Linda Ford - The Cowboy's Baby Bond

The baby leaned clear out of Willow’s arms in his eagerness to get Johnny’s attention. He babbled a string of sounds that so far as Johnny could tell didn’t form any words, but he sure did make it as plain as the sunlight coming through the eastern window that he meant for Johnny to take him.

Willow shifted him, tried to distract him. “No, Adam. The man has to eat his breakfast.”

Adam babbled, his tone indicating he thought his mama wrong.

“I don’t mind,” Johnny said and lifted the baby from her arms.

Adam rewarded him with a toothy grin and excited chatter. His steady gaze seemed to look clear to Johnny’s heart and demand a response.

Johnny nodded. “That’s right, old boy. I completely agree.”

Levi chuckled. “Good to see you found someone who speaks your language.”

Aware that Pa and Maisie watched him with speculative expressions, Johnny perched Adam on one leg and did his best to appear as if this was an everyday event.

The baby grabbed a fork and began to pound the table.

Maisie smiled. “I suppose he’s hungry and telling us to get on with the meal.”

Color stole up Willow’s cheeks. “Oh no. He simply likes to make noise.” She captured Adam’s hands and stilled them, gently extracting the fork and putting it out of reach.

The look she darted to Johnny brimmed with apology.

“He’s not hurting anything,” he reassured her. “Ain’t that right, Maisie?”

“It’s a pleasure to have a young one at our table.” She glanced at Pa and they shared one of their secret looks that seemed to shut out the others. Likely she was remembering the babies she’d never birthed. She’d lost them long before they were big enough to survive.

Seeing little Adam made Johnny realize how painful it must have been for her. At the time he’d been too young to comprehend, concerned only that his stepmother recover. When an appropriate occasion came, he’d be sure to tell her he was sorry for her loss.

“We best pray and get on with our meal.” Pa reached for the hands of those beside him.

Johnny kept his arm about Adam, giving him an excuse not to take Willow’s hand. Somehow, he feared it would take him toward a place he meant to avoid.

Willow hesitated just enough for him to know she wasn’t comfortable with the idea, either, then she joined hands with Maisie.

They bowed their heads as Big Sam said grace.

The food passed from one to the other. Johnny dished up and ate with one hand.

“I’ll take him,” Willow said. “I’m used to holding him while I eat.”

“It’s not a problem.” Johnny kind of liked it.

“If you’re certain?” Accepting his nod, she mashed some food and fed Adam off her plate.

The baby opened his mouth like a hungry bird, and if Willow didn’t have a spoonful ready right away, he leaned forward and made a sound that clearly meant Feed me. I’m hungry.

Johnny laughed.

“His appetite has returned,” Maisie said. “That’s good.”

Willow smiled at Adam, then lifted her face to include Johnny. “I do believe he’s better.” She turned back to Maisie, leaving Johnny off-kilter from the gratitude in her eyes. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me.” She looked about the table. “All of you.” She glanced at Johnny again. “Especially you. You could have passed us by. Instead, you put aside your own concerns to help us. I truly appreciate it. You are a Good Samaritan,”

“I only did what anyone would have done,” he told her. But when had anyone outside his family appreciated him for living up to his standards?

Maisie caught Willow’s attention. “If you knew Johnny, you’d know he does what is right no matter the cost.”

Willow’s gaze came back to him, her eyebrows raised just enough for him to know she wondered if his stepmother exaggerated. “That’s nice,” she said.

For a few minutes, conversation turned to others things. The meal was about over when Willow spoke again. “I must be on my way this morning. I have a train to meet.”

Big Sam pushed to his feet. “Levi and I must leave, too.” He held out his hand to Willow and they shook. “It’s been nice meeting you. Perhaps we’ll see you again in town.”

Johnny rose, as well. “I’ll get back to fixing the cabin.” He paused to say goodbye to Willow and cup Adam’s downy head, then turned away. He sure did hate to see them go.

The men grabbed their hats and trooped from the house. Johnny first hitched Willow’s mare to the wagon. It seemed the right thing to do. Then he saddled Gray, threw on his heavy saddlebags and rode from the yard.

He reached the spot where he’d heard Adam yesterday and found the pair. The reins hung slack in his hands and Gray stood waiting for an indication of what he should do.

Johnny stared at the trees where he’d first seen the wagon.

He’d rescued her, then left her to get to town on her own. What was he thinking?

* * *

Willow stared after the men, feeling as if a door in her life had closed. What a truly foolish thought. It made no sense. Except she’d glimpsed something in Johnny and this family she hadn’t seen since the death of her parents. With a slight smile she acknowledged her feelings for what they were—a desire to re-create the sort of home she’d known before her parents’ deaths. The type of home she’d witnessed again with the Hardings. She’d almost forgotten that sense of comfort and safety. As she helped Maisie clean the kitchen, then gathered up her belongings, she vowed she would make that sort of home for Adam and her sisters.

“Thank you again.”

Maisie handed her some drops. “In case his earache returns.”

Willow took them, tears clogging her throat at the unexpected kindness she’d experienced here. “You’ll never know how grateful I am.”

The older woman wrapped her arms about Willow and Adam. “I wish you could stay longer, but I’ll be sure to look you up when I’m in town, if only to assure myself you are okay.”

“You’re welcome anytime. And your family, too.” Perhaps Johnny would stop in to see them, as well. She immediately corrected the thought. She would never again expect anything from a man.

She carried Adam and her belongings outside. Someone had hitched the mare to the wagon. How thoughtful. Had Johnny done it? And if so, why?

She shook away the questions and turned her mind toward getting to town. Adam perched on her knees as, with a final goodbye wave to Maisie, she drove from the yard.

According to what the Hardings said, it would take her close to an hour to reach Granite Creek. An hour in which to think and plan and, unfortunately, regret.

A long lonely ache consumed her insides. She meant to do her best to provide a home for her family, but it would never be the same as she’d known as a child. Her parents were dead and nothing would ever fill that void. She thought of how Maisie fitted into the Harding family so well and filled the home with love. Willow could never offer Adam and the girls a stepparent like that because she would never again trust her future and happiness to a man, let alone those of her sisters and son.

The one regret that would never go away was her own foolishness in sleeping with Adam’s father without the benefit of marriage. Peter Shaw had won her heart at sixteen when he’d bought her box lunch at the church social. Her parents had approved of their courtship and the two of them had spent many happy hours with the family. Peter had lofty ambitions. He meant to strike out for the north as soon as they were married. “New lands and maybe even gold,” he’d said.

When Willow told her ma that she didn’t want to go so far from home, Ma had reassured her. “My child, you won’t be happy if you hold him back from his dreams.”