by Marta Perry
Link looked at Anne and the baby, not speaking. Then he let out a long breath. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Mitch’s eyes stung with unshed tears. He nodded. “Follow us back to the office. We can take care of it there.”
A few minutes later Link stood by the desk in Mitch’s office. His hands clenched into two tight fists. “I’m ready.”
Anne looked shell-shocked, as if she couldn’t handle much more. “Are you sure?”
Link took a step forward and touched Emilie’s soft curls. An emotion—sadness?—crossed his face. Then he nodded.
“I’m sure. She belongs with the mother who loves her.” His voice roughened. “I guess Tina knew that. I won’t interfere.”
Mitch tried to swallow the lump in his throat. This had been a long time coming, but he finally was getting to see his little brother step up and do the right thing, instead of running away. Maybe there was hope for Link...hope for both of them.
Anne juggled the baby as she fumbled with the catch to her bag.
“Let me take her.” Mitch reached out, and Emilie came eagerly into his arms.
For a moment he thought Anne would snatch the baby back, but then she nodded.
Give me a chance, Anne. Give us a chance. He wanted to say it, but he couldn’t.
Anne unfolded the paper slowly, then held it out to Link.
He took it to Mitch’s desk, leaned over to read it. A muscle worked in his jaw, the only outward sign of his feelings. He reached for a pen and scrawled his signature in a quick slash across the bottom of the page.
Anne’s breath escaped in an audible sigh. She had to be thinking that it was over, that Emilie was safe at last.
Link handed the paper to her, and she folded it quickly.
“That’s that, then.” Link tried to smile, but it didn’t quite work. “You don’t need to worry I’ll cause problems. I won’t.”
Mitch’s heart hurt for Link. His little brother had finally started to grow up, but it was a painful process.
“What are you going to do?”
Link shrugged. “Think I’ll take on that job in Alaska I told you about.” He aimed a light punch at Mitch’s arm. “Who knows? Next time I come back, I might have turned into a responsible citizen. Like my big brother.”
“Stranger things have happened.”
Link glanced from him to Anne. “Looks to me like you could stand to talk things out.”
Mitch, cradling Emilie in his arms, nodded. If Anne will talk to me, that is.
Link crossed to the door, then looked at them. “You know, I’m not cut out to be a father.” He paused. “But I think I could be a darn good uncle, if the position opens up.”
He closed the door before either of them could respond.
* * *
Anne looked at her baby...hers now, for good. The three of them were alone here, just as they’d been that first day when she came to break the news to Mitch. Emilie was perfectly happy in Mitch’s arms.
“We do need to talk.” Mitch’s voice was a low rumble.
She nodded. “I guess that’s why I came back. I couldn’t...”
How could she say it? The words didn’t seem to exist to explain the tangled emotions she felt at the sight of him.
Mitch looked at Emilie’s face, as if trying to discern some resemblance to his brother. “I really didn’t think it could be Link. I was so sure he wasn’t in town when Tina was here. Sure that was one thing I couldn’t blame on him.”
“I know.” She hesitated, feeling her way. They had to get this out between them. “But I don’t know why you didn’t tell me when you found out.”
Because you couldn’t trust me? Just like I couldn’t trust you?
He shook his head. “How can I make you understand? The truth just hit me like a sledgehammer. All I could think was that it proved the Donovans were just as bad as everyone always said.”
She saw the anguish in his face as he said the words, and it reached out and gripped her heart, too.
“I wouldn’t have thought that. I don’t think it now. Link was wrong, but at least he’s starting to face up to it.”
“Maybe he’d have faced it sooner if I hadn’t blown up at him.” He touched Emilie’s hand, and she latched onto his finger. “Anne, you have to know I never intended to hurt you and Emilie. I just wanted a chance to find Link and clear things up with him before I told you. That’s all. I would have told you today.” He looked at her, dark eyes intense. “I wish you could believe that.”
Her heart started to pound. He wanted to know she trusted him. Was that so much to ask?
“You...you and Link have made a start at working things out.” That wasn’t what she wanted to say. Why was it so hard to tell him what she felt?
He nodded. “The truth is, I let my feelings about my father color everything else in my life. My relationship with my brother, my career, even my relationship with you. I finally saw I had to forgive him, if I wanted any kind of a future.” He looked at her, his dark eyes steady. “What about you, Anne? Are you ready to put the past to rest so we can move on?”
That was the question she’d started to face out on that road. She’d let her relationship with her parents govern her relationship with God, just as Mitch had. She hadn’t even recognized she was doing it. It was time for both of them to stop.
She looked at Mitch holding her child, and her heart swelled. “I’d like to try.”
The love in his eyes took her breath away. “We’ve got a few hurdles to get over. But God’s not finished with us yet.” He took a step toward her. “I love you, Anne. I want to try and make this work. Will you stay? Will you marry me?”
If she didn’t take this chance, she knew she’d miss the best God had to offer her. She moved forward, letting Mitch’s arms enfold both of them. “We’ll stay.”
Epilogue
“Da, da, da, da!” Emilie stood in the stroller and banged on the tray.
“All right, Sweetheart.” Anne maneuvered the stroller through the summertime crowds on the sidewalk. “We’ll go to the station and see Mitch.”
The baby plopped back into her seat, apparently satisfied. Emilie hadn’t mastered the sound of “Mitch” yet, but that didn’t matter. After their wedding this fall, he really would be her daddy.
Anne dodged a tourist with a camera and pushed through the station door. Wanda gave her a welcoming smile.
“Chief!” she shouted. “Anne’s here.”
Davey dropped the broom he’d been wielding and rushed to Emilie. “Can I take her out of the stroller, please? I want to show Wanda how she can walk.”
“Of course.” Anne smiled. Emilie held her arms out to the person she considered a big brother, and he lifted her carefully from the stroller.
In the months Davey had been living with Mitch, he’d blossomed. That wary, sullen look was completely gone from his eyes. Neither his father nor any other relative had been located, but Davey’s permanent placement with Mitch gave him the security he’d never had before. Perhaps, one day, she and Mitch would be able to adopt him legally, but that wouldn’t make him any more their son than he already was.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. She still had to remind herself of that each day. God would work out what was right for Davey, in His own time.
The office door opened, and Mitch came toward her quickly. “Anne.” Love shone in his eyes as he kissed her. The mask he’d once worn was gone now entirely, and his face no longer hid his emotions. His feelings were written plainly for her to read.
His arm still around her, Mitch reached for Davey and Emilie. The baby toddled toward them, clutching Davey’s hand, beaming.
Mitch swept Emilie up in his arms, and Anne put her hand on Davey’s shoulder, drawing him close.
Family. They were a family. She looked up at Mitch, her heart overflowing wi
th love. She hadn’t really known the meaning of the word before. Now, each day, she and Mitch discovered how deep, how blessed their love could be.
She’d come to Bedford Creek to find Emilie’s father. God had seen to it that she found so much more.
* * *
The Marine’s Baby
Deb Kastner
A Publishers Weekly bestselling and award-winning author of over forty novels, with almost two million books in print, Deb Kastner enjoys writing contemporary inspirational Western stories set in small communities. Deb lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband, miscreant mutts and curious kitties. She is blessed with three adult daughters and two grandchildren. Her favorite hobby is spoiling her grandchildren, but she also enjoys reading, watching movies, listening to music (The Texas Tenors are her favorite), singing in the church choir and exploring the Rocky Mountains on horseback.
Books by Deb Kastner
Love Inspired
Rocky Mountain Family
The Black Sheep’s Salvation
Opening Her Heart
Cowboy Country
Yuletide Baby
The Cowboy’s Forever Family
The Cowboy’s Surprise Baby
The Cowboy’s Twins
Mistletoe Daddy
The Cowboy’s Baby Blessing
And Cowboy Makes Three
A Christmas Baby for the Cowboy
Her Forgotten Cowboy
Visit the Author Profile page at
Harlequin.com for more titles.
To Katie. You have the kindest heart ever, and I have so much to learn from you. I’m so proud of the young woman my “baby” girl has become. I love you more every day.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
—Ephesians 2:8–9
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 1
The baby, sleeping soundly with her tiny thumb pressed in her mouth and her index finger crooked over her button nose, was cooperating beautifully.
The car seat, not so much.
Sergeant First Class Nathan Morningway scowled at the offensive piece of equipment and grunted as he tried the release lever again. At least he thought it was the release lever. The directions enclosed in the box had been less than helpful, and he’d chosen to wing it instead. He now wished he’d at least kept the useless instructions instead of wadding them up and tossing them in the nearest garbage can.
How hard could this be?
As a marine, he’d taken apart and reassembled countless firearms. He’d defused hundreds of bombs and improvised explosive devices over the years. And he couldn’t handle a simple baby seat?
Nate tried the lever once more, and then decided it wasn’t worth the effort. He’d just have to figure out how to use the uncooperative piece of equipment after he’d spoken to his brother.
Instead, he unhooked the straps, intending to take baby Gracie out of the car seat and carry her in his arms. The only problem was—and Nate hadn’t noticed this until he’d already unbuckled the harness—Gracie’s arm was wrapped like a noose around one of the straps, anchored by the thumb she was sucking.
Oh, boy. He really hated to do this, but he didn’t see any other way around it. Holding his breath, he gently pulled on Gracie’s little fist. She made a small murmur of protest and sucked even harder.
Nate tried again, more firmly this time. Gracie’s thumb left her mouth with a pop. The baby’s enormous brown eyes opened and blinked back at him. Her chin started quivering, her face scrunched up adorably and a moment later she was howling at the top of her lungs.
Nate grimaced. He still couldn’t believe something that small could make so much noise. He’d never been around babies before in his entire life.
And now...
Now.
His throat tightened and burned as he fought to suppress the memories. He had to concentrate on other issues right now, the most pressing of which was letting his brother, Vince, know he was back at the lodge. That was enough to worry about all by itself.
“All right, little one,” Nate soothed, pulling the pink-clad infant awkwardly to his chest. “I’m here for you. Don’t cry, sweetheart.”
Nate was surprised when the baby instantly calmed to his voice, curling into his chest and gurgling contentedly. He got a whiff of her soft downy hair and the unique smell of baby shampoo, and his heart flipped right over. Little Gracie had him wrapped around her tiny pinky finger, and there was no denying it.
Gracie wasn’t just his responsibility—she was the love of his life. From the moment he’d signed the legal documents that made him not only her godfather, but her legal guardian, Nate had fallen hard for the little one, hook, line and sinker.
Too bad he didn’t know the first thing about raising an infant. That would be problematic, but Nate had more immediate concerns—showing up at Morningway Lodge unannounced.
His parents’—his father’s—dream, and now his brother’s ministry, the lodge was an affordable retreat center for families of those recuperating from spinal injuries at the nearby Rocky Mountain Rehabilitation Hospital. The lodge was his family’s business, and Nate’s worst nightmare.
Or rather, his brother Vince was Nate’s worst nightmare. He had been in the past, and in all probability, he would be again now.
There was only one way to find out, and Nate had never been a procrastinator.
Kissing his baby girl on her soft cheek, he tucked his palm beneath her head and marched up the stairs onto the pinewood porch of the main lodge. He inhaled deeply of the fragrant wood as he let himself in the front door and moved up to the courtesy desk. It was the scent of home and his childhood.
It felt odd to be back home.
Since no one was manning the desk, Nate shifted Gracie securely into one arm and rang for service. He waited a moment, and then, when no one appeared, he bounced his palm several times on the bell.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” A young woman whirled into the office behind the desk, brushing her shoulder-length wavy blond hair from her forehead with the tips of her fingers. “Oh, what a darling little baby girl!”
When the woman met his gaze, Nate’s breath stopped short in his throat. She had the most luminous chocolate-brown eyes he’d ever seen, and they were openly friendly.
More than that. Brimming with joy. He thought the look in her eyes exactly matched her spacious, heart-stealing smile.
How could anyone be truly happy working as a clerk at Morningway Lodge? Despite the fact that he was glad to be coming back home at last, Nate couldn’t think of anything he’d rather not do other than work here. Tucked inside the foothills of the great Rocky Mountains, this place was officially the middle of nowhere.
Nate had always been a social person and loved being part of a crowd. It had been that way since he was a small boy.
He couldn’t imagine spending his whole life working in such an isolated area. Coming home to the lodge now was a temporary solution to his immediate problem, until he could work out something more permanent—and more agreeable to his outgoing nature. If it weren’t for his father’s possibly life-threatening stroke, Nate wouldn’t be here at the lodge at all.
Anywhere was better than this.
He glanced down at the baby, who was wiggling in his arms an
d babbling sweet, nonsense syllables that reminded Nate of the call of a dove. Gracie leaned her whole tiny frame toward the woman behind the desk, her arms outstretched to the lady. To Nate’s surprise, the baby was smiling—the first time he could remember seeing Gracie smile since her parents had passed.
He swallowed past the lump in his throat. Gracie certainly never smiled at him that way.
Nate wrapped his other arm around the baby and pulled her close to his shoulder, feeling oddly possessive of the still-wiggling infant, who protested audibly at his restrictive action.
The clerk had, perhaps instinctively, reached toward the baby, but when Nate adjusted Gracie onto his shoulder, the woman dropped her arms, choosing instead to reach for a large date book on the counter and flip through the pages to the appropriate date.
“What name is your reservation under?” she queried in a soft, sweet voice that matched her looks exactly.
“I—er—don’t have a reservation,” Nate stammered, thrown off by her question.
The woman’s smile wavered. “Oh, I’m sorry, sir. We don’t take walk-ins. Do you have someone staying at the physical rehab center? I can put your name on our waiting list. I know it’s around here somewhere.” She fumbled around the desk, riffling through piles of papers in search of the elusive file. “I’m sorry if I appear disorganized. I don’t usually run the desk.”
“That’s okay, ma’am. I’m just here to see Vince,” Nate informed her. “Could you get him for me?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” she apologized again. “Mr. Morningway asked not to be disturbed. Would you like to leave him a message?”
Mr. Morningway?
Nate frowned and shook his head to dislodge the uncomfortable image which had formed there, the caricature melding of his pop’s and brother’s faces. His brother was getting formal in his old age, two years older than Nate’s own twenty-eight years.
