Page 107 of The Cowboy and the Baby

When I was certain my parents were long gone, the windows locked, and everything safe, I put sleepy Lily in the middle of my bed, propped pillows around her, and emerged. She’d sleep with me tonight.

Bright lights hit me all at once. I squinted, eyes burning from all the tears, my cheeks swollen and ruddy. Exhaustion hit me hard, but I didn’t care. The relief was so powerful, it was potent.

A quiet living room met me, then a half-empty kitchen.

Wyatt and Cade sat at the table, talking in low tones. They’d put away the maps, and their coats still dried before the fire. Plates, utensils, and bowls of food lay between them. Heat piped out of one dish, and Wyatt stabbed another bite of ham. At the head of the table sat Cade. He had his head in one hand, stared in the distance. When I stepped into the room, his eyes snapped to mine.

Cade stood. Wyatt motioned to follow, but Cade waved him down. He opened his arms, and I hurried into them.

“Thank you, Cade. Thank you. I . . . I can’t imagine if you hadn’t . . . she’d still be in the Jeep and . . .”

He pushed the hair out of my face, kissed my forehead. “If we had to be, we’d still be out there, Noelle.”

Wyatt scoffed. “We wouldn’t have left her to stay in the forest during a blizzard. What do you take us for? Cowards?”

I held Cade tighter.

Cade held me until I let go, and then he sank to the chair again. I pulled up another one to sit next to him. He kept a hold of my hand, and ate with the other. Wyatt tore into a bite of ham.

“Your dad is alive, for what it’s worth, but I didn’t make the ride back easy for him.”

“Oh?”

He cocked a bright smile. “Open fields, Noelle! Fresh powder! Mountains to myself. It was a snowmobiler’s dream.” He winked, chewed his bite, took a giant swig of milk, and kicked his legs in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. “Well.” He sucked on his front teeth. “Maybe I went a little harder than I should have, but you won’t find me repentant anytime soon.”

Cade snorted, but looked at me.

“Lily is okay?”

“Fine. Practically unbothered. You kept her so warm.”

“She stopped crying the moment I took her from your mom.”

I smiled, brushed away a wild kink of hair that fell onto his forehead. “She knows her people.” Frowning, I asked, “Where’s Cora? Hawk?”

“Went home before the weather worsened, but they’ll be in touch. I want to thank Noah. Without the image he sent me, we may not have found them for a long time. Richard took a weird turn I never would have expected, but I think it was the only path the Jeep could handle while maintaining momentum. Eventually, he hit a tree he couldn’t avoid, and high centered on a snow bank.”

Cade shrugged, as if the rest were obvious.

“Damn confusing up there,” Wyatt muttered.

Cade sent him a half-hearted glare. Wyatt sent me a not-too-apologetic look, to which I smiled. “I’ll put five dollars in the jar later,” he muttered. Then added with a cocky smile, “Worth it.”

He could say whatever he wanted in front of me. Wyatt and Cody would always be family in my house.

Cowboy Code, and all that.

Cade stood up again, drew me with him. He commanded Wyatt, “Go to bed, and sleep in if you want. With the blizzard setting in, the animals will be sleeping longer than usual anyway. Tell Cody to do the same when he returns.”

“I’ll have breakfast on the table at nine,” I quickly said.

Wyatt sent me another wink, a nod to Cade, and he made himself scarce. Before he closed the back door, Cade had me in his arms. I sank into them, relieved. Exhausted. But unwilling to go anywhere except right there.

Where I belonged.

“Let’s get some sleep,” he suggested with a low whisper. “We have a mess to deal with in the morning. We’ll clean this up then, too. Tonight, I just want to hold you in my arms and know that Lily is safe.”

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