Harlan Patrick turned a suddenly serious look on him. “Are you planning on being there for her, no matter how this turns out?”
Cord knew what he was asking in his roundabout way. “If she’ll let me, I’m in this for the duration.”
“If I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now. It was lucky for her you walked into Dolan’s that night.”
“No,” Cord said softly. “I’m the lucky one.” Now all he had to do was figure out how to put a positive spin on all of this for Sharon Lynn.
* * *
Waiting and wondering when the grandmother would appear and snatch the baby out of her arms was driving Sharon Lynn a little crazy. It hadn’t helped matters that Cord had suddenly vanished. She hadn’t seen him for two days now. Nor had he called. It made her realize just how much she had come to depend on his presence.
On the second day she finally broke down and called her mother.
“Darling, how are you?” Melissa asked. “I’ve been so worried about you. How’s the baby?”
“The baby’s fine. I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound all that terrific. What’s really going on?”
“Actually I was just wondering if you’d seen Cord around the ranch the last couple of days.”
“I haven’t, but then I rarely see any of the men outside of your brother. Let me ask your father.”
“No, don’t,” Sharon Lynn protested, only to realize she was talking to dead air. She could hear her mother calling out to her father as she walked through the house.
Since there was no way to prevent her mother from asking, she concluded she might as well stay on the line until she had an answer. It was several minutes before the phone was picked up again, but this time it was her father on the line.
“I hear you’re looking for Cord,” he said. “What’s up? Is there a problem? Do you need one of us to come into town?”
“Of course not. Everything’s fine here. I was just wondering about out there. Cord hasn’t come down with the flu or something, has he?” She couldn’t bring herself to voice her greatest fear, that he might have taken off.
“He’s not sick. He’s been at work right on time the past couple of days. I’ve got to admit he’s damned good at it, too,” he said grudgingly.
Sharon Lynn grinned at his disgruntled tone. “Were you hoping he’d be lousy, so you could fire him? Especially since you didn’t manage to get him to quit.”
“How’d you hear about that? Isn’t there anything that happens on this ranch that the whole world doesn’t know about?”
“Not when you’ve never learned to lower your voice,” she teased. “That’s why the whole town always knew exactly what was going on with you and Mom, even though you dragged her into the back room at Dolan’s to have your battles.”
“Okay, smarty, that’s about enough out of you,” her father grumbled, but he was chuckling. “As for Cord, I have no idea where he is, but I’m pretty sure he’s with your brother. They’ve been thick as thieves the past couple of days.”
That was the last thing Sharon Lynn expected him to say. What on earth were the two of them up to? Probably no good, given Harlan Patrick’s current state of mind.
“Should I tell Cord you were looking for him?” her father asked.
“No, I’m sure I’ll catch up with him sooner or later.” She was about to hang up, when another thought occurred to her. “Dad, how is Harlan Patrick handling Laurie’s leaving?”
“You mean after he got over the shock that she actually left?”
“Yes, though I still don’t know why that caught him off guard. She’d been telling him for years she was going.”
“His ego wouldn’t let him believe she’d walk away from what they had.”
“And his pride won’t let him go after her,” Sharon Lynn added.
“Why should he?” her father demanded. “She made her choice plain enough. I say good riddance.”
“Dad, you don’t mean that. You always liked Laurie. We all did.”
“I don’t like anyone who hurts one of my kids.”
She grinned at his fierce tone. “Yeah, we do tend to stick together, don’t we? Heck, I might even take a poke at Laurie myself if she turned up again. Ever think we might intimidate the daylights out of anyone who tries to break into our tight-knit circle?”
“Not the good ones,” he retorted. “Nothing intimidates the ones worth having.” He paused, then added thoughtfully, “Could be your Cord’s one