A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek #2)(72)

“Oh my Lord. You scared ten years off my life, Emma Leigh. What’re you doing in here?”

Emma shrugged. “I didn’t want to wake Branson. Since I knew your room would be unoccupied, I borrowed your bed to feed the baby.”

Realizing he was being discussed, Brand pulled his face away from the teat he’d been suckling and craned his head around to peer at Jo Ellen.

She smiled and wandered closer, watching her sister work with motherly precision as she snapped her bra back together and slung her son over her shoulder to pat him enthusiastically on the back.

“Can I burp him?” Jo Ellen asked, easing down next to them.

Without a word, her twin handed him over. As she tried to mirror Emma Leigh’s moves and position the boy against her, Jo Ellen couldn’t help but recall the last time she and Emma Leigh had sat on this very bed together. They’d talked about Jo Ellen’s baby then. Now, here they were, ten years later, with Emma Leigh’s son.

The most elemental part of her felt missing, lacking somehow. She wondered if she’d ever be a mother someday.

“So, you saw Cooper again?” Em asked, tucking her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees.

Jo Ellen blushed but nodded as she ducked her head to rub her cheek against Brand’s soft tuft of dark hair. Like a little heater, his tiny bulk warmed her from the inside out. Smelling like a typical baby, his subtle hint of milk and Johnson & Johnson’s lotion had never made her want to cry before. But a sense of loss filled her and she clutched him a little tighter, eliciting a satisfied burp from his chest.

Ignoring the fact she’d accomplished her job, she continued to hold him, smoothing her hand over his frail back and letting her fingers fall in between every dip on his spine. Emma Leigh let her have her fill, but she obviously refused to hand over all this baby time for free. She snapped her fingers and frowned. “Well…details. What’d you guys do all night?”

Jo Ellen’s cheeks went from warm to scorching. “Emma Leigh,” she hissed. “I’m not going to discuss that. Besides, most of the time, we just talked.” And played tic-tac-toe; and cuddled. And she’d fallen so deeply in love with him she didn’t even feel like herself anymore without him near.

A wistful sigh slipped from her; God, how she loved Cooper. He could be so easy to talk to. Since he knew things about her she was usually careful to hide, she didn’t have to pretend around him, didn’t have to ignore the fact she’d been pregnant once or that her life had changed dramatically ten years ago.

She’d lost more than just a child when she was eighteen. She’d lost her direction. Cooper seemed to already sense her loss and he didn’t avoid topics about it as her family did. It was as if he’d metaphorically lit a candle for her so she could see where she wanted to go now.

She liked that. And hated it too, because the only place she wanted to go was straight to him. It was all so confusing. Her wariness of dating a man was melting away, right out of her control and she couldn’t summon the ability to care. She wanted the fear gone.

“You talked?” Emma Leigh let out a snort. “Like I want to hear about the boring part of the night. Tell me the juicy stuff. Did he ring your bell, make you see stars, rock your world, cause you to scream out your passion like a banshee?”

Jo Ellen rolled her eyes. All too aware her twin wouldn’t let up until she confessed, she said, “Yes.”

Em paused. “Yes?”

Jo Ellen sighed and repeated, “Yes.”

Shocked silence followed. Then…“I knew it!” Em fisted her hand into the air, making Brand jump. “He’s the best you ever had, isn’t he?”

“Well, obviously. Judging him against Travis, there’s really no comparison.”

“What do you mean, judging him against Travis?” Em’s jaw sagged. “Are you freaking telling me you haven’t been with anyone since Untermeyer? Oh my God. Poor you. Ugh, this means Branson was right. For once.”

Jo Ellen gasped. “You and Branson have discussed my sex life?”

Em shrugged. “We discuss everything.” Then she waved her hand, pushing past what she obviously considered irreverent. “So do you like him?” she urged. “Cooper, I mean.”

“Of course I like him. He’s… he’s Cooper. What’s not to like?”

Em rolled her eyes. “Oh my God. That is the drollest answer I’ve ever heard. Do you like him like him as in…do you love the guy or not?”

“Emma Leigh,” she scolded, unable to stop blushing. “I can’t…that’s not…we haven’t even brought up such things.” Besides, it’d be foolish to admit how much she’d fallen for him after such a short time. Wouldn’t it?

“Oh, hell. I hate it when you turn all prissy and socialite because something makes you uncomfortable. Now stop it. This is important. And I don’t care what you two have brought up. I want to know what you’re feeling.”

With a deep sigh, Jo Ellen closed her eyes, concentrating on the weight of Brand’s body in her arms. “It can’t last,” she stated without the slightest of inflection in her voice, though her pulse jerked with dread as the words became vocal. “I’m going back to Dallas on Sunday. He has to stay here. We’re both pretty much stuck in our current situations. I have responsibilities keeping me there. He has responsibilities keeping him here.”