Diamond Spur (39 page)

"I'll play Santa Claus for the rest of us," Gene volunteered. He passed out packages and for the next few minutes, everyone in the house, Sheila included, tore off ribbons and paper, ooohing and aahing over their gifts.

Kate sat in Jason's arms that night, under the Christmas tree lights shimmering in colors around the lighted fireplace. The two of them listened to Christmas hymns while Gene and Mama Donavan and Cherry talked about the Christmas season and Gene told her about their forthcoming baby. Kate wore around her neck a delicate silver filigree necklace with a crystal charm enclosing a tiny mustard seed. It was the sparkly thing Jason had bought for her—an expensive little bit of nothing, but with a profound message. It came from a passage in the Bible, which referred to all things being possible if the believer had only faith as a grain of mustard seed. Jason smiled at her, the wonder of shared love in his dark eyes. And when Kate felt his warm, strong hands linking it around her neck, and he whispered that he loved her, she cried. His watch had less of a message, but he was proud of it just the same. But his finest, most precious gift, he told her, was his Kate. Jason looked down at Kate with delight, his fingers lightly brushing her waistline, smiling tenderly. She pressed his hand against her. "It's still too soon to be sure," she whispered. "I know. Let me dream," he whispered back. "You look so different," she murmured lazily, nudging him with her head. "Relaxed. Less tense." "I should, after last night," he whispered. "My God, what a Christmas present you gave me!" "I got one back," she said, smiling. "Jason, I've never been so happy." "Neither have I." He glanced past her at his mother and Gene, heads together, looking so much alike that it touched his heart. "She's happy, too. I've talked her into staying a week. Gene and I want time to get to know her. We've got a lot of time to make up." "She's a character," Kate mused. "I love her to bits already. I want Mama to meet her." "We'll have her over to dinner tomorrow night" "That would be nice." She yawned. "Goodness, I get tired easily these days." "No wonder," he teased. She linked her hand into his. "Will you be terribly disappointed if I'm not pregnant?" "No. Because the way things are between us, before much longer you will be." He kissed her forehead. "I love you, sweetheart." She smiled, tingled at the words. "I love you, too." The days passed lazily after Christmas, and Kate grew close to Mama Donavan, as her boys did. But all too soon, the older woman grew restless for her own familiar room in the nursing home, and Jason reluctantly agreed to drive her home. "I'll come back," she promised. "But I miss my friends. You don't mind, really, do you?" "I mind," he told his mother gently. "But we'll keep in touch now. You're part of us. We're part of you. We won't ever be strangers again. Or enemies." She hugged him close, her eyes full of tears and love. "Thank you," she managed huskily. "Thank you for coming to see me. Thank you for forgiving me." "There was nothing to forgive," he said quietly. He kissed her wrinkled cheek. "Tell Kate good-bye. Then I'll drive you over to Gene's and you can say good-bye to him." "I'll see you when the baby comes, Kate," Mrs. Donavan murmured as she kissed Kate warmly. "Take good care of my boy." "The best I can," Kate promised, and hugged her back. "Godspeed, Mama Donavan." "You're a good girl. I'm glad you're my daughter-in
law. Okay, son, let's go," she told Jason. "And don't think you can drive me around in circles and bring me back here and tell me we're in Tucson. I may be blind, but I hear really well." Jason chuckled. "Okay. No tricks." "And when we get to El Paso, you can let me drive," the older woman said with a twinkle in her eyes. "I'll get you through that city traffic in no time!"

"She might do better than you do, at that," Kate began
.
Jason glared at her. "At least I can get the car through the gate without losing a fender," he sho
t

back, and grinned when she blushed. She'd done just that not a day before. "I didn't see the gate," she defended herself. "It jumped out in front of me." "Sure it did, honey." He bent and kissed her softly. "Take care of yourself until I get back." "You, too," she murmured, and kissed him back. "I'll put a candle in the window." She watched him drive away and this time she smiled. It was so different from the last time

he'd left. But now he'd be back. And she knew almost certainly that she was carrying his child. Life was going to be sweet from now on. She touched the tiny mustard seed charm around her neck, marveling at the small miracle that was even then growing in her body.

"Is he awake, do you reckon?" a drawling voice murmured.

"I don't think so. He looks pretty flat to me."

"Maybe he's hiding."

"Could be. I heard the baby crying most of the night. My God, that kid's got a set of lungs!"

"So has his daddy," came the laconic reply. "And if you wake him up, you'll hear 'em."

"Well, we can't get anything done until he tells us what to do about that new lot of cattle he bought." "Let's try calling him," another voice suggested. "How about if we do that from outside?" a younger one replied. "There's a bucket of water by the front porch." Jason opened one eye under the concealing brim of his hat. The cowboys were gathered around

the bunk he was lying on in the bunkhouse. Red Barton was grinning, Gabe looked worried, and the others were just plain amused.

"What do you want?" he asked curtly.

"New breeding stock's coming in, boss," Gabe announced. "Where you want us to put the heifers?"

"And do you want the bulls in with them, or in a separate pasture?"

"And what about that crazy looking bull?" Barton asked. "My God, boss, he's so ugly, one of the boys threatened to quit if he had to look at him more than once."

"He's just like the Indian bull I got last year that pulled us out of the hole and saved your jobs," Jason reminded him. "You thought he was beautiful when I sold that lot of calves he sired and you got a bonus."

"All that money made my eyes go bad, I guess," Barton sighed. "Anyway, right now, he's a sitting bull," he added, grinning. "He won't get up. And he looks lonely."

"Then why don't you go sing him a lullaby?" Jason muttered darkly.

"Looks like somebody else could use one of those," Gabe remarked, cocking an ear toward the house. "Your son and heir is at it again." "Miss Kate will leave you for sure," Barton assured him. "Poor woman." "It's tough being a baby," one of the older hands observed. "Can't do anything except lay there

and have people talk funny to you. I don't blame the little guy for crying. I'd cry too if I couldn't

drive the truck or eat chili."

"Fire that man," Gabe told the boss.

"Just before roundup?" Jason asked, sitting up wearily. "Bite your tongue."

"Then fire him after roundup. He snores."

"I do not," the old hand grumbled. "It's my deviated septum."

"I'll deviate your septum if you don't stop snoring!"

"What time is it?" Jason groaned. His back was half broken. The bunk was harder than his

mattress.

"Nine o'clock," Gabe offered. "You must have really been tired."

"First Kate rocked him. Then I rocked him. Then his

grandmother rocked him. Then Sheila rocked him. And he never stopped, not for a minute. The doctor says it's colic. He gave us some medicine for it, but Kate won't use it." "The baby just stopped crying," Barton remarked. He grinned. "I guess Miss Kate just gave

in."

"Oh, thank God," Jason moaned.

"Poor Daddy," Gabe patted him. "There, there, you'll make it until baby graduates college."

Jason glared at him. "Of course I will," he muttered. "He's just a baby, he'll grow."

"His lungs already did," Barton said, tongue in cheek.

Jason got to his feet, unshaven and still wearing his jeans and checked Western shirt with its blue plaid wrinkled from being slept in. He hadn't even taken off his boots. He reached down and picked up his hat, stretching painfully. "My God, how do you sleep on those things?" he asked, glaring at the bunk. "If I had the money, I'd buy you all decent mattresses." "We're too tired to care where we sleep," Barton reminded him. "Like you must have been last night, boss man." "I thought babies slept," Jason said dazedly. "I swear to God I did. Everybody said so. He doesn't sleep. He's been here for weeks, and he hasn't slept yet."

"He will," Gabe assured him. "Eventually."

Jason went out, followed by the men. He told them what to do with the new cattle and went into the house to check on Kate. "You traitor," she accused the minute he walked in the door. "Hiding in the bunkhouse. Your men told on you!" "Well, I ought to fire them," he sighed. "But I guess I deserve everything I get," he agreed with a grin. "Wait here while I load you a gun to shoot me with."

"Don't be silly." She went into his arms, kissing him lazily. "Our son is asleep. I finally broke down and gave him the medicine. I guess Dr. Harris figured I would when I couldn't stand any more of the colic. But so many people said I shouldn't give him medicine for it..."

"Dr. Harris wasn't one of them," he reminded her. "How's baby's mama?"

She smiled up at him. "Baby's mama is still overwhelmed with being baby's mama. Oh, Jason, isn't he a little miracle, huge lungs and all? Every day he does something different, or he makes a sound he hasn't made before. He watches me and he makes the cutest expressions.... I adore him."

"So do I." He kissed her forehead tenderly. "Being with you, when he was born, was something I'll never forget. That was a miracle, too." She nuzzled her face against him. "You poor man. These long nights are hard on you, I know, when you have to work so hard."

"Not all that hard." He smiled. "I've gotten us out of the hole and operating in the black. And your new collection made a bundle, Mrs. Donavan. And with this new licensing thing, I guess you'll have it made.

"Fame and fortune are fleeting," he whispered at her lips. "But loving lasts a long time. And you and I may set new records for it the next hundred years." She laughed delightedly. "That suits me. As for my designing, most of that will be done at home, now. I don't want little Cade left with a baby-sitter. Besides, that wouldn't be easy

since I'm nursing him."

"Watching it gives me the sweetest pleasure," he whispered, his eyes locked with hers. "There's something profound about a tiny mouth suckling at a woman's breast." She blushed, but she smiled, too, because it was profound. She sighed. "I'm tired." "I know you are. I wouldn't have run out on you, but I

knew I bad these cattle coming in, and I had to get enough sleep to cope with the arrangements." "I forgive you." She reached up and kissed him. "Mama Donavan's rocking him right now. She was so delighted that we asked her to come and stay after he was born."

"She loves Tucson, but she likes being around us," he agreed. "I'm sorry Gene and Cherry and little Lisa couldn't come back to see him. But he's determined to stay in France until he gets through that international exhibit. He's doing good work. I'm proud of him."

"You can tell him that when he gets back. It will make him feel good," she said gently.

"You make me feel good," he said. "Just looking at you gives me goose bumps."

"I hope it always will." She moved away reluctantly. "Want me to fix you some breakfast?"

"Where's Sheila?"

She led him to the living room door, and nodded toward the sofa. Sheila was sound asleep on it. Mary Whittman was sprawled in an armchair next to it, her mouth open, faintly snoring. "My God," Jason murmured. "How many people have we pressed into labor here?" "Well, there's Mama Donavan upstairs, and Sandy's in the guest bedroom, Dessie's next to her..."

"...anyone else?" he interrupted, amused.

"Mrs. Rogers phoned and offered to come if we needed her. And Jo at the cafe, and..."

"Never mind.'' He shook his head, his dark eyes adoring her. "I hope Cade inherits your gift for attracting help. By the time he's old enough to help me work the ranch, we'll need extra hands."

"Oh, that reminds me," she continued, "Red Barton took a turn rocking, and so did Gabe." She grinned. "I wish you could have seen them."

He chuckled. "So do I. They never mentioned it when they came in to wake me up." He touched her nose. "What are you going to cook for me?"

"How about cereal with milk?" she asked hopefully.

"Okay."

"In that case, you can have scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits," she offered, and hugged him.

After he'd eaten, Kate led him up the staircase to the nursery. She had decorated it in soft blues with teddy bears and lambs on the wallpaper and a white baby bed with a tiny blue quilt that Mary had made for little Cade.

The son and heir was curled up in his grandmother's arms, being sung a lullaby. Kate and Jason paused in the doorway, staring at the tiny head with its cap of jet black hair, sleeping in his tiny jumper.

"He'll sleep for a while," Mrs. Donavan sighed, touching the tiny face with delicate fingers. "I can't see him, you know, but I know what he looks like. Jason, he's the image of you." Jason grinned like a man receiving an award, and Kate reached up and kissed his cheek. "What did I tell you, Daddy?" she teased softly. He nuzzled her face. "I guess that means I can't claim you had a mad affair with the milkman," he murmured dryly. "We don't have a milkman, sweetheart," she reminded him. "Anyway, he's going to have brown eyes. I can tell."

"Sassy, isn't she?" Mama Donavan grinned.

"She always has been," Jason sighed. "And I wouldn't change a hair on her pretty head." He kissed Kate and then leaned over to touch his lips to Mama Donavan's wrinkled cheek. He looked

down at his son. He brushed his lean fingers over the tiny head, his eyes blazing with pride and love. Kate caught her breath when she saw his expression.

She smiled at him, her own love reflected in her eyes. I'd do it all again, she thought suddenly.

I'd go through it all again, every painful minute, for this.

And Jason, watching her, read her thoughts. He smiled back at her because he felt the same way. Every day his love for her grew, but now there were no barriers, no doubts. He wasn't even jealous of her career because every night she slept in his arms, and he knew to his bones that he came first in her heart. He always would. He winked at her, and laughed at her soft, helpless blush.

Three months later, Cade Christopher Donavan was baptised at the Presbyterian church, with two grandmothers, four godmothers and three godfathers, and Kate had designed and made the baby a long, lacy baptismal gown and cap for the occasion.

Afterward, Mary and Mama Donavan sat with Cade while Kate and Jason drove out to the pasture where the new Indian bull lived.

"Red Barton was right," Kate remarked. "He sure is ugly."

"He saved us from bankruptcy," he reminded her with a grin.

"Well, maybe he does have a glimmer of beauty. Right there under his left ear...."

He turned off the engine. "Come here."

His arms reached for her, and he pulled her across him. "Alone at last," he mused. "Remember the first time I kissed you?" "On your porch," she recalled. "You came on pretty strong, and I was scared. I almost cut and ran." "I did cut and run," he said gently. "But I came to my sense finally, thank God." He kissed her again. "Kate, are you happy?" he added, his dark eyes searching hers, softly.

"Yes." It was only the one word, but in that word she put all her love and the memory of perfect nights of loving, long days of being together and learning about each other. In it she put her heart and soul, and all the love she felt for him. One word. But in it, she gave him the world. And he smiled.