The Cowboy's Surprise Baby (Cowboy Country Book 3) Read Online Free

family?”
    Her throat hitched. “No. He’s back for good. He’s got a son—a family. And the worst of it is that Alexis hired him to work at the ranch.”
    “Seriously? Why would she do that? Doesn’t she know the history between you and Cole?”
    “That’s the odd thing. Alexis knows exactly what happened between us. She was there when it all played out.”
    Along with every other resident of Serendipity.
    He shook his head. “I can’t imagine what she was thinkin’. Then again, I’ve never been very good at interpreting the female mind.” He crossed his eyes and flashed a goofy grin.
    Despite everything weighing her down, Tessa laughed. Marcus always knew how to make her feel better.
    “Speaking of female minds, why don’t we try to get you out of yours for a while? I’m running into town to get a few things from Emerson’s Hardware before we have the staff meeting this afternoon. You want to come along?”
    She hesitated, pursing her lips. “I don’t know. I won’t be very good company.”
    “What if I bribed you with one of Phoebe Hawkins’s red velvet cupcakes from Cup O’ Jo’s? Smothered in chocolate frosting?”
    “A cupcake? And my favorite? You’re not playing fair.”
    “When have I ever?” he tossed back with a wink.
    Tessa knew he was right. She tended to overanalyze every situation, and this one was a humdinger. There were things a woman could change and things she couldn’t, and there was no sense worrying about what was out of her control. At the end of the day, the good Lord had the final say. That’s what she often told the girls she was counseling, and yet now she was struggling to take her own advice.
    Emerson’s Hardware, only a few minutes from Redemption Ranch, was located on Main Street, right next door to Cup O’ Jo’s Café. All of Main Street looked like something out of an old Western movie, with colorful clapboard siding and old-fashioned signs dangling in front of the stores.
    While Marcus dawdled in the hardware section, Tessa wandered over to gardening to see what was new. Living in the girls’ bunkhouse as she did, she had neither the place nor the time for a garden, but she imagined that someday, when she had a home of her own, she’d enjoy planting vegetables and spending quiet time landscaping with flowers around the place.
    When she had a home of her own.
    Realistically, was that ever going to happen?
    What a difference a day made, if that day meant Cole Bishop had walked back into her life. Even the thought of having a family now tore at her heart. What was once a pleasant, if distant, dream of the future had suddenly become a nightmare. She hadn’t realized until she’d seen him again that he’d still been part of her vision. His face had never been replaced by another.
    Shaking her head to dislodge her sadness, she found Marcus at the register, where he was wrapping up his purchase.
    Edward Emerson, an older man dressed in the same bib overalls as the two men slouched in the wooden rocking chairs just outside the door, smiled at her as she approached.
    “Hey, Tessa. Good to see you. Can you do me a favor and tell Cole the feed he ordered is loaded in his truck and ready to go whenever he is?”
    “I...I don’t—” she stammered, but Edward went on as if she hadn’t spoken.
    “If I’m not mistaken, he’s at Cup O’ Jo’s showing off that new baby of his. Cute little tyke. Bald as a cue ball.” Edward chuckled.
    Tessa inhaled sharply. Cole’s son was an infant. Her stomach churned like a combine at hearing the news, creating a whole new set of aches. Her thoughts flew together like a tornado picking up everything in its path. Thoughts that didn’t belong together but still tore through her. Her failure with Savannah was too recent, and Savannah’s baby was never far from her mind. She’d once thought she’d be the one bearing Cole’s children. But now Cole had a son of his own, and his and Tessa’s lives were completely