Chapter 89
* * * *
Their plans to make a big dent in the house repairs during their upcoming weekend off had to be changed Thursday night when Zane got a call from his mom to say Betsy’s water had broken and she had been taken to the hospital. They’d been expecting the news for over a week as Betsy was overdue and there’d been talk of inducing labor if it didn’t happen soon on its own. It being Brenda’s first grandchild and by extension Zane’s first niece or nephew, excitement was high.
By the time they—Zane had insisted Rory go, too—arrived at the hospital Friday evening, Betsy had given birth to a healthy baby girl whom they were calling Anna, which was Betsy’s mother’s middle name.
Rory hadn’t met Betsy’s husband Nick on his previous visit; the man was quiet and barely said a word. But with Brenda and Betsy in the same room, few people got a chance to speak. Young Anna seemed to possess a pretty powerful pair of lungs, so Rory privately concluded she took after her mother’s side of the family.
Zane was encouraged to hold his niece but refused at first, claiming he didn’t know how to hold a baby. It brought a lump to Rory’s throat to see a hulking man holding such a tiny human. Although, coming in at just over eight pounds, she was far from tiny by newborn standards.
Rory didn’t escape baby-holding duties. He, too, was reluctant, mostly because Anna had begun to grow restless and he didn’t want to be blamed that the baby cried while he was holding her. Much to his surprise, Zane’s delight, and everyone else’s shock, Anna stopped crying the moment she was put into Rory’s arms.
“You’re a natural,” Betsy told him.
Rory shook his head. “Dunno about that. This is the first baby I’ve ever held.”
Anna soon fell asleep and Rory reluctantly handed her over to her grandmother.
* * * *
Betsy was discharged the next day and Zane and Rory visited her on their way back to the ranch. The first thing they heard on entering the house was Anna crying loudly. A tired-looking Betsy greeted them and said Anna had been unsettled for the past couple of hours and nothing seemed to calm her.
“Ror will,” Zane said confidently, wrapping an arm around Rory’s shoulders.
“Uh, I don’t think I—”
“At this stage, I’m willing to try anything,” Betsy said, leading them down the hallway to what Rory presumed was the nursery.
Anna’s wrinkled face was an unhealthy shade of red. Her piercing high-pitch cries made Rory want to flee.
“Could she be teething?” Rory asked, not knowing the first thing about babies.
“It’s a bit soon,” Nick said from the doorway.
“We’ve fed her, burped her, diapered her, and she’s not running a fever,” Betsy said, wringing her hands. “I was about to call Mom when you guys showed up.”
“Ror’ll quiet her,” Zane said.
Rory shot his boyfriend a look. “Zane, I don’t—”
“Please try,” Betsy said, almost thrusting her baby at Rory, who took her cautiously.
“Hey, little girl,” Rory said softly, although his words were drowned out by Anna’s cries. Gently jiggling the baby in his arms, Rory continued, “What’s all this noise? You’re upsetting your momma. And if you don’t stop crying soon, we’ll have to sic Grandma Fox on you.” He smiled, hoping that didn’t get back to Zane’s mom.
It took a minute or so, but Anna did quiet down, much to Nick’s and Betsy’s relief, Zane’s smugness, and Rory’s surprise.
“It’s Ror’s smell,” Zane said, sniffing at Rory’s neck. “Always makes me feel good.”
Rory shot Zane another glare. It made it sound like Zane went around constantly sniffing Rory, which wasn’t the case. Well, come to think about it, it did explain some of Zane’s weird behavior. They’d have to talk more on that later, when they were alone.
“You want a job as a nanny, uh, manny?” Betsy asked later when the adults had retired to the den.
“Ha, no.” Rory shook his head.
After hugs and handshakes, plus Zane insisting Rory should strip and give Betsy his undershirt for Anna, they left, Rory with one fewer layer of clothing. Yes, they would definitely be having that talk…soon.
* * * *
Within a couple of weeks of returning to the ranch, the engine on Rory’s motorcycle started cutting out. Liam had taken a look at it but confessed the problems were beyond his mechanical capabilities. While Rory would have like to take his motorcycle to a repair garage, he—and Zane—were plowing all their spare cash into the house. Despite Jimmy and Jake’s kind offer to pay for most of the repairs or replacements, they still needed to buy more personal items that turned the house into a home. Rory had considered but instantly rejected the idea of putting up a white picket fence. That was too cliché. Although if they got a dog, they’d need to fence it in. Though wasn’t getting a dog another cliché? Next he’d be thinking about growing roses around the door.