Tall, Dark, Texas Ranger / Once Upon A Christmas Eve. Patricia Thayer

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СКАЧАТЬ She’d had enough. She stuck her two little fingers in her mouth and whistled. The frenzy stopped.

      “Okay, let’s get organized here. Liz, you call Evan and tell him to meet us at the hospital. Millie, you phone Jade and let her know that Jenny’s in labor, then get Jenny’s phone and call her doctor to let her know she’s on her way.” She glanced around. “Now who brought their car?”

      Silence. Then Noah Cooper spoke up. “I have my truck. It’ll carry four people.”

      Jenny groaned with another contraction.

      “Okay, Mr. Cooper,” Lilly said. “You’ve been designated as official driver. Let’s go people.”

      Lilly put her arm around Jenny and Liz took the other side and walked the expectant mother to the door. Her mother went with Coop to the door. “My daughter is a school principal,” she told him. “She’s good under fire.”

      “And she keeps a cool head,” Coop said as he went outside, and he hurried to his truck at the curb. Opening the passenger side Millie placed a towel on the seat. Jenny apologized for making a mess.

      “Not a problem, ma’am.” He helped her in, then raced around the other side, took his duffel bag out of the backseat and tossed it in the pickup bed. He climbed in the driver’s seat and started the engine. Lilly and her mother got in the back and gave directions to the hospital.

      Lilly hoped to give up her supervisory position when they arrived. And the way Mr. Cooper was driving, it would be soon. She had to say one thing for the man: he hadn’t run away when things got dicey. That was a point in his favor, but only one.

      A little over two hours later, Noah was on his second cup of hospital coffee and still no baby. At least the father had arrived and was with his wife. He would have left but he wasn’t sure how the rest of the women would get home. And it was his chance to get to know more townspeople. He leaned against the wall and watched as so many people came in and out of the waiting area. It seemed Jenny Rafferty was well liked in this town. According to Beth, Jenny’s husband, Evan Rafferty, was a local rancher/vineyard owner. The grandfather, Sean Rafferty, walked into the waiting area with his ten-year-old granddaughter, Jenny’s stepdaughter, Gracie. Both were very excited about the upcoming arrival of the new addition to the family.

      Sean Rafferty was the one who drew the women. They were swarming around the older gentleman as if he were a rockstar. Beth let it be known to him that Sean was the most eligible bachelor in town for their age group.

      Coop’s attention went to Lilly Perry who stood outside the sliding doors as she talked on her cell phone. She was probably checking on her kids. He recalled seeing her earlier, giving orders to everyone. She was a strong, takecharge woman. Was it possible she knew what had been going on? Had she known what her husband was involved in? Had that been the reason they split up?

      Man, she’d be a hard woman to walk away from.

      The door swished opened again and his new employer, Alex Casali, walked in with an attractive redhead he knew to be his wife, Allison Cole Casali.

      Alex spotted him and excused himself. “Cooper, what are you doing here?”

      “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was the only one who had a vehicle close by to drive Jenny to the hospital.”

      Casali smiled. “Welcome to small-town living.”

      CHAPTER TWO

      “IT’S a boy!”

      Lilly looked up to see Evan Rafferty, dressed in hospital scrubs, in the waiting-room doorway. Several of the others in the group jumped up and offered their congratulations.

      Sean was hugging his son when Lilly approached. “It’s wonderful news, Evan.”

      The handsome new father grinned. “Yeah, it is. I wanted a boy, but another girl would have been great, too.”

      Lilly felt tears of joy, recalling the happiest days of her life had been when she had her children. “How is Jenny doing?”

      “She’s a champ,” Evan said. “Not one complaint. Jade was with her, and I was her coach.”

      Lilly thought about her good friend. Jade was a nurse at the hospital and had recently married ranch owner Sloan Merrick. “I’m glad. How much did the baby weigh?”

      “Sean Michael is eight pounds and six ounces.”

      Grandfather Sean appeared. “Did I hear right?”

      Evan nodded. “Jenny wants our son to have a family connection so we thought what better way than his grandfather and great-grandfather’s names? We thought we’d call him Mick.”

      Lilly could see that Sean was touched. The big burly man didn’t have a problem showing his emotions as tears filled his eyes. “My dad would have liked that.” Sean looked down at his granddaughter. “What do you think, Gracie? Doesn’t that sound like a good Irish name?”

      The ten-year-old nodded. “I like it. When can we see him, Dad? He is my brother.”

      The group laughed and Evan said, “Come on, I think family has some privileges.”

      Lilly watched as the threesome walked down the hall together. She felt envy for what she used to have, and had lost. What her kids had lost. Sadness engulfed her, but she refused to give in to it. She’d spent months trying to figure out what had happened with her marriage. What had happened between her and Mike. She never came up with any answers.

      She shook off the sad thoughts, knowing she needed to get home. She turned toward the window and found Mr. Cooper leaning against a pillar.

      She nearly groaned. Why was he still here? Well, she would soon find out as he started toward her.

      “I take it everything’s okay?”

      She nodded, not wanting him to see that his presence bothered her. “A healthy baby is always the best news.” She finally made eye contact with him. He did have great eyes. “You didn’t need to hang around. I can get a ride back.”

      “Not a problem. I was hoping to find out when I can move into the cottage.”

      She still wasn’t sure she wanted a stranger so close to her kids. “You’ll have to ask my mother.”

      “I did, she said it depends on when you finish cleaning. Not that I can’t finish the rest on my own.”

      “I was planning on cleaning the carpets. No one has lived in the place since my uncle stayed a few years back.” She sucked in a breath and caught his scent. A tingle of awareness she hadn’t felt in a long time went through her. She quickly got back on track. “Oh, and there are still some boxes I’ll need to move into the garage. I haven’t made the bed, and there aren’t any towels.”

      The sound of his phone interrupted her rambling. He grabbed his cell off his belt, checked the number, shut it off, then looked back at her.

      He seemed far too comfortable, while she couldn’t even manage to put a sentence together. “I can move boxes and make a bed,” he told her. “I have a few towels in my duffel. Tomorrow СКАЧАТЬ