Baby's First Homecoming. Cathy McDavid

Her family! Oh, God, what must they be thinking? They’d barely begun to accept she had a child and now this. Surely her father was putting two and two together. They might have made their peace with Clay, but he’d still been their hated enemy when he and Sierra had their affair.

       Clay crossed the open area and headed toward the stables, her son still clutched in his arms.

      Her son.

       Yes, his son, too. That, however, was a technicality. Clay hadn’t wanted her when given the chance, had chosen to marry his off-again, on-again fiancée instead. As far as Sierra was concerned, he’d forfeited any and all say regarding Jamie.

       It was an opinion Clay didn’t seem to share.

       “Wait!” Sierra hurried to catch up. “I’ll carry Jamie. He doesn’t like strangers.”

       “I’m no stranger.” Clay didn’t take his eyes off the ground in front of him. “I’m his father.”

       Anger bloomed inside her. “Clay, I said wait!”

       He slowed, then, to her relief, came to a halt. She drew up beside him, weak-kneed from exertion as much as emotional overload.

       Jamie hung on to Clay’s neck and giggled.

       Maybe he really did like other people, and she was the one with the phobia.

       It was possible.

       No one other than the pediatrician during their visit to his office last Monday had been allowed to hold Jamie besides Sierra. She didn’t count the months between his birth and three weeks ago when he’d been returned to her. The Stevensons, the ones who’d cared for him, didn’t matter. Didn’t exist. Not after rejecting her child.

       “Where are you taking us?” She captured Jamie’s flailing foot in her hand and cupped the ankle, desperately needing the contact. He had been no more than an arm’s length away from her since the minute she’d got him back.

       “Ethan’s apartment.”

       Sierra remembered now. Her brother had converted the old bunkhouse into an apartment after Sage and Isa moved into the main house.

       “We can be alone there and lock the door.”

       “Lock the door?” She shook her head. “Aren’t you being a little extreme?”

       “No, considering the cavalry’s almost here.”

       Sierra looked behind her. Her dad and brothers were indeed coming after them. The three sweetest, most important and ridiculously overprotective men in the world were going to rescue her. She had half a mind to let them. Then, she remembered Clay’s hardheadedness. He wouldn’t give up Jamie without a fight.

       “Let me talk to them.”

       “I’ll meet you in the apartment.”

       Inside? Out of her sight?

       “No!” The mere thought of being away from her baby paralyzed her.

       The muscles in Clay’s jaw were clenching with anger or impatience or frustration, she didn’t know which. “I won’t take off with him.”

       She exhaled slowly. How to explain her crippling separation anxiety? She barely understood it herself.

       “I’ll go with you to Ethan’s apartment. Anywhere you want. Just stay where I can see Jamie until I’m done talking to the family. Please.”

       “Fine, I’ll wait for you on the porch.”

       Sierra mentally measured the distance. Thirty yards, give or take. It felt more like ten miles.

       “You have about three seconds to decide.”

       Or what? He would go back on his word and run off with Jamie? Her temples throbbed. This day, her entire life, was unraveling at lightning speed.

       “Okay.”

       As soon as Clay walked away, Sierra regretted her decision. He would be alone with her son. Never once had she imagined Clay would walk into her family’s house and steal Jamie from her like an eagle snatching prey.

       With one eye trained on Clay and Jamie, she braced herself for the confrontation with her father and brothers.

       “Are you all right?” Wayne Powell demanded the instant he reached her. “What’s going on?”

       Gavin zoomed past without so much as a glance in her direction.

       “Come back!” she called. When he ignored her, she hollered, “Gavin, don’t make this worse than it already is.”

       That did the trick. Fists clenched at his sides, he returned, each step an obvious effort.

       Sierra closed her eyes and sighed. Where to begin?

       “Is he Jamie’s father?”

       She nodded.

       “Son of a bitch,” Gavin grumbled. “I’ll kill him.”

       “Don’t overreact. He didn’t—” Sierra squeezed her eyes shut. “It was mutual. I knew what I was doing.”

       “If you loved him, why didn’t you tell us?” Ethan asked.

       How had he guessed? “You despised Clay at the time. Can you imagine your reaction?”

       “Damn straight I can,” Gavin agreed.

       “Is that why you stayed away so long?” her father asked.

       “Dad, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was confused. I came home for the wedding because I thought Clay was in Texas.”

       “He moved back a year or so ago. After his divorce.”

       “He’s divorced?” She swayed slightly. “I didn’t know.”

       Not that it made any difference.

       Or did it?

       No difference at all, she assured herself. There was nothing between her and Clay, now or ever again.

       Except for Jamie.

       “If you thought he was in Texas, why didn’t you come home sooner?” her father asked, his eyes filled with sadness.

       Guilt burned a brand-new hole in Sierra, bigger than all the other ones combined.

       “It’s complicated. And I’ll tell you as soon as I finish with Clay.”

       He’d begun pacing on the porch. From this distance, Sierra couldn’t tell if it was because he’d become restless or Jamie had or perhaps a combination of both. Neither man nor child possessed much patience, and both were prone to impulsiveness. They were also both charming to distraction when it suited them.

       “You going to be okay?” Ethan squeezed her upper arm.

       “With Clay? Of course. He’s mad right at the moment, but he won’t do anything drastic.”

       “I wasn’t referring to Clay.”

       “Thank you for caring.” She smiled tenderly at all three men. “I can’t tell you how much I regret the way I treated you the last two years.”

       “Don’t worry, honey.” Her father gathered her into a hug and patted her head, much as he’d done when she was a little girl. “Everything will work out.”

       She wished she shared his optimism.

       “We’ll be right here if you need us.” Gavin stared menacingly at Clay.

       “Watch him for me, will you?” Sierra asked Ethan. “I don’t want him going all big-brother on me.”

       “Don’t be so hard on Gavin,” her father said. “It’s going to take us a while to get used to all this.”

       To say the least.