Page 23 of The Cowboy's Miracle Baby

She tossed him an I-may-be-only-six-but-seriously look.

“Kiddo,” he said, getting to his feet and tucking her in. He took the book and carefully closed it. “How can I be lonely? I’ve got you and Luke and my work. And that’s plenty for me. I think it’s time for sleep. You’ve got Sunday school in the morning.”

“I think Ms. Hardesty is nice,” Ella said with a sigh, snuggling down in the covers. “Don’t you?”

Cami’s face flickered through his thoughts as it had often in the last twenty-four hours, causing his gut to tighten. “Sure. Yes. She’s… very nice.”

“I think so, too.” She yawned broadly. “I don’t think Mommy would mind too much if you loved her. And then maybe Lolly could be my very own sister.”

Gus flicked off her light.This child… “G’ night, Ella.”

He could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “G’ night, Daddy.”

Downstairs, Luke sat on the overstuffed chair in the living room, picking out a soft song on his guitar. With his head bent over the instrument, he stopped intermittently to scribble something in the notebook beside him, then repeated the chords.

Gus had heard this particular song for the better part of a week now and he had to admit, he liked it. There were no lyrics yet, but the melody was good. Not that he knew the first thing about music.

“She all set?” Luke asked him, gesturing with a look at the second floor and Ella.

“She wanted to talk about Lissa tonight,” he said, walking to the fridge and opening a beer.

Luke nodded, plucking a few more chords. “You know, she likes it here. I think she’s feeling a little anxious about leaving again. Leaving this place, I mean.”

He tossed a beer to his brother as well.

Luke caught it and cracked it open. “Frankly,” he said, “I can’t say I blame her.”

Taking a long gulp of beer, Gus knew that some kind of ending was coming between them. It had been coming for a long time. But leaving Luke behind in Marietta was the last thing he’d expected when he’d taken this job.

He sat down opposite Luke, silent for a long minute. “What are you saying, exactly?”

“I’m not saying anything… exactly. Just that this is a good place to put down roots. For you and for me and Ella.”

“Dr. Anders is planning to be back at work sometime after the first of the year. My job here will be done. There isn’t room for two large animal vets here. And, I haven’t mentioned it, but I’ve already got a line on a new job in Denver.”

“Denver?”

“Clarissa contacted me a couple of days ago. There’s apparently an extended pregnancy leave for one of the vets in a highly regarded practice there. Large animal practice.”

Clarissa Modar was his agent of sorts, a headhunter for traveling docs and vets. She’d kept him gainfully employed for the past couple of years.

“Gus,” Luke said, setting his guitar aside. “That little Jyn-gerbread up there isn’t getting any younger. She’s wanting friends, ballet lessons, a home—”

“I know,” he said, cutting Luke off. “I know that. Maybe… Denver.”

“It won’t be Denver. Or Albuquerque or Tucson either. Lissa’s not at the end of this road, Gus. Not for a long, long time anyway. And Ella… you know she’ll go anywhere with you. Until she’s eighteen, she will yank up her roots every six months or so and follow you. But every time you move, she starts over. From scratch. That’s hard on a kid. You and I both know that.”

“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know. Unless you’re saying you want to stay here. Without us.”

Luke bent over the guitar again. “Sooner or later. You know I don’t want to, but where’s the end point? When do you stop? I’ve been happy to help you and Ella. To be your support. I’ve needed you as much as you need me. I admit it. Finding you after all those years apart was the best thing that… well, you know.”

He did. And the feeling was mutual. Luke was eight years younger than him, and they’d been separated as young boys when their parents had died in a plane crash returning from a business trip. Gus had been taken in by his mother’s aunt, who didn’t feel equipped to care for a boy as young as Luke. He had disappeared into the foster care system, only to be shuffled around for most of his life between homes. When Gus turned eighteen, he’d begun searching for Luke. A couple of years later, after he’d met and married Lissa, his long search for Luke ended and they were finally reunited. They’d taken Luke in when he was still a teenager and given him a home. And Luke had been there when Lissa died.

There was no other family for either of them. He and Ella had become Luke’s family and Luke, theirs. But Gus knew his brother needed to make his own life. And that depending on him to be Ella’s other caregiver wasn’t fair to him. Especially with their itinerant lifestyle. He knew Luke was right about Ella and Luke was right about him, too. Running from all those things he’d left behind was doing none of them any good. He would talk to Clarissa about the possibility of a more permanent position in Denver when he finished with the next job. Maybe they could find a place to stay put.

He thought of Cami then, and of Ella’s words earlier.I don’t think Mommy would mind too much if you loved her.

If he loved her?He’d only just met her. On the other hand, Ella had been talking about Ms. Hardesty since the school year began, even though she wasn’t her teacher. How Cami would sometimes sit with her or others at lunch when they were alone. And how she’d stop boys like Harrison Deitmore from being mean to her or others when she was nearby.

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