This Calder Sky (Calder Saga 3)

“Isn’t Ty the most beautiful baby you’ve ever seen?” Maggie insisted.

The remark was an indirect invitation to be a part of the scene, and Cathleen walked closer, stopping beside the bed. Her fingertips made a caressing brush over the baby’s thick, down-soft hair.

“He certainly is,” Cathleen agreed and laughed softly. “I feel like a grandmother instead of a great-aunt.” She paused to admire her nephew again. “He has so much hair. I think his eyes are going to be brown.”

“My father had brown eyes.” Maggie refused to remember that Chase’s eyes were brown. The bottle was emptied of its formula. She set it aside and shifted little Tyrone O’Rourke to her shoulder, patting his back to burp him.

“Mother Hogan sent along a present for the baby.” Cathleen handed Maggie a gift-wrapped box.

She managed to balance the baby against her shoulder and slip off the ribbon to open the box’s lid. Inside there was a little blue sweater and a matching knitted cap with a small, rounded bill.

“I’m going to dress him in this the day I take him home,” she decided. When she looked up, she saw the leather-bound Bible Cathleen was holding, its edges worn.

“This is for you.” Her aunt ran a loving hand over the book’s surface before she offered it to Maggie. “It’s the Bible of the Malloy family, your mother’s parents and mine. Since you, little Tyrone, and your brother represent the last remaining descendants, I wanted you to have it. My mother gave it to me, but I have no children of my own. It’s right that you should have it.”

Maggie gazed at it, not knowing what to say. “Thank you,” she murmured at last, a vague tightness in her throat.

The nurse came into the room, bright and cheerful, as all of the nurses on the maternity ward seemed to be. “Has Tyrone finished his bottle?”

“Every bit of it,” Maggie confirmed.

“My, he’s a hungry boy, isn’t he?” the nurse declared with a wide smile of approval, her look gentle as she gazed at the sleepy head resting on Maggie’s shoulder. “He’s going to grow up to be big and strong to take care of his momma.” She glanced apologetically at Maggie. “It’s time to take him back to the nursery.”

“Yes.” She reluctantly surrendered her son to the nurse.

“It looks as if Tyrone received a present today.” The nurse paused beside the bed with the baby in her arms to admire the sweater set. When she noticed the Bible on Maggie’s lap, her expression became curious. “What’s this?”

“The family Bible.” She opened the Holy Book to the page that recorded the births, deaths, and marriages of the Malloy family and their children.

“Well, isn’t that nice?” the nurse declared and shifted slightly for a closer look. “There’s the place where you enter the information for Tyrone’s birth, listing the date, time and place, your name, and the father’s, if you know it.”

It was an innocent remark with absolutely no slight intended against Maggie’s character. Yet she stiffened at the implication she didn’t know the name of Ty’s father. To her, that was a sin worse than giving birth to a baby out of wedlock.

“May I borrow your pen, Aunt Cathleen?” she requested. “I want to enter Ty’s birth in the Bible.”

The nurse left the room before she saw the clearly legible handwriting spell out the name of Chase Calder. Her aunt wasn’t able to stay long because her in-laws were home alone. When she left, Maggie wrote Culley to inform him of his nephew’s birth.

April 2

&nb

sp; Dear Maggie,

I’m glad you and the baby are okay.

I hope you didn’t worry because you hadn’t heard from me in a long time. It was a rough winter, but I made it through in pretty good shape. The cows are calving, so I’m real busy. I’ve lost some weight. I guess I miss your cooking. The way the house looks, it misses you, too.

Buck Haskell has been charged with robbery and assault and battery. Neil Anderson got drunk at Jake’s the other night. Buck followed him out to the truck and hit him over the head and robbed him. One of Jake’s girls saw it all from an upstairs window. What do you want to bet Calder gets him off?

Take care of yourself.

Your brother,

Culley

Chapter XVI

Buck pivoted away from the desk in agitation, then turned back to face Webb Calder, his boyish features screwed up in fury. “You aren’t going to take a whore’s word against mine? I tell you I was nowhere near Anderson! I didn’t even see him leave! That bitch is lying through her teeth!”