Savage Cowboy (Whiskey Valley: Bryant Brothers)

My father clears his throat. “Honey, I’m sorry—"

But I don’t let him get any further. I hold my hand up. “Another day, Dad. It’s fine. Come and meet your granddaughter.”

He walks toward me and looks at the beautiful little girl lying on my chest. Chance comes around the bed and wraps me and our daughter in his arms.

I hold her up toward my dad. “Do you want to hold her?”

He lays the stuffed animal and flowers at the end of the bed and holds his hands out for her. I lay her gently in his arms, and he stands there, holding her, with a look of love filling his face.

“What’s her name?”

Chance and I look at each other, and I point at the chair next to the bed. “Why don’t you sit down, Dad?”

He sits down gently and holds our daughter against his chest. She coos for just a minute and then falls back to sleep. While my dad is busy staring at her, I tell him her name.

“Janie. We named her Janie.”

He gasps and looks up at me. “After your mother?”

I nod and search his face, unsure. “Is that okay?”

He wipes at a tear on his face. I swear in all my life, I’ve never seen my dad cry. “Yeah, honey, I think that’s perfect. She would have loved having a granddaughter named after her.”

Chance sits next to me on the bed and pulls me into his arms. I rest my head against his chest, and as I sit here watching my dad hold my baby, while I’m lying in my husband’s arms, I know that my mom is looking down on us and is happy that the feud between the McCoys and the Bryants has finally ended. And it’s all because of a little girl named Janie.