A Callahan Wedding

Sabrina thought that unlikely. This was Diablo; what wasn’t seen was talked about constantly. “We all live in each other’s business here, Aunt Corinne, you know that. The thing is, I really like Chelsea, so I can’t muster up any jealousy or bad feelings toward her. She seemed kind and interested and…” Sabrina frowned, hunting for the word she wanted. “She seemed like she wasn’t in love with Jonas, actually.”

“I picked up on that myself,” Corinne said cheerfully. “Maybe this engagement isn’t set in stone.”

It was wrong to hope for Jonas’s relationship to fall apart just because Sabrina had had a baby by him. “We’re all adults. We can do the right thing for Joe without hoping for other people’s unhappiness.” Still, her aunt Corinne was right: Jonas and Chelsea hadn’t seemed that gaga over one another. More like “just friends.”

“Oh, I don’t want them to be unhappy,” Corinne said. “It just wouldn’t bother me if the engagement got called off.”

Sabrina rolled over to send her a pointed stare. “Aunt Corinne, you are not to meddle in any way.”

Corinne’s eyes sparkled behind her polka-dotted glasses. “I wouldn’t think of such a thing!”

“And you are not to set the Books’n’Bingo Society, nor anyone else, to interfering with Jonas’s choice,” Sabrina said.

Corinne smiled fondly at her niece. “Well, I can’t promise not to hope that all of you get your heads straight on what needs to happen. I believe in true love, after all.”

Sabrina decided her aunt wasn’t planning to do anything nefarious. “It’s up to Jonas to be happy with his choice, so if he’s happy, then I’m happy for him.”

“That’s very mature of you, dear. I commend you.” Corinne looked down into Joe’s portable crib, where he was sound asleep, undisturbed by their conversation. “A busy time of being passed around by half of Diablo yesterday has tuckered our little man out still. I should let the two of you rest.”

Suddenly, Sabrina felt tired herself. “Good night, Aunt Corinne. Thanks for everything.” She settled her head on her pillow and smiled at her aunt. “It’s all going to work out. I have a feeling about these things.”

“So do I,” Corinne said. “Good night, Sabrina.”

Sabrina closed her eyes, only to start thinking about Jonas. How handsome he’d looked at the wedding! Better than she’d remembered, which was hard to top. The last time she’d seen him had been at Seton’s first wedding.

Several months in Ireland had done nothing but improve him in some way she couldn’t quite put her finger on. He seemed more mysterious, somehow more wise.

Definitely more hunk-hot in the way that only Jonas was to her.

Pooh. I’m not going to think about him anymore. Obviously, what we had wasn’t all that special if he’s put a ring on another woman’s hand.

In fact, he’s not hot at all. He’s cold.

* * *

SABRINA WAS SHOCKED when she ran into Jonas bright and early Monday morning while taking Joe to the pediatrician. “Hi, Jonas,” she said, walking past him as nonchalantly as possible. She’d wondered over and over what he thought about her baby—and when she should tell him the truth about little Joe.

“Wait, Sabrina.” He caught up with her, matching her stride. “Can I carry something for you? You look pretty loaded down.”

She had Joe’s diaper bag, her purse and Joe. “No, thanks. I carry this all the time by myself.”

“Well, it’s too much gear for a petite thing like you. Let me take the baby,” Jonas said, reaching for little Joe.

Sabrina gave him up reluctantly, watching Jonas’s expression as he held his son. Interested faces peered out of shop windows, and their friends and neighbors who were walking along Diablo’s sidewalks stopped to watch, even though they acted as if they weren’t. Sabrina felt like a fish in an aquarium. Still, she waited as Jonas carefully studied little Joe.

Finally, Jonas glanced at her. “Is this my son, Sabrina?”

So this was how it was going to be. She hadn’t planned to tell him on a beautiful, sunny May day in front of the hometown crowd, but he’d asked, and she wasn’t going to prevaricate. “Yes. Joe is your son.”

Jonas closed his eyes for a moment, pressed the baby close to his cheek. “What is his full name?”

“Jonas Cavanaugh McKinley. He was born on November 20.”

He studied the baby, and Joe seemed to study him in return. “I assume my name is listed as the father on the birth certificate?”

“Yes, it is. Of course it is.” Sabrina took Joe back, though Jonas seemed reluctant to part with his newfound son. “We have an appointment. I’m sorry.”

She started walking at a brisk pace. Jonas kept up with her.

“What kind of appointment?”

“Six month checkup and shots.” She didn’t mean to be curt, but this was so awkward, so unplanned, that Sabrina didn’t know how to do anything else but put up her defenses.

“I feel I should be there.”

She stopped and looked up at the tall, handsome man she’d once loved with all her heart. “Jonas, I appreciate that you’re going to want to be active in Joe’s life. But not today. I need…time.”

He glowered. “I’m not trying to butt into your life, Sabrina. When Joe sees the doctor, I want to be there. Every time.”

She sighed. “Fine. You can hold him when he cries.”

“He won’t cry,” Jonas said. “He’s a Callahan.”

“He’ll cry,” Sabrina said, “because he’s a baby. And it’ll be loud and unpleasant, and you’ll want to cry, too. But I can’t take care of both of you, so you’ll have to refrain.”

He touched her arm to stop her dash toward the doctor’s office door. “Sabrina, I can tell you’re upset. I’m sorry. This isn’t the way I wanted anything to turn out between us.”

She didn’t want pity. “Jonas, we never had a plan, so there’s nothing to apologize for.”

He nodded. “Still, I think you and I should talk.”

“We will one day. I just don’t know when.” She stepped inside the office, glad that Jonas would have to stop talking to her about Joe now. This was harder than she’d thought it would be. She’d never envisioned him marrying someone else.

Joe squirmed in her arms, getting restless, and Sabrina searched for a bottle.

“Want me to hold him?”

“Sure.” She handed Joe off to his father and kept rummaging until she found what she needed. “I suppose you’ll want to feed him, too?”

“Can I?” Jonas’s face lit up.

She sighed. “The nipple goes in his mouth.”

“Sabrina,” Jonas said, “I know how to feed an infant.”

“Good. Here’s the burp diaper.” She flung a beribboned cloth over his shoulder. The six other mothers in the waiting room smiled at Jonas as he held the baby. He didn’t notice the beams of approbation.

“Hi, Joe,” he said to his son.

“I’m going to check in.” Sabrina walked to the office window, signed in, then turned around, her heart catching as she looked across the room at Jonas.

This is what I came back to Diablo for.

Not that it was going to do her any good. “Jonas,” she said, walking back over to sit beside him, “where’s Chelsea?”

Jonas didn’t take his eyes off his son. “She said now that we aren’t getting married, she’s going to try to find a job in Diablo.”

“What?” Sabrina stared at him, astounded.

He shrugged. “She said she couldn’t marry me now. That it would be a dumb thing to do, because we’re just friends, anyway. She said I had a son I didn’t know about, and I needed to get things straight in my life. I agreed with her.”

Sabrina blinked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come between you.”

“You didn’t. There was nothing between Chelsea and me to start with.”

Sabrina thought that was unlikely, given Jonas’s sex appeal. But she didn’t ask any more questions, deciding that digging for more information wasn’t really her place. “Do you want me to feed Joe now?”

“I think I’ve got the hang of it, thanks.” Jonas stared down at his baby. “You just concentrate on picking out a date to marry me, Sabrina McKinley, because this boy’s name isn’t going to be Jonas Cavanaugh McKinley. It’s going to be Jonas Cavanaugh Callahan, so we might as well get that understood between us right now.”

Chapter Three

His brothers would probably say he was a dunderhead for blurting out his feelings—a bad proposal if there ever was one—in a pediatrician’s office. And they’d be right. But holding little Joe sent such emotions washing over Jonas that it was all he could do not to throw Sabrina in his truck and drive off with the both of them. He could convince her on the road—he did his best work on the road.

That was something his brothers had never understood about him. They thought he was just an old fuddy-duddy, steadfast and boring Jonas the heart surgeon. He was that, in some ways, because he was the eldest and he’d felt a strong sense of being a role model when they were growing up. But there was nothing he loved more than to cut loose from the office and hit the road, experiencing the variety life had to offer.

“I can’t marry you, Jonas,” Sabrina said, interrupting his scattered thoughts. He was nervous—nerves akin to waiting for a bull to leave the chute—as he waited for her answer to the proposition he’d blurted.

“Sabrina,” Jonas said, ignoring her statement. She was an adorably prickly little thing, but she didn’t understand that a boy needed his father. A girl did, too, but Jonas had a boy, and right now he was dealing with the obvious. A girl could come later, if he played his cards right. “While you consider what I said, which is really not open to debate because Joe absolutely has to have my name, I want to show you what I just bought.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “What?”

“It’s not here. I’ll have to drive you there to show you. Would you mind taking a two-day jaunt with me?”

“I’m not sure. Based on the marriage proposal you seem to be offering in a rather chauvinistic way, I don’t know if I want to spend much time alone with you.”

He nodded. “You owe it to yourself to find out. We belong together as a family, and that’s the goal we need to work toward.”

He’d hoped to see the light of joy in her eyes, but Sabrina’s brows pulled farther together. “We don’t have any goals, Jonas.”

“I’m aiming to fix that.” Jonas stood up with the baby when the nurse called little Joe’s name. “What the three of us need is time away. See if you don’t agree.”

Sabrina followed him silently, which was unusual for her, because she was a firecracker and given to both opinions and the occasional explosion when put upon. He liked the fire in her. Funny that I ever thought she was all wrong for me. It must have been the gypsy bells and the clairvoyant oogie-boogie that made me think she wouldn’t be happy married to Steady Eddy.

He could fix all that.

“You’re crazy,” Sabrina told him as they put Joe on the scales, and the nurse smiled.

“Big boy,” she said, and Jonas smiled.

“Yes, ma’am. Just like his dad.”

“Oh, brother,” Sabrina said.

Jonas beamed hugely. Now that sounded more like the gypsy who’d rocked his world.

He was so glad to be with her.

He’d have to work on the relationship part. But he remembered how good “Yes, Jonas” sounded, and he was willing to try his darnedest.

* * *

IT TOOK TWO DAYS OF wondering how to politely do it, but Sabrina finally got up the courage to investigate her very attractive rival. “Excuse me,” she said, walking up to the Diablo library desk with little Joe.

The redhead at the counter sent her a wide, welcoming grin. “I know you. You’re Sabrina McKinley, and that’s Joe. Hi, Joe,” Chelsea said, giving his cheek a slight caress. “He sure is a happy baby.”

Sabrina was warmed by Chelsea’s Irish accent and the fact that the woman honestly seemed pleased to see little Joe. She couldn’t pick up any animosity or jealousy from her, either. Sabrina’s curiosity was killing her. Before she accepted Jonas’s invitation to visit what he’d bought, she meant to speak with his supposed ex-fiancée.

Once burned, twice shy… .

“Hi, Chelsea,” she said. “You found a job so quickly.”

“Yes.” Chelsea smiled again. “I’m fortunate. Word got around that I was looking, and someone called me. I’ve got my passport, of course, and I applied for a visa. Then, one day, maybe a green card.”

“That’s a lot of plans,” Sabrina said, holding Joe as he squirmed, trying to reach for a book. Chelsea handed him one, a children’s picture book, and he instantly tried to gnaw on it.

“No, honey,” Sabrina said absently, putting him into his stroller so he could “read” the book. “This is for higher education, not nutrition. You turn the page like this. See?”

Joe observed, but didn’t quite have the motor skills to figure out page-turning. Still, he was happy to pat the page for a moment. “So,” Sabrina said, “I guess what I really want to know is if you…if you’re—”

“If Jonas and I are still engaged.” Chelsea nodded. “No. We’re not. It was Jonas’s plan, to keep him from being embarrassed that he was the only brother without a woman. He was pretty devastated when he thought you’d gone to Washington and met another guy.”

“Oh,” Sabrina said. “That’s not what happened at all.”

“And any woman could have figured that out.” She nodded again. “But Jonas was in full protective mode. I figured the two of you had to work things out eventually.”

“So why did you come to Diablo?” Sabrina asked, wondering what Chelsea’s angle was, if not marrying Jonas.

She began checking in some books that were in the bin. “I’ve been taking care of my mother for a few years. She’s much better now. She told me to go see the world.” Chelsea glanced at Sabrina. “Mom lives next door to Fiona, you know.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Mom’s supposed to be keeping an eye on Fiona and Burke’s place until they get back. Who knows when that will be?”

“They’re elusive,” Sabrina murmured. “So did you tell Jonas you wanted to see the world?”

“Mmm. And he said New Mexico was a great place to begin. That if I’d pretend to be his fiancée, he’d fly me over here and help me get started.” The redhead grinned at her. “I want to do a lot of traveling, but I can tell Diablo is a great place to live. I may stay here for a while. I like family places.”

“Diablo is certainly that.”

Chelsea stopped checking in books for a moment to consider Sabrina. “You know, men think with their hearts more than we give them credit for. And Jonas really was freaked out that you were having another man’s baby.”

“It never occurred to me that he would think that,” Sabrina said.

“There’s the trouble,” Chelsea said cheerfully, going back to her work. “We never know what they’re thinking, and it’s usually nothing that we’d think at all.”

“Thanks, Chelsea,” Sabrina said, feeling immensely relieved. “I really appreciate you telling me all this.”

“Jonas can’t be annoyed with me for telling you the truth, can he?” She winked at her. “Anyway, he’s a nice guy and all, but I’m looking for adventure.”

“You’ll find it here.” Sabrina handed the picture book back to Chelsea, and little Joe let out an indignant squawk. “Oh, Joe, honey…all right,” she said, giving in. “I think he’d like a book to read, Chelsea.” She found her library card and checked the book out, then gave it back to him.

Chelsea looked over the counter at Joe. “Maybe he’s going to be book-smart like his dad.”

Sabrina laughed. “Maybe he’ll get some other kind of smarts from his mother, too.”

“Goodbye, Sabrina. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

She nodded. “I hope so. Goodbye, Chelsea.”

Sabrina went out, feeling much better now that she had some answers—and still not certain what to do about Jonas’s invitation.

* * *

“SO THIS IS IT,” JONAS SAID proudly the next day, when he’d finally dragged a reluctant Sabrina and little Joe away from Rancho Diablo for what he called “new family togetherness.”

Sabrina wasn’t certain what she thought about “family togetherness” time with Jonas. After her chat with Chelsea, though, she’d decided to give it a shot. Something was bugging her, though she couldn’t put her finger on it. The old “tickle” was back, warning her that something wasn’t quite as it should be.

Jonas was handsome as ever, gorgeous, in fact, yet she couldn’t allow herself to focus only on her emotions. But it was hard to forget what they’d shared, and how wonderful Jonas made her feel when she was in his arms. “What is it?” she asked, caution dampening her enthusiasm.

“This is Dark Diablo,” Jonas said, parking his truck in front of a small, spare farmhouse set among hardy junipers and spiny cacti, and framed by dusky canyons and arroyos. “This is my new home.”

Sabina blinked. “Home?”

“Yep.” He came around to help her out of the truck, then took Joe from her arms when she’d released him from his car seat. “This is Daddy’s new house, son. You get a swing set here, and a pony.”

“Wait,” Sabrina said, following them. “This isn’t home. You live in Diablo, at Rancho Diablo.”

“I’ve always wanted my own place. This is that place.” Jonas glanced around, pride evident on his face. “It took me almost four years to finally pull the trigger and buy this from the owner, but I did it.”

Sabrina looked around at the vast emptiness, her heart sinking. Of course, they were only a few miles from Rancho Diablo, but this wasn’t home. Home was with the people she’d come to know and love. She didn’t want Joe growing up alone.

She shivered. “There’s nothing out here.”

“I know. But I see cattle breeding and horses, and maybe something else. I’m not sure what.” Jonas smiled at her. “I can tell you’re not crazy about it.”

“It doesn’t matter how I feel,” Sabrina said quickly. “It’s your place. But it just seems so lonely.”

“The previous owner was old. He’d sold off most of his equipment and buildings, intending to sell the ranch to a corporation, I think. But when I heard that we might lose Rancho Diablo, I began to think seriously about this place. I knew we could move our operations here, if we had to.”

Sabrina nodded. “That makes sense.”

“So now it’s mine. Come on inside.”

The small farmhouse, with its weather-beaten paint and dust-laden windows, was so different from the seven-chimneyed, English-style manor house at Rancho Diablo. Sabrina walked into a wallpapered kitchen that was large and bright, if not updated. “Where does the water come from?”

“Here we’re cistern. For the cattle, luckily, there’s a couple of good creeks and streams you can’t see from the house, but which I think I can run pipe to.”

She kept walking around the house. “It feels like Auntie Em’s home in The Wizard of Oz.”

“I plan to build my own place one day. This isn’t big enough for a family. And I like what I had growing up.”

“Where are the closest neighbors?”

He looked at her. “I think there’s some a few miles away. This is ten thousand acres, so it’s pretty private.”

“I’ll say.” She went up the staircase, finding three small bedrooms laid out at the top, with one bathroom in between. “All the bedrooms are upstairs.”

“Yes.” Jonas came to stand beside her, carrying little Joe. “Sabrina, everything can be changed.”

She swallowed. “I’ve lived in a lot of places, Jonas, so I think I’m pretty good at adapting. But I suspect you’re going to be very lonely out here. I know I would be.”

He blinked. “Lonely? I was thinking how great the peace and quiet would be. I had five brothers growing up. Solitude sounds like heaven.”

She shook her head. “I only had Seton.”

Sabrina went back downstairs, and Jonas followed her.

“I don’t want to be a wet blanket,” she said, “so congratulations. I’m glad you got what you wanted.”

His proud smile dimmed. “Thanks.”

She nodded uncomfortably. “I guess we’d better head back. Thanks for showing me your new place.”

Jonas looked at her for a long time before slowly nodding in turn. He led her to the truck, handed Joe back to her to put in his car seat, then drove away in silence.

Sabrina looked back at the small farmhouse set in the vast acreage, and wondered why Jonas wanted to be alone so badly.

“Jonas,” she said slowly, “why do you want to run away from your family?”

“I don’t.”

She hesitated. “Are you sure? Because you couldn’t have picked a more isolated place to live.” She looked at him curiously.

He shrugged. “Maybe it’s not for everyone. It’s great for me, though. Nobody around for miles, until you get to the town of Tempest. I don’t go there often. It’s too much like Diablo. Full of well-meaning folk.”

Intuition hit her. “Jonas, you sold your practice. You got a fake fiancée. You’ve bought a property where there’s no one around to bother you.” She gave him a steady stare. “You’re hiding.”

“Hiding?”

She nodded. “It’s your typical pattern. You know what you need to do, but you stick your head in the sand instead.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Jonas said. “It’s a piece of land, Sabrina, not a crystal ball.”

She wrinkled her nose at his retort and decided to ignore it. “Perhaps I’m trying to say that I suspect you still have a lot to figure out in your life, Jonas.”

“I’m doing fine. And when you’re not busy trying to make my life a piece of your investigative reporting, you’ll probably notice that I’m doing very well, thanks.”

“You are.” Sabrina knew she was hitting very close to whatever was really motivating Jonas, or he wouldn’t react so sorely. “But you’d do better if you’d finish what your brothers have started.”

Jonas took a long time to answer. “Maybe,” he said softly, “but I’m not going to.”

Not surprised by his answer, Sabrina turned to look out the window as the dry, almost barren-looking land rushed past. “There’s something bugging you at Rancho Diablo, or you wouldn’t be trying to hole up out here.”

“Nope.”

“You thought I was pregnant by another man,” Sabrina said with some heat, “though I can’t imagine what that says about how you really see me—”

“I see that you’re a little different from other women, Sabrina, which I happen to like. It scares me, but I do like it.”

“When you’re not scared.”

“Nervous is a better word. Some people are afraid to try new foods. I’m not. You’re a different kind of female than what we have on the ranch right now. But I need spice in my life, and you’re the cayenne pepper in my chili.” He ran a palm over Joe’s small head, where he was strapped in his carrier between them. “And this is my tiny jalapeño on top,” he said. “Good for me I’ve got the stomach for all this new fire.”

Sabrina wasn’t about to let Jonas pacify her with what he likely thought were compliments. “You went and found someone—”

“More calm, more sedate,” Jonas supplied helpfully.

Sabrina was outraged. “Chelsea jumped on a plane with you to fake an engagement. How sedate is that?”

He laughed. “Okay.”

“Anyway, don’t get me off the subject. What I’m trying to point out is that you run off when you want to avoid things. Just like you ran off to Ireland.” She glared at him. “How would you have felt if, upon seeing Chelsea, I’d jetted back to D.C.?”

“I’m glad you stayed. I’m hoping to talk you into living at Dark Diablo with me.”

“If you don’t put all your skeletons to rest, they’ll pop back up. Contrary to me being the wild and unsettled one, you wear that badge, Doctor.”

“Not me,” Jonas said. “Surgeons do not have a wild bone in their body.”

“Right,” Sabrina said. “Anyway, that’s what I think.”

He sighed. “I won’t deny all of what you say.”

“Good.” She popped the top off a bottle and began feeding the baby. “It’s very important for little Joe to know that his father is a man of deep character, not given to wayfaring.”

“Wayfaring.” Jonas laughed. “Ha-ha-ha. I don’t think I’ve wayfared in my life.”