Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3) (26 page)

“I can’t do this,” J.D. screamed out in pain, and Laney couldn’t believe this was happening right now
.

“You have to, sweetie, now just concentrate. Because if you don’t, you may lose this baby. And I’d hate to think of how mad your father will be if that happens. Now push!”

“I don’t want to lose my baby or my father,” J.D. cried out.

“Then do something about it,” she said. “Let’s birth this baby alread
y so we can go be by Judas’s side and tell him we love him.”

“I will, Mom,
I swear I will,” she cried, pushing with all her might until they heard the cry of a new life brought into the world.

“It’s a boy,” said the doctor, cutting the cord and laying the baby atop J.D.’s chest.

“He’s beautiful,” said Laney, crying as well.

J.D.
, though shaking and crying, cuddled her baby to her chest. “I’m a mom,” she said in awe. “And he’s beautiful. I can’t wait to show my dad his new grandson.”

* * *

Judas felt liked death warmed over and opened one eye slowly noticing the white walls all around him. Either he was dead or in the hospital. He must still be alive he told himself because being dead couldn’t hurt this much.

“Judas?” It sounded like Laney’s angelic voice, and when a face appeared above him he realized it was.

“Laney?” he said, barely able to speak. “Am I . . . dead?”
He noticed the tubes hooked up to him and the bandage wrapped around his chest.

“No,”
she laughed. “You are alive and we are lucky to have you here. It seems your wound wasn’t as bad as they thought and you’re going to live. None of your bones were shattered, you were lucky. We’ve been waiting to see you. You’ve been asleep since yesterday.”

“How’s . . .” he wet his lips with his tongue, feeling like h
e was in the desert. “How’s Jaydee?”

“They’re both fine,” she said and smiled.

“Both?”

“See for yourself.” She nodded toward the door and he saw the most beautiful site he’d ever seen. J.D. was being wheeled in on a wheelchair
by his brother Levi and she held a baby in her arms.

“She had her baby?” He tried to pick up his head to see.

“Can I raise his bed?” Laney asked the nurse, and when she gave the ok, Laney pushed the button and brought his bed to a sitting position.

“Daddy, did you want to hold Matthias?” asked J.D. getting up out of the chair and walking over with the baby.

“Can I?” Judas looked to the nurse to make sure it was allowed.

“Go ahead, sheriff, just make it a short visit as you need your rest. And mayor, you know I’m looking the other way since there’s too many
visitors in the room right now and the baby shouldn’t even be in here at all,” the nurse told him.

“Well, there’ll be a box of chocolate
s on your desk in the morning,” said Levi. “For all the girls, as a thank you for taking such good care of my brother and niece,” he added, obviously not wanting to be accused of bribes.

“Well, I may eat
them all myself, but don’t tell anyone,” said the nurse with a giggle. As soon as she left the room, Levi closed the door.

“Well, congrats
on not only being alive but having the first Taylor grandbaby,” said Levi.

“He’s beautiful,” said Judas, cradling the baby in his left arm and keeping it away from his right side that was bound up.

“He’s got your eyes, Dad,” said J.D. with a smile.

“I love it when you call me Dad
,” he said, looking at his daughter and feeling the tears welling up in his eyes. Then Judas looked over to see Laney just standing near the foot of the bed. “Laney, come here and kiss me already.”

She
came over and kissed him, and then he knew he was going to live. “Well, I’m either in Heaven or just had something very wonderful happen in my life.” He looked back to J.D. and then again at the newborn baby propped against his arm.

“I wouldn’t say al
most dying was wonderful,” Laney reminded him.

“No, but I would dive in front of a bullet
again without batting an eye to protect my wife and daughter and now my grandson too.”

“Well, another Taylor boy is born,” said Levi. “If Ma and Pa were still alive they’d be e
cstatic to know they had their first great-grandchild.”

“And surprised that Thomas
’s kids weren’t the ones to give it to them,” Judas added. “Is your baby going to be a Taylor or do you think you’ll get married some day, J.D.?”

“He’s a Taylor and so am I now,” she said with a smile that could melt his heart. “I’ve decided to wait for awhile
on marriage and go back and finish school instead. And then when I meet the right boy, some day I’ll get married.”

“
Back to school?” Judas looked over to Laney. “So . . . we’re going to be taking care of this baby a lot I take it?”

“It’s her decision to finish high s
chool, and I applaud her for it.” Laney reached out and put her arm around her daughter.

“You may not still be applauding when the baby is crying all night and you can’t get any sleep.”
Judas looked down to the sleeping baby as he spoke, relishing the moment.

“J.D. will be taking care
of the baby all the time, and we’ll just step in and help out when she’s at school,” explained Laney. “That is, I hope you’ll decide to be a part of this.” She looked at him with hope in her eyes and Judas didn’t know how she could even think he wouldn’t want to be part of this wonderful miracle.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said, looking over to the little boy making sucking motions with his mouth. “I’m not sure how this’ll work, but we’ll
get through it.”

“Well,
don’t forget you have a lot of brothers to help you,” said Levi. “And now that Nate is back and has no job you may be able to coerce him into being a part of this as well.”

“I’ll be counting on that,” said Judas.
“So, J.D. why did you name the baby, Matthias?”

“Because I remember Uncle Pete giving the sermon and saying that Matthias was the apostle who replaced Judas after his death,” she answered.

“And you thought I was dead?” he raised an eyebrow and they all laughed.

“At first I did
,” she admitted. “And it scared the hell out of me to think I’d never see you again. And with Salvador dead now, my child will never have the chance to know his father. That made me think how lucky I was to have the chance of knowing mine. And I’m so glad that Matthias will be able to know his grandfather as well.”

“And tell him what else you’ve decided,” Laney coaxed her daughter.

“I’ve decided to grow my hair back and dye it all one color. And get rid of my body piercings as well.”

“Really?” asked Judas. “Well, I think being a mot
her is already changing you, J.D.”

“Just call me Jaydee
if you want, Dad. I kind of like it. It’s special coming from you.”

“She says she wants a new name for her new role as mother,” Laney added, “though I think it may take me a while to get used to it.”

“You’re not making all these changes because of me, are you sweetie?” Judas asked his daughter.

“No, Dad. Well, maybe. But I’m tired of people judging me and my friends by the way we look or act.”

“That’s right,” said Laney. “And I think a lot of people will be changing their opinions about others in this town as well. I heard that Mabel decided to let Charolette help her run the next fundraiser since she was so impressed with the way she helped out at the festival.”

“Yeah, well, she may stop judging teen
agers but she’ll never stop bugging me to do something about those damned goats on the roof,” said Judas looking over to Levi.

“Not so,” said Levi with a smile. “When she saw how much money we pulled in from the publicity with the goats, she deci
ded next year we should put a ram on the roof as well, and if they mate - sell the babies at next year’s festival.”

“Mabel sounds like she’s been using tha
t dining room table too much with that suggestion,” said Judas with a wink to Laney, and she just blushed and looked the other way.

“
What does that mean?” asked Levi.

“Never mind,” said Judas.

“Actually,” said Levi, “the goats were such a hit that we decided to change the name of the restaurant to the Three Billy Goat’s Diner.”

“I like it,” said Judas, looking down to the baby in his arms.
“And it feels damned good to be holding a baby. I’m only sorry I missed out on doing this with you, Jaydee.”

His daughter looked to him
and smiled. “Thanks,” she said. “And I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time, Dad.”

Laney put her arm around her daughter and the two of them came closer to the bed.

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life,” said Judas. “And I only hope I can make up for most of them by being a part of this family and helping to raise little Matthias. Will you two forgive me?” he asked, then looked over to Levi. “All of you?” he added.

“You know you don’t have to ask us that,” said Laney speaking for herself and her daughter.

“And how about you, Levi? Can you ever forgive me for what I’ve done to you?”

Levi was quiet for a moment and then he lifted his mouth in his quirky half-grin and answered. “I’m learning to let go of the past just the same as the rest of you,” he told them. “And though I can’t say it’ll happen overnight, we’ve already made progress, so I’d say there’s a good chance, brother, that it will happen
some day. And though I can’t get back those seven years of my life, I’m willing to look forward and not backwards if you are.”

“You know I am, Levi. And I guess Pa was right when he named me Judas and said I’d betray the family.”

“No, he was wrong,” said Levi. “Because things are changing and you are a big part of bringing this broken family back together. I can see that now, and I’m going to change from this day forward as well.”

“So you mean you’
re going to stop with all that ridiculous pig-piling stuff with the kids?” asked Judas.

“And have little Matthias here m
iss out on all that fun?” said Levi with a big smile. “Sorry, but it’s not going to happen. But I do plan on focusing on what we’ve got and not what we’ve lost.”

“I agree,” said Laney kissing first her daughter and then her grandson and
then Judas.  “Judas, I love you,” she told him.

“And I love you, Laney. And also Jaydee and Matthias.”

Laney smiled at that. “Well, I for one, am ready to move on to better things now that our family is back together. And I think I speak for everyone when I say what you did was so heroic that everyone will from now on stop
Judging Judas.”

Cast of Characters for Judging Judas:

Judas Taylor
– Sheriff of Sweet Water

Delaney McDermott (Laney)
– New owner of Timeless Treasures Antiques and mother of J.D.

Judith Delaney (J.D.) McDermott
– Pregnant teenage daughter of Laney and Judas.

Levi Taylor
– Mayor, and Judas’s brother.

Candace
– Levi’s wife.

Valentine & Vance
– Candace and Levi’s six-year-old twins.

Thomas Taylor
– another brother.

Angel
– Thomas’s wife.

Their kids ranging in age from 6 – 17.
Eli, Gabby, Josh & Jake, Zeke, Sam, Dan.

Zeb Taylor
– Another brother, a lawyer.

Pete Taylor
– Another brother, a minister

Nate Taylor
– Another brother, a musician.

Mabel Durnsby
– Past mayor, elderly widowed busybody.

Charolette Burnham
– J.D.’s questionable friend.

Watt Morgeau
– Judas’s deputy.

Gus Kramer
– Owns the gas station.

Pearl Kramer
– Gus’s wife.

Maryanne Kramer
– Their 17-year-old daughter.

From the Author:

I hope you enjoyed
Judging Judas,
Book 3
in the
Tarnished Saints Series.
These twelve brothers are trouble all right, and writing their stories is a challenge, because they have minds of their own.

If you missed
Books  1 or 2
in the series
,
Doubting Thomas
,
and
Luring Levi
are available.
Seducing Zeb
–
Book 4
as well as my NEW release,
Saving Simon
– Book 5
are available too. And watch for
Wrangling James
– Book 6
this fall.