“You are pitiful,” Jordan said, shaking his head. “Is there a female on the face of the earth you can resist?”
“Who are you kidding?” Cody shot back, gesturing to the big tomcat that was curled in Jordan’s lap purring contentedly. “You always hated cats and now you’re surrounded by them. I don’t hear you complaining.”
“You may not hear it,” Kelly said, “but it is almost the last thing I hear every single night. He says ‘Good night, I love you, no more cats,’ all in one breath.”
“I do not,” Jordan said, dislodging the cat and pulling Kelly onto his lap.
Cody listened to their banter and watched their undisguised affection with envy. Until he’d lost Melissa he’d never thought he wanted marriage and kids. He’d been as commitment-phobic as any one of those jerks who made the rounds of the talk shows. Ironically, ever since their breakup, all he’d been able to think about was settling down and having kids. He’d deliberately isolated himself in Wyoming so he’d be far from the temptation to try something at which he knew he’d inevitably fail.
After all, he hadn’t appreciated Melissa when he’d had her and she was as sexy and generous, as kind and intelligent, as any woman he’d ever known. He’d had a roving eye, just the same. He’d taken her for granted, which everyone in the family had accused him of doing at one time or another. He suspected he’d do the same with a wife. What was the point of ruining some woman’s life for his own selfish longing to have just a taste of the kind of love Jordan and Luke had found?
“How long are you sticking around? Have you told your boss when you’ll be back in Wyoming?” Jordan asked after Kelly insisted Cody stay for dinner.
Kelly dished up a serving of stew for him and lingered at his shoulder. “You are not going back until after J.J. is baptized,” she said emphatically.
Cody glanced up at her. “When is that again?”
“Next weekend, which you know perfectly well. I sent you an invitation. We’re going ahead with it. Harlan insisted.”
Something in his expression must have given him away because she frowned. “You ripped it up, didn’t you?”
Cody recalled the scattered pieces of the pretty blue invitation and felt a tide of red rising in his cheeks. Was the woman a damned witch?
“Of course not,” he fibbed.
The response drew a disbelieving snort. “So you’ll be here at least that long,” she said.
Cody had a feeling once he learned the truth about Melissa’s baby, he wouldn’t be able to get away from Texas fast enough. He’d need to cool his temper for a good long while before confronting her with what he knew. He’d also need time to make up his mind exactly what he wanted to do about the baby she’d kept from him. He intended to learn that truth in the next twenty-four hours.
“Sorry,” he said eventually. “I can’t promise to stay that long.”
Kelly glanced at Jordan, then back at him. “Your brothers said you were going to say no,” she said.
“I had no idea I was so predictable.”
“Lately you are,” his sister-in-law said. “Lately, you’ve gotten downright boring.”
He gave her a wry look. “More of that fatal charm, I see.”
Kelly frowned at his teasing. “What if I told you that Jordan and I want you to be the baby’s godfather?”
Something deep inside him shifted at the offer. He felt an unexpected warm glow. It was a feeling he told himself he didn’t deserve, especially not if he had a real child of his own he’d never even acknowledged.
“I’d say you made a lousy choice,” he responded.
“I told you he wouldn’t even be gracious about it,” Jordan chimed in. “Leave him be, Kelly. He’s as stubborn as the rest of us when he digs in his heels. He’ll change his mind, if we let the idea simmer long enough.”
“I won’t change my mind,” Cody said. “Sorry.”
“You say that a lot these days,” Jordan observed.
“Maybe I have a lot to be sorry for.”
“Well, this is one thing you can check off the list,” Jordan said.
He spoke in that matter-of-fact way that indicated he’d reached a decision and wanted no further argument. It was a tactic that might have served him well in business, but it grated on Cody’s nerves.
“I want you here, little brother,” Jordan stated emphatically. “And I want you to be the baby’s godfather. It’s settled.”
Despite his annoyance at Jordan’s attempt to snatch the decision out of his hands, Cody could feel himself weakening, feel that odd, empty sensation in the pit of his stomach that always meant the loneliness was taking hold again.
“Did you check it out at the church?” he inquired lightly. “They’ll probably be worried about lightning hitting the steeple if I show my hide in there.”
“There was some mention of that, but I believe there’s a general consensus that your soul is still salvageable,” Kelly said. “Please, Cody. We’ve missed you. It’s only for a few days more. How bad can that be?”
A few days, one hour, any time at all would be hell, especially if he discovered in the meantime that he had a baby of his own. Still, Cody had never been able to resist his sister-in-law. Kelly had been coaxing him into trouble since they were toddlers. Jordan had been too stuffy even at seven to fall in with some of her more outrageous mischief, though there had never been a doubt in anyone’s mind that Jordan was the one she loved.
“I’ll stick around,” he said eventually. “Long enough to get that nephew of mine in good graces with the Lord. Then I’m heading right back out. Understood?”
“Understood,” Kelly said meekly.
Kelly meek? Every alarm bell in him went off. Before he could get too caught up in trying to figure out her angle, she was gone. He was
