A Dad At Last Read Free

as a chef at Austin Eats Diner. Shelby Lord had taken her in and given her that job when she had amnesia. After a blow to the head had restored her memory, Shelby said nothing had changed. The job was hers for as long as she wanted it.
    So she had a job and friends now, friends who had been eager to help reunite her with her baby. Friends who were willing to risk themselves and the ones they loved to do it. She might not have money like Megan, but she was rich in her own way. Rich in friends.
    Lacy smiled. Maybe she had more in common with Megan than she’d thought.
    â€œWait.” Shelby held up a hand to stop the other women from talking. “Table the talk about driving over to the sugar factory, I think I hear a car. Two cars,” she amended.
    Lacy was at the front door before Shelby finished speaking, pulling it open in time to see the two cars that had driven up and turned off their headlights.
    â€œThey’re back,” she cried, running out to meet them, her heart hammering wildly.
    â€œWait, Lacy,” Megan called.
    Her back to the house, Lacy didn’t hear her. She didn’t hear or see anything but the tall man coming toward her.
    Moonlight outlined his long frame and the tan Stetson he wore. In the dark it was difficult at first to see that he was holding something in his arms. Or what that something was.
    Her mother’s heart told her even before her eyes could adjust.
    Lacy didn’t remember crossing the last five feet to Connor. Didn’t remember her feet hitting the groundin a dead run. All she was aware of was that her eyes had filled with tears, making it difficult to focus.
    She could have made her way to her son’s side blindfolded.
    Lacy clutched Connor’s arm, looking into the face of her sleeping son.
    â€œYou found him,” she sobbed. “And he’s so big.”
    The baby she remembered holding to her breast had been almost a newborn, certainly not this thriving child with his fair hair and rounded face.
    As if in response to her voice, Chase opened his eyes, looking at her with wonder. A sweet smile moved the small, rosebud mouth.
    Something warm opened up smack in the middle of Connor’s chest. He had trouble dealing with it. “He knows you,” Connor said.
    Lacy wanted to say yes, even though she knew it was almost too much to hope for. She and Chase had been apart for so many months. Important months. But for the moment, she told herself that it was true.
    â€œHe had a very sweet disposition,” she murmured, taking her son into her arms.
    It felt like heaven.
    She hadn’t realized until this very second how much her arms had ached for this small weight. How much her heart had ached to feel the baby’s heart beating next to hers.
    Happiness threatened to overwhelm her. It was almost more than she could humanly stand.
    â€œOh, thank you,” she murmured, raising her eyes to Connor and the men who were gathered behind him. “Thank you all for bringing my baby back to me.”
    â€œCan we hold the thanks until we get into the house?” Garrett Lord requested. The month-old wound in his shoulder still ached, and he needed a painkiller.
    Belatedly, Connor realized that Lacy had rushed out in her bare feet. Sometimes the woman didn’t have the sense she was born with. She could hurt herself on the stony drive.
    â€œGet inside before we add a sprained ankle to the list of things that’ve gone wrong for you,” he ordered, slipping an arm around her.
    Some things might have gone wrong, Lacy thought, but other things had gone very right. She had her baby back, and Connor, however temporarily, was in her life once more. There was no way she felt in the wrong tonight.
    â€œThrow away the list,” Lacy told him. Without being conscious of it, she leaned into Connor as they walked to the house, absorbing the strength that radiated from him. “All that matters is that you found Chase and brought him