Page 64 of The Cowboy's Miracle Baby

“Tipper’s leg is healing so well after the surgery,” Mrs. Knowles was saying. “Why, we were afraid he would never walk on it again. Dog has no common sense but to keep trying to make friends with the mama cows who don’t want anything to do with him once they calve.”

“That’s good news,” he said. “Once he starts to bear some weight on that leg again, he’ll probably come around fully. Just encourage him.”

“Thank you, Dr. Claymore! Oh, have you met my husband, Don?” she asked as an older gentleman with a generous belly and a white beard walked up beside her.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Knowles.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “And yes, Don plays Santa every year at the Graff Hotel. He’s a favorite with all the children.”

Gus tilted a look at him. “Ah. You must know Nick then. Works at the bus station and does Santa at the Graff, too.”

The pair exchanged confused looks. “Nick? No. I’m the only Santa at the Graff. Have been for the last few years. I have a contract. As for the bus station,” Don said, “there’s no Nick there that I know. And I’ve known those folks down there for years. It’s Jube Cameron and a skeleton staff down there. And if I don’t miss the mark, that place isn’t long for Marietta.”

Gus frowned. No Nick at the Graff or the bus station? He had to have that wrong. “But, my daughter, she talked to Nick at the Graff in the Santa line. And I spoke to him at the bus station.”

“Since we just met,” Don said, “I wouldn’t call you wrong. But you might be mistaken, is all. I’m it at the Graff, for the last few years at least. Anyway, tell your little one I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon if she wants to put in any last-minute wishes on her Christmas list.Ho-ho-ho!” His belly gave a reciprocating little jiggle.

Gus laughed thinly. “I sure will.”

He was still trying to puzzle out the Nick dilemma as he and Luke and Ella were seated at the same table beside a handful of others he sort of knew. The Canadays, Jaycee and Reed, were sitting across from them and a private investigator who worked for them, the imposing Trey Reyes and his pretty wife, Holly. Olivia Canaday and her husband, Jake, also clients of his, were at the next table over chatting with Jaycee between the chairs.

As the dinner service got started, Luke was the star of the table and got lots of props from the Reyeses and the Canadays over his singing. Gus sat back and enjoyed watching his younger brother shine. Even though he’d pushed him to find work outside of the arts for stability sake, Luke had pushed back and worked his tail off to land where he had. Gus had to hand it to him for that. He was good. Really good. And Gus was proud of him.

Ella talked nonstop at dinner about the wedding—the dresses, the flowers and finally, about the bride and groom.

“It is ironic, isn’t it, though?” she asked him around a mouthful of chicken.

He looked at her sideways. “Ironic?”This kid and her vocabulary…

“Well, Izzy almost had that awful wedding to that other guy in Texas before finding true love with Will, right? Just like Buttercup almost did with Prince Humperdink, but then she escaped with Westly, her true love.”

This kid.“Yeah. I guess you’re right about that. It’s also a little ironic that you know what ironic means. And that you know both of those stories. Who told you about Izzy’s other almost-marriage?” Liam had shared it with him long ago, but as far as he knew, it wasn’t common knowledge.

“Amelia did. And her mother told her.” She shrugged. “I guess everyone knows.”

Small towns. The beauty and the peril of them.

He turned to look at Cami who was seated at the wedding party’s table across the room, with her back to him. She had not, in fact, returned after rescuing the mayor and hadn’t so much as met his eye since then. He didn’t want to read too much into it, this being her brother’s wedding and all, but the bad feeling that had been crawling up his neck since she left him, grew worse. Everything had seemed fine while they danced. So maybe he was imagining things. But he began knee-jerk reviewing their conversations in his mind, to explain it. But he couldn’t put his finger on anything. Maybe she was still having mixed emotions about Lolly’s mom returning.

Or mixed feelings about him.

“Are you enjoying your time in our little town, Doctor Claymore?” Jaycee asked.

“Very much,” he said. “I’ve never really lived in a place like this. I’ve spent most of my life in big cities. I think Ella likes it here, too. Don’t you darlin’?”

She nodded a little shyly.

“Ella, did you know we have horses at our place for riding and a big riding ring?” Reed said. “Anytime you want to go horseback riding, feel free to come over. Our daughter, Olivia, right behind you, gives lessons to a lot of little girls your age.”

Ella sent Gus a look that he could only be described as hopeful and despairing at once. It was the same look she had every time the subject of leaving Marietta came up.

Luke’s look was more likewell, what are you gonna do about that?

“That’s real kind of you, Mrs. Canaday,” Gus said.

“Please. It’s just Jaycee.”

“Thanks. I think Ella would love that. Wouldn’t you darlin’?”

---