Page 6 of A Christmas Baby for the Cowboy
A diaper he could smell, which he was pretty sure was another problem, but not one he had to deal with right this hot minute. Not yet, anyway.
He picked up the baby again, remembering what Kendall had told him about babies’ heads and necks and how fragile they were, and then he nestled her into his chest. Then wrapped his shirt around her, for good measure.
And after a few moments, the little sounds she was making—of distress and protest, if he had to guess—eased.
He could feel her tiny little fingers against his skin, her little fists that had looked perfect and impossible to him. He looked down and found her staring up at him again, with those big, solemn eyes of hers, like she was taking his measure.
Knox felt something in him melt, then seem to expand, like his heart needed more room in his chest. He held her close, and kissed the top of her head, where there was a little tuft of reddish hair that struck him as possibly the cutest thing he’d ever beheld. She smelled soft and sweet, and he could feel the way she breathed against him with the whole of her tiny body.
He outlined what he knew about babies in his head, which was not much. What he knew about baby animals in general was that they needed to eat and sleep a lot, and that they spent a significant portion of their young lives doing only those two things. He had no way of telling how old this baby was, but he knew that she was bigger than little newborn Kiel had been when he’d first met him. If he had to guess, she’d been born sometime in the last couple of months.
If the weather was better, he would have gone over to Kendall and Harlan’s place, up the hill past the ranch house where his parents lived, to take advantage of what they’d learned since September. Or maybe not, he corrected himself, because Harlan had told everyone that Kendall and the baby had caught something and were lying low.
His next call would have been to Ryder and Rosie. Rosie had raised those twins on her own and they had more babies on the way, but of course, they were down in Marietta and as far as anyone knew, about to give birth. He could have called his parents, because they knew what to do with children of all ages, but it was just about midnight on Christmas Eve and anyway, he knew that they were taking care of Levi and Eli.
Wilder and Boone were probably the closest to him, but what did either one of them know about babies? Neither one of their wives had one. Knox figured they’d know pretty much what he did. Not much more than they could rustle up with an internet search.
That did not feel sufficient.
If this was the middle of summer, he probably would have taken the baby straight down into Marietta to have her checked out, because what if she was sick? What if she’d been sitting out there for too long and something had happened to her that he couldn’t see?
The moment he thought that, he had another thought, and had to blow out a breath when it took hold.
Because he knew that it was too dangerous to drive down Copper Mountain in the middle of the night with a snowstorm pounding its way over Paradise Valley. He’d grown up here on the far side of Cowboy Point, a tiny village hidden away behind Copper Mountain that didn’t have much in the way of services. Especially not this time of year. Folks around here often had to take things into their own hands medically, because no one was coming to save them. There was no calling 911 and thinking an ambulance was going to show up.
There was no getting anywhere in this weather without a truck with a tough four-wheel-drive and the determination to make it where he needed to go for the baby’s sake. Knox had both.
And there was only one place that he could go that didn’t involve skidding off the side of Copper Mountain like too many people did every winter.
But that was complicated.
Knox kept the baby tight against his chest as he got to his feet, then walked back down the hall to his office to find his phone. He swiped it open, scrolled through, and then stopped when he found the name he was looking for.
But he didn’t connect the call.
He could feel himself tense, everywhere, but then the baby moved in his arms and he reminded himself that this wasn’t about him.
It didn’t matter how complicated this was, because it didn’t have anything to do with him, personally, or the past year and a half.
But because that wouldn’t necessarily be obvious if he called this number, he swiped over to the internet instead, found the business number and connected that call.
It rang twice, and when she picked up, Knox braced himself.
“It’s Christmas Eve, Knox,” came her voice. As cool as ever. He had to close his eyes. “And I’m pretty sure I told you not to call me again.”
“I’m calling the clinic,” he managed to say, somehow keeping his voice even when that had never been something he was good at around this woman. “I have a situation, Doctor. And I need your help.”
Chapter Two
Dr. Ramona Taylor had vowed to herself that she would never fall for Knox Carey again.
She had broken this vow numerous times before, so many times that she’d often despaired of herself, but this time she’d meant it. This time, she’d gone cold turkey.
And she’d actually kept herself clean for going on two months now.
Ramona was proud of herself for that. She’d spent a year and a half caught in the push and pull that was Knox, and the truth was, she was bruised. Emotionally battered and raw straight through. She needed, desperately, to really and truly be done with this maddeningly unavailable cowboy who’d stolen her heart at first glance, turned her inside out with a touch, and had made her cry into her lonely pillow too many times to count thereafter.
It was embarrassing. It was heartbreaking. There wasn’t enough Taylor Swift in the world to handle it.
