mewling noise. Her tiny hand moved jerkily and Katherine gently cupped it.

"I'll be headin' out now," Doc said. "I'll come back in a day or so to see how you're doing. Any

problems before that, send for me."

Noah told Katherine he'd be right back and followed the doctor out and down the stairs.

"It took so long, Doc. Is she...is Katherine all right?"

"She's fine, Noah. She's tired and rightly so. That was a lot of work. Looks like you could use some

sleep yourself. That's what I plan to do when I get home."

"How much do I owe you?"

"Never know how to charge for helpin' birth a baby. Woman does all the work?I'm there for advice and

emergencies."

"Took near all day. Day's wages seems fair to me."

"That sounds generous enough." He had a cup of coffee while Noah went back to his room and returned

with silver coins.

"Thanks for coming so quickly. And staying. Is there anything I need to know or something I should do now?" "Just get acquainted with your new family. I'll wager that girl child up there will have you wrapped around her little finger within the year." Noah rang the dinner beli and when Jump answered the call, Noah asked him to fetch the doctor's rig.

After seeing the doctor off, he returned to the kitchen and found Marjorie preparing a tray. "I've heated soup for her. Sliced bread and poured milk."

"I'll take it up. You go on home and rest." "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Thanks for helping." Katherine's eyes were closed when he entered the room, but she

heard him and opened them. "Here's some soup for you. You should eat."

"I don't want to lay her down in that cradle," she told him. "It looks so big now that I see how tiny she is."

Noah looked at the cradle. It looked baby size to him.

She turned those liquid eyes on him. "Will you hold her? She can feel your heartbeat and your warmth and know she's not alone."

Noah sat the tray on the bed beside her, then nervously took the minute bundle she trustingly handed him. The infant was light as air, barely weighing more than the flannel that wrapped her. The wonder overcame him and he stared in awe. Slowly he backed up to the overstuffed chair and sat.

Kate lit into her soup. "A girl, Noah. I never imagined. We always talked about her like she was going to be a boy." She paused as a question came to her. "Will she still inherit a share of the ranch? Even though she's a female?"

"Of course," he answered quickly.

His assurance was all she needed. "I was thinking in the back of my mind that I'd name him after your and Levi's father. It seems silly and you're probably thinking I should have been more prepared, but now I don't know what I'm going to call her."

Noah was taking stock of the new life in his arms, her feathery dark hair, the barely discernable lashes and brows, the way she held her tiny fists up by her face. He looked at every perfect fingernail in awe.

"She's incredible."

"Have you ever been around a brand-new baby?" "Not a human one."

"Me, neither. Doc said mothering comes natural to most women, but I can think of a couple who make that statement seem untrue. What if I'm not a good mother?"

He looked up finally. "Course you'll be a good mother. Look at all you've done to make sure she has a good home."

"What if I don't have the right feelings?"

"You worry about that when you didn't want her to be alone in that big empty cradle? Eat your dinner so you can rest."

She listened to him and ate. Finished, she set the tray away. "What are we going to name her?"

We? He looked from the baby to Katherine. "You asking me?"

"Yes, of course. You're her uncle, but you're going to be so much more to her. We're married, so you're her father now."

Noah's throat tightened up. All along he'd thought of teaching a boy to ride and work horses. What would he have to offer this girl child? The ranch. She would grow up to inherit the Rockin' C. He looked at the baby in a whole new light.

"What was your mother's name?" Katherine asked.

"She's Levi's baby. Estelle would have a conniption if we named her after my mother."

"Do you care?"

"Not particularly, but it doesn't seem fair to Levi somehow. What's your mother's name?"

She shook her head resolutely.

Noah came over and perched on the edge of the bed. They stared at the baby, then at each other.

Katherine's eyes crinkled at the corners and a broad smile brightened her weary face. "I know," she whispered. "What?" "Rose." Noah looked at the infant. Rose. A perfectly pretty and feminine name. His attention lifted to Katherine. She looked infinitely pleased with herself. "Your mother loved roses and so do you. I think it's perfect." "And she is perfect," Noah said. Like her mother. Rose was fitting of a beautiful woman. "I like it." "So do I." He handed Rose into her mother's arms, watched Katherine as she looked at her baby and touched her cheek with one finger. His heart was full. Here in this room he had more than he'd ever dreamed would be his. If he died tonight, he'd go to the promised land a happy man.

He had a family.

Rose was a greedy eater. It seemed to Katherine that she nursed every time she turned around. During those first days Kate was content to hold her, rock her, bathe her and sing her lullabies.

Each night Noah came to her room and held the baby before he went to bed. He finally convinced Katherine to lay her in the cradle and let her get used to sleeping by herself. "Has anyone told Estelle yet?" she finally asked him. "She'd be here if she knew. I thought you needed some time." "Bless you for that." "1 suppose we should send word," he said. "I suppose so."

They shared a look of regret. "I'll send someone in the morning."

Before noon the following day, Estelle had arrived with two bags and ensconced herself in one of the other bedrooms. "You should have sent for me. I'd have been here to help you."

"There wasn't time." Kate felt only the merest twinge of regret for the lie.

Estelle picked up the baby from her cradle and held her close. Her eyes filled and tears traced down her powdered cheeks. "She looks just like her father did as a newborn," she declared. "She has his face shape and his ears. Her hair is darker though." She glanced at Kate's hair with a frown as though it was

her fault the baby didn't have her father's hair. "She is Levi's child through and through. I've been thinking of names, and I think she should have a strong name. Nothing too pretty, so she won't be too full of herself."

"Her name is Rose," Kate said.

Estelle looked up and blinked. "Rose?"

She nodded. "Noah and I agreed that it suited her. She's as fair and pure as a rose, don't you agree?"

"If you're certain you can't be persuaded to select something with a little more substance."

"Very certain. She's our little Rose."

Though the day was warm, Estelle reached into a nearby basket for a flannel blanket and wrapped it around the baby's legs. "You must keep her out of drafts for the first month or two."

"There's no draft, Estelle. It's August."

"She arrived a little too early, didn't she? Were you taking proper care of yourself?"

"Doc said she wasn't early."

"I'll show you how to bathe and dress her properly." Estelle took over and tended to the baby all afternoon, except for bringing her to Katherine to nurse.

Estelle stayed that week and the next, and her presence disrupted Kate's time with her baby, as well as Noah's visits. He didn't come to her room while Estelle was there.

The first time she gave Rose a bath, she warmed water, poured it into a basin and tested the temperature half a dozen times. The infant squalled until her face turned red.

"Please don't carry on so, baby," she said, afraid her nervousness was being projected onto the child and trying to keep her voice calm. "I'll have you clean in just a few minutes."

The infant's cries brought Estelle rushing to the kitchen.

"Is the water scalding her?"

"No!" Kate said quickly. "The water's fine."

"Baby's skin is far more sensitive than an adult's, you know."

"The water is not too hot."

"It's harmful to bathe a newborn too often. Their skin is too fragile."

"Marjorie said it would be all right to bathe her."

"What does Marjorie know?" Estelle pushed up beside Kate and reached for the squirming infant. "She is just a tiny thing, Katherine?you must take every precaution."

Kate backed away, unwillingly relinquishing her task. She stood by as Estelle finished bathing Rose and wrapped her in the soft toweling Kate had laid out.

Kate handed her a soft flannel wrapper she'd sewn, but Estelle pushed it aside.

"I brought gowns which were Levi's. I saved them all these years, and now at last I can see another child wear them."

Kate stood back and watched Estelle dress Rose in the garments she'd brought, trying to remember the loss this woman had suffered and doing her best to be tolerant. She dumped the water from the tub and rinsed it while Estelle took the baby to the other room to rock her.

That evening as they finished a quiet meal, Noah glanced at the baby who had started to fuss in the cradle which stood along the far kitchen wall.

Kate stood to go to her, but Estelle jumped up and took over the duty of changing her flannel.

"She's hungry," she told Kate in an accusatory tone, as though she didn't already know.

Kate took the baby from her, rejoicing in the fact that she was the only one who could provide the child's nourishment. She suspected Estelle would have been eager to take that job from her, as well. But their private time was characteristically brief, because the woman always managed a way to usurp Kate's rightful duties.

The days ran together in much the same fashion, with Kate growing more and more frustrated, and feeling like she was the outsider in the house. Her emotions were in a spin, and she often had to bite back tears or angry words.

With the woman fussing over the baby, Kather-ine did however find time to bathe and to do her laundry and bake bread. She felt good getting back into her routine.

One evening with Estelle upstairs in her room, Kate took Rose from her cradle and slipped down the stairs to the front porch. The bed Noah had set up was still there, and she had shaken out the spread earlier in the day. She settled on the mattress with Rose beside her and breathed in the fresh night air. Rose stirred and Kate stroked her downy hair.

The screen door creaked and Kate's heart sank. Estelle had discovered them.

But instead of Estelle's voice, Noah said, "Enjoying the air?"

Kate leaned up on one elbow. "It's such a pretty night. Have you come to join us?"

"If you don't mind."