Baby My Baby (A Ranching Family) by Pade Victoria

Author:Pade, Victoria [Pade, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2012-07-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Beth spent the following day doing the final handwork on Della’s bridesmaid dress for the wedding and listening intently for sounds of her brothers returning from roofing the honky-tonk. Try as she might, she couldn’t help waiting anxiously, hoping they’d be done early and Ash would come home with them.

It didn’t happen.

She delayed leaving for Kansas’s house until Linc and Jackson returned, but Ash wasn’t with them. He’d gone to the lodge to shower and change for the bachelor party.

It was good, she told herself as she drove to Kansas’s place. Good that she’d had all day to feel the old loneliness, the old longing to see him. It was good that now she felt the old disappointment, the old sense of taking a back seat to other things he was doing; of being out of sight, out of mind.

It was all good, because it put things into perspective for her. Things it was easier for her to lose sight of when her view was filled with Ash.

Kansas’s sister Della and her four kids were already there when Beth arrived. As was Danny, who had been staying with Kansas while Linc worked on the roof.

They ordered pizza and broke out a bottle of wine for their own small wedding-eve celebration, taking care of last-minute details while the kids all played outside.

Of course Beth didn’t touch the wine, but she did enjoy the companionship and camaraderie of the two Daye sisters as the liquor loosened them up.

Della drank by far the most, and by the time she gathered her kids to walk home, she’d gone from being giddy to being sentimental.

“I’m glad you’re marrying Linc,” she told Kansas, as Beth stood by while the sisters hugged.

Kansas thanked Della and told her she loved her, then made a joke to lighten the moment before Della finally left.

“Let’s get Danny to bed and then we can relax,” Kansas suggested as they herded the little boy back inside.

Beth didn’t do much in the way of putting her nephew down for the night. Kansas was already mothering the three-year-old and Danny seemed to have accepted her as just that—his mom.

Things would be good for Linc and Kansas and Danny, Beth realized, feeling a wave of sentimentality of her own. They might be a ready-made family, but they seemed to fit together as if it were meant to be. And, as she so often did, she envied them what they had together.

When Danny was in bed, Beth and Kansas took two glasses of ice tea and sat on the white wicker chairs on the front porch.

“So, how are things?” Kansas asked then, making it sound very much like a leading question.

“Good. Everything’s good,” Beth answered as if she hadn’t understood her friend’s intention.

“You know, Linc and Jackson are worried about you.”

“I don’t know why. There’s no reason to be.” Beth could feel Kansas watching her in the dim glow of the porch light, but she merely pretended a great interest in the railing.

“Is everything all

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