Free A Cowboy Christmas Miracle (Burnt Boot, Texas Book 4) by Carolyn Brown Page B

asked.
    “I’m fine. I was visiting with Callie when she slipped on a throw rug and fell. Verdie made me drive, and Finn sat in the backseat with her in case the fall caused problems with her pregnancy. That means I’m here without a ride and I wanted you to come get me,” she explained.
    “Is she okay?” Declan asked.
    “They’re keeping her a few hours for observation, but everything looks fine. I’d call Rhett, but he’s over at Fiddle Creek with Sawyer, helping fix a tractor.”
    “I’m also in town. I’ll swing by and pick you up,” he said.
    “I’m in the maternity waiting room.”
    “I’ll find it,” he said.
    He asked for directions at the front desk and only got lost once on his way, but when he stepped inside, the first thing he saw was a flamboyant red ponytail and gorgeous green eyes looking up at him.
    “What are you doing here?” Naomi Gallagher asked. “One of your girlfriends having a baby? I might have known you’d have little bastards all over the north part of Texas.”
    He shot a sly wink toward Betsy and then turned to look Naomi right in the eye. “Two of them actually. Nice of them to go into labor the same night, wasn’t it?”
    “Don’t you be smart with me,” Naomi said. “Why are you really here?”
    Leah stepped out of the ladies’ room on the far side of the waiting area and smiled. “That was quick. I’ll go check on Callie one more time before we leave, if you don’t mind.”
    “Not at all. I’ll be right here. Tell her and Finn that if they need anything at all to give me a call,” Declan said.
    The only empty seat was next to Betsy, so he eased into it. The chairs were locked together, leaving no space between them, so no matter how much he crunched his wide shoulder, it still touched Betsy’s. Naomi glared at him, but if she’d had horns and a pitchfork, he couldn’t make his shoulders smaller.
    “So who are you here to see?” he asked.
    “Angela is having a baby boy.” Betsy’s voice sounded thin and strained.
    “Well, you will probably be here all night. I’m just here to give Leah a ride home, since Verdie made her drive.”
    “Why didn’t Finn drive?” Naomi asked.
    “Callie slipped and fell. Verdie was afraid it would hurt the baby, so she made Leah drive her to the hospital with Finn in the backseat with Callie,” he explained.
    Naomi continued to stare at him as if he were a cockroach under a microscope.
    “Callie’s tough. She’ll be all right,” she said.
    “I hope so. She and Finn are pretty excited about another baby, and their other children are counting the days,” Declan said. “I see Leah on her way, so you ladies have a good evening, and I do hope everything goes well for Angela.”
    He escaped before Naomi could say another word. Leah looped her arm through his, and together they headed out of the hospital.
    Leah kept glancing over her shoulder all the way to the hospital parking lot. “I keep expecting to see a Gallagher behind us. In my mind, they’ve got sawed-off shotguns shoved down the legs of their pants.”
    “Hey, they’re interested in the new baby, not us. Callie okay?”
    “Doctor says that she’s fine, but as a precaution, they’ll keep her hooked up to the baby monitor thing for another few hours. She should get home by midnight, and the doc’s saying she should have bed rest for a couple of days—at least through the weekend. Verdie will see to it that she obeys,” Betsy said.
    Declan opened the door for her. “They’re good for each other out there on Salt Draw.”
    “Funny how things work out, isn’t it?”
    Declan drove out of the parking lot and onto the highway, made a few turns, and was on the way back to Burnt Boot in a few minutes. “Do you believe in fate, Leah?”
    “Yes, I do,” Leah said.
    “Really?”
    “If I didn’t before, I would now. Sorry to leave you in that rattlesnake den back there. Confession time: I didn’t need to be in the bathroom, but I couldn’t stand all