He lay watching them silently, not wanting to disturb the private time between mother and child. Kid had no doubt that watching Lou feed their child was the most beautiful and amazing sight he had ever laid his eyes upon. He knew he would never grow tired of watching the natural bond between them.

Humming her favorite lullaby, Lou lightly traced her finger along the baby’s cheek, the child’s gentle suckling nearly lulling her back to sleep. She knew the early morning feedings would diminish once the baby started sleeping through the night, and although she welcomed the prospect of once again getting a full night’s sleep, Lou knew she would miss the peaceful moments in the early dawn with the baby tucked to her breast and Kid tucked into her side.

Glancing over at her husband, she was surprised to find him wide-awake, watching her. “Morning, sweetheart,” she whispered. “Did we wake you?”

Propping himself up on one elbow, he reached out to touch the soft, downy hair curling on the baby’s head. He also spoke in hushed tones. “Not at all. You were quiet as a church mouse, but I just couldn’t sleep anymore and when I woke up to your beautiful face I had to watch you.”

Lou felt the blush rise out of the collar of her nightgown and color her face. Even after all their time together, Kid could still make her heart flutter like a schoolgirl’s. “Kid, you’re just trying to charm me out of my bed clothes,” she smiled.

“And that would be a bad thing?” Pushing himself up higher he placed a soft kiss on her sleep-swollen lips.

Lightly patting the bottom of the child in her arms, Lou teased back. “That’s how we ended up with this little one, mister. Is it your goal to keep me pregnant all the time?”

Lying still for a moment and watching the playful sparkle in her eyes, Kid seriously contemplated the idea.

“Kid, you’re taking a little too long with that answer.”

“I was just trying to think how I would be able to feed you? You sure eat a lot when you’re pregnant.” Kid quickly rolled to his back to avoid the swat Lou directed at his head. “Really though Lou, motherhood suits you. You get more beautiful every time.”

Lou looked down at the now sleeping bundle in her arms, and shook her head at him. “Go back to sleep, I’m going to go lay Maddy in her crib and check on the girls.”

“I’ll take her.” Kid climbed out of the bed and walked around it to retrieve his youngest daughter. “You lay here and wait for me. I still have some bed clothes to pry loose.” With a wink and a smile he was out the door and headed towards the nursery.

Watching Kid walk down the hall, Lou let a satisfied, yet lustful, sigh escape her lips. Dressed only in his long-john bottoms Lou could see his still-trim waist and deeply tanned skin. He still looks as young and handsome as the day I met him, she thought. How lucky am I that our life turned out so wonderful?

Snuggling down under the quilt and resting her eyes while she waited, Lou thought dreamily about the fairy tale life she and the Kid lived. They had been married for almost seven years and every day was better than the one before. Lou loved him unfalteringly and Kid doted on her. Their scare in the weeks before their wedding, when Lou revealed a long kept secret that threatened their union, had brought them closer together than either had thought possible. The crisis had created a bond between them that they couldn’t explain with words. Lou had bared her soul that morning as dawn settled in and Kid hadn’t hesitated. He’d declared his love for her and never wavered.

Lou heard the baby gurgling and cooing and knew Kid had woken her when he put her in the cradle. She smiled at the image of Kid hovering over the side, his face pressed close to Maddy’s, smiling and kissing her button-shaped nose. She was a good baby and Lou knew she would fall right back to sleep, that is if Kid didn’t rile her up. He loved to play with the children.

“Are you sleeping?” Kid asked incredulously when he saw her closed eyes. “My promises of passion aren’t enough to keep you up anymore? I must be losing my touch.”

Lou let out a surprised laugh as Kid stepped up on the bed and climbed right over her to his side of the bed and crawled under the covers. “Kid!” she chided him. “You’re worse than the children sometimes. Did you look in on them?”

“All my princesses are sound asleep. Mary Emma is stretched all across her bed, just like you do; Sarah is curled in a little ball with her face in the pillow and her bottom sticking up in the air - where she gets that from I’ll never know. And Maddy’s all settled in, her belly full and her bottom dry.”

Rolling onto her side to face Kid, Lou brushed an errant curl out of his blue eyes. His eyes had always been her weakness. She could never resist them. They hadn’t dulled nor faded and continued to shine as brightly as the summer sky. Staring intently into his eyes, she wanted him to realize how serious she was. “You truly are a wonderful father.”

Gazing back at her and pulling her closer to him, Kid nodded his head. “And you, are an amazing mother.” He meant it with the same intensity. Lou was the rock that held their family together. “It’s hard to believe we had doubts about being parents. Now look at us, three girls!”

“Well, Kid. We surely didn’t have very good examples as far as parents were concerned, so we had good cause to be concerned.“ She continued to play with the curl that wouldn’t stay back. “I will admit, we did turn out okay.” She was silent for a moment; the only sound their beating hearts. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

“By God, Mrs. McCloud. I don’t think you have.”

“Well, Mr. McCloud. I love you.”

“Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

“By God, Mr. McCloud. I don’t think you have.”

“Well, Mrs. McCloud. I love you.”

Lou was warmed by their little routine. It was something they had started when she was first pregnant with Mary Emma and had since kept it going. She inched even closer to Kid and pressed her body to his.

“Lou, you’re killing me,” groaned Kid into her neck. “Don’t tease me like this.”

“Who said I’m teasing?”

Kid pulled his head back so he could look at her face. “Are you serious? Did the doctor say it was okay?” It was so soon after the baby’s birth, he didn’t want to hurt her.

“Saw Doc Satterwhite yesterday. He said there’s no need to wait any longer.” Underneath the blanket, she wrapped her leg over his hip seductively. “I think it’s been long enough don’t you?”

Kid didn’t even bother with a reply. Instead he took her mouth in a deep passionate kiss and repositioned them so Lou was on top of him, their bodies meshed together as one. His hands running up and down her back and across her backside, Kid covered her face in kisses, tracing his tongue down her neck to nibble on her collarbone and pull at her nightgown with his teeth.

Lou was as tense with pent up passion as Kid. She always hated the time after giving birth when the doctor made them wait. She felt very womanly after the birth of her children and was frustrated that she and Kid couldn’t take advantage of it. She loved making love to Kid, reveling in the attention he showered on her as well as the pleasure she could give him.

Their internal desires heated up and within moments Kid and Lou lay joined together, the only sounds in the room, their mutual sounds of satisfaction and their labored breathing. They pleasured each other as the sun continued to rise over their growing ranch and the dusky silence gave way to the sounds of the morning.

Lying naked, bed clothes and blankets long forgotten, with her head resting on Kid’s chest, Lou softly traced shapes on his stomach as they let their heart rates return to normal.

Kid kissed the top of Lou’s head and gently rubbed her back. “I’ve missed you Lou,” he whispered.

“I never went anywhere, Kid.” She tipped her head back so she could look into his eyes.

“I know, I know, but I never feel closer to you than when we dance, Lou.” Kid still liked to refer to their sex life in the terms he used during the Express days.

“I know Kid, I need that time between us as well, but in the end, I’m just happy that you’re here holding me. That I can lay in the arms of the man I love while our beautiful daughters sleep down the hall.”

“They’re beautiful because they take after their mother.” Kid grew concerned when Lou didn’t react or reply to his playful and truthful comment. “Lou? You okay?”

Lou nodded her head against his chest, but wouldn’t look back up at him. A wave of emotions had overtaken her and she was trying to regain control before speaking.

“Lou, you’re scarin’ me. Are you okay?” Kid rose up and pushing himself back onto the pillows, he sat leaning against the headboard. Pulling Lou with him he looked into her eyes. “You’re crying. Why honey? Was it too soon? Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head, but couldn’t speak. It was just the post-pregnancy emotions playing with her mind and she didn’t want to put her thoughts into words. It was silly and she knew Kid wouldn’t understand. “I’m fine, just weepy for no good reason.”

“I know you better than that Louise McCloud and you don’t waste tears. Please, tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.”

Continuing to shake her head she crawled away from him in search of her recently discarded nightgown. “Really, it’s silly. Just let it be.”

Pulling on his long johns, Kid reached and grabbed Lou’s arm to keep her from leaving their bed. “Stay here for a minute and let’s finish this, Lou.”

“Kid, if you and the girls want breakfast before church, then I have to get going on those flap jacks I promised them last night.” Her feet were already touching the floor.

“The girls aren’t even up yet. The breakfast can wait. Come here and talk to me.”

Lou turned around and sat cross-legged on the bed facing him. She bowed her head and kept her silence. She didn’t know how to start. It wasn’t anything of major consequence, just a little nagging feeling that she had once or twice since Madeline was born. “This is silly, Kid. It’s really nothing.”

Pulling himself into a matching sitting position, he sat across from Lou, their knees touching, and took her hands in his. “Lou, this isn’t some great big secret, like a certain secret you kept from me before is it? You have a similar look about your face like you did then.”

Lou couldn’t help but laugh at Kid’s panicked expression. Squeezing his hands, she decided to play with him a bit. “Well…I’ve been meaning to tell you about that other husband of mine…”

“Lou, don’t even joke about that! Finding out about Flynn was hard enough, I don’t think I could handle it again.” Kid shook his head to clear the thought about the night Lou revealed her previous marriage to a boy who was her dearest friend. Although unconsummated, there had been a special love between them and it had taken Kid several years to shake the feeling that every once in a while Lou wished Flynn was still alive she was still married to him.

“Kid, relax. I was just teasin’. You really have nothing to worry about.”

“Please just spit it out. We’ll both feel better if you do.”

Lou took a deep breath. “Okay…you see…well…Oh hell! Kid are you upset that I haven’t given you a son?” She raced on, not giving Kid a chance to answer. “Well, are you? I just got this feeling when Maddy was born that you were disappointed. I know you were hoping for a boy to carry on your name and all.”

Kid was speechless. His eyes went wide, his mouth gaped open and his heart raced. Where had this come from, he wondered.

There were some long seconds of silence and a certain hesitation on Kid’s part that Lou tried to chalk up to his shock and surprise. She was relieved when she felt him clutch her hands tighter and saw him shake his head.

“Lou, what could I possibly have to be disappointed about? We have three of the most beautiful girls in all of Sweetwater. Lord knows I’ll be fending off the boys soon enough. I wasn’t upset when the baby was born Maddy instead of Matty. I was upset you had such a long labor. I was upset when the doctor got worried about you being so tired and the baby being so big, but I was never upset that she was born a girl. I love my three princesses.” Raising her hand to his lips, he gently kissed the back of it. “And I love my queen even more.”

“But Kid, who will you pass the ranch on to?”

“If there is one thing I’ve learned from you over the years, it’s that women can do what men can do and, God help me if anyone knows I said this, sometimes they can do it better. I’ll pass my part of the PX Ranch to Mary Emma and Sarah and Maddy, just like Buck will pass his part to Noah, Isaac, Sally and their new baby. My heirs don’t have to be sons. Those girls are great with the horses; they’ll probably be better at it than us. And the name thing, what name am I passing to them anyway? We use your family name, I’ll be proud when they carry it on.”

Tears escaped from behind Lou’s lashes and she pulled her hand away to wipe at them. “You really mean that, don’t you? I’m so relieved, Kid. I really was upset thinking you might be disappointed that I didn’t give you a son.”

Reaching up to catch a tear that was about to roll off the tip of her nose, Kid caught the salty droplet on his thumb, wiping it on the quilt. “I could never be disappointed in you, Lou. You amaze me every day.”

Lou fell into his embrace while crawling into his lap to be comforted. Kid held her close, his face buried into her hair as she burrowed into the hollow of his neck. He hoped she didn’t sense the tense feeling that was working its way through his body.

“Thank you, Kid.”

Pulling back from their embrace, he looked at her. “For what?”

“For being you. Any other man would be bothered by it, but not you, you make the best of any situation.”

“Lou, there is no situation,” he replied getting exasperated with the conversation. “I wouldn’t trade you or the girls for all the tea in China.” Kissing her lightly to keep her from speaking, he tried to return to their playful ways of earlier. “Besides, it’s the making ‘em that’s the best part.”

“Kid! You devil.” However, Lou knew where he was headed and she was right there beside him. Locking her arms tighter around his neck, she allowed herself to be pulled back down on to the bed. Absorbed with their own pleasure, they didn’t hear the little feet parading down the hallway and straight into their room.

“Ewww… Mama and Daddy are K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

Immediately disentangling themselves from one another, Lou sat up to find their two oldest daughters standing in the doorway. Thanking the heavens that they had gotten themselves redressed, she scolded herself for forgetting to make sure the door was closed. Turning to sit so she could lean against the headboard she crossed her arms in mock anger. “And what do you know about K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Miss Mary Emma McCloud?”

“Just what Christine told me at school.”

“And what was that?”

“That kissing a boy makes him turn into a frog.” The child carefully scrutinized her father. “But daddy didn’t turn into a frog?”

“Ribbit, Ribbit,” teased Kid, trying to sound like a good frog.

“Daddy, you’re silly,” giggled Sarah. “Can we get in your bed with you, Mama?”

“Sure girls, but lets keep it quiet. We don’t want to wake Maddy.”

Mary Emma and Sarah scampered up and settled themselves into the small place on the bed between their parents. Each curling to the side of one parent, they held hands and giggled at the thought of being in the big peoples bed.

Locking eyes over the wriggling bodies of their oldest children, Kid and Lou smiled peaceful smiles at each other. This was what Sundays were for. This was what families were all about. And this would be the kind of moment they would cherish forever.

Chapter Two