Sawyer (17 page)

Chapter Twenty

Sawyer wondered if Cassidy would ever stop trembling.
Nothing seemed to help. Not his arm around her. Not his assurances that the
danger was finally over.

Assurances wouldn’t stop nightmares though.

And Cassidy would no doubt have enough of those for a
lifetime.

She lifted her head from his shoulder when they heard footsteps
coming toward the waiting room at the Silver Creek hospital. But it wasn’t the
doctor. It was Sawyer’s cousin Gage, who’d no doubt arrived for the birth of
Mason’s baby. It was the reason nearly all of his cousins were there. That, and
to give Sawyer a little moral support for everything they’d been through.

“Bennie should have been out of surgery by now,” Cassidy
mumbled.

Yeah, he should have. It had been two hours, and while Sawyer
didn’t have a lick of medical training, that seemed way too long. Bennie could
be dying.

Or already dead.

It wouldn’t matter to Cassidy that her brother had helped set
up the kidnapping. It would only matter that she was losing him. Even with all
the wrongs Bennie had done, that would always tear away at her heart, and there
was nothing Sawyer could do to change it.

Grayson finished the phone call he’d been making and turned in
his seat to snag Sawyer’s attention. “Diane’s talking, trying to work out a plea
deal before her hired guns do.”

“Is she implicating Bennie?” Cassidy asked.

“Yeah,” he hesitantly answered. “She says it was Bennie’s idea
to get the photo of the baby with Sawyer. They were going to use it to set up
Sawyer for April’s murder.”

Hell, that wasn’t easy to hear. “Diane could be lying,” Sawyer
reminded Cassidy.

But if she wasn’t, it was a smart move.

April had been demanding a bigger cut of the ransom money, and
in Diane’s mind, she needed to be eliminated. Best to set up either Bennie or
himself to take the fall for it. It wouldn’t have mattered when later they’d
learned that Sawyer wasn’t the baby’s father. This was all about casting
suspicion, and the photo of Sawyer holding the baby could have set the stage for
him to go after the woman who’d wrongfully accused him of getting her
pregnant.

“Please tell me Diane won’t be getting out of jail,” Cassidy
said to Grayson.

“She won’t be. There’s all sorts of evidence coming in on her
drug use and extortion of some of her patients. Coupled with April’s murder and
the kidnapping attempts, it’s enough to put her away for life.”

Good. That was one less worry. Sawyer didn’t want Diane
anywhere near Cassidy again.

More footsteps, and they got everyone’s attention. Sawyer
expected to see Mason come through the door to tell them about his newborn, but
it was Bree, Gage’s wife, and she wasn’t empty handed. She was carrying a
bundled-up Emma in her arms.

That got Cassidy and him to their feet.

“I thought this little one might cheer you up,” Bree said. Her
slight smile made Sawyer believe his cousin knew exactly how much this baby
meant to him.

Bennie’s baby.

That reminder hit him like a fist. Sawyer didn’t care what
Emma’s DNA proved, he wanted her to be
his
. He just
hadn’t realized how much he’d wanted that until now—when Bree slipped Emma into
his arms. How the heck could Emma feel like his baby when she wasn’t?

“Hi, sweetheart,” Cassidy said softly. She leaned in and kissed
the baby’s cheek. Even though Emma was asleep, she lifted one lid as if peeking
out at them, made a soft kittenlike sound and then went straight back to
sleep.

Since Cassidy was still trembling, Sawyer eased Emma toward
her. That got him a smile, and some of the trembling stopped when she snuggled
Emma against her.

“What’ll happen to her?” Cassidy whispered. The tremble was in
her voice now. And the worry. It was the same worry that Sawyer was feeling.

“Her mother’s dead, so that leaves Bennie to decide.” Except he
might have the decision made for him.

“He’s facing jail time,” Cassidy added.

Yeah, he was. Maybe he’d get a lesser sentence if he agreed to
testify against Diane, but kidnapping was still a felony. And if April’s murder
got tacked onto it, Bennie might spend the rest of his life behind bars.

“Thank you,” Cassidy said, getting his attention. “You saved
her life and mine.”

He didn’t want her thanks. It only made him feel worse for not
having protected them in the first place. Yes, they were both safe now, and
thankfully, Emma had no idea what was going on. But Cassidy would remember.

The bullets. The blood.

The fear that no doubt had her by the throat.

“If I’d realized sooner that the culprit was Diane,” he said,
“I could have put an end to her dangerous plan.”

Cassidy stared at him. And stared. “I didn’t realize the FBI
had issued ESP with your badge.”

He frowned, shook his head.

“There’s no way you could have known any sooner,” Cassidy
continued before he could say anything. “No way you could have stopped her
before tonight. She was manipulative and greedy, and she fooled a lot of
people.”

Including him. “If she’d just stopped fooling me a little
sooner, you wouldn’t have had to go through tonight. Bennie might not have been
shot.”

She huffed. She didn’t roll her eyes, but she came close. “Now
you’re taking the blame for Bennie? He broke the law, Sawyer. I hate that he was
hurt, but we were partly in that position because of him. I’ll forgive him for
it because he’s my brother, but I’ll never forgive him for nearly getting you
killed.”

It was a concession that he didn’t deserve. But he’d take
it.

Sawyer leaned in and brushed his mouth over hers. She trembled
again. Just a little. But he thought it was a good trembling this time. So
Sawyer kissed her again, and this time he lingered long enough that Gage cleared
his throat.

“Need a sitter?” Gage asked. It was an innocent enough
question, but since he hadn’t missed the kiss, it was really an offer for
Cassidy and him to head off to bed.

Something that suddenly held great appeal for Sawyer.

Sure, they were at the hospital, waiting for Bennie to get out
of surgery, but he wished he could magically transport Cassidy to another
place.

Okay, to bed.

While Gage babysat Emma for an hour or so.

“You’re smiling,” Cassidy said.

Sawyer automatically fixed that. “Sorry.”

It wasn’t a smiling kind of situation, but it became one when
Cassidy smiled, too. She opened her mouth to say something but didn’t get the
chance because they heard the sound of more footsteps.

This time, however, it was the surgeon.

Cassidy and he both got to their feet and went to the doorway.
Sawyer didn’t know the doc, and his poker face gave away nothing.

“Your brother made it through surgery,” he finally said. “He’ll
recover, but he’ll be in the hospital for a week or more.”

Cassidy’s breath rushed out. Obviously relieved. So was Sawyer.
Cassidy loved Bennie, and he didn’t want her to go through the pain of losing
him.

“Can we see him?” Cassidy asked.

“Not for a while, but before he was sedated, he gave me a
message to give to you.” The doctor looked down at the baby. “Your brother said
he wants you to have custody of her, that he’ll do the paperwork as soon as he’s
able.”

Sawyer’s lungs started to burn like crazy, and that’s when he
realized he’d been holding his breath. Good. Bennie had wised up and done the
right thing by handing over his baby girl to Cassidy. It was the best thing for
all of them.

Well, except for him.

Where the heck did that leave him? Cassidy had the money and
resources to raise a baby. The desire was there, too. He could see the love for
Emma all over her face. So, why the heck didn’t that make him feel like jumping
for joy?

Because he loved Emma, too.

Ah, heck. When had his life gotten so complicated?

He was the Ryland who was immune to babies and fatherhood. His
own miserable childhood had prepared him for that. But then Sawyer glanced
around the room. Nearly everyone there had had a lousy childhood, and they’d all
gotten past it and had become parents.

The surgeon stepped away, and Sawyer saw the newest father
walking straight toward them. Not alone, either. He was pushing a clear hospital
bassinette with the baby inside. Mason wasn’t much for smiling, but Sawyer
definitely detected a smile as Mason pulled back the blanket and showed them the
latest Ryland.

The baby looked like a little boxer with his hands balled into
fists, and he was flailing them around and making choppy crying sounds as if
testing his voice.

“Are you supposed to be out here with the baby?” Sawyer asked
Mason.

“The doc said I could for just a second and if nobody touches
him. Or breathes on him. There’re too many of you to cram into the nursery to
see him.”

That was the advantage of a small-town hospital where everyone
knew the Rylands. Besides, there really were too many of them for that small
nursery.

“His name is Max Quinn Ryland,” Mason said. Not just a smile.
The man was beaming now.

“He’s beautiful,” Cassidy declared, but Sawyer couldn’t quite
see it. Well, mostly he couldn’t. The kid had a mop of the dark Ryland hair, but
he could also pick out some of Abbie’s features there, too.

“Max is here!” Nate’s daughter, Kimmie, squealed. Despite the
fact she’d been sound asleep just moments earlier, she bolted from her mother’s
lap and hurried to Mason so he could scoop her up for a better look.

Soon, Max was surrounded by oohing and aahing aunts, uncles and
cousins, and it must have been his night for revelations because Sawyer thought
of something else. That little baby with the squished red face and swinging
fists would always be loved. Always have family. Would always have a home.

“Cassidy, I don’t want you to raise Emma alone,” Sawyer heard
himself say.

Good grief. He hadn’t intended to blurt it out like that, and
he sure hadn’t meant for it to be so loud. Loud enough for everyone to stop,
look and listen as if waiting to see which foot he’d put in his mouth next.
Rather than let them in on that, Sawyer led Cassidy to the other side of the
room while the oohing and aahing continued.

She shook her head, probably because she hadn’t understood what
the heck he meant. “Are you saying you’ll help?”

“I don’t want to help, either.” Heck, he was making a mess of
this. “What I mean is, I want to do more than help. I want to make sure Emma has
a home.”

She nodded, but he could tell she still didn’t have any idea
what he meant.

“I’m in love with you,” she said out of the blue.

Okay, so maybe she did have an idea where he was going with
this.
I’m in love with you
was a good start.

Very good.

Sawyer pulled her to him, and despite Emmaʼs being between
them, he kissed Cassidy. A little longer than he’d planned. When he finally
pulled back, they were both smiling.

Except Cassidy’s smile quickly faded. “If you don’t love me,
then I’ll feel like an idiot for saying it.”

“Don’t feel like an idiot.” And he couldn’t say it fast enough.
“Because I do love you. It makes me crazy. Makes me burn. But I love you.”

Now the smile returned. The kiss, too. Cassidy initiated that
one and slipped her free hand around the back of his neck. Emma decided it was a
good time to get their attention by cooing.

Which made the moment perfect.

“I think she approves,” Sawyer said. And he brushed a kiss on
the baby’s cheek. “Will you approve if I ask your new mom to marry me?”

There was no way Emma could have understood that, but it sure
seemed as if she did because she cooed again. It was so loud that it startled
her and she jumped a little. Sawyer laughed, waited, but what he didn’t hear was
a yes coming from Cassidy’s mouth.

He lifted his gaze, slowly, and met hers. “I just asked you to
marry me.” And his stomach knotted. His breath thinned. He even felt a little
queasy at the thought of her saying anything but yes.

“I heard you,” Cassidy said on a rise of breath. “I just didn’t
think you would ask.”

Oh. All right. Plan B, though it wasn’t the plan he wanted.
“Then, we’ll wait a month or two, we can spend more time together, and I’ll
repeat the proposal.” Though he couldn’t imagine having to go that long without
an answer.

“No need to wait.” Cassidy caught on to the front of his shirt
and hauled him back for another mind-blowing kiss. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

By the time she made it to the third yes, she was practically
shouting. Emma didn’t cry, but she did look up at them as if they’d lost their
minds. They hadn’t. They’d finally found them.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Sawyer joked.

Obviously, going to the corner for this conversation didn’t
mean it was private. His cousins broke into applause when he pulled Cassidy back
to him for a kiss that would seal the deal.

Forever.

His wife. His daughter. His family.

* * * * *

Look for a brand-new miniseries from
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bestselling author Delores Fossen later in
2014.
You’ll find it wherever Harlequin Books are sold!

Keep reading for an excerpt from THE DISTRICT
by Carol Ericson.

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