Baby Mine (Stubborn Texas Siblings Book 1) by Faith Loveright

death if need be. He wouldn’t relent until she agreed to give her daughter his last name. It was a small price to pay in order to keep the peace with him. Now that she’d held the sweet baby girl she loved so much in her arms, there was no way she was taking any chances that the stubborn cowboy might find a reason to take their daughter from her.
    “Schmidt,” she heard herself agree. “She should have her Daddy’s last name.”
    Eric felt as if she’d handed him the most precious gift a man could receive and he felt as if his heart had suddenly taken on the weight of an elephant. “Thank you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
    “Don’t thank me… just… go. See that our daughter is safe and well cared for, while I take a much needed nap. We can talk later.” Her voice was soft and sweet.
    He smiled past his tears and nodded in agreement. Turning around, he followed the nurse down the hall. Madeline needed to take time to herself to rest, and he needed to be with that sweet baby girl. The moment he’d seen those steel grey eyes look up at him, his heart had swelled with love for her.
    When they got back home, somehow, they would all find a way to be a family together. It had to mean something that when he’d looked at Lillie Rose, he hadn’t seen Victoria in her at all. As a matter of fact, he could have sworn he’d seen a bit of the beautiful woman who’d given birth to his daughter in her, even though that was impossible. Whatever the reason for that, he knew he needed to embrace the change of heart he was experiencing. Perhaps there was a ring of truth in his younger brother’s words… Maybe it was time to let the past die, and let himself live again.
     

Chapter 10

 
    Jeff poked his head into the room and cleared his throat loudly, waking Madeline up. “My brother?” he asked, looking around.
    “In the nursery with Lillie Rose. He doesn’t trust anyone with her enough to let her out of his sight,” she answered, yawning widely.
    “Hardly surprising, given the way he lost her mother… oh… sorry,” he said, flinching as he realized what he’d said. “When Victoria died in that car accident, while calling him to tell him that she’d just gotten the test results back to say she could have the eggs implanted in a few days; he thought he had lost all chances of being a father to her children. Don’t get me wrong… I realize that you’re the baby’s mother in every way that matters, but that has to be a battle in my brother’s head. I just stopped in to let you know that I dropped the car seat my brother asked me to bring, off. I put it in the truck cab and buckled it in place for you.”
    “Thanks, Jeff. I really appreciate that.”
    “That’s what Uncles are for,” he said with a grin. “To think… I could have been the one who…” realizing what he’d almost said, he ducked his head in shame and looked away from her. “I should go. Let my brother know I stopped by.”
    “Jeff, wait,” she called to him before he could make his escape. He turned around and looked at her with so much guilt written on his face, she almost couldn’t breathe. “You can’t just leave a statement like that hanging…”
    “I’d really rather not …” he said, rubbing his hand anxiously over the back of his neck, wishing he could be just about anywhere else, talking about literally any other subject matter.
    “But why?” she asked, sitting upright, staring at him in confusion. She saw the pained look on his face and she swallowed her fear. “Never mind… Your secrets are none of my business… I hope you didn’t ever get the idea that anything could have ever happened between the two of us… I like you Jeff. I really do. But with Eric…”
    Jeff held his hand up in the air and smiled as he thought about the look his big brother always had on his face when he talked about this woman. Even when all he was doing was complaining, Jeff could see just how deep Eric’s feelings