by Ginna Gray
"Oh, my," Tess murmured, but Rebecca merely laughed.
"Don't worry about it. Give them five minutes and they'll be laughing and hugging. One thing about this family, they may squabble and tease, but they love one another fiercely. Let one of them need help, and they all come running." Rebecca slanted Tess a sidelong look. "Of course, they do sometimes tend to be a bit overprotective, as I'm sure you've noticed. If they've seemed a little... well... pushy and inquisitive, please don't take it personally. It's just that they care about Ryan."
Tess blinked. "I... I'm not sure I understand."
Rebecca studied her blank expression. "Don't tell me you didn't realize you were being checked out?"
"Checked out?"
"Of course. That's why David and Abby extended their visit. And why else do you think Meghan cleared her schedule and hotfooted it down here as soon as her mother called and told her about you?"
Stunned, Tess looked at the group in the yard. The altercation had been settled, and as the players resumed their positions, her appalled gaze locked on the petite redhead returning to the sidelines.
Meghan had come barreling up the driveway in her snappy yellow sports car only the night before while they had been eating dinner. At the time Tess had thought that the trip from Dallas was a long one to make for just an overnight visit, but she assumed that Meghan had merely been lonesome for her family.
"But... this is terrible."
"Don't be upset, Tess. We're all happy about you and Ryan. Oh, I'll admit at first when we heard that you were pregnant we were a little concerned, but now that we've met you, we're delighted. The whole family has been so worried about Ryan. We were beginning to give up hope that he would ever care for another woman, after Julia."
"But you don't understand. Ryan and I are just friends."
Rebecca merely smiled.
Tess had no more luck convincing the other women.
The softball game was halted temporarily in favor of lunch, and afterward, when the men wandered off to look at Joe's new pickup truck, Tess broached the subject, for all the good it did her. Abby laughed as though she had told a huge joke, and Maggie and Dorothy merely humored her.
"We understand, my dear. If you say that you and my son are just friends, then of course we believe you," Maggie assured her, but Tess saw the sly look that passed between the sisters.
Meghan was more blunt.
"Just friends? Oh, pul-leeze. Who're you kidding? I've seen the way Ryan looks at you. The man practically devours you with his eyes, for pity's sake. It's downright embarrassing."
Nothing Tess said had the least effect. By the time the softball game resumed, she had tried every tack she could think of, short of getting Ryan to set them straight, and she doubted even that would help. She was so frustrated, she wanted to scream. There was just no talking to some people.
Picking up on her mother's tension, Molly began to fret. Tess held her against her shoulder and patted her back. "There, there, sweetheart. Everything's okay," she murmured into the baby's ear as she watched the play from the porch.
They were wrong, of course. The idea that Ryan could be interested in her romantically was absurd. That the two of them were even friends was a minor miracle, given their beginning.
For a moment she debated about actually discussing the matter with Ryan but quickly rejected the idea. He would only be furious, which wouldn't help their relationship any. Heaven knew, it was shaky enough as it was.
"Eventually his family will just have to accept that they were wrong," she whispered to Molly, patting her tiny diapered bottom.
❧
"Are you sure you won't reconsider and stay?" Maggie asked one last time, hugging Tess goodbye.
"Thank you, Maggie, but I can't. I really should get back."
The offer was tempting. Maggie could have no idea just how tempting. During the past four days Ryan's relatives had all taken her under their collective wing as though she were one of them. As an only child, she had never known the special security and sense of belonging that comes from being part of a large, loving family. For over nine years she had not even had the comfort of her parents' love. She was an adult, it was true, an independent woman with a child of her own now, but still ... it had been quite wonderful to be, if only for a little while, on the receiving end of the Mc-Calls' warmth and protection and Maggie's maternal cosseting.
Too wonderful, actually. It would be entirely too easy to get used to that sort of thing, and that would be foolish. As comforting as the past four days had been, as much as she adored Ryan's family, the truth was she had no place in their lives.
She and Molly were alone. She was responsible for the two of them—no one else. Certainly not Ryan. He had stumbled into her life against his will and been coerced into helping her by his son and his own strict conscience. The only reason she was here with him now was through a quirk of fate. Or perhaps, more accurately, good fortune on her part.
The wisest thing to do was to return home and begin her hfe with Molly.
"At least promise me you'll come back soon for a visit," Maggie insisted, looking longingly from Tess to Molly. For a moment Tess thought the older woman was going to cry.
"I'll try," she hedged. Privately, though, she thought that a very unlikely possibility.
"Here now, you two. None of that weepy stuff. C'mon, Mom, give us a hug so we can be on our way." Reilly wrapped his brawny arms around his mother and swung her in a circle.
"Reilly, you big oaf! Put me down." Maggie whooped, but her incipient tears turned to squeals of merriment.
Amid laughter and good-natured teasing, goodbyes were said all around. Molly was fussed over and nuzzled by everyone, then handed to Tess when she had settled into the back seat of the Cherokee beside Mike. She buckled the baby into a borrowed car seat, then they were on their way. As they drove down the long drive, Tess looked back at the crowd of waving people standing in the yard, a heavy feeling in her heart.
The ride home was uneventful and much easier than Tess had anticipated. Molly, bless her, slept like an angel all the way, and if any disturbing undercurrents lingered between Tess and Ryan, they were defused by the presence of Reilly and Mike.
On the outskirts of Houston they began to see evidence of storm damage. The destruction became more apparent with each passing mile—signs down, light stanchions and utility poles snapped, trees uprooted, their broken branches and other debris strewn everywhere, houses and small buildings demolished, traffic lights still inoperable, snarling traffic. Even so, Tess was not prepared for the sight that greeted them when they reached their apartment complex.
Mike's eyes bugged out. "Wow! This is awesome!''
"I'll say. This place looks like a war zone, Hoss."
Tess could only stare.
The front two buildings of the complex were all but leveled. Other's had broken windows and roof shingles missing, stripped right down to the bare tar paper. A few buildings—those tucked in the center of the complex—were relatively unscathed. Luckily, Tess and Ryan's was one of the latter.
Her car, however, had not fared so well. One of the few left in the parking lot, it had been blown completely over into a corner of the brick fence. Trash and storm debris covered most of it. The little compact reminded Tess of a dead bug lying on its back.
Ryan inspected Tess's apartment first. A window had been blown out in the living room. The draperies and carpet were ruined and the wind had blown over a table and shattered a lamp. The roof had leaked in a couple of places. One, luckily, was over the bathtub but the other had collapsed a section of the kitchen ceiling and the rain pouring in had buckled the tile floor.
Standing in the middle of the living room with Molly in her arms, Tess forlornly surveyed the mess while Ryan moved through the apartment, checking the telephone for a dial tone, flipping light switches, turning faucets on and off.
"The phone's out but at least the power has been restored. You're a little waterlogged in places and it's
not too pretty, but it's livable. I think you can manage for a few days until the repairs are done."
"Ryan's right." Reilly patted Tess's shoulder. "Cheer up, sweetheart. I know it looks bad, but it won't take a good contractor long to put things right."
"I wouldn't drink the water, though, until we get it tested," Ryan added. "As soon as we unload the truck, I'm going to go get some glass to reglaze that window. While I'm out I'll pick up some bottled water and whatever else you need. Why don't you make a list while I go check out my place?" Motioning to his son and brother, he started for the door. "C'mon, Mike, and give Reilly and me a hand with the luggage."
"Ryan, you don't ha—"
He haltaj and looked back at her, one eyebrow cocked, and she bit her lower lip. She had been about to say that he didn't have to keep looking after her, but then she realized that she had no idea how she would cope on her own.
The trip from Crockett had exhausted her. She was going to have her hands full just taking care of Molly. Had she been lucky enough to still have a car in operating condition, she was certainly in no shape to drive, or to go running around looking for drinking water or window panes. Even if she could manage that much she didn't have the foggiest idea how to reglaze a window. She could tell by the look in Ryan's eyes that he knew it, too.
"That is...I...uh..." Tess exhaled a defeated sigh. "Thank you, Ryan."
"Don't worry about it." His gaze flickered over her, taking in her sagging shoulders, and his expression gentled. "On second thought, forget about that list. Why don't you just go get some rest and let me take care of things for now."
She smiled wanly. "Thanks. I think I will."
When the door closed behind him, Tess trudged into the bedroom. She didn't bother to put Molly into her crib but curled up on her bed with the baby, sighing as her head touched the pillow.
Where had she gone wrong? It had all seemed so simple when she had made her plans. She was a mature adult, fully capable of coping on her own. She and her baby would lead an independent, self-reliant life. Now her apartment was a wreck, her car was demolished and she was totally dependent on her macho neighbor for the tiniest thing. Worst of all, at the moment she didn't even care.
Sighing again, Tess burrowed her face into the pillow. Tomorrow. Beginning tomorrow, she would start working on being independent. Right now, she was just too tired.
"When we finish here and take a look at my place, you want to go check out the site and the equipment barn?" Reilly asked as he followed Ryan into his apartment.
"Maybe later. First I'm going to take a look around the complex and work up an estimate on the repairs and rebuilding."
"What for?"
"So we can bid on this job."
"What! Hey, I thought we weren't going to take on any more small jobs like this now that we've got the development project going?"
"Yeah, well, you're forgetting that I live here. I want to make sure the work is done right."
"Ahh, I see. Good point." Reilly eyed his brother shrewdly, his lips twitching. "And, of course, if you're here all day overseeing the work, you'll also be able to keep an eye on a certain little redhead and her baby. Right?"
The narrow-eyed look Ryan shot him would have made any other man back off. Reilly grinned.
"So? You got a problem with that?"
"Me? Heck no."
"Somebody has to give her a hand. At least for a while, until she's stronger," Ryan muttered, stalking through his apartment. "And she's too damned proud to ask for help."
"Hey, Hoss. You don't have to convince me."
❧
Amanda returned from her Middle East assignment two weeks later. Her surprise over Molly's early arrival was nothing compared to her reaction when she learned the circumstances. She stared at Tess, flabbergasted.
"Ryan McCall? Your hunky neighbor? He coached you in Lamaze? And delivered your baby in the back of that... that thing he drives? In the middle of a hurricane?" At Tess's nod, she sank down onto the sofa. "Good grief."
"Calm down, Amanda. I know it sounds horrendous but everything turned out all right. Molly and I are both doing fine."
"Thanks to Ryan," Amanda stated emphatically. "Thank God he was around when you needed him. I take back every bad thing I've ever said about the man."
Her revised, highly exalted opinion of Ryan did not extend to his brother, however. Whenever Reilly came anywhere near Amanda—which seemed to happen with amazing regularity—she bristled like a junkyard dog.
Tess had assumed that her contact with the McCall brothers would dwindle once Molly was born, but instead over the next few months she saw more of them than ever— particularly Ryan.
R & R Construction was awarded the contract to rebuild and remodel the apartment complex, and since Ryan was on-site supervising the work himself, he frequently dropped in on Tess during the day.
At times Tess felt guilty about relying so heavily on Ryan, but she honestly didn't know what she would have done without him those first months. While she was without a car, he did her shopping for her and ran errands. When her auto insurance finally came through, he went with her to purchase a used car to be sure she did not get stuck with a piece of junk. He took her and the baby to the pediatrician and the obstetrician for checkups, he gave her advice on caring for Molly and helped her through the new mother jitters.
He was still gruff and sometimes brutally frank, but whenever she needed help or just a shoulder to lean on, Ryan was always there for her.
Tess also recognized that daily both Ryan and Mike were becoming more attached to Molly. Every afternoon Mike hopped off the school bus and raced upstairs, detouring by his own apartment just long enough to drop off his books before making a beeline for Tess's. He would still be there when Ryan stopped by at the end of his workday, a practice that had become a habit with him. Even when they were in their own apartment, the least squawk out of her daughter brought Ryan or Mike—often both—to Tess's door.
For her part, Molly kicked and crowed and smiled with delight at the sight of either father or son. Tess knew that any move on her part to withdraw and stand totally on her own feet would only cause pain. Besides, when compared to the special bond they had all forged, being self-reliant and independent no longer seemed so important, or even that desirable. She enjoyed being close to Ryan and Mike. They were ahnost like family.
To Tess's relief, since their return to Houston there had been no repeat of that madness in the hospital or any of the other weird feelings she had experienced while in Crockett. She had come to the conclusion that those moments had been an aberration, merely the result of the heightened emotions surrounding Molly's birth.
❧
Molly was a healthy happy baby. Except for an occasional cranky spell, she gave Tess little trouble or cause for concern. Then one night, after an unusually fussy evening, Molly awoke crying in the small hours of the morning.
Tess was out of the bed and across the hall to her daughter's room in a bhnk. "There, there, precious. What's the matter?" she crooned, patting the baby's back. "It's okay. Mommy's here."
The reassurance did not help. Neither did anything else that Tess tried. She changed Molly's diaper. She tried to give her a drink of water, but the baby merely spit out the nipple and cried louder. Tess rocked and swayed and jiggled. She sang lullabies and rubbed Molly's back but the distressed cries continued at full volume. Her Uttle body stiffened, and she drew her knees up sharply and shrieked so loud and hard her face turned a mottled purple. The tiny veins on her head stood out alarmingly as her flailing fists pununeled her mother's shoulder.
Real alarm began to tighten into a hard knot in Tess's chest. "Shh, shh. It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay," she crooned. She walked back and forth across the living room, bouncing Molly and rubbing her back, but nothing worked. She was frantic and close to tears herself when the knock sounded on the door.
"Tess, it's Ryan. Let me in."
At the first soft rap Tess knew who was at the door, a
nd she reacted like a drowning man who had been thrown a lifeline. She was fumbling with the locks before Ryan finished speaking.
At the sight of him she nearly sagged with relief. He stood there, sleepy-eyed, his dark rumpled hair hanging over his forehead. He was barefoot and wearing only a pair of faded jeans, which he had obviously stepped into so hastily he hadn't even bothered to button them all the way. Tess didn't care; she had never been so happy to see anyone in her life.
"Oh, Ryan," she wailed. "I'm sorry if she woke you, but-"
"Never mind that. What's the trouble?"
"I don't know. I've done everything I can think of but she just keeps crying."
He stepped inside and kicked the door shut with his bare foot. "Here, give her to me," he said, plucking the infant from Tess's arms.
"Hey, sugarplum, what's your problem? Hmm?" He cuddled the baby against his shoulder, one big hand cupping her diapered bottom, the other splayed over her back, completely covering it. "C'mon now, sweetie, it can't be that bad."
Ryan strolled into the living room, crooning into Molly's ear. Tess followed right on his heels, wringing her hands. "What do you think is the matter?" she asked anxiously, raising her voice to be heard above the baby's screams.
"My guess would be colic." Molly's cries went up in pitch when he cradled her in one arm and massaged her lower belly with his other hand. "Yep. You can feel how hard her tummy is."
"Colic?"
"Gas. Indigestion."
"But...what caused it? She's never had anything like this before."
"Did you feed her anything new yesterday?"
"Yes. I took her in for her three-month checkup. The pediatrician said I could start giving her peas and green beans. I gave her pureed peas tonight for dinner. She seemed to like them."
"Maybe so, but they don't seem to like her much."
