The Delivery of Decor (Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers #7) - Liz Isaacson Page 0,1

place, and I’ll be there, darlin’.”

He absolutely would not say that.

“I’m hungry almost all the time,” he said. “If I can, I’ll meet you somewhere.”

Meeting her somewhere. That was low-key, right?

His brain misfired when he realized what else he’d said. I’m hungry almost all the time.

My word, Ward, he thought. Get off the phone right now.

“Hey, I have to go,” he said, actually pulling his mouth away from the phone as if someone else needed his attention. “Let’s talk later about the gravel delivery.”

“Sure,” she said. “Tell Ida hello.”

“Yep.” Ward hung up before he could tell Dot to come over and tell Ida hello herself. Then he’d get to see her, learn the color of her tank top, and what box of dye she’d chosen at the grocery store that week.

Dot never wore anything but jeans and a tank top, even in the winter. Not that Ward had much experience with her in the winter. “Or the spring, or the summer,” he muttered to himself.

He thought about her flirty tone and teasing nature as he rounded the corner and went back toward the other Glovers. He sat next to Ranger, who didn’t look up from his phone.

About twenty minutes later, right when Ward’s patience was about to snap, Brady appeared at the mouth of the hall. The smile on his face couldn’t be described in words, but the look of adoration and wonder could only be achieved by a new father.

“Here they are,” he said, passing the baby boy wrapped in the blue blanket to Ward. “That’s Jonathan Ryan Burton.” He gazed down at the baby girl. “This is Judith Dawna Burton.” The tiny baby gurgled, and Brady handed her to Ranger.

Ward couldn’t look away from the sleeping child in his arms, and the little boy captured his whole heart in less time than it took for Ward to draw a breath. He knew Etta desperately wanted children of her own, and he’d have plenty of opportunities to see Ida in the next few weeks.

So he turned to Etta and handed her baby Jonathan. The boy’s face scrunched up, but Etta cradled him right against her chest and cooed at him. “You’re okay, baby,” she said. “It’s Auntie Etta, and you and I are going to be great friends.”

Ward smiled at her, and she grinned back at him. “How’s Ida?” Ward asked, stepping over to Brady as Ace and Holly Ann crowded in around Ranger and Oakley, who now held Judith.

“She did great,” Brady said, looking a bit overwhelmed now. “They put her in a recovery room with a bunch of heated blankets when she started shivering. They think she may be having a bad reaction to the epidural.”

“But she’ll be okay, right?”

“Yeah, they didn’t seem worried.” Brady watched as Oakley gave his daughter to Montana, who rested the infant on her own pregnant belly. Bear and Sammy hadn’t come to the hospital today, because they’d just left it yesterday. They’d had their second baby boy four days ago, and they’d named him Russell, which was Sammy’s mother’s maiden name.

Montana went to sit by Mother and Aunt Lois, and Etta wandered that way too. The four of them sat on a single sofa, the twins more loved than they even knew.

“Stay there,” Ward said, dropping to one knee right there in the hospital. “Look at me, and let me take your picture for Ida. She’ll like that.”

The women looked up at him, and he tapped his phone to get several pictures. “Perfect,” he said, looking at the picture as one of the infants started to cry.

A flurry of activity happened around him as Brady got loaded up with both babies so he could take them back to their mother. Ward stayed down as he used his favorite editing app to make everyone look better by taking down the shadows and pushing up the contrast.

“Why are you down on the floor like that?” a woman asked, and Ward’s attention got jerked from his device. “Are you praying or proposing?”

He looked up at Dorothy Crockett, his pulse shooting through every vein in his body simultaneously. “Dot,” he managed to say. The problem was, he tried to get up at the same time, and shove his phone in his pocket, and combined with his sudden nerves, he stumbled forward.

He managed to catch himself before he fell flat on his face, but he had to grab onto Dot to do it. She grunted and braced herself, and because she owned and operated a landscaping