Barbara Daille - The Rancher's Baby Proposal

Shuddering aside, it wasn’t diapers that bothered her so much as her fear Reagan’s son would react to her the way other babies had. “Little kids and I just don’t get along. The minute they see me, they know they’re dealing with an amateur, and they all turn into howling, stiff-limbed little monsters.”

Why had she ever thought she could take care of Reagan’s baby?

“Ally, that’s just silly. Come here.” Tina sat upright on the couch.

Reluctantly, Ally crossed to take a seat beside her and let her place the newborn into her arms. The blanket-wrapped baby felt warmer and heavier than Ally had expected. Ally smiled down at her.

“See? Not so bad, is it?”

“You’ve got such a treasure here, mi amiga,” she told Tina in a murmur, afraid her voice might startle the child. Better to let her sleep. Her goddaughter had an angelic face with a tiny cupid’s-bow mouth, both of which Ally worried might be deceiving.

“Andi and I can teach you all you need to know.” Tina’s cousin had two small children of her own.

“Oh, right. An entire Baby 101 course, compressed into a couple of days?”

“Sure. You’re a quick study. Piece of cake.”

“Don’t mention cake,” she said with a moan. The baby moved her arm slightly, and Ally lowered her voice again. “I could eat an entire pan of your abuela’s sopaipilla cheesecake right this minute.”

Tina smiled. “I don’t think it’s on the menu tonight. But stay for supper. By the time we’re done, Emilia will need another feeding and a diaper change, and we’ll get you started on some hands-on experience.”

“This might be all the hands-on I can handle. But I suppose I can stay.” Truthfully, the deciding factor was more the thought of Tina’s grandmother’s cooking than it was the lessons.

“What I want to know,” she said thoughtfully, “is exactly where Reagan’s baby came from.”

“Uh...Ally? We covered the birds and the bees in about fifth grade.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not fair, chica. As I always tell you, you’re supposed to be the serious half of this friendship. I get all the funny lines.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t see anything funny about this situation.”

That made her look at Tina in alarm. Her friend always was the serious one. If she were worried, chances were good there was something to be concerned about. “What?”

“Well...” Tina shrugged. “You have a point. Forgetting about the birds and bees, the question still stands. Where did Reagan’s baby come from?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t want to talk about it.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“You mean there has to be a wife somewhere? But he said he wasn’t married.” Her voice had risen, and Emilia shifted in her arms again. “Here. I think she’s waking up. You’d better take her before she opens her eyes, sees me and starts to yell.”

Tina shook her head at Ally but reached for her daughter. “Then maybe Reagan has an ex-wife. Or a girlfriend, either ex or current. Or he could be widowed.”

She gasped. “With a one-month-old baby?” They exchanged suddenly misty-eyed glances. “Oh, I hope not. It would be best if he had gotten a di—” She stopped.

“Divorce,” Tina supplied in a soft voice, “because then Reagan wouldn’t be attached to another woman.”

“Well...” She glanced down at her hands in her lap. Then, sighing, she looked at Tina again. “Yes,” she admitted finally. Feeling miserable, she yanked on one of her curls. How could she wish away a poor defenseless little baby’s mother?

Yet how could she not want a chance at winning the boy she had always loved?

* * *

WITH THE HITCHING POST’S guests all gone up to their rooms for the night, Jed Garland went along the hall of the first-floor family wing. He wandered into the hotel’s kitchen, where Paz, the hotel cook, stood at the counter making preparations for next morning’s breakfast. Tina, the granddaughter he and Paz had in common, sat at the big table with her new baby in her arms.

He settled in his chair across from the pair of them. “You’re starting that little one off with late hours, are you?”

She laughed. “She’s the one setting her own schedule, Abuelo. This baby likes to eat and sleep as she pleases. I just follow along to do her bidding.”

“Well, that’s the way it should be when they’re that young.” He kicked back and laced his fingers together on the tabletop. “I see Ally’s finally showing some maternal instincts.” The girl had come out to the hotel and stayed for supper, then spent the evening in the sitting room with his granddaughters and their kids.

“I don’t know about maternal instincts,” she said doubtfully. “Ally always claims she and babies don’t get along. And of course she won’t admit she remembers all the time she’s spent with Robbie, including when he was an infant. Anyhow, Andi and I need to give her a crash course in infant care. She’s going to be babysitting Reagan’s little boy.”

“So that’s why Reagan wanted to talk with her at Sugar’s.”

“You heard about that already?” She shook her head. “There’s no doubt about it, is there? News really does travel fast in Cowboy Creek.”

“I happened to be at the hardware store when Ally and Reagan ran into each other.”

“Oh, is that so?” She stared him down. He looked back at her, keeping his gaze level. “Funny. I thought Ally said Reagan invited her at the end of their conversation, after you had left.”

“He did. It so happens I had to pick up some supplies in the next aisle, and I overheard what they were saying.”

Both women laughed at that, as he had known they would.

“I’ll bet you did,” Tina said. “I’ll also bet Sugar called you right after they left the shop, didn’t she?”

Now it was his turn to laugh. His youngest granddaughter usually had the knack of seeing right through him. “You won’t let me get away with anything, will you? Yes, Sugar did call. So, Reagan has a child. And a wife?”

“Ally said he told her no on that.”

“Good.” He beamed.

Tina’s eyes narrowed. “Why? You’re scheming again, aren’t you?”

“Do you blame me?”

She shot a quick smile at her grandmother, then reached across the table and squeezed Jed’s laced fingers. “You wouldn’t be you, Abuelo, if you didn’t care so much about everyone. This is between you, me and Abuela only, but...Ally has always had a crush on Reagan.”

“Well, then, all the more reason for me to get up to some scheming, as you called it. Surely, you can’t object if I want to help her.”

Now she looked down and touched her baby’s cheek. “No, I can’t say I really object. Ally’s my best friend. I want her to be as happy as I am.”

“Good. First, we’ll have to find out exactly what Reagan’s status is. If he’s unattached...”

“Any free man is fair game?”

“Exactly right.”

“Ally would never speak to me again if she knew I was encouraging you to play matchmaker for her.”

“And that’s exactly right, too,” he said with a grin. “If she knew. But there’s no need for her or Reagan to find out.”

“And how will you manage that, Jed?” Paz asked. She dried her hands on a towel and took a seat at the table. The fine silver threads in her dark hair winked in the overhead light.

“I haven’t quite figured that out yet. But don’t you worry, I’m ready and willing to face the challenge. I’ll come up with something.”

“You won’t have much time,” Tina told him. “Ally said Reagan is leaving again as soon as he has the house cleared out and ready to go on the market.”

“Then I’ll have to work quickly, won’t I?” He smiled. “Fortunately, as you both know, I do my best work under pressure.”