A Baby on the Ranch

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She smiled to herself as she placed his plate in front of him. If the smile was a little brighter, a little wider than normal, she really wasn’t aware of it.

But Eli was.

Chapter Seven

“So how’s it going?”

Busy taking a quick inventory of the groceries he’d placed in his cart, Eli glanced up. He was surprised to discover his sister standing at his side. She hadn’t been there a moment ago.

Or had she?

He’d been completely focused on picking up the supplies Kasey said they needed and getting back to the ranch as quickly as possible. That described the way he’d been doing everything these past three weeks: quickly. He’d do what had to be done and then get back to being with Kasey and the baby. He was eager to get back to his own private tiny piece of paradise before it suddenly vanished on him.

Eli had no illusions. He knew that it wasn’t going to be like this forever. Life wasn’t meant to be cozy, soul-satisfying and made up of tiny triumphs and small echoes of laughter. But while it was, he intended to make the very most of it, to enjoy every single second that he could and count himself extremely lucky. These moments would have to last him once she was gone.

Alma had been taking her turn at patrolling the streets of Forever when she’d passed Eli’s familiar Jeep. She’d immediately parked and gone into the Emporium looking for him. They hadn’t talked since the day he’d brought Kasey back from the hospital when she and the sheriff had gotten some of Kasey’s things, as well as the baby crib, out of the house that her no-account husband had lost in a poker game.

Her brother looked tired, Alma thought. Tired, but definitely happy.

Happiness didn’t come cheap. She knew all about that. She also knew that when happiness showed up on your doorstep, you grabbed it with both hands and held on as tightly as possible.

“Alma Rodriguez, remember?” she prompted, pretending to introduce herself to him. “Your sister,” she added when he just stared at her. “I know it’s been a while, but I haven’t changed that much. I recognize you,” she told him brightly.

Not wanting to come back to the store for at least a week, Eli began to move up and down the aisles again, filling his cart. Alma matched him step for step.

“Very funny, Alma.”

“No,” she said honestly. “Very sweet, actually. All this domesticity seems to be agreeing with you, big brother.” She examined him more closely for a moment, her head cocked as if that helped her process the information better. Eli continued moving. “Are you gaining weight, Eli?”

That stopped him for a second. “No,” he retorted defensively although he really had no way of knowing that for certain. He didn’t own a scale, at least not one for weighing people. Usually his clothes let him know if he was gaining or losing weight. For as long as he could remember, he’d worn jeans that proclaimed his waist to be a trim thirty-two inches, and they fit just fine these days, so he took that to be an indication that his weight was stable.

Although he wouldn’t have really been surprised if he had gained weight. Kasey insisted on cooking every night, and that woman could make hot water taste like some sort of exotic fare fit for a king.

Seeing that her brother wasn’t in the mood to be teased, Alma decided to back off. She knew firsthand what it felt like to be in a situation that defied proper description even though her heart had been completely invested.

She’d always had her suspicions about the way Eli had felt about Kasey and now, judging by what was going on, she was more than a little convinced that she was right. But saying so would have probably put her on the receiving end of some rather choice words.

Or, at the very least, on the receiving end of some very caustic looks.

Still, her curiosity was getting the better of her.

Watching his expression, she felt her way slowly through a potential minefield. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get out to visit you and Kasey—”

“Nobody was holding their breath for that,” he told her quickly, dismissing her apology along with the need for her to make an appearance at his house. For the time being, he rather liked the fact that it was just the three of them: Kasey, the baby and him.

“Duly noted,” she replied, then reminded him, “You didn’t answer me.” When he appeared confused, she repeated, “How’s it going?”

He shrugged, as if he had no idea what she was waiting for him to say. He gave her a thumbnail summary. “I’m helping Kasey pull herself together. Hollis walking out on her like that really did a number on her self-esteem and her confidence. I’m trying to make her understand that she doesn’t have to face any of this alone.”

“How about the part that she’s so much better off without him?” Alma asked.

“That’ll come later. Right now, we’re still gluing the pieces together.”

And he felt as if he was making some serious headway. Kasey seemed more cheerful these days than when she’d first arrived.

“You’re doing more than that,” Alma pointed out. “You took her in.”

He waited to answer his sister until Alice Meriwether passed them. Anything that went into the woman’s ear instantly came out of her mouth. He nodded at Alice and then moved on.

“Yeah, well,” he finally said, lowering his voice, “she didn’t have any place to go and even though it’s summer right now, she can’t exactly sleep on the street.”

“She wouldn’t have,” Alma assured him. “I’m sure Miss Joan would have happily put her and the baby up in her old house. She still hasn’t gotten rid of it even though she moved in with Cash’s grandfather.”

Just saying Cash’s name brought a wide smile to her lips. He’d come back for his grandfather’s wedding and wound up staying in Forever for her. They were getting married in a little more than a month. And even though there was now a growing squadron of butterflies in the pit of her stomach, the fact that she and Cash were finally getting married was enough to make a person believe that happy endings did exist.

Which was, ultimately, what she was hoping that Eli would come to discover. His own personal happy ending with a young woman he obviously loved.

Alma crossed her fingers.

Her brother shrugged, doubting that moving into Miss Joan’s house would have been a viable solution for Kasey. “Kasey would have felt like she was on the receiving end of charity. She really wouldn’t have been comfortable accepting Miss Joan’s offer,” he told her.

Miss Joan was like everyone’s slightly sharp-tongued fairy godmother—just as quick to help as she was to offer “constructive criticism.”

“But she’s comfortable accepting yours?” Alma asked so that her brother didn’t suspect that she knew how he felt about Kasey.

“We’ve been friends since elementary school,” Eli said. “That makes my letting her stay with me an act of friendship, not charity.”

Alma congratulated herself on keeping a straight face as she asked, “So this is just like one great big sleepover, huh?”

Eli stopped short of coming up to the checkout counter. He pinned his sister with a deliberate look. “Something on your mind, Alma?”

“A lot of things,” she answered blithely. “I’m the sheriff’s deputy, remember? I’m supposed to have a lot on my mind.”

His patience begun to fray a little around the edges. “Alma—”

“I saw you through the store window,” she told him. “And I wanted to make sure that you were still going to be at the wedding.” He’d gotten so wrapped up around Kasey, she was afraid that he’d forget that she and Cash were getting married. But before Eli could say anything in response, she deliberately sweetened the pot for him by adding, “You know that Kasey and the baby are invited, too, right?”

His instincts had prevented him from bringing up the subject of Alma’s upcoming wedding and Kasey hadn’t asked him about it. “She didn’t say anything to me.”

“That’s because when the invitations went out, she was still Hollis’s wife and he kept her on a very tight leash. Most likely, he got rid of the invitation before she ever saw it,” Alma ventured.

“She still is Hollis’s wife,” he pointed out, even though just saying it seemed to burn a hole in his gut.

“Which reminds me, Kasey can go see either Rick’s wife, Olivia, or Cash to have them start to file divorce papers for her.”

Both Olivia and Cash had had careers as high-powered lawyers in the cities that they’d lived in before coming here to Forever. In effect, they’d traded their six-figure incomes for the feeling of satisfaction in knowing that they were doing something worthwhile for the community.

“She’s got the perfect grounds for it,” Alma said when her brother made no comment. Didn’t he want Kasey free of that deadbeat? He’d inherited the ranch they’d lived on from his late parents and had all but ruined it. He certainly had let it get run-down. “Abandonment,” Alma said in case her brother wasn’t aware of it.

But he was.

“I know that,” Eli responded curtly.

Well, that certainly wasn’t the reaction she’d expected from him. Alma tried to figure out why her brother seemed so short-tempered. Could it be that Kasey was still in love with that worthless excuse for a human being and had said as much to Eli?

Alma rather doubted that, not after Kasey had lived with Eli these past few weeks. Living with Eli gave the new mother something positive to measure against the poor excuse for a human being she’d been shackled to. For her part, she might tease her brother mercilessly, but she knew that the difference between Eli and Hollis was the proverbial difference between night and day.

“I never said you didn’t,” Alma assured him gently, then explained, “I was just trying to make myself clear, that’s all. It’s a habit I picked up from Cash.” Her tone changed to an assertive one. “By the way, you’re coming to the wedding.” It was no longer a question but a command. “I’ve decided that I’m not accepting any excuses,” she added. “Now, is there anything I can do for you or Kasey?” she asked. “I mean, other than shooting Hollis if he tries to creep back into town?”

Having reached the checkout counter, Eli had unloaded most of the items he’d picked up. He’d gotten everything on Kasey’s list, plus a candy bar he recalled she’d been particularly fond of when they went to high school. Finished, he fished out his wallet to pay the clerk. That was when Alma had said what she had about Hollis.

The thought hit him right between the eyes. He’d all but convinced himself that Hollis was gone for good. “Do you think that he actually might…?”

There was really no telling what someone with Hollis’s mentality and temperament would do. “I’ve found that it’s really hard to second-guess a lowlife,” she told her brother. “No matter how low your expectations, they can still surprise you and go lower. But in general, I’d say no, probably not.” She knew that was what he wanted to hear and for once, she decided to accommodate him. Besides, there was a fifty-fifty chance she was right. If she was wrong, worrying about it ahead of time wouldn’t help, and if she was right, then hours would have been wasted in anticipation of a nonevent.

Alma moved closer to him so that none of the customers nearby could overhear. She knew how much Eli’s privacy meant to him.

“So then it’s going well?” she asked for a third time.

He wasn’t sure what she meant by well and he wasn’t about to answer her in case Alma was too curious about whether something had blossomed between Kasey and him in these past few weeks. He knew how Alma’s mind worked, especially now that Cash had come back and they were getting married soon.

Instead he gave her something safe. “She’s learning how to survive motherhood and I’m getting the hang of changing diapers,” he told her, then pointedly asked, “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“I just wanted to know how you and she were getting along,” she told him innocently. “And you getting the hang of diapering is bound to come in handy.”

“Why?” He wasn’t following her drift. Glancing at the total the supplies had come to, he peeled out a number of bills and handed them to the clerk. “Horses don’t need to have diapers changed.”

“No, but babies do.” Her eyes met his, which were hooded and all but unreadable. She hated when he did that, shut her out like that. “And you never know when that might come in handy.”

His expression cleared somewhat as a light dawned on him. “You wouldn’t be angling for a babysitter, now, would you?”

Actually she was referring to the possibility that he could become a father in the future—especially if he and Kasey finally got together the right way—but for now, she let his take on her words stand. It was a great deal simpler that way—for both of them.

“Not a bad idea,” she told him. “I’ll keep you in mind should the need ever arise down the line. Well, I’ve got to get back to patrolling the town—not that anything ever happens here,” she said, rolling her eyes. Boredom happened here. Excitement? Hardly ever. “Give Kasey my love,” she said as they parted company right beyond the front door. “Unless, of course, you’ve already given her yours.” She winked at him and then turned on her heel to walk to her vehicle.

“You almost made it, Alma,” he noted, calling after her. Alma turned around to hear him out. “Almost left without making that kind of a comment. I must say I’m impressed.”

Alma laughed. “Didn’t want you thinking that I’d changed that radically,” she quipped just before she headed to the official vehicle she was driving. She had a town to patrol—and boredom to fight.

Eli watched his sister walk away. Shaking his head, he was grinning as he deposited the various bags of supplies he’d just paid for into the Jeep.

* * *

HE WAS STILL GRINNING when he arrived home half an hour later.

He caught himself doing that a lot lately, he thought, just grinning like some sort of happy idiot.

Eli had never been one of those brooding men that supposedly held such attraction for all women, but there hadn’t been all that much to be happy about, either: hard life, hard times, and then his mother had died. That took its toll on a man.

He wasn’t like Alma. She was upbeat and optimistic to a fault. But he was, he’d always thought, a realist. Although, for the time being, ever since he’d brought Kasey here, the realist in him had taken a vacation and he was enjoying this new state of affairs just as it was.

Dividing the grocery bags, he slung five plastic bags over each wrist. He tested their strength to make sure they’d hold and moved slowly from the vehicle to the house. He brought in all the groceries in one trip.

Setting the bags down on the first flat surface he came to, Eli shed the plastic loops from his wrists as quickly as he could. But not quickly enough. The plastic loops bit into his skin and still left their mark on his wrists.

Rubbing them without thinking, Eli looked around for Kasey and found her sitting in an easy chair, the baby pressed against her breast.

It took him a second to realize that he’d done exactly what he’d always worried about doing: he’d walked in on Kasey feeding Wayne.

Breast-feeding Wayne.

His breath caught in his throat. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

At the same moment it occurred to him that he had absolutely no business seeing her like this.

Even so, it took him another few seconds to tear his eyes away.

Then, hoping to ease out of the room without having Kasey see him, Eli started to slowly back out—only to have her suddenly look up from what she was doing. Her eyes instantly met his.

He’d never actually felt embarrassed before. He did now.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you’d be doing that out here. I mean—I’m sorry,” he said again, his tongue growing thicker and less pliable with each word that he stumbled over.

“There’s no reason for you to be sorry,” she told him softly. “If anything, it’s my fault for not going into my room with Wayne.” She raised one shoulder in a careless shrug and then let it drop again. “But you were gone and he was fussing—this just seemed easier.”

Belatedly, he realized that he was still facing her and that he still didn’t know just where to put his eyes. He immediately turned on his heel, so that he was facing the front door and had his back to her.

He couldn’t let her blame herself. He’d walked in on her, not the other way around.

“It’s my fault,” he insisted. “I should have called out when I walked in,” he told her.

“Why?” she asked, just as she had that first evening when he had called out before walking in. “After all, it’s your house, you have every right to walk into it whenever you want to. If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you for embarrassing you like this. I’m the intruder, not you.”

“You’re not an intruder,” he told her firmly. How could she even think that he thought that about her? “You’re a welcomed guest. I didn’t mean to— I shouldn’t have—”

Eli sighed, frustrated. If anything, this was getting harder, not easier for him. He couldn’t seem to negotiate a simple statement.

He heard her laughing softly and the sound went right through him. Right into him.

“It’s all right, Eli. You can turn around now,” she told him. “I’m not feeding Wayne anymore.”