His Tattooed Virgin(Divine Creek Ranch 12)(76)

Joaquin chuckled as he walked up and laid his hands affectionately on Teresa’s shoulders. “What she’s not telling you is that Eleazar laid a wet one on one of his preschool classmates and we got a phone call about it. He’s a lover, not a fighter,” he said with a chuckle. “He gets it from me.”

Teresa swatted him playfully then spooned up another bite of applesauce for Toby, who was sitting with his little mouth wide open, waiting expectantly.

“Where’s Michael?” Jayne asked, inquiring after their five-year-old.

“He’s running errands with Ash this morning at the feed store. Ash said he could use the help if Michael had the time,” Angel said with a smile. “He likes listening to Ash tell about his bareback bronc riding days.” Jayne could just picture their son sitting raptly listening to the big sandy-haired cowboy tell about his days on the circuit. Both of Michael’s dads had also been rodeo cowboys and were now retired from that life and were running the Andalusian horse breeding operation at the Divine Creek Ranch.

“Has Lucy seen Toby yet?” Jayne asked as she opened the oven. Her mouth watered at the scent of the breakfast tacos warming inside.

Seth shook his head. “I haven’t heard a peep from her and we haven’t exactly been quiet.” He pointed at Angel and Joaquin, who had been assembling the crib and were bringing in another load of boxes from their truck parked outside.

“Hey, Jayne, is this yours?” Joaquin held out a pale straw cowboy hat with a silver-studded hat band embellished with a colorful feather decoration. “It was in the flowerbed beside the door.”

Seth took it from him. “This is Lucy’s.”

A door rumbled in its frame down the hallway, as though the person behind it was having trouble opening it, then shuffling was heard and the quiet closure of the bathroom door across the hall.

Lucy was awake.

Everyone proceeded like normal when Lucy stumbled blearily into the living room, dressed in rumpled clothes, with her eyes still mostly closed and her brows drawn together like she was in terrible pain. Her hair was a wild tangle, and her eye makeup was smeared, making her look a bit like a raccoon. She paused when the parts of the crib stacked neatly against the couch came into view, and she squinted.

Poor Lucy. I’m not sure she’s up to this surprise.

She frowned and stared at the crib like a calf looking at a new gate, rubbed her head, which evidently ached ferociously. Jayne held back a giggle when she noticed there was a note pinned to Lucy’s blouse. In a masculine hand was scrawled, “Call me when you’re sober, darlin’. I’d love to pick up where we left off before you passed out. Vance.” A phone number was listed next to Vance’s name.

Lucy rubbed her head, peered around, and gradually focused on all the faces turned her way. A pained smile came over her face until her eyes came to rest on Toby, and then her face went blank. Glancing at the baby, Jayne noticed that Toby’s expression matched hers, though his mouth was open like a little bird’s, absently searching for the next bite of oatmeal from Teresa.

Lucy put her hand down and noticed the sheet of paper pinned to her blouse. She pulled it off and read it, swaying a little on her feet. She groaned, and Jayne’s heart went out to her.

Seth cleared his throat. “Lucy—”

Lucy cringed as though he spoke too loudly and cut Seth off. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I got some ’splaining to do.” Turning back to her bedroom, she muttered, “I’ll ’splain when this weird-ass dream is over.”

As her door quietly slipped closed, Seth chuckled. “All I was going to do was ask if she was okay.”

“I’ll take her a cup of coffee and the painkillers,” Jayne said.

She heard a groan when she tapped on Lucy’s door a minute later. Lucy sat on the edge of the bed, shielding her eyes from the morning sunlight shining in through the window.

After gratefully taking a sip of the coffee, Lucy took the meds and drank the bottle of water Jayne offered her. “Oh, my aching head.” She put her hands back over her eyes and pressed then suddenly pulled her hands down and looked at Jayne. “Did I just see a baby who’s the spitting image of Seth in the kitchen, or did I hallucinate that?” She grimaced and cradled her head in her hands.

Shaking her head, Jayne softly replied, “Nope. We had a little surprise show up last night.”

“Tamar!” Lucy said and then cringed, as the word evidently echoed around in her brain like Big Ben’s bell ringing at full blast. “Tamar. A baby?” she whispered.

“Yep. And kept it a secret. It was a big shock to Seth.”