CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
FEBRUARY ARRIVED with an unexpected period of unseasonably warm weather, and Tippy’s baby was due any day. Despite the fact that her life with Cash and Rory had been idyllic, she was worried because he’d had a call from the nation’s capital that he hadn’t shared with her. She was almost certain that it was the offer of a clandestine job. He was restless sometimes, in spite of the love between them. She wasn’t quite sure, even now, that he was going to be able to settle for good in a little town like Jacobsville. If he tried to go back to the danger of his old life, she wasn’t certain that she could bear it.
Her life, on the other hand, was becoming very comfortable. She’d long since finished Joel Harper’s movie and was now drawing residuals from her first motion picture. Joel had offered her another part, but she wanted to wait until after the baby was born before she made any decisions. While many women did combine careers and motherhood, Tippy wasn’t sure she wanted to. Between them, she and Cash had more money than they were ever going to be able to spend. She’d had an amazing career as a model and now as an actress, but she didn’t want to live her life in a goldfish bowl. Especially not when she had children to think of. In Jacobsville, she felt very much at home, and no hordes of reporters would ever run her to ground here. People were still talking about the way Matt Caldwell had fielded the press before he married his lovely Leslie, who had a tragic past to overcome. Tabloid reporters rarely came near Jacobsville anymore.
Tippy thought of that with amusement. She’d have her privacy and her family, and she really thought that was going to be as much as she needed to make her happy. Later on, if she was adamant about having a career, she knew that Cash would help her any way he could. It was nice to have choices.
At the moment, though, her only concern was her upcoming delivery. Her obstetrician had given her a tar get date, but babies were notoriously unpredictable. What if she went into labor when nobody was around?
Ironically the very next day after Cash’s mysterious phone call, her water broke while she was cooking breakfast. Rory had just come downstairs with his books and Cash was buttoning his shirt when the floor was suddenly awash with water.
Tippy stood in the middle of it, stifling a scream of mingled fear and embarrassment.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” Cash said at once, smiling reassuringly as he put her gently down into one of the kitchen chairs and sent Rory for two bath towels. “The baby’s coming, that’s all. We’ll get you right to the hospital. Don’t worry, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, calming immediately.
Rory put one towel on the floor and handed the other to Tippy. “I’ll go ahead and open the car door,” he said.
“Good man,” Cash replied. “We’ll be right out.”
He swung Tippy up into his arms grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Let’s go get our baby,” he whispered mischievously.
She linked her arms around his neck and buried her eyes in his warm throat. “Oh, Cash, I’m so happy!”
“Me, too. Contractions starting?” he added when she stiffened and moaned. “Yes!”
“Breathe, honey. Breathe the way we practiced in La maze class, okay?” He demonstrated the rhythm and she began to follow suit, although the pain was getting worse and the contractions harder with every breath.
He put her in the front seat, on her towel, and Rory got in back. Cash drove them to the hospital with a calm and efficiency that was reassuring to Tippy.
He phoned the emergency room on the way over and alerted Lou Coltrain, Tippy’s family doctor, that they were en route. Lou said that she’d contact the obstetrician and have him standing by. As luck would have it, he was already at the hospital, having just delivered another baby.
Cash carried Tippy to the gurney and followed her in, with Rory on the other side, both holding her hands.
The nurses got her into the delivery room and started prepping her at once, while Cash was put into a gown and mask. Poor Rory had to sit in the waiting room.
“My goodness, she’s almost completely dilated,” the obstetrician exclaimed when she sat down on her stool to begin the delivery. “The baby’s head is almost out. Push, Tippy, that’s it, push, this is going to be quick!”
“Is it a girl?” Cash asked hopefully.
Dr. Warner looked at him over her mask. Her eyes were smiling. “I’m at the wrong end to discover that, at the moment.”
Cash chuckled, still holding Tippy’s hand. “I’m right here,” he told Tippy when she moaned. “It’s going to be okay. Just a little longer.”
The doctor gave orders, Tippy followed them with coaxing from Cash. In less than five minutes, a squalling little pink baby was cleaned up, wrapped in a blanket and placed in Tippy’s arms.
Tippy opened the blanket and Cash bent over to look. He caught his breath. “A girl,” he whispered as if he’d discovered the secret of life. “A little girl!” He bent and kissed Tippy hungrily. “You wonderful woman!”
One of the nurses opened her eyes wide. “You didn’t want a son?”
“Maybe later,” Cash said, choked with emotion. “But I had my heart set on a little girl with red hair and green eyes,” he said huskily, “who’d look like my sweetheart.”
Tippy was crying now, so happy that she could hardly contain it.
The nurse just sighed, her smile radiant. What a lucky woman, she thought, to be beautiful and rich and famous and have a man like that in love with her and happy to be a father.
CASH WAS FINALLY PRIED AWAY from his new family long enough to go home and get Tippy some gowns and toiletries.
“You aren’t going to take any jobs away, are you?” she finally blurted out the question that had consumed her, and she stared up at him with frightened green eyes.
His lips parted on a quick breath. “No!” he said huskily, bending to kiss her. “Of course not!”
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out, wiping away tears. “I overheard the call, and I was so afraid that you might not be happy here, without the excitement of the old job…”
“I’m very happy here,” he assured her tenderly. “I told them no,” he added gently. “I was getting too old for the demands of the job even four years ago. That’s why I went back into law enforcement. I have a life here. I belong to a family. It’s what I’ve really wanted all my life. I don’t want to give it up.”
She kissed him hungrily. “Thank you…!”
“Thank you,” he replied. “For loving me. For this beautiful little treasure you’ve given me. For every thing.” His dark eyes twinkled. “I never dared to hope I could be so happy.”
“Me, neither,” she said, smiling through her tears.
“I’m only going home to get your stuff,” he promised. “Not off on some black ops job while your back’s turned. I promise.”
“Okay.” She beamed up at him, with their daughter nursing at her breast. “Hurry back.”
“I will,” he said, chuckling. He gave his daughter a long look. “What are we going to name her? How about Tristina Christabel?”
Once that would have wounded Tippy. But now, with Christabel becoming her closest friend, it seemed very natural. And she didn’t have any worries that Cash was still a little in love with the other woman. Tippy knew better.
She smiled warmly. “I like that.”
“Me, too.” He winked and went out the door, still smiling.
CASH WAS WALKING ACROSS the parking lot to get into his black truck when he heard a helicopter overhead. He looked up just in time to see a small parachute tossed out of the bird, which flew quickly away in the direction of the air force base in San Antonio.
Curious, Cash watched the parachute land and he went to pick it up. At the end of the parachute was attached a miniature black bag containing an infant-sized black turtleneck sweater and sweatpants, shoes, ribbed cap and gloves. A silver dog tag was around the collar of the turtleneck. It read, CIA.
Cash watched the helicopter until it was out of sight, still laughing. Tippy wasn’t going to believe this, he thought as he carried the little satchel and the parachute to his truck. He thought back over all the wild, free days, the excitement and danger and adrenaline rushes. Then he looked around the small town that depended on him for safety and security. He knew he’d made the right choice. He cranked the truck and started off down the quiet streets toward home.
Inside the hospital, Tippy Grier was singing a lullaby to her firstborn while her little brother sat in a chair beside the bed and listened contentedly. Fame and glory, she thought, were fleeting pleasures. The real happiness was in having someone who belonged to her, to whom she also belonged. Cash and Rory and the baby meant more to her than any treasure on earth.
She looked over at Rory with her heart in her eyes. “I’ve just remembered something,” she said.
“What?” Rory asked.
She laughed. “It’s my birthday!” She looked down at the tiny thing in her arms. “What a present I got!”
She’d have to remember to tell Cash when he returned.
CHRISTMAS WAS THE BEST of their lives. It had been an exciting election. Calhoun Ballenger was the new state senator from his district, easily winning over his opponent. Janet Collins was in prison for life for the murder of old Mr. Hardy. Julie Merrill was still on the run from a number of charges, including arson and drug trafficking. Two city councilmen had been implicated in drug trafficking, as well as the former acting mayor of Jacobsville, Ben Brady, who had mysteriously vanished. The trial date was also set for Tippy’s kidnappers, in the coming summer, but she wasn’t worried. There was no possibility that they wouldn’t face a hard time after her mother’s deathbed confession to the feds. It was the one noble thing her mother had ever done for her children. Meanwhile, Rory was writing to his biological father and having a ball learning things about him. Tippy would never know who her father was, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that he could have been even worse than her mother and Sam Stanton. She had Cash, which made everything bearable. They were more in love every single day.
But the biggest excitement in the Grier household was baby Tris. She charmed her parents and her uncle Rory, not to mention the citizens of Jacobsville. Under the nine-foot Christmas tree was a slew of gaily wrapped packages, most of which were for the little girl.
Tippy’s movie was due for release within the next six months. It would mean a little time spent on promotion, but Cash had already made plans to go along, with Tris and Rory as well.
“You can go back to acting if you want to, you know,” Cash remarked.
She smiled at him. “I’ve been thinking about that. I’m not really sure I want to. There are all sorts of things I could do right here in Jacobsville if I need a job. I could start a modeling agency, I could even go back and finish my college degree and teach acting at the community college as an adjunct.”
“Won’t you miss the bright lights and excitement?” he asked gently.
She realized then that he was equally unsure of her as she’d been of him when that phone call came. She went to him, smiling, and pressed into his strong arms. “I’m like you. I’ve had my fill of high living and excitement and glory. I just want to raise our children and spend all my days and nights with you.”
He nodded, understanding. “Fortune and glory are empty when you don’t have anyone to share them with.”
Her eyes brightened. “That’s exactly what I was thinking!”
He gave her a wicked look. “And that would be the ‘second sight’ rubbing off on me, no doubt.”
She laughed and kissed him hungrily. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He picked her up off the floor and carried her inside, to the amusement of Rory and his friends, who were playing video games in the living room while Tris babbled in her playpen.
“Chief Grier, did you really used to be a Texas Ranger?” one of the boys asked.
“I used to,” he agreed, putting Tippy down so that she could retrieve their daughter from the playpen.
“Did you ever shoot anybody?” the boy persisted.
The question, only months ago, would have devastated him. But since the day he’d confessed everything to Tippy, and later spoken with a local minister, he was a changed man. He smiled at the boy. “Law enforcement is all about making sure that nobody does get shot,” he told the boy. “And you can quote me.”
“Want to play, Cash?” Rory asked.
Cash made a face. “And let you guys walk all over me on that screen? Fat chance!”
They all laughed. Tippy joined Cash in the hall with their daughter.
“What do you think she’ll be when she grows up?” Tippy asked absently.
Cash looked at her, and then at his radiant wife. “She’ll be beautiful,” he said with breathless tenderness.
And she was.