The Cowboy And His Baby. Sherryl Woods

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СКАЧАТЬ a stranger, he would have been less rude, more solicitous.

      Trembling from the unexpected face-to-face meeting, Melissa watched him stride up the aisle to join his father and his brothers in the first pew. In that single quick glimpse, she had seen new lines in his face. His sun-streaked, normally untamed hair had been trimmed neatly in the way his mother had always wanted it to be.

      It was his eyes, though, that had stunned her. Once they’d been filled with so much laughter. Naturally she had expected to find sorrow today in the dark-as-coffee depths. What she hadn’t anticipated was the cold antipathy when he recognized her, followed by an emptiness that was worse than hatred.

      Well, she thought despondently, now she knew. Cody hadn’t forgiven her. He’d looked straight through her as if he’d never known her, as if he’d never teased her or made love to her or shared his deepest, darkest secrets with her.

      “Oh, God,” she murmured in what could have been the beginning of a prayer, but instead simply died before completion. Their relationship was clearly beyond even divine intervention. She’d known it all along, of course, but she hadn’t wanted to believe it. The last flicker of hope in her heart died like a candle flame in a chilly wind.

      Though a part of her wanted to flee, she moved into the deepest shadows and stayed through the service, grieving not just for the woman lying in the flower-draped casket, but for the death of her own dreams.

      “You went to the funeral, didn’t you?” Velma Horton asked the minute Melissa walked through her mother’s doorway to pick up her daughter after work.

      “How did you know?” she asked, though it was easy enough to guess. The grapevine had probably been buzzing all afternoon and her mother was definitely tapped into that.

      Her mother sniffed. “You think I didn’t know why you wore that dress today. I know what you said, some nonsense about all your jeans being in the laundry, but I’m not a fool, girl. I knew you wouldn’t miss a chance to catch sight of Cody. So, did you see him?”

      “Briefly,” Melissa admitted.

      “And?”

      “And what? We didn’t talk.”

      “Then you didn’t tell him about Sharon Lynn.”

      Melissa shook her head. “He wouldn’t care,” she said with absolute certainty that was based on the way he’d looked straight through her for the second time in their lives.

      To her surprise, her mother breathed a sigh of relief and some of the tension drained out of her expression. “Good.”

      There were times, like now, when Melissa didn’t understand her mother at all. When Velma had learned her daughter was pregnant, she’d been all for chasing Cody to the ends of the earth and demanding he take responsibility for his actions.

      “I thought you wanted him to know,” Melissa said, regarding her mother with confusion. “There was a time you threatened to go to Harlan and demand that he drag Cody back here. You thought he owed me his name and his money. The only thing that stopped you was Daddy’s threat to divorce you if you did.”

      Velma rolled her eyes. “Your father’s got more pride than sense. Anyway, that was before Sharon Lynn was born, back when I didn’t know how you’d manage by yourself. Seems to me you’ve done just fine. There’s no sense in trying to fix what’s not broke.”

      It was a reasonable explanation for the turnaround, but Melissa didn’t entirely buy it. “There’s something else, isn’t there? Some other reason you don’t want Cody to find out the truth?”

      “There is,” her mother admitted, an ominous note in her voice. “Harlan Adams is a powerful man.”

      “That’s not news. What’s your point? What does he have to do with this? It’s between me and Cody.”

      “Not if Harlan gets it into his head to claim his granddaughter,” her mother stated, a note of genuine fear in her voice. “There’s no way we could fight a man like that.”

      Melissa was stunned by what her mother was suggesting. “Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid? Jordan’s known for almost a year now and he hasn’t even spilled the beans. I suspect the rest of the family will react with just as much indifference.”

      Her mother didn’t seem to be reassured. “Just watch your step. I’m warning you, Melissa, keep that baby as far away from Cody Adams as you can.”

      Though she didn’t think the warning was necessary, Melissa nodded dutifully. “I don’t think we have to worry about that. Cody will probably be gone before we know it.”

      Just then the sounds of her daughter’s cheerful, nonsensical babbling echoed down the narrow hallway. Melissa smiled. Her heart suddenly felt lighter than it had all day. The baby had had that effect on her from the moment she’d been born.

      “Did she just wake up?” she asked as she started toward her old bedroom.

      “I doubt she’s even been asleep. She didn’t want to go down for her nap. I think she sensed the tension in both of us. You go on in. I’m going to fix your daddy’s dinner.”

      Melissa went to pick up her daughter from the crib her mother had put up next to the twin bed Melissa had slept in for most of her life. Sharon Lynn was standing on shaky, pudgy little legs, hanging on to the crib rail. Her eyes lit up when she spotted her mother.

      “Ma…ma…ma.”

      “That’s right, darling girl,” Melissa crooned, gathering her into her arms. “I’m your mama.”

      She inhaled the sweet talcum-powder scent of her baby and sighed as tiny little hands grabbed her hair and held on tight. “You’ve got quite a grip, little one. You must have gotten that from your daddy. I’m the original hundred-pound weakling.”

      “Da?” Sharon Lynn repeated, echoing a sound Melissa had taught her while showing her a snapshot of Cody. Her mother would have pitched a royal fit if she’d known.

      “Oh, baby,” she murmured, tightening her embrace. “Your daddy’s right here in town. He has no idea what he’s been missing all these months. He has no idea that he has a precious little girl.”

      Cody would have made a wonderful father, she thought with a sigh. He would have been too indulgent by far, too readily conned by sweet talk and a winning smile, but, oh, how he would have cherished and protected a child of his. Her foolish actions had cost him the chance to prove that. Worse, they had cost her daughter a chance to be loved by an incredible man. There were days when she almost made herself sick with regrets.

      “We do okay by ourselves, though, don’t we?” she asked, gazing into round, dark eyes that reminded her too much of Cody. The baby returned her gaze with the kind of serious, thoughtful look the question deserved. Melissa wondered how many years it would be before that innocent contemplation turned to something far more accusatory because her mother had robbed her of any contact with her father.

      “Don’t,” her mother pleaded, coming up behind her.

      “Don’t what?”

      “Don’t tell him.”

      “Who СКАЧАТЬ