Page 55 of The Cowgirl's Forever Love
Karen carried Tyler into the living room and settled on the couch, stroking a finger down his cheek as she examined him. “It’s good to see everything is well in Tamara-land. Pretty baby you made. Good job, sis.”
Lisa settled next to Karen, resisting the urge to steal her nephew away. She’d already had a couple of days to cuddle him, but it hadn’t been nearly enough. “He is pretty. Although, don’t get too sucked in. In spite of the act he’s pulling of adorable, quiet baby, he’s got a set of lungs on him that would make a fire alarm proud.”
Tamara sat next to them, tucking her legs beneath her and leaning back against the cushions. “After nine months, you’d think I’d be tired of sitting in this corner, but it’s gotten pretty comfy.” She sighed. “I’m glad you came.”
“Of course, silly. Where else would I be?” Karen was unwrapping Tyler enough to grab his fingers, sliding a pinkie into his little fist. “What’s up with Caleb?”
“You mean his hyper-paranoia?”
Lisa snorted. “Is that an official analysis?”
“Doesn’t have to be. God, I love the man, and I want to simultaneously string him up in a corner and tell him to calm the fuck down.” Tamara snorted. “You should see your expressions. It’s not as if you haven’t heard me swear before.”
“Why’s he paranoid?” Karen asked.
“Because his first wife suffered from postpartum depression, twice, so he keeps wondering when Tamara’s going to tip over into gloom and doom.” Lisa glanced up to find both of them staring at her. “What? It wasn’t some huge secret. You told me your suspicions at one point, and that’s gotta be a god-awful thing to have to deal with. The fact she wasn’t a nice person doesn’t mean I can’t feel sympathetic. The woman had a legitimate chemical and emotional issue caused by a highly traumatic experience.”
“The traumatic experience being childbirth,” Tamara deadpanned to Karen. “Thank you, Dr. Lisa, for that wonderful layman’s diagnosis. But you’re right. Caleb is walking on eggshells as if one wrong move could blow the whole thing up. It would be sweet if it weren’t so annoying.”
“He’s just worried about you,” Karen said.
“Of course he is, but this is the best I’ve felt in a long time. I’m going to develop a psychosomatic illness from watching him watch me while he waits for something to go wrong.”
Tyler began to fuss, going from nose and mouth wiggling to a full-on baby shriek in under thirty seconds.
“Pass the baton,” Lisa ordered. “That’s a hungry cry.”
“Damn, you’ve already got it all figured out.” Karen lifted Tyler, passing him to Tamara who squirmed until she got him to latch on.
They all went quiet for a minute as Tyler drank noisily.
Lisa pushed down the tingling in her gut that was far too obvious for her to ignore. It seemed there were a few lines she needed to add to her journal. Items she’d like to experiencesometimein the future.
Maybe the wish-list items weren’t about faraway adventures or classical architecture, but they were definitely about building into the future.
The three of them chatted quietly for a while about nothing and everything. Comfortable, the way they’d always been.
Tamara brought it up. “We didn’t get a chance to mention this to you before, Karen. The EMT who showed up to help with Tyler’s delivery looks so much like a Coleman, it’s frightening.”
“I met her for a coffee,” Lisa offered. “Already told Tamara, but she’s nice. She’s definitely not some scary wacko. Her mom lived in Calgary when she was born. We were wondering if she might be a daughter from Uncle Mark.”
It made sense.
Six brothers had originally lived on the Coleman land. One had passed away, four had established homes in the community, the sixth had left town, and as far as Lisa knew, lived somewhere in Southern Alberta. He’d been mentioned a few times in the past couple of years, but Uncle Mark had never come around Rocky Mountain House to meet the new generation.
Karen looked confused. “There’s someone out there who looks like a Coleman, but you’re not sure if she’s related to us? How did she end up here in Heart Falls? That’s some kind of wild coincidence.”
“Yes, and no,” Lisa admitted. “She’s doing her EMT practicum, which like for teachers and nurses tends to happen in the rural areas. One of her trainers lives locally and I guess she applied to come here specifically to mentor under him.”
“Weird.” Karen rocked to her feet, pacing momentarily. “Well, if we do have some sort of long-lost cousin showing up, we’ll deal with that. In the meantime, Dad will be here in a couple of hours. He’s actually been pretty decent the last few days. Although he nearly bit my head off when you went into labour early, for some reason.”
“Yeah, because I could totally seethatbeing your fault,” Tamara said. She took a deep breath, then sighed. “Sorry you had to put up with him.”
“Yeah, whatever. Par for the course. I’m just glad you and Tyler are okay.” Karen slipped back onto the couch as Tamara unlatched Tyler who had fallen asleep mid-meal. “He sure is tiny. They don’t think he was premature?”
“Doctor figured we had a mix-up calculating his due date. It’s possible he was a couple weeks early and perfectly within normal range.” Tamara patted him on the back gently, working out a burp. “I no longer feel as if I’m in a chemical haze.”
“I called it,” Lisa said. “I said you were having a boy because it’s always the testosterone that’s to blame.”
