Page 14 of Second Chance With a Cowboy

As they started the slow and arduous task of getting Lorna up the stairs, Leni was thankful that Chevy, or the magical housecleaning fairies, had cleaned the blood off the wall and removed the stained rug from in front of the stairs. She made another mental note to order a new one from Amazon.

They stopped to check on Max as they passed his room, both leaning in and sighing together as they saw him tucked into bed and heard his soft snores filling the room.

They passed Leni’s room next, which doubled as the nursery, and they could see Chevy asleep in the chair by the window, still holding Izzy on his chest. His cowboy hat was on the dresser and his boots were next to the chair.

“I’d like to let them sleep,” Lorna said in a hushed voice. “But I’m sure Izzy is going to need to eat soon, and I’d rather feed her before I fall asleep.”

“Good idea. Let’s get you into bed then I’ll bring her to you,” Leni whispered back.

“I can help,” Chevy said quietly, his eyes fluttering open. He eased up from the chair, the baby still cradled against his shoulder. “You should have woken me. I would have carried you up the stairs.”

“Be still my beating heart,” Lorna whispered to Leni. “If I weren’t in so much pain, I might have just swooned.”

“Oh, stop it,” Leni whispered back as she started to nudge her sister in the ribs, then stopped herself.

The hallway was suddenly very crowded as the tall, broad cowboy stepped into it with them.

“I can pass Izzy to you,” he told Leni. “But I don’t want to wake her up.”

“It’s okay,” Lorna told him. “I need to feed her anyway.”

Leni took the baby from him, much calmer than she’d been earlier in the evening, but Izzy still stirred, her tiny mouth already making sucking motions as she rooted and fussed against Leni’s shoulder.

Chevy took the crutches from Lorna, leaned them against the wall, then bent down and carefully scooped her into his arms. Watchful not to whack her head or her injured foot into the wall, he carried her into her room at the end of the hall and gently set her on the bed. “You need anything?”

“There’s an ice pack in the freezer and a bag from the hospital on the sofa downstairs,” Leni told him. “It’s got some acetaminophen in it. Could you grab those and maybe a glass of water? There’s a pink Stanley cup on the counter. Or there was.”

“I saw it. It’s in the dish strainer,” Chevy said.

“Thanks for cleaning everything up,” Lorna told him, wincing as she tried to lean back against the pillow.

“Yeah, thanks.” Leni shifted the pillow in an effort to make her sister more comfortable. “I can’t believe you did all that.”

He shrugged off their thanks. “The kids were asleep, and I wanted to do something to help. I live in a house with all men, so believe me, a sink full of dishes and a few baskets of laundry was nothing.”

Leni put a hand on his arm and looked up at him, trying to ignore the heat she felt just from touching his skin. “No. It waseverything. You really came through for me…for us…tonight.”

“I would do anything for you.” He held her gaze for a moment, as if trying to communicate his sincerity through this one look. And the weird thing was that she felt it. She’d grown up with this man, known him since she was twelve years old, and been in love with him since she was fourteen. A few daysago, he’d asked her if she was going to be staying in town long enough for him to try to get her to forgive him, and the idea of that seemed crazy.

How could she ever forgive him for the way he’d hurt her?

But maybe her sister was right.

Maybe hehadchanged.

Izzy took that moment to let out a frustrated cry, breaking their gaze as Leni passed the baby to her sister.

“Leni texted me a few hours ago with instructions on how to give her a bottle,” Chevy said. “But I only gave her a couple of ounces of milk—just enough to stave her off—because I figured you’d need to nurse her when you got home.”

“Thanks for that,” Lorna told him.

“I’ll go get that water and the medicine,” Chevy said, ducking out of the room as Lorna settled the baby in next to her.

Leni heard his footsteps on the stairs as she turned back to her sister. “What else can I do for you? Do you want another pillow?”

Lorna winced as Izzy latched on, then her shoulders relaxed. “I’m good now. But Chevy really came through tonight, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he did. Although I still have no idea where he even came from. It was crazy. You were bleeding, the ambulance was there, Izzy was crying. Everything was happening at once, then he was justthere.”

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