Page 23 of A Christmas Baby for the Cowboy
And Knox didn’t much like the look on Ryder’s face, so he nodded as he gazed down at the two little burrito-shaped babies.
“Must feel like a vacation not to have to do it all alone this time,” he drawled.
Ryder gave him the finger. Rosie laughed. Knox stepped back, feeling pretty satisfied with himself, and then there was no avoiding the rest of his family, who had clearly only given him space to greet the newest arrivals.
“What do you mean she’s not yours?” Boone asked in a low voice. Immediately. With that disappointed look he liked to aim at Knox when he felt like Knox wasn’t stepping up. Knox loved his brother. He also, in this moment, deeply felt the need to deck him. “Why would someone leave a baby on your doorstep if she wasn’t yours?”
“Why are you saying that like leaving babies on doorsteps is a normal thing to do?” his wife, Sierra, interjected.
“Where there’s smoke there’s fire,” Wilder drawled from where he was leaning against the wall that divided the kitchen and the living room, a bottle of beer in his hand and Cat at his side. She had a speculative look on her face, but was keeping her comments to herself. Knox had always liked Cat. Wilder kept going. “And I’m not sure there’s a bigger bonfire than driving all the way onto the ranch in inclement weather to leave a baby on a doorstep.”
Knox hadn’t had a full-on rumble with his brothers in some time, but today was looking more and more likely to break that drought.
Harlan was holding baby Kiel with his other arm around Kendall, and he only shook his head at Knox. Clearly the brotherly conclusion had been reached. They’d tried him and found him guilty without even asking.
That was what really tipped it over for him.
“I told you that she isn’t mine,” Knox said, very calmly. Very matter-of-factly. Very much like Dr. Ramona Taylor, in fact, but it did him no good to think about her just now. “I didn’t say that for fun or because I’m in denial. There’s no possible way that I’m the father of this baby. My name is on her birth certificate and someone figured they needed to put her in my possession, and I assume there’s a reason for that. But that reason isn’t because we share a scrap of DNA.”
The ring of brothers and sisters-in-law around him went quiet. There was only the sound of Zeke talking to the two toddlers as they negotiated for treats by the fridge, and Belinda murmuring little songs to Hailey.
“Well,” Wilder said, sounding a lot like he was trying to be as close to diplomatic as he ever got, “I suppose there’s always a paternity test to know for sure.”
Knox leveled a gaze on him. “I don’t need a paternity test,” he said, sounding cooler and more precise with each word. “When I tell you I know exactly where I’ve been, I mean that. I’m going to need all of you to trust me on this. Because I’m not actually a twelve-year-old kid, in case you haven’t noticed. I’m a grown-ass man who knows where I put my dick.”
And normally, Belinda would object to such language during a family gathering and mete out her usual brand of swift justice—but a look from the corner of his eye told Knox that his mother was hiding a grin.
But then, Knox wasn’t being loud. He hadn’t started shouting. The only thing he was doing was talking to his brothers in a manner that was a big sea change from the usual charm offensive he pulled out in uncomfortable family moments. Or the way he usually laughed it off when they said things to him he didn’t love.
Because this wasn’t about him.
“If she was my daughter, I would have no problem claiming her,” he informed them all. “As it is, she’s my responsibility since she was left at my house and my name is connected to hers on that birth certificate. I’d like to get to the bottom of that mystery, but while I do, I’ll be taking care of her. Just like I’ve been taking care of her for the past few days.”
And it felt to him like something shifted. He could feel it all around. Even from Ryder over the table with his newborns.
Knox moved away from the knot of brothers to go and give his father a hug. Zeke pounded him on the back, and clapped his shoulder for good measure. “I’m proud of you,” his father said. “It’s not always easy to do the right thing, but it’s never the wrong choice.”
He hadn’t needed that validation, but he sure liked getting it.
Ryder and Rosie didn’t stay long. Ryder carefully transported the new babies and Rosie out to his truck, then came back in to prevail upon his sons to be good men for a little while longer as he and their mama got settled.
The twins looked at each other with identical looks of mischief, clearly perfectly happy to stay put.
Ryder also came over and shook Knox’s hand.
“You wouldn’t believe how much baby stuff we have,” Ryder told him. “I swear we’ve got quadruples of most things. I’ll put them on the porch so you can come grab what you need. Help set you up right.” He inclined his head. “Until you get to the bottom of it all.”
“Same,” Harlan chimed in, nodding at Knox. “We’d love to help outfit you.”
“Appreciate it,” Knox replied.
Which was about as heartfelt an apology as his brothers had in them, but Knox was more than good with it.
Despite the expected rocky start, he felt surprised to discover just how clear it was that he’d done the right thing by coming up here this morning. By not trying to hide Hailey from anyone. By involving his entire family in this wild thing that was happening to him.
Because as they all sat around the kitchen table as the morning moved along into afternoon, Hailey was fussed over by everybody. There was no shortage of arms to hold her or delighted family members to take their turn coaxing smiles from her, or giving her a bottle, or even changing her diaper.
Knox found that he tracked her without even thinking about it. He knew where she was at all times, and could pick out her cry from Kiel’s without a problem.
