Page 24 of River Legacy
“Where is Cooper?” Charlotte asked.
“I insisted he leave to take care of a bull that was coming in today on the train,” Tilly answered, gasping the words out. “I had contractions, but I’ve had so many false alarms I thought I was never going to have this baby.”
“Well, you are now, so let’s get you out to my SUV and to the hospital.”
A few minutes later, Charlotte had loaded her daughter and her suitcase into the SUV. Sliding behind the wheel, she started the engine as she called Cooper to meet them at the hospital. The hospital was ten miles away in Powder Crossing. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you there.”
“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here,” Tilly said as she tried to compose herself.
“You would have been fine,” she assured her. “You’re the strongest and most capable woman I know.”
Her daughter cried harder at that assertion. “I used to be. But...” she waved a hand over her stomach “. . . now I’m not so sure.”
“Don’t worry, you’re going to make a great mother.”
Sixty minutes later, Charlotte held the precious infant in her arms. Her granddaughter had been eager to get out into the world—once she got around to it. “Oh, Tilly, she is beautiful.”
Eyes bright, her daughter nodded from the bed. “Thank you.”
“I’m just glad I was here,” Charlotte said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. Did you enjoy any part of the pregnancy?”
“Buying cute baby girl clothes in secret since we didn’t tell anyone the sex. But the morning sickness and the rest...” She shook her head, looking exhausted.
“Well, you did great,” she said as Cooper came rushing in, going first to his wife, then turning to her.Thank you, he mouthed, and Charlotte held out the baby to him. “Your daughter. Congratulations.”
If he seemed surprised to see her, he hid it well as he took his daughter in his arms and moved over to the bed with Tilly.
Charlotte slipped out to call Holden to let him know he was a grandfather.
“I’m doing it!” Victoria cried excitedly as the truck moved forward without all the herky-jerky starts and stops she’d been struggling with. Shecouldn’t believe that she’d finally gotten the hang of driving—let alone driving a stick shift.
She shot a look at Ryder. He was grinning, where earlier he’d been grimacing. “I knew you could do it,” he said.
Victoria had to laugh at that. There was definitely a point where she hadn’t been so sure about that. It hadn’t come easy. All that clutch and brake and gas stuff, she thought and again wished she could share this with her friends.
But even as she thought it, she knew they wouldn’t really appreciate what she was doing. Their lives were in the city with shopping, lunches, club-hopping and parties. It was about being seen. She’d certainly fallen into it as well, always worried about what she was going to wear because she had a reputation to uphold.
Now all that seemed... silly, she thought as she caught her reflection in the rearview mirror. Here she was wearing secondhand clothing that didn’t quite fit like it should. And she could have cared less.
Brand pounded on the top of the cab, and she slowed up so he could throw off more hay.
“Nice,” Ryder said as she pulled it off perfectly.
She couldn’t help being touched by his encouragement. There’d been some tense moments and some hilarious ones, but she’d finally driven the truck. True, there had been a lot of stopping and going with Brand pounding on the roof and almost falling off the flatbed more times than he wouldwant to remember. But he’d been able to toss out bales to the cattle, and once she’d figured it out, it was fun.
Brand pounded again, signaling that they were all finished, and it was time to drive back to the ranch. She couldn’t help smiling all the way back as she drove.
“I might have to get my license when I get home,” she said. “Bet I could talk my father into buying me a car. Or maybe a pickup.”
“You did a great job,” Ryder said.
She caught something in his tone and shot a look at him. She realized, her heart dropping, that she shouldn’t have mentioned her father or home. They’d been having a good time, and she’d spoiled it. Both her father and the fact that she would be leaving soon had been an unwelcome reminder to them both. She’d done it earlier too, but both her father and this very short weekend were a fact, one neither of them should ignore.
Once she’d parked the truck and turned off the engine, she said, “If you still want to go into town for dinner, I’ll go get cleaned up.”
Ryder nodded. “I’ll help Brand with a couple of things and get cleaned up myself. Meet downstairs at six?”
“Sounds good.” She met his gaze. “Thank you so much for teaching me to drive the truck. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun.” It was true, and that drove home how routine her life was in Dallas and New York too. She used to think shecouldn’t live without social media from the first thing in the morning until the last thing she checked at night.
