Laura nodded and smiled at Cade and the others but it felt stiff. Home.

Could it really be that simple? Could she really just stay with the Bishops? Take their charity and their kindness and live off them? Raise her baby there? But for how long? Surely she couldn’t just live there forever?

Even if the police weren’t coming for her, that didn’t mean the Kensingtons would just give up trying to get custody of her baby once it was born. Laura needed to talk to Shane and see what he’d discovered. He had told her he was looking into the case law in this area, and he was sure a grandmother wouldn’t have a very strong case for taking a baby from its mother without some very strong extenuating circumstances, but Laura wanted to be sure. She wanted to know she was finally free.

“Well, I have to get back out there. I’m on patrol for another two hours,” John said as he stood and took another slice of pizza for the road.

“We should get going too,” Stacey and Grant said and Alice nodded and stood with them.

“It was so great to finally get to spend some time with you, Laura. Maybe we can all go out again soon?” Alice asked Laura.

Laura smiled and nodded. Maybe she really could have this. A life filled with real friends and people who cared about her. A place she could truly call home. And...

Laura’s eyes met Cade’s and she knew she must be blushing. Maybe, someday, she could have someone who would love her and treat her as if she were a person who mattered, not a possession to be owned and conquered. Someday.

* * *

Cade started to drive past the barn, but Laura stopped him.

“I’ll help you with the nighttime bed check if you want,” she said. That’s what May always called the last barn check of the night. The one where you turned off all the lights, made sure the stall doors were shut properly, and checked to be sure none of the animals were having nightmares—or so May told her.

Cade glanced her way and slowed the truck, steering it toward the barn instead of the house. “Thanks.”

A motion sensor kicked on the outside light as soon as the truck pulled up to the double barn doors. Cade jogged around to help Laura down and then pushed open one of the doors, flicking on the center aisle lights. It didn’t take either of them long to see that Red was worked up over something. She was panting and pacing up and down the aisle but ran to Laura the minute she entered the barn.

“What do you think it is?” Laura asked Cade as she knelt to rub Red’s ears.

He went to where Red had been pacing and looked over the top of the half door that led to the tack room. He grinned and waved Laura over. Red circled Laura’s legs, nearly taking her down as she joined Cade to peek over the door.

“Oh my gosh, is she in labor?” The mother cat who had taken up residency in the tack room was panting and circling, pawing at her bedding. She circled a few more times before lying down, but she continued to pant.

“Looks like it,” Cade said. “Want to wait up and see some kittens?”

They stood looking over the door together and when Laura turned to Cade and nodded, she realized how close their faces were. Close enough for her to smell the scent of peppermint from the gum he’d been chewing on the drive home. Close enough to see the stubble on his chin that had grown since that morning’s shave. She wanted to reach out to touch it, to brush the tips of her fingers across it and see if it tickled her skin. She was close enough to wonder what it would be like to have those lips pressed to hers, to feel his arms come around her as he pulled her against his body and kissed the breath from her chest.

“Yes,” Laura said huskily. She cleared her throat. “Yes, let’s wait for kittens. Will she let us in there with her?”

Cade watched Laura for a beat longer, and the air swirled thickly between them. He took a step back, breaking the spell, then slid the latch on the door.

“I think so. I’ve been tossing chicken to her whenever I walk by the room or have to come in for something. She doesn’t hiss at me anymore. She’s probably a little too distracted by the labor right now to care anyway,” he said as he took Laura’s hand and pulled her into the room with him.

Red came and lay down on the floor near the door, getting no closer to the cat than she had to. It seemed as though she didn’t really know what to make of the situation, but she sure wasn’t going to leave her people in here without standing guard over them.

“I’ll be right back. I’m gonna grab some drinks for us so we can settle in for a while,” Cade said and he slipped out of the room. Laura watched the cat pant and knelt down in front of her. The cat turned wide eyes to her as though she didn’t know if she should trust Laura so close to her.

Laura couldn’t help but think how much this must hurt. “When the pain gets to be too much, baby, just go somewhere in your head. Go to your favorite place and leave all the pain behind. Just let it all go.”

Laura heard the door hinges behind her and Cade stepped back in.

He put a pile of blankets next to the wall, then set two bottles of water on the floor and sat down. He pulled Laura down next to him. Her heart skipped a beat at the contact, at the way his hand swallowed hers. But, when he arranged her so that she leaned against his chest, her back to his front, and put those strong arms around her, wrapping her tight, she thought she’d burst from the utter happiness that shot through her.

Laura leaned back, soaked in the contact, and let herself get lost in the feel of Cade holding her tight. He’d probably done this with dozens of women and thought nothing of it, but this was special to Laura. It was incredible. Two weeks or a month ago, maybe even a day ago, she probably wouldn’t have let herself relax, let herself enjoy the feel of just being with a man like this.

Now, Laura wanted to grab on to all she could while she was here. Sometime in the last few days, the last few hours, she’d decided if she had to leave here someday, she would damn well take some good memories with her.

She would find out what it was like to laugh with people, to have friends, to have what almost felt like a family, and to be with a man who could make her feel this wanted, this safe, this special. It felt better than anything Laura had ever known.

“Here comes the first one,” Cade whispered in her ear. He probably hadn’t intended it, but the feeling of his hot breath brushing her ear, her neck, sent shivers through her. Very good shivers she wanted to experience again. Laura closed her eyes for a brief moment and let the heat rushing through her body warm her.

“What do we do?” Laura asked. She thought of all the people that were typically in attendance at a birth for a human. A doctor, a couple of nurses, family. Surely they should be doing something for the cat and her kittens.

“Nothing,” Cade said, a bit of a laugh on his breath. “Nature takes care of everything. As soon as the kittens come out, mom licks them clean, that stimulates breathing, and they nurse. It’s that simple. Unless something goes wrong, we just sit back and watch.”

They were quiet for a few minutes before Cade broke the silence.

“Where did you go when it hurt too much, when the pain got to be too great?”

Clearly, he’d heard her conversation with the cat moments ago. Laura didn’t answer for a minute. Remembering where she went carried another type of pain with it. The pain her brother’s loss always brought when she remembered he was gone.

“When we were little, my brother and I would go to this abandoned house down the street from us. Teenagers used to hang out there at night and party, but during the day, we were the only ones there. He’d make up silly games for us to play and we’d run through the rooms and just…just be away, you know. Away from Dad.”

“You miss your brother?” Cade asked the obvious question, but she knew he genuinely wanted to know the answer.

Laura nodded. “He was usually able to convince me that I was special, that someday, I’d be loved. He would tell me about my mom; how beautiful she was. How much she loved me even though she was gone.”

“How did she die?”

“In a convenience store robbery when I was just a baby.” The answer came out hollow to her ears. She didn’t know how she missed a woman she couldn’t really remember, but she did. Her mother had been shot over a piddly amount of money and a six pack of beer some junkie wanted, but couldn’t pay for.

They sat quietly for a long time, waiting for the kittens to come.

“What are you thinking?” Cade asked in a bit of a whisper, as though he wondered if he was breaking into her thoughts when she’d rather he didn’t.

“I’m afraid to do this all alone. She looks like she’s ready for the birth somehow,” Laura said, nodding at the mother cat. “I’m completely unprepared. I don’t have any idea how to be a mom, or what to do when I go into labor or what I need when the baby comes home, or anything. I’ve never been so completely unprepared for anything in my life. And the worst part is, nothing has ever been so important in my life before. I’m about to take the most important test I’ll ever take with no textbook or teacher or anything.”

“You don’t have to be alone. It’s more than okay to just stay here and let Mama help you. I know you think that makes you weak, relying on other people, but it doesn’t. Being brave enough to stick around, to make connections and ties, to gamble on people again after all you’ve been through—and considering all the people who’ve let you down—that takes guts.”

Laura didn’t say anything, but she hoped Cade was right, because she wanted to stay more than anything now. And, she wanted to believe that it would be all right for her to do that.

Cade watched Laura process his words and realized how much he believed what he’d said. Laura was strong. He’d been thinking she was too much like Lacey, that she’d need him to prop her up too much. But, she didn’t. In fact, it was just the opposite with Laura. He had to fight to convince her to let him help, to let him support her and care for her.

Cade felt Laura lean back into him further. Was she relaxing into the possibility of staying on the ranch? It felt as though she were letting herself believe, if only for just a minute, that she could stay. He hoped she was. As he held her close, he realized he had no desire to let her go any time soon. Holding her felt better than anything he’d felt in a long time…and, maybe ever. He held his breath, hoping she’d let him hold her for a while longer. Just a little while.

Laura gasped as the first kitten arrived, covered in a dark sack of wet, gooey mess. “Wow, it sure isn’t pretty, is it?” she asked and laughed.

Cade laughed with her. “Nope, not pretty at all, but I never get tired of it. We’ve had kittens born here, puppies, foals, even a donkey gave birth here once. And, back when we ran the ranch, we had cattle calving all the time. It never gets old. Even watching chicks hatch is amazing.”

They watched as the mother cat licked the kitten clean. Within minutes, she looked a little more like a kitten and less like a blob.

“How long before the next one?” Laura asked, turning her head slightly to look at Cade.

Cade couldn't keep his eyes off her mouth, so close to his. A few inches and he could touch his lips to hers, test to see if she’d really let him. See if her mouth was as soft as it looked. He wasn’t entirely sure he was breathing any longer. Or entirely sure if he cared. Who needed oxygen, anyway?

“Could be minutes, could be hours. We won’t know how many she’ll have either. Probably two or three, but she could have more. It’s always a mystery with strays.”

Laura turned back around.

Damn.

The kitten nursed hungrily, its eyes still closed, ears scrunched up like they were still closed off, as well. Cade watched Laura’s face and could see the wonder in her eyes. He knew how she felt.

They watched as two more kittens appeared, to be cleaned by the mama cat and begin nursing.

“It’s hard to tell with them still wet, but we have at least one orange kitten, one calico, and then either a black or gray kitten. It’s probably time for us to name the mama and we’ll have to find names for all of the kittens. At least temporary names until we adopt them out,” Cade said.

“When will they go to new homes?” Laura asked, turning her head again, putting those eyes, that mouth into tempting territory again.

Cade swallowed and fought the urge to press his lips to hers. “Six weeks or so.”

Laura turned around again and Cade wanted to curse. He liked it better when she was twisted to face him, even though he had to fight not to pull her closer and crush her mouth with his.

“Another baby,” Laura cried and Cade pulled his eyes from her to watch one more baby deliver. This one was larger than the others, but Cade saw no movement as the mother cat licked at the sack, tearing it open. He watched a minute longer, but saw no results from the mama cat’s efforts to stir her kitten.

“Shoot,” Cade pushed Laura up and hauled himself to his feet, grabbing a towel from one of the shelves above them.

“What’s wrong?” Laura asked as Cade lifted the limp kitten.

“Hopefully just a little liquid in its airway. If I can clear it, it should be fine. If it’s anything more than that, there’s not much I can do.”

Cade held the kitten between his large hands and turned it gently but firmly upside down. Then he rubbed its sides with the towel, watching for any sign of breathing. He’d done this before, sometimes with good results, and other times with no results at all. But, he’d never held his breath quite as tensely, hoping for the best result.

He didn’t want Laura to have to watch this kitten die. He’d dealt with it often enough, but the idea of her seeing that didn’t feel right. Especially not while she carried her own baby. He rubbed gently but firmly and watched for any sign of life.

“There. She’s breathing,” Cade said, grinning at Laura, who stood by his side closely watching every move he made.

“It’s a girl?” she asked.

This got a big laugh from Cade. “Actually, I have no idea. If you’re really good, you can make a pretty good guess with a newborn kitten, but it’s really just a guess. We’ll be able to tell in about four weeks.”

“So, we need completely gender-neutral names?” Laura asked as he placed the last kitten at its mother’s teat to nurse, and then sat back down to allow Laura to slide down next to him.

They leaned back against the wall of the tack room and watched the kittens nurse.

“I guess we do. Spot?”

Laura laughed. “For which one? None of them are really spotted. Besides, that sounds like a boy’s name.”

Cade pointed to the orange kitten. “O.”

Laura pointed to the black kitten. “B?” Cade laughed and nodded before pointing to the kitten that now looked grayer as its fur dried. “G,” he said.

Laura finished, pointing to the calico kitten. “Cal. We can call it Cal if it turns out to be a boy and Callie if she turns out to be a girl.”

Cade smiled and nodded to the mother. “What about the mother cat? Can’t keep calling her Mama Cat all her life.”

“Hope,” Laura said, looking at the cat that licked her kittens as they nursed. “Her name is Hope.”

Cade watched Laura as she turned toward him and couldn’t resist any longer. She looked...peaceful. Like she’d finally given in to the idea that it was safe to want more in her life.

He lowered his head to hers, pausing just the slightest bit to let her stop him if she wanted to. He didn’t know how he’d stop this now, but if she wanted him to, he’d find a way. He held his mouth a scant half inch from hers, letting the tension stretch between them, before finally closing the distance completely and touching his mouth to hers.

Cade brushed her lips with his, the barest touch. Just a whisper of a kiss, but that whisper sent arousal screaming through his body. His hand threaded through Laura’s hair and pulled her closer as he deepened the kiss. For one second, his heart froze while he waited to see if she would pull away or kiss him back.