Debbie Macomber - Heart of Texas Volume 2 - Caroline's Child

“Go riding,” Caroline inserted. “I’ll borrow some jeans from Savannah.”

She could have suggested mud wrestling and he would’ve agreed.

“Well…I suppose we can alter our plans just a little,” Caroline said, smiling softly.

It took a moment for the words to sink into his consciousness. “You could? Great.”

“Are we going to Savannah’s?” Maggie asked, tugging at the sleeve of her mother’s dress. “Are we leaving now?”

“It looks that way,” Caroline answered.

Maggie clapped her hands, celebrating the good news.

“I’ll see you there, then,” she said to Grady, opening the passenger door for Maggie. Her daughter leaped inside, eager to be on their way.

Grady opened the driver’s side for Caroline. “Drive carefully.”

She got in and assured him she would.

Grady stepped away from the car when she started the engine; he watched her back out of the parking space and turn out of the driveway before he realized that he’d attracted a number of curious stares. In particular, he noticed Edwina and Lily Moorhouse studying him.

The two sisters were retired teachers, as prim and proper as the spinster schoolmarms of nineteenth-century Promise. They smiled approvingly in his direction before they leaned toward one another, heads close enough to touch, talking up a storm. He’d been in their classes as a boy and could well recall the speed with which those two could chatter. Two hundred words a minute, he guessed, with gusts up to four fifty.

Their tongues were wagging now, but frankly, Grady didn’t care. He was about to spend the afternoon with the woman who’d dominated his thoughts for months. The woman who dominated his dreams.

Grady arrived back at the Yellow Rose less than five minutes behind Caroline. He found her in the kitchen with Savannah, preparing Sunday dinner. She paused when he entered, then glanced around her.

“Did you see Maggie?”

“Maggie?” He shook his head.

“She wasn’t on the porch?”

“Not that I noticed.” He stuck his head out the door and couldn’t see her.

“I told her not to leave the porch.” Caroline sighed with impatience. She set aside the tomato she was slicing and reached for a towel.

“She came to me for a carrot not more than a minute ago,” Savannah said.

“She probably went into the barn to see the new colt.” Grady blamed himself for that.

“She knows better,” Caroline murmured. “It’s not safe there.”

“Don’t worry, she’s only been gone a minute,” Savannah said reassuringly.

“I’ll get her,” Grady offered, eager to prove to Maggie that he could be as charming and wonderful as Richard.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Caroline asked.

“Not in the least.” Grady headed toward the barn, whistling as he went. The interior was dark after the bright sunlight, and he squinted until his eyes adjusted to the change in lighting.

“Maggie,” he called out.

No answer.

“Maggie,” he called again.

A soft almost mewing sound followed. Grady whirled around. The noise came from Widowmaker’s stall. When he looked inside, Grady’s heart froze. Maggie was huddled against the wall, her face white with terror.

Just then, the ill-tempered stallion thrashed out with his hooves, narrowly missing the child.

5

GRADY KNEW THAT HE HAD TO MAKE HIS move fast or Maggie could be seriously hurt. Widowmaker snorted and began to paw the floor. Unwilling to give the stallion an opportunity to get any closer to the child, Grady threw open the stall door, grabbed Maggie and literally swung her out of harm’s way.

Maggie let out a scream. With his heart pounding, Grady firmly held the squirming child against him, trying to comfort her and at the same time calm his own fears. Unfortunately he failed on both counts.

The barn door flew open and Savannah and Caroline rushed breathlessly inside.

“Mommy! Mommy!”

Grady released Maggie, who raced toward her mother, nearly stumbling in her eagerness to escape his clutches. Caroline held her arms open and the child sobbed hysterically as she fell into her mother’s embrace.

“What happened?” Savannah asked.

“Somehow Maggie got into Widowmaker’s stall,” Grady explained. His knees shook so badly he sank onto a bale of hay.

“Dear God,” Savannah whispered and lowered herself onto the bale beside him. “Is she hurt?”

Grady didn’t think so.

Caroline’s eyes were filled with questions, but it was impossible to talk over the sound of Maggie’s crying.

“What about you?” Savannah asked. “You didn’t get kicked, did you?”

“I’m fine.” Which wasn’t entirely true. Grady figured just seeing Maggie in that stall cost him five years of his life. God only knew what would have happened if he hadn’t gotten there when he had. The thought wasn’t one he wished to entertain.

Gathering the child in her arms, Caroline made her way out of the barn. Savannah and Grady followed. His sister returned to the house, but Grady lingered outside, not knowing how to help although he wanted to do something. He waited for a clue from Caroline, who sat on one of the porch steps as she cradled her daughter. Maggie continued to sob almost uncontrollably, hiding her face in her mother’s shoulder. Caroline stopped whispering to the child and started to sing in a low soothing voice gently swaying back and forth.

Grady pulled out the rocking chair and Caroline’s eyes revealed her gratitude as she sat down in it. When the song was finished, she talked softly to Maggie, reassuring the little girl once more that everything was fine and there was nothing to be afraid of.

Grady paced the area in front of the porch, waiting, wondering what he should do next. If anything. Gradually Maggie quieted. Then she straightened and glanced around.

“Hello, princess,” he said, remembering that was what his father had called Savannah. It seemed to suit Maggie. “Are you okay?”

Maggie took one look at him and burst into tears. Within seconds she’d buried her face in her mother’s shoulder again.

“What’d I say?” he asked, unable to understand what he’d done now. He’d hoped the child would view him as her hero since he’d saved her from certain harm. Apparently that wasn’t the case.

“She’s embarrassed,” Caroline explained.

“Embarrassed?” he shouted, forgetting how his booming voice terrified the little girl. Maggie burrowed deeper into her mother’s embrace.

Savannah opened the screen door and stepped onto the porch. “Dinner’s ready if anyone’s interested,” she announced.

Grady wasn’t. His appetite was gone. Conflicting emotions churned in him—he felt angry and relieved, frustrated and pleased, confused and happy. He wanted to hug Maggie and thank God she was safe, and at the same time chastise her for giving him the fright of his life.

“I think it might be best if I took Maggie home,” Caroline said.

“No.” Grady’s protest was instantaneous. “I mean, you need to do what you think is best but…” He didn’t know what he wanted other than to spend time with her, but now it seemed that wasn’t going to happen.

“I’ll see if I can settle her down,” Caroline offered. She held Maggie in her arms and continued to rock, humming softly.

Grady sat on the top step and marveled at her gentle manner with the child. The way she calmed Maggie helped quiet his own heart. No one seemed to realize it, but he’d suffered quite a jolt himself. Rocket sat next to him, his head nestled on Grady’s lap. The old dog had belonged to his father, and in the years since his parents’ deaths, Grady had spent many a late night sitting quietly with Rocket. Talking a bit, mostly just thinking. The dog had often comforted him.