COWBOY AND THE BABY, THE

by Ferrarella, Marie

  Gabe sighed and turned back to go to his desk. “Suit yourself,” he said with a shrug.

  I generally do, Cody thought with a smile. The tricky part, though, he couldn’t help thinking, was getting through today without falling asleep on the job.

  The fact that he intended to look in on Devon and the baby at lunchtime and then at the end of the day helped him to rev up his engine.

  Chapter Eight

  “How is she?” Sheriff Rick Santiago asked Cody less than half an hour later as he walked into the office.

  Cody looked up to find that the sheriff had paused by his desk on his way to the crowded cubbyhole in the rear of the office that served as his work space.

  Cody couldn’t help thinking of the sick feeling he’d had in the pit of his stomach when he’d first become aware of all the blood that Devon had lost.

  “Better than I actually thought she’d be at this point,” he confessed. “Turns out that she’s pretty resilient and has a great constitution. Doc thinks she’ll be strong enough to leave the clinic by tomorrow morning.”

  Rick nodded, taking in his deputy’s words. “Dan thinks a lot of the credit belongs to you,” Rick said matter-of-factly. Through the whimsy of fate, Dan Davenport was his brother-in-law, married to Olivia’s younger sister, Tina. They’d all had dinner late last night. “Word around Murphy’s Saloon has it that you’ll be able to amass a lot of free drinks on that particular story,” Rick commented.

  “I don’t really drink,” Cody reminded his boss.

  “I’m sure the details can be worked out when the time comes,” Rick surmised. He was fairly certain that if he didn’t want alcohol, then Cody was going to be in for his share of hot meals at Miss Joan’s. “I really didn’t expect to see you in today.”

  “Planning on giving away my job already?” Cody asked dryly.

  “Nobody I know would be a good candidate for it. Takes a certain talent to be able to mix boredom with getting things done. Right now, there’re no takers.”

  “I tried to tell him to go home, Sheriff,” Gabe told Rick, speaking up.

  “The McCulloughs have always been a stubborn bunch,” Rick reminded his other deputy. He turned toward Cody. “You find out what her story is yet?” he asked.

  “Story?” Cody repeated. His brain felt as if it was wrapped in a thin layer of cotton. Maybe he should have gone home to grab a quick nap, he thought, beginning to reconsider his position.

  The sheriff nodded. “What was she doing out there by herself in her condition?”

  He had a feeling that Devon felt that she’d had no choice in the matter.

  “She didn’t give me any details and when I asked her, she really didn’t want to talk about it,” Cody told the sheriff. “I thought I’d give her a few days to get better before I start to ask her any questions, if it’s all right with you.”

  “No problem,” Rick agreed. “It can wait. Got a place for her to stay yet?”

  There was probably no shortage of doors that would be opened to the young mother. If nothing else, the good people of Forever were generous to a fault.

  “Several places,” Cody said, not wanting to get into the fact that it didn’t matter who else volunteered to take Devon and her baby in. At the end of the day, he was still taking the two of them to the ranch. The way he saw it, she was his responsibility until such time that she was able to leave on her own power.

  “Do we know who she is?” Rick asked.

  “Her name is Devon Bennett,” Joe Lone Wolf said as he walked in. The sheriff’s brother-in-law was carrying a box of pastries that he proceeded to deposit on the center table.

  Rick gave the box and its contents a quick once-over. “What’s the occasion?” Rick asked.

  “I stopped at the diner to get some coffee—no offense but ours hasn’t been good since Alma retired,” he complained, referring to Gabe’s sister, who had brought him into the department before she married Miss Joan’s step-grandson, “and Miss Joan said to bring these to ‘the hero.’ I figured that meant you,” Joe said, looking at Cody.

  Cody shook his head, disavowing any connection to the title. “I’m not a hero,” he protested.

  “I figure the young woman might have a different opinion about that,” Rick commented, selecting a cream-filled pastry from the top. He took a bite before heading to his office. “Damn but that’s good. That’s got to be Angel’s handiwork,” he said to Gabe. “You are one lucky son of a gun, Deputy. It’s a mystery to me why you haven’t blown up to at least twice your normal size since you married that woman.”

  Picking out a pastry for himself, Gabe sat down at his desk. “It’s not like that. Angel cooks and bakes all day long at the diner. The last thing she wants to do when she comes home is cook.”

  There was genuine pity in Rick’s eyes as he looked at his deputy. “You mean you’re not going home every night to fantastic meals?”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Gabe corrected and told the sheriff, “I make most of our meals.”

  Cody laughed for the first time that morning. “So then I take it you’re living on sandwiches? No wonder you’re not fat—don’t forget, I’ve had some of your cooking,” he reminded his friend.

  Gabe drew himself up to his full height. “I’ll have you know that I’m a damn good cook,” he informed the man he’d known since childhood.

  “You just keep on telling yourself that, Gabe,” Cody said as he got back to the search he’d started to conduct on his computer.

  It was, Rick thought with a hint of a smile as he finally walked back to his small office, business as usual.

  Couldn’t ask for better than that.

  * * *

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Cody popped into the sheriff’s office to let him know that he was going to be picking up Devon and the baby at the clinic.

  “Take all the time you need,” Rick told him. “Nothing of consequence is going on here.”

  Cody lost no time in getting over to the clinic.

  Over the course of the day before, he’d been out on patrol twice, walking the streets of Forever, and maybe it was just his imagination, but he could have sworn that people were smiling at him more broadly than usual.

  Cody knew he should just enjoy it and ride the wave of warm approval, but he was a man who felt more comfortable fading into the shadows than being thrust out onto center stage.

  Still, as he made his way to the clinic this morning, there were people out who were more than willing to call out their approval.

  “Way to go, Deputy.”

  “Nice job, Cody.”

  “You did your daddy proud.”

  The last one, coming from one of his father’s oldest friends, tugged at his heart, even though he did his best not to show how affected he was by it.

  Cody nodded in response to each and every acknowledgment, trying to be polite while still remaining as self-effacing as usual.

  Making his way to the back of the clinic, he saw that the door to the room where Devon was was partially closed.

  He would have knocked on the door if he hadn’t heard the buzz of mingling voices. He paused for a moment, thinking that perhaps one of the two doctors was in the room with Devon. He definitely didn’t want to intrude, especially if she happened to be getting an exam.

  “You don’t have to stand on ceremony.”

  The deep male voice was coming from behind him.

  Cody turned around just in time to see Dan.

  “Go on in,” Dan urged, waving him into the room ahead of him. “I’m giving her a clean bill of health,” he told Cody.

  Opening the door, Cody saw that not only wasn’t Devon alone, several women were in the room with her. In addition to Devon, Holly, Miss Joan and his sister, Cassidy, were all gathered around the hospital bed, leav
ing precious little space in the room.

  They all seemed to be talking at once.

  Cody wasn’t surprised to see Miss Joan—the people in town had long since given up attempting to pigeonhole the older woman. She was the source of never-ending surprises. Miss Joan showed up wherever she damn well pleased, whenever she felt she was needed. It was obvious by the tray on the side counter that Miss Joan had brought in breakfast for Devon.

  And Holly was the nurse, so of course she had every reason to be at a patient’s bedside.

  It was Cassidy’s presence here in Devon’s room that threw him.

  Beating around the bush had always struck him as a waste of time. He got right to the heart of the matter.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked his sister.

  Rather than answer him immediately, Cassidy tossed her long blond hair over her shoulder, narrowed her blue eyes and gave him a long, thoughtful once-over.

  “Since when have you been put in charge of where I go and what I do?” she asked. Before Cody could comment on his sister’s unofficial challenge, Cassidy told him, “If you must know, I’m convincing Devon here that you’re harmless.” Taking him aside for a second, she added in a lower voice, “I also brought her some clothes I thought she might find handy.”

  It was Cassidy’s tactful way of not mentioning the fact that he’d told her that Devon only had the clothes on her back—and those had been cut off her when he’d brought her in to stop the hemorrhaging.

  The harmless remark Cassidy had made had caught his attention. Cody looked quizzically from his sister to the woman he had come to take back to the family ranch.

  “Come again?”

  “I’m vouching for you, Cody,” Cassidy said cheerfully. “For all of us at the ranch, really. You do have a shifty face,” she patted his cheek by way of underscoring her statement. “Can’t blame the poor woman for holding your invitation to come stay at the ranch suspect.” Cassidy shrugged carelessly. “I thought that if she knew that you weren’t offering to take her to some den of iniquity, she’d relax and agree to stay there while she recuperated.”

  Flashing a smile at the woman in the bed, Cassidy went on to tell her brother. “It’s all settled. She’s going to be coming with us.”

  Despite the fact that she liked the idea of being with Cody and his siblings, Devon felt compelled to offer at least some sort of token protest.

  “Layla and I could always stay at the hotel,” she told Cody. “Holly said that the one in town is only about three years old.”

  “And just what would you be using for money, my dear?” Miss Joan asked bluntly. “You said that no-good SOB took your joint savings when he skipped out on you.”

  Cody shook his head. Leave it to Miss Joan to find out more about Devon in the space of a few minutes than he had in all the hours he’d sat by her bedside the other night, keeping vigil.

  Devon attempted to brazen her way through it. “I was thinking of offering to work my debt off once I was on my feet.”

  “Very noble of you,” Miss Joan commented. “Also pointless since you have all these people here offering to take you in, including me. Hospitality beats servitude seven days a week and twice on Sunday,” the older woman pointed out.

  Feeling outnumbered and outtalked, Cody glanced at the only other male in the room.

  As if reading his mind, Dan said, “Dr. Cordell-Murphy gave her a physical yesterday.” He smiled at Devon. “Mama and her baby are free to leave the clinic whenever she’s ready.” Looking at his patient, he added. “You’re also free to spend another night here if you’d feel better doing that. You know, one more night to build up your strength.”

  Devon flashed the doctor a grateful smile. “No disrespect intended, Doctor, but if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather get out of your way and settle in somewhere else.”

  “No disrespect taken,” Dan assured her. “So, where’ll it be? Miss Joan’s home, the McCullough ranch or Holly’s house?”

  She appreciated the overwhelming generosity of the people in the room. Even so, she wished she had the option of politely turning down all three offers and getting on with her life on her own.

  But it wasn’t just her life that she was accountable for. She didn’t have the luxury of pride where her daughter’s comfort was at stake.

  “The ranch,” Devon finally said quietly. “But I want you to understand that I intend to pay you back,” she insisted.

  “There’s nothing to pay back,” Cody replied.

  “It’s not like Connor has a rental rate posted for the extra bedrooms,” Cassidy told the other woman. “Just having that little darling around—” she nodded at the infant lying in the cradle that had been donated to the clinic “—will be payment enough for Connor, trust me.” Cassidy gave Devon an encouraging smile. “For all of us, really. The two of you will brighten up the house,” Cassidy assured her.

  “I guess it’s settled, then,” Devon said, praying she was making the right decision and that she wouldn’t regret it.

  But if she was being honest with herself, she really had no other options open to her at this point.

  “Good,” Cassidy pronounced. “By the way, I brought you a change of clothes, just in case you don’t have anything serviceable to wear.”

  Devon exchanged looks with Cody’s sister. “You heard,” she guessed. Word apparently got around very fast. She’d been in town only a little more than forty-eight hours.

  “That that bastard made off with your clothes when he left?” Cassidy wasn’t really asking a question. “Yes, I heard.”

  “You’re better off without that lowlife,” Miss Joan declared firmly. “You ask me, losing a few articles of clothing is well worth the price,” she told Devon, patting the younger woman’s hand. Miss Joan was the heart of the town, but she came with a crusty shell—except when it came to children. The transformation was enough to render a person speechless. “And when you’re feeling up to it, I plan to hold a baby shower for you at the diner.”

  Devon looked at the woman, clearly confused again. “Baby showers are held before the baby’s born,” she pointed out, skipping over the part that was glaringly obvious to her. Baby showers were thrown by family and friends. These people were neither to her. In her opinion, they had already gone over and above the call of duty helping her.

  Since her mother had died, Devon had come to expect nothing from people. That way she found that she was never disappointed.

  “At my age, I’ve learned not to let a few silly rules get in my way or stop me,” Miss Joan was saying to her. “And in my opinion, this little lady is definitely in need of a shower.”

  She had already assessed that the young mother had absolutely nothing when it came to the various items that a newborn required.

  “Why don’t we clear out and let Devon get dressed?” Holly suggested tactfully. Turning toward the young mother, she made her an offer. “I can stick around if you need any help putting on your new clothes.”

  “And that’ll give me a few more minutes to hold this little darling in my arms,” Miss Joan said, cooing to the baby she held close as she walked out of the room.

  Miss Joan was followed out by Cody and Cassidy, as well as the doctor.

  “Well, I’ve got a backlog of patients still waiting for me,” Dan said by way of parting. He looked over his shoulder back into the room. “Call me if you need me,” he told Devon.

  Miss Joan waited until the doctor had disappeared into an exam room. “Did you happen to catch sight of the scum who robbed her blind and then cut out on that poor girl?”

  “He probably took off in another direction,” Cody guessed. He didn’t add that he intended to check any reports of recently stolen vehicles within a thirty-mile radius. Layla’s father would have needed some mode of transportation since there was no other
way to get around.

  After he found the man—and he had little doubt that he would—he wasn’t sure exactly what he would do. But that wasn’t something he had to work out yet. First, he had to catch the bastard. The rest would follow.

  Chapter Nine

  “That’s your house?” Devon asked Cody in unabashed wonder.

  She was sitting in the rear of the truck just behind the passenger seat. Layla’s car seat—Tina Davenport had insisted on lending it—was next to her, strapped in right behind the driver’s seat.

  Devon’s question referred to the building she was looking at, a warm, rambling, three-storied structure that seemed to grow larger and more overwhelming the closer the truck came to it.

  Cody nodded. “Well, mine and my family’s,” he told her.

  A sliver of wistful envy stirred through her. For Devon, home had been a series of one-bedroom apartments, studio apartments and, on the occasions when her mother couldn’t find any work, the backseat of a second-hand SUV or a truck.

  “How do you keep from getting lost in it?” Devon asked.

  “You get used to it,” Cody assured her. “Besides, it’s not as big on the inside as it looks.”

  “It couldn’t be,” she murmured under her breath, awestruck. And then a practical question occurred to her, one that she hadn’t even considered earlier when Cody had convinced her to stay at his place. “Are your brothers okay with my staying here? I know that it’s all right with your sister, but a lot of men don’t like having their space invaded,” she pointed out.

  She certainly didn’t want to repay Cody for coming to her rescue by causing his brothers to give him grief.

  “Well, as you already noticed, this is a large house,” Cody told her. “You’re not exactly going to be in anyone’s way unless they come looking for you.”

  Cody pulled up the truck in front of the main house. Devon still felt rather uncertain about staying here, but it was too late to change her mind. By the time she had unbuckled her seat belt, Cody had already rounded the truck’s hood and was on the passenger side, ready to assist her in any way that she needed him to.