Kitabı oku: «The Rancher's Baby Surprise», sayfa 3
His mother looked up from where she sat watching over Hannah when he stepped into the room. “Perfect timing,” she said with a smile as she rose from the chair. “I’m parched. While you sit with Hannah and her little one, I’m going to go fix Autumn and myself a cup of tea and call your father.”
Garrett looked to the bed where Hannah lay, her face blessedly pain-free. She looked tired—understandably, after all she had been through—but there was a glow about her that hadn’t been there before. Her long hair, now dry with the exception of a few sweat-dampened spirals, fell about her face and down over her shoulders. It was the most vibrant shade of copper-red he’d ever seen, reminding Garrett of a fall sunset. Something he hadn’t picked up on in the dark of the storm.
His gaze fell to the towel-wrapped bundle Hannah held in her arms as she lay there and the tiny face peeking out of it. So very tiny.
“He doesn’t bite,” Hannah said with a sleepy smile as she looked down at the babe in her arms. “You can come closer.”
“He’s perfect,” Garrett said in awe as he moved to settle into the straight-backed chair his mother had just vacated. Despite his slightly wrinkled, blotchy red skin and scrawny little limbs, her son was perfect. The baby had a dusting of strawberry blonde hair on his head and big, slate blue eyes.
“He’s so small,” Hannah said with a worried frown as she looked down at her son. Then her gaze lifted to meet Garrett’s. “But he’s here. Without you, he might have...” Tears filled her eyes. “We might have...”
“But you didn’t,” he said, not wanting her to dwell on what could have happened. It hadn’t. “And I think the Lord played more a part in it than I did,” he added with a warm smile.
“That might be the case,” she agreed. “But you were the one He sent to save us. The man who risked his own life to save ours. The man who helped to calm me, finding us shelter during the storm. I can never thank you enough for what you did for us.”
“Seeing that you’re both all right is enough for me,” he said, noting that she could barely keep her eyes open.
“I should leave you to rest,” he said.
“I’m so tired,” she admitted with a soft sigh.
“Then close your eyes and get some sleep,” he told her.
Worry creased her brows. “I don’t dare. Not while I’m holding him. He could fall from my arms if I relaxed in sleep.”
“I could hold him for you,” he heard himself offering before he thought things out thoroughly.
“If you don’t mind,” she agreed with a sleepy yawn. “I know he’ll be safe with you, and I’ll only close my eyes for a short while.”
She was trusting the most precious thing in the world to her into his safekeeping. Garrett’s gaze came to rest on the sweet face of her newborn son. He was so small. Hardly bigger than his own outstretched hand, he thought with a surge of panic. Not that he hadn’t handled other small newborns before, but those had been in the form of bunnies and puppies and kittens. This was a baby, and he would never have one of his own.
“Garrett?”
He looked up at Hannah. “I’ve never held a baby before. I’m not sure I would even know how to go about it.”
“That’s how I felt when your mother laid him in my arms. But it’s much easier than you think,” she said with a reassuring smile. “But you’ll need to wash your hands first.”
Of course. He knew that. He should have done so before ever coming into the room, but he’d been so eager to see for himself that Hannah and the baby were all right. “Be right back,” he said, hurrying off to the washroom.
When he returned, Hannah smiled up at him. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
“Okay, now hold out your arms and I’ll hand him over to you.”
He did as she said, feeling an overwhelming sense of awe as she settled the babe into his outstretched arms. So, this is what becoming someone’s father would have felt like.
“Now bring him to your chest,” Hannah coached softly. “It will help to keep him warm. Just make sure his face isn’t covered. He doesn’t have as much body fat on him as a full-term baby would have had.”
As he settled the towel-swaddled infant against his chest, Garrett felt his heart swell.
“I’d like to name him after you,” Hannah said, her eyes drifting shut.
Garrett’s gaze snapped up, her words taking him by surprise.
“That is, if it’s all right with you,” she mumbled sleepily.
“I’d be honored,” he said. Truth was he couldn’t have been more honored. This child she’d given birth to was all she had left of her sister and he was going to carry Garrett’s first name. And it wasn’t as if he’d ever have children of his own to pass his name down to. His heart had died with Grace that day, along with his dreams of having a family of his own.
“What’s your middle name?”
“Austin,” he replied, his attention centered on the tiny face before him.
“Garrett Austin,” Hannah said with a sigh. Her soft, even breathing told him she had finally fallen into an exhausted slumber.
Garrett looked down at the precious bundle he held in his arms and smiled. “Welcome to the world, Garrett Austin Sanders.”
He sat holding the infant for nearly half an hour, his mother and Autumn popping in and out to check on Hannah who was still sound asleep. Both had offered to take the baby, but he’d refused to part with the sleeping infant. While holding something so small—a living, breathing little something—terrified him, Hannah had entrusted him with her baby’s safekeeping. He would keep her son cradled in his arms until she awakened.
That determined thought had no sooner passed through his mind when the sound of the baby’s breathing changed. Not significantly. If he hadn’t been holding the bundled infant against his chest, he might not have even noticed. But it had definitely quickened, the urgent little breaths enough to stir unease in his gut.
He crossed the room and stepped out into the hallway. “Mom,” he called out softly, not wanting to startle the baby.
A second later, she was in the hall, moving toward him. “Honey? Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure,” he answered with a worried frown as he looked down at the baby. “His breathing seems a little off. I wanted to see what you thought before overreacting.” Preemies might have issues with underdeveloped lungs, but that wasn’t always the case.
Concern lit her features as she leaned in to check on Hannah’s son. That concern remained as she lifted her gaze back up to his. “His coloring doesn’t look good. We need to get him some immediate medical care.”
Care that Garrett couldn’t provide. “Take the baby and have Autumn get Hannah ready to leave.” He started for the front door.
“What are you going to do?” she called after him.
“Whatever it takes,” he answered as he let himself outside.
Minutes later, Hannah was lying across the backseat of his truck, her newborn son held securely in her arms as they drove across the range, along the fence line that ran parallel to the temporarily impassable road. He hated that they didn’t have a car seat for her son, but there was no time to wait for the ambulance to be able to get through. Jackson and Tucker had gone on ahead of them to take down a section of the fence for them to drive through in order to safely access the road beyond the downed wires.
“Garrett,” Hannah said, “I’m scared.”
That made two of them, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. “We’ll be at the hospital before you know it. Tucker’s calling to let them know we’re on our way.” He followed his words of assurance up with a silent prayer. One for the baby and one for himself, because he was going to have to step through those dreaded hospital doors.
They were met by hospital personnel with a wheelchair for Hannah at the emergency room pull up. Her son, now laboring for breath, was quickly whisked away ahead of them. Hannah looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
He squeezed her hand reassuringly. “It’s going to be all right.”
As soon as she was settled, the hospital attendant wheeled her in through the automatic sliding doors.
Garrett, heart pounding, nausea roiling in his stomach, stood staring at those same doors as they slid shut behind the departing wheelchair. Hannah needed him. But so had Grace. Please, Lord, let us have gotten here in time.
Gathering his courage, more courage than he’d ever needed back when he was riding bulls and broncs professionally, Garrett followed them inside.
Chapter Three
Fighting a yawn, Garrett pulled out his cell phone to check the time—9:37 a.m. He wondered if Hannah had awakened yet. The previous day’s events had clearly left her spent, and understandably so. And what about her son? Lord, he prayed the infant that he’d held in his arms shortly after his birth was faring well. The emergency room personnel had taken him straight to the neonatal intensive care unit as soon as they’d arrived at the hospital and he hadn’t gotten to see the baby again before he’d left to head home.
Hannah hadn’t been the only one under emotional stress when they’d arrived at the hospital the day before. Garrett hadn’t stepped foot inside the place since the day Grace had taken her last breath there. Truth was, he dreaded ever having to return there again, but none of that had mattered when Hannah’s son’s life was at stake.
Once Hannah had been examined, she’d been placed in a private room just down the hall from the NICU. Garrett had then done his best to calm her fears, pushing his own aside. Despite the doctor’s reassurance that it was common for a baby born five weeks earlier than expected to need a little help breathing, that his lungs would strengthen in the days and weeks ahead, she’d been beside herself. So much so, that Garrett had ended up staying by Hannah’s bedside until late into the night, talking to her about anything and everything to keep her mind from going into the dark places he knew all too well. Places he’d gone to when Grace had taken a turn for the worse, with all the whys and what-ifs.
Exhaustion threatened to drag him down. He had remained seated at Hannah’s bedside the night before until sleep had finally claimed her. And that hadn’t been until well after midnight.
“Morning,” Garrett muttered as he stopped by the corral on his way to the barn.
“Morning,” Tucker replied. His brother stood in the center of the corral, working with a green mare they’d purchased to use as a saddle horse. Breaking in horses was one of his brother’s specialties. “Didn’t expect you in this early. Not after the late night you put in.”
Garrett raised a brow. “How did you know about that?” He’d been in touch with his family from the hospital to update them, but he hadn’t called anyone when he’d finally headed home. It had been too late.
“Couldn’t sleep,” his brother admitted. “I was sitting on the porch when you drove past. How was Hannah doing when you left?”
“As well as can be expected, under the circumstances.” Garrett glanced around, seeing their other brother’s truck parked beside the far end of the barn. “Where’s Jackson?”
“In the barn,” Tucker replied, his gaze remaining fixed on the young mare. “Just got back from running feed out to the veteran horses.”
Unlike a lot of rodeo stock companies that unloaded their retired stock once the animals’ profitability was gone, the Triple W Rodeo Ranch kept theirs. They had a special section of land fenced off specifically for the older horses where they could live out the remainder of their lives in leisure, being grain-fed daily. They had worked hard during their rodeo years. In his opinion and his brothers’, they deserved no less.
Garrett nodded, not that his brother had seen him do so. Tucker’s visual focus remained solely on the mare he was coaxing to pick up her pace as she ran around the outer edge of the fenced-in enclosure.
Shoving his phone back into his jeans, he leaned against the fence, watching his little brother at work.
“Didn’t expect to see you here this morning.” Jackson’s familiar voice came from behind him.
Garrett glanced back over his shoulder to see his brother striding toward them. “Why wouldn’t I be here?”
“You having had such a late night and all,” his brother prompted.
Garrett’s gaze shifted back to Tucker.
His youngest brother must have felt his accusing stare, because there was no way Tucker could have seen it with his back to them the way it was. Yet he called back over his shoulder, “I might have mentioned to Jackson that there was a good chance you’d be hitting Snooze on your alarm clock today.”
“Well, I didn’t,” he said in irritation. At thirty-four he could still manage a late night here and there and still get up in time to help his brothers with ranch duties. How was he supposed to sleep in, anyhow, with thoughts of Hannah and her son weighing so heavily on his mind? “I have blood draws to do today.”
Every six months, they needed to draw blood from the rodeo stock to keep their health certificates up-to-date. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to transport the broncs from state to state to the various rodeos. Having an in-house vet on the ranch also saved them money.
Jackson lifted a brow. “Someone’s a little on the touchy side this morning.”
“Maybe a little,” he grumbled. “Lack of sleep, and then receiving some bad news, has a tendency to bring that about.”
Jackson’s head snapped around. “Hannah?”
He shook his head. “No. She and the baby are okay. Or, at least, they were when I left the hospital last night. The bad news is business related.”
That grabbed both of his brothers’ attention.
“Kade called this morning,” he explained. “He had to put Little Thunder down last night.” Kade Owens owned the Breakaway Ranch in Oklahoma where, along with raising beef cattle, he bred and raised bucking bulls. Little Thunder was one of Kade’s top, prize-winning bulls. The Triple W had partnered up with Kade a few years back to allow them, as a joint partnership, to qualify for a PRCA stock contractor card, which required the stock provider to own a minimum of twenty-five bareback horses, twenty-five saddle bronc horses and twenty-five bulls.
“What happened?” Tucker asked.
“Thrombosis of the inferior vena cava.”
“Which is what?”
“A liver abscess,” Garrett explained, “which led to a serious infection near the heart.”
Jackson shook his head. “A real shame. He’s been a good bull. Hopefully, The Duke and Wise Guy will come into their own this year.”
“They showed promise last season, so maybe this will be their year,” Garrett acknowledged with a nod, recalling the two newest additions to Kade’s rodeo bull lineup. “At least, Kade still has some top contenders that rank right up there with Little Thunder for the upcoming season.” Their first scheduled rodeo fell during the second week of June. Without having promising stock to offer for rodeo competition, contractors risked losing out on future contracts. That’s why they made sure their stock stayed strong and healthy, sending the best they had to offer out to the various rodeos.
“True,” Jackson agreed with a nod as they watched Tucker move in slow, fluid circles from where he stood in the center of the corral, following the movement of the mare as it made its way in larger circles around him.
Garrett slid his cell phone from his jeans pocket once again. A quick glance told him there were still no messages from Hannah or the hospital. That had to be a good thing. At least, he prayed it was. If something had happened, surely someone would have contacted him. Hannah had placed his name on the very limited visitor’s list, along with his cell phone number.
“You don’t need to be here, you know,” his brother said, his tone no longer teasing. “Tucker and I can handle things here if you want to go to the hospital to check on Hannah and the baby.”
“You and Tucker can’t see to the blood draws,” Garrett pointed out. “Besides, it’s not my place to be there with her,” he muttered, despite the pull he felt. The last thing he wanted to do was force himself in her life.
“You’re right,” Tucker agreed as he turned, following the horse’s path. “Best you stay here and be useless, because your focus is anywhere but on what you’re supposed to be doing this morning.”
“And I’m sure Hannah prefers to be alone in that big old hospital with no one to turn to if she starts feeling overwhelmed with everything,” Jackson tossed out. “And with her baby being in neonatal ICU, you can pretty much bet she’s at least a little fearful—”
“Point made,” Garrett grumbled. If he wasn’t already worried about Hannah, he would be hard-pressed not to be after his brothers’ guilt-inducing comments. But she’d refused to let him call her father the night before. She’d said she’d needed a little time to let everything sink in, and that even if her father had wanted to come to the hospital to be with them he couldn’t. Not while he was sick.
“Someone should be there for her.”
“I could go after I’m done here,” Tucker volunteered as he relaxed his posture, signaling for the horse circling about him to slow down. “Seeing as how you’re digging in your heels at the thought of doing it. I could pick up Autumn on the way. I’m sure she’d like to know how Hannah’s doing, her having helped with her baby’s birth and all.”
Garrett shot his youngest brother an incredulous look. “Appears I’m not the only one lacking focus today. Yours is supposed to be on that horse right now, not on other people’s conversations.”
Tucker chuckled. “What can I say? The good Lord blessed me with the ability to be a successful multitasker.”
“He is, at that,” Jackson agreed. “Listen, I’m almost done here. Why don’t I run over to the hospital and sit with Hannah for a few hours, seeing as how you and Tucker are going to have your hands full for a while with breaking horses and performing vet duties?”
His brother’s suggestion immediately had Garrett rethinking his decision to put off going to the hospital until after he’d done blood draws. There was no reason he couldn’t finish them up on the remaining horses later that day, or even tomorrow, for that matter.
“I rescued Hannah and her baby from that rising creek,” he said determinedly. “That makes them my responsibility. So, if anyone’s going to the hospital to sit with her, it’s going to be me. I can see to the blood work later.”
Jackson’s mouth tugged up at one side, displaying the lone dimple all three brothers had inherited from their father. “Far be it from us to try and usurp your responsibility, big brother.” He started for the barn, calling back over his shoulder, “Tell Hannah she’s in my thoughts.”
“Give her my regards as well,” Tucker called out as he turned, gaze fixed on the young mare he was working with as he queued her to speed up.
With only a wave of acknowledgment, Garrett walked away. He would go to the hospital, but he was only going to stay long enough to make certain Hannah and the baby were doing all right. He didn’t want to feel as if he needed to be there with Hannah and her son. Didn’t want to care more than he already did in the brief time since he’d come across Hannah’s partially submerged car at the washed-out bridge. Because other than the love he held for his family, he preferred not to care with any real depth for anyone else ever again.
He had just reached his truck when his mother called out to him from the chicken coop, “Garrett!”
Turning, he started toward her, meeting her halfway. “I was just—”
“Heading to the hospital,” she finished for him as she switched the basket of eggs she’d collected to the crook of her other arm.
“How did you know?” he asked in surprise.
“Because I know you, and you’re not the type of man to leave something unfinished.”
He looked at her questioningly.
His mother tilted her head to look up at him, the morning sun glinting off her smiling face. “You’re the reason Hannah and her son are alive today, with the good Lord’s guiding hand, of course,” she was quick to add.
“He’s not her son,” he said. “She was carrying that little boy for her sister who died in a car accident a few months ago.”
“I know,” she said, her eyes filled with compassion. “Jackson explained things to me when he called for us to come over and help with the baby’s birth. And then Hannah filled in the rest when Autumn and I were helping to deliver her baby. Such a heartbreaking way to become someone’s mother. And that’s what she is now—that boy’s mother. Something Hannah might not have even had the chance to experience if you hadn’t come along when you did.”
He nodded in agreement.
“That being the case,” his mother went on, “it only stands to reason that you would feel the need to look in on them today and for however long they’ll be in the hospital. The three of you will forever share a very special connection.”
“What if I’d rather not feel any sort of connection to them?” he muttered with a frown.
His mother’s expression softened even more. “Honey, I know you’d rather live your life free of any sort of emotional entanglements, but they’re a part of life. No matter how large or how small, they help to shape the man you are and the man you will become.”
He was content with the man he was now. He had a good life. A supportive family. A successful veterinary business. Part ownership of a thriving rodeo stock company. He didn’t need shaping, and he certainly didn’t want entanglements of any sort.
“Your needs aside,” she said in that motherly tone he knew so well, “you and I both know there are still going to be some hard days ahead for Hannah. Not only with her own physical and emotional recovery, but with the baby’s health as well.”
“Garrett Austin,” he said, recalling Hannah’s words the afternoon prior.
His mother looked up at him in confusion. “What?”
“Hannah asked if I would mind if she named her son after me.”
His mother’s eyes teared up. “What a truly touching thing for her to do.”
Ignoring the lump that formed in his throat, Garrett muttered, “I just hope Hannah doesn’t regret that decision down the road.”
“Whatever makes you think she’ll regret it?”
“Because she’s been through so much,” he explained. “Losing her mother, and then her sister and brother-in-law so close together. Then having to come to terms with the knowledge that she’s going to be the one raising her sister’s son. And if that wasn’t enough for one person to shoulder, she got caught up in a flash flood while in labor. She might have second thoughts on a name she chose when her emotions were so taxed.”
His mother nodded. “It’s true. That poor dear has had more than her share of tough times. But she’s here, her son’s here, because of your selfless actions yesterday. You and I both know how easily that ground along the side of the creek could have given way while you sought to rescue Hannah from her car. Garrett, you took such a risk to save them.”
He could hear the worry in her voice. “But it didn’t. Although I admit I did a fair amount of praying yesterday.” The second he’d realized someone was trapped inside that partially submerged car, he knew he would have done whatever he could to help. “From the moment Hannah looked up at me through the driver’s side window, her eyes wide with fear, I knew I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let her die. Not like I had Grace.”
“Oh, honey,” his mother said, her eyes now filled with unshed tears, “your love kept Grace with us longer than she might have been without it. I truly believe that in my heart. But it was her time to go. Just as it’s time for you to let go of the guilt you’ve held on to for so long. Guilt that’s not yours to harbor.”
His mother became a hazy blur in front of him as moisture gathered in Garrett’s eyes. “I don’t know if I can.”
She reached out and placed a gentle hand atop his forearm. “You’ll never know unless you try. And I will say that if Hannah chooses to honor your act of selflessness by naming her son after you, accept it graciously. That little boy couldn’t be named after a finer young man.”
Garrett cleared the emotion from his throat. “I am the man I am today because of you and Dad.” Leaning forward, he kissed his mother’s cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
He drew back. “Don’t hold supper on my account if I’m not back in time. I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying at the hospital.” If Hannah was having a day even half as emotionally trying as the one before, then he would stay and do whatever he could to lift her spirits. Because, like his brother had pointed out, she was all alone.
His mother looked up at him with a tender smile. “Please let Hannah know she and the baby are in our prayers. And, if she needs a place to stay until she’s recovered enough to go home, she’s more than welcome to stay here at the ranch.”
“I’ll be sure to let her know,” he said and then started back toward his truck.
“Garrett...”
He stopped, casting a glance back at his mother.
“If things get too hard for you, being there at the hospital and all, call me. I’ll come relieve you and keep Hannah company.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said determinedly. Because this time it wasn’t about him. It was about Hannah and what she needed. That meant pushing past his own emotional hang-ups and proving that he was the man his daddy had raised him to be. With a wave, he strode off, thoughts of Hannah and her precious son front and foremost in his mind.
Hannah paused in the doorway of the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit to cast one more glance back at the incubator that held her sister’s precious little son. No, she had to think of him as her son now. But guilt kept her from accepting it fully. Austin, as she was calling the child, was Heather’s. It didn’t seem right claiming him as her own, especially after reminding herself throughout the entire pregnancy that the baby she carried inside her wasn’t hers. But her sister and Brian were gone, and their son needed, at the very least, to have a mother in his life. And truth was she needed him, too. So very much.
If not for Garrett Wade, she and Austin would have become yet another flood statistic. Brushing a tear from her cheek, she sent a silent prayer of thanks heavenward. The Lord had sent her a real-life hero if ever there was one. He had come to her rescue not once, not twice, but three times.
First, when he’d pulled her car from the rushing floodwaters and got her to safety. Then when he’d brought his mother and sister-in-law in to help with her baby’s untimely arrival during the storm. And then afterward, when the ambulance couldn’t get through because the main road remained cut off and the baby had begun having problems breathing. Garrett had gotten them to the hospital—to the medical care her son desperately needed.
“I thought you were supposed to be resting.”
As if he’d stepped right out of her thoughts, Hannah turned to find Garrett standing in the hospital corridor, a worried frown on his handsome face. She managed a small smile, even though her heart wasn’t in it.
His brow creased as his gaze lit on her face. “Hannah?” Looking past her, he said, the words strained, “The baby?”
“He’s holding his own,” she answered.
With her reassurance, his focus returned to her. “Thank the Lord.”
“I was just going back to my room,” she said, feeling drained.
“I’ll walk you there.”
“Thank you.”
Garrett stepped around to place a supportive arm around her waist as he accompanied her. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better.”
He nodded in understanding. “Should you be up moving about on your own?”
“They encourage it,” she replied as they made their way down the corridor.
Garrett, bless his heart, didn’t look happy about it, but kept his thoughts to himself. “Can I get you anything?” he asked as they turned into her room. “A glass of water? Crackers?”
“No, thank you.” She wasn’t certain she’d be able to keep anything down.
He turned his back to her as she settled herself into the hospital bed and drew up the covers.
“You can turn around now,” she told him.
He did and then stood there looking anything but comfortable.
“You don’t have to stay.”
He shook his head. “I want to. That is, if you want me to stay.”
“I...” The tears she’d been holding back spilled down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry,” he said with a groan. “I don’t have to stay. I probably shouldn’t have come.” He started for the door.
“Please don’t go,” she said with a hiccupping sob, futilely trying to brush the tears from her cheeks.
Garrett stopped and then turned, hesitating for a moment before finally making his way over to stand next to her hospital bed. He looked unsure of what to do. Like he wanted to be anywhere else but there, and she couldn’t really blame him.
“They’re sending me home tomorrow,” she explained between tearful gasps.
He exhaled in relief, the worry leaving his face. “So those are happy tears. For a minute there, I thought...” His words trailed off as she began sobbing again. “Hannah?”
“Garrett, I don’t have a home to go to,” she said. “Not here, anyway.”
“Yes, you do,” he told her. “Mom wanted me to tell you that you’re welcome to stay with them until you’re feeling up to traveling back to Colorado.”
“That’s so kind of her,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. “But how can I even think about leaving Austin? That’s what I’m going to call him, even though his given name will be Garrett Austin Sanders.”
“I like it,” he told her. “But then I’m a bit partial to the first two names, having had it myself for the past thirty-four years. And, just to be clear, the invitation from my mom was for the both of you. She’s raised three sons of her own. She’ll be more than happy to help you with the baby.”
Ücretsiz ön izlemeyi tamamladınız.
