Hannah Howell (34 page)
Authors: Stolen Ecstasy
When her child was born, she clung to Sebastian’s hand waiting for the cry, then sagged weakly in his hold when a good strong wail broke the silence. The baby certainly sounded healthy, but it was a few more moments before she knew for sure as the final stages of childbirth were completed and she and the baby were cleaned up.
“The baby’s healthy?” she asked as Mr. Tuttle put the swaddled infant in her arms.
“A little small, but those arms and legs were waving about good as any I’ve seen. He’s got all he’s supposed to have and a good strong voice. Maybe he wasn’t quite as early as you thought, miss.”
“That is quite possible.” She suddenly realized that Mr. Tuttle had said ‘he’. “I had a boy?” Even as all three men nodded, she opened the baby’s covering to see for herself. “A boy. Doesn’t that just figure?” She yawned and, despite her efforts to keep her eyes open, she finally had to let them close. “As if there aren’t enough of them clumping around.”
Grant frowned when Leanne said nothing else. “Leanne?”
“Gone to sleep,” Sebastian pronounced. “My mother used to do that. Stayed awake just long enough to hear the baby cry, then”—he snapped his fingers—“off to sleep.”
“We’ll let her sleep, then. I’ll wager she didn’t get much last night, not after hearing about Watkins and Martin.”
After setting the baby in a bed hastily made out of a bureau drawer, Grant heartily thanked Jack Tuttle. The three of them went outside, and Grant found himself accosted immediately by Hunter. After assuring his new son-in-law that everything was fine, he shooed the younger man into the cabin and turned to say his thanks and farewells to the men from St. Anne.
Hunter slipped into the room Grant had directed him to. He stood by the bed watching Leanne sleep for several minutes, then crouched by his sleeping son. It was all a little hard to take in. Only that morning he had been scared to death of losing her to Watkins’s twisted hatred. Now, not only was she alive, but they were married and he was a father. Quietly sitting in the chair Sebastian had set by the bed earlier, Hunter waited for Leanne to wake up and hoped by then he would feel less at sea.
Slowly Leanne shook off the grip of sleep. For a moment she felt confused, then her hands went to her stomach. Even as she sat up and looked around for her child, Hunter handed her the squirming infant and plumped up the pillows for her to lean against. The way the baby sucked on his fist told her what he wanted. A glance at Hunter told her he was not going to leave her alone to feed their child. Blushing slightly, she opened the bodice of her nightgown and put her new son to her breast. For a brief moment, she completely forgot Hunter. It was not until his long-fingered dark hand gently touched the ebony down on the baby’s head that she looked at him again.
“He seems quite healthy.” Hunter wanted to tell her how deeply touched he was by the sight of her with their child at her breast, but the words were not easy to find.
“Yes, Mr. Tuttle is probably right. He was ready to be born.”
“Leanne, I was not planning to marry Patricia Spotford. My mother and Patricia wanted you to think that so you would leave.”
“Which I obligingly did,” Leanne said, beginning to realize she had been tricked. “I’m sorry about your mother.”
“Yes, she didn’t deserve what Watkins did to her. We all had to fight a bad sense of guilt, partly because we didn’t feel the grief we felt we ought to and partly because we’d all told her to leave. Leave as soon as it was safe, of course, but she insisted on going immediately.”
The baby finished with what little she was able to provide and she held him up to her shoulder, rubbing his tiny back as she stared at Hunter. “Your mother was leaving?”
He nodded. “It won’t be known now, except amongst family, but Pa had demanded a divorce. He’d been thinking on it and got all the preliminaries done before my trouble began. As he said, how she acted then showed him she didn’t care a jot about any of us.” He shrugged. “So why stay together?”
“But divorce?” She was shocked, for divorce was something only whispered about, something so scandalous people lived in misery with despised partners for life rather than contemplate it.
Hunter laughed softly. “It still makes me wince. Leanne, it was the snobbery, the deceit she showed in driving you away that finally did it. Darlin’, that letter she gave you was six years old.” Seeing that the child was asleep, he helped her settle him on her lap. “She and Patricia carefully trimmed the top off where I had written a date.” He told her the story behind the letter.
It was hard to believe, yet she knew he was telling the truth. She told herself it was foolish to feel jealous, even hurt, over a six-year-old love letter, but those feelings lurked within her. There was, however, pleasure to be found in the knowledge that he had never broken his promise to her.
“So you didn’t just marry me because this little devil was on his way,” she murmured, watching their child sleep.
“No. I was coming after you anyway. Watkins and Martin getting free just made me a little more frantic.”
“They’re dead now, aren’t they?”
“Very dead. We don’t need to worry about them any more.” He smiled at her. “What we might worry about a little is a name for this boy.”
She grimaced. “I was never able to make up my mind. I liked one name one day, another the next. It’s not an easy thing to decide.”
“My grandfather’s name was Michael David.” He shrugged. “I’m afraid, not knowing I was to be a father, that I haven’t given any thought to it at all.”
“Michael David,” she repeated. “Michael David Walsh. It has a nice sound. I believe it’ll do.”
“That’ll please my father.”
“Speaking of fathers, did you know about mine?”
“Nope. Not until I found him. Well, Pa found out where he was. I went there hoping you’d found him too. Don’t ask me to tell you about all that. It’s his place to explain.” He took her hand in his and kissed her palm. “Just listen to him, darlin’.”
There was a rap on the door, and Leanne smiled crookedly. “Maybe that’s the explanation on its way.”
“You’re not too tired?”
“Not for that, no.”
When Hunter opened the door, Grant stepped in, balancing a tray with a hot meal and coffee on it. “Thought you might be hungry, punkin. Charlie said you didn’t eat much at all today. Hell, it’s nearly yesterday we’re talking about.”
Hunter gently moved his son back into his bed, then quietly left the room. There was a lot that needed talking about between him and Leanne, but he decided it could wait. Now it was time for her to get to know her father, to settle all that was between the two of them. When he finally opened his heart and tried to probe the secrets of hers, he wanted her attention to be solely his.
Leanne ate her stew but tasted little of it. All of her attention was fixed upon her father, the man she had always thought of as her friend O’Malley. She listened closely to all he had to say but could make no immediate decision about how she felt. Her emotions were badly confused. After he took her tray and set it on the floor, she met his expectant gaze with a half-smile.
“It’s not easy,” she said.
“I didn’t think it would be, pet.”
“My feelings seem to be one great mass of contradictary emotions. I’m furious and I’m pleased. I understand, yet I don’t. There’s also part of me that remembers life with Charity and asks whether running and scraping by could have been any worse.”
“I’m not sure I can answer that. I think it would have been. Binnie believes it. As a father, could I chance it? The answer’s no, Leanne. No matter how often I ask it of myself, it’s no. I honestly feared for you in such a hard life. You were so small, so breakable.”
“I know. If it’s any help, I do understand how hard it must have been to decide what to do. It’s just that, since Charity tossed me out, it seems as if everything I thought I knew about myself is wrong. So much has been thrown at me. I need time to sort it all out.”
Grant stood up, then bent to kiss her on the forehead. “Don’t look so upset. You’ve heard me out and that’s probably more than I deserve. You’re also tired. A lot’s happened to you in just one short day, not the least of which was having a baby. You just rest. We’ll be setting here for a while. You and I can get to know each other all over again.”
Returning to the main room, he found Hunter impatiently waiting at the table, everyone else having gone to bed. “I suppose you think you’re going to just slip right into her bed.”
“I don’t suppose it. I know it. Is she upset?”
“Confused. As she says, she’s had a lot thrown at her lately.”
Standing up, Hunter paused by Grant to clasp his shoulder in sympathy before heading towards Leanne’s room and advised, “Just give her time.”
Stepping into the room, Hunter was not really surprised to find Leanne awake. “You should be trying to get some rest.”
“I am trying, just not succeeding too well. What are you doing?” She frowned at him when he sat down to yank off his boots.
“Getting ready for bed.”
“You’re sleeping in here? With me?” Since he was still shedding his clothes, she decided that was a stupid question.
“I think Michael David’s bed is a little small, don’t you?”
“Very amusing.” She thought it slightly shocking that, while her body still ached from having their child, she could find watching him disrobe enough to stir a flicker of carnal interest within her.
“Leanne, we’re married.” He doused the light and slid into bed beside her.
“I know, but I just had a baby.” She made no effort to resist, however, as he tucked her body up against his.
“I’m not sleeping alone anymore. Comfortable?” He pressed a kiss against her hair.
She sighed and nodded. Sleeping alone had been hell. It was somewhat comforting to know he had not liked it either.
“How did it go with your father?”
“Not too badly. I don’t hate him, if that’s what worries you.”
“It did, a little. He’s a good man.”
“I know. Remember, I’ve known him for years. I just didn’t know he was my father.”
“And why do you think he showed up as O’Malley?” He felt her shrug. “He couldn’t put you from him completely, darlin’. He had to be part of your life, so he played that game. The man loves you, Leanne.”
“I know, just like I knew it when he was O’Malley. It’s just that—” She shook her head, not sure how to explain what she felt.
“It’s just what?”
“Oh, it’s just that I was so lonely when I was growing up. Those times with him and his sons were the only times I didn’t feel so alone. I just keep thinking that I—well, I had a right to have that all the time.”
He held her a little closer. “You did, but Fate decided to take it away. Grant didn’t. He gave you all he could while keeping you safe. Just try to remember that as you sort the rest out.”
She did and it helped. As the days slipped by and she spent time with her newfound family, her feelings grew less confused. Through talking with them, she got a very good picture of the hard times they had struggled through. That too helped for it made her see what her father had had to deal with. He had been beset with some very hard decisions.
Hunter watched her overcome her confused feelings about Grant and grow closer to her family. It caused him the occasional bout of jealousy. There was a lot he wished to share with Leanne, but he had to sit back and wait a while. Sebastian was the only one who saw that clearly and, while Hunter would miss his friend, he was glad when Sebastian left to go to his posting. He was not all that comfortable about his feelings being read so clearly when he was trying so hard to conceal them.
Grant watched Leanne as she finished her pie. “It’s been nearly a month since the baby came.”
“Yes, and I’m feeling as good as new. The baby’s growing fast too, isn’t he?”
“He’s a good, strong boy.”
Frowning slightly as she sensed something behind his words, she asked, “Are you leading up to something?”
“Leaving.”
“Leaving? For where?”
“The weather’s holding mild. I thought we’d get ourselves down to my ranch. It’s not that long a trip. Since we won’t be riding hellbent for leather, it’ll mean one night on the trail. I’d be sure to stop at one of those farms on the way, so at least you and the baby could be inside.”
“Inside would be better,” she murmured, wondering if taking such a young baby on a journey was a good idea.
“Honey, I really don’t think such a short journey would hurt him.” Grant looked to a frowning Hunter. “What do you think?”
Grimacing slightly when Leanne also turned to him, Hunter had to shrug. “I can’t see how it’d hurt if he’s kept warm. But asking me’s no good. You’ve had more experience with children and all that goes with them.”
“All right, I’ll tell you what I’d do. The babe came a little early and winter’s coming a little late. I’d take advantage of that to get him out of these hills. When winter does set into these rocks, it sets in hard and cold. Even as near as my place is, it’s warmer. If the weather holds, you could even keep on going straight to Texas where you don’t seem to get much winter at all.”
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