Operation Cowboy Daddy

“It was a good decision for you not to go,” Halena said when Mary returned to the house. “It’s important for you to remember your place in all this.”

“I know.” Mary sank down in a chair at the table. “But it’s difficult to maintain distance when Joey is so beautiful and happy and obviously bright.”

“And he’ll be gone before too long.”

Mary eyed her grandmother with a touch of amusement. “But didn’t I see you leaning over his playpen at nap time whispering to him?”

Halena frowned. “You shouldn’t be spying on an old woman.”

Mary laughed and then sobered. “Don’t worry, I’m very aware that this is all temporary. In a couple of days things will be back to normal.”

Halena grinned at her, the familiar wicked twinkle in her eyes. “Normal has never had a place in our home.”

Mary laughed again and then together they made a big salad to go with the evening meal. Talk of Tony and the baby was replaced by conversation about the craft fair that was approaching far too quickly.

It was five fifteen when there was a knock at the door once again. Tony was back and Joey was asleep in the car seat. “He got a clean bill of health,” he said in obvious relief. “And I had Dr. Rivers do a paternity test.”

“How long does it take to get the results back?” Mary asked. How she wished being in his presence didn’t free more than a few butterflies to whirl around in her stomach. This whole arrangement would be easier if she didn’t find Tony so darned attractive.

“Four to six weeks,” he replied. “No matter what happens with Amy, I need to know if I’m his father.”

“Of course you do. Now, come into the kitchen. Grandmother has dinner ready to go on the table.”

He followed her into the kitchen, where Halena already sat in her chair. “I can tell by the light in your eyes that things went well at the doctor’s,” she said to Tony. “I could have told you there was nothing wrong with that child. His eyes are clear and his spirit is eager to embrace life.”

Tony nodded and sat down. “Dr. Rivers assured me of the same thing.”

Halena nodded. “The leaves on the trees told me the baby was fine. The tree leaves often tell me important things.”

Tony nodded and shot a quick, uncertain glance at Mary. She simply smiled. If he was around for any length of time, then he would quickly learn Halena’s quirks.

He eyed the food on the table. “It looks like Mary isn’t the only one who knows her way around a kitchen. Everything looks delicious.”

“Praise will get you nowhere with me,” Halena replied, but Mary could tell her grandmother was pleased.

What pleased Halena even more was that Tony was a movie buff, too. He told them that sometimes in the evenings the men at the ranch all gathered in the recreation room and watched DVDs until bedtime.

Mary listened in amusement as the two talked about failed plots, silly characters and unrealistic action scenes in some of the movies they’d both watched.

For the first time she saw Tony completely animated. The spark in his eyes and the wide smile that curved his lips drew her in. She shouldn’t enjoy looking at him so much, and she definitely shouldn’t be enjoying his company.

“Those kick-butt heroines they have in some of the movies today don’t have anything over this old woman,” Halena said. “I can use my broom as a lethal weapon against marauding raccoons and other wild animals. My shotgun stays next to my bed and I can hit anything I aim at.”

She turned to look at Mary. “Maybe I need to get me a pair of those stiletto heels that actresses wear in the movies.”

Mary looked at her in horror. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea, Grandmother. You rock your flip-flops and tennis shoes just fine.”

Halena lifted her chin proudly. “I rock everything I wear just fine.”

Dinner finished and, as if on cue, Joey cried out, ready for his bottle. While Mary cleaned up the dishes, Tony prepared a bottle and went into the living room and Halena went to her room to write her evening blog.

It would be easy to fall into a crazy fantasy of a strong, handsome male taking care of the baby in the evenings while Mary attended to the dinner dishes.

It would be far too easy to imagine the two of them tucking the baby into bed for the night and then going into their own bedroom to make love and sleep in each other’s arms.

Once upon a time Mary had entertained those kinds of dreams, but over the years they had been stolen from her by a ravaging disease and bitter life experiences.

She couldn’t fall into any sort of romantic fantasies. It would be foolish, and Mary was no fool. She knew who and what she was and it was nothing any man would ever want.

When she went into the living room, Tony had finished with the bottle and Joey was ready for a little playtime. She took the blanket from the back of the sofa and spread it on the floor and then put the boy down with a few of his toys in front of him.

“He doesn’t seem to miss Amy,” Tony said. Joey raised his head and looked at Tony, then grinned and released a string of jabber along with a bit of drool.

“He also seems to have bonded pretty quickly to you.” She sat down next to him on the sofa. “What made you decide you didn’t want children?” she asked curiously. He was a young, vital man who appeared to have all the qualities that would make a wonderful father.

“I don’t want to get married. That’s one reason why I never wanted kids. I also didn’t have a father when I was growing up, so I had no role model to know how to do it right. What about you? Are you close to your parents?”

She had a feeling he’d changed the focus from him to her intentionally. “My mother died of breast cancer when I was eight and then my father was killed in a car accident when I was nine. Halena raised me and she’s been like a mother and a father to me.”

“And now you’re raising her,” he replied.

She laughed. “Don’t let her hear you say that.” She sobered. “It’s the way it’s supposed to be. Our parents teach us to use a spoon to eat and how to walk and as they age into their twilight years it’s our turn to help them use a spoon and to walk. It’s a circle of love.”

He gazed back at Joey, a muscle ticking in his strong jawline. “He’s so small and helpless.”

“He’s like a blank page waiting to be written on,” she said softly. “If you’re his father, then what will you write in his book of life?”

Before he could reply, Halena came into the room and Joey fell back asleep for a quick nap. The rest of the evening passed quickly as Halena took center stage and entertained Tony with stories about her interactions with her blog readers.

“People just get crazy when they go on social media,” she said. “They post pictures and say things they’d never talk about in real life. It’s quite a strange phenomenon.”

“I don’t do social media,” Tony replied. “I don’t think any of us men at the ranch even own one of those smartphones. As far as I’m concerned, my phone is for calls and nothing else.” He frowned. “I wonder if Amy does social media.”

“She used to have a Facebook page,” Mary replied. She got up from the sofa and grabbed her laptop from the top of the nearby small desk. She sat back down next to Tony and powered it on.

As she logged in, he scooted closer to her side, so close that his thigh pressed against hers, so close that her heartbeat quickened and once again she felt as if she wasn’t getting quite enough oxygen.

“Hopefully she’s posted something that will give us some answers as to where she might be now,” he said.

Mary clicked on the site and then pulled up Amy’s page. There was the familiar picture of her friend, but there was also a notice that if she wanted to see any personal information about Amy she had to send a friend request.

“She must have unfriended me at some point in time,” Mary said with a sigh of disappointment.

“Why would she do that?” he asked, obvious frustration in his voice.

Mary shut down her computer and rose once again, needing to distance herself from his intimate proximity. “She’s done it before in the past. Whenever she goes off the deep end and starts using drugs again, she cuts off all contact with me.”

“Amy is by nature a people pleaser, and when she is doing things she knows Mary disapproves of, she hides,” Halena said.