The Colorado Kid Read online

  “Uh, she’s on bottles,” Matty said, very aware that she didn’t have any with her. Gwen probably assumed they’d left the diaper bag in the car.

  Gwen wiggled Elizabeth’s hand. “Well, you are beautiful, Elizabeth. I can’t imagine anybody needing space from you.” She nudged the baby’s nose with her own. “No, I can’t. You’re just precious.”

  Elizabeth gurgled and beamed a toothless smile.

  “Sebastian!” Matty clutched his arm. “She smiled!”

  “She did?” Sebastian tried to look over his shoulder and see the baby’s face. He sounded miffed.

  “She most certainly did,” Gwen said in a musical little singsong. “Didn’t you, Elizabeth? A big smile.” She gently disentangled Elizabeth’s fingers from around hers and stroked the baby’s cheek with her knuckle. “What a cutie-pie.”

  “She never smiled for us,” Sebastian said, sounding even more miffed.

  “She will if you smile at her,” Nellie said, shuffling slowly around the counter. She seemed to have recovered her poise. “Then she’ll copy you. What sort of furniture will you be needing for that child, Sebastian?”

  “A changing table,” Sebastian said. “Maybe a crib.”

  “Come right this way.” Nellie moved laboriously toward the back of the store.

  Sebastian followed, and Matty started after him.

  Gwen caught her arm. “Not so fast, sunshine.”

  Matty glanced back at her. Gwen was a good five inches taller than she was, and Matty had always thought of her as serenely beautiful. Matty envied Gwen her knack for applying makeup and arranging her long, mahogany-colored hair to her best advantage. She could wear elegant dresses that would make Matty feel ridiculous, but they fit perfectly with Gwen’s role as a hostess at her Victorian bed-and-breakfast.

  “What’s up with that baby?” Gwen’s dark gaze bored into Matty’s. “Who does Sebastian know that would dump a kid on him? That seems beyond bizarre.”

  “I know it does, Gwen. I wish I could answer your questions, but I…can’t.” Matty hated being evasive with her friend, but she’d been the one who’d told Sebastian they shouldn’t be too chatty with anyone until they knew more about the trouble Jessica seemed to be in.

  “Wow. Then the mother’s identity’s a big secret?”

  “Um, yeah, for now.” Matty felt like a jerk. This wasn’t as easy as it had seemed in the car. “I promise to tell you what’s going on the minute I can.”

  Gwen looked hurt. “Matty, you know I wouldn’t betray a confidence.”

  “Oh, God, I know you wouldn’t.” She glanced toward the back. “But—”

  “You promised him you wouldn’t say, didn’t you?” Gwen sounded more understanding.

  “Yes.”

  “But Matty, if you’re mysterious about this baby, people will start wondering if maybe it’s Sebastian’s.”

  Matty avoided Gwen’s gaze. “Well, I guess we can’t help that.”

  Gwen studied her for a moment. “O-kay. Guess we’d better drop the subject, then.” She tipped her head toward the counter. “I’m going to weave myself that hooded cape we talked about.”

  “You are?” Matty grabbed the new topic gratefully. “I wondered when I saw all those colors you were buying. It’ll be gorgeous on you, Gwen.”

  “I called this morning to see if you wanted to come over for coffee and help me put it on the loom, but you weren’t there. I guess you were helping with the baby.”

  Matty hesitated. Gwen would find out sooner or later, and she needed to give her friend some information. Gwen was the only person in the world who knew how Matty felt about Sebastian. “I’m…uh…staying at Sebastian’s for the time being.”

  “You are?” Gwen clapped both hands to her mouth and her eyes danced.

  “But I’ve decided it’s hopeless, Gwen.”

  “Because of the baby? Or should I say, the baby’s mother?”

  “No, that’s not the problem. He came out and admitted that he’s never thought of me that way.”

  Gwen touched her arm. “Oh, sweetie. I’m sorry.”

  “Until last night, that is.”

  “Oh, ho! Better late than never.”

  “Not if I’m getting Charlotte Crabtree’s leftovers.” Matty could feel the anger boil in her. “I think he got all excited being with Charlotte, except they didn’t get to do anything, so now he’s hot to trot and I’m the next race on the docket.”

  “Maybe.”

  “It’s perfectly obvious, Gwen. He’s starting to feel like having sex again now that he’s over the divorce. Charlotte didn’t work out, and now he’s saddled with this baby. I’ve agreed to help him, so I’m handy.”

  Gwen considered that for several seconds. “We need to talk.”

  From the back of the store came a baby’s wail.

  “Matty!” Sebastian called as Elizabeth’s crying tuned up to full volume.

  “I’d better go,” Matty said. “I’ll send Nellie up here so you can pay for your yarn.”

  “Call me when you get a chance.” Gwen gave her friend a compassionate glance. “And don’t make too many assumptions just yet. You’re pretty close to the forest.”

  Matty smiled rather than giving an answer. With a wave of her hand she headed to the back of the store where Elizabeth was holding court. Gwen was probably providing false hope because she didn’t want to see Matty depressed. But Matty would take a little depression now rather than a permanently broken heart later.

  SEBASTIAN WAS a wreck by the time he pointed the Bronco for home. They hadn’t been able to get Elizabeth to stop crying, and when they admitted to Nellie they didn’t have a bottle to give her, the shopkeeper suggested they buy the baby a pacifier. After a discussion about the pros and cons, he and Matty had decided in favor of the pacifier, but they weren’t willing to put one straight from the store package into Elizabeth’s mouth. Fortunately Nellie had offered to take it to her little apartment over the store and boil it for a few minutes.

  The pacifier helped, but every once in a while, Elizabeth would spit it out and somebody had to catch it. Twice they’d missed, and Nellie had to boil the thing all over again. On the last go-round Nellie came up with a ribbon and a pin so they could pin the thing to the baby’s fleece jumpsuit.

  Somehow in that hullabaloo, they’d picked out a changing table, a crib, a mobile to keep Elizabeth entertained, a plastic bathtub, and at Matty’s insistence, a rubber ducky and a small sock monkey. The changing-table box was behind the back seat, the crib box strapped to the roof of the Bronco, and the mobile, bathtub and toys sat in the front passenger seat.

  Matty sat in the back with Elizabeth, using the monkey as a puppet while she tried to keep Elizabeth entertained during the ride home. The little girl needed changing and a meal. Both of them remembered the diaper bag they’d found among Elizabeth’s belongings, and they vowed they’d never go out without it again.

  “I had a monkey like this,” Matty said.

  “Me, too, but that doesn’t mean we should have bought her one. Basic necessities are one thing, but you start buying toys, you’re thinking long-term.” Sebastian was ready for this exercise to be over. If he knew for a fact the kid was his, he’d adjust. Not knowing, he couldn’t decide whether to get attached to Elizabeth or not.

  And besides, he was no good at this baby thing. He didn’t even know enough to take a spare bottle along. Matty was doing a fair job of keeping Elizabeth from crying, but he hated thinking that the little girl was hungry and sitting in a wet diaper because he hadn’t come prepared.

  He couldn’t blame that on Matty. Jessica had left the baby with him, not Matty. Seeing that she was fed and changed and cared for was his responsibility, and he was blowing it. Jessica had placed her confidence in him because she was in some terrible trouble, and he was letting her down.

  But he forced himself to drive carefully all the way home. Rain began to hit the windshield in hard little drops, and he had to slow down even more. He figu
red by that afternoon, the rain would become snow. If that baby caught a cold because they’d taken her out in this weather, he’d never forgive himself.

  “How’d you make out with Gwen?” he asked.

  “Okay. She’s dying of curiosity, but I told her I couldn’t give her any details yet, but I would the minute I could.”

  “Right.” Sebastian looked forward to that day himself.

  “She thinks the baby’s probably yours. But Gwen’s not the type to gossip.”

  Sebastian felt a headache coming on. “No, but that doesn’t matter. Nellie is all the communication device the town needs. And the way we left town loaded with baby stuff, we might as well have taken out an ad in the Huerfano Register. We were noticed when we drove by the barber shop, and Jake was opening up the Buckskin right when we passed. He got a good look, so anybody who comes in for a drink tonight will hear about this.”

  He tried to tell himself that he didn’t care what people thought, but deep in his heart, he did care. He’d built a reputation as a straight shooter, a man of character. Although he was willing to shoulder his share of the blame for the divorce, he knew most people in the valley laid the responsibility at Barbara’s feet. He’d secretly taken comfort from that whenever he’d been depressed at the failure of his marriage.

  But straight-shooting men of character didn’t have their illegitimate kids land on their doorstep. Besides, he was a private man, and being the subject of gossip had been one of the more unpleasant parts of getting a divorce. He thought Barbara and Butch had kept their affair quiet, but he wasn’t sure, and people might have talked about that behind his back, too.

  At any rate, people would have a field day with this baby appearing out of the blue. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. Nothing bugged him more than a difficult situation that he couldn’t do anything about. Tonight he’d call Jim about wiring the phone, in case Jessica called again.

  The trip from town to home seemed to take forever, but at last he turned into the circular drive. Hard to believe that less than twenty-four hours ago he’d been cleaning house and organizing dinner. Which reminded him that Elizabeth wasn’t the only one getting hungry. He and Matty had to think of their own lunch. God, he didn’t know how parents of little babies got everything done.

  He pulled up beside the front door and hopped out of the Bronco so he could help Matty get Elizabeth out of the infant seat. The rain had already turned to snow, but it wasn’t heavy yet.

  Matty handed Elizabeth to him before climbing out herself. When he handed Elizabeth back, Matty didn’t protest, as if she understood now was not the time to argue about who would do what.

  “I’ll change her if you’ll get the bottle ready,” Matty said briskly.

  “Okay, but I need to unload this stuff before it starts snowing harder. I’ll do it fast. Here’s the key.”

  “Hurry.” She started toward the steps.

  “Right. And Matty?”

  She turned, shielding Elizabeth from the blowing snow. “Yes?”

  “You’re a gem to do all this for me.”

  She smiled. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

  That smile worked on him while he wrestled the boxes inside. The shopping trip had distracted him for a while, but now the ache for Matty was back, and stronger than ever, as if it’d been gaining momentum while he wasn’t paying attention.

  On his last trip from the Bronco to the house he grabbed up the sock monkey. The minute his hand closed around the remembered texture of the monkey’s body, nostalgia hit him. Damn, but he’d loved that little sock monkey he’d had as a kid. He’d called it Bruce, for no earthly reason that he could think of now. Bruce had seemed like a good name at the time. Suddenly he was glad Matty had insisted on buying it. Elizabeth should have a sock monkey.

  She should also have a mother and father, he thought, shaking his head. Because he knew from bitter experience that even a sock monkey didn’t take the place of that.

  10

  MATTY SAT IN THE ROCKER feeding Elizabeth her bottle and watching Sebastian build a fire in the fireplace. Sadie and Fleafarm dozed in cozy companionship under the dining room table as snow swirled outside, silently covering the landscape. Snow this time of year wasn’t as much fun for Matty as it had been earlier in the winter, but she knew the ski resorts would be happy to get fresh powder to help them finish out the season.

  She wondered if Jessica was off skiing somewhere, enjoying herself while Sebastian took care of Elizabeth. Matty didn’t really believe that about Jessica. She’d heard the agony in the other woman’s voice when she’d called. Still, if Jessica could turn out to be a flake who didn’t want her baby, then Sebastian was free. He wouldn’t try to convince a worthless mother to stay with her child.

  No, he’d look for someone else to help him create the family unit he seemed to prize so much. Matty would be the logical choice. He’d already told her he prized stability over passion. As much as she’d held out for passion in marriage, Matty wasn’t sure she wouldn’t take his offer if it came. At least one of them would be in love.

  Sebastian looked mighty good as he crouched in front of the fireplace and coaxed a flame from the logs he’d split himself last fall. His economical movements contained an easy grace that made Matty ache with longing.

  Sure, she was sexually frustrated after all this time of not being with a man. But she could have rounded up someone, anyone, to satisfy that itch. Besides her date with Cyrus, she’d had veiled invitations from at least three other decent-looking cowboys since Butch died. She’d been considering whether to take one of them up on the invitation, and then Barbara had left. Since then Matty had been waiting for Sebastian.

  He set the fireplace screen back in place, stood and dusted off his hands on his jeans. Then he turned to her. “Think I have time to put the crib together before her nap?”

  She lowered her hungry gaze, afraid he’d notice. “I doubt it. She’s already looking pretty tired. We can use the drawer one more time.”

  “You were right about getting the crib, though. Once we set it up we won’t have to worry about the dogs so much.”

  She glanced toward the dining room where the dogs snoozed. “I don’t worry about them, anyway. They’ve been perfect with her. But they might lick her and wake her up if she’s on the floor. We should probably close your bedroom door while she’s taking a nap.”

  Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I’m not crazy about having her in there all by herself with the door closed. If I thought she’d be here awhile, I’d get one of those baby monitors Nellie was talking about. I sure was amazed that she carried all that stuff. I thought we’d be lucky to get a crib, and she had nearly everything.”

  “You never paid attention to that part of the store. Neither did I. It’s obvious Nellie loves babies. If she carries the supplies, then folks will come in with their babies.”

  “Makes sense. You hungry?”

  “I could eat.”

  “Why don’t I make—” He paused and continued more hesitantly. “Uh, which would you rather do, make lunch or put her down for her nap?”

  “I’ll make lunch,” Matty said with a smile. His question was reluctant, but he was beginning to take responsibility for Elizabeth’s care.

  Matty eased the nipple from Elizabeth’s rosebud mouth and set the bottle on the lamp table next to her. Cradling the baby more firmly, she stood. “She needs to be burped before you put her in there, though.”

  “I wasn’t very good at that last time.”

  “That’s why you should keep practicing. You’d better get a dishtowel for your shoulder, though. She might spit up.”

  He recoiled. “She might do what?”

  “Spit up. I made the mistake of burping one of my nephews without any protection and I had to change clothes.”

  Sebastian looked horrified. “Are you saying she might barf on me? Is she sick? Should we call a doctor?”

  “Not barf. Spit up,” Ma
tty said again, grinning. “It’s not a condition, just something babies sometimes do when they burp. A little of the milk coming back up. It’s not that gross, but you wouldn’t want it on your shirt for the rest of the day.”

  “I’ll get the dishtowel. Man, for a minute there, I thought we’d have to head back out into the snow. You’ll give me a heart attack yet, Matty Lang.” Sebastian hurried into the kitchen.

  She’d like to have a slightly different affect on his heart. But one thing was for sure. She couldn’t leave him alone with the baby until he was more relaxed about taking care of her. From the looks of things, that wouldn’t be for a while.

  “Okay. I’m ready.” Sebastian came back with a dishtowel draped across each shoulder.

  Matty studied him. “Let’s see. One baby. Two towels. Either somebody just left another baby on the front porch, or you think this kid can spit around corners.”

  “Very funny. I might want to switch shoulders.”

  “Then you switch the towel.”

  “Yeah, and while I’m doing that, I could lose my grip and drop her. How would you like to see that happen, Miss Baby Expert?”

  “I think there’s about as much chance of you dropping this baby as there is of Nellie Coogan giving birth. To triplets.”

  “I dropped Barbara’s expensive crystal goblet.”

  “You didn’t care about Barbara’s expensive crystal goblet.”

  Sebastian grinned. “That’s a fact. I like sturdy stuff. Those damn things would shatter if you looked at them wrong.”

  “Well, this little girl is sturdier than you give her credit for. Which shoulder do you want her on?”

  “Now see there, that’s the beauty of my plan. It doesn’t matter.”

  Smiling, Matty transferred Elizabeth carefully to Sebastian, which involved no small amount of body contact. Touching him made her nerves hum with awareness.

  “Hey, little girl,” Sebastian said as he hoisted her to his shoulder. “Sorry we were late with your lunch. I’m just a dumb cowhand, but I promise to do better in the future.”