Free The Baby Truth by Stella Bagwell

his arm, he opened his mouth to answer, but was suddenly distracted by an older woman hurrying toward them. As she grew nearer, she placed a shushing finger against her lips and motioned for them to follow her.
    Jett helped Sassy into her coat, then shouldered on his own jacket before they joined the woman in the secluded entrance to the house.
    “Greta, what are you doing?” he asked comically. “Playing spy tonight for the old man or something?”
    The heavyset woman appeared to be somewhere in her fifties. Short, mouse-brown hair flopped in disarray around a face that bore wrinkles at the corners of her gray eyes and thin lips. At the moment, her plain features were creased into an impatient frown directed at Jett.
    “Jett, you know me better. I’d never do any snitching for the old codger. The only reason I stay around here is for the boys.”
    Sassy supposed “the boys” meant the Calhoun brothers and the old codger had to be Bart.
    Greta turned her attention to Sassy. “I’m the Calhouns’ cook,” she introduced herself. “I’ve worked on the Silver Horn for more than thirty years and I don’t miss much that goes on around here.”
    “I’m Sassy. It’s nice to meet you, Greta.” Sassy politely greeted the other woman.
    Jett quickly put in, “Any other time, we’d come to the kitchen and gab a few minutes, Greta, but Sassy has had a long day and I want to get her home before the snow gets any deeper on the roads.”
    The cook shook her head in a frustrating way. “All right, all right. I’ll get to the point.”
    “And?” Jett prompted.
    Greta glanced over her shoulder toward the open doorway leading into the house, giving the impression she wanted to make sure no one overheard her. “Jett, you’re wasting your time talking to the boys or Orin about things. You need to question the old man about Sassy. If anyone knows about an extra Calhoun baby being born, it’d be Bart. Why else do you think he had such a fit when he laid eyes on her?”
    Jett and Sassy exchanged questioning glances.
    “How did you know Bart had a fit?” Jett asked the cook.
    Greta rolled her eyes. “He was in such a state, he called for Tessa to fetch a glass of milk and a sedative up to his room. When she got back to the kitchen, she said the old man looked like he was ready to blow a gasket.”
    “Okay, Greta. Thanks for the information. I’ll keep it in mind,” he told the cook, then quickly hustled Sassy toward the door.
    Greta gasped. “But Jett, you need to—”
    “Later, Greta. We gotta go.”
    Outside, the snow was still falling and drifts were piling against the evergreens that lined the sidewalk. The cold night air felt refreshing to Sassy’s hot cheeks, and she breathed deeply as she tried to assimilate all that had happened in the past couple of hours.
    “That was a hell of a send-off,” Jett said as he helped her into the cab of the truck. “I’m sorry the cook had to bring all of that up about Bart. She means well, but you didn’t need to hear it.”
    He shut the door, then quickly skirted the truck and climbed behind the wheel. As he started the engine, Sassy asked, “You didn’t believe what she was saying?”
    “Maybe. Did you?”
    Sassy shook her head. “Oh, I believe she was right about Bart Calhoun being upset. Dear Lord, you saw the way he reacted when we arrived. But I don’t put much stock in her idea about Bart having information concerning me. She’s house help and they like to gossip among themselves. I ought to know, I’m a maid at the Chaparral and I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve done it myself at times.”
    Jett was silent as he put the truck into motion, but once he’d steered it away from the house, he said, “Frankly, all evening I’ve been wondering why Bart reacted to you the way he did. That’s why I’m not quite certain we should totally rule out the possibility that you might be a Calhoun. The old man can be stodgy at times, but I’ve never seen him behave in