by Hope Navarre
Grinning, he tilted his head to one side. He rose, leaned close and whispered, “The outfit is okay, but I like you better naked.”
Blushing furiously, she pushed him toward the truck. “I should have known better than to ask you.”
Chance looked at her and signed, “What did he say?”
“Never mind,” she signed. She shot Neal a menacing look. “Get in the truck or we’ll be late.”
Neal turned to Chance and signed slowly, “I said your mother is beautiful.”
Neal looked at Robyn. “Did I get that right?”
Her eyes sparkled with happiness as a slow smile curved her lip. “You got it right.”
“The twins have been helping me work on my signing,” he admitted.
She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “Remind me to thank them.”
“You won’t need this, sport.” Neal took the soccer ball from Chance and tossed it over the fence into the yard. He scooped up the puppy, intending to deposit her in the yard as well, but Chance grabbed his arm, then signed quickly. Before Robyn could interpret, Neal said, “Let me guess, he wants to take the dog.”
“Yes.”
Neal hesitated a second, then nodded, and Chance beamed as he pulled Bell from Neal’s arms.
Robyn frowned. “Are you sure you want to take a puppy to the fair?”
He answered honestly, “No, but I think I can handle one pup better than I could handle one pouting boy if I made him leave her at home.”
Shaking her head, Robyn muttered, “He sure has you wrapped around his little finger.”
She signed to Chance, “Go get her leash.”
Chance dashed into the house with Bell close on his heels.
With Chance out of sight, Neal did the one thing he’d wanted to do since they had parted the day before. He pulled Robyn into his arms and kissed her soundly. As her lips parted softly beneath his, he knew he wanted to do this every day for the rest of his life.
“Well, it’s about time!”
Neal shot a look to the gate, where Martha stood with her hands planted on her hips and a satisfied smile on her face. Robyn stepped away, and Neal turned to her mother.
Reaching over the fence, he cupped her face in his hands. “Forgive me. It’s just a fling, Martha. It’s you I really want.”
She batted his hands away as she blushed bright red. “Oh, you scamp! Get out of here and take these two with you.” Chance brushed past her with Bell on a leash.
“All right,” Neal drawled. “But you’re breaking my heart, honey.”
“I’ll break more than that if you don’t mind your manners.”
Laughing, Neal opened the truck door and helped Chance and Robyn in.
As they drove toward town, Robyn noticed Neal seemed distracted. He frequently glanced at Chance and his puzzled frown reappeared. Chance was sitting between them, holding Bell in his lap. The pup was behaving better in the truck than Robyn had expected. “What’s wrong?” she asked Neal at last.
“What? Oh, nothing, I guess.”
A smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. “Regretting bringing the dog already?”
“No.” He reached over and scratched Bell behind her ear. The pup promptly tried to lick his hand.
“Something’s on your mind,” she insisted. There would be a rodeo at the fair tonight. Was he regretting that he wouldn’t be riding in it?
He shrugged. “It’s just something Clara said once.”
“When she asked you to tune her piano?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, Clara told me I didn’t look like a Bryant.” He glanced at Robyn. “But she said that Chance did.”
“What a strange thing for her to say.”
“She was right. He does.”
Robyn frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“I take after Mom’s side of the family. Most of our cousins from Dad’s side are blue-eyed, curly-headed blonds. It makes me wonder if anyone else has noticed the resemblance.”
“Like Edward?”
“I was thinking about my mother and Jake.”
“Why wouldn’t they say something?” She hadn’t considered that her secret might not be much of a secret after all.
“I’ve been wondering that, too.”
He slowed the truck and turned into the grassy lot at the edge of town, which was rapidly filling with cars and pickups. “Okay, we’re here. Let’s enjoy the day and forget about everything else.”
She smiled at him and nodded. “Excellent plan.”
The county fair was in full swing by the time they reached the fairgrounds.
She turned to Neal. “Don’t let him fill up on junk food. Don’t let him stuff himself with corn dogs, and make sure you know where he is at all times. Do you know the sign for bathroom?”
“I’ve got this. See you later.”
Neal and Chance left Robyn at the hospital booth and set off to explore the varied delights the fair had to offer.
Robyn stepped under the red-and-white-striped awning and saw that Jane Rawlings was already there. Jane sat behind a folding table lined with pamphlets about the hospital and its programs. Behind her, a lab technician was setting up the simple lab equipment that could be used to run blood tests from finger pricks.
After pulling her stethoscope from her pocket, Robyn looped it over her neck and joined Jane.
“I knew the rumor mill was wrong.” Jane sat back and crossed her arms.
“Which rumor and which mill?” Robyn started arranging the consents fairgoers would have to sign before she could draw their blood.
“Mary Beth said you were dating Dr. Cain.”
“We did go out.”
Jane narrowed her eyes. “But you came to the fair with Neal Bryant?”
“You are very observant.”
“Do not tell me that you are letting a gorgeous doctor slip through your fingers for a cowboy. I don’t believe it. You’ve got more sense than that.”
“Jane, I had no idea you were so prejudiced against cowboys.”
“Don’t get me wrong—I like cowboys. Some of my best friends are cowboys. But it makes a whole lot more sense to marry a doctor.”
Robyn shook her head. “Only if you are in love with the doctor.”
Jane leaned forward eagerly. “So you’re telling me that you are in love with the cowboy?”
“Yes.” It was exciting to finally admit it out loud. She hadn’t felt this giddy in ages.
Jane squealed with delight and threw her arms around Robyn. “I’m so happy for you. Do you have a date set?”
“Hold those horses, girlfriend. We are a long way from the wedding chapel. I have a son to consider. He likes Neal, but I don’t know how he would feel about adding him permanently to the family.”
“I can understand that.”
Robyn stared out the tent toward the midway. “Today is sort of a test to see how well they do together.”
“They’ll be fine. You’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right. Today I’m not staying one minute later than I agreed. We’ve got to get good seats along the parade route.”
“You don’t fool me. You just want to ride the Ferris wheel with your guys.”
“You are so right.” She looked up and greeted their first customer.
* * *
CHANCE WAS ENCHANTED with the whirling rides and colorful tents and booths that lined the midway. With Bell’s leash clutched tightly in his hand, he dashed ahead of Neal to first one booth and then another. Neal was ready to switch the lead from the dog to the kid. He was pretty sure Bell would stick closer than Chance was inclined to do.
The first ride Chance wanted to go on was the merry-go-round. The calliope music played as families stood in line to put the
ir little ones on mechanical horses. Judging from the number of well-worn cowboy hats in the group, most of the families had real horses at home. Neal wasn’t sure what the draw was unless it was the fancifully painted ponies.
When it was their turn, Neal held Bell under one arm and lifted Chance to the back of a shiny black steed with a flaming red-and-yellow mane and tail. Chance was grinning from ear to ear. On the other side of him, another cowboy was holding on to a little girl in a pink shorts set.
Neal struggled with his balance for a few seconds when the ride started, but he managed not to drop the dog or fall off the ride.
The cowboy across the way looked from his excited daughter to Chance. “That’s a mighty fine-looking horse you’re on, partner.”
Chance ignored him and watched the faces of the crowd spinning by. Neal said, “He’s deaf. He can’t hear you.”
Sympathy filled the man’s eyes. “That’s a tough break for your son.”
Neal opened his mouth to deny that Chance was his son, but he couldn’t say it. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to say it out loud. Chance was his. No one else’s. Although he had agreed to Robyn’s stipulation, he hadn’t realized how difficult maintaining the lie would be.
How had Robyn managed to do it for so long?
It was something the two of them needed to discuss. He knew she wasn’t going to like it.
An hour later, Chance had consumed a cone of cotton candy and three corn dogs, although Neal thought Bell had wound up with the lion’s share of those. It was a day he would always remember, Neal decided as he watched Chance ride around in a swing shaped like an airplane.
Would he make a good father for his boy? He was more than willing to try, but how could he be sure he was doing the right thing? Would he know if he was making mistakes? What if he and Robyn disagreed on something more important than cotton candy and maximum corn dog numbers?
When the ride ended, he waited for the teenage operator to steer Chance to the exit. Neal was waiting on the other side. Chance hopped up and down and signed, “Again. Again.”
Neal shook his head. “We are all out of tickets. Time to go look at something else. What do you think, the butter sculpture shaped like a giant ear of corn or the 4-H animals?”
Chance tipped his head to the side the same way Bell did when she didn’t understand something. Neal’s smile slipped a little. “I’ve got to master sign language, and quick. There are so many things I want to share with you, son.”
He’d started out wanting to make amends with Robyn and had ended up with a family instead. How lucky could one man get?
His nightmares still plagued him, but he hoped they would fade with time. Robyn and Chance were more important now than his riding. He’d always known his bull-riding days were numbered, that the day would come when he’d make his last ride. He wasn’t going to wake up when he was fifty and decide which rodeo to go ride in that day.
The only thing was, he’d wanted to go out a winner. His one regret was that the bull had won the last round.
Regrets aside, making a home and having a family were the things he needed to concentrate on now. Tomorrow he’d ask Jake if he could start working for him. Jake had always said there would be a place on the ranch when Neal was ready. Well, he was ready now.
He and Chance left the midway behind and set out to view the livestock hopeful 4-H’ers had fed and groomed to perfection as they vied for that all-important grand champion ribbon. Chance wasn’t impressed with the glossy, sleek Angus and Hereford steers, but the lop-eared rabbits were a big hit with him. Neal had trouble conveying to the boy that he couldn’t take them out of the cages to meet Bell.
As they passed along the front of the grandstand, Neal paused. There would be a rodeo tonight. What would it hurt to take a look at the kind of stock that would be ridden? Motioning to Chance to follow him, Neal walked to the pens behind the rodeo arena.
Neal recognized Lance Carpenter, a local stock contractor, pulling up the gate of the semitrailer and unloading his string of bucking horses. Lance caught sight of Neal at the same time. He stepped down from the truck and walked toward Neal with a pronounced limp.
“Good to see you’re still kickin’, Bryant.” He held out his hand.
Neal took it in a firm grip. “Good to see you, too.”
“Gee, that bull sure did a job on you.”
Neal touched the scar on his face. “Yeah, he did.”
“Aw, you was too pretty anyway.” Lance tapped his right leg, and the artificial limb echoed dully. “Some of us don’t have enough sense to get out while we’re ahead, do we?”
“Guess not.”
A second semitrailer backed up to the loading chutes. The end gate was raised by a cowboy beside the truck. A dozen bulls crowded into each other as they plunged down the ramp and into the pens.
Neal staggered back from the fence as they thundered past him. Mortified at his inability to control the fear that gripped him, he shot a quick look at Lance. Lance’s face was full of understanding. “It’s like that, is it?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Lance braced his arms on the fence and looked at the tips of his boot. “I remember how it was at first. How scared I was to get near a bronc.”
Slowly, Neal moved back to stand beside him. Chance leaned on the second rail of the fence, obviously awed at the size of the bulls in the pen. Bell barked and strained at her leash, eager to follow her herding instinct and enter the fray.
“How’d you get over it?” Neal asked when the hammering of his heart slowed.
Lance straightened. “I’m not sure I ever did, but rodeo is all I know. I figured if I couldn’t ride ’em, maybe I could raise ’em. What about you? Are you goin’ back to it?”
Neal shook his head. Taking the leash of the excited Bell away from Chance, he tied it to the fence post and then lifted the boy so he could sit on the top rail. “No. I promised his mother I wouldn’t.”
“I guess every rodeo cowboy has to face that decision someday. Nobody rides forever. Your son?” Lance asked with a nod in the boy’s direction.
Chance’s delight with the activity around him was obvious. Neal smiled. “If I’m real lucky, maybe one day he’ll think of me as his dad.”
“Well, if you ever find you’ve got the itch to ride again, come on out to the ranch. I got some watered-down bulls you can try. That brindle and the gray in there are a couple of ’em. I bring ’em in case any of the boys want a practice bull. Something that’s not too tough but can give them a decent bucking.”
An idea began to form in Neal’s mind. He glanced at the empty stands. He had to know if he could do it. He might never find a better time to test his nerve. Lance understood what he was going through. Neal could see it in his eyes.
He throat went dry as he gripped the fence. “How about right now?”
Lance glanced at him sharply. “You want a try now?”
Neal’s blood turned to water at the prospect, but he nodded. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life wondering if he had quit because he was afraid or because Robyn had asked him to.
“Yes, I want to try now,” he said quickly.
Here was his chance to prove he still had the guts it took. Robyn didn’t understand what she had asked him to give up. He didn’t intend to go back on the circuit, but he needed to prove to himself he was still man enough to ride, that underneath his eye patch he was still the man he used to be. He needed to know he wasn’t a coward.
And if he found he couldn’t go through with it, well, only Lance would know, and he would understand. Neal’s hands clenched into fists. He wouldn’t consider that possibility.
Lance laid a hand on Neal’s shoulder. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.” He wasn’t, and he might never be. There was only one way to find out. Cli
mb to the top of the chute and put his legs on either side of a bull.
“You got your glove and bull rope handy?”
“No, but I can find someone who’ll lend me theirs.”
Lance called to one of the men lounging beside the now-empty truck. “Jerry, have you got your rigging handy?”
The gangly young cowboy nodded. “Sure do.”
“Would you mind letting Bryant borrow it for a practice bull?”
“Heck, no, boss. It’d be an honor.”
“Thanks. Fetch it over here and run the brindle bull into the chutes. And, Jerry, keep this under your hat, you hear? I don’t want any gawkers.”
“Okay, boss.”
“Put the gray one in,” Neal said quietly.
Lance shot a quick glance at him and nodded. “Okay, the gray it is.”
Jerry came running back with his bull rope, a glove and a can of rosin. “I hope the glove fits.”
Neal pulled the buckskin on. He didn’t know if he was relieved or sorry that it fit snugly.
Jerry grinned. “I’ll get my horse and ride pickup man for you.”
Turning to Chance, Neal lifted him off the fence and signed, “Stay here, okay?”
Chance smiled and nodded.
Neal looked to Lance. “Can you keep an eye on him for me? He’s deaf. I don’t know how to make him understand what I’m going to do.”
He guessed the boy would figure it out in a few minutes. Bell lay quietly chewing on her lead now that the arena was empty.
“Sure, I can watch him,” Lance said.
Neal considered sending Chance back to Robyn with Jerry, but he’d need someone in the arena with him when he came off the bull one way or another. Lance wouldn’t be agile enough with his bum leg. Jerry seemed eager to lend a hand, and the fewer people who knew about this the better. If Robyn found out what he intended to do, she’d put a stop to it.
Neal’s heart thudded in his chest as the big gray bull was driven into the chute beside him. He worked the rope and the rosin until he was satisfied with it. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, and he wiped it quickly with his shirtsleeve.
“You don’t have to do this, son,” Lance said, working the rope around the bull.