Megan's Hero (The Callahans of Texas Book #3): A Novel (28 page)
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Authors: Sharon Gillenwater
And they did—for ten wonderful, scary, tiring, exhilarating, loving hours until Marie Elizabeth Callahan made her grand entrance into the world.
A couple of hours later, Will felt Megan looking at him. “Hi, little mama. What do you need?”
“To hold my baby. You’ve been hogging her.” Megan smiled and patted the bed.
“Tough job, but somebody has to do it. You’ve been napping.” He placed Mari Beth in her mother’s arms and picked up the camera. “Smile purty.”
“She can’t smile yet.” Megan tilted the baby so her face would show in the picture and smiled tiredly. “But she’s beautiful.”
Will pulled a chair over next to the bed. The rest of the family had gone home to catch some rest since they had stayed at the hospital all night. He figured they’d be back before too long. Zach was itching to see his new cousin.
“Beautiful like her mama. And healthy and whole. A man couldn’t ask for a more perfect child.” He leaned his head against the back of the chair and watched Megan gazing upon her daughter in adoration. “But I’m already worrying about when she hits high school. We’ll have to keep the boys away with a willow switch.”
Megan laughed. “You wouldn’t.”
“Well, no, I reckon I wouldn’t actually hit anybody. I am, however, realizing the merit of my daddy’s tactic when Jenna was dating.”
She lightly brushed her fingertip over Mari Beth’s face. “What was that?”
“He waited on the front porch until she got home.”
“Oh no. Every date?”
“Every single one, even in the wintertime. He tried to pull that stunt the first time Nate brought Jenna home, but Mom wouldn’t let him. I thought for a while she was going to make us hog-tie him.”
“That would have gone over well.” She sighed and closed her eyes for a minute.
When she opened them again, he asked, “How are you, sugar?”
She held out her hand, and he curled his fingers around hers. “Saved by God’s mercy and grace, blessed by his love. And yours.”
“Amen to that.”
A thousand times over.
On a pleasant summer evening three years later, Dub and Sue sat on the porch admiring their growing family. The boys were engaged in a semi-rousing game of baseball. Zach hit the ball, and it zipped right between Will and Chance. They almost collided trying to get it and missed it.
Zach tossed the bat aside and raced for the dirt clearing they’d designated as first base. Nate, who was playing catcher, stood and cheered him on.
“Run, Zach,” hollered Dub.
“He already is,” Sue said with a chuckle. “He should do well next spring on the little kids’ baseball team. I can’t believe our first grandchild will be in first grade in September.”
“Does it make you feel old, sweetheart?” Dub searched her face.
“No. It seems like we’re starting over, with the sports anyway.”
Dub grinned and went back to watching his family. “We get to do the fun stuff and skip the parent-teacher conferences, PTA, fussin’ at them about homework, and baking cupcakes for class parties.”
“Dub Callahan, you never baked a cupcake in your life.”
“I said we, meaning you in the cupcake department. And a lot of the other departments too. Look at Mari Beth run to her daddy. Hey, Will, your little girl wants to play ball.”
Sue took a long drink of iced tea. “How can such a girly-girl be a tomboy too?”
Jenna had been a lot like her at that age. “I expect it has something to do with living here on the ranch.”
Sue turned her attention to where Jenna, Emily, and Megan sat on a couple of quilts beneath a pecan tree, playing with the youngest children. She nudged Dub. “Aren’t they somethin’?”
“Who? Our daughter and daughters-in-law, or their babies?”
“All of them.”
“Yes, they are. But it’s a good thing those girls spaced the babies out a bit, or you’d have been worn to a frazzle.” He had to stop and think a minute to remember their ages. Chance and Emily’s little boy, Cody, was a year old. Nate and Jenna’s girl, Suzie, was seven months. Will and Megan’s second child, Charlie, was two months old.
Megan’s uncle and cousin had come by to visit the week before to see her and the baby. She’d contacted them six months after she and Will were married. Her mother had gone off to California with a guy in a rough biker gang shortly before that. Both Riley and Josh encouraged Megan not to try to get in touch with her, worrying that it would only lead to trouble and heartache. Megan had taken their advice and let it go, which Dub figured was just as well.
She didn’t see her relatives too often, but when they got together, they had a good time.
Sighing in contentment, the rugged rancher stretched out his legs and scanned his land. The houses where his children and grandchildren lived. The barn his grandfather had built. The horse pastures behind the house with the white fence that he and his boys had put together. The ranch had been in his family for 130 years. God willing, it would remain in the family for generations to come.
When he and Sue were gone, the things they’d taught their children, the legacy they’d leave them, would remain. Love of God, love of family, and love of the land.
Another of his prayers had been fulfilled too. God had chosen the perfect mate for each of them. His children were happy, and that made him happy. God was faithful to keep his promises.
But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
Life was good.
Sharon Gillenwater
was born and raised in West Texas, and loves to write about her native state. The author of several novels, she is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers. When she’s not writing, she and her husband enjoy spending time with their son, daughter-in-law, and adorable grandchildren.
Books by Sharon Gillenwater
The Callahans of Texas
Jenna’s Cowboy
Emily’s Chance
Megan’s Hero
