Trial by Fire (4 page)

“What is? I don’t get it.” They were back on the road, following a huge white fence with a rocking S brand on it.

“You not being on the road all the time. Landon gave me to believe you all rode.”

“I’ve done every event, and I imagine Miss Chloe will be on a horse before she can walk, but if I was handling things, it would be on the stock end.”

“Good to know.” Lachlan counted fence posts as they passed.

He knew the Sheffield family owned thousands of acres, dozens and dozens of places in different counties and a couple of states to support the rodeo company. Their operation was sizable, but nothing like a cattle station back in Oz.

Of course, they had bloody grass.

Holden pulled into the huge paved road Lachlan recognized from his trip up here. “Are you going to warn your folks?”

“Nope. Addie and Landon trusted me with her. I decide.”

“Good on you, mate.” He hated to admit it, but he was really beginning to admire Holden.

Holden parked and got out of the truck, waited for him to get out, and then they headed up and into the kitchen door. “Momma? Daddy? I brought McCoughey to meet Chloe.”

“Your daddy’s on his way.” A fierce-looking middle-aged woman in jeans and a button-down shirt stood in the kitchen doorway, arms over her chest. “What are you thinking, Son?”

“That this is Miss Addie’s brother, and he wants to meet his niece before he heads home.” Holden didn’t yell, didn’t fuss. He simply stared her down.

Lachlan didn’t bother to argue with the leaving thing, which he had no intention of doing until they settled some issues. Holden was willing to work with him, and he’d take it.

Hell, it was better than he’d hoped for.

“I’m… I’m going to town. You need anything?” Mrs. Sheffield wouldn’t even meet his eyes.

“No, ma’am. Where’s Chloe?”

“Swing.”

“Good deal.” Holden led the way through the house to a huge sunroom, a baby swing sitting under a ceiling fan. He bent and stopped the rocking of the swing, then pulled out its inhabitant. “Miss Chloe Sheffield, meet Uncle Lachlan.”

God, she was beautiful—tiny and blonde, but with gray eyes, not blue. She reached for Holden, cooing and gurgling, as if her favorite person in all the world had walked in.

He guessed at her age, Holden was her favorite. She had yet to meet Lachlan, after all.

Holden nuzzled her tiny cheek. “Hey, pretty girl. Who’s my best lady, huh?”

She flailed and grabbed his nose, then squealed as she went for his lips next, and he blew a raspberry against her palm.

Lachlan watched, a goofy smile no doubt stretching his face. God almighty, she was a doll.

She wore a pink jumpsuit with giraffes on it. Why on earth did people choose wild animals for baby clothes? It made no sense. None at all. Here, have a tiny child who can slip into the savannah and hide itself among huge creatures….

“Here.” Holden bounced her a few times before holding her out for Lachlan. “Say hey, baby girl.”

She blinked at him, the look distrusting and confused.

Lachlan smiled at her, easing into her space the way he would with a puppy or a calf. “Hullo, sweetheart. Look at you.”

Her eyes flew open, and she crowed, her baby lips parted.

“You sound like family to her.”

“Yeah? Do I sound like your mum, Littlie? I bet I do.” He took her from Holden when Chloe reached for him. She barely weighed anything, less than his prize blue heeler.

Crikey she wasn’t still a bit. She kicked and wiggled, little arms and legs moving constantly.

“You want a picture with y’all together?”

“I do. My mum would be over the moon.” Lachlan pulled her up against his chest, blowing against her cheek.

Holden took a few shots with his phone. “I’ll send them to you.”

“Thanks.” He bounced Chloe, and she blew bubbles. “Can we sit a minute?”

“Sure. She’ll need to eat in about half an hour.” Holden nodded toward the wicker chairs that lined the room.

They settled down, and about the time his backside hit the cushion, an ancient-looking man in tennis shoes, shorts, and a battered straw hat popped his head through one of the open windows. “Came to check on my reason for living.”

“She’s right here, Crazy. This is Miz Addie’s brother, come to visit from Australia.”

“Well, I’ll be. Pleased. I’m awful sorry about Miz Addie. She was a good lady and one hell of a rider. We loved her.” Pale blue eyes pierced him, the hat coming off a mostly bald head.

“Crazy sang at the funeral. He’s our lead bullfighter.”

“Pleased to meet you, Crazy.” He laughed a little. “I’d offer to shake, but I’m busy with this little handful.” It did his heart good to hear how people here loved Ades.

“That’s my angel girl. Aren’t you, sweet baby?”

The old man made a face, and Chloe giggled, the sound making his heart stop a second. How on earth was he supposed to leave this baby behind when he went home? His parents had to meet her, had to have their time to love her.

It was only right. She was half McCoughey.

“You going to ride down today, son? I’m going to work with that new group of bullfighters this afternoon.”

“Prob’ly not. Momma’s pissed, and it’s Maria’s day off, so I’m on baby duty. I might put her in that sack deal and ride down, though.”

“Well, make sure to bring her bag if you do.”

Lachlan found himself chuckling, these two tough cowboys utterly besotted with his tiny niece.

“What? You have any idea how much shit these little things take?”

“Holden! You cain’t cuss in front of the baby!”

That was it, Lachlan lost it, just howling with laughter. Of course, that scared the hell out of the baby, who started crying.

“Oh, oh, did that mean guy startle you?” Crazy was grinning wide as a monkey.

“Not mean!” That brought on a whole new spate of laughter.

Holden grabbed Chloe, and Lachlan let himself lean back, the chuckles slowly fading.

Crazy winked. “Well, I’m back to work. Later, Boss.”

“Have fun, man.”

The baby fussed and rooted, settling on nursing on Holden’s finger. “She’s trying to tell me something.”

“Show me how to feed her and I will.” Holden was surprisingly easy, almost decent enough to be an Aussie.

“Sure. She’s easy, now that she’s decided a bottle is okay. She’s still just on the formula, but she can pack it away for being so little.”

“Like bottle-feeding a calf, is it?” He rose when Holden did, following the man into the big, homey kitchen. He’d bet a lot of time had been spent gathered around this table.

“Less pushing and more side to side motion.”

He sat, and Holden handed the babe over before moving to make up the bottle. Lachlan watched closely because he might have to do this soon. Way more temperature control with a human baby’s food as well.

By the time Holden brought the bottle, Chloe was wailing, little face purple with fury. That she got from her mum and grandmum. Such tempers, the McCoughey women.

He plopped the nipple into her mouth, watching her tiny mouth latch on. Strong sucking followed, and he simply stared at her with delight.

“Good girl,” Holden said. “Such a sweet baby.” Holden grabbed a mug and poured himself a cup of coffee. “You want anything?”

“I’ll take a cup. I had that terrible tea at the diner, so coffee might wash out the taste.”

“You liked the marshmallow creamer, right?”

“I did, thanks.” His ringers would tease him unmercifully for his sweet tooth.

Holden didn’t fuss, though, just brought the coffee and a tea towel. “You’ll need to burp her. She spits up.”

“Can’t be worse than a camel. Got some of those wild back at mine. Some fruit loop back in the twenties thought they would be good pack animals.”

“Camels. As in two humps, they spit?”

“Long eyelashes, big teeth. Yep.” Lachlan glanced sideways at Holden. “I hear llamas are in here.”

“We got llamas, ostriches, cattle, horses, chickens, sheep, goats, donkeys.”

“A petting zoo, eh?” He knew how that was. You grew some for food, ended up with some because you had the land and people dumped them.

“The sheep are for mutton bustin’, but yeah, for the most part, they’re just here.”

“That’s where the kids ride sheep?” Roughstock started at a damned early age.

“It is. It’s cute as hell.” The baby pushed the nipple out of her mouth, and Holden grinned. “Do you want me to burp her now?”

“Nah, I can—” Goo came right back out of her, and he handed Chloe to Holden. “Sure. Go for it.”

Holden chuckled and grabbed her up, patting her on the back with a steady motion. Her belch was surprisingly loud for a baby. More like a big drover sucking one back at the pub.

Not sure what else to do, Lachlan sipped at his coffee. Watched Holden’s face soften, the love in the man’s eyes visible. He loved that little girl, that much was so obvious. What a bloody mess this whole situation was going to be.

He couldn’t leave Adelaide’s little girl here, his folks wouldn’t have it, but how was he going to manage it?

“We have to figure this out, don’t we?” he said, not even sure what he meant.

“Figure what out? I don’t understand.”

“How to do this. I can’t just—leave. Walk away.”

“I don’t know,” Holden said. And that was that, wasn’t it? Neither of them knew how to settle anything.

“If I—” Lachlan stopped, breathed. “If I flew my folks over, could they meet her? They’re a bit hidebound, Mum and Dad, but they’re good people.”

“Everyone can meet her. They’re Chloe’s grandparents. I mean, they didn’t beat Addie or anything, did they?”

“No. No, it was just a thing.” This crazy thing that snowballed into Addie running away and never speaking to them again. He didn’t understand.

“What kind of a thing?” Holden shook his head, held up one hand. “You know, that ain’t none of mine. If she’d wanted to tell me the whole story, she would have, and Landon had his own opinions.”

Holden grabbed the bottle and fed Chloe the last quarter, and this time she goofed off, playing with the teat rather than attacking it, trying to grab hold of Holden however she could.

How the living hell could Adelaide have done this? Had a baby and not let them know? How?

Maybe he needed to ask his parents what the hell had really happened. He’d just assumed it was wild oats on Ades’s part, but who knew? Maybe he’d missed something. Lachlan tended to be wrapped up in station business. He knew she’d chafed at all the security, all the rules, but her leaving had taken him by surprise.

Holden began to laugh, the man staring down at that baby like she was the center of the damn universe.

His twin. Holden had lost his twin, and he was coping, better than. He loved Chloe—it was obvious. The tiny man had a core of pure steel.

Lachlan sighed. This was getting more complicated by the moment. He tugged out his phone and snapped a picture of Chloe making faces to send to his mum.

She answered by calling him immediately.

“Do you mind if I take this?”

“Go for it. I’ll go change her butt and see if she’ll go down for her nap.”

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Lachlan asked when he answered.

“You sent me photos of my grandchild, of Adelaide’s daughter. How can I sleep? When are you bringing her home?”

“Not that simple, Mum.” He stood, pacing over to the porch again, wanting to let Holden put Chloe down for her nap.

“It is. You tell those people that she needs to be home with her family. They let Adelaide do insane things; they
allowed
this to happen!”

“You know better than that.” Ades had always been one for speed, danger. She’d married a bull rider, for fuck’s sake.

“I wouldn’t have allowed it,” she snapped, and he nodded. Mum wanted a proper little girl, not a tomboy. That had always been a lost cause.

“I’ll call back when I’m at the hotel and we can chat, yeah? When you’re meant to be awake.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again, Lachy.” The tears were coming again, and Lachlan felt helpless against them. Nothing would help this. Mothers weren’t supposed to outlive their children, right?

“Well, tell Dad you need a sleeping pill.” He smiled when she grumbled. “Love you.”

“I love you, Son. Tell the kiddiwink that we’re waiting for her here and we can’t wait.”

“Will do.” He was going to have to tell his mum she had to come to Texas, but that could wait. No wars on the phone while he was in Holden’s folks’ house.

The kitchen door opened, and there stood Mr. Sheffield, the little man looking about as tough and grizzled as a man could. “Wife said you were here. Someone offer you coffee yet?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Where had that cup gone? Shit, he hoped they didn’t have a dog or a cat who would drink anything left unattended like his best cattle dog, Cait. “Lachlan McCoughey. We didn’t get to officially meet before, sir.”

“Brandon Sheffield.” He got a firm, solid shake, then the man poured a mug of sludge before leaning against the kitchen counter to look at him. “Margery says it’s a mistake to let you meet my granddaughter, but Holden’s the one who they chose to decide, so we’ll respect it.”

“I appreciate it.” He felt about five years old, being chastised for pulling the cat’s tail. Lachlan squared his shoulders. “We’re her family as well, no matter what happened in the past.”

“That’s what Holden says. Addie never did say boo about y’all. Not a damn thing, but I knew where y’all come from. Know the size of your operation.”

“I had no idea you had such a nice place,” Lachlan said. “Far more grass than we have.”

“Yeah, well, y’all ain’t rodeo folks.”

“No, sir.” No, they had one hundred and fifty people living on damned near three million acres of scrub brush. They mustered their cattle with light aircraft. It was a whole different world. “I’d like to fly my folks in for a visit.”

The elder Sheffield closed his eyes, like he was praying or some such. “Let me and Holden talk to Margery first? She’s… this has been hard for her. Once we speak to her, then, well, you’re free, white, and twenty-one, son, you do as you will.”

“Daddy. You can’t say that to folks.” Holden shook his head, boot heels clicking on the kitchen tile.