Baby Makes a Match & an Unlikely Match by Arlene James

Author:Arlene James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Epilogue

Chandler crept into the bedroom, his boots in his hand. Bethany had left the light on in the bathroom and the door slightly ajar. He set the boots at the foot of the bed that had belonged to his grandparents and smiled down on his sleeping wife before tiptoeing to the cradle. Even after a month, Bethany preferred to keep Matthew close. Chandler preferred that, too. It had become more and more difficult to leave them both behind when he traveled to rodeos.

Drew felt the same way about Cindy, who was stuck at home awaiting the birth of their child, the slowpoke, as Chandler had taken to calling him, just to tease Drew, since Matt had made such an early entry. They were a pathetic pair, he and his partner, constantly thinking of those at home. Pathetic but successful, wildly so in the past few weeks, praise God!

No longer an infant scarecrow, Matthew had filled out well in the past few weeks. As Chandler stood there and marveled, Matt’s plump little face scrunched up. His fists rose to bat about his head in the instant before he let out a full-throated wail. Chandler snatched him up, cradling him against his shoulder.

“Here, here,” he whispered. “It’s okay. Daddy’s home.”

Matthew crammed his fist into his mouth and continued to insist that he be fed. Chandler couldn’t help chuckling. This was a boy in a hurry. Couldn’t wait to be born, couldn’t wait to get home from the hospital—a feat he’d managed only four days after Bethany—couldn’t wait to grow, couldn’t wait to eat, couldn’t wait for clean britches. Just a sprinkle in his diaper was enough to set him off. Neither of his parents minded in the least.

Bethany groggily sat up and started to throw the covers off, but then she saw Chandler and smiled.

“Welcome home.”

He bounced the fussing baby against his shoulder. “Glad to be here.”

She held out her arms. “Let me have him before he wakes the whole household.”

Chandler carried the little howler to the bed and watched in amazement as Bethany quieted him by holding him to her breast. She looked up, love shining in her bright blue eyes, and Chandler bent to kiss her, long and sweetly.

“I missed you, too,” she said when he finally lifted his head. “How did it go?”

He fished a gold-plated buckle from his shirt pocket and tossed it on the bed, then pulled two more from his jeans and dropped those next to the first. Bethany gaped.

“Three?”

“Three events, three buckles,” he said, grinning. “They’ll fit better in a display case than three saddles.”

She laughed and reached for his hand. “I’m so proud of you.”

That meant more to him than anything else in the world. Chandler nudged her over with his hip and perched on the edge of the bed beside her.

“If we keep this up, Drew and I could make the national finals in December,” he told her. “I might even qualify in steer wrestling. Tie-down’s out of reach, though.”

“This year,” she said, and he smiled at her optimism.

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