The Cowboy's Spring Romance

by Shanna Hatfield

  Although he still hadn’t worked up the courage to ask her out, Trent knew any number of things about the attractive schoolteacher gained from his hobby of studying her from afar. He knew she liked two packets of artificial sugar in her coffee, no cream. She always crossed her right leg over her left. She wore a silver ring on the middle finger of her right hand that she spun around and around when she was nervous. She also had a habit of pushing her hair behind her ears when she wore it loose, which wasn’t often. She favored soft shades of peach, yellow, and blue over brighter colors. When she liked someone, she tipped her head slightly and smiled from her eyes as she talked to them.

  If he didn’t know better, he’d say he was completely infatuated with the woman, but that just couldn’t be possible.

  Removing his hat, he set it down on one of the tiny desks, unsnapped his coat and took the decoration from her. When their fingers accidentally brushed, his entire hand tingled. With determination, he managed to keep his mouth shut as he hung the decoration on the hook she indicated and reached for the next one. Neither one of them spoke during the entire process and Cass, chatterbox that she was, kept the silence from being awkward.

  As the last sparkly heart dangled from a hook, Lindsay glanced around, pleased by how festive the classroom looked and turned to find Trent starting at her. Instead of blushing, she tucked a lock of her straight hair behind her ear and gave him a small smile. “Thank you for helping me. I appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome,” Trent said, picking up his hat and putting it back on his head.

  Lindsay admired the waves in his brown hair, wondering what it would be like to run her fingers through it. Mentally slamming on the brakes, she brought that thought to an abrupt halt, sucked in a breath, and stood a little straighter.

  “I think…” What she planned to say was cut off by the morning bell. She glanced at the wall clock and turned to see Trent rubbing his hand affectionately on top of Cass’ head before he walked out the door.

  Lindsay needed to get herself under control as she sank into the chair behind her desk. Trey and Cady would be gone for ten more days. It was going to take every ounce of restraint she had to endure seeing Trent twice a day for almost two weeks. Even if he was good with Cass and looked like he’d stepped out of the pages of one of the romance books she enjoyed reading, she had to keep focused on the fact that she usually found him annoying and pretentious.

  If only she could wipe the memory of his warm smile, the crinkles at the corners of his eyes and his enticing woodsy scent from her mind.

  Inwardly groaning, she put a smile in place, ready to greet her class.

  ><><

  ­­­­

  Travis was in big trouble. Huge trouble.

  When he got home, Trent was going to find his brother and make it perfectly and unmistakably clear that he was no longer going to be Cass’ bus service to and from school. He just couldn’t take being around Lindsay.

  His heart still pounded and his fingers continued to tingle where her fingertips, all soft and slender, had connected with his multiple times as she handed him the decorations.

  Now, instead of seeing him as a wisecracking smart-aleck, she no doubt would think he was the world’s biggest dolt. Why did that woman tie him up in knots? He dated more girls than both his brothers combined and never had any problem talking to any of them. But stick him in a room with Lindsay and his mind went as blank as her freshly cleaned chalkboard.

  He parked his truck by the back door, went in the sprawling ranch house, traded his town hat and coat for his work outerwear, yanked on his gloves, and stalked out to the barn. He loved this ranch and loved sharing the big house with his two brothers, but sometimes all of them living under one roof was challenging.

  Busy all morning, he didn’t have time to find his brother. Convinced Travis wouldn’t bail on him twice the first day Trey and Cady were on their honeymoon, he didn’t give another thought to picking up Cass at noon.

  At a quarter to twelve, his phone buzzed and a text message arrived from Travis.

  Fixing fence, can’t get Cass. Sorry.

  Trent felt his temper start to boil. Travis was obviously doing this on purpose and if he found out Trey was involved in the set-up, both his brothers were going to be two of the sorriest men that ever lived.

  Swiftly jumping on the four-wheeler and hurrying to the house, he started his pickup and drove back to the school. The noon bell rang as he pulled into the parking lot.

  It didn’t take long for the kindergarten students to rush outside. Trent stood by the pickup waiting for Cass when she ran his direction, waving a hand over her head.

  “Hi, Uncle Trent!” she said, all smiles.

  “Hi, Cass. Did you have fun this morning?” he asked as he set her in the booster seat and helped her buckle up.

  “Yes!” she said, trying to tug something out of her backpack. “I made you a picture.”

  “You did?” Trent waited while she carefully pulled a piece of art paper out of her bag, still wet with glue and glitter. Even with his limited experience at kindergarten art appreciation, he could see the stick figures were of him and Lindsay in the classroom this morning hanging up the decorations. Cass added glittery hearts all over the ceiling, just like the ones he helped Lindsay hang. In her drawing, his legs each looked ten-feet long in comparison to the rest of the scene.

  “This is very nice, Cass. Do I get to keep it?” Trent grinned as her feet wiggled and she bounced in her seat.

  “Yep! You can put it on the fridge, just like Mama does,” Cass said.

  Cady, who liked things neat and orderly, had turned their refrigerator into an art gallery of Cass’ creations. The only thing not covered by paper drawings and assorted pictures made from things that were once edible, was the icemaker in the door. It was just another sign that their world was now interspersed with the trappings of a much-loved child.

  “Are you hungry?” Trent asked as he pulled in at Viv’s diner. He couldn’t cook to save his life, but Cady’s Aunt Vivian promised to feed Cass lunch every day, so Trent took her in and they quickly found a table.

  Viv saw them arrive and waved her hand. She soon came to the table with a hearty bowl of stew for Trent and a plate of macaroni and cheese with fruit and veggie sticks for Cass.

  “Hope you don’t mind if I assumed on your order, Trent.” Viv set down a glass of milk by Cass and poured Trent a cup of coffee.

  “Not at all, Viv.” Trent took Cass’ little hand in his and offered thanks for their meal then took a bite of the stew. “This is great. Thanks for taking care of us.”

  “You’re welcome, although I thought Travis was supposed to be the one running Cass to school.” Viv looked at Trent suspiciously.

  “He was, but I haven’t been able to track him down since breakfast. We’ll be having a discussion about that later,” Trent said, nodding toward Cass.

  “I see.” Viv grinned. “Did Trey and Cady get off okay?”

  “Yes, they left at four this morning to get to Portland in time for their flight. I’m glad they decided to go ahead and take the trip now, while things are still slow. It will be nice for them to have a few days away.”

  “I agree. If you and Travis need any help with your ward, let me know. Joe and I can take a turn if you need a break.” Viv volunteered her unsuspecting husband for babysitting duty.

  “Thanks, Viv. I appreciate it.”

  She returned to the kitchen while Trent and Cass ate their lunch. Trent smiled, remembering that this diner was where he and Trey met Cady back in September when she first moved to town. She was the worst waitress they’d ever seen, spilling food and dropping trays of glasses. When she accidentally spilled water all down the front of Trey, Trent knew his brother was a goner for the dark-haired beauty.

  Cass ate her last bite of an apple slice as Viv returned to the table carrying a plate with cookies and another with a big piece of banana cream pie.

  “Cookies for me?” Cass asked as V
iv set them down in front of her and the pie in front of Trent.

  “You bet, sweetie-pie. Now eat up.” Viv smiled at Cass before disappearing into the back.

  Cass munched on her cookies and drank her milk. She watched Trent eat the pie and finally got on her knees, leaning across the table. “Uncle Trent?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Can I have a bite of pie?”

  Trent looked up from his plate and held out the fork for Cass. He already knew she wasn’t fond of cream pie, but indulged her request.

  She took a little bite, made an awful face, but swallowed anyway.

  “I forgot I don’t like that,” she said, draining her milk glass and taking another cookie.

  When Cass moved in with them out at the Triple T Ranch, she had been half-starved. After two months of good food and loving care, she was starting to fill out and grow, although she did seem to have a hollow leg.

  As rambunctious as she was, none of them worried about her putting on any excess weight. She wiggled off too many calories in a day. They all were quite lenient when it came to her eating in an effort to help her get to a healthy weight and size.

  Although she was five, her tiny frame easily mistook her for a much younger child.

  After finishing his pie, Trent took out his wallet and left money for the bill and a tip on the table, waving to Viv as she walked out of the kitchen. He helped Cass on with her coat, mittens and hat, then pulled on his own coat. He settled his hat on his head as Viv hurried over and hugged Cass.

  “Let me know if you hear from that niece of mine. I want to make sure they made it to down there in one piece.”

  “You know we will.” Trent gave Viv a one-armed hug and took Cass’ hand in his. “Thanks for lunch.”

  Cass kept up a steady chatter on the drive home and Trent wondered if she would wind down enough for an afternoon nap or if his ears would be sore from listening to her before the day was over.

  He helped her climb up the porch steps, which still seemed a little slick despite the deicer he put out earlier. Trent then assisted her as she took off her outwear in the mudroom. When they entered the kitchen, the house seemed so quiet without Cady or Trey there. Glancing around, it didn’t appear that Travis came in for lunch, which meant he was most likely still out fixing fence. Trent felt his anger cool down a little.

  He took the drawing Cass held out to him and found a place to stick it front and center on the fridge. She clapped her hands as he tacked it up with a magnet.

  “So, goofball, what is on your agenda for this afternoon?” Trent asked as he watched Cass flit around the living room across from the kitchen and dining area.

  “What’s an agenda?” Cass stopped and gave him a questioning look.

  “An agenda is a set of plans. So, my question is what do you have planned to do this afternoon?”

  “Well,” Cass said, making the word sound like it had two syllables. Trent was coming to recognize when she said it like that, it meant he probably wasn’t going to like whatever poured out of her little rosebud lips. “You could play fort and give me horsey rides and take me sledding and help me make cookies. Or I guess we could read a story for a while.”

  “I vote for reading a story.” Relieved at that option in her list of things he didn’t really want to do, he hoped she’d fall asleep if he read to her for a while. “Why don’t you pick out a book and we’ll sit in your dad’s chair.”

  “Okay.” Cass ran to her room to get a storybook. The pounding of her little feet on the tile floor was a happy sound that always made Trent smile. She raced back with a book in hand, her curls flying out behind her. He settled into the big rocking recliner and Cass quickly scrambled onto his lap.

  “This is one of my favorites,” she said, settling in for story time.

  Trent looked at the cover and, with great self-control, managed not to roll his eyes. He accepted the fact that in the next ten days, he would probably get enough glitter, princess, and fairy exposure to last him a lifetime.

  Turning to the first page, he began reading the story while he set the chair into a slow and steady rocking motion. “Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a beautiful princess…” He was only on the fourth page when he heard Cass’ breathing deepen and looked down to see her fast asleep.

  Quietly setting aside the book, he picked Cass up and carried her to her room, tucking her under the quilt on her bed and partially shutting the door.

  Trent hurried to the office and worked on inputting data in the logs they kept for their herd of cattle then spent some time researching bull sales in their area. He and his brothers discussed getting two new bulls this spring and he wanted to make sure they got the best bloodlines for their investment.

  Trent narrowed down their wish list to a half-dozen prospects and he hoped to be able to make a final decision when Trey returned from the honeymoon trip.

  Although he felt like he should be doing something more productive outside, he knew someone needed to stay in the house with Cass. He just hoped he and Travis would take turns in this role of temporary parent.

  The patter of Cass’ feet along with her calling, “Uncle Trent?” brought him out of his search for a few prime bulls on a breeder’s website.

  “In the office, goofball,” Trent called, knowing she’d hear him. She ran into the room and climbed onto the office chair with him.

  “Did you have a good nap?” he asked, attempting to smooth down her wild hair, springing every direction. He quickly gave up, letting her curls fly.

  “Yep, I did.” Cass looked at the picture of the bull on the computer screen. “Are you going to buy him?”

  “Maybe. Your dad and Uncle Travis and I are looking for just the right bull,” Trent said, half listening to her chatter while he read the details included with the photo.

  A tiny finger soon blocked the words as Cass pointed to the bull. “How come the bull gots that? The cows don’t. What’s it do? Is that how you milk him?”

  Trent felt his face grow exceedingly warm and quickly closed the window on the computer. “Cows and bulls are just different, that’s all. Like boys and girls are different.”

  “Oh,” Cass said, turning in his lap so she faced him. She sat quietly for a moment before rubbing a hand on his cheek over the stubble that had grown in since his morning shave. “Like how you have scratchy cheeks, but me and Mama don’t?”

  “That is exactly right,” Trent said in relief, hoping to derail this conversation before it went any further. He wondered how Cady and Trey handled all her questions. That morning it was honeymoons, this afternoon the anatomy of bulls. What was next?

  One thing was for darn sure and certain - Travis better get home soon to help in the babysitting department. Trent was about at his wits end.

  In an act of desperation, he asked Cass if she wanted to look at anything online.

  “My friend Ashley said she gets to play fairies. She said you go to…” How a five-year-old could remember the exact web address of one of the most horrendous websites ever created, Trent didn’t know, but Cass did.

  An hour later, he was sure he had already died a slow and painful death as he helped Cass create a fairy named Snowy Sparkles and set up an account so she could buzz around with other little fairies in their make-believe online world.

  A squeal that nearly pierced his eardrum made him almost crush the computer mouse in his grip.

  Cass excitedly pointed to a purple fairy. “That’s Ashley’s fairy right there. She told me her name. Quick, Uncle Trent, we have to let her know who I am! Hurry!”

  Although he didn’t possess the same sense of urgency in introducing Snowy Sparkles to Paulina Purple, he helped Cass send a message to her friend.

  “I can’t wait to see Ashley tomorrow so we can put fairies on our agenda for after naptime,” Cass said, bouncing on his lap.

  Trent immediately regretted teaching Cass the word agenda as well as helping her locate the fairy website. Admittedly, it was keeping her
distracted from asking questions he didn’t want to answer.

  “I wonder where Uncle Travis could be?” Trent ground out, ready to give Travis more than a piece or two of his mind when he did bother to show up.

  He’d make sure Travis got more than his share of babysitting time with Cass tomorrow.

  Chapter Two

  Romance is tempestuous. Love is calm.

  Mason Cooley

  The shrill blast of a whistle cut through Trent’s sleep-induced fog and made him jump from a deep sleep to his feet in the matter of seconds.

  “Time to move,” he heard Travis bellow from down the hall. Looking at the clock, Trent’s eyes widened as he realized they both managed to over sleep. He chalked it up to being utterly exhausted from watching Cass yesterday. He’d rather wrangle cows, bust broncs, build fence or even harvest wheat to spending the day keeping a live wire like Cass entertained. Travis took over the babysitting duties after dinner, but by then Trent was already weary past belief.

  Now, they were going to have to hurry to get her to school on time. Yanking on a pair of jeans and leaving his shirt unsnapped as he grabbed socks and ran to the kitchen, Travis was already pouring boiling water over instant oatmeal for Cass’ breakfast.

  The little girl was not in sight, so Trent kept on moving, running to her room in the other wing of the house.

  “Goofball, let’s move it,” he called as he opened her bedroom door to find her sitting on her bed, pulling on her socks. Thank goodness Cady helped Cass pick out outfits for school and hung them in the closet in the order she was supposed to wear them. If he and Travis had to worry about getting her dressed, they would all be in deep trouble.

  “Hi, Uncle Trent,” Cass beamed at him as he came in the room and noticed her mop of wild hair.

  “Morning, Cass, let’s get your hair under control and then Uncle Travis has breakfast ready for you.”

  “Okay,” Cass said. She didn’t like the way either of her uncles combed her hair, but she submitted to their attempts. Picking up a wide-tooth comb, Trent tried to drag it through her tangles and had her near tears by the time he was done, but the mess did look a little more subdued. He might have to call in Rex, their ranch hand who used to be a barber, to see if he could help with hairstyling for the next few mornings.