The Maverick's Baby-In-Waiting

by Melissa Senate

  “What do you mean?” Jensen asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.

  “You’ll be home, sure, but miserable. You know what you’re like when you’re miserable. Stomping around, unable to concentrate. Forget sleeping. Or eating.”

  Actually, Jensen had no doubt all that was true. But that was because he’d miss Mikayla. They’d spent a lot of time together. They’d made love. They were...best friends.

  His heart squeezed. Jensen, let me tell you the only thing you need to know about women, Davison had said a few years before he’d died. The only piece of advice you’ll ever need. Date any type of woman you want. But marry your best friend.

  Who was talking about getting married? he thought, his stomach churning. He wasn’t in love. This wasn’t love. This was caring. This was friendship.

  “Suddenly you want me to propose marriage to a Rust Creek Falls woman?” he asked, peering at his dad.

  Oh, God. His parents were kissing!

  His mother had just giggled!

  “Of course we want you home in Tulsa, Jensen,” his mother said as she freshened her lipstick. “But you’re in love with Mikayla and she lives here, and so we figured you’d be staying. And she’s going to have a baby in a few weeks, so naturally we assumed you’d be taking over as the baby’s father.”

  In love with Mikayla...

  Taking over as the baby’s father...

  “Mikayla and I are—”

  “Just friends,” his dad finished. “We know.” Walker the Second shook his head.

  Luckily, the conversation was over, because they’d arrived at the airport. Within minutes they were on board. This was it. No turning back now. He was going home, as he should be.

  The moment the plane began taxiing, Jensen wanted to run for the exit door and jump off and go back to Mikayla. But he knew that was because he couldn’t. The doors were closed. The plane was headed for the runway. In half a minute they’d be in the air.

  And Mikayla would be lost to him. A memory.

  He closed his eyes, trying to stop the constant thoughts of her, images of her, memories of her, but they wouldn’t stop.

  His phone buzzed with a text. From Hudson.

  Mikayla’s in labor! Eva’s taking her to the clinic.

  Every cell in his body froze. Then adrenaline flooded him. “Stop the plane!” Jensen shouted.

  “What on earth?” his father bellowed.

  “Mikayla’s having her baby. She’s in labor!” Jensen said, bolting up.

  Jensen glanced out the window. The pilot had indeed turned the plane around and was heading back to their gate. Sometimes a private plane really did come in handy.

  His mother smiled. “Mikayla is lovely, Jensen. You’ll make a wonderful father.”

  He thought of Henry Stockton, running off with the pie. The little kid at Just Us Kids and his pink space alien. The boy trying to fly his foam airplane outside Daisy’s Donuts. He thought of himself as a kid. And he tried to think of himself as a father, holding an infant against his chest, loving the baby so much, so intensely that he’d spontaneously combust.

  No, no, no. Jensen was a solo practitioner.

  So why are you rushing off the plane to be with her as she gives birth? Huh? Why?

  “Mom, I’m not her boyfriend. I’m not going to be anyone’s father. I just...care. I want to be there for her.” Yes, that made sense. That was why. Phew. Okay.

  “Men are always the last to know,” his father said, sharing a grin with his wife.

  “Know what?” Jensen asked, looking from his father to his mother.

  “You’d better hurry and get to the hospital,” his dad said. “Your mother was in labor with Gideon for hours, but you took no time at all. You just never know.”

  You never did, Jensen thought. Wonders really would never cease with this family. His father was talking about his wife’s labor experiences the way he used to talk about mergers and acquisitions.

  He hugged his parents and grabbed his bags, and the moment the plane stopped at the private gate, he raced back to the rental car window.

  He had to get back to Rust Creek Falls pronto.

  Chapter Fifteen

  When Jensen came rushing into the Rust Creek Falls Clinic like a bat out of hell, Amy, Eva, Bella and Hudson were standing by the nurses’ station, Amy asking for information.

  “Is she okay? Is the baby okay?” Jensen shouted, panic exploding in his gut.

  “She’s in preterm labor but stabilized right now,” Amy said. “The nurse won’t let us go into her room.” She leaned forward and whispered to Jensen, “She’s filling in from the hospital in Kalispell—she doesn’t know any of us, so we’re getting the stranger treatment.”

  Over my dead body, Jensen thought. He had to be with Mikayla now. He had to be.

  Because he did care—yes.

  Because he did want to be there for her—yes.

  But also because...he loved her. He loved her more than anything else in this world. There was no denying it anymore. He didn’t want to, either.

  He needed her.

  And she needed him.

  “Excuse me,” Jensen said to the nurse. “I need to be with Mikayla Brown right away.”

  “Are you a family member?” the woman asked.

  “Yes, I’m the baby’s father,” he said before he even realized what had come out of his mouth.

  Many sets of eyes were staring at him. He felt his brother clapping him on the shoulder. He heard Amy and Eva gasp simultaneously.

  “You heard the man,” Bella said. “He’s the baby’s father. He has to get back there!”

  The nursed bolted up. “Right this way!” She tapped on a door marked Labor and Delivery and entered. “Ms. Brown, the baby’s father is here.”

  “What?” he heard Mikayla say. “But—”

  Jensen plowed into the room and rushed to Mikayla’s bed.

  This time it was Mikayla who gasped. “But you’re in the air. You’re flying to Tulsa. You left.”

  He drew up a chair as close to the bed as possible, wishing the side rails weren’t in his way. He took her hands and kissed them. “How could I leave you? I’m your baby’s father. And I’m yours. And you’re mine.”

  He realized the nurse was staring at them with confusion on her face. The woman checked Mikayla’s IV, then left the room.

  “You’re mine?” she repeated.

  He nodded. “I’m yours. And if you’ll have me, I want to be the baby’s father. I am the baby’s father. I feel like I am in every way possible.”

  “Oh, Jensen. I will have you. The baby will have you.” She laughed and drew him close against her, and he buried his face in the scratchy white blanket covering her chest.

  Another strange sensation came over him, a feeling of...completeness. Jeez, he really must love this woman. Because he’d sure never felt anything like that before. As if nothing was missing anymore.

  And now that he finally got it, Mikayla’s baby—their baby—might come way too prematurely. That could mean complications. He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head to clear it. He needed to be strong for Mikayla.

  “How can you be in labor?” he asked. “You’re only thirty-two weeks along!”

  “I know. But Dr. Strickland says this time I am definitely in preterm labor. It’s too soon for the baby to come. If I deliver now, the baby could face complications.”

  Oh, God, exactly the word that had been echoing in his head a minute ago. Complications. Complications. Complications.

  Tears filled her eyes.

  “Mikayla, we’ll face whatever those are together.” He took her hands and held them and kissed her on the forehead. “We’re in this together. You and me.”

  “We are?”

  “We always were. Well, since the day we met. I
t just took me longer than you to realize it. I love you. I love this baby. And I’ll move heaven and earth to protect you both.”

  Tears shone in her beautiful brown eyes. “I have absolutely no doubt of that last one.”

  “But you don’t doubt my love for you, do you?”

  “Hell, no,” she said. “I knew you loved me days ago.”

  “Oh, did you now,” he said with a grin.

  What had his dad said? Men are always the last to know. How true.

  “We’re having a baby, Mik. We’re having a baby! I hope that doesn’t sound like I think I’ve been doing any of the work.”

  The laughter he loved listening to filled the room. “I love the sound of we,” she said.

  “Now and forever, Mikayla Brown.”

  A tap came on the door and Dr. Strickland entered the room. “Ah, so you are her birth partner.” The doctor extended his hand.

  Jensen shook it. “I am. For life.”

  Dr. Strickland smiled. “Good. Because you’re going to be here for a while today. I’m going to hold off delivery as long as I can. But I don’t know how long that will be. Mikayla, you might be having this baby today.”

  “Oh my gosh. I might be a mother today!” she said, the joy on her face clouded by worry. “Everything has to be okay. It just has to be.”

  Jensen squeezed her hand and nodded.

  The doctor scanned her chart and hung it back on the far side of her bed. “Your condition is stabilized right now, so if you want to see friends, that’s fine, just a bit at a time.”

  “I’ll go let them know,” Jensen said. “Mik, you’re okay for thirty seconds?”

  “As long as I know you’re coming back.”

  “Always. Every day. Forever.”

  “Then go get the cavalry.”

  He smiled and left the room, Dr. Strickland following.

  “Jensen,” the doctor said, gesturing him aside.

  “Everything is going to be okay, right?” Jensen said, fear churning in his stomach.

  “Listen, I understand how you’re feeling. I do. I can’t guarantee you that everything will be okay. I just don’t know that right now. She’s early at thirty-two weeks.”

  “Oh, God,” Jensen whispered.

  “There can be complications, Jensen. I will have to prepare Mikayla for that—mentally and physically. I sure am glad you’re there for her emotionally.”

  “I am. Whatever she needs.”

  “Good.” For a moment, a look crossed the doctor’s face that made Jensen think Drew Strickland was remembering something from his own past. “But I promise you this. I will do my absolute best by Mikayla.”

  Jensen nodded. Me, too.

  * * *

  Hazel Leigh Brown came into the world at 11:23 p.m., four pounds, two ounces, and tiny—but perfectly formed and healthy. She had a headful of silky brown wisps and slate-blue eyes. She looked exactly like her mother.

  Jensen couldn’t stop staring at his daughter—his daughter—in the little bassinet beside Mikayla’s bed in the clinic. Mikayla was fast asleep, having given birth just over an hour ago, and though the labor was intensive and rough going at times, both mother and baby had come through beautifully.

  Jensen had surprised himself by being one hell of a birth partner. At no time had he been in danger of passing out or running from the room. He was in this for the guts and the glory, the good times and bad, sickness and health—all that.

  Dr. Strickland had said little Hazel’s prognosis was excellent, but the preemie would be staying at the clinic under the staff’s care for several weeks.

  “I love you, Hazel Brown,” he whispered to his little girl. “And if I have my way, your name is soon going to be Hazel Brown Jones. If your mother will consent to be my wife.”

  “Oh, I will,” a groggy voice said.

  Jensen jumped up from his chair in the corner and went over to Mikayla’s bed. “I love Hazel so much, so fiercely, and I just met her,” he said. “How is that possible?”

  “Because you loved her all along. And besides, it’s very, very easy to love a baby. Plus, look at her. She’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.”

  “Like mother, like daughter.”

  “Like husband and father,” she added.

  He smiled. “You’ve changed my life, Mik. Completely. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I’ll take it.”

  “When I’m sprung, maybe we can go celebrate where it all began—at Daisy’s Donuts.”

  He reached over and smoothed back a lock of her hair, then kissed her tenderly on the mouth.

  “Let’s plan the wedding for when Hazel can attend,” Jensen said. “She has to be part of it.”

  “Definitely,” Mikayla said. “In the meantime, I’ll stay at Sunshine Farm until Hazel is ready to leave the clinic for good.”

  “And I’ll be scouring Rust Creek Falls for just the right house for our family of three. A family that will likely expand with kids and pets and lots of visiting relatives. Because you can bet my parents are going to rush back here to see their grandchild.”

  Mikayla beamed. “I love you, Jensen Jones.”

  “I love you, Mikayla Brown. And I love our daughter.”

  “So are your parents locking your brother Gideon in a tower, never to be seen by a Rust Creek Falls woman?” Mikayla asked.

  “Honestly, they’ve done such a turnaround that I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent Gideon to Rust Creek Falls under false pretenses—so that he’ll be happy like his four brothers.”

  Mikayla laughed. “Wow, I just realized that Hazel will have four uncles—and three aunts so far. As an only child, I’m thrilled for her!”

  “You think I like to buy gifts?” he said. “Just wait until they hear you had your baby. Our baby. Sunshine Farm isn’t big enough to hold the truckload of baby gifts coming your way.”

  Mikayla smiled, her eyes drooping again. As he let the love of his life drift off, he thought about Mikayla telling him about a journalist dubbing Sunshine Farm the Lonelyhearts Ranch in an article because of the first guest’s lovelorn status when she’d arrived. Then the second guest, Mikayla, had been a lonelyheart until he finally realized what she’d known all along.

  That two was better than one.

  And baby made three.

  * * * * *

  If you loved this book by Melissa Senate, don’t miss

  Wyoming Christmas Surprise

  the next book in her

  Wyoming Multiples miniseries.

  On sale November 2018,

  wherever Mills & Boon books and ebooks are sold.

  And don’t miss the next installment of the new

  Mills & Boon Cherish continuity

  Montana Mavericks:

  The Lonelyhearts Ranch

  Widower Drew Strickland doesn’t have time

  to look for love. But his adorable little boy is

  definitely seeking a mommy—and he’s got his

  mind set on matching his doctor daddy up

  with the school librarian!

  Look for

  The Little Maverick Matchmaker

  by USA TODAY bestselling author Stella Bagwell

  On sale September 2018,

  wherever Mills & Boon books and ebooks are sold.

  And catch up with the rest of the

  Montana Mavericks:

  Look for Vivienne and Cole’s story,

  The Maverick’s Bridal Bargain

  by Christy Jeffries

  and

  A Maverick to (Re)Marry

  by New York Times bestselling author

  Christine Rimmer

  Available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Adding Up to Family by Marie Ferrarella.

  Adding Up to Family

  by Marie Ferrarella
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  Prologue

  “Please, Celia, you’re a mother. You must know what I’m talking about,” Bonnie Reynolds implored, obviously attempting to appeal to her longtime friend’s maternal instincts. “For the first twelve years of that girl’s life, I felt as if I could barely keep up with her. Even her homework assignments were so far beyond my own understanding, I had a headache every time I tried to check it.”

  Despite the situation that had brought her to Celia, there was pride echoing in Bonnie’s voice as she added, “Rebecca whizzed through her studies like it was child’s play—at a time when she was little more than a child herself.”

  Celia Parnell smiled understandingly at the distraught woman sitting opposite her in her Bedford, California, office.

  When Bonnie had come in, looking as if she was at her wit’s end, Celia had closed the door to her small inner office to ensure privacy. Speaking calmly, she had poured them both a cup of vanilla chai tea. She’d urged the trim brunette to take a seat and tell her exactly what was troubling her.

  And just like that, the words poured out of Bonnie like a dam whose retaining wall had suddenly cracked in half.

  Listening, Celia nodded. It was a story she was more than a little familiar with.

  “Rebecca had a wonderful job, Celia. An absolutely wonderful job—for three years. And then one day she decided to just up and leave it. Just like that.” Bonnie snapped her fingers. “Don’t get me wrong. When you first offered Rebecca a job with your company, I was grateful. I thought that this—this wrinkle was something she needed to work out and then she’d be back to herself again. In the interim, she was still earning money. But, Celia, that girl is wasting her potential. You know she is,” Bonnie cried, sitting so close to the edge of her chair, she looked as if she was in danger of falling off it if she so much as took in a big breath.

  “Breathe, Bonnie,” Celia counseled.

  “I am breathing—and very nearly hyperventilating,” the other woman cried, very close to tears now. “Celia, Rebecca graduated from MIT at eighteen. Eighteen!” she stressed.

  “I remember,” Celia replied calmly.

  But Bonnie only grew more agitated. “And she did it on a full scholarship, because her father, that rat, ran out on us, leaving me with nothing but debts and no way to pay for anything without working two jobs! That meant hardly ever seeing Rebecca, and yet she turned out like a gem.”