Lily woke up when Willow tried to put her in her pajamas. She fussed and not even her rabbit appeased her, so Willow decided to let her sleep in the shorts and shirt she had on. But she worried that Lily’s sobs might wake people in the adjoining room. Theirs was on the end so they only shared one wall. Willow wished she had her rocker, but had to make do with an overstuffed leather chair.
Coop came in about the time Lily’s cries reached a crescendo. “Hey, hey, sweetie, what’s the matter?” He lifted her from Willow’s lap and offered her the cold milk. She took it and drank, barely sniffling between gulps, her forehead against Coop’s cheek.
“She was really thirsty,” Willow remarked.
The little girl took a final swig and handed the cup to her mother.
“Usually she drops her cup on the floor.” Willow offered Lily some cheese, but the girl ducked her head in refusal.
Instead, Lily patted Coop’s shoulder. “Blue,” she said, clearly and distinctly as she kept patting his shirt.
“I guess Blue is going to be my new name. That’s okay. When I think about it, I have more blue shirts than any other color.” He jiggled the girl and smiled at her. “Blue, it is, Miss Lily.”
“The fact that she’s getting the color right repeatedly is very significant. I should’ve tried crayons a second time. The counselor told me to read the same book over and over and to show her the pictures so the images would stick in her mind.” She shook her head. “The blocks you bought were another great idea. She loved stacking them according to size and color, but I had to leave them behind. The most progress she’s made has been since you entered our lives, Coop. So…now I have doubts about whether keeping her at home with me was the best thing for her. Maybe it held her back.”
Coop waited as she washed Lily’s face and hands. He let her tuck the girl under the sheet before he spoke. “I’m no authority on kids, but it can’t be a detriment for a young child to stay with her mother. To stay in familiar surroundings. If Blythe hasn’t found a good day school for autistic kids, we’ll research until we locate one so she can come home every night. We’ll get her more blocks and whatever else she needs.”
Willow dashed a hand across her eyes. “You keep making me cry. Thank you for everything, Coop. I love her so much.” Willow smoothed back the girl’s curls as her eyelids drifted closed.
Tugging Willow up and into his arms, then wrapping her in a tight hug, Coop said, “Thank you for allowing me to be part of her life. If there are answers to be had, we’ll find them. Honey, you’re running on empty. I’ll sit with her until she’s asleep if you’d like to go shower. It might help you sleep.”
“I’ll wait and shower in the morning. Trust me, I’ll sleep no problem.” Willow tucked her head under Coop’s chin and pressed a kiss to his throat. “I feel safe with you here,” she murmured.
“Don’t kiss me again like that or I won’t vouch for how safe you’ll be,” he teased as he lifted her chin with a finger and brushed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Get ready for bed. I’ll take off my shirt and boots and sleep in my jeans—in deference to our little bedmate.”
“I sleep in a pair of old shorts and a T-shirt. Will it be an affront to your sensibilities if I change into them for the rest of the night?”
“Nope, but I should warn you I usually sleep in the raw. Ever since we got back together the other night, I felt it should be our de rigueur attire.” Coop waggled his eyebrows.
Willow turned from pulling her nightclothes out of her suitcase and laughed. “There you go again, using ten-dollar words, cowboy. I say, keep on dreaming. All things risqué fall by the wayside with parenthood.” She smiled at him and headed for the adjacent bath.
“Isn’t that why bedroom doors have locks? There are ways,” he called after her, although he barely raised his voice. “Otherwise, everyone would be an only child.”
She poked her head out of the room. “I’ll leave it up to you to figure it out, Coop. But tonight I’m tired, I’ll be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.”
“I wasn’t talking about tonight. For once, I’m going to plan ahead. You can count on that.”
She smiled to herself. And it’d been so long since she could count on anyone except herself, the burdens weighing her down suddenly felt lighter.
Coop was snoring softly by the time Willow had sponged off the grime of travel and emerged again, feeling better. She took a minute to admire the bare torso of the man with whom she’d be sharing a bed. Luck had finally fallen on her side. She snapped off the bedside lamp and crawled between the two sleeping bodies—the two most important people in her life. In spite of telling Coop how quickly she’d fall asleep, Willow lay awake worrying, wondering if her luck would hold after they reached the Triple D. Sullivan Drummond remained a wild card. As much as she loved Coop, she couldn’t—wouldn’t—come between the brothers.
*
RAYS OF SUNLIGHT dancing across the bed woke her the next morning. Some time during the night, Coop had draped an arm around her. Lily, totally relaxed as only a child could be, took up more than her third of the bed.
Used to rising at dawn to start on ranch chores, Willow did her best to not move a muscle. Waking up in Coop’s arms was as close to perfect as any fantasy she’d ever had.
But she wasn’t the only one used to getting up early. “Good morning, sweetheart,” a husky voice growled near her ear. Coop released her and stretched his arms. “At the risk of sounding ‘poetic’ again…your hair looks like ropes of spun gold in the morning sun. Do you always braid your hair at night? There’s so much I don’t know about you, Willow—so many facts and details. I can’t wait to learn it all.” Coop brushed a thumb over the end of one of her braids.
Pleasure clogged Willow’s throat. She turned in his arms, pulling her hair from his loose grasp. Laying her right hand on his whiskery cheek, she kissed him, pouring every bit of love she could muster into that kiss.
“Mmm…I could handle being greeted like this every morning.”
The moment ended because Lily sat up, rubbed her eyes and looped one arm around her plush rabbit. Looking around, the child seemed to take in all her surroundings, then climbed over her mother, patted Cooper’s bare chest and, more clearly than she’d ever spoken, said, “No boo.”
Coop laughed and tossed her in the air. “No blue. You’re absolutely right, Lily B. I am not wearing a blue shirt today. Give me a second. You stay here with your mom. I’ll shower and put on another blue shirt, just for you.”
He scooted out of bed and grabbed his duffel.
Willow hugged the girl. “Two words. You put two words together. That makes Mama so happy.”
Her tears of joy fell unabashedly when, for the very first time, her daughter touched her face and said, “Mama.”
“Oh, yes, yes, yes. I’m Mama, and you’re Lilybelle. This is Mr. Rabbit. Shall we find you a clean shirt to wear?” Willow marveled at her daughter and let her happy tears continue to flow.
“Red,” the girl said, tugging on the shirt she’d worn to bed. It was as if words that had been stored in her head suddenly began to stream out.
“Yes. Let’s keep this floodgate of words open, honeybee.”
Glancing around again, Lily stretched out an arm in the direction of what would’ve been their kitchen at home. “Eat,” she said.
Willow smothered her in hugs. “Clothes first, then I’ll take a fast shower, then we’ll go eat. Would you like pancakes?”
Lily rocked a bit and it seemed to Willow that she nodded. All of this was such a giant leap forward and filled Willow’s heart with joy. Maybe leaving the ranch was good for all of them. Except that one man held the power to ruin everything. Sullivan Drummond.
Coop came out of the bathroom as Willow pulled a clean red T-shirt over Lily’s curls. She wore it with yellow shorts that had red flowered pockets. “Your turn,” Coop said, bending to stuff his rolled-up dirty clothes in a zippered pocket of his duffel. “I heard you say pancakes. If she
’ll let me, I’ll put on her shoes and socks while you shower. When you’re finished, I’ll stow our bags in the truck, check out and meet you at the restaurant.”
“You do plan ahead.” Willow grinned. “I wish you’d heard Lily say more words this morning,” she added wistfully. “New ones. New words. Mama was one, and you can’t believe how…wonderful it sounded.” Willow sniffed and had to grab a tissue.
“Hey, that’s fantastic! And it’s only the beginning. Are you okay?” he asked, raising Willow’s face as he studied her anxious blue eyes.
“The counselor told me some nonverbal autistic children stay locked in their own worlds. I was afraid that was going to be Lily. Oh, I wish this morning could go on forever. I won’t lie, Coop, I’m nervous about what might be waiting for us at the Triple D. Even if your brother didn’t think I was bad for you, what can I actually bring to our marriage?”
“What do you mean? You bring yourself!”
“Right. Your sister-in-law is a doctor. I’m a college dropout.”
“So what? Big deal.” Coop set his bag and Lily’s by the door. He sat the child on the bed and knelt with her socks in his hand. “I don’t seem to be able to relieve your concerns. Apparently nothing but going there and getting the meeting over with will ease your mind. By ten o’clock your worries will be a thing of the past.”
Willow wished she didn’t worry so much, but life had brought her too many jolts, and she couldn’t help expecting the worst. Yet she jumped in the shower and did her best to let the hot water wash her cares away. She hadn’t packed any cosmetics, but she brushed her hair into a shine. She chose to wear her only pair of capris, white, which she teamed with a bright yellow T-shirt. While it was far from new, the color lifted her spirits.
“You look fantastic,” Coop said. He punctuated his enthusiasm with a kiss that kicked Willow’s heart into overdrive. “Meet you in ten minutes at the restaurant. Try to get a seat by the window on the back. It looks out on an area where there are rabbits. I think Lily will like that.”
Taking her daughter’s hand, Willow left the room and walked out into the heat of the morning sun.
Lily did love the rabbits. They had trouble getting her to eat, but all of them finally enjoyed hearty breakfasts and were on the road by half past eight.
With each mile they traveled Coop could see Willow’s eyes grow cloudier. He wished he could convince her that it truly didn’t matter to him how Sully reacted or whether he made them welcome at the Triple D. Willow and Lily were his destiny, come what may.
A few miles from Hondo, Coop cast a glance at Willow. “Have you thought any more about taking classes to finish up your teaching degree?”
She whipped her head around. “I’ve been out of the habit of studying for five years. I…don’t know if I could get back into the swing of it. There’s Lily, too. To say nothing of tuition costs. You mentioned loans, but they have to be paid back.”
“What about online classes to start? I met a few guys on the circuit who’d also dropped out of college. They set up laptops in their motor homes and caught up on some of their courses. If it interests you, we can look into it. See a college counselor. Ask about loans. Just for the record, I don’t give a damn if you get a degree or not. But I sense it’s something that bothers you.”
“It does. I was so close. And ever since Lilybelle was diagnosed, I thought if I had my teaching degree it wouldn’t be hard to pick up extra credits in special education. I’d be able to help her and other kids like her.”
“If that’s what you want, we’ll set that goal right now.”
Willow’s eyes glowed with an inner brightness for the first time during their drive. Coop shoved a CD into the player and they listened to Reba’s song “A Little Want To.” The words expressed their thoughts perfectly… .
Willow tensed up again when they’d skirted Hondo. Coop swung his pickup out and turned down the poplar-lined gravel drive that marked the entrance to the Triple D. The home place, where Coop had been raised sat straight ahead. But, he saw a new mailbox at the end of a new road that had been cut through the land. Smaller trees had been planted along both sides. Assuming it led to Sully’s new house, Coop made a sharp turn and glanced in his side mirrors. “Hope I didn’t toss Legend and Rusty around too much.”
As he parked in the circular drive, he whistled through his teeth. “Some digs,” he said. “Looks like a place out of Architectural Digest.”
The house sat on a hill and overlooked a valley of green dotted with white-faced cattle. The pristine rail fence was a far cry from the wire Coop had strung on metal posts at Willow’s ranch. Where her house had a porch, this home had a porch, one that wrapped around the cedar-sided house with peaks of glass. He saw an arrangement of wicker outdoor furniture, grouped around a fire pit. “Son of a…gun,” he said. “And Sully tried to make me think he was working his butt off to make ends meet.”
“Coop, are we going to sit here all morning?” Willow asked. “Someone’s come out on the porch.”
He reined in his roaming eyes and cracked open his door. “That’s Blythe and Gray. Their son.”
Climbing out, Coop rushed around the cab and opened Willow’s door. Her fingers weren’t steady. He ended up unbuckling her seat belt and Lily’s.
Blythe and her son rushed down the stone steps. “You did come! Couldn’t you have called again, Cooper? We’ve been on pins and needles ever since you phoned yesterday to say you were going to get Willow off the bus.”
Coop noticed that his brother was slower to come out of the house.
Sully’s hands were tucked in his front jeans’ pockets, and his face revealed nothing as he descended the steps.
Blythe hugged Coop, then Willow, who held one of Lily’s hands. The girl clutched her ever-present rabbit in the other.
The brothers maintained a wary eye contact before Sullivan stood before Coop at last. Freeing his right hand, Sully gave his brother’s shoulder a friendly slap. “Welcome home, Coop. It’s about time.” Then he turned his attention to Willow. “If you’re the reason this hardheaded so-and-so has finally come home where he belongs, I…we owe you,” Sully said, placing one hand on his wife’s shoulder while extending the other toward Willow.
“I, ah, Coop decided all on his own.”
Blythe bent at the waist. “And I’m assuming this is Lilybelle.” She smiled at the child, who now clung tightly to her mother’s leg. “This is our son, Gray. Honey, do you have a gift for your cousin? Well, soon-to-be cousin,” she said, shooting Willow another wide smile.
The thin boy with big eyes and a shock of unruly dark hair edged forward. A foot from Lily, he held out a toy. A rainbow-colored pony with a pale silvery mane and tail that looked a lot like the one she’d colored. “For you,” Gray mumbled. “Uncle Coop loves horses. He’s gonna raise them on the Triple D.”
Willow held her breath as all eyes shifted to her daughter. Surprisingly, Lily accepted the toy and bestowed a brief smile on her benefactor. “Po…ny,” she said clearly.
The two women beamed at the kids. Willow mostly, because Sully and Blythe couldn’t know what a huge step this was for Lily. Not only to accept an offering from a stranger, but to call it by its name. And a shy smile from a girl deficient in facial expression was a rare gift in itself. Willow blinked rapidly to keep tears at bay.
Coop focused on his nephew. “I don’t know if I’m going to raise horses on the Triple D, Gray. We’ll have to see. It’s true I used to run a herd here, though.”
As if on cue, the horses in Coop’s trailer whinnied. An answering whinny came from a fenced area across the lane. Swinging around, Coop saw a number of horses trotting along the enclosure. Shock rippled through him. “Sully, those look like part of the herd I sold after Dad died.”
“When you sold them, refused to come home and later took off for the rodeo in a huff, you mean?” his brother asked mildly.
Blythe jabbed Sully in the ribs. “We said we wouldn’t mention the past.”
<
br /> Sully tugged on one ear in a gesture Willow found endearingly reminiscent of Coop. “I bought them back,” the older brother admitted. “I never believed you’d stay away from the Triple D forever. Although, after you quit the rodeo last year and then didn’t come home, I have to say I began to have doubts.”
Stuttering out words of gratitude that were trapped in his throat, Coop crossed the short space and gave his brother an awkward hug. He stepped back, picked up Lily and her toys, then slid his other arm around Willow’s waist. “I’m home for good if you’ll welcome my family. We haven’t tied the knot yet, but Willow’s agreed to marry me. Sooner rather than later, I hope. Lily has special needs that’ll take priority with both of us. But I plan on working hard to support them,” he vowed, smiling into Willow’s eyes.
Sully exchanged a loving glance with Blythe before stepping forward. “Willow,” he said, “you probably know that hotheadedness runs in the Drummond family. However, that’s no excuse for the things I said to you at a rough time in your life. I hope you’ll forgive me. I, of all people, should’ve known how shaky people feel when they’ve lost a loved one. I’m really sorry.”
Willow bit her upper lip. “You’re forgiven,” she said. “I love Cooper.” She edged closer to him, but then her voice failed her.
Nodding, Sully let his gaze rest momentarily on the other five members of their group. “Four of us are already Drummonds, and two soon will be. Coop, I happen to have an attorney on retainer. Since Dad died, I’ve had trouble calling the ranch the Triple D. What would you say to legally changing the ranch name and logo? We could just go back to calling it Drummond Ranch, if you like that idea, Cooper.”
Coop’s arm tightened around Willow. “You’re asking my opinion and not giving me an order?”
“Blythe constantly reminds me that I’m not Dad. We’re equal here, Cooper,” Sully said, sounding fervent and a little humble.
The Maverick Returns Page 17
