“It’s fine,” Jack answered for them both. The disquiet in Riley disappeared as soon as all four were ushered into the room. After a quick catch-up on how Rebecca was feeling, she climbed up onto the bed, helped by Peter. The scan was quick and the technician took measurements and assured them everything was in order.

“Would you like the listen to their heartbeats?” the technician asked.

Riley looked at Jack, asking his opinion of the right thing to do. “Can we? I thought you just said you saw them on the machine and they were fine.”

“Yes, I saw them, and yes, they are fine, but I thought you might like to hear them. Some couples feel better when they hear their babies are more than just fuzzy lines on a screen.”

“Please,” said Jack, turning to make sure it was okay with Rebecca. She just smiled and nodded.

The technician turned around and grabbed what she referred to as a Doppler machine. “Just let me get a little more gel and then we will listen.”

The technician got things ready and ran the machine over Rebecca’s stomach, searching for the best spot to hear the babies. After a minute or two, she found it and a steady rhythm came through the Doppler’s speaker.

Riley’s eyes burned as he listened to the faint noise. Two heartbeats, two tiny babies, and they were here and alive and well. Jack’s breathing seemed odd and a quick glance at his husband had Riley seeing the same emotion on Jack’s face.

This was big. Huge. Stunning. Wonderful. He was running out of adjectives to describe how moved he was by this.

Instead he allowed Jack to sum it all up in two words.

“Holy shit.”

Chapter 14

~March~

Riley tossed the phone to Jack, and he caught it deftly.

“Steve for you,” he said in explanation. Jack turned the phone the right way and held it to his ear.

“Steve?”

“Jack. I’m hoping you can help me here.”

“What can I do?”

“You know I started out slow, financing some projects in Dallas. Riley probably told you my plan is to work with getting kids off the street.”

“Yep, he said.”

“We got ourselves a kid here, says he’s twenty and a quick check shows he’s not lying. Didn’t finish school, he was thrown out as soon as he turned sixteen for being gay. Religious parents, blah, blah. Nice guy, if a bit underfed and defensive. He’s just pulled in from working on a ranch on the US border. Won’t say what happened, but he got picked up by the cops for soliciting and ended up here.”

“Okay…?” Jack wasn’t sure where this was going although he could probably guess.

“Turns out he loves horses.” Steve stopped there and there was expectation in his statement. Jack wasn’t stupid—he put two and two together immediately. When Jack didn’t immediately say anything, Steve continued. “I know you were looking for someone to train up.”

Jack paused again. “A hooker,” he said flatly. “Think I’ll need to pass on that.”

Steve sighed. “He wasn’t really hooking. As he tells it, he was begging. I wouldn’t ask, but Beth said I should.”

Great. So he used the Beth card, which pretty much ensured Jack would do anything Steve asked.

He had one question though. “So why did he leave the ranch down south?”

“He hasn’t said. In fact, he’s not talking much.”

Jack looked up at the clock. He had a meeting this afternoon with the farrier, but this morning could be rearranged if he wanted to. “I’ll be with you in an hour, and I’ll bring Robbie,” he finally offered. He almost added take it or leave it, in the vain hope Steve would leave it.

“Thank you, Jack. Really, thank you.”

Jack ended the call and tapped his cell against his thigh thoughtfully.

“I need the address of wherever Steve is working,” he said to Riley.

Riley glanced up from the paper. His hair was wet from his post-swim shower, and he was still in shorts.

“What’s up?” he asked worriedly. “Is Steve okay? Is it Beth?”

“Says he has a lad at that halfway place who likes horses and isn’t a hooker,” Jack summarized briefly.

Riley frowned and looked puzzled. “What?”

“Never mind. Possible staff member.” Pushing back from the table, he pulled his Stetson firmly on his head. “Text me the address, I’m going to find Robbie.”

He walked across to the new barn and the apartment over it, and climbing the metal steps two at a time, he knocked hard. He’d seen Robbie earlier when they tended chores, but they’d gone their separate ways for breakfast.

Eli opened the door with a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Jeez, Jack, don’t break the door,” the man said snarkily.

“Is Robbie around?”

“Naked, oiled, and waiting for me in bed,” Eli answered quickly.

Jack hated when Eli said things like that in such a teasing way. Riley may well be able to put up with the photographer, but Jack was still unsure he fully understood Eli. Knowing Eli, it was fifty-fifty that he was telling the truth. Cautiously he peered over Eli’s shoulder.

Eli cursed when Robbie appeared behind him and cuffed him around the head. Robbie was not only fully dressed, but he had a cup of coffee in his other hand.

“Okay, boss?” Robbie asked immediately.

“Wanna go for a ride? Steve asked me to meet someone who he thinks knows horses.”

“Be down in five.”

Jack walked back down the stairs and had to laugh at the same thing Eli said every single damn time they saw each other.

“Are you sure you won’t model for me?”

* * * * *

Jack didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t this cramped but tidy space where about ten kids sat around on sofas talking. There were a few adults there as well, all with clipboards, and they seemed to be interviewing the kids. He and Robbie skirted the room and followed the signs to administration where they found Steve on his hands and knees with his front half under a desk.

“Hey, Steve,” Jack said as he knocked on the door.

Steve shuffled backward and clambered to stand. In his left hand he held a mass of wires, and wrapped around his wrist was a roll of red electrical tape.

“We’re getting new computers,” Steve announced in explanation. “I’m just dismantling what’s there.” He placed the wires on the table and shook Jack then Robbie by the hand. “Thank you for coming.”

Jack shrugged. “Where is he, then?”

Steve leaned past them out the door. “Liam!” he called.

Jack and Robbie exchanged looks. Jack hadn’t actually told anything about being found on a corner or being thrown out of home to Robbie. He wanted to be able to have his right-hand man make decisions for himself. They turned at a gentle ‘Steve?’ from the door. Jack took a step back; tall and skinny, the boy looked absolutely terrified. There was fear in those pale grey eyes, and Jack immediately felt defensive. He held out a hand.

“Jack,” he introduced himself. Liam’s handshake wasn’t firm and was over as quick as humanly possible from his end. Added to that, he backed away out of arm’s reach.

“Robbie,” Robbie said. He didn’t offer a hand, instead he leaned back against the desk and sketched a small wave. Liam nodded at this. Jack couldn’t fail to notice that Liam didn’t offer his own name.

“So, Liam, isn’t it? Steve here tells me you know horses.”

“Some,” Liam answered. He coughed and cleared his throat, his hand coming to rest on his chest. Jack had seen that move before—whenever Eli got stressed. Next to him Robbie stiffened and pushed himself away from the table.

“Liam, can you tell us something about yourself?” he asked gently.

“I’m twenty,” he said quickly. Then he stopped. Evidently that was the only information he felt he needed to share.