by Wood, Lauren
I rode through the night, only stopping so that Thunder could get a break and some water. I was determined to not let it get me down. I had pulled back from Dante as much as I could before, but I had kept it going sexually between us. Now I regretted that decision. I regretted the way that I had let my body call the shots, even when I knew it was the wrong ones to make.
I was back the next day for breakfast and I knew that I had to move on. No one really asked directly where I had went so I didn’t choose to answer. Now I knew what it was and I had to act accordingly.
My stomach was still upset, so when I went down to the diner to see Karen, I didn’t order anything because I wasn’t sure if I could keep it down. I was just lovesick I guess, but it was physically affecting me, all of this nonsense.
“No pie?”
“It sounds good, but my stomach has been messing with me for the last couple of days. It is just the mornings though, so it will go away in a little bit. I might get one to go before I leave.”
“Then just coffee?”
I nodded my head and thanked her. She was eying me because she knew that something was up. I was going to spill it, that is why I was here, but I was going to try and wait till her break. She usually took one about this time and when she came back with the coffee, she sat down next to me.
“What is up?”
“How do you know anything is up?”
“You are here, no order for food and you have this look. What is going on?”
“I have been feeling sick last couple of days.”
“I tried calling you last night. Were you in bed early?”
I should have agreed with it and left it at that, but I never was a good liar.
“No, I rode most of yesterday where there is no service.”
“Why?” Again she looked at me like I was crazy. I knew that it was because I was acting erratic and not at all how I usually acted.
“Because I hadn’t seen Dante in a while and I wanted to see him.”
“Oh, that sounds romantic.”
“It was going to be until I found Barb lying next to him in his tent. It didn’t look like they had many clothes on.”
She was silent and I looked down into the blackness of the coffee. The color seemed to match my mood.
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“So what happened?”
“I left and rode back to the ranch before anyone could see me.”
“You didn’t say anything?”
She was incredulous and I still didn’t know why I just walked away. I wanted to yell and scream at him, but I knew that it would do me no good. I didn’t want them to win in that way, to know what he had done to me. Furthermore, I didn’t want Barb to know that she had ruined it between us. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction that I knew she would feel. She had done it to me twice now. I should have gotten rid of her when I had a chance after I found about her and Cliff. Screw being the bigger person. That part of me was over.
“I couldn’t. I just left.”
Karen went into how lucky he was that he hadn’t done it to her. “I would have grabbed that little girl out of the bed with him.”
I stopped her. “It’s fine, really.”
“No it’s not. Why are you being so blasé about it Cecelia? I know that you love him. I can see it all over your face. Even now you can’t hide it.”
“Well that was my first mistake. I knew better. Everything I told you was true. I think that is why I am making myself sick about it.”
“What if it isn’t just your emotions running a muck?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well you are getting sick in the mornings and honey, you are all over the place right now…”
She left it open and it took my thick brain quite a while before I put the two together. That couldn’t be… right? Oh god, please don’t let that be the case…
Chapter 60
Dante
It took us almost 9 full days to get the cattle to their destination and I was beat when we got to the ranch. The light wasn’t on upstairs in Cece’s bedroom. I took that as a good sign that I would be able to surprise her. I was already so damn hard thinking about it. It had been far too long since we had been together.
I made my way into the ranch house and let my eyes adjust to the darkness around me. I couldn’t see that well, but I knew the layout well and I started towards the stairs. All I could think about was having Cece in my arms once again. It had been a rough week, but I was looking forward to seeing her again. We had a lot to talk about and I had had nothing but time to really think it through.
When I got up to her room, her door was shut and I went to turn the knob and it was locked. That was something that never happened, not in all of the times that I had been visiting her late nights and I tried not to let it alarm me. I didn’t know if I should knock. On one hand I didn’t want to bother her and on the other hand, I needed to. In the end I knocked a couple of times and got no answer. Finally I left because I felt silly about it all. She wasn’t that heavy of a sleeper, but she must have been tonight.
Going back to the hand house, I saw Barb and I could tell that she was upset. I knew that I should just walk by, especially after all of the drama that she had caused for me, but I couldn’t. I wanted to know what was wrong and I asked anyways.
“Why don’t you ask your little girlfriend, Dante? She let me go.”
I wasn’t surprised. It was a long time coming, but I didn’t understand why she had changed her mind now. What was going on? Mixed with the lock door, I had to wonder.
“Did she say why?”
“She didn’t say anything. There was a short note, a reference for another employer and a severance check. I have no idea why she let me go. Why don’t you ask her?”
I kind of felt back for her, but at the same time it was hard to feel bad when I had wanted her to leave. I had wanted her to leave since I caught her in bed with Cece’s boyfriend. Now it was a weight lifted off of my shoulders, though I had more decency than to say something of the sort out loud.
“I don’t know Barb. I am sorry to hear that.”
“No you’re not. After the way you treated me out on the range, I am sure you had something to do with it. I know that you are done with me, you made that clear, but what I don’t get is why you are acting like you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know. Honest.”
“Well, just so you know, I was the one that got you arrested at the bar. It serves you right.”
It surprised me less than I would have thought it would. She had always been trouble, but now at least I knew that she was that kind of trouble. There was nothing good that was going to come from finishing up the conversation. I wished her well and made my way inside. I had a feeling that I myself might have one as well. It was a slim chance, but lately, anything was possible when it came to Cece.
I got into my room, half expecting to see the same note and check in an envelope, but there was nothing. I called Cece to see if I could wake her up, but she never answered. I was forced to go to sleep by myself and I dreamed about the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about. She was like a drug to me and the more I thought about her, the worse it got.
By early the next morning, I was over at the ranch house, making coffee, waiting on Cece to come down. I didn’t have the nerve to go back up there and see about her. I was just going to wait it out.
Carl came in not too long after I had started my second cup of coffee. He had a grin on his face and asked how the trip was.
“It was alright.”
“You got some big ass balls Dante, acting all nonchalant in here. I will give you that.”
I didn’t know what he meant, but I didn’t have to wait long to find out. He was referring to what happened with me and Barb.
“What do you mean?”
“I hear that the boss lady went to see you one night a few days ago and you were in your tent, all cozied up to Barb. I hear that Cecelia w
as livid when she got back. She didn’t say a word to anyone for almost the whole day. You know that is hard for her. That woman likes to yak.”
My mind was going a mile a minute and the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach was back. It was always so close to the forefront of my mind, but now it was the type of situation that I didn’t want to be in. I didn’t want Cece to think that something happened with me and Barb, though I had caught her in my bed twice. She just wouldn’t take no for an answer. Nothing happened, but what if Carl was right and Cece had seen it? She hadn’t said anything, but it would make sense why she finally got rid of Barb. I guess both me and Cliff were enough for her.
Now I was dreading seeing her and instead of waiting for it to all blow up in my face down here, I went back to her room and knocked on the door after I realized that it was still locked. No one answered, but then I heard the water going in the shower and I figured I should see about that first.
That door wasn’t locked, but I wasn’t welcome. Cece made it clear and actually threw something at me. “Keep your distance Dante. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. Just do your job and leave me alone! I don’t want to have to fire you too.”
“I think we should talk Dante.”
I turned around and looked at her warily. “I have been trying to for a couple of weeks now. You haven’t wanted to have anything to do with me for all of that time. Keep your distance is what you said. What do you want me to say?”
“I know that I have been distance, but it came to my attention that some of the information that I got, may not have been the right information. Sometimes it is hard to disbelieve what you see with your own eyes. I thought I saw something between you and Barb, but now I know that it wasn’t something that you had a part of. You have to understand that I never wanted to believe it, but it is hard to see something with your own eyes and not believe it. I didn’t want to seem like the fool that would let you make up such ridiculous excuses.”
“Why do you think so differently now?”
“I talked to Steve and he told me what happened. I wish you would have told me, but I don’t think I would have believed you anyways if I am completely honest with myself. I knew that Barb was a troublemaker, but I never would have guessed that she was that way.”
“Well I wanted to talk to you about it, but I didn’t think there was anything I could say to make it better. I know that I didn’t want to have anything to do with her. You are the only one I want Cece. That hasn’t changed.”
“Even though I was a jealous cow to you?”
I smiled and I loved the way her whole face brightened up with idea of my forgiveness. It had been far too long since I had seen that look on her face and I wanted to memorize it so I would never forget it.
“Yes even though you wouldn’t give me a chance to explain. It has only been you since the first time we were together and I don’t want that to ever change. I was hoping that the truth would come out one day soon, but I am not going to worry about it too much. Now that you are mine again and we are talking, that is all that matters.”
“So what do you want to do now that we are talking again?”
I chuckled and sighed. She really was the perfect woman when she wasn’t pissed off at me.
“I can think of many things that I would like to do with you and all of them involve me, you and a bed.”
She sighed and moved towards me. “Why a bed?”
“Because it has been weeks Cece and I want to take you properly.”
She shivered in my arms and I kissed her for the first time in a long time. I had been so afraid that I wasn’t going to ever be able to hold her again, but she felt amazing in my arms, she really did.
“You feel different. It has been so long that you feel different to me Cece.”
She pulled back away from me and looked at me a little strange. “What do you mean by that?”
I held her middle, pulling her back to me and there were definitely some changes in the way her body felt in my arms. It was hard to explain, but she felt a little rounder and her stomach was a little harder. I certainly wasn’t going to say that to her though.
“I don’t know. You just feel different to me. Your boobs even feel different.”
That got her smiling and she pushed my hand away from her mounds. “They are bigger now, but not by much. How could you tell?”
That’s what it was, that felt bigger and I had to put my hand up there again to cup them and see if she was right. She was. So what did that mean?
“I don’t know Cece, but I know this body better than my own. I could just tell right off the bat that something was different. Why do you think your boobs are bigger?”
“Because my bras are getting tight.”
I waited for her to say more, but nothing was forthcoming.
“So, why is that? I didn’t think that they did that… Oh.” Now I see.
Cecelia moved back a little and looked at me, waiting for my reaction. It took me a minute, but now I got it. “Are you?”
I couldn’t even say the word because it was so foreign to me. I didn’t know what to say so I just pulled her to me and kissed her on the lips. I was happy and scared all at the same time, but I knew that I wanted this with her. It cemented us together forever and I knew that I was going to have to make it official. I owed that to her and it wasn’t like I wasn’t already thinking about it, but first things first.
Pulling her after me, I took her upstairs and closed the door, locking it. “I need you Cece.”
Her blue eyes darkened the color of the stormy sea. “I need you too Dante, badly.”
Her hands went to her shirt and she started to undo it. I wasn’t waiting though, not able to endure her little show. I pulled the shirt open and heard the buttons popping as I ripped it off. I didn’t care and once I got my mouth on Cece, she wasn’t going to care either.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
Cecelia
“So what are we doing here Dante? You know I don’t like surprises.”
He smiled at me and told me that he wasn’t going to tell me a word. We had ridden the horses for a couple of hours and it seemed like now we were walking into dark nothingness and I was getting an uneasy feeling. It was late at night and pitch black, but he seemed just fine to let me worry about it all.
I didn’t really care where we were going, as long as he was with me. All I could think about was how much I wanted him to just tell me already. I didn’t like the unknown, even though it was Dante.
Everything had changed since I finally talked to Steve and found out the truth. Every time that I didn’t trust Dante, I was proven wrong and that was just another time that the same rang true. All I wanted from him was to be with him and now that I finally realized that I could trust him, everything had been so much better. I wish I would have gotten here so much sooner. It seemed like a waste, all of the mistrust and putting myself through agony thinking all of those horrible things about him for no reason.
“I don’t care where we go Dante, as long as the ending is what I hope for.”
I had only one thing in mind when we were together and now I wanted him so badly. When I thought about him, I knew that everything was going to work out. It took me a while to get there, but we were going to be a family soon enough.
“I know what you want Cece and I promise that you won’t be disappointed.”
His statement made me feel a little better and I started to relax a little bit, letting him guide me in the dark. Whatever it was, it would be good because it was from him. I was sure of that, if I wasn’t sure of anything else.
My heart started to falter when we came through a clearing and I could see candles lit, as well as a blanket laying out with a picnic basket and some sparkling cider. He was always so damn romantic and this was no different. I turned to him and kissed him in the darkness that was no longer complete.
“It’s beautiful baby. Totally worth the wait. You know how hungry I
was. I was sure that you were trying to make me starve.”
“Never Cece. I just wanted to have dinner with just the two of us, not with everyone else around from the ranch.”
“I agree. I like eating with everyone like a family, but I like to be alone with you as well. It always feels so nice when we are together just the two of us. So what is the occasion for tonight? Why did you do all of this?”
“I wanted to ask you something important and I wanted to make sure that everything was right.”
I had a feeling I knew what he was about to do and I was so nervous that I asked for some sparkling cider first. He poured me a drink while I anxiously nibbled on a piece of cheese. I wasn’t hungry anymore, but I knew that I wanted to keep my hands busy before I did something that I would regret.
“What did you want to ask me?” I already knew, but I wanted to prolong it just a little bit longer. This was a moment that I was going to remember the rest of my life. It was a story that is going to be told over and over again and I wanted to make sure it was perfect.
Dante did just what I had always envisioned in my mind. He got on one knee with a small ring box in his hands. “Will you marry me Cece?”
I shook my head, tears streaming down my face because I knew that it was going to be hard to actually get any words out. I moved down to kiss him and toppled him over. I fell onto his hard body and I could have sworn that I had fallen back in love with him all over again.
“So it that a yes?”
“Yes! Of course I will marry you Dante! I thought you would never ask.”
I moved off of him because I was smooshing my burgeoning stomach. I didn’t mention that it took him long enough. I had hoped for this, months ago, but now, as he slipped the ring on my finger, our future family together seemed more and more a part of reality. Our new reality and it was one that I wouldn’t change for the world.
I hope you enjoyed RODEO RANCHER! If you did, I would love if you could leave a review to help other readers find it.