Brenda Harlen - Double Duty For The Cowboy

Some people believed she was desperately looking for the love she’d never known at home. Others were less charitable in their assessment and made her the punchline to a joke. If a man suffered any kind of setback, such as the loss of a job or the breakup of a relationship, others would encourage him to “Have Faith.” That advice was usually followed by raucous laughter and the rejoinder: “Everyone else in town has had her.”

“He sure did fill out nicely,” Brie remarked now. “Was it those broad shoulders that caught your eye? Or the sexy dent in his square chin? Because I’m guessing it wasn’t his kitchen decor.”

Regan reached into the bakery box for a cookie. “This room is an eyesore, isn’t it?”

“Or are white melamine cupboards with red plastic handles retro-chic?”

“Connor’s saving up to renovate.”

“Saving up?” Brie echoed, sounding amused. “I guess that means he didn’t marry you for your money.”

“He married me because I was pregnant,” Regan told her. Because when a bride gave birth six months after the ring was put on her finger, what was the point in pretending otherwise?

“Well, if you had to get knocked up, at least it was by a guy who was willing to do the right thing.”

“Hmm,” Regan murmured in apparent agreement.

Brie broke off a piece of cookie. “I would have come home for your wedding, if you’d asked.”

“We eloped in Reno,” Regan told her.

“Doesn’t that count as a wedding?”

She shook her head. “Weddings take time to plan, and I didn’t want to be waddling down the aisle.”

“I’m sure you didn’t waddle,” her sister said loyally.

“I showed you my belly when we Facetimed, so you know I was huge. I was waddling before the end of my fifth month.”

“Well, you were carrying two babies,” Brie acknowledged. She chewed on another bite of cookie before she asked, “What did the folks think about your elopement?”

“They were surprisingly supportive. Or maybe just grateful that their second and third grandchildren wouldn’t be born out of wedlock.”

Their first was Spencer’s daughter, but he hadn’t even known about Dani’s existence until her mother was killed in an accident. He’d given up his career on the rodeo circuit to assume custody, then moved back to Haven with his little girl and fallen in love with Kenzie Atkins, who had been Brielle’s BFF in high school.

“They were a lot less happy to learn that I was pregnant,” Regan confided to her sister now. “Dad’s exact words were, ‘And you were supposed to be the smart one.’”

Brie winced. “That’s harsh. Although it’s true that you’re the smart one.”

“They don’t let dummies into Columbia,” Regan pointed out.

“True,” her sister said again. “But no one I met at Columbia is as smart as you.” She selected another cookie from the box. “What did Mom say?”

“You know Mom,” Regan said. “Always practical and looking for the solution to a problem.”

Brie’s expression darkened. “Because a baby is a problem to be solved and not a miracle to be celebrated.”

“I like to think they were happy about the babies but concerned about my status in town as an unwed mother,” Regan said, though even she wasn’t convinced it was true. “You know how people here like to gossip.”

“And then Connor stepped up to ensure the legitimacy of his babies and all was right in the world?” Brie asked, her tone dubious.

“Well, Dad was happy that Connor had done the right thing—at least, from his perspective. Mom made no secret of the fact that she thinks Connor and I aren’t well-suited.”

“How about you ?” Brie asked. “Are you happy with the way everything turned out?”

“I never thought I could be this happy,” Regan responded sincerely. Not that her marriage was perfect, but she was confident that she’d made the right choice for her babies—and hopeful that it would prove to be the right choice for her and her husband, too.

“I’m glad.”

It was the tone rather than the words that tripped Regan’s radar. “So why don’t you sound glad?” she asked her sister.

Brie shrugged. “I guess I’m just thinking about the fact that everyone around me seems to be having babies,” she explained. “Two of my colleagues are off on mat leave right now, a third is due at the end of the summer and another just announced that she’s expecting.”

“That’s a lot of babies. But still, you’re a little young for your biological clock to be ticking already,” Regan noted.

“I’m not in any rush,” Brie said. “But I do hope that someday I’ll have everything you’ve got—a husband who loves me and the babies we’ve made together. Although I’d be happier if they came one at a time.”

Regan managed a smile, despite the tug of longing in her own heart—and the twinge of guilt that she wasn’t being completely honest with her sister. “I have no doubt that your time will come.”

“Maybe. But until then, I’ll be happy to dote on your beautiful babies.”

“You’d be able to dote a lot more if you didn’t live twenty-five hundred miles away,” she felt compelled to point out.

“I know,” her sister acknowledged. “I love New York, my job, my coworkers and all the kids. And I have a great apartment that I share with wonderful friends. But there are times when I miss being here. When I miss you and Kenzie and—well, I miss you and Kenzie.”

Regan’s smile came more easily this time. “So come home,” she urged.

Brie shook her head. “There’s one elementary school in Haven and it already has a kindergarten teacher.”

“That’s what’s holding you back?” Regan asked skeptically. “A lack of job opportunities?”

“It’s a valid consideration,” her sister said. Then, when she heard a sound emanate from the monitor, “Is that one of my nieces that I hear now?”

Regan chuckled, even as her breasts instinctively responded to the sound of the infant stirring. “You know, most people don’t celebrate the sound of a baby crying,” she remarked.

“But doting aunts are always happy to help with snuggles and cuddles.”

“And diaper changes?”

“Whatever you need,” Brie promised.

Chapter Three

As soon as Connor and Baxter stepped outside, the dog put his nose to the ground and set off, eager to explore all the sights and smells. They had a specific route that they walked in the mornings and a different, longer route they usually followed later in the day. At the end of the street, Baxter instinctively turned east, to follow the longer route.

“We’re doing the short route this afternoon,” he said. Although he enjoyed their twice-daily walks almost as much as the dog, he didn’t want to leave Regan for too long on her first day back from the hospital.

He knew it was silly, especially considering that her sister was there to help with anything she might need help with. But Connor was the one who’d been with her through every minute of twenty-two hours of labor and for most of the eight days since, and he was feeling protective of the new mom and babies—and maybe a little proprietary.

Baxter gave him a look that, on a human, might have been disapproving, but the dog obediently turned in the opposite direction.

Connor started to jog, hoping to compensate for the abbreviated course with more intense exercise. Baxter trotted beside him, tongue hanging out of his mouth, tail wagging.

He lifted a hand in response to Cal Thompson’s wave and nodded to Sherry Witmer, who was carrying an armload of groceries into her house. It had taken some time, but he was finally beginning to feel as if he was part of the community he’d moved into three years earlier.