BILLY AND THE KID

by Kristine Rolofson

  Jane would have loved to have heard what husband number two did—and with whom—but she resisted asking. For now. She waited for Daisy to finish blowing her nose before she asked, "And what did Will do?"

  "He just stood there. He made her take that baby, as if he couldn't wait to leave. As if he couldn't wait to be free again."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yesterday morning he looked at me and told me that he was thinking about getting married. Yesterday afternoon he couldn't even look me in the eye." Jane almost dropped Hannah. "He what?"

  "When a man's naked, in bed, and he's talking about marriage, would you assume he's on the verge of proposing?"

  Now that was a good question. She readjusted the baby and took another sip of coffee. "I haven't had a lot of experience in that department, Daisy. But for Will to even say the word marriage there had to be something to it. What did you do?"

  "Nothing. I thought my heart had stopped. I wasn't even sure I'd heard right."

  "And then?"

  "And then the phone rang, Joe calling to say Sarah was in town."

  "I guess she was trying to hitchhike out to the ranch, but one of the deputies saw her and gave her a ride to town," Jane explained. "I've never seen Joe get dressed that fast in my life."

  "She's so young, Jane." Daisy blew her nose. "Sweet and pretty, but very young. I keep wondering how she'll manage."

  "I guess she'll stay with Will out at the ranch. And maybe we can both help her out with the baby, teach her how to be a good mother." Jane lifted Hannah to her shoulder and patted her little back "And then when things settle down a little, you and Will can start, uh, seeing each other again."

  "We weren't exactly dating, Jane. It was only one of those 'good sex' kind of things."

  "Well, thank goodness for good sex." Jane laughed. "You're blushing."

  "I practically dragged him into bed with me," she admitted.

  "You're in love with him." Daisy shook her head. "Nope. Not anymore."

  Jane reached over and patted her hand. "This can all work out. Just give it time."

  Daisy managed a watery smile. "Time? There's no such thing. Barlow told me today he heard that Will's selling the ranch." She took a deep breath. "Which is a good thing. The sooner he leaves town the better."

  "Are you sure?"

  "I'm sure. I am never making a mistake like this again. How hard could it be to find a nice, pleasant, reliable man who wants to have a couple of kids?"

  Jane winced. "From what I hear on the talk shows, you'd think it was just about impossible." Daisy sniffed. "Well, if all else fails, there's always artificial insemination."

  * * *

  "She barely spoke to me," Will complained. Joe took two beers from the bartender and handed one to Will.

  "And you were expecting—?"

  Will shrugged. "I thought she'd say something. Anything. I go there for breakfast and she puts a plate of eggs in front of me and tells me to have a nice day like I'm some stranger passing through. I go there for lunch and she talks about the weather. I order pizza at night and she's talking to Leroy Doyle."

  "And what about Sarah? How's she doing?"

  "She cries a lot. And she spends a lot of time on the phone. I took her into North Bend to talk to some therapist." He ran his hand through his hair. "She stopped crying after that, but she's been here for two weeks. Two long weeks." Two long weeks without being able to be with Daisy. Two long weeks sleeping with Bozeman. He picked up his beer without drinking it. "Did you bring the papers?"

  "Are you sure you want to do this?" Joe took a thick wad of papers out of the inside pocket of his jacket and set them on the bar. "It's not too late to change your mind."

  "I'm not changing my mind, Joe." He picked up the papers. "This is my copy?"

  "You need to read them so we can make the changes tomorrow."

  Will tucked them in his jacket. "I'm sure there won't be any. The sooner I get out of that place, the better." He finished the beer and stood.

  Joe nodded toward a couple of young women who couldn't stop looking at the rodeo star. "You're not staying?"

  Will barely noticed them. "No. Maybe I'll drive by Daisy's apartment and see if the light's on."

  "Good luck."

  "Thanks," he muttered, remembering once more how she'd felt beneath him. Warm and smooth, wet and slick. "I need all the luck I can get," he admitted, looking around the room at the assortment of people dancing to Garth Brooks on the jukebox. "I'm getting too old for this bar shit."

  "A piece of advice? Leave Daisy alone unless you love her," Joe said. He set a ten on the bar and got off the stool. "And don't let her go if you do."

  Which, Will thought glumly, was easier said than done. And he said so.

  "Jeez, Will, don't you know what it is you want by now?" Joe walked with him out the door and into the parking lot.

  He looked up at the stars and took deep breaths of cold Montana air. All he wanted to do was be with Daisy. But forever? Somehow that didn't seem so gut-twistingly scary. "I guess I'd better go home and start figuring it out."

  * * *

  "He's here and he wants to see you," Heather said, sticking her head into the kitchen. "I don't think he's going to go—what the heck's the matter?"

  "Barlow slipped while taking out the trash." She put a dish towel full of ice on the cook's right wrist. "How's that?"

  "Better," he said, looking over her shoulder. "My eggs are burning."

  "Oh, right." She grabbed a spatula and flipped the eggs onto a plate. "Who are these for?"

  "Me," Barlow said. "Thought I'd eat before the lunch business started."

  "Can you eat with your left hand?" She held out a fork.

  "Sure. Quit fussing, I'm fine. Nothing's broken," he said, taking the plate with his free hand. "Your boyfriend's here."

  "I heard. He can wait."

  Barlow grinned. "I don't think so. He's right behind you. Hey, Billy."

  "Hey, Barlow, how's it goin'?"

  Daisy spun around. "You can't come back into the kitchen," was the only thing she could think of to say. He looked so darn handsome standing there, even though he lacked his usual cocky smile.

  "Have a nice day. It feels like snow again. I'll be with you in a minute, after I ring up Leroy's order."

  "What?"

  "That's all you ever say to me," Will told her. "For the past two weeks you've treated me like a stranger."

  "I thought it was for the best," she explained. "I thought that was what you wanted."

  "What I wanted," he said, taking two steps to bring him within touching distance. He lowered his voice. "What I wanted was you."

  Ah, sex again. Oh, it was so tempting. She looked back at Barlow, who winked, and then up at Will. "Could we talk about this later on tonight? I have work to—"

  "Nope." With a single, effortless motion he swung her into his arms. "I thought you might marry me instead."

  She lifted her chin. "I'm not that desperate."

  "Daisy!" Heather screeched from behind Will. "Are you out of your mind? He's asking you to marry him. There aren't that many single men in town, remember?"

  Will tightened his grip and spun toward the dining area. "Barlow, why don't you see a doctor? And Heather? Put the Closed sign on the door, lock it up and take the rest of the day off."

  "Cool."

  Daisy decided it was time she said something intelligent and commanding, but Will's hand under her thigh crept higher and cut off her will to speak Barlow and Heather took her silence as a sign of agreement and did exactly what Will had suggested.

  "Which way—back door or through the restaurant?"

  "Back door—no, Barlow just fell. There's ice on the—hey, put me down and we'll meet at my apartment."

  He frowned down at her. "You want me to sneak around?"

  "Well, yes. Why not?"

  "We're getting married."

  "I don't think so."

  "Well, you're wrong." With that, he pushed open the door a
nd carried her through the counter area to the dining room.

  "They're getting married," she heard Heather tell a group of ranchers who had just come in for lunch. "We have to close up early."

  Daisy hid her face against the warm sheepskin lining of Will's unzipped jacket. Tomorrow she would tell people she'd fainted and had to be carried out. She would explain that the "married" remark was Heather's idea of wit.

  Will didn't kiss her until they reached her bedroom. He paused in front of the bed. "Sex first and talk later, or talk now and then sex?"

  She had no willpower where he was concerned. "Sex first." Then she'd kick him out until she had time to think.

  "Hmm," was all he said before he sat down on the bed with Daisy still tucked against him. "You're easy. It must be a trick."

  "No trick." She wished he'd move his hand just a little higher.

  "Don't try distracting me," he growled. "I have stuff to say."

  "Like what?" Daisy began unbuttoning his shirt. This would be the absolute last time she would do this, she told herself. "I heard you were selling the ranch and leaving town."

  "Hell, don't people have anything else to talk about?"

  "I guess not." She parted his shirt but was faced with a white T-shirt. "You keep giving them so much to say."

  "Stop that." He cupped her hands in one of his. "Before you say you'll marry me you'd better know what's going on."

  Daisy raised her head and looked into that very handsome face. "All right."

  "Spring's staying with me, so you'd have to adopt her with me."

  She didn't dare believe that Spring would be– could be—hers after all. "And what about Sarah?"

  "Is going back to college. She knows she's not old enough to raise a child and I think she's learned a lot in the past couple of years." He sighed. "At least I hope so. My grandfather pretty much drove her out of the house—he started knocking her around after I left, she said—and then she had some wild years—including getting pregnant by someone she didn't know—but she's ready to grow up and start working on her future." He shot her a rueful smile. "And I am, too."

  "What happened to her after she left Spring?"

  "Her truck skidded off the road in that storm. And she hitchhiked back to North Bend and got some help from one of those women's shelters until she felt like she could face me. She cried a lot and said she was really ashamed to see me and ask for help."

  "But you're leaving," she began, wondering how she fit into his life. He was offering himself and "his" baby, but for how long? "Why are you smiling?"

  He brushed his lips against hers. "I'm happy. You're still listening to me. You haven't even left the bed yet."

  "That's because you've got your hand on my leg."

  "Insurance," he said. "You want to hear the rest?"

  "I think I'd better."

  Will took her hands and brought them to his lips. "I sold the ranch house to Joe and Jane. Along with twenty acres of land, so their kids could have a horse or two, but I'm keeping the rest in case I decide to be a cattle rancher." He smiled. "You could serve the freshest steaks in Montana."

  "But where—"

  "Will we live? Anywhere you want. We could add on here, or buy a house in town. There are two for sale around the block."

  "But how—"

  "Much will it cost?" He shrugged. "I forgot to tell you I've got plenty of money. You can retire and just feed me and Spring, if you want."

  "I don't want—"

  "Then hire more people so you can spend more time with me and the babies."

  Daisy stared at him. "Babies? Are there others you haven't told me about?"

  He unfastened the barrette that held her hair up and let the curls tumble to her shoulders. "Yours and mine, sweetheart. As many as you want, just as long as I can get under this quilt with you at night."

  "Forever?"

  "I plan on staying married for the rest of my life," he promised. "So say yes so we can start making love."

  "That's quite a proposal, cowboy."

  He moved his hand higher, to the juncture between her thighs. "Hurry up."

  "Yes," she gasped, then laughed. And, still laughing, kissed her cowboy.

  * * *

  Epilogue

  «^

  If he hadn't awoken to feel his wife's warm breasts against his arm, he would never have heard the knock on the front door. He wasn't sure he heard anything at first, but the bedroom windows were open, letting a spring breeze caress the lace curtains and early-morning birds sing to the dawn.

  Will eased out of the bed, then tucked the quilt around his wife's shoulders. The baby was due any day and lately Daisy had been pretty tired. He'd stopped spending time out at the ranch, though one of these days he and Daisy figured they'd build a place out there, within a few miles from the Pierce place.

  The little knock came again, so Will pulled on his jeans and hurried down the stairs as quietly as he could. He opened the front door, but all he heard was a soft giggle. Will saw Maude Anderson waving from across the street, so he waved back. Then, on the step he saw a tiny basket filled with construction-paper flowers.

  "It's a May basket, Daddy," a little voice said. Will turned around to see Spring peeking out at him from behind a rocking chair, Bozeman wagging his tail beside her. "Happy May Day."

  "Hey, sweetheart," he said, kneeling down and holding out his arms for a hug. "It's very pretty."

  "Is Mommy up?"

  "Not yet."

  Spring's blue eyes clouded over. "I made daisies. Like her."

  Sure enough, when Will turned to pick up the basket he realized that the sticky, glue-spotted flowers looked something like daisies, though he wasn't exactly sure. "Then let's go take them to her." He scooped her up into his arms and carried her upstairs, then tiptoed into the bedroom and let his daughter place the basket on the pillow beside Daisy.

  "Mommy's happy," the little girl whispered.

  "Of course she is," Will said, noting his wife's peaceful expression. "I think she's dreaming of Spring."

  * * * *