did he?”
“I know my horse.”
“Sure you do,” Cort said, smirking. “The poor beast doesn’t have much chance to avoid potential loss of life and limb with you around. So, anyhow, what’s with this baby? I’m guessing this is the kid you delivered the other night.”
Sawyer nodded. “He was premature and he needs a safe place to come home to after he’s out of the hospital.”
“And this is your responsibility because…?”
“Because he’s a helpless baby and his mother doesn’t have many options right now. Besides,” Sawyer said, searching for some reasonable explanation that would cut short Cort’s questions, “we went to school together.”
“Oh, well, that makes perfect sense then,” Cort said. “I’m sure the other dozens of women you went to school with would love to hear about this.”
“Will you cut me some slack here?”
Cort took a lazy swig from his bottle. “Okay, okay, so I’ve heard. Maya Rainbow is back in town, unmarried and unemployed, and she’s moved into the love shack. And you’re so taken with this baby that you’ve decided it’s your duty to rehab the place for her. I get the picture.”
Ignoring the heavy sarcasm in Cort’s tone, Sawyer said, “You haven’t seen the place lately. It ought to be condemned, but she’s determined to live there with Joey. So, will you help me?”
Cort shoved away from the counter to toss his empty bottle in the trash can. “Of course I’ll help you. Don’t I always?”
“Thanks, I knew you’d see it my way, little brother.”
“I’ll help,” Cort added, “on one condition.”
Sawyer’s grin faded. “I figured that was too easy. As if I have to ask what this condition of yours is.”
“After you’re done with this latest rescue mission, we set a date to go see Garrett. I want to get this over with once and for all.” Cort hesitated, eyeing Sawyer as if he was trying to gauge his reaction, then said, “I talked to him a couple of days ago.”
Sawyer looked at him in disbelief, then shook his head. “Great, good for you. So, what, you’re all ready to forgive and forget now?”
“No, but I’m ready to listen. How about you?”
“Listen to what?” Sawyer moved past Cort and went to the refrigerator for another beer, not because he particularly wanted one but because he wanted an excuse to break off the conversation and get his temper under control. Getting mad at Cort wouldn’t solve anything, but he was getting tired of Cort’s campaign to bring about a family reunion.
“I don’t know,” Cort said. “And we’re never going to know unless we talk to him. If nothing else, maybe we can finally bury it.”
“Talking to him isn’t going to make it any deader for me than it already is.” But even as he said the words Sawyer knew that they weren’t quite true. A small part of him still did want answers, if only to know what had been so wrong that his father despised his oldest sons.
“Will you at least think about it?” Cort asked quietly. “I told him I’d call back in a couple of weeks and let him know.”
Sawyer started to refuse outright, but Cort had always been there for him and obviously this was important to his brother for some reason Cort hadn’t bothered to reveal yet. “I’ll think about it, okay? That’s all I can promise.”
And as soon as he’d said it, Sawyer began to wish he hadn’t agreed to even that much.
Joey’s big blue eyes fluttered closed and Maya shifted him in her arms. He’d just finished nursing and now he lay contented against her breast, his little breaths coming in short, even puffs.
Maya pulled her blouse down and shifted her small bundle to her shoulder. Gently, her hand covering his entire back with each pat, she burped him. His tummy full, he let out a satisfied sigh and drifted into a deep sleep.
The door to the hospital room opened quietly and Dr. Kerrigan stepped in. “Is he finished?” she asked quietly.
“Yes, he’s been nursing for the last half hour straight. Here—” Maya moved Joey back to her arms “—touch his belly. It’s hard as a rock.”
Lia reached over and laid a palm on the rounded pink mound. “Well there’s certainly nothing wrong with his appetite. He’s gained five ounces already.”
“Really? That much? Does that mean I can take him home?”
“Patience, Mom.” Lia moved her hand from Joey to lay it on Maya’s arm. “He’s on a roll here, so let’s not interrupt it. You see, there may be latent effects from the trauma of the accident that haven’t surfaced yet. I want to keep him under round-the-clock observation a little longer.”
“I know, it’s better for him.” A tear welled in Maya’s eye and rolled down her cheek. “I miss him every minute of every hour of every day I’m not with him, but right now I have nothing to offer him to come home to.”
“Hey, you have you. That’s all he needs.” Lia pulled up a chair and sat next to Maya. “What’s going on here? This doesn’t sound like you. Has something happened?”
“Something else, you mean?” Maya tried to laugh. She impatiently swept the tears from her face. “No. It’s probably just postpartum depression.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. In your case, I think maybe not. Why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you?”
Maya’s pride warred with her need to release her pain, her fears, the emotions she’d been keeping bottled up, hiding from everyone, herself included. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” she burst out at last.
“Well, no, having a baby in the middle of a storm after a car accident isn’t ideal, but you both came out of it basically unscathed,” Lia said, smiling a little. “Joey is thriving, and you’re recovering from the accident and childbirth faster than just about anyone I’ve ever seen in similar circumstances.”
“I know. We are very lucky. But I wasn’t talking about the accident. I was talking about everything else. I was supposed to be married, with a loving husband, a job, a nice, clean home to bring our baby back to.”
“Oh, that.”
Maya managed a laugh between tears that now flowed freely. “Yeah, that. The reality is Joey has no father, a sad excuse for a home and an unemployed mother who bursts into tears at every opportunity.”
Lia laid a gentle hand on Maya’s shoulder. “Maya, listen to me. Do you know how many women I see who are bringing their babies back to homes where they wind up abused, neglected, abandoned?”
Maya shook her head. “I can’t even think about that.”
“Believe me, I don’t want to. Especially when there’s little or nothing I can do about it. But my point is Joey has more than a lot of kids I see every day,” Lia said firmly. “He has
