Page 40 of The Fugitive Cowboy's Baby
She shook her head. “Of course I wouldn’t. But I don’t want you to worry too much about it either. I’ve decided I can handle being a mother on my own. You don’t have to stick around if it’s overwhelming for you. I mean, I’d like you to, but I have no expectations.”
“Are you kidding?” He shot to his feet to pull her into his arms. Then, he wrapped his arms around her and held her about as tight as he dared without hurting her. “I meant what I said before. I want to stay for as long as you still want me around. This isn’t going to change that at all. You do still want me around, right? Please, say yes. I’ll go crazy if you don’t say yes. If you’re going to be a mother, I want to be the father standing by your side.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him back. “You’ll be a father regardless of whether or not you stick around. But it would be a dream come true to have a partner in this. To tell the truth, I was stressed about the thought of doing it alone. I mean, I’m going to do this, no matter what. I’ve already made my decision, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
He pulled away from her and looked directly into her eyes. “You’re an amazing woman, Kat Naylor, but you’ll always be a little lost kitten to me. I fell in love with you that day in the hardware store. I never could tell you before because I knew I couldn’t stay forever, no matter how badly I wanted to. But everything’s changed now. I want to stay with you in this town, on this ranch, with this child.” He took a moment to lay a hand on her stomach. Just knowing his own child was growing, cell by cell, within this wonderful woman gave him indescribable joy. “I couldn’t ask for more than a life with you.”
When she looked up at him, he saw two different people behind her eyes. There was that tiger he had gotten to know, that go-getter who never gave up on anything as long as it was still remotely possible. He also saw the lost kitten he’d first come into contact with that day at the hardware store. She reminded him of a tiger cub in a way, hissing and swiping and purring all at once. Everything about her only made him love her more.
Impulsively, he pulled her back into his arms and kissed her mouth. The passion between them was no small thing. With her, everything seemed possible. Before he’d come to work on her ranch, he believed his sacrifice was going to dictate the rest of his life. He could never have a family of his own—it just wouldn’t be fair to them. For the rest of his life, he would be on the run, moving from place to place, hiding from the world. He could never stay in one place longer than a month or two, let alone settle down and start a family. Somehow, though, he’d done just that without meaning to.
“I want to stay with you for the rest of my life,” he said, kissing her forehead and stroking her hair. “Can I? Will you let me live here with you, work here as long as I can, and help to raise my son with you?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Or daughter?”
He laughed. “Good point. I swear I will never consider this a mistake.” His hand found her stomach again, and then he was hugging her to his chest. “This is the greatest gift I’ve ever been given. You, my child, this ranch, this town. I never thought I’d deserve it or get to have anything like this life.”
“Me neither.” She smiled up at him. “So, let’s make the most of it.”
“I love you,” he admitted. “You know that, right? I love you so much.”
“I love you, too,” she said. And hearing those words from her changed his entire world in the best possible way. Life would never be the same again, and he didn’t want it to. His old life was a trap. Suddenly, he was free. He could hardly believe it. The little lost kitten from the hardware store had ripped the chains off him, set him free, and handed him his true destiny in the space of a few months.
EPILOGUE
KAT - TWELVE MONTHS LATER
Kat had just finished ringing up a customer in the gift shop when Tony came running in to ask her, “Have you seen Cole?”
She shook her head. “Not recently. What do you need him for?”
All of a sudden, Tony’s face fell, and he thought a moment about his answer. That was how Kat knew that whatever he said next was going to be a terrible lie. Terrible, because he was so bad at it that he could never hide the fact that he was lying, not because he was going to lie about anything particularly nasty. Finally, he thought of his answer. “Nothing. I was just curious where he got off to. It’s nothing serious. Nothing at all.”
Kat chuckled and shook her head. “Sure thing, Tony. Let me know when you find him.”
On instinct, she turned back to check on her baby girl, who was usually having tummy time in her playpen around this time. Then, she remembered that her mom had taken her for the day. Tonight was supposed to be a date night, and that was why. No matter how nice a quiet evening was and how often she actuallycraved one, Kat always missed her baby when her mom was watching her. It was a weird parenthood paradox that she would never have understood before she experienced it for herself.
She looked at her phone and noted the time. It was nearly five, so the gift shop was due to be closed. The shop was something she was particularly proud of, having envisioned and designed it herself. It was rustic, just like she knew Cole would like, with barrels used as display counters on the ends of the unfinished, wooden shelves. They had soaps and cheeses, mittens, refreshments, and little charms she’d commissioned from a vendor in town.
Everything in the shop was either made on site or locally sourced. Sometimes it was a bit of both, seeing as Kat couldn’t knit to save her life. She would get the wool on site and have it processed in town. It felt amazing to be such a huge part of a community that she was actually improving the local economy, too.
Her own business wasn’t in the black just yet, but it was looking better and better with every month. If things continued in the same direction, she expected the Lost Kitten Ranch to be profitable within a year. She turned the lights off in the gift shop and locked up before starting to close down the register the way she did every day. Back in Houston, it had been nice to live close to work, but working on her own land was worlds better, she had to admit.
When she’d finished closing up the gift shop, she went out looking for Cole. If Tony couldn’t find him, she couldn’t imagine where he would be. She passed by the petting zoo. It was still open and being tended to by Charlie, who turned out to be an even better ranch hand than Kat had originally assumed she would be. Also, the kids loved her.
There were two families staying on the property this week, and their kids were playing with the lambs and goats. Dolly the donkey was a lot more popular than Kat had predicted, so she was glad to have taken Charlie’s advice right away.
“Hey, Charlie,” Kat called to her newest employee. “Have you seen Cole around?”
Charlie shook her head. “I saw him once a couple hours ago but not since then.” She was walking Dolly back to the barn for the evening. When the donkey saw Kat, she ran over to greet her. Charlie chased after her halfheartedly. Dolly was never trouble, and stopping her from greeting her favorite person was never really worth the effort.
“Hey, Dolly. Good girl.” Kat reached out to give Dolly the love she wanted.
“Is something the matter?” Charlie asked. “I thought you and Cole were having a date night.”
“So did I,” Kat said. “But he seems to be a bit AWOL.”
“I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.”
