His Texas Baby

by Stella Bagwell

  Once she was standing, she smoothed her loose shirt over her belly. For some reason this evening the baby had quit all of its kicking, as though it was either sleeping or allowing her to rest. Now she felt it give her a little nudge in the ribs, right beneath her heart.

  “I should apologize for not letting you know I was listening. But I’m not going to. I’m glad I heard what was in your heart, Kitty.”

  Tilting her head back, she stared at him in wonder. “Why?”

  He moved closer, and as his hands gently delved into her hair, she felt as though she was going to wilt right into his arms.

  “Because now I really understand what it all means, my darling. You. Me. The baby. Your ranch and horses.” With a choked groan he pulled her tightly against him and buried his face in the crook of her neck. “Oh, Kitty, forgive me. I’ve been such a coward. I thought I could stop myself from loving you. But I can’t. I love you more than anything. Anything.”

  She eased her head back far enough to look into his face and what she saw in his eyes stunned her. “Liam—I don’t understand. You accused me of using you to save my ranch. You said you’d never love any woman. I—”

  “I was wrong about all of that. In fact, I think I’ve been wrong for several years now.”

  Everything he was saying was almost too much for her to take in and though she wanted to shout with happiness, she was afraid to let herself believe what she was hearing. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that all those years I told myself that you were just the pretty daughter of a good friend, I was falling in love with you. And that night we made the baby I could feel it in my heart. But then you said you wanted to keep our relationship as just friends, so I tamped all those feelings down and convinced myself that your friendship was all that I needed.”

  Kitty shook her head ruefully. “Oh, Liam, I only said that to save face. Because I knew you’d only gone to bed with me to have sex. And you’d already told Dad that you didn’t want to seriously date me.”

  His head jerked up with surprise. “You knew about that?”

  “He told me. During one of those times we were fighting about me finding a husband. You see, over the years, Dad tried to pick out several suitors for me. One even presented me with an engagement ring. And I infuriated Dad by throwing the ring back in the guy’s face. He knew that I liked you and I guess it made him feel good to rub in the fact that Liam Donovan wasn’t interested in the likes of Kitty Cartwright.”

  “I never realized your father could be so vindictive,” he said ruefully.

  Kitty sighed. “He wasn’t vindictive. He wanted to control me. Just like he wanted to control everyone that he loved. Now I guess you could say he’s still trying to control me from the grave.”

  His fingertips gently caressed her cheek. “At the time your father asked me about courting you, I wasn’t ready for any kind of dating. Felicia hadn’t been dead that long and I was still trying to get my feet back under me. That’s why I told him I wasn’t interested. But later, I began to find everything about you interesting.” Bending his head, he placed kisses on her forehead, cheeks and finally her lips. “You’ve been my wife in name for several months now, Kitty. But I want you to be my wife in every sense of the word. I love you. I don’t want to live without you.”

  Behind her she could hear Black Dahlia begin to stir and Kitty looked around just as the filly stood on her feet. And then, as though the horse understood that prompting was needed, she used her nose to nudge Kitty even closer to Liam.

  Laughing, Kitty wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. “It appears that Dahlia knows I don’t want to live without you, either.”

  Chuckling with her, Liam lowered his mouth to Kitty’s and kissed her for long moments, a kiss that swept away the fears of the past and carried them straight into their future together.

  “Kitty, this thing with your father’s will…if Dahlia doesn’t win, I—”

  “She will win. I feel it inside,” she said, placing a hand over the region of her heart.

  “I have the same feeling. Not just from a trainer’s standpoint, but as your husband,” he agreed. “But if she doesn’t, I’ll help you fight this thing. I won’t let you lose Desert End or the horses. Even if I have to knock Owen on his ass.”

  Rising up on her tiptoes, Kitty pressed another kiss on his lips. “At this moment, Liam, I can truly say that no matter what happens, I’ll be happy. Just as long as I have you and our baby. We can always buy another ranch and more horses.”

  Dahlia chose that moment to nicker softly and both Kitty and Liam turned around to look at the filly.

  “Okay, okay. We’ll make sure we have you, too,” Kitty told the horse.

  “Tell her good-night,” Liam urged. “I have something out here I want to give you.”

  Kitty waited until she’d kissed the filly’s nose and then followed Liam out of the stall before she voiced her curiosity. “What is it? You just gave me a piece of expensive jewelry.”

  “This is something totally different.” Reaching down, he picked up a flat box from the chair where Maryann had been sitting. “I’ve kept this all these years and now I hope you’ll put it to use.”

  He handed her the box and she opened the lid to find a book covered with padded fabric of pale blue. As she lifted it from the bed of tissue paper he said in a husky voice, “My mother gave me this journal when she learned that Felicia was pregnant. She wanted me to document the first year of my child’s life so that I would always be able to relive the special moments. It’s only right that you have it now.”

  Tears suddenly clogged her throat and for long moments she was too touched to speak. “Oh, Liam, this is—” Lost for words to explain how she was feeling, Kitty shook her head. “I love you and our baby. So much.”

  “Let’s go home,” he said simply.

  Kitty agreed and after she’d carefully returned the journal to its box and called Maryann back to the stall to stand post, they started out of the training barn.

  They were on the verge of exiting the building when Kitty suddenly realized she’d forgotten to collect her purse from her office.

  “I have to go back for it, Liam,” she insisted. “I’ll need my keys and wallet.”

  “All right,” he told her. “But there’s no need in you making the long walk with me. Wait here at the door and I’ll be right back.”

  Kitty nodded and then just as he started to walk away, a sharp pain struck the side of her stomach, causing her to bend over and cry out.

  “Liam! Wait!”

  Rushing back to her, he grabbed her by the arm. “Kitty! What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

  “I think so!”

  Not waiting to ask more questions, Liam swept her up in his arms. “I’ve got to get you to the hospital before our Texas baby is born in a training barn!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Five hours later, Liam was standing at his wife’s side, gripping her hand as she pushed their new son into the world.

  The baby weighed nearly eight pounds and squalled at the top of his lungs while the nurses cleaned and wrapped him in a tiny blue blanket.

  “He looks and sounds like a healthy one,” the doctor proudly announced as he finished the last of his ministrations to Kitty.

  Full of love and great relief, Liam bent his head and pressed a kiss to his wife’s damp forehead. “We have a son, my darling. Thank you for him. Thank you for loving me.”

  Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and as he tenderly wiped them away, Kitty tried to laugh through her weariness.

  “Are you happy that he’s a boy?”

  “I would have been thrilled either way.” Although the labor had been relatively short, the intensity of the pains had drained her and now as she looked up at him with sleepy blue eyes, he was amazed by her courage and strength. He was amazed that he’d found such a remarkable woman to love him.

  “Good,” she said softly. “Maybe the next one will be a girl.”
>
  Chuckling, he stroked a finger against her pale cheek. “Next one?”

  A drowsy smile tilted the corners of her mouth. “We’re only just beginning, my darling.”

  Liam had just finished placing a kiss on her lips when a nurse appeared at the side of the delivery table. The baby was cradled in the woman’s arms.

  “We need to put him in the incubator and let him get warm before you two start handling him. But I thought you might want to take a tiny peek first,” she said with an understanding smile.

  Lowering the baby so that Kitty could also get a view, the nurse pulled back the corner of blanket covering the baby’s face. And as Liam studied the tiny nose and bow-shaped lips, the squinted eyes and red mottled skin, he knew he’d never gazed on anything more beautiful or precious.

  Tears sprouted to his eyes, but he didn’t attempt to stop them. For a long time he’d believed his life was over. But as Kitty had just said, they were just now beginning and all he could see ahead of him was love.

  “Mmm. Lucky me. He looks just like his daddy,” Kitty said dreamily.

  Liam blushed, and the nurse laughed.

  “She’s delirious,” Liam explained his wife’s comment.

  Giving Liam a saucy wink, the nurse flipped the blanket back over the baby’s face and started out of the room.

  As she shouldered her way through a swinging door, she called back, “Your wife isn’t delirious, Mr. Donovan. She’s in love.”

  *

  By Sunday afternoon, Kitty and the baby were released from the hospital. As soon as Liam got them safely ensconced at home, he and Conall raced to the track in order to help Clayton get Black Dahlia saddled and prepared for the big race.

  “Your nerves must be on the edge of exploding,” Vanessa said to her as the other woman switched on the television and tuned it to the horse-racing channel. “Bringing home a newborn baby, the first one at that, and now the race. I’ll admit, Kitty, I could never be as calm as you are right now.”

  Propped in a partially reclined position on the couch, Kitty glanced over at the white bassinet sitting only inches away from her left shoulder. The baby was asleep, but she could hardly tear her eyes from his perfect little face. They had decided to name him Corey Arthur after Liam’s late Grandfather Donovan, but Liam had already given him the nickname of Jock and though Kitty pretended to hate the moniker she’d found herself calling the baby by that name.

  “Believe me, if you saw my insides you could see they were jumping up and down with nerves.” Touching the sparkly horse and jockey she’d pinned to her blouse, she smiled at her sister-in-law. “I’m so glad you’re here with me, Vanessa. I’ve never had much of a chance to be around babies, especially newborns. And you had two at once. You’re an expert on baby advice.”

  Vanessa laughed. “No one is ever an expert on babies or children. They’re all different. Even my twins are different.” She sat down in a stuffed armchair a few feet away from Kitty. “I’m just wondering how Conall thinks he’s going to manage them at the track. Especially when Michael runs one way and Maria runs the other. I’m guessing before the afternoon is over he’ll have Liv and Edie helping him.”

  Kitty nodded. “Yes, thank God for Liam’s hot walkers. Even when Liam and I were at odds, the two women were kind enough to search me out every day and offer to do anything that I needed done.”

  Vanessa smiled at her. “The Diamond D has very special people working for them. But then so does Desert End. Are you and Liam planning on making it your permanent home?”

  Kitty released a nervous laugh. “We’ve not talked about it yet. And anything I say would be premature. In less than two hours the ranch might not be mine anymore.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Don’t say that! Conall watched the video of Dahlia’s last work. He said she was floating over the ground. He truly believes she’ll win.”

  Glad to have her attention slightly diverted from her coiled nerves, Kitty looked curiously at her sister-in-law. “Liam talks more about Conall than he does any of his other siblings and he tells me that your husband is quite a horseman in his own right.”

  Smiling proudly, Vanessa nodded. “He is. When he was in his teens he used to gallop for his family barn. And he’s admitted that training is his first love. But because he has a business degree, his father always expected him to manage the ranch.”

  “Oh. That must make him feel sort of caged.”

  “I think it did at one time. But that’s about to change. Their cousin Clancy has moved to New Mexico from Kentucky and he’s going to take over the managing job so that Conall will be free to help Liam.”

  “Oh, that’s great news!”

  “Yes, I think that’s one of the reasons Conall wanted to come out here this weekend. So he could tell Liam in person about all their new plans.” The other woman got to her feet and peered over the basinet at her new nephew. “We didn’t know we were arriving just in time for Corey’s birth.”

  A small smile touched Kitty’s lips. “It’s nice to have family here. I only wish—”

  “That your brother cared enough to acknowledge you and the baby?” Vanessa asked knowingly.

  Kitty sighed. “Liam called him with the news, but he never really told me how my brother reacted. I…”

  Her words trailed off as the doorbell suddenly rang. “Who in the world could that be? Everyone we know is at the track right now.”

  “I’ll go see,” Vanessa assured her.

  The woman disappeared into a small foyer only to return moments later with Owen following her. Kitty stared in shock at her brother who had his arms filled with flowers and balloons and a huge teddy bear.

  “Owen!” She rose to her feet to greet him. “What are you doing here?”

  He walked straight to Kitty and after handing her the flowers, pressed a kiss on her cheek. “I’m here to see my sister and new nephew,” he explained.

  “Aren’t you more concerned about who wins the Oaks?”

  Ignoring Kitty’s pointed question, Owen propped the brown-and-white teddy bear against the leg of the bassinet, then bent over for a closer look at the baby.

  Vanessa awkwardly cleared her throat. “If you two will excuse me, I’ll go make coffee.”

  As the other woman left the room, Kitty realized her legs were trembling and she sank onto the couch while her brother gazed at his new nephew.

  “The baby looks like Liam,” he remarked. “Congratulations, sis.” Turning away from the bassinet, he looked at Kitty. “As for the Oaks, I want you to win it, Kit.”

  Kitty’s first instinct was to hurl a sarcastic remark back at him, but as silent seconds ticked by, she could see he was actually being sincere.

  Stunned, she stared at him. “Seriously?”

  Grinning now, he removed his cowboy hat and sat a few inches away from her feet. “I’ll sit here so you can go ahead and kick me. I realize I deserve it.”

  With a slight shake of her head, Kitty said, “I don’t understand any of this, Owen. You never wanted for me to—”

  He held up a hand before she could start. “Look, Kitty, I don’t expect you to understand any of this. I don’t even expect you to believe me or forgive me for the pain I’ve put you through. I’m just now getting it all settled in my own mind.”

  “And when did this change of heart happen?” she asked skeptically.

  He shrugged. “I think that night we last saw each other at Desert End. You said something that I couldn’t get out of my mind and it began to eat on me.”

  “Really? What was it? That you had the same controlling personality that Dad had?”

  “That wasn’t it. Although, I will admit that I am a bit of a control freak.”

  He must have expected her to let out a mocking howl at that because he seemed surprised when she simply stared at him.

  “Just a tad,” she finally agreed.

  He rubbed his palms against his thighs as though he was nervous. The idea was more than a bit shocking. From the ti
me they were children until now, she’d never seen Owen nervous. He’d always been sure of himself, almost to the point of arrogance. This was definitely a different Owen sitting next to her.

  His gaze slipped away from her and over to the picture window that framed a view of the front yard. “What really got to me,” he said in a low, strained voice, “was when you said that you would never tell me what sort of job I should have. I love being a sheriff’s deputy. If you told me my job wasn’t good for me—that would really hurt. I thought about that long and hard, Kitty. And slowly I began to see I was hurting you by refusing to accept the career you’d chosen for yourself.”

  Amazed that her brother was actually displaying some understanding, she said, “Everyone should have the right to make their own choices.”

  His forehead puckered with a remorseful frown. “Ever since Dad died, I’ve begun to see that I’m more like him than I care to admit.” He looked at her and his eyes implored her to understand. “When Liam called me with news about the baby something happened to me. And all I could think about was the days and months I let go by without connecting with you. This should have been a very special time in your life—for mine, too. I feel like a bastard for ruining it.”

  “You haven’t ruined anything,” she assured him, then in a softer voice added, “Owen, these past few years, since I started traveling with Dad, you became less and less a part of the family. I thought it was because you resented my close relationship with him.”

  “I suppose you could say I did resent it. I’ve always felt left out—I was never good with horses and you were. You shared so much with Dad. Then after he died I thought you’d turn to me. Instead, you came out here to California to train, and married Liam. After that it was pretty clear you weren’t going to sit around and wait for me to become a part of the family again. I felt like you’d completely turned your back on me. That’s why I thought if I threatened to sell the ranch away from you that you’d come running back to Texas and turn to me for help.”

  “That was selfish and stupid, Owen. I’ve always been your sister and that will never change, no matter what I’m doing or where I’m living. You’ll always be welcome in my home and I hope I’ll always be welcome in yours. And no matter what our jobs are or where we live, we can remain close.”