The Cowboy Wants a Baby. Jo Leigh

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       She’d met Eve while volunteering for the Texas Fund for Children, a large charitable organization that provided funding for a children’s hospital and rehabilitative center, staff for the two largest orphanages in the state and many other educational and health programs. The whole shebang had been started by Eve and her late husband, and Eve had worked hands-on to build the foundation for over twenty years.

       Lily parked the car in the circular drive and stepped out into the brutal July sun. With a high in the hundreds and the air thick with humidity, it wasn’t a pleasant place to dawdle. But she did. She lingered in the garden for a moment, her mind’s eye seeing what the grounds were meant to be when tended properly.

       At the massive front door, she hesitated once more. Eve had asked her to come by, but had been quite mysterious about her reasons. Lily hoped it wasn’t because she was ill. Aside from admiring Eve for her philanthropy, she liked the woman very much and considered her a real friend.

       She rang the doorbell, hearing its echo inside, then waited. The house was so large, easily ten thousand square feet, that unless Eve had help, it was going to take her a while to get to the door. To Lily’s surprise it was opened almost immediately by a young woman with a welcoming smile.

       “I’m Lily Garrett. Here to see Eve.”

       “She’s expecting you,” the woman said as she pulled the door open further. She was in her twenties, Lily guessed, and of Hispanic heritage. Her dark hair had been pinned up, and she wore shorts and a T-shirt, completing the ensemble with bare feet.

       “Please, come this way.” Her accent was slight, lilting. She led Lily through the broad foyer, her bare soles slapping the white marble floor, then stopped at a door just a few feet down the hallway. She knocked twice but didn’t wait for a response. Lily nodded her thanks as she stepped inside.

       The room captivated her instantly. Very Victorian in style, decorated in different hues of pink and white, it was made perfect by the elegant tea cart holding a silver service. Eve sat on an overstuffed chair, her petite body dwarfed by the chair’s velvet wings.

       “Lily. I’ve made tea.”

       “I see. It looks wonderful.”

       Eve patted the cushion of the love seat next to her chair. “Come. And tell me if you prefer milk or lemon.”

       “Milk, I think.”

       For the next few moments, Eve went through the slow ritual of afternoon tea, complete with tiny crustless watercress sandwiches, pink petits fours with icing that matched the color of the walls exactly, and little lumps of sugar doled out with silver tongs.

       Lily took advantage of the lull to study the decor. Lush bouquets of fresh flowers were on the mantel and an end table. A white upright piano was the centerpiece of the far wall, and a brick fireplace flanked by bookshelves did the honors on the wall to her left. Antique dolls stared wide-eyed from various perches throughout the room, their bright curls adding a bit of life to the old-fashioned library.

       Above the fireplace was a portrait, and Lily knew instantly that it was of Eve. She’d been much younger then, her now silver curls a deep coppery red. Her skin was smooth, her long neck arched and coy. The artist had captured her spirit, especially in her eyes. But the vivid blue in the picture had faded on the older woman.

       Eve handed Lily a plate and a teacup, waited for her to take a sip, then sighed.

       “What is it, Eve? Is something wrong?”

       The old woman’s hand trembled as she put her cup on the tea cart. “Several things, in fact.”

       “Is there something I can do?”

       “I dearly hope so.”

       Lily took another sip of tea, but she hardly tasted it, her curiosity was so great.

       “The simple fact is that I’m dying.”

       Lily nearly dropped her cup at the stark words. “Oh, no. Please, not that.”

       Eve nodded. “I don’t mind very much. Honestly. I’ve had a rich and full life. My days now are mostly about pain, feeling it, treating it, ignoring it. My hands have become traitors and my eyes, well, maybe it’s not so terrible to see the world in shadow.”

       “Is it really that bad?”

       “Sometimes. But nothing hurts as much as the heaviness in my heart. And that’s why I’ve called you.”

       “How can I help?”

       Eve leaned back in her chair as if the effort of sitting upright had become too much for her. “I have a grandson.”

       “You’ve never mentioned him.”

       “I haven’t. Because I haven’t seen him in five years. I haven’t spoken to him or heard about him. My son, his father, died four months ago. He had a heart attack. He hadn’t spoken to Cole in five years, either.”

       “Why?”

       “That’s not important,” she said, her brow furrowed with the effort of the conversation. “What is important is that I see my grandson before I die. I won’t be able to rest until I do. Can you understand?”

       “Of course. You love him.”

       “More than he’ll ever know.”

       “Do you know where he lives?”

       She shook her head slowly. “The last I heard, he was in Houston. But that probably isn’t where he is now.”

       “Do you have any idea what he does?”

       “No. Business, perhaps ranching. I don’t know.”

       “I see.”

       “You don’t. But you don’t have to. Lily, I trust you. I know you’ll bring him back. I’ll pay twice your normal fee if you’ll abandon all other cases to concentrate on this one.”

       “You don’t have to do that.”

       “I don’t have to do anything. But I’m a rich old woman whose shopping sprees are over.”

       Lily had no intention of arguing with her. She’d send an appropriate bill when the job was done. If, in fact, it ended satisfactorily. “I’d like to take this job, Eve, but I have to make something clear. I won’t bring him back against his will. We reunite families that want to be reunited.”

       “Fine. Then I’ll trust you to make him want to come home.”

       “Fair enough. I’ll do my best.”

       “I know that, Lily. That’s why I called you. I’ve done a little research of my own. I’m impressed with this new company of yours. But believe me when I say it was only because I’d met you and seen how you operate that I considered hiring you. Finding my grandson is the most important thing in my life. And that life, if one believes the doctors, will end in approximately six months.”

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