Page 35 of A Baby for the Billionaire Cowboy

“You’ll figure it out,” Xander said.

Somehow Mama got the baby away from the others and came out with him. “I want to test something.” Instead of handing him to Daisy, Mama offered Avery to Xander. Well, he wasn’t going to complain. He cuddled Avery close and murmured to him.

Within half a minute, Avery’s sobs turned to sniffles. Soon after, he heaved a sigh and settled down to sleep as Xander shifted from foot to foot in a soothing rhythm.

“Xander has a gift with animals that are sick or scared or injured,” Mama said. “I wanted to see if it worked on fussy people babies too.”

Xander glanced up to see all the women watching him. Daisy looked a little startled. Mama smiled with satisfaction. Xander wasn’t sure how to interpret Rhonda’s narrowed gaze, but Glenda frowned, and Barbara gave a sniff of disapproval and crossed her arms.

Xander looked down at Avery and tried to ignore everyone else. It wasn’t his fault if the baby cried with other people and quieted with him. Anyway, being the godfather ought to give him some extra privileges. He’d hardly gotten a chance to hold Avery yet.

“Let’s have some tea and coffee cake.” Mama grabbed Rhonda and Barbara’s arms and tugged them toward the door. They grumbled a bit until Mama added, “We can check back in a little while.” She turned from the door and winked, but Xander wasn’t sure if the wink was for him or Daisy.

Xander strolled through the living room, humming so the baby would feel the vibrations.

Daisy watched for a minute. Finally she said, “I can take him.”

Xander hesitated. “Do you want to? Of course I’ll hand him over if you say so. But I sure don’t mind this.”

She bit her lip for a second. “You probably just meant to stop by for a minute, not get roped into babysitting. Or baby walking or baby whispering, whatever we want to call it.”

Xander grinned. “You ought to know there’s nothing I like more than caring for a newborn. I haven’t met too manypeople babies, as Mama called it, but I’ve only been staying away because you’ve had so many other visitors. I figure you must be pretty worn out and maybe want Avery to yourself.”

Daisy sank onto the couch next to Calico. “Yes, to all of it. I still ache a lot, and it feels like I’m sleeping all the time and yet not sleeping much at all, what with Avery needing to be fed during the night. And it’s so sweet of everyone to celebrate his birth, even though—” Her cheeks went pink.

“Even though what?”

“Um, even though I’m new in town and I’ve only met some of these people a couple of times. If that. I think every woman in your church must’ve stopped by with either food or a gift for the baby or both.”

Xander chuckled. “People do love babies. If it’s too much, you can say so. Mama will keep them away.”

“It’s... confusing.” She rubbed her hands up over her face, pushing back the tendrils that had escaped her ponytail. “I don’t mind, I guess. Just with some of the church ladies, I kept waiting to be scolded for not marrying the baby’s father, or told they’d pray for my soul, or warned that I’d better start coming to church and raise the baby right.”

Xander jerked to a stop. “I hope no one made you feel like you did something wrong by having Avery or keeping him.”

“I did get invited to church and told all about the nursery care offered during the services. It felt welcoming though, not critical, at least after I got past my own guilt.” She looked down, but it didn’t hide the flush that had spread down her throat to the skin showing above her scooped top. “I guess I heard so much from my parents that I expected the same kind of pressure from everyone else.”

“I’m sorry anyone made you feel that way.” The baby twitched and waved a tiny fist, complaining about the lack of movement. Xander offered a finger for Avery to hold and resumed pacing. “I don’t want to criticize your family, but I see why you came to your aunt Rhonda.”

“Yeah, and you know Rhonda, so you know how desperate I was.”

Their gazes met in shared amusement. Daisy’s blush was receding.

“If Rhonda made you feel welcome and safe, I’ll get down on my knees and thank her,” Xander said.

“She did, but please don’t. She’s already tried to manage my life for me, though at least instead of trying to send me back to William she tried to—” The color swept back to her cheeks. “Um...”

“We’re very lucky she thought you might want to work here,” Xander said, in case Daisy still thought they were doing her a favor. “I didn’t realize how much we needed the help until you started organizing everything.”

“Yeah. That.” She looked at the cat as she rubbed behind Calico’s ears. “Anyway, Rhonda is a little offended that I didn’t name the baby after her. Even if I wanted to do that, what’s a good male version of Rhonda? He just doesn’t seem like a Ronald.”

Xander studied Avery’s tiny face. It was hard to imagine what he would look like when he got older. “Now that I know what you named him, it’s hard to think of him with any other name.”

“I agree. And no matter what happens or where we go, we’ll always have a connection to your family and this place.”

Xander’s chest suddenly felt cold and empty. Was Daisy thinking of leaving? He kept his hold on Avery gentle, even though he wanted to squeeze the baby tight and never let go, unless it was to grab a hold of Daisy and never let her go either.

He swallowed a couple of times and cleared his throat. “I hope you’ll have more of a connection than that.” He couldn’t tell her how he felt about her. It wouldn’t be fair, what with her so dependent on his family. But he could make sure she knew she was welcome. “We love having you here. You’ll always have a place here, you and Avery, for as long as you want. I hope it’s for a long time.” Like forever.

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