"Well, hey there, Niall!" A perky older woman in hot pink scrubs waved from her spot behind the check-in desk. Her gaze slid to Cruz and she beamed a megawatt smile. "And who is this? Bring her over! Let me see!"
Niall laughed and leaned down to whisper, "That's Paula. She's the town's gossip but she's a sweetheart."
"Great." Cruz was instantly aware of the curious gazes around the small lobby area. Every eye in the place was glued to her as she walked over to the counter. She held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Cruz."
"Paula, honey." The woman gave Cruz's hand an enthusiastic shake. "Where in the world did you meet this pretty young thing, Niall?"
"Austin. Cruz's brother is an old friend of mine."
"Oh!" Paula's eyes gleamed. She leaned forward conspiratorially. "I bet that's a juicy tale."
"Not as juicy as you'd think," Cruz said, not sure she wanted to the source of fodder for the town gossip. "I have an appointment with Betsy Craig."
"Oh, right!" Paula slid over to her keyboard and typed a few keys. She asked Cruz the usual questions about her date of birth, phone number and insurance carrier. Cruz lied without missing a beat. Paula's eyes lit up when she used Niall's last name. "Well! Now, Jolene didn't say anything about you two being married!"
Cruz snuck a glance at Niall. Boy, gossip ran through this town faster than a wildfire. "I don't think it came up when she was writing Niall a ticket."
Paula looked scandalized. "No!"
Cruz nodded but added, "He
was
speeding."
Paula chuckled and got back to asking questions and typing in Cruz's information. "Since you're uninsured, you'll need to pop over to the business office after your visit. They'll get you set up on a payment plan if necessary." She grabbed a clipboard loaded down with forms and snatched a pen from a cup. Her finger indicated the waiting area to the left. "Betsy's rooms are on this side of the clinic. Fill these out and hand them to your nurse when you're called."
As she headed to a chair in the corner, Cruz ignored the interested stares. Niall stayed behind with Paula to chitchat for a few minutes. Cruz scanned the forms, her gaze lingering on the strange combination of her first name and Niall's surname. It had a nice ring to it but made her feel odd.
She glanced over at Niall who was deep in conversation. His relaxed body language and that broad smile made him seem so approachable and warm. Hardly the way he'd greeted her when he'd shown up on her doorstep. Cruz chalked it up to his being familiar with Paula and tried not to let it hurt her feelings that she'd only seen glimpses of this warmer side of him.
Her mind naturally strayed to the what-ifs. Niall would probably make a good husband. Any man who would take in a pregnant woman on the run from a cartel assassin was one of a kind. He'd shown immense loyalty to Carlos. If he was that loyal to a friend, she could only imagine how far he'd go for his wife.
But she wasn't his wife. This was a ruse to help her blend in and go unnoticed. A man like Niall was never going to want a girl like her. Sadness took hold as Cruz faced the grim reality of never marrying. She'd only recently learned to be okay with touch again, even if it was only Niall's touch. Dating terrified her. And sex? She wondered if she'd ever be able to enjoy sex again without flashbacks or fear or pain.
Then there was the baby. There weren't many men who would willingly take on the son of a killer. Cruz wouldn't allow anyone to make her son feel badly about his heritage so letting a man in on the secret of her baby's sperm donor wasn't likely to happen. She'd have to build a great deal of trust with a man before she could divulge a secret like that.
"You all right?" Niall sat down in the empty seat next to her.
"I'm fine." She smiled at him before turning her full attention to the forms. She made quick work of filling out the various sections. As her pen scratched across the paper, she was vaguely aware of a door opening and a nurse stepping out into the waiting room. It wasn't until Niall nudged her elbow that she realized the woman was speaking to her.
"Mrs. Campbell?" The nurse repeated with a smile. "You ready to come back?"
"Oh. Yes." Cruz shifted the clipboard and pushed up out of her chair. As she stood, Felix kicked her ribs. She winced at the sharp sensation and stretched her side, hoping to ease the twitch.
"You've got yourself a little kicker there?" The nurse guessed with a laugh.
"He's got quite a leg on him," Cruz said as she walked past the nurse.
"Niall?" The nurse's eyebrows lifted expectantly as she held the door. "You coming?"
Cruz couldn't see him because she'd already moved into the exam area. She listened for his voice but heard nothing. A few seconds later, he appeared in the doorway and cast a sheepish grin at the nurse. "I got wrapped up in that sports magazine."
Smooth, Cruz thought. The man knew how to cover his behind. He probably hadn't realized most fathers accompanied the mother-to-be into the back for appointments.
“You should be reading some of those parenting ones instead.” The nurse shut the door behind them and gestured to the nearby scale. "You've only got a couple of weeks to learn all about diapers and breastfeeding and colic."
Niall frowned. "Colic?"
Cruz laughed as she handed over the clipboard. She stepped onto the scale and watched the digital read bounce around before settling on a number. Her blood pressure was fine. She noticed the way Niall watched the machine as it whirred and beeped. He looked relieved when the numbers popped up on the screen and were in line with normal values.
After a quick trip to the restroom and leaving a sample, they were taken to an exam room. The nurse took the clipboard and left the room. Before Cruz could rib Niall for choosing a magazine over his fictional wife, the door opened again and the midwife entered. She had a kind face and a great handshake. Cruz liked her instantly. She asked the expected questions about Cruz's prenatal care and progress.
"Let's get you up on this table so I can do a quick ultrasound. I'm sure your records will have your twenty week scan but I'd like to take a peek."
"Sure." Cruz walked over to the table and carefully mounted the pulled out steps. She sat back on the padded table, the white paper crinkling beneath her bottom, and shimmied into place. The midwife adjusted the pillow under Cruz's head and then grabbed a couple of washcloths from a drawer. Cruz pulled up her maternity top to just below her bra and folded down the stretchy front panel of her jeans. The midwife tucked the washcloths under the fabric of her top and bottom to protect them from the slippery ultrasound gel.
"This is a good-sized baby," the midwife remarked as she palpated Cruz's belly. "Here's his bottom." She squeezed a spot along the lower left side of Cruz's tummy and then moved up under her ribcage on the right side. "Head."
"He seems to like that position. He does a lot of straight across too."
"He's got room right now," the midwife said as she grabbed the portable ultrasound in the corner of the room. "You're thirty-two weeks and pretty soon he's going to move head down and run out of space to squirm."
"Oh!" Cruz sucked in a breath as the cold gel hit her skin.
"Sorry." The midwife made an apologetic face. "We really need a warmer in here. Okay. Let's see what this little boy is up to in there." The midwife pressed the wand to Cruz's belly and moved it around as she stared at the screen.
Cruz always loved this part of her visits. Seeing her sweet munchkin kicking around and waving his hands filled her with such joy. She allowed herself to dream of the future. He could be anything and everything he wanted. Nothing would hold him back.
When Niall stood and moved closer to the table, Cruz couldn't help but smile. Even the most hardened man couldn't resist a baby. She couldn't place the expression on his face. It was mostly curiosity but there was a little sadness there too. His Adam's apple moved a few times as the midwife pointed out tiny hands and feet and the moving lips.
Cruz sensed there was a deeper story there. Had Niall lost a child? Had there been a woman at some point in his past, someone he loved and wanted to marry? She didn't know anything about him, she realized. Maybe he had an ex-wife and kids out there somewhere.
As Niall accepted the strip of black and white prints of the baby, Cruz realized that she wasn't the only one with secrets.
* * *
Niall paid for his supplies from the lumber yard, thanked the teenaged cashier and carted his load out to the truck parked in front of the store. He glanced around as he dropped the items in the bed of the truck. The street was as empty as when he'd gone inside. His gaze darted to the bakery and café a few store fronts down where he'd left Cruz. He'd been tempted to take her straight back to the ranch but he'd seen the longing look in her eye when she'd spotted people and restaurants and stores. He'd agreed to lunch and left her eating dessert and making small talk with the café owner while he ran his lumber yard errand.
That ultrasound had left him feeling so strange. Looking at the grainy image of Felix, he'd been transported back to a time when he'd been expecting a child, a child he'd wanted so badly. Back then he'd allowed himself to dream of a future and a family. When those dreams had been crushed, Niall had sworn never again. Never again would he make himself vulnerable.
And now here was Cruz doing just that! He'd tried so hard to sleep after he'd convinced Cruz to leave the detective work until sunrise. Her face had danced before his eyes. His arms had ached with the memory of those soft, warm curves of hers. The fear of allowing her into his thawing heart had left him uneasy.
"Niall."
He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the sheriff's voice. The old man slipped his Stetson into place and crossed the street, leaving his patrol truck behind. Niall turned and shook the other man's hand when he drew near. "Sheriff."
"You in town with your wife?"
Niall shook his head. "Paula?"
The sheriff laughed. "Who else? I swear that woman's gossip phone tree is more efficient than any government alert system."
The sheriff started to shoot the breeze. Niall was more than happy to oblige the older man. He was old school tough, a grizzly old bastard who had survived three tours in Vietnam and a stint as a border deputy during one of the bloodier eras of narco-trafficking down south. He was the only man in town Niall trusted for backup if things didn't go right with Cruz.
"You have any coyote problems? I know with the drought some of the other ranches are having some pest problems." The sheriff rolled the toothpick clamped between his lips. "We had some reports around your place. Big rig driver called it in around two last night. Jolene went out that way but didn’t find anyone."
"That's interesting," Niall said, his mind going back to the shoes and knife. Maybe he'd been wrong to consider Jolene as a suspect. Maybe it really had been someone tied in with the cartel sending them a message. "I had a prowler last night. Scared the pants off Cruz."
The old man chuckled. "You two are honeymooners so I guess that prowler did you a favor."
Niall laughed. "I suppose."
The sheriff's cell rang. He glanced at the screen and scowled. "Hell, here we go again." He exhaled loudly and silenced the call. "Seems some kind of turf war broke out in Austin between the two big cartels. Those, uh, Garza boys and the Reyes—no, Reynosa—outfits. It's playing out all over Texas, I guess. My friend in over in Denton County found a body off the highway. It was a cartel style killing. Torture. Garroting." He made a disgusted face. "Very messy."
"He giving you a heads-up to expect trouble way over here?" Niall was careful not to show too much enthusiasm. "Dallas is a long way from Eldorado."
"Not long enough," the sheriff replied. "You know how it is with these damn cartels. They've got trade routes all over the state. Hell, those SUVs you called in a couple of hours ago were loaded down with coke and pot." He chortled. "It’ll be another photo-op for Jolene."
"I bet."
"Look," the old man said carefully, "you and that pretty new wife of yours just be careful out there on your place."
"Will do," Niall assured him.
The sheriff's radio keyed up and a dispatcher squawked across the air waves about a loose cow on the highway. Niall chuckled at the idea of the sheriff chasing a sassy cow back inside her fence. He rolled his eyes and spoke into his shoulder mic. "Yeah, I'm on my way. Send Grimshaw out that way too."
Niall whacked the sheriff on his shoulder and bid him farewell. He headed toward the small café tucked between a hair salon and a flower shop. He removed his hat as he entered the cozy building and scanned the room for Cruz.
She remained exactly where he'd left her at a small table by the window. There was a local paper open on the table and just a few crumbs from that huge red velvet cupcake. She beamed at him as he drew close. His stomach flip-flopped at the knowledge it was a smile meant only for him.
"Hey!" She touched his hand. "You're back sooner than I'd expected."
"Lumber yard wasn't that busy." He pushed some wavy strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail holder behind her ear. It was an intimate touch, too intimate probably, but he told himself it was exactly the sort of thing a husband would do. "I had to go in the back to scare up a cashier. I think I might have interrupted his late lunch. Seems it's been slow in the lumber yard this summer."
She gestured to the café owner working the counter. "Maggie told me it's been very quiet this summer. She blames it on the economy and drought."
"Sounds about right," Niall agreed. "It's been a long time since I've been able to park under that big old shade tree down at the end of the street. It's always the first spot to go on a busy Friday." He playfully tugged her ponytail. "You ready to go?"
"Almost," she replied. "I ordered one of those delicious looking chicken pot pies and a key lime pie for dinner. That way we can avoid heating up the kitchen."
Niall's mouth watered. Maggie was a kitchen goddess and had certainly mastered the way to a man's heart.