The Texan's Baby (Texas Rodeo Barons)

“You got it.”

He left her there and went to his truck. He didn’t want to be gone long and there was a lot for him to do in a short amount of time.

But one thing was for sure. He was going to make it right. Now that he knew Lizzie loved him, too, everything was within his grasp.

Chapter Sixteen

Lizzie stretched in her bed, waking from a restless sleep. It had taken her a long time to drop off last night. The bed was strange, the sounds were strange, the lighting was strange. If she hadn’t been determined to follow doctor’s orders to the letter, she might have checked herself out and gone home for the night.

Once she had fallen asleep, she’d had vivid dreams, none of which she could remember now—except for the last one, which featured Chris watching a young boy ride a horse around the arena at Roughneck.

“Good morning,” came a soft female voice from beside the bed.

Lizzie scrubbed her eyes and looked over. “Carly! Oh, my gosh, you didn’t need to come all this way. I’m fine.”

Her sister looked especially young today, in a wrinkled T-shirt and jeans and her hair in two braids instead of one. Lizzie remembered back when Carly was small with cute pigtails that fell to her shoulders. For a while, Lizzie had been the one to put in the elastics until Carly was older and could manage her hair on her own.

“It’s not that far. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Of course I’m okay. They’re taking very good care of us.” She put her hand on her tummy.

“I’m glad.” Carly came over and sat on the bed. “Can I get you anything? Water? Juice? Steak and eggs? Dad said your iron’s down.”

Lizzie laughed. “No. But I’m so glad you’re here.” She held out her hand, and after a moment Carly took it.

“Me, too.”

They were quiet for a few minutes and then Carly spoke up. “Since we were all at the ranch the last time, I’ve been thinking of Mom.”

“I think of her sometimes, too.”

“I look at how much you already love your baby and I...I wonder how someone could just walk away from us, you know?”

“I’m not sure we’ll ever understand, sweetie.”

“Are you still scared about being a bad mom?”

Wow, talk about your hard questions early in the morning. Lizzie rested back against the pillow. “Sometimes. But if I do, I know I’ll have lots of help to get through it.”

Carly’s gaze shifted to an enormous bouquet of flowers on the windowsill. “Are those from Chris?”

Lizzie nodded. Chris had returned last night, bringing her pajamas to wear instead of the hospital shirt, and also her toothbrush and makeup bag, flowers and her favorite fruit-and-yogurt cup from the deli. “It was rocky there for a while, but I think things are going to be all right.”

“You really love him, huh?”

Lizzie frowned. “Sweetie? Are you okay?”

Carly smiled back. “Of course. I just... Well, I miss being close by at times like these.”

“You could always move back.”

Carly laughed, but Lizzie saw something in her eyes that made her worry. Shadows. What was going on with her baby sister?

“I don’t think so,” Carly replied. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“The doctor scheduled another ultrasound for this morning. If it’s all good, and my bleeding has stopped, I’ll be good to go home.”

“And will that home include Chris?”