Read Forever in Love (Montana Brides) for Free Online Page B

the window at Catherine. She’d given up on the wiggle. Her face had puckered into a scowl and she looked as though she was about to let rip with a giant wail.  
    “I couldn’t help but notice your predicament.”
    Jake stood on the sidewalk, his round body covered from shoulder to hip in a sheepskin jacket that looked as thick as Nathan’s head felt. “Do you know how to work these things?”  
    Jake shook his head. “Damn fool contraptions built for women. Bring your little one into the store and we’ll get it open in there. Do you need a hand with those baby bag things the ladies carry around?”
    Nathan raised his eyebrows. He never knew Jake was so knowledgeable about babies, but he wasn’t about to ask any questions in subzero temperatures. He passed the stroller to Jake and pointed to the back of the truck. By the time he had Catherine out of her seat, Jake was heading toward the store with Catherine’s pink backpack slung over his shoulder and an orange stroller clutched in his hand.
    A sheen of ice covered the pavement and Nathan kept a careful eye on where his boots landed. Slipping butt first on the ground with a baby in his arms wasn’t what Amy had in mind when she’d left her sister with him. But it might be what the three heads poking over the top row of pumpkins in the window display expected. Great, he thought. An audience. Just what every man needed.
    A bell jingled as Jake opened the door. “Come inside quick. That damn wind’s enough to freeze a man solid.”  
    The wooden door slammed shut and Nathan breathed a sigh of relief. Catherine’s face peeked out of her pink hood. She stuck her fingers in her mouth and started chewing.
    “She’s hungry,” Jake declared. “Best get her one of those scones you baked this morning, Doris.”
    Doris turned from the window, scowling at her husband. “Just because a baby sticks her fingers in her mouth doesn’t mean she’s hungry. And if you don’t keep your voice down you’ll scare the wee lass silly.” Doris moved from in front of the artfully designed pumpkins to stand smack bang in front of Nathan. “You’ve been holding out on us. Who’s the little charmer in your arms?”
    Two other pumpkin people nodded, looking expectantly across the room.  
    “Don’t pester the boy. Can’t you see he’s got his arms full?” Jake yanked at the stroller again, cursing the mechanical nitwit who’d put the contraption together.
    “None of that language around this little lady, if you please.” Doris walked across to her husband, pushing a lever at the top of the frame. “There you go. Easy as pie.” She smiled, patting her husband’s slack jaw.  
    “What did I tell you? Made for women.” Jake locked the stroller open. “All ready for your mystery baby.”
    Doris moved between Nathan and her husband. “Not so fast. This wee lass looks as though she could do with a cuddle. What do you think, Nathan?”
    He looked between Catherine and Doris. Catherine stopped chewing. Her rosy faced grin latched onto Doris. With outstretched hands she made the decision for him. “Looks like someone knows what she wants. Just watch your hair. She’s not too particular about what goes in her mouth at the moment.”
    “It’s just her way of figuring out this world,” Doris crooned. “Isn’t that right little one?”
    Catherine bounced in her arms, giggling at her audience. “Let’s get you out of your snowsuit and find you a little something to chew on.”
    Jake made a scoffing noise. Doris speared him with one of her world famous don’t-mess-with-me looks. He cleared his throat, gazing at the faces staring at the best bit of gossip to hit his store all morning. “Well don’t keep us in suspense, Nathan. Who is she?”
    Steve Murdoch laughed out loud. “More importantly, who’s her mother?”
    Nathan had never liked Steve. For someone close to fifty he still had an awful lot of testosterone packed between his ears and not a lot of anything