A Baby in His Stocking (17 page)

Just like that, she snatched her baby from his festooned carriage and ran off down the aisle.

“Nat,” Wyatt called, “wait!” He'd been on the verge of backing out on her, but now that she'd done it first, he wasn't so sure about anything anymore—especially when it came to the matter of not loving her. For if he truly didn't, why did it hurt so bad seeing her go?

Chasing after her, calling her name, he finally caught up in the guest cabin, only to find her struggling to escape her gown.

“Nat,” he managed, out of breath, bracing his hands on his knees, “sweetie, we need to talk.”

“Don't you
sweetie
me,” she snapped. “You've been acting strange for days, ever since the wedding planning went into high gear. You've pouted and scowled and had me wondering if you were sick or scared or hiding a horrible secret.” Conking her forehead with the heel of her hand, she said, “Don't know how I could've been such a fool not to have recognized this before, but it was never me you loved—just Micah. Walking down the aisle, I couldn't wait for you to see me in this gorgeous dress. But when I looked at you, hoping to see love—or at least deep affection—you never once took your eyes off my son.”

Mind reeling, Wyatt wasn't sure what to do. How had this day gone so horribly wrong? She was right, but he all of a sudden didn't want her to be.

“You and me—
us,
” she said in a barely audible tone, “it was all a lie, wasn't it? You wanted a son, and by sheer coincidence, I just happened to be having one.”

“You're talking crazy,” he managed. “I mean, yeah, I might've felt like that a little while ago, but in the split second you left me, I knew I'd be lost without you.”

“Save it.” She put her fingers over his lips. “This is just like Craig all over again except in reverse. He dumped me because of our child, and you only want me for my child.”

“Would you listen?” he implored. “I admit, looking back on it, I may not have consciously entered into this with the best of intentions. But I was a fool. Hell, trust the feelings we've had simmering for each other since grade school.”

“No.” She was unable to see him through her tears. Heavy mascara stung her eyes. How many times had she told herself Wyatt was all wrong for her? Why,
why
had she thought for one moment her dreams of having a perfect family might actually come true? “That wasn't love, but lust. I deserve more.”

“I know, angel, which is why—” He'd grasped her forearms, but she pushed him away.

“Where's my purse? I—I have to get out of here. Get away.”

“Let me get this straight—you're escaping from me?”

“If that's what you want to call it. You do happen to be the expert on running away.”

“But I didn't run. Remember?” Raising his chin, he said, “I never ran during the time we watched the girls and I'm not the one who ran out of our wedding. Now, I know, beyond all reasonable doubt the churning in my stomach over the past few days wasn't fear of being committed to you and Micah, but fear of not having that official level of commitment. I love you. I love our
son. I have ever since I first felt him move inside you. Run away if you want, Nat, but you know you'll never find anyone who loves either of you as much as I do.”

“Shhh…” Three weeks later, Natalie unfastened Micah's safety harness, lifting him into her arms. “It's okay, pumpkin. Just a few more minutes and we'll get you fed and settled down.”

With the baby wailing all the way, Natalie rushed up the path to the cabin/tent Wyatt reportedly called home. The Rift Valley Safari Lodge was where he and his crew had set up their base camp in Ethiopia's Rift Valley. From what she'd seen on TV, she'd have expected the place to be mercilessly hot and void of vegetation, but the “Roof of Africa” had turned out to be a beautiful surprise. Though there was plenty of hard-packed red dirt, there were also an abundance of trees and a nearby river.

Pulse racing, she asked herself what was the worst that could happen? Wyatt rejecting her? No biggie, considering she'd first rejected him. His expression while she'd walked down the aisle had led her to bolt. Who was to say whether he'd intended to or not? Maybe if she'd stuck around, they might already be married and living in his pretty forest house. Instead, she'd been forced to beg Georgina and Dallas to use
some of their considerable pull to obtain visas for both her and Micah.

Georgina and Natalie's parents both felt Micah shouldn't go, but Doc Haven had given her baby the required immunizations and she'd made sure to keep him covered to protect him from mosquitoes. She needed Micah to remind Wyatt that the two of them were a package deal.

If only she'd paused a moment before her outburst, she'd have remembered how deep Wyatt's love of children ran. Her accusations had been both ludicrous and insulting. Her only hope of regaining the dream she'd all but thrown away was to go to her man. If he'd been afraid of love, so what? So had she. Together, they had a lifetime to work through it.

Trying the door and finding it unlocked, she let herself in. “Wyatt?”

He didn't answer, but over Micah's cries, she heard the shower.

Spying a wooden rocker much like the one in her cabin, she sat and then offered her breast to her ravenous son.

When the noise from the shower spray stopped, her pulse raced. Would Wyatt be happy to see her and Micah? Sad? Angry?

“Nat?”

She looked up to see him sporting a full beard and wild hair in need of a trim. His skin was deeply tanned. Never, in all the years she'd known him, had he looked so good.

“Hope you don't mind the intrusion.” She cast him a faint smile. “Micah told me he missed his dad.”

Wearing a towel, Wyatt kneeled on the tile floor, stroking Micah's cheek. “He's even more handsome than I remembered.”

Still feasting, Micah never took his gaze from his father. No matter what, Natalie would always think of Wyatt in that way.

“I owe you an apology,” she said. “I was so afraid of you leaving me, I left you first.”

“Truthfully, I did think of walking out on our wedding. I didn't trust that it was realistic for me to love two people so deeply at once.”

Lower lip trembling, she bit it to keep from crying. “That was such a hectic time. We needed more space to be with each other, rather than with florists and bakers and caterers.”

“I know.”

She cupped her hand to his dear cheek. “I love you. Micah loves you.
Please
forgive me. Marry me. Here. Back in Weed Gulch. As long as we're all together, the details don't matter.”

Eyes pooling, he said, “It should be criminal for a man to feel this full.” Grazing the top of Micah's head with the underside of his chin, he added, “And if it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to skip my mother's hoopla in favor of a more intimate ceremony. I want to show you a great waterfall I spotted the day I first arrived.”

Emotions bubbled over, leaving Natalie in a hyper-aware state in which she wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. She'd come perilously close to losing the only man she'd ever truly loved. The thought was terrifying, but in the same sense, motivational to once and for all get the wedding vows done.

 

T
HE NEXT MORNING, SURROUNDED
by his few work buddies and the lodge owners, Wyatt stood in front of a thundering waterfall. Rainbows hung in the mist.

This time, when his bride came to him, holding Micah in her arms, he only had eyes for her. Did a
part of him wish his family was there? Sure. But not enough to have postponed his destiny for one second more. In Natalie, he'd finally found a friend, lover and wife. How long had he wasted worrying about his condition when in the end, it hadn't mattered? All that did was love.