Page 63 of Midnight Rider

“Eduardo!” she cried pitifully, her fingers pressing hard against the adobe surface of the house. “He’s not there! Claudia, he’s been killed...!”

“No, no,señora,no!” Claudia exclaimed, rushing to support her mistress’s crumpling form. “He is very well, indeed! Look,señora!”

Bernadette followed the smaller woman’s pointing finger to Eduardo, well behind the others, riding alongside her father asvaquerosfrom both ranches herded cattle off toward the nearby fenced enclosures.

“He’s all right?” Bernadette’s voice sounded hollow to her own ears, and all at once, she went down, despite Claudia’s efforts to support her.

Claudia’s wildly waving arms caught the attention of Eduardo and Colston, who spurred their mounts and rushed to the porch.

Eduardo was out of the saddle at once. He lifted his unconscious wife, while listening to Claudia’s confused explanation of what had happened and carried her into the parlor. He laid her down on the couch, his eyes going with shocked delight to the cast-down crocheting she’d left behind.

“Bernadette!” he called softly, rubbing her hands worriedly.“¡Querida, dígame!”

She heard him as if through a mist. Her green eyes slid open lazily and met his brilliant black ones. She smiled, lifting a hand toward his face, which he grasped and kissed fervently.

“Is she all right? Lass, whatever happened?” Colston Barron exclaimed at his daughter’s side.

“It was just relief at seeing Eduardo alive,” she whispered. “A child needs both a father and a mother,” she added, feeling overwhelming delight.

“A child,” Eduardo said, savoring the word. He bent and kissed his wife’s pale face with something akin to reverence. “All those worries, for nothing. God is good.”

“Oh, yes, He is,” she agreed fervently.

“A child,” Colston was murmuring. He appeared to be very worried.

Bernadette looked past her husband’s exultant face to her father’s worried one. “I spoke to a physician in New York,” she told her father gently. “He said that I had nothing to fear about childbirth, despite the tragedies in our family. He said that I would be fine!”

Colston still looked perturbed. “You’ll take excellent care of yourself, do you hear me? If you need nurses, doctors, I’ll make sure you have them, lass.”

She smiled happily. “Thank you, Father.”

He cleared his throat and looked self-conscious. “Having a grandchild is an important event,” he said. His face began to lighten. “Why, I can teach him all about the railroads, can’t I? And about leprechauns and fairies...”

Bernadette laughed. “And Eduardo can teach him about his Spanish ancestors,” she agreed.

“What a heritage he’ll have,” Eduardo murmured contentedly, gazing at his wife’s waistline with obvious pleasure. “And what a lovely mother.”

“Aye, she’ll be a perfect one,” Colston agreed. “Always around thevaqueros’children at home, she was. She’s a natural-born parent.”

“I can hardly wait,” Bernadette said softly, and meant it.

“Nor can I,” Eduardo seconded. But there was faint worry in his face that he was careful to conceal from her.

* * *

THERANCHWENTFROMimprovement to improvement over the months that followed. Despite Eduardo’s protests, Bernadette continued taking care of the books and accounts, and prosperity followed. There were no more raids on the livestock. The contracted beef cattle were sold, along with a new crop of purebred calves. To Bernadette’s amazement, a whole consignment was loaded onto a ship at the coast, bound for Australia.

“I can’t believe the sales we’re making,” she told Eduardo.

“Nor can I.” He glanced down at the mound of their child and touched it gently. “How much longer do you think, Bernadette?”

“The doctor says anytime now,” she replied.

The muscles in his jaw pulsed.

She pressed as close to him as her huge belly would allow and laid her head against his chest. “Please don’t worry. I promise not to die.”

He laughed, but it had a hollow sound. He stroked her pale hair gently while his eyes stared blindly into space. She was his life. If he lost her now, neither the ranch nor any other thing on earth would be enough to keep him alive.

---