Levi stomped his boots at the back door and entered the quiet, empty house, so weary he could drop in his tracks and sleep on the cool mudroom tile. The livestock, however, came first, a rule that had been drilled into him as a boy. No matter how tired, hungry, sick or cold he was, Dad had pushed him out the door to care for the animals day and night from the time he was four years old.

Truth was, his stomach hurt too much to eat, and he wasn’t confident he could actually sleep if he tromped up the stairs to his old room. He hadn’t been up there yet. Maybe he’d sleep on the couch in the pleasant room created by his brother’s wife. Or maybe he’d bunk in his trailer.

In the kitchen, he drew a tall glass of water and washed down dust mingled with sorrow. From the corner of his eye, a flash of shiny bronze snagged his attention. He turned toward the window next to the round table for four. Same table from his childhood except someone had refinished the chairs and added a bright blue tablecloth and yellow flowered placemats. Smack in the middle, a fake sunflower poked up from a small vase. Put there by a woman who would never see them again.

He stroked his fingers over the back of one chair and tugged the ruffled window curtain to one side. The front yard needed mowing. Another item for a chore list he had yet to make.

A car turned down the driveway and slowly approached the house. The heart he’d thought had stopped at the cemetery thudded painfully to life.

Emily. Again. What did she want? Didn’t he have enough guilt and shame to deal with? Why couldn’t she leave him to grieve in peace?

He watched her exit the shiny late-model SUV. She straightened her dark skirt, the same one she’d worn at the cemetery. As if she had to muster courage, she stood perfectly still, some kind of manila folder under her arm, and gazed at the house. He got that. This place held a nightmare for her too. He didn’t blame her for any of it. The fault was his.

Over and done, cowboy. Move on.

But seeing her again brought the shame back as fresh as this morning’s funeral. Even with shorter hair and with fourteen years added to her age, Emily looked as beautiful as ever standing there in the faded evening. A man didn’t forget some things, no matter how far he ran.

He dropped the curtain and went to the front door. Outside he heard a car door slam. Then another. Curious, he stepped out onto the porch. She toted a baby carrier in her left hand.

So, she’d had a baby. What did he expect? By now, she and her husband probably had several kids.

Why was she here? Certainly not for a friendly reunion of high school sweethearts. Certainly not to rehash their break-up.

He squinted, looking as unfriendly as he knew how, which wasn’t too difficult given the situation. “What do you want?”

“We need to talk.” She didn’t seem intimidated by his bad mood. The teenage Emily would have gotten flustered. Not this Emily, though from her taut expression and shifting eyes, she didn’t want to be here anymore than he wanted her to be.

Levi leaned a shoulder against the porch post and folded his arms. “So, talk.”

She hitched her chin, drawing attention to a tiny white scar beneath, the one he’d loved to trace…and kiss. He’d been with her the day she fell, landed on a sharp rock, and needed four stitches. She’d wanted him to go to the emergency room with her. The old man wouldn’t let him.

To shake the thought, he glanced aside, but the memory lingered.

“Inside, if you don’t mind,” she was saying. “Mason may only be three weeks old, but this car seat gets heavy.”

His insides seized upward and obliterated all thought of Emily’s soft, white skin. Mason? Scott’s son was in that carrier? What was Emily doing with him?

He stepped to the side and pushed the door open with one hand. Without a word, she sailed into the living room. A subtle scent like apple blossoms trailed behind, tickling his nose. In spite of his determination to steer clear of Emily Caldwell, he inhaled and held the fragrance next to his heart.

Less than five minutes in her company and she was messing with his head.

He wanted her gone. Gone, so he didn’t have to think about what he’d done, who he was. Gone so he could hide from the humiliation. She was too much of a reminder of everything he’d spent fourteen years trying to forget.

She stopped in the middle of the living room and turned to face him, the baby carrier swinging from one hand. She looked nervous. Good. She’d leave faster that way. She glanced at him and then away, but in that nanosecond of eye meeting eye, he saw the past and pitied her. She’d loved him, and he’d failed her magnificently.

Hot regret burned his conscience. Maybe he should apologize, but he’d never learned how. And after all this time, surely she no longer thought about him or that awful day.

He thrust a hand toward the couch. “Might as well sit down.”

She turned away slightly, but her gaze lingered on the wall photos of Mason’s smiling parents before she lowered the carrier to the black-and-white rug and took a seat.

“He’s asleep. Do you want to see him?”

Yes. No!

His pulse kicked in as if he’d stepped up on a wild mustang for the first time.

“Why do you have Scott’s baby?” He folded his arms again and leaned against the wall, as far away from her and the child as possible.

“I’m a social worker for Calypso County family services. Mason is in my care until permanent arrangements are made.”

Social worker. The career choice fit her. Even as a teenager, Emily fretted about the less fortunate and rallied friends to help with her latest volunteer project. Him included, though he’d had to sneak away from the ranch and give up sleep to do it. He hadn’t wanted to let Emily down. Then he had.

But she wasn’t here to revisit a teenage love affair. Neither was he.

“Permanent arrangements with who? Jessica’s family?”

“Jessica had no family.”

He titled his head, troubled by the revelation. Jessica had no one. Scott had no one. “What will happen to Mason?”

She looked at him for a second and then glanced away. “Ideally, he’ll be adopted by a loving couple. We have several excellent applicants who would love to be his parents.”

Good people who couldn’t have kids. Who wanted kids. Sensible, even if the idea settled in his belly like curdled milk. “Who decides things like that?”

Stunning cat-green eyes locked on to his. He got a creepy feeling, the kind that said he wouldn’t like what she had to say. And that maybe she didn’t like it either.

“You do.”

The quietly spoken words blasted around the walls of his skull. Him? He would decide the future of a little baby he hadn’t even known existed until this morning? “I don’t understand.”

“To be completely honest, neither do I, but that was their wish. Scott and Jessica named you Mason’s guardian on the day he was born.”

A bolt of electricity shot through him. A baby’s guardian? Him? “Why didn’t I know this?”

“There wasn’t…time.” She pressed her lips together.

Sorrow pierced him like an arrow. Scott had run out of time. The best man Levi had ever known wouldn’t be here to raise his boy.

His glance slid toward the mysterious, canopy-covered baby seat. “Then, I guess I’m not his legal guardian?”

“No.”

Was that relief or disappointment he felt? He wasn’t sure. What he did know was that his whole world had turned upside down, and Mason was part of the tumult. “So, why are you here?”

“Jessica was a close friend. I was there the day Mason was born, and they told me their wishes. I’d be dishonest not to share them with you.”

“Your strong moral compass is still intact, I see.”

Her slim shoulders stiffened. “Some people have ethics, Levi.”

Ouch. Sweet and gentle Emily had grown claws.

She held up her left hand like a stop sign, and Levi did his best not to notice that she wore no wedding band. But the thought was there in the back of his brain and made him wonder. No woman as incredible as Emily could have remained unattached.

“That was uncalled for,” she said. “Forgive me. This is a horrible day for you, and I am so very sorry for your loss.”

Levi cleared his throat but had no words. Don’t talk about Scott. Don’t talk about the funeral. Just don’t.

To his relief, she didn’t.

“The point that you and I must address right away is Mason’s future.”

Like he knew anything at all about babies. “Okay. How does this work?”

“Even if they didn’t have time to complete the necessary paperwork, Jessica and Scott chose you as guardian. We’re still searching for others, but as near as I can ascertain, you are his closest relative. This means you have first option of rights anyway. That’s the law. Then, if you opt out, you can either let the county decide his future or you can look through the adoption applications and help me choose a family for him.”

If you opt out. As if a child were a box to check or an app he didn’t want to download.

“Scott wanted me to raise his son?” He couldn’t seem to get past that truth.

“I’m sure you’ll want to do what’s best for Mason and allow him to be adopted by a loving couple.” She fiddled with the lapel of her jacket and avoided looking at him. He understood. He was a bad memory. So was she. But she was a good one too. Lots of good ones. “Children need stable, healthy families, Levi. I brought the papers for your signature.”

He heard what she wasn’t saying. What her social worker ethics and innate courtesy kept her from saying. But her feelings came through loud and clear. Levi Donley, the spawn of a despicable man, was too irresponsible, too worthless, to be anybody’s parent, and if he cared for Scott at all, he’d let her and the county choose a real home, a real family, for baby Mason.

The fact that she was probably right wasn’t lost on him.

But Scott hadn’t agreed. He’d wanted his son with family. He’d wanted Levi.

Like a sleepwalker, Levi moved toward the brown-and-blue carrier and crouched beside it. His worse knee screamed. He ignored it.

Hand trembling, he gently pushed back the canopy and gazed down into the sleeping face of his brother’s baby boy.

Scott’s son.

An overwhelming sense of awe struck him like a blow. This tiny human was Donley blood. Levi’s blood. A genetic link to everything he was, everything he could be, everything he had been. His and Scott’s past, and all Scott had left of the future, lay sleeping beneath a blue baby blanket.

Levi cleared his throat, shaken.

A sense of connection such as he’d never experienced drew him to the infant. Like a train vibrating the earth from far away, a deep internal rumble shook him hard. To cover the emotion and ease his knee pain, he sat on the floor next to the baby carrier and gazed in wonder at his sleeping nephew.

Earlier today, the baby had been little more than an abstract thought. Now he was real. A tiny person. Kin.

Suddenly, the decision went from simple and sensible to enormously complex. Whatever Levi decided would affect this child forever.

Stretching out an unsteady finger, Levi stroked a cheek as velvety soft and as warm as a horse muzzle. Had he ever touched a baby before? If he had, he didn’t remember. But he would remember this.

Mason squirmed, his little mouth puckering though he never opened his eyes. Emboldened, Levi smoothed the barely-there cap of brown hair with his fingertips, studied the tiny button nose, the slash of brown eyebrows, the heart-shaped chin with a dimple like his own. Scott’s boy. He must have been so proud of this handsome little critter.

A million thoughts raced through Levi’s head as he grappled with the enormity of this meeting.

Scott had made him responsible for his son. Stupid idea. Levi knew nothing about kids. He’d barely been one himself. He sure didn’t know how to be a father. He was a footloose loner who couldn’t lay claim to a thing but his truck, trailer, and horse.

And Scott’s baby.

A little boy who would never know his daddy.

Levi’s throat thickened. He passed a hand over his eyes as he stared down at the helpless infant. His only kin. His last living connection to his brother.

But he hated this ranch, this town. He couldn’t stay.

The baby’s eyelids quivered and lifted. Two navy blue eyes focused on Levi. The smallest fist he’d ever seen wobbled toward him. The fingers opened, stretched wide as if reaching. Levi placed his index finger against the little palm. Mason’s fingers flexed tight around him, clinging.

The most amazing pleasure lifted inside Levi, swelling his chest. The tiny fist around his finger wrapped around his heart as well.

It struck him then. No one in the world cared where Levi Donley was. No one was waiting for him. No one but Mason. Scott had trusted his only brother with his greatest treasure.

Scott had believed in him.

“Do you want to hold him?”

Emily’s voice jerked his head around. He’d almost forgotten her presence.

“I don’t know how. I’ve never…” He lifted one shoulder in helpless entreaty. “Will you show me?”

She didn’t look too happy about it, but Emily moved to the opposite side of the carrier and slid both hands behind the baby’s back.

She looked at Levi above the canopy. “Support his back and head like this. He’s getting some control, but his neck muscles aren’t completely developed yet.”

Levi followed her instructions from the opposite side, his hands feeling big and awkward against the small baby. His fingers bumped with Emily’s. Her gaze flew up to his, and for a moment, they both froze. Fourteen years disappeared in a slideshow of memory. Emily laughing in the sunshine as she ran away with his hat, black hair flowing in the wind. Emily holding his hand when he’d had a rough day with his old man. Emily feeding him French fries with her fingers and promising to love him forever.

Forever hadn’t lasted long.

“Maybe later,” he mumbled, and withdrew his hands from beneath the infant. “I’m not good at this sort of thing.”

Emily sat back on her heels, professional, though her cheeks glowed pink. Had she been remembering too?

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Levi. A child is a huge undertaking, and you have no experience with kids.”

“None.”

“Don’t feel badly about that. Plenty of people aren’t ready for parenthood, especially under such unexpected and tragic circumstances.” Her tone was soft and persuasive. “All I need is your signature rejecting guardianship, and we’ll choose a wonderful, loving family for Mason. If you’re interested, I’ll show you some applications, and you can help me decide.”

She was giving him a way out. He could put the ranch up for sale, get in his truck, and head to anywhere he wanted to go. Like always.

“What about Aunt Ruby? She’s related. Is she still—?” He couldn’t talk about death on a day like this.

Emily smiled. “Your great aunt is very much alive and doing pretty well for someone in her late eighties. She moved into an assisted living facility in Calypso a few years ago after a fall and doesn’t get around very well anymore, so I don’t think she’s the answer for Mason.”

Of course. What was he thinking? Aunt Ruby had seemed old when he was a kid.

He flicked a glance at tiny, innocent, helpless Mason. His nephew. Scott’s boy.

Blood roared in his head. His pulse sped up until he imagined a doctor slapping his chest with those paddle things.

Mason was waiting.

“No.”

Emily’s dark head tilted quizzically. A small gold earring glinted. “Excuse me?”

“No. I won’t opt out.” Was he losing what was left of his mind?

“But—”

“Scott wanted me to care for his boy, so”—Levi licked lips gone drier than the Mohave and swallowed back all the reasons he shouldn’t do this—“I’m willing to give it a try.”

---

Emily bristled, warm cheeks growing hotter by the minute, and not because touching Levi had stirred her emotions. Even if it had. Right now, she wanted to slug the man. Of all the idiotic, irresponsible comments she’d heard in her years as a social worker, this one took the grand prize.

“You’ll give it a try?” Incensed, she leaped to her feet and took two paces away before she did something violent. And she had never done one violent thing her life.

“This is a baby we’re discussing, Levi, not a roping horse you can try out for a few weeks, and if he doesn’t work out, sell him to some other cowboy. A child needs a permanent, stable family, not a rambling cowboy who didn’t even care enough to remain in communication with his only sibling.”

Emily put a hand over her mouth and froze, aghast. What was wrong with her today? Why had she allowed Levi to push her usual kindness and professional control off the cliff? The man had lost his brother, for goodness sake!

She took a deep breath, modulated her tone and tried again. More gently, she asked, “Did you even know Mason existed until now?”

“No.” His voice was quiet, wounded. He kept his attention on the infant, though his shoulders stooped like an old man. “I should have.”

Emily’s conscience pinged. She was going about this all wrong. He was hurting. She was hurting. They’d hurt each other. Nothing about this day or this meeting was even remotely good.

“I’m sorry for all of this, Levi. Sorry to spring this on you today of all days, but you have to realize that expedience is important.” She lifted her palms imploringly. “Mason is a three-week-old baby. Are you ready to deal with that?”

Levi stroked his index finger over Mason’s hair and didn’t reply. She could practically see the wheels turning inside his head. He had no answers.

Emily spoke softly, entreating him to see things her way. The right way. “Don’t you think Mason deserves a mother and a dad who are already prepared? A committed couple eager to take on the responsibility? Jessica was my closest friend. I want the best for her son.”

She didn’t say the rest. Levi wasn’t the best choice, no matter what his brother and sister-in-law had said during a misguided fit of emotion after Mason’s birth.

Levi looked up at her, his chin cleft a reminder of the times she’d put her finger there. He would grin and say, “A perfect fit.”

But they hadn’t been, just as he was not the best fit to raise Jessica’s baby.

He nodded, looking so sad and tired, she wanted to comfort him. “Let me think about this, okay? I’m a little overwhelmed right now, and my brain is fuzzy. I haven’t slept much. Tucson’s a long drive.”

Her conscience pinched harder. How long since he’d slept? Ate? He’d buried a brother today. The Levi she remembered couldn’t express his feelings very well, but he had to be devastated. “Of course.”

Her timing was terrible. She should have waited a few days and given Levi more time to grieve and to settle in before confronting him with an orphaned nephew and a handful of papers to sign.

But she’d been afraid he’d disappear.

“I’ll leave the paperwork on the coffee table. Look at it later. Whenever you feel up to it.”

“Okay.”

She hooked an imaginary stray hair behind one ear. “My contact information is on my business card. I’ll leave that too.”

Levi stroked the top of Mason’s head over and over, touch light and gentle, tender even. His expression was unreadable. “What about him? Who’ll look after him while we figure this out?”

“I will. Connie helps when I’m working.”

He almost smiled. “Connie’s a good woman.”

The Donley boys had never known a mother’s love. All they’d had was Slim Donley, a slave-driving, cold, hard-hearted excuse for a father. A certifiable ogre.

Again, she yearned to reach out to Levi. She was a sucker for the hurting.

“I should go.”

He needed rest. And she needed to put some distance between them and get her head together. He’d rattled her and caused her to react in a completely inappropriate manner, though she couldn’t understand why. Fourteen years was a lifetime. They were different people now.

Resuming her professional role, she reached down for the baby. Levi rose and brought the carrier up with him. “I’ll carry him out for you.”

“No need.”

She might as well have saved her breath. He led the way to the orange Rogue.

“Put him in the backseat. State law.”

He set the carrier inside, facing forward. She leaned around him to turn it around. He smelled like hay and fresh air.

“Another state law. Infants face the back for safety.”

Even as she spoke, she realized she was reminding him that he knew nothing of caring for an infant. For his sake and Mason’s, Levi must come to realize the job was too much for him. He was not daddy material.

She buckled the baby in and turned to find her door open and waiting. Nearly six feet of cowboy held it open the way he’d done hundreds of times. Quiet. Patient.

“Thank you.” She tucked her skirt and slid onto the seat.

“Emily.”

She started the car, aware of damp palms against the steering wheel. “Yes.”

“I want to do right by him. I want to do right by my brother too. I owe him that.”

Levi stepped back and closed the door with a soft snick.

As she drove away, she glanced in the rearview mirror. He remained where she’d left him, alone and hurting, with Mason’s future in his hands.