"Del …"
Silence.
"Del, she's makin' a noise …"
"Mmmff."
"I think she's hungry …"
" 'm asleep .."
"I'll go get her then …"
Delancey Cowper Morgan Sanchez opened
a bleary eye and looked at the luminous dial on the bedside alarm.
She sighed.
"It's two in the mornin', Josiah,
an' I fed her twenty minutes ago. She ain't hungry."
"Probably needs a diaper change.
I'll just go get her …"
Del muttered something unmentionable
and turned over in the big bed to look at her husband. She could see
clearly by the summer moonlight streaming in through the window, and,
sure enough, he was lying propped up with pillows, wide awake, watching
her expectantly.
She cocked an enquiring eyebrow at
the big man.
"Are you goin' to bust somethin'
vital trying to do somethin' you ain't fit to do? Cuz if you are,
I'm gonna whomp you somethin' fierce." The Missouri accent was
thick with sleep.
"Lord, no, girl. I'll be careful."
Del scowled. She saw the flash of
a big grin, and her eyes travelled down to her husband's bare chest.
Or what bare chest she could see under the bandages. She shivered
despite herself. This was his first night home from hospital after
the shooting that almost cost him his life, the shooting that had
almost deprived their daughter of a father before she was even born.
Taking a deep breath, she shook off the feeling and nodded at Josiah.
"Okay, big guy. Just you take
care now, an' if you need help just yell. Oh, an' whatever you do,
don't wake those two fool men on the porch, y'hear?"
"I hear you. Get some sleep now,
you need it."
Del turned back on her side, listening
to the big man slowly and painfully lever himself out of bed and struggle
into a large shirt that hung almost to the bottom edge of his old
army shorts. She smiled to herself.
Stubborn ol' cuss …
Josiah padded through to the small
living room of the tiny ranch house, and lifted his daughter's carry
bag of Things that Babies Need. He eased himself down into a chair,
turned on the lamp beside him and tried, one-handed, to undo the zip.
"Need a hand there, pard?"
Buck Wilmington leaned in the doorway
to the porch, all rumpled tee shirt and boxers, hair bent with sleep.
Josiah sighed.
"Diapers."
Buck grinned. He wandered over and
sat down on the soft chair opposite his friend and opened the bag.
Both of them peered inside, Buck tugging his moustache thoughtfully.
"Josiah, how can somethin' so
small need so much stuff?"
Between them they sorted out the necessaries,
then Josiah set himself to getting out of the chair. The pain almost
knocked him breathless, and Buck's cobalt eyes narrowed with concern.
"Want me to fetch Del?"
"N … no, Buck. I'm fine,
honest."
"So stay put. I'll go get the
twiglet."
"Don't wake Del. She's all in,
takin' care of me an' the baby." Josiah winced as his wounds
twinged in protest, then grinned his thanks to the tall man.
He watched Buck creep softly into
the bedroom. Amazin' how such a big man can be so quiet …
there was a muffled thump.
"Aww ... shit …"
"I'd appreciate it, Buck Wilmington,
if you didn't kick the furniture around. An' don't swear in front
of the baby." Josiah smiled at the amusement in his wife's laconic
voice.
"Sorry Del …"
"G'night, Buck."
"G'night, Del. Sorry."
A few moments later Josiah watched
Buck return through the darkened doorway with a squirming bundle clasped
to his chest, almost hidden in the big hands.
"She don't need changin', Josiah.
She's just needin' her Daddy."
Josiah took a deep breath. Well,
this is it. This is where I'm gonna get found out.
Buck bent down and gently laid the
bundle in the crook of Josiah's good left arm.
Father and daughter studied one another
solemnly.
Rosamund Delancey Sanchez, all five
days, four hours and twenty-three minutes' worth of her, knew she
had a mission in life. That mission was to completely and utterly
enthrall the seven men - including her father - who would be involved
in her future, so that they would unhesitatingly do whatever she so
desired at the drop of a hat.
Within moments, she knew she had succeeded
with the first of those targets.
Josiah was enraptured.
Of course, he had met his daughter
before, at the hospital when she was born. In fact he had helped deliver
her, and was the first person to hold her. But this was the first
time they had been alone together, and it was the moment he had been
dreading.
But the fear vanished in a second.
"Hey, Rosie girl. I'm your Daddy
.."
Rosie Sanchez turned towards the sound
of the soft, rumbling baritone. She could make out - just - a pair
of impossibly blue eyes, and a wonderous wide grin of delight. She
hiccuped.
Buck smiled to himself from the doorway.
"I'll be on the porch if you
need me, Josiah. J.D.'s snorin' like a mule with the croup, so I won't
be asleep. Just holler …"
Josiah looked up, eyes wide with wonder,
and nodded his thanks before being drawn back to his daughter's small
face. He settled back in the soft armchair and made himself comfortable,
stretching out long legs and easing the hurt in his bandaged chest.
Josiah suddenly discovered he wanted
to talk, talk about everything.
Well, now, where to start?
Then he knew the answer. The velvet
baritone was soft, gentle, full of love.
"That was Buck, Rosie. He's gonna
be one of your godfathers come your christenin', along with the others.
Well, I suppose I'd better tell you somethin' about 'em before you
commit yourself, because - I'll warn you now - they're kinda, well
- different.
"Ol' Buck may seem big and noisy,
but I tell you girl, he's the best there is. One minute he's pullin'
your ass outta the fire an' the next minute he's crushin' you to death
with one of those bear hugs of his. Mind you, he does have the instincts
of a tom cat when it comes to women, but - what the hell, it doesn't
matter any. But he's fearsome loyal, Rosie, Chris'll vouch for that,
an' he looks after that boy like a lion protectin' its cub. An' he'll
do the same for you."
Rosie absorbed the information and
stored it away for further reference. She burped, gently.
"Who's the boy?" Josiah
pondered his daughter's query. "Oh, that's J.D. That's him out
on the porch with Buck, snorin' loud enough to bring down the rafters.
Now he's somethin' real special. He's all grit and soft places, Rosie,
an' he can't stop jigglin' for a second. Lord, that boy can fidget."
Josiah smiled sadly. "Just wish he didn't want to grow up so
fast. Now that's where you come in, baby girl, 'cause maybe if you're
around he might take time out to be just a kid instead of puttin'
himself in front of things that could hurt him."
The little girl lifted a tiny fist
and wrapped it around her father's index finger. Josiah took the hint.
"You'll meet Nathan in the mornin',
'cause he's comin' out to check on you an' me both. Now there's a
man to look up to. If it wasn't for Nate I'd have bled out on that
warehouse floor in less than a minute. How he stopped the bleedin'
I don't know an' I'm too scared to ask, but whatever he did …
" Josiah swallowed, his voice catching with emotion. "Anyway,
he kept me from fallin' apart long enough to get me to the hospital
an' - well, I guess your Momma told you the rest.
"Don't worry if he seems to spend
most of his time frettin' about things, that's normal for Nathan.
Hell, it's not as though he hasn't a lot to fret about. One or the
other of us always gettin' hurt, an' Nate's always there puttin' the
pieces back together."
Father and daughter sat quiet for
a moment, pondering the mysteries of life.
"Nate's the bravest man I know,
Rosie. Did your Momma tell you about him an' Chris at the hospital?
No? Well, seems Chris was ready to beat Ezra to blue blazes 'cause
he thought I took that bullet for him, seein' as Ezra doesn't like
wearin' a vest. So what does Nathan do? He just grabs Chris around
the collar an' drags him off Ezra, then slams him as hard as hell
against the wall. Chris was so took back he just sat down an' shut
up." Josiah grinned at the thought of it. "But has Nathan
finished? Oh no. He hauls off at Chris as he's sittin' there, Josiah'd
no more think about whether Ez's wearin' a vest or not than fly to
the moon on a fiddle! he's yellin', standin' in the corridor,
Josiah would've done the same for any of us!
"Now Brother Nathan's tellin'
a damn lie here, 'cause I knew full well Ezra didn't have his vest
on, an' me bein' me, I thought God would help out an' those bullets
would just impact on my vest - all I'd have to show for it'd be a
couple of bruises. How was I to know one of 'em would miss the vest,
hit me and bounce around my insides for a while?"
Rosie twitched gently in her father's
arms, then blew a thoughtful bubble.
Josiah frowned, his blue eyes solemn
for a moment.
"Ah, so you want to know about
Chris. Well, my girl, I don't rightly know how to describe Mr Larabee.
I suppose he's what we anthropologist-come-profilers would label 'deep',
but really he's just one mean sonofabitch. Now don't get me wrong,
Rosie, I mean that in the best possible way, but Lord, he's a hard
man to handle sometimes. He spends most of his time wound up tighter
'n a watch, tryin' to do the best job he can with some of the awkwardest
sonsabitches you ever did meet - 'specially Ezra. I swear Ez is late
every damn day just to see that vein throb on Chris' forehead.
"See, girl, that's why I can't
help you out with Chris. You're gonna have to tackle him on your lonesome,
'cause Chris has his demons. When he lost Adam an' Sarah - you know
about them, remember, we told you all about it before you were born
- it hurt a piece of Chris that'll never heal. He spends every wakin'
moment bleedin' an' hurtin' inside, an' its only the job that keeps
him goin'. But somewhere inside there's a big, big heart, all mush
an' softness. I have faith in you Rosie, I know you'll find it."
Rosie was looking a little uncomfortable,
so Josiah shifted her slightly, and a tiny foot pushed insistently
against the ball of his thumb. He reverently stroked the miniscule
toes, hidden in the depths of her baby suit. More comfortable now,
she resumed the interrogation of her father, as she avidly listened
to the beat of his big heart.
"Of course, darlin', Chris has
Vin and Buck worryin' about him, although wise ol' Bucklin has taken
a back seat these days, as he's the kid to worry for, too. J.D. sure
can take up a lot of worryin' time … "
Rosie made a soft smacking sound with
rosebud lips.
"Vin? Oh, sweetheart, you'll
like Vin. He's not much older than J.D., but God, he's seen some things,
that boy. How can I describe Vin … hell, he's all wilderness
and silent places, Rosie. Can't stand enclosed spaces - fights 'em
like a wolf in a cage. Vin has a soul deeper than a mountain pool
an' a heart that just don't give in, no matter what trouble he gets
into. An' between you an' me, he's the best shot I ever saw - he can
shoot the balls off a flea blindfold at two hundred yards. Damnation,
he's good. But he does have one helluva sense of humour, girl. Downright
weird, sometimes. Did I ever tell you about the time … nah, I'll
leave that one 'till your old enough. Eighteen or nineteen, maybe.
"But you're gonna have to go
easy on Vin, Rosie. Go easy on both him and Jesse. You see, they lost
their little girl awhile back. Stillborn. Now I'm not goin' to hide
the fact from you, 'cause death is just a part of life. But, damn,
that child was wanted. The Lord an' me fell out over that one, big
time. Bless him, Chris had them put little Jesse beside his Adam,
so she wouldn't be lonely.
"What made it harder was your
Momma an' me found out you were on the way a few weeks later. It truly
was the best and worst day of my life, I can tell you. It was one
of the hardest things I ever had to do, sit down an' tell Vin that
I was goin' to be a Daddy. Me. At my age. An' do you know what he
did, Rosie? He smiled. The biggest, silliest smile I ever saw,
an' his eyes lit up like firecrackers. It near broke my heart."
Josiah gazed down at his daughter.
The ache in his heart for Vin was almost more than he could bear.
Rosie, not really understanding but sensing his pain, snuggled deeper
into the broad, comforting chest. Josiah, careful of his shattered
ribs, leaned down and kissed the downy hair on her head. Rosie sneezed.
Josiah grinned at her impatience.
"Ezra." The big man sighed
in frustration. "Ezra drives me to distraction, Rosie. Hell,
he drives all of us to distraction, 'specially Chris. But you already
know that. He's the most infuriatin', arrogant, lazy, pretentious,
manipulative … big-hearted sonofabitch I've ever known.
Goes his own way, doesn't need anyone an' God help you if get in his
way. Ez can cut you down with a single word, make you feel an inch
high. He can cut right to the bone too, usin' those fifty dollar words
of his, and he'll do it an' not look back.
"I always thought I was the one
who had penance to pay, but Lord, Rosie, Ezra takes the biscuit. There's
somethin' eatin' away at him like one of your Momma's hound-dogs worryin'
a bone, an' none of us can figure it out. He hides it all behind fancy
clothes and that damn car of his - a Jaguar, for God's sake. All leather
seats an' fancy do-dads. Most of the time he won't even let us sit
in it. Mind you, the way Vin dresses, I'm not surprised…"
Rosie sniffed, trying to get her father
back to the point of the story. Josiah obliged graciously.
"Did you know you were nearly
born in that car, darlin'? Ez was bringin' your Momma into the hospital
every day to see me while I was hurt, probably 'cause he was feelin'
guilty. See what I mean about penance? Anyway, they're drivin' along
an' your Momma suddenly lets out a yell loud enough to wake the dead
- Ez damn near crashes the car. My waters've broke!!! she hollers,
an' the next thing she knows is Ezra's jammed on the brakes. Your
Momma looks at him an' Ezra looks back, an' she just knows
he's throwin' a blue fit inside about his leather upholstery. If
you think I'm getting' out of this damn car just so's you can clean
up the mess, Ezra P. Standish, you'd better hold on to your horses
'cause I'm gonna have your hide for a duster! Poor Ez doesn't
know what to say - which is somethin' in itself. So, he just puts
the pedal to the metal an' gets your Momma to the hospital - in record
time, I might add. You were born not long after, an' your Momma puts
it down to laughin' so hard at the look on Ezra's face."
Josiah chuckled, the deep rumble in
his chest making his daughter blink in surprise.
"No, Rosie girl, you won't have
any problem with Ezra. For all of his pain-in-the-ass attitude he's
a sucker for kids, even though sometimes he acts like a greedy sonofabitch.
I mean, he went round after you were born and collected twenty dollars
off each one of us. Sweepstake on your birth-weight, which he just
so happened to win. Found out he'd bribed the nurse doing the scans
to give him a good weight to aim for. We were all ready to take him
apart at the seams, when we found out he'd put the money in a bank
account for you. College fund, he said. Made it look as though he
did it to wangle out of havin' his head nailed to a door - mostly
by Chris. But, I don't know, he don't want to be seen doin' somethin'
just out of the goodness of his heart. Makes him feel kinda vulnerable,
I guess. But that's Ezra, an' you'll have to take him just the way
he is."
Josiah sighed, suddenly very weary.
Rosie yawned.
"Well, baby girl, that's them.
All six of 'em. You'll probably grow up kinda weird, but what the
hell - at least you'll be interesting. Havin' an ol' preacher man
as your Daddy and a wild hound-dog woman for a Momma is goin' to make
life pretty strange too."
He winced, the pain in his chest beginning
to take hold.
"Lord, Rosie, I'm tired. It's
been a long day for both of us, an' I think I'm gonna need some of
those pain meds the Doc gave me. I'm gettin' too old for all this
…"
"A little less of the 'old,'
preacher man."
Del limped from the bedroom doorway
to sit in front of her husband and daughter.
"You two figured out which of
you is goin' to be in charge, yet?"
Josiah grinned.
"Jury's still out on that one,
girl." His blue gaze returned to his now sleepy daughter.
Del looked at his gaunt face, her
heart full of joy and not a little sadness. How can such a big
man look so fragile? she wondered, studying his battered frame,
looking at the powerful arms cradling the tiny scrap of humanity that
was his flesh and blood. She glanced toward the porch door, knowing
that Buck would be wide awake, knowing he wouldn't go back to sleep
while Josiah was up and about. God Almighty, Buck Wilmington, don't
you ever stop worryin' an' carin'? Just how big is that heart of yours?
Is it big enough for all the lives you try to protect an' hold dear?
And, in her heart of hearts, she knew it was.
"Buck? Buck …can you give
me a hand gettin' this man of mine back into his bed?"
"Sure, Del. Be with you in a
twinklin' …"
Within moments Buck padded through
on bare feet, followed by a bleary-eyed J.D.
Me an' my shadow … Del
smiled inwardly.
"You all right, Josiah?"
J.D. Dunne couldn't conceal the worry, concern filling hazel eyes.
"Sure, son. Just can't get outta
this damn chair, is all …"
Del lifted the sleeping child out
of her father's arms.
"J.D., would you mind takin'
Rosie for a moment while Buck an' me get Josiah settled?"
The wide grin nearly split J.D.'s
youthful face in half as he gently cradled his god-daughter-to-be.
"Hey, there, half-pint. I'm J.D.
Gonna be fun havin' you around … " The young man set up
a soft croon, lost in the joy of being a part of Rosie Sanchez's young
life. He wasn't 'the Kid' no more …
Buck and Del eased the weary Josiah
to his feet, and between them supported the big man as he slowly made
his way back to bed. J.D. followed quietly, little Rosie sleeping
soundly in the strong arms of her latest conquest.
Josiah was put to bed and Del gave
him the medication that would ease the throbbing pain in his body,
Buck hovering close by, reluctant to leave in case he was needed.
Del lifted her daughter out of J.D.'s arms and put her to bed in her
crib, the crib adorned with hand-carved animals courtesy of Mr. Tanner.
She looked at her sleeping daughter,
then turned to watch Josiah, now beginning to doze, propped up in
bed to ease the pressure on his wounded body. She smiled to herself,
as she turned back to the other two members of this strange brotherhood
of Seven she had inherited on her marriage.
Look at 'em - worryin' like a
pair of ol' women …
"Seems like they're settled,
fellas. I'll see if I can catch up on my zee's - Rosie'll be needin'
a feed fairly soon. Thanks."
Buck's amiable face broke into a smile,
the big man nodding acknowledgement. J.D. wandered back into the living
room and Del could hear him heading for the small kitchen.
Refrigerator, she thought.
Dang, that boy can eat …
"J.D.?"
"Yeah, Del?"
"Leave some food in there for
tomorrow, will ya? Nathan'll be wantin' some breakfast in the mornin'."
"Sure, Del." The words were
mumbled through a mouthful of cold ham and cheese.
"J.D.?"
"Yeah?"
"Fruit Loops in the cupboard
above the sink …"
She heard the cupboard door open.
"You gonna be okay, Del?"
Buck's blue eyes were warm with concern.
Del Sanchez took a deep breath. She
knew she would be.
"Buck?" His eyebrows lifted
at the catch in her voice. But before he could answer, she reached
up and took his face between her hands and gave him a soft kiss on
the cheek.
"Thank you. For everything, from
the three of us."
Buck grinned, somewhat self-consciously.
Lord, the fool's blushin' …
"G'night, Del …"
"G'night, Buck."
And with that, the Sanchez household
Plus Two settled down to a peaceful and painless night.
"Del?"
Silence.
"Del? She's makin' a noise again
…"
Sigh.
"Dammit, Josiah, it's four thirty
in the mornin', an' she's not long fed …"
"I'll just go get her then …"
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