The Rancher's Baby Surprise. Kat Brookes

a pretty name.” With a warm, motherly smile, she introduced herself.

      Hannah nodded, unable to speak as a groan slid past her tightly compressed lips.

      Garrett couldn’t suppress his worried frown as he looked up at his mother. “Her pains are coming about six minutes apart.”

      “Then I’m here just in time to take over,” his mother said, giving his arm a comforting pat.

      “I’ll just wait out on the front porch,” Jackson said as he backed out through the open door.

      Garrett started to stand, to join his brother, but Hannah latched on to his hand, her grip firm. He glanced down to find glistening, fear-filled eyes staring back at him, and he couldn’t bring himself to leave her side.

      “It’s going to be okay,” he said, giving her hand a comforting squeeze. Just then, thunder rumbled outside, rattling the windowpane and Garrett was pulled back to the past.

       “I’m scared.”

       “You’re going to be okay, Grace. I won’t let anything happen to you,” he promised. And then she was gone.

      A firm hand came to rest on Garrett’s shoulder, pulling him back to the moment. “Honey,” his mother said softly beside him, “I’ll see to Hannah now. Why don’t you go wait with your brother and watch for the ambulance to get here? They might get the road cleared sooner than expected.”

      He looked to Hannah, torn between the need to stay with her and the need to distance himself from the bad he knew could happen so unexpectedly.

      “It’s okay,” Hannah said, slowly slipping her hand from his. “I’ll be fine.” She sent an appreciative smile to his mother.

      If it was okay then why did he feel like he still needed to do more?

      Before Garrett could respond, Autumn, new bride of his youngest brother, Tucker, stepped into the room. “Water is heating on the stove.”

      “Thank you, honey,” his mother replied.

      “Jackson called you and Tucker, too?” Garrett asked with a frown.

      “He didn’t call them,” his mother replied as she returned to Garrett’s side. “I did. I thought it would be good to have another woman here to help out, just in case the ambulance hasn’t arrived by the time Hannah’s little one is ready to make his grand entrance into the world.”

      “And Blue?” he asked, referring to his niece, Tucker’s little girl.

      “Is back at the house, coloring with her grandpa,” Autumn answered.

      “Hannah, honey,” his mother said, “this is my daughter-in-law, Autumn.”

      “I’m so sorry you all had to come out on a day like this,” Hannah said, tears filling her eyes. Before either Autumn or his mother could reply, she gasped, and then clutched at the mound beneath the blanket he’d covered her with while they had waited for his mother to get there. Her pretty face contorted in pain, and her breaths became panicked, coming short and fast.

      His mother nudged him from the chair. “Time for you to go join your brothers out on the porch.”

      He nodded and stood, knowing his mother was right. He needed to leave the room, but it was killing him to do so. His gaze moved once more to Hannah and the pain he saw there grabbed at his heart. Lord, please find it in Your heart to ease her pain. He looked to his mother. “Call me if you need my help.”

      “I will,” she said calmly.

      “Garrett,” Autumn said softly from behind him.

      He turned to look at his sister-in-law.

      She offered a calming smile and said in that sweet, Texas-accented voice, “Your momma and I are gonna take real good care of Hannah and her little one.”

      “Honey,” his mother said as she settled into the chair he had just vacated, “ask Jackson if he has a hair dryer. I don’t want Hannah catching a chill with her damp hair. We’re going to be needing some clean towels, and something to cut and then clamp the umbilical cord with. Sterilize them with rubbing alcohol, if your brother has a bottle of it on hand. And please ask Jackson to bring us that water Tucker put on the stove to boil.”

      “I’ll see to it,” he replied, grateful to have something to do other than just stand around wondering when the ambulance was going to get there. He just prayed it would be soon.

      “Thanks for calling to let me know,” Garrett said, relieved to hear that Justin had been able to help his mare deliver her foal safely into the world. Now he just prayed Hannah would be able to do the same with her baby.

      “Keep me updated on Miss Sanders,” Justin said. “In the meantime, I’ll see to it the road to the washed-out bridge is closed.”

      “I will,” Garrett said, ending the call. Then he turned and started back across the porch, shoving his cell back into the pocket of his jeans.

      “You’re going to pace a hole right through my porch floor,” Jackson grumbled as Garrett passed by the rustic wooden chair in which his brother was seated.

      Tucker nodded in agreement from where he sat stretched out in the matching high-back bench. “If he paces any faster, the floorboards are likely to spark into a trail of flames.”

      How could his brothers just sit there, sipping at their coffee and making jests as if it were just another ordinary day? It wasn’t. Truth was, riding bulls and climbing atop broncs during his rodeo days had been less nerve-racking then this. “Do either of you realize how serious this situation is?” Garrett demanded as he continued pacing. “It’s not time for her baby to come.” He looked toward the door. “I should be in there with her.”

      “She’s in good hands,” Tucker said soberly.

      “Best thing you can do for her right now is pray,” Jackson suggested.

      “And what if those prayers go unanswered?” he asked, as they hadn’t been with Grace. “Hannah’s too young to die.”

      “Hannah isn’t going to die,” Jackson said firmly. “She’s young and healthy.”

      “She’s been in labor for nearly three hours.”

      “Babies come out when they’re good and ready,” Tucker replied, “If God planned to call Hannah home, He wouldn’t have seen to it that you were there to save her and the child she’s carrying from those flood waters.”

      He prayed his brother was right. Yet, despite his brother’s reassuring words, Garrett couldn’t quell the restless energy that filled him. So, he continued pacing the length of the porch which ran all the way across the front of the cedar-sided ranch house.

      The front screen door creaked open, bringing Garrett’s steps to a halt and drawing all three men’s gazes that direction. Autumn stepped out onto the porch and Garrett swallowed hard. It had only been forty-five minutes since he’d left Hannah in his mother’s and Autumn’s safekeeping, minutes filled with searching glances toward the distant road for an ambulance that had yet to arrive, minutes filled with anxious pacing and fervent prayers. Why wasn’t his sister-in-law still inside helping his mother? Unless...

      Garrett’s heart thudded as he zeroed in on Autumn’s face. Hannah had said herself that it was too soon for her baby to be born. Not that babies didn’t arrive early all the time, but usually they were delivered in a hospital with medical equipment readily available to care for a premature baby. His fears were laid to rest the moment he realized that his sister-in-law was smiling.

      “Hannah?” Garrett asked, the word coming out of a raspy croak.

      “Tired, but doing well.”

      Jackson sat upright and pushed to his feet. “And the baby?”

      “He’s