“You didn’t tell her about them, did you?”
“No. I figured that was for you to do.”
Emerson was glad of that; it gave him some leeway. “I’m going over there.”
“I don’t think she needs to entertain you on top of everything else.” Cass followed him down the hall.
“I don’t need entertaining.” Emerson turned on her. “Hell, Cass, is it just me, or do you think all men are helpless?”
Cass wrinkled her nose. “Sorry. I think I’m nesting, and it’s hard having so many men all over the place. I’m not used to it. I want everyone out of my house so I can get it cleaned and organized the way I want it. I’m at the end of my rope.”
He supposed he couldn’t blame her for that. “I’ll try to stay out of your way,” he said shortly. “Meanwhile, I need to get ready to go. I’ll bring some food to Wye,” he added when it looked like Cass would argue again. “I’ll help her with Elise. We can watch a movie or something. She shouldn’t be stuck there alone on a Friday night.”
“I guess you’re right about that,” Cass admitted. “Okay, go. Just… make sure you’re really helping.”
“I will.”
An hour later he knocked on Wyoming’s brother’s door, bags of takeout in his arms. He could hear Elise wailing from all the way out here. He figured Cass would have given Wye a heads-up by now, but when she opened the door, she looked surprised to see him.
“What are you doing here?”
Not quite the welcome he’d hoped for. Elise’s wails went on and on from inside the house. “I brought you dinner.”
But her gaze had already fallen on the bags from Burger Shack. “Oh, you wonderful man,” she exclaimed, and her entire countenance brightened. “I need a burger—desperately. I don’t suppose you brought fries.”
“Of course I brought fries. And a chocolate shake.”
Grateful tears welled in her eyes as she let him into the house, but Wyoming laughed. “This day has been so awful I didn’t think anything could go right, but a chocolate shake might do the trick.”
Elise, sitting on a blanket on the floor, toys spread around her, cut off mid-wail when she saw him, her big blue eyes brimming with tears, but the silence was short lived. A moment later her cries rang out anew. Emerson handed Wye the bags of food, shucked off his outer gear and headed for the baby.
“Come on,” he told Elise. “Let’s get you to bed.”
“Hah. Good luck with that,” Wyoming said as he made his way through the small house to the bedrooms in back. It was easy to figure out which one was the baby’s. “I just changed her,” Wyoming called after him.
“Great.”
Lullabies were playing in Elise’s room, and he began by leaning her against his shoulder and patting her back as he bounced and swayed lightly to the music, humming a little now and then. When Emerson had lived with his aunt and uncle, he’d been tasked many times with watching the children of his older cousins and had learned that one way to calm a baby was to calm himself. He emptied his mind and breathed deeply, slowing his heart rate. While Elise continued to cry and fuss, she also yawned once or twice—a good sign.
It took nearly an hour, but in the end Elise lost the war of wills and fell asleep. Emerson laid her down carefully in her crib and tiptoed out to find Wyoming on the couch watching TV.
“I know I should have come and helped. I just sat down for a minute and then couldn’t get up again. Did you do it? You got her to sleep?” Wye said hopefully.
“For now. Better keep things under control out here.”
She gestured to the TV. “I’m hardly causing a ruckus.”
“But you might.”
“Eat your burger.”
Emerson sat down on the couch next to her and did so gladly, not caring that it had gone cold.
“You’re amazing,” Wye said.
“I was hoping you’d notice that.”
“I miss you—all of you. I wish I was back at Two Willows.”
“So do we.”
“I’m not sure Ward is even trying to find someone to help,” she admitted. “I don’t know what to do.”
“For now, how about we watch a movie. Later we’ll get it all figured out.”
After watching an hour of television with Emerson, Wyoming began to feel almost human. During a commercial break, he fetched a cooler from his truck and handed her a beer. “I thought about picking up wine, but I figured this would go better with the burgers.”
“It’s perfect.” Wyoming took a long sip. “Thank you. I didn’t realize how much I needed someone to come and help.”
“No problem.” He shifted on the sofa to face her and set his beer on the ground carefully. “Give me your feet.”
“My feet?”
“You heard me. Get them up here.”
Wyoming leaned against the armrest and lifted her sock-clad feet tentatively, but she moaned with pleasure when he began to knead them with his strong fingers.
“I’ll do your neck next. I’ll bet you’re sore from carrying Elise around.”
“More like tense from her crying all day.”
“Is that why you stayed away from Two Willows?” He dug down deep into the arches of her feet.
Wyoming squirmed, but it felt good. “I didn’t want her to bother the General. I know Cass and her sisters would be fine no matter how fussy she gets, and the guys could all scatter to the barn—Lena, too,” she added with a smile. “But the General is stuck in his office, pretty much.”
“He’s going to have to listen to Cass’s baby soon,” he pointed out.
“Not until March. And that’s his grandchild. Elise isn’t a relative.”
“You know, it’d be a good thing for the General to want to get out more.” He relayed the problem he was having getting him to do his exercises.
Wyoming laughed.
