Though somewhat shaky, she took a minute’s worth of video before handing it back to the nurse. That part of the film would be a priceless treasure.
To Ashley’s chagrin, the nurse had to take the baby away to the nursery, but she promised to return with Cabe in a couple of hours.
Carefully, she eased him off Cord’s broad shoulder, then settled him in the cart and left the room. If a person could die from too much happiness, then Ashley was a prime candidate.
She lay back against the pillows and watched her husband who had been through as much emotionally as she had. Not only the delivery of the baby, but the scene at the house which had precipitated Cabe’s premature birth.
Sheila. The one dark shadow. Ashley needed to know exactly what had gone on with his stepmother. She wouldn’t rest until he told her everything.
As if his mind had extrasensory perception, his eyelids opened and he sat up a trifle disoriented. “Where’s Cabe?”
“They took him back to the nursery a few minutes ago. I’m glad. You needed the rest.”
He levered himself from the chair and came over to the side of the bed, bestowing a long, lingering kiss on her mouth. “How are you feeling? Honestly.”
“Sore, tired, strange and absolutely ecstatic.”
Cord’s expression sobered. He searched her features. “The goose egg is going down.”
“That’s good, but I probably have a huge purple bruise by now.”
“We can thank providence that’s all you have.”
“Cord—tell me about Sheila, about what happened after I blacked out.”
He stood up, rubbing the back of his neck absently. “When you called the office, Dan and I had just been talking about her, and her potential for evil. I heard the fear in your voice. That’s when I told Dan to phone emergency and get an ambulance. To be honest, I’ve had an uneasy feeling since Sheila showed up at the orphanage. All the way home from the office I had this gut-wrenching fear that she might try to hurt you physically.”
Ashley’s breath caught. “I thought she had a gun and was going to kill you because she couldn’t have you. Her hand was in her pocket. She looked so determined and just kept on walking downstairs toward you.”
He shook his head. “She had the keys to your car in her hand.”
“My car?”
“Yes. She showed them to me, insisting that she had just come down the stairs to wait for a taxi. She intended to go to the orphanage and bring your car home, as a favor to you.
“Naturally I didn’t buy it and took the key ring from her. It’s my belief that if she could have left the house without being seen, she would have taken a taxi there and then tampered with your car after bringing it home so the next time you ever drove it, you might get in some kind of accident.”
“Oh, Cord.”
“When she could see that I didn’t believe her, she said she was leaving Salt Lake and wouldn’t be coming back. I told her it was a good idea since the board had voted her out permanently of any position with the company.
“At that point, a taxi pulled up in front. No sooner had she gotten in it, than the ambulance arrived. All I could think about was you and our baby. It’s my opinion she took Dad’s money and ran with it. She’ll never be around to hurt us or anyone else again.”
Ashley let out a deep sigh. “That’s the best news I ever heard.”
“Darling?” He reached for her hand and kissed it. “Let’s promise that we’ll never look back again, never think about the pain of the past again.”
She pulled him down to her.
“I’m way ahead of you, Cord. I just wish I were in a position to show you exactly how I feel about you. If you can just wait a little longer…”
“Is Sister Bernice feeling better? Can we see her for a minute?”
The receptionist looked up at Ashley and Cord who held their four-week-old baby in his arms. They’d learned that the nun had been down with the flu and that was why she hadn’t been able to make a visit to the hospital when their baby was born.
Ashley was fully recovered from the surgery. When Cord suggested they take a drive in the fresh air and stop by to see the woman who had influenced Ashley’s life for good, she thrilled to the idea.
“Sister Bernice is just fine now. I believe she’s still in her office. Go ahead and knock.”
Ashley felt Cord’s arm tighten around her waist as he ushered her toward the far door.
“Come in.”
Ashley turned the handle and they entered.
When she saw them, the nun beamed. “I was just thinking about you, and here you are with your precious child.”
“We heard you had been ill, but this was the soonest we could come to see you. Cabe wants to meet you.”
The nun extended her hands. “I’ve been just as anxious to meet him.” Cord crossed the expanse and lowered the baby into her arms.
The sight of her husband with his little dark-haired replica brought a lump to Ashley’s throat. That lump expanded as Sister Bernice kissed Cabe and spoke to him with all the tenderness of a loving mother.
As she put the baby to her shoulder and patted his back, unworried that he might burp on her scapula, she darted Ashley a loving glance. “Do you know you were only a month old when your mother brought you to St. Anne’s, Ashley?
“You had a lot of hair, too. But you were tiny and suffered from colic. This robust son of yours is bursting with health and acts totally contented.”
“You haven’t heard him when he’s hungry. During the night he cries out for his mother and probably keeps the neighborhood awake.” Cord grinned.
“Of course,” she quipped. “How else is he going to grow up to be tall and straight like his handsome father!”
Ashley’s eyes shone like stars as she stared at her husband. “Cord helps by getting up and bringing him to me. Half the time it’s a fight to see who gets to hold him after he’s been satisfied.”
Sister Bernice chuckled. “You’re a very lucky, very blessed little boy, Cabe.”
“We’re the lucky ones,” Cord interjected with emotion. “I suggested to Ashley that we drop by today. She thinks we’re here simply for a visit, but I had another motive, as well.”
The nun crossed the baby to her other shoulder, her look attentive as she waited to hear what he had to say. Ashley was no less curious.
“I don’t know how much my wife has confided to you about me and my upbringing. Needless to say, I was born to wealth, but it didn’t bring me a great deal of happiness. My real happiness began when I met Ashley.
“Therefore, I would be ungrateful if I didn’t thank you for being the person you are, for always being there for her. You were the one who challenged her to fight for our marriage.
“Because she listened to your advice, we’re back together and we’re moving to the Tetons where I’ve accepted the position as chief ranger.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you. As my way of showing appreciation for all you’ve done, I’ve turned over the deed of my family home to St. Anne’s, to use as you might see fit. My attorney will contact your people next week.
“It’s very large, and has a big yard. Perhaps it could serve as a kind of halfway house for your older children who work part-time and go to college. Or maybe a place for children who are ill or handicapped. That will be entirely up to you. Except for a few personal mementos, I’m leaving all the furnishings as is. Ashley and I have no need of the home or the money. It will make me happy if I know it is being used for a worthy cause.” Ashley bowed her head, so touched by his generosity, so moved, she couldn’t talk. Sister Bernice seemed to be having the same problem.
“I’m also setting up a fund to provide for its maintenance. St. Anne’s will always have a special place in my heart. After all, it was Ashley’s home.”
The nun’s eyes misted over. “Do you know that just the other day, we were informed that because the building doesn’t meet the earthquake code, we have to find another place to tem
porarily house everyone. I have no idea if they’ll raze the building and start over, or try to remodel it. You can’t imagine what your gift would mean, especially coming right now.”
Cord smiled. “I’m glad then.”
Ashley couldn’t wait any longer. She got out of the chair and threw her arms around Cord’s neck, hugging him so hard she almost knocked him off the chair.
The nun stood up, still holding Cabe. “On behalf of St. Anne’s, I’ll accept your gift. On one condition.” Curious, Ashley’s head swerved toward Sister Bernice.
“That you let me keep this little fellow for a couple of nights. I want to really get to know him, but I can’t do that when parents as doting as you are around. Of course, it has occurred to me that the two of you could use some much needed private time together.”
Cord’s dark blue eyes darted Ashley a private message of desire that made her heart leap right out of her chest. Not only had they both been exhausted because the baby kept them up during the night. But they’d been following doctors orders which prohibited intimacy until her six weeks’ checkup.
But for a fussy baby, the last few nights those orders would have been impossible to follow.
If they left Cabe with Sister Bernice now, Ashley knew exactly what would happen. So did Cord. In fact, his elation was so palpable, Sister Bernice secretly winked at Ashley who blushed a deep rose.
“We accept your condition,” Cord spoke with unabashed eagerness. “If you need anyth—”
“I won’t,” the nun assured him with a satisfied smile. “We have everything your little boy could want right here, don’t we? Say goodbye to your mommy and daddy, Cabe. Tell them to have a good time and not worry about you.”
Though Sister Bernice was the only person in the world besides Cord Ashley trusted with her baby, it was a wrench to leave him.
That is until they left the office and Ashley looked up at her husband. The love streaming from his eyes reminded her that it was time to dote on him for a change. This remarkable man who had never given up on her or their marriage.
Suddenly Ashley realized the moment had come to concentrate on this man, to renew her vows to love and adore him. Cabe had had a surfeit of attention. Now it was Cord’s turn.
EPILOGUE
“Umm… I smell prime rib roast and potatoes au gratin cooking. What’s the occasion, my love?”
Cord was home?
He’d come in much sooner than she’d expected. Because of the children, she still hadn’t had a chance to bring out the candles with their best china and crystal yet.
Their three-year-old son, Cabe, and their adopted two-year-old, Ross, seated in their high chairs, cried out in delight as their daddy entered the kitchen.
He gave each of them a loving greeting, then made a beeline for her standing at the kitchen sink of the ranger’s cabin and kissed the side of her neck.
She squealed. “Brr… It must be freezing out and it’s only mid-September!”
“You know winter always comes early to the Park. We’re going to get our first major snowfall tonight, so I headed back early. What do you say we put the children to bed as soon as possible and have a long night under the covers all to ourselves.”
My thoughts exactly.
Out of breath with excitement, Ashley put down the hand mixer she’d been using to whip the cream for their fruit salad and turned in his arms, eager to feel his mouth on hers. She could never get enough of her husband.
After a day’s deprivation, their mouths and bodies fused in mutual need, but their noisy little boys insisted on some attention, too. She felt Cord’s chuckle before he reluctantly let her go and said he’d feed them while she finished dinner.
“No, no—” she blurted. “I’ve given them their food and they’ll be ready for bed by the time I have everything done for our dinner. Tonight I want you to enjoy a hot bath and relax. I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.”
His keen gaze played over her features. “Why do I get the feeling something’s going on?”
She averted her eyes. “Can’t a wife do something special for her husband once in a while?”
Cord reached out to her once more, enfolding her in his arms. “You do special things to me and for me every day and night of the week. I’m the luckiest husband in the world. But tonight I sense something different about you.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to wait.”
“You know I hate waiting for anything,” he confessed without an ounce of shame before devouring her mouth.
“Did we win the lottery?” he prodded.
“We don’t need to win the lottery.” She chuckled, trying to get away from him. The children were becoming more raucous but Cord didn’t seem to notice.
“Have your birth parents been trying to find you?”
“No, darling, nothing like that, and you know that’s never mattered to me…”
“Did the adoption people ring? Are we getting the other baby we’ve been waiting for? Is that what this is all about?”
By now he was smothering her with kisses. “Not exactly.”
Suddenly all his playfulness vanished. He stared down at her, his eyes intent, watchful.
She could never keep anything from him. Her breath caught in her throat as she whispered, “You think you can handle another miracle which should be arriving about eight months from now?”
Like a charge of energy, the green in those hazel depths ignited. His hands tightened in her hair. “I’ve already been given three miracles. The day you came back to me pregnant, and the day we adopted Ross. Is it possible a man could be so blessed as to have any more?”
She smiled. “This new baby I’m carrying is living proof.”
He looked like a man with a marvelous secret before he turned to the boys. “Hey, guys? Did you hear that?” Now that their father had spoken, they suddenly stopped making noises and stared at him.
“By spring things are definitely going to change around here. You’re going to be joined by a new member of the family, Mary-Ashley.”
“I hope it’s a girl, too,” Ashley murmured behind him. “But I’m afraid the gender of our babies will always be your department, darling.”
As Cord turned back to her, the joy radiating from his countenance was a sight she would never forget.
“Let’s get the little guys to bed, then climb into our own while we discuss boys’ names, just in case. When we’ve decided on the right one, we’ll celebrate with a midnight feast. How does that sound?”
Her heart was racing. “You grab Ross while I grab Cabe. I bet I’m in bed before you are!” she laughingly called out her challenge.
“Want to make a bet?”
She plucked Cabe from his seat and gave him a huge kiss on the neck. “Win or lose, I always win because I’m married to your daddy.”
“Did you hear that, Ross?” Cord picked up their blond two-year-old and held him high in the air. “I think your mother said she loves me. She loves me. She loves me,” he chanted as the four of them left the kitchen.
I love you, Cord McKnight. Never make any mistake about that. I love you.
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