Page 154 of Cowboy Daddies

I knew it was rude of me to want to pump my fist into the air, especially when Susanne gasped, “Well, I-I don’t know what to say,” but when Lincoln coolly returned, “I highly doubt that,” I honestly didn’t care.

“Is everything in the truck?” I asked.

“Everything but you.”

That was exactly the answer I wanted and didn’t even worry about my huge smile reawakening the pain in my jaw. I gave each of the baby chicks a soft pat goodbye and accepted the pad of paper and the pencils from Linc before lifting my arms as he bent to pick me up. If I’d felt like a princess the first time he’d carried me, I now felt like a queen as he left Susanne standing where she was and carried me through the store.

That was until he’d settled me onto the truck seat.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t stop to think perhaps you’d rather be in your own house instead of staying with us.”

Us?

How stupid could I be? Our reunion hadn’t been some quirk of fate. The Universe hadn’t used a frightened deer crossing the road as a rather skewed way to get us together. It had been nothing more than a fluke. Lincoln had not asked for this, and I had no right to stick my nose into his business. Lincoln, being raised the way he’d been, had simply been too kind to tell me that he was involved.

I felt like a total fool for having thought otherwise. The man had had girls falling all over him in grade school for heaven’s sake. Actually, the only thing that would surprise me was if he and Susanne didn’t already have a half dozen little cowboys and girls running around their…

“Hey—”

“I’m sorry! I just thought⁠—”

“Pixie—”

“Never mind, it’s not important what I⁠—”

“Livvy—”

“I’ll apologize to your wife⁠—”

“Olivia!”

His tone snapped my eyes open and I stared up at him.

“Do I have your attention now?”

I bobbed my head and he reached around to cup the nape of my neck with his palm.

“That’s three,” he said but I honestly couldn’t find the energy to care.

“Sorry, Lincoln, I’m listening.”

“Then listen to this.”

Instead of speaking, he looked up to the ceiling of the truck, and I realized he was rolling his eyes not once but around and around like they were steel balls in some pinball machine. I couldn’t help but giggle which had him dropping his gaze to mine again.

“That is how crazy it is for you to even begin to think you owe anyone an apology. Understood?”

“No, not really.”

“Then let me make it clearer. I am not now nor have I ever been married. I am not involved with Susanne St. Helen, and I’m the luckiest man on the planet that the fates brought you back to me. As for ‘us,’ I meant Luther and me. Does that help?”

I really wanted to say yes, but how could I when what I thought, what I hoped he was saying was too good and far too much to wish for? Instead, I said, “Does that mean there won’t be chicken and dumplings for supper?”

Lincoln’s eyes widened and then he burst out laughing and I was soon giggling along with him.

“God, I’ve missed you, pixie,” he finally managed to say as he bent toward me and dropped a kiss on my forehead. “But don’t even think for a moment that I’ve messed up the count, little girl.”

Little girl.