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  “It’s a boy!” he announced.

  Her mouth opened in a kind of wonder as she took the newborn and held him against her, tears running down her cheeks.

  He heard sirens in the distance, coming closer. “That’s the ambulance,” he said, relief flooding him. It pulled up in front of Daisy’s car, and two guys and a woman jumped out, one wheeling a stretcher. An EMT took the baby while the other two helped Daisy onto the stretcher.

  “Thank you so much,” she said to Harrison, her blue eyes misty. “Thank you.”

  “Of course.” His heart was beating a zillion miles a minute. He had to sit down before he passed out.

  “Call my brother Noah, the foreman at the ranch,” she shouted out to him as the EMTs loaded her into the back of the ambulance.

  “Will do!” he called back.

  He’d just delivered a baby. On the side of the road. He was grateful he’d been wearing a T-shirt under his dress shirt or he’d have helped bring the newborn into the world half-naked.

  The ambulance making a racket as it drove away, he was stirred to action. He pulled out his phone and called the guest ranch and asked for foreman Noah Dawson’s cell phone number, adding that it was an emergency. He’d been watching Noah the past couple of days. Daisy, too. Watching everything. Unfortunately, the Dawsons seemed like good people. But as his dad used to say, that was neither here nor there.

  He punched in Noah’s number. He answered right away.

  “Noah Dawson. What’s the emergency?”

  “This is Harrison McCord from Cabin No. 1,” he said. “I just helped deliver your sister Daisy’s baby on the side of the service road onto Route 26. She doesn’t seem to have a phone with her. The ambulance took her to Prairie City General.”

  “What?” Noah bellowed. “Is the baby okay? Is Daisy okay?”

  “They both seemed fine,” he said. “It’s a boy, by the way.”

  “We’re on our way. Thanks for helping Daisy.”

  Harrison pocketed his phone and got back in his car, just sitting there behind the wheel for a moment, barely able to process what had just happened. A single workaholic businessman, he had no siblings to provide baby nieces and nephews, and he didn’t think he’d ever held a baby in his life—until today.

  He drove the fifteen minutes to Prairie City and pulled into a spot in the hospital parking lot, then stopped in the gift shop. There were congratulations balloons, get-well balloons and an entire section devoted to stuffed animals, big and small. He eyed a soft and squishy medium-sized light brown teddy bear with a plaid bow tie and bought it, then followed the signs to Maternity.

  In the elevator he stared at the bear, unable to fully comprehend how he’d ended up here, holding this stuffed toy, about to visit a new mother he hadn’t more than nodded at while seeing her at the ranch the past couple of days. A new mother who would hate his guts when she found out why he was really at the ranch.

  Daisy was in room 508. He sucked in a breath and peered in the open door. Now in a hospital gown with a thin white blanket covering half of her, she was alone—well, except for the baby in her arms, her gaze so full of wonder as she stared at the infant that he felt he was intruding. He was about to turn around and flee when she said, “You! My hero!”

  Harrison offered what had to be an awkward smile and walked fully into the room.

  She smiled at him. “I’m sorry—as guest relations manager of the ranch, I’d normally know your name, where you’re from, if you like decaf or regular for your cabin, but I took this past week off for the wedding. I wasn’t even thinking I’d need to start my maternity leave so soon.” She smiled a dazzling smile. Wow, she was pretty. All glowy and happy. “But I do recognize you as one of our guests. Guess you didn’t expect your day to go quite like this.”

  He had to laugh. “Nope. Definitely not. But I’m glad I happened to be driving down that road. You didn’t have a phone to call for help?”

  She frowned and glanced down at the baby. “As you probably figured out from my outfit and the dumb sign on the back of my car, I was supposed to get married today. The groom, my newborn son’s father, didn’t show and sent me a Dear Jane text. I got pissed and chucked my phone out the window of my car. Dumb, I know.”

  The father of her baby had left her at the altar? When she was nine months pregnant?

  “Sorry about the wedding,” he said, unable to even imagine what that must have felt like. He’d never come close to marrying. Or proposing to anyone. But he’d been betrayed before and knew what that felt like.

  “I’m sure I dodged a bullet. We weren’t right for each other, and we both knew it.”

  So did he, despite not even having met her before today. Because he’d been keeping watch over the Dawson family and the only two of the six siblings who worked at the ranch, he’d made a point of taking a tailing walk whenever he noticed Daisy strolling a path with the fiancé, a surfer-cowboy type. Their body language was always so awkward. They never held hands or kissed, though they did take a lot of walks on the paths, which was how he managed to spy on them so often. He’d wondered about their relationship because they barely seemed like a couple, yet he’d overheard her tell the fiancé it was time to get to Lamaze yesterday, and off they’d gone.

  She waved a hand in front of her. “Anyway. That is old news. This,” she said, smiling down at the baby, “is breaking news and all that matters.”

  The love and reverence and sincerity in her voice caught him by surprise, and for a moment, he just gazed at the baby with her. Finally, he cleared his throat. “My name is Harrison McCord,” he said, stiffly sitting down in the chair by her bed. “I got you a little something. Well, I got him a little something,” he added, gesturing at the tiny human lying alongside her arm. The newborn was skinny and cute with wispy brown curls. His eyes were closed at the moment. “I’m in Cabin No. 1 at the ranch. I booked it for the week.”

  “But it’s just you?” she asked. “Cabin No. 1 sleeps four.”

  “Just me,” he said.

  She waited a beat, as if she expected him to elaborate, but now was certainly not the time or the place. He’d wait a couple days, give her a chance to settle back at the main house at the ranch with the baby, and then he’d ask for a meeting with her and her brother. And drop a bombshell. The timing wasn’t good, but that couldn’t he helped.

  “So what’s his name?” he asked.

  “Tony. After my late grandpa, Anthony Dawson. I haven’t decided on a middle name,” she said. “Given what you did for me—for us—I’d like to use your middle initial.”

  He gaped at her. No, no, no, no, no. Noooo. “That’s very thoughtful, but there’s no need for that.”

  “You came to our rescue, Harrison. You helped bring this little guy into the world. I’d like to honor that.”

  He swallowed, his T-shirt suddenly tight around his neck. “Um, I...don’t have a middle name,” he lied. He actually did—Leo. “I’d better get going,” he added, bolting up. “I did call your brother. He’s on the way.” He put the teddy bear on the table beside her bed.

  She tilted her head at him. “Oh. Okay. Well, thanks again. For everything.”

  As she turned her attention back to the baby, he took one last look at her, not wanting to leave—but how could he stay? Now that he’d met Daisy Dawson under these unusual circumstances—like delivering her baby and calling her brother and visiting her in the hospital and bringing baby Tony a teddy bear and hearing how she’d been left at the altar—he felt something of a connection to the new mother. The news he planned to deliver in a couple days wouldn’t be as cut-and-dried as he’d expected.

  It’s just straight-up, on-paper business, he reminded himself. Nothing personal.

  She wanted to give her baby his middle initial!

  Things with Daisy Dawson had suddenly gotten very personal.

  Chapter Two r />
  Okay, Cabin No. 1 guest who very unexpectedly helped deliver her baby? Definitely mysterious. Her wanting to use his middle initial for Tony’s middle name had him jumping up like an electrocuted porcupine. What was with the guy?

  Then again, he’d had a pretty eventful last hour.

  “Well, Tony,” she said, looking at her baby son. “It’s just me and you. And I think I’ll use my mother’s first initial for your middle name. Her name was Leah. Let’s see... Liam. Lucas. Lawrence. Lee, Landon, Lincoln. Louis. Levi. Leonardo DiCaprio.” She stared at Tony, thinking he didn’t look anything like the actor. “How about Lester, as in Lester Holt?” she suggested. “Tony Lester Dawson. Tony Lucas Dawson. Tony Lincoln Dawson. Hey,” she whispered. “I think we have a winner. Very presidential, right? Anthony Lincoln Dawson, it is.”

  Luckily she’d gotten the name squared away, because the room suddenly filled with the five Dawson brothers and Sara, her sister-in-law and best friend. There were gasps and oohs and ahhs and so many flowers, balloons and stuffed animals, a few huge, that another person could not squeeze in.

  “I present your nephew, Anthony ‘Tony’ Lincoln Dawson,” she said. “Tony for his very special great-grandpa Anthony Dawson.” Gramps had always been called Anth, interestingly enough, a nickname started by his mother when he was very young, but the moment Harrison McCord had helped place the newborn on her chest on the side of that road, she’d instantly thought: Tony.

  “Gramps would like that,” Axel said, and they all nodded reverently.

  “The L in Lincoln for Mom?” Noah asked with a gentle smile.

  Daisy gave a teary nod just thinking what a wonderful nana Leah Dawson would have been. The six Dawson siblings had three mothers among them. Ford from the first marriage, Rex, Zeke and Axel from the second, and Daisy and Noah from the third. The siblings had all gotten to know Daisy and Noah’s mother pretty well since she’d been so kind and welcoming that their mothers had felt comfortable dropping them off for weekends and weeks in summer with their not-exactly-attentive father. That had stopped when Leah had died when Daisy was eleven, though. A few hours here and there were all the other two mothers had trusted Bo Dawson with their kids.

  “That’s really nice, Daisy,” Noah said, and she could see how touched he was.

  “So Tony for Gramps, Lincoln for my mom, and Dawson because Jacob called off the wedding and being a father.” She explained about the text. Tossing her phone and engagement ring. And then about her car sputtering on the service road and Harrison McCord coming to her aid.

  “We all owe him one,” Noah said. “No phone, hot as hell out, rural stretch of road. Thank God he came along.”

  Daisy nodded. “I kind of wonder why he did, though. There’s something up with the guy.”

  “What do you mean?” Ford asked in cop tone. A police officer in Casper, Ford didn’t let anything escape his attention.

  “Well, Noah can probably attest to how odd it is that a guest would book a cabin for four and then show up solo and not partake in a single activity at a dude ranch,” Daisy explained. “I’ve only seen him walking the grounds. In fact, any time I’ve been out, I feel like he’s been around. And then he’s suddenly five minutes behind me on the service road to the freeway?”

  Noah narrowed his eyes. “You know, now that you mention it, he does seem unusual. He wasn’t interested in being matched with a horse. And twice I’ve looked up while in the barn or talking to the ranch hands, and there’d he’d be, suddenly pulling out his phone like he had to make a call that second.”

  “Sounds like he’s watching you two,” Axel said. A search-and-rescue expert, Axel wasn’t one to believe in coincidence.

  Daisy shrugged. “He did help me, though. And then came to visit me and Tony. He brought this,” she added, pointing at the teddy bear. “I told him I wanted to give Tony his middle initial, and he turned white. Said he didn’t have a middle name and made excuses to leave.”

  Rex, the businessman of the brothers, crossed his arms over his chest. “Hmm. Something is definitely up with him. But like you said, he did come to your rescue. You and Tony are safe and healthy.”

  Noah nodded. “That’s all that matters right now.”

  “Couldn’t hurt to check him out,” Zeke said. This from the mysterious brother. Zeke had long refused to talk about his work and would only say it was highly classified, whatever that meant. Sometimes Daisy thought he was a spy.

  “Couldn’t agree more,” Ford said, taking out his phone. “What’s the guest’s name? I’ll start with a simple check on the guy. Just to be safe.”

  “Harrison McCord,” Daisy told him. “Wyoming plates. Silver Lexus.”

  “Harrison McCord,” Rex repeated, clearly thinking. “That name does sound familiar. I’ve heard it before. In business circles, I think.” Rex lived out in Jackson, Wyoming, which was hours away from Bear Ridge.

  Ford nodded and stepped out of the room, phone in hand. It was good having a cop in the family.

  “I’ll keep an eye on McCord,” Axel said. “Turns out I’ll be staying for a week or two. I’m on enforced R&R from my search-and-rescue team.”

  All eyes turned to Axel. He rarely said so much about his private life. She wondered what had happened to get him sent on “vacation.”

  “I’d like to stay at the main house with you, Daize,” Axel added, “if you’d like the company.”

  She beamed. She’d be able to work on keeping Axel in town forever! She almost wanted to add a mock-evil mwahaha, she was so happy about the news. “I’d love it. But you’ll be woken up all hours of the night by a shrieking newborn. Just pointing it out if it didn’t occur to you.”

  Axel stared at the creature in her arms, his blue eyes widening slightly as he ran a hand through his thick dark brown hair. “Not like I’ll be getting any sleep anyway, so bring it on, little nephew.”

  Daisy laughed, but as she glanced at Axel, she could see something was eating at him—something about the enforced vacation and whatever had gone down there. He could probably use a little distraction, right? She would put her matchmaking plan into action. Within two weeks, he’d never want to leave anyway, because he’d be too in love. With the woman she had in mind for him and with his darling baby nephew, who’d be the apple of his ole eye. He’d sign on with a new search-and-rescue team much closer to Bear Ridge and build a big, gorgeous modern log cabin on the edge of the ranch property. That was the dream—having all her brothers back home.

  Yes, Daisy was feeling better about knowing three of her brothers would be leaving later today or in the morning. Because Noah was here, of course. And now Axel would be, too.

  “The baby looks just like you,” her sister-in-law, Sara, said, her eyes misty. “I can’t wait to introduce him to his little cousins. Cowboy Joe is watching them right now.”

  Daisy smiled. Cowboy Joe was the grizzled sixty-two-year-old cook at the guest ranch cafeteria. He adored babies.

  Noah put his arm around his wife, and they gazed at the baby. “Welcome to the family, Tony Lincoln Dawson,” he said to his nephew. “You’re gonna be spoiled rotten.”

  Daisy grinned. She felt so lucky that her baby would have five incredible uncles, one amazing aunt and two instant baby cousins. Sara had five-month-old twins, Annabel and Chance. Sara’s husband had died just a couple months after she’d given birth to twins, only one of whom had survived—supposedly. Within a half hour of the birth, Sara’s twisted husband had actually left frail newborn Annabel on Noah Dawson’s doorstep after telling Sara the girl twin had died. But the truth had come out seven weeks later, and Sara and her daughter had been reunited. Noah, who for all that time had taken care of Annabel on his own, thinking she was his baby—per the false, anonymous note left with her—had never looked so happy than on his wedding day, when he, Sara and the twins became a forever family.

  Ford stepped back in the
room, pocketing his phone. “Harrison McCord is a successful businessman—mergers and acquisitions—in Prairie City. Owns his own firm. Clean record. On local charitable boards. Highly regarded. From basic reports, a top-notch guy.”

  “Well, he did deliver Tony and ruin a really expensive-looking dress shirt,” Daisy said with a grin. “So that’s not a total surprise.”

  “He lied about not having a middle name, by the way,” Ford added. “It’s Leo.”

  “L for Leo!” Daisy said. “Turns out Harrison Leo McCord got a piece of the middle-name honoring whether he liked it or not.”

  “Probably just didn’t want a fuss made over what he did,” Rex said. “Likely he doesn’t think he did anything anyone else wouldn’t have done.”

  Except Harrison was the only person around. And he had come to her rescue. So that was all she knew.

  “Still worth keeping an eye on,” Axel put in, and Daisy caught Ford and Noah nodding.

  She wondered what was behind Harrison’s mysterious behavior. Still, when a nurse came in to check her vitals and bring Tony to the nursery, she forced herself to stop thinking about her impromptu birth partner so she could catch a much-needed nap. But between wishing she could have Tony back in her arms and wondering about Harrison McCord, she was wide-awake.

  * * *

  With visiting hours at the Gentle Winds hospice about to end, Harrison sat at the bedside of ninety-four-year-old Mo Burns, an over-bed table between them holding a deck of cards, Mo’s favorite candy—sour jelly beans—and a full house. Mo had beaten Harrison at poker again.

  “Gotcha, kid,” Mo exclaimed in his whispery voice, his filmy blue eyes beaming with pride.

  Harrison had been volunteering at Gentle Winds, where his aunt was a patient just down the hall, ever since Lolly McCord had moved in ten days ago. Lolly had stage-four cancer, caught too late to do anything, and she was often very tired. Harrison liked to be close by to his only relative, so he’d asked about volunteering, and every day, before or after he visited his aunt, he’d spend an hour or so with a few different patients, reading to them, talking sports, playing cards and often just listening to a lifetime of memories. Eighty-eight-year-old Clyde Monroe liked to talk politics, so Harrison read to him from the Converse County Gazette about national and local happenings. Danielle Panowsky loved reading true-crime books but couldn’t see the tiny type anymore and couldn’t stand e-readers or earphones, so Harrison found her a few great crime podcasts they could listen to together. And Mo liked poker and winning, so Harrison mostly let the sweet man win. But today, Harrison hadn’t even had to ignore his good cards. His mind was not on the game.