“Oh.”
“I didn’t see your car outside.”
“It’s in the garage. Mrs. Mulrooney insisted. She didn’t want me getting back into a cold car.”
“Why are you here?”
“Mrs. Pearson called to tell me Mrs. Mulrooney needed me to swing by and drop off some croissants and muffins after I closed up. She’s expecting company tonight. I was helping her set up for it.”
“She’s going to serve her company croissants and muffins at this time of night?”
“With ham. Oh, and wine, too,” she said, pointing to the ice bucket on the long, narrow folding table.
Something didn’t seem quite right. Lucas walked over to the ice bucket and pulled out the bottle. “Sparkling fruit juice.”
“Maybe she doesn’t drink.”
He walked over and tried to open the door. The knob turned but the door wouldn’t budge. He pushed harder. “And maybe,” he said, turning back to her, “we’ve been set up.”
“What?”
“She’s barricaded the door so we can’t get out.”
“Mrs. Mulrooney?” Ellie laughed. “How would she manage that? Maybe you’re just turning the knob the wrong way.”
He arched a brow. “I think I know how to open a door. Something tells me she had help. Let’s try the window.”
“Don’t you dare try and take that girl out the window in her condition!” This time it was Mrs. Pearson’s voice that rang out from the other side of the door.
“You two need to work things out,” Mrs. Mulrooney chimed in. “And you can’t do that if you two keep on avoiding each other.”
He ached to pull Ellie into his arms, to kiss her and tell her how sorry he was, but this wasn’t the time or place. He wanted a little privacy when he expressed his feelings for her. Having a pair of eavesdropping busybodies standing outside the door pretty much guaranteed no chance of that happening.
Despite the older woman’s warning, he walked over to the window and pushed the curtain aside, only to discover that it had been painted shut years before. But something outside caught his eye. Both Blaine and Dusty’s vehicles were parked along the side of the house. That explained how whatever was in front of the door got put there.
“You two might as well get comfortable,” Mrs. Mulrooney informed them in a no-nonsense tone. “We’re heading into town for a spell.”
Retreating footsteps echoed in the hallway outside. And with that, they were alone. Only the cookie was in his truck and all the flowery words he’d planned to say to Ellie when he got back to the ranch were suddenly a jumbled mess in his head. So much for romancing Ellie back into his life.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I can’t believe they did that,” Lucas muttered as he and Ellie returned to their own place.
“Me either,” she said with a long, drawn out groan. “I’m so glad to be out of there.”
Just when he had begun to believe that the hour they’d been forced to spend together at Mrs. Mulrooney’s was a good thing, Ellie had to go and make it sound like being shut away with him had been pure torture.
“I know I was the last person you would have wanted to be forced to spend time with…” he began with a frown as he closed the front door behind them and flipped on the hall light.
She groaned again. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
“Ellie?” he said, noting her pale face.
“It’s nothing. I’ve been having them all day.”
His eyes widened. “Them?”
“False labor pains,” she said calmly, but her expression was anything but as she pressed a hand to her back. “A lot of women have them at this point in their pregnancy.”
He didn’t like seeing her in pain – false labor or not. He cupped her face and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. “I wish I could suffer those pains for you.” He held out the box he’d carried in from his truck. “This is for you. I would have given it to you sooner, but some meddling do-gooders put a hitch in my plans.”
She opened it, tears immediately filling her eyes.
“If I remember right, chocolate chip cookies are your very favorite.”
“They are. Oh, Lucas…” she said with a tiny sob.
He took the box from her and set it on the hall table and then turned back to Ellie. Cupping a hand under her chin, he raised her face to his. “I hope those are happy tears.
She turned away, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Ellie, what’s wrong?”
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Something we didn’t cover at Mrs. Mulrooney’s?”
She nodded, saying softly, “I chose a couple.”
Her words struck him like a blow. “You what?”
“I couldn’t wait any longer and with you and I not speaking-”
“You weren’t speaking to me,” he corrected with a frown.
She turned to face him. “I have an appointment with Greg to sign the papers on Monday.”
He turned away with a muttered curse.
“Lucas, you-” her words gave way to a louder gasp. “Oh, no!”
He spun about to face her. She was bent over, clutching at her stomach. Then his gaze dropped lower to the water spreading out across the floor at her feet. Oh, no was right!
She looked up at him. “M…my water just broke.”
Panic slid through him. “But the baby’s not due for two weeks yet.”
“Tell that to my son.”
He ran a trembling hand back through his hair, glanced down at the growing puddle and felt the color drain from his cheeks.
“Lucas? Please tell me you’re not going to pass out on me. I’m a really awful multi-tasker. Giving birth and bringing you back to consciousness is way too much for me to handle at this particular moment.
“I’m fine.”
“Good, because I can’t deliver this baby on my own.”
His head snapped up. “The baby! We have to get you to the hospital.”
“There’s not time.”
“What do you mean there’s not time? Labor with first babies can take hours.”
“The pains began this morning.”
“The ones you thought were false?”
She nodded then winced.
“Oh, Lord.”
“Lucas, I need to lie down before I have this baby right here beside the coat rack.”
Scooping her up, he carried her back to her bedroom and lowered her onto the bed. “I’ll go call Blaine. He can make all the necessary calls for us, ambulance included. Will you be all right here alone for a couple of minutes?”
She nodded, but when he’d gone she felt that old fear rise up in her. What if he didn’t come back? She was so afraid of being alone. But after what she’d told him before her water broke she couldn’t blame him if he walked away.
But Lucas did return, more collected. “Blaine and Victoria are on their way, as is the ambulance. Just don’t do any pushing and you’ll be in that delivery room in no time.”
Ellie didn’t have the heart to tell him that this baby wasn’t going to wait. The pressure between her thighs was increasing with each passing minute and the pains were getting worse.
“Lucas…” she gasped between panted breaths.
“Yeah?
“Remember when you were little and dreamed of becoming a doctor?”
He nodded.
“I think you’re going to get that chance.”
“What are you saying? I’m not… I mean I can’t…”
She cried out as another contraction stabbed at her back and sliced through her abdomen all at once. “You’ve helped birth foals before, haven’t you?”
“You’re having a baby, not a horse.”
“Well, it feels like a horse and I want it out!” she exclaimed with a grimace. This was not how it was supposed to happen. Where was the sterile hospital room and endless glasses of ice chips? More importantly, where was her epidural!
Lucas returned
to pacing. “I swear I’m going to make each and every one of those scheming do-gooders change this baby’s dirty diapers for as long as he wears them.”
She didn’t have the heart to remind him that the baby wouldn’t be with them long enough to see that threat through.
Less than ten minutes later, Lucas was sitting at the edge of Ellie’s bed, holding her newborn son in his arms. Jarrett’s son - from the sprout of hair on the newborn’s tiny head to his ten little toes.
Emotion washed over him. His brother should have been there for the birth of his son. Should have been the one holding him in his arms.
“He’s beautiful,” Lucas managed past the knot of emotion caught up in his throat as he stared in amazement at the tiny babe he’d helped deliver.
“Yes,” Ellie said softly. “He is.”
He handed bent to hand the precious bundle to her, but she put up a hand in refusal.
“I can’t,” she said, tears in her eyes.
He knew what she was doing, trying to detach herself from her son. Fighting any emotional connection she might feel if she held him in her arms.
“Even now,” he said, forcing the words out, “after all you’ve gone through to bring your son into this world, you’re still going through with the adoption?”
Say no, his heart pleaded. Now that he’d held his nephew, he didn’t think he could bear to give him up.
Her silence was all the answer he needed.
“Then give him to me,” he demanded, his voice catching.
“Lucas,” she sighed tiredly, “we’ve been through this before.”
“Then I’ll be leaving.”
“Leaving?”
“Going back to Brazil.”
“But I thought you were home to stay,” she said, exhaustion clear in her voice.
“Ellie, you were my home.” He looked down at the sleeping infant. “But I can’t stick around and watch you make the biggest mistake of your life.”
“Lucas?” Blaine called out from the front of the house.
“Back here,” he replied stiffly, jaw clenching.
A second later, Blaine and Victoria, accompanied by the local EMTs rushed into the room.
Lucas handed the baby over to one of the ambulance crew and then turned back to Ellie. “I hope you’ll be happy.” That said he walked out of the room, away from what could have been.
*
How had she ever thought she could do it? Ellie stood staring at the baby cooing happily in the car seat. Her son. Her world.
Tears filled her eyes. It seemed she cried more now than she did when she was pregnant. Most of those tears had been shed over Lucas. True to his word, he’d been gone when she came home from the hospital. And the loss weighed heavily on her heart.
Her fear had already cost her Lucas and had nearly cost her a future with her son, but the reverend’s words came back to her in the hospital. Listen to your heart. And her heart wouldn’t allow her to give her son up. Lucas had been right. She was nothing like her family who were incapable of loving. In fact, she loved her son so much it hurt. Loved Lucas so much it hurt. She would be the mother hers never had been. There was no longer any doubt in her mind as to that.
Her only regret was not realizing all this sooner. Before Lucas did what she had forced him to do – walk out of her life.
The baby cooed softly, bringing a wistful smile to Ellie’s lips.
As soon as she told Greg that she wasn’t going through with the adoption, that her son already had two parents who loved him, she would go find the only man who deserved to be her son’s father. Even if she had to go halfway across the world to do so. Somehow, some way, she would bring her cowboy home.
*
“Am I too late?”
Ellie twisted about in the chair with a gasp. “Lucas!”
He stepped into the office and nodded to Greg. “Have the final papers been signed?”
Greg shook his head.
Ellie stood and turned to him. “You came back.”
“I’ll always come back to you. I love you,” he said, determined to see this through. His gaze shifted to the baby asleep in the carrier on the floor next to Ellie and that determination faltered. He loved that boy.
“I love you, too,” she said softly.
He looked up, seeing the tears in her eyes. “I want to be with you for this.”
“But you said-”
He reached out to press a finger to her lips, silencing her protests. “Part of loving someone is supporting them through the good and the bad.” And, Lord knew this was the bad part. Some things were just too deep rooted to fight. Ellie’s fear of being a mother one of them.
Greg stood. “Why don’t I give you two a few moments alone to talk?”
“It won’t change anything I have to say,” Lucas replied, his gaze never leaving hers. Even as he knelt on the floor in front of her.
Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked down at him. “What are you doing?”
He pulled a tiny black box from his coat pocket and lifted the lid, revealing the solitaire she had stopped wearing at the end of her pregnancy. His family heirloom. “I’m hoping the third time will be the charm for me.”
“Lucas,” she gasped.
He reached for her hand. “Ellie Sanders, will you marry me and give this cowboy a place to really call home? I promise to support you today and for the rest of your life, to make up for all the love you were denied growing up, and to be the husband you deserve.”
“What about father?” she asked with a sniffle.
He’d been prepared for a ‘no way, no how’, or, if he was lucky, maybe even an ‘I’ll think about it’, but that question took him completely off guard. “Excuse me?”
“How would you feel about raising a son?”
His heart thudded against his chest. “What are you saying?”
She smiled lovingly. “Greg, would you mind telling Lucas what we were in the middle of doing when he arrived?”
The lawyer nodded with a grin. “My pleasure. We were preparing a letter for the adoptive parents, letting them know that Ellie has decided to keep her son.”
Lucas shot to his feet, her hand still gripped in his own. “You’re keeping the baby?”
“Our baby,” she corrected. “If you’ll have us. We’re a package deal.”
If he would have them? He pulled her to him, cupping her face between his hands. “Greg, you’re my witness. While she worded her reply in pure roundabout ‘Ellie’ fashion, it was still a yes. Because I’m more than willing to take on the whole package.”
“Now should I leave the room?” his friend asked with a chuckle.
“Might be a good idea,” Lucas said as he lowered his mouth to hers in a kiss that promised forever.
*
“Congratulations,” Victoria said with a smile as she leaned in to give Ellie a warm hug.
Blaine followed suit, bringing up the end of the receiving line. After hugging Ellie, he turned to Lucas, giving his friend a congratulatory slap on the back. “I couldn’t be happier for the two of you.”
“The three of us,” Lucas promptly corrected out, much to Ellie’s joy.
Her gaze dropped down to the infant sleeping lazily in her arms. Just as the tiny little bundle had done through the entire ceremony. Joshua Jarrett Tanner. Their pride and joy. A tiny, wonderful miracle who had changed so many lives.
She and Lucas had agreed to raise ‘their’ son with honesty and love. He would know who Jarrett was and how much his father had wanted him. He would also know that the love Lucas held for him was every bit as deep and that he would always be there for him as a father, an uncle, and a friend.
“Mom,” J.B. called out from the swings he’d ran out to when the wedding ceremony ended. “I sorta fell.”
Her head swung around.
“He’s all right,” Blaine assured her with a grin. “Just a little dirty.”
Sure enough, J.B.’s backside was coated in mud from where he’d att
empted to jump from the swing while it was still in motion only to crash land in the oozing puddle of mud underneath.
Victoria laughed. “It’s only mud. It’ll wash out.” She turned back to Ellie. “Be prepared. Boys can be quite a handful.”
Laughing, Ellie glanced up at her new husband. “And that doesn’t change, even once they’ve grown up.”
Lucas chuckled. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Mrs. Mulrooney joined them, her aged face beaming with happiness. “Time for you two to set off on your honeymoon.”
Their honeymoon would consist of one night alone at the ranch. It was all either of them could bear to be away from their son. Ellie bent to press a kiss on her son’s brow. Lucas did the same before handing the baby over to Mrs. Mulrooney.
*
Lucas carried Ellie into the house, not stopping until they reached what would be from this day forward ‘their’ bedroom. Then he lowered her feet slowly to the floor, keeping her body pressed firmly up against his own.
“Welcome home, cowboy,” she said, looking up at him through eyes filled with love.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said, grateful that he had been the only man to win her trust fully. Completely.
“I feel beautiful,” she admitted with a blush. “But more importantly, I feel loved.”
“Don’t you ever doubt it,” he whispered before lowering his mouth to hers in a kiss that promised forever.
If you like cowboy romances with a touch of humor, be sure to check out CAPTURING THE COWBOY’S HEART by Lindsey Brookes!
Book Description:
After losing his wife in an accident two years before, not long after he’d been forced from the circuit by an injury, thirty-two-year-old Cade Tyler, ex-rodeo champion, thinks life has thrown him more than lemons. But life isn’t done…it sends him Lacy Dalton.
She’s a reporter.
He hates reporters.
She’s pushy.
He hates pushy.
She’s sexy.
He…well, he just won’t let himself think of her that way.
The more Lacy learns about Cade’s past, the more she finds herself wanting to prove to him that not all reporters are bloodthirsty vultures. But her growing attraction to him puts not only her heart in jeopardy, but her life as well, because someone is out to ruin Cade and will do anything to make that happen.
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