Page 9 of The Cowboy's Miracle Baby

*

On the drivehome, that moment remained seared in his thoughts. There was something about her, about Cami Hardesty, that… intrigued him. No, intrigued was the wrong word.Captivatedwas more accurate. Against his will, he found himself attracted to her. Not that he should find that so surprising. He imagined he wasn’t alone in that. Aside from being beautiful, it was her strength, the unflappable way she had about her that had drawn him. He tried to imagine any other woman he knew in that situation who might have done what she was about to do and he came up with only one name. Lissa.

His wife. Hislatewife—Lissa Redmond-Claymore—would have done exactly what Cami did. He knew that down to his bones. And even if the whole thing was futile. Even if—when—that child wound up tangled in the system, Lissa wouldn’t have regretted doing what she did for an instant. She was an optimist in all things, including her own mortality. Especially where Ella was concerned. And even him.

Sometimes, he believed her optimism about him was misplaced. Since she’d passed—it had been almost four years now—he’d lost sight of such things. If it weren’t for Ella needing him, he would have been lost. Ella, too, had her mother’s optimism. Maybe it was a gene he’d missed out on. He couldn’t say. But Ella had kept him in the game.

And if Cami could do that for this little child, then who was he to argue?

In the back seat of his truck, Ella was chattering away about the Hardesty dogs, and how they’d been found alone in the mountains as Gus pondered how life seemed to turn on a dime. One turn this way or that and he wouldn’t have been there tonight to pick Ella up, never would have been there to find that child or to help Cami with it. Had that cow taken her sweet time delivering that baby, he’d still be out at Bing Driscoll’s and Ella would probably be home in bed, unaware of the cruelties of this world. Then the conversation took a turn toward something closer to home.

“I’m glad my mommy didn’t leave me in a church. Even though she went to heaven,” she repeated, a story they’d gone over time and again since she’d been old enough to realize she had no mother. “She didn’t want to go.”

“That’s right, darlin’. She didn’t want to go. She loved you so much.”

“But that baby’s mommy didn’t love her that much?”

“I’m sure she did,” he said. “It’s just… complicated. I don’t know her whole story or why she did what she did. She must have been very scared for her baby. I just know that little one was very lucky you found her.”

Ella stared out the window at the dark landscape speeding past. “Daddy?”

“Mmm-hmm?”

“You wouldn’t ever leave me like that, right?”

Her question hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest. It was a question he’d always dreaded, because it meant she was old enough to be missing the piece of them that was no longer here. “No. Of course not, honey. You know I never,everwould. You’re my girl.”

“Even if you have to work so hard and it’s… complicated?”

He looked at her in his rearview mirror and, even in the dark, could see her eyes glistening. “Even then. I promise you. I will never, ever leave you. It’s you and me, El. You don’t have to worry about that. Ever.”

But she’d already lost a mother whom she had no memory of, and life was full of uncertainty. Eloise was a smart little cookie, and he could almost hear all those thoughts spinning through her mind right now taking her down unknown roads. It broke his heart a little for her. It always had. She was too young to deal with such things. But that was her life.

“Hey,” he said. “What do you say we go into Marietta tomorrow to look for a Christmas present for Miss Rebecca? And maybe for Luke, too. And if we do that quickly, we can stop at the Copper Mountain chocolate shop for some hot chocolate?”

She perked up. “With marshmallows? And caramel sauce? And whipped cream?”

“The whole works.”

“Okay, Daddy.” She rested her forehead tiredly against the window jamb. “Are we almost home yet?”

“In just a minute, baby. In just a minute. It’s been a long day. You just close your eyes.”

But she already had.

Gus tightened his fingers around the steering wheel, watching the snow fall against his wipers. Maybe hot chocolate wasn’t the answer to all the world’s problems, or even his, but damned if it wasn’t a good start.

*

By morning, asthe sun peeked over the horizon, Cami was the one questioning her sanity in taking in this child. She’d been up half the night with Lolly between feedings and diaper changes and fussing that she assumed was normal for a baby this young. But where natural parents braced themselves for this kind of night chaos for months, she found herself unprepared.

She was exhausted, teary-eyed, and scared. But holding Lolly against her shoulder in the middle of the night, calming her, promising her everything would be all right and feeling her relax against her was perhaps the most delicious feeling she’d ever had. To feel her burrow against her neck, her warm skin against Cami’s own, the baby smell of her… triggered something unexpected in her.

Don’t get too attached, Eloise’s father had warned.

Right. She knew better. But that knowledge did nothing to change those feelings that rose up in her like quicksilver. Some called it baby fever. Many of her fellow teachers had talked about it over the years—that urge to beat the clock and have a child before it was too late. Somehow, she’d missed that feeling. Perhaps it was because they were coupled off and she wasn’t. She hadn’t had a serious boyfriend for a couple of years and even then, Patrick had assured her that he had no intention of having children.

Ironically, that wasn’t even what had broken them up. She’d convinced herself that teaching dozens—maybe hundreds—of children over the years would suffice for her.

---