Chapter 51

51

Brandt found the woman of his dreams standing in front of the check in desk, talking with her family and Sage Tyler after he finished filling Clint in on his family. He and Clint—and Clint's wife Maggie—were good friends now. Maggie was a close friend of Meyra's family, too. And Powell. Powell and Maggie were very close.

Meyra and two of her cousins and Sage were passing a very young baby back and forth between them and cooing. Meyra held her now.

Brandt just stopped and stared. This, this was exactly what he wanted.

Fast.

Yes, he was done waiting.

"Who is this?" Brandt asked. He looked at the baby for a moment. She could be a Tyler—there were a lot of Tylers having babies lately, and they often found themselves at the inn. Considering that some of those babies were Meyra's stepmother's grandchildren, the baby could definitely be a Tyler.

"She's the daughter of our most recent guest," Dylan said. It was obvious she wanted to hold the baby next. "Katie, from Finley Creek—meet Brandt Barratt from Finley Creek, too."

"Really?" That was a bit more than a coincidence, wasn't it?

"Her father is a trucker, on his way through," Sage said, a tone in her words that had Brandt looking at her closely. "He had a breakdown at the IGA. He's grabbing gear from the truck now, and didn't want to take the baby out in the cold."

Meyra was looking down at the baby with the sweetest, softest smile on her lips.

Brandt could barely look away.

"I'm getting a niece or a nephew around mid-September," Brandt told Dixie and Sage when they asked how his sister was doing. They had met Powell before, several times. "She and Gunnar are thrilled, of course. And focusing on that rather than what happened. Going forward."

And Brandt was going to, too. So was his mother. She was already talking about turning the bedroom next to Powell's into a nursery. She fully intended her grandbabies to nap at her house sometimes, she'd said. Emphatically.

And then she had given Alex and Mac the "mom stare" and told them to figure things out. And to get busy. She had Powell settled with a man who adored her, Brandt had obviously been the smartest of her sons by bringing Meyra to meet her, and now…she was focusing on Alex next. And the little intern Cara that fascinated his brother.

And then, to his brother Mac's horror, she'd threatened that Mac and Heather were next on her list. As soon as Heather was fully recovered.

Brandt thought that idea was probably very, very terrifying. At least to his brother. But he could see it.

If Heather…

She was hanging on, but it was definitely a tense situation for that woman. She was in critical condition now, but they were cautiously optimistic. If they could get the infection under control…

As if Dylan could read his mind, she asked about Heather and Cara next. "I liked them when they were here. They were real. And, well, Heather is definitely the Oracle of All Things Men . She so possesses the knowledge of the ages, can't look like her and not, you know. Is she going to be okay?"

"We just don't know yet," Brandt said quietly. "It all depends on how well the antibiotics continue to work."

As they spoke, he just kept watching her, the woman he loved. And he imagined…

Four. She'd said four. Well, Brandt could definitely do that.