Baby's First Homecoming

“He moved back a year or so ago. After his divorce.”

“He’s divorced?” She swayed slightly. “I didn’t know.”

Not that it made any difference.

Or did it?

No difference at all, she assured herself. There was nothing between her and Clay, now or ever again.

Except for Jamie.

“If you thought he was in Texas, why didn’t you come home sooner?” her father asked, his eyes filled with sadness.

Guilt burned a brand-new hole in Sierra, bigger than all the other ones combined.

“It’s complicated. And I’ll tell you as soon as I finish with Clay.”

He’d begun pacing on the porch. From this distance, Sierra couldn’t tell if it was because he’d become restless or Jamie had or perhaps a combination of both. Neither man nor child possessed much patience, and both were prone to impulsiveness. They were also both charming to distraction when it suited them.

“You going to be okay?” Ethan squeezed her upper arm.

“With Clay? Of course. He’s mad right at the moment, but he won’t do anything drastic.”

“I wasn’t referring to Clay.”

“Thank you for caring.” She smiled tenderly at all three men. “I can’t tell you how much I regret the way I treated you the last two years.”

“Don’t worry, honey.” Her father gathered her into a hug and patted her head, much as he’d done when she was a little girl. “Everything will work out.”

She wished she shared his optimism.

“We’ll be right here if you need us.” Gavin stared menacingly at Clay.

“Watch him for me, will you?” Sierra asked Ethan. “I don’t want him going all big-brother on me.”

“Don’t be so hard on Gavin,” her father said. “It’s going to take us a while to get used to all this.”

To say the least.

The walk to the apartment took forever and yet was over in an instant. Sierra climbed the three porch steps with leaden feet and a racing heart.

Clay stood by the door with one hand on the knob, his expression guarded and grave.

Her son’s, on the other hand, lit up at the sight of her, and he babbled excitedly, just as he had three weeks ago when he’d seen her for the first time since the day he was born.

Giving Jamie up for adoption was the hardest thing she’d ever done.

Facing Clay, telling him about it, was coming in a very close second.

* * *

“HE WANTS DOWN.” Sierra sat on the couch, assuming, hoping that Clay would sit there, too, and Jamie would crawl across the cushions to her.

Only Clay had chosen the chair, a hand-me-down that used to reside in the living room long before she’d left for college.

Jamie squirmed and wriggled and whined, pushing ruthlessly at Clay’s chest in a bid for freedom. The resemblance between them, same hazel eyes and blond hair, same disarming smile, was striking enough for Sierra realize she wouldn’t have gotten away with lying about her child’s father’s identity for long.

“I won’t take off with him,” she repeated his earlier promise.

Clay released Jamie, reluctantly depositing him on the hardwood floor. He immediately scrambled over to Sierra, then abandoned her just as quickly to explore the cozy apartment. The two-person breakfast set fascinated him. He squeezed between a chair and the table legs, then plopped on the floor beneath the table, cooing with satisfaction.

Sierra hadn’t visited the old bunkhouse in years. As with the main house, the transformation amazed her.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Jamie?”

It was like Clay to ask the toughest question first.

She collected her thoughts before replying. “The simple answer is I found out you and Jessica were back together and getting married. Showing up at the wedding and announcing I was carrying your child didn’t feel like the right thing to do.”

“That’s not reason enough. You denied me my son.”

“Yes, I did.” And she would do it again, given half the chance.

“Why?”

She wasn’t going to admit she’d fallen in love during their two-week affair and that the announcement of his marriage so soon after it ended had crushed her. Clay would sense her vulnerability, and she wasn’t about to give him any advantage.

“I denied myself my son, too,” she said.

“I don’t see how.” He glowered at her as if she were a criminal when what she’d really been was a victim—of his callousness and the Stevensons’ heartlessness.

“I didn’t learn I was pregnant until after Dad told me you and Jessica had set a date.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you myself.” Clay’s glower momentarily abated. “I owed you that much.”

He had. And admitting it almost two years too late didn’t diminish her anguish.

“I was never very regular,” she continued without acknowledging his apology. “It wasn’t until the flu bug I thought I’d caught didn’t go away that I finally considered the possibility I was pregnant. You have to understand what a shock it was. We’d used protection.”

“I do understand. But that’s still no reason to keep Jamie a secret.”

“I didn’t tell my family, either, not that it matters.”

“It does, actually. I was going to give Ethan and Gavin hell for not telling me.”

“Today was the first I’d heard you and my brothers were friends again.”

“More than friends. Gavin and I are partners in a mustang stud and breeding business, and Ethan works for me at the rodeo arena, breaking and training broncs.”