too.”

  “Well, then. Don’t borrow trouble. That would be my advice.”

  “And worth taking, I might add,” Sam said, coming out of the back bedroom. Seton gasped, shocked by her husband’s sudden appearance.

  “Sam! I thought you were out on the ranch!”

  “I was. I came in the back, trying to be quiet so I wouldn’t awaken my turtledove, who’s supposed to be getting her twenty-four hours of beauty rest.” He came over and kissed her on the forehead, then gave her aunt a hug. “Thanks for keeping an eye on her, Corinne. She’s going a
little stir-crazy.” He gave Seton a concerned glance. “I’m not sure how I’m going to keep her on this sofa for another five months.”

  “Sam,” Seton said slowly, “there’s something I have to tell you.”

  Her aunt stood. “I should be going.”

  Sam glanced from one to the other. “That’s not good, if Corinne doesn’t want to hang around to hear your news.”

  Seton sighed. “Corinne, stay, do.”

  “Well,” she said, and Sam sat down next to where she had been, and patted the seat beside him. “All right, just for a moment or two.”

  “Let’s have it, wife.”

  Seton looked at Corinne, who knew what she was about to say. Then she took a deep breath. “Sam, you know Corinne took me for my checkup today.”