A Bride for the Bronc Rider (Brush Creek Brides Book 3)
Page 6
“There were shells inside,” Rachel said, making an attempt to jump up to Ted. He lifted her in one arm, and both twins squealed.
April stepped over to the golden brown chicken, trying not to notice how good Ted was with the kids. The fact was, Ted was good at everything he did. He could tame wild horses. Reach the highest shelves in the barn. Cuddle tiny dogs. Make killer omelets. Laugh about everything. Hold two four-year-olds at once. Kiss a woman like he meant it.
An idea that had been circling in April’s mind finally landed. If she kept the baby, maybe she could keep Ted too. Maybe they could be a family.
She wondered if he’d thought about that too. Thought about marrying her and being a father in only two short months.
Her breath came too quick, and she turned a piece of chicken sloppily, splattering oil all over the stove. She didn’t want to marry him because it was convenient, because this ranch, the chickens, Megan and Landon and their family, and the preacher had charmed her. Though that was all true, April wanted to marry and have a family with a man she loved.
She chanced a peek at Ted over her shoulder. He sat on the couch with one little girl on each knee, a book held in front of them all as he read out loud. Did she love Ted Caldwell?
No.
Could she?
Absolutely.
She spun back to the stove, her stomach swooping from side to side. She felt sick, nauseated, and it wasn’t all because of the greasy food in front of her.
Chapter Eleven
“Ta-da!” April brandished a bright pink dress at him, a brilliant smile on her face. When he didn’t respond, she added, “It’s a Minnie Mouse costume for Lolly.”
He took the slip of a dress and pulled the plastic off. It really was a Minnie Mouse party dress, the size a doll would wear—or a small dog.
“It has a petticoat and everything.” She shook out a second costume. “And look! Ears.” She held up a pair of mini Mickey Mouse ears with a pink bow stuck on the left side. An elastic hung down to secure the ears to the dog’s head.
“Wow.” Ted took the ears, laughter bubbling through his chest. He picked up Lolly and wrestled her into the dress and ears. The dog cowered on the couch, shaking, clearly not a fan of the costume. “Thanks, sweetheart.” He leaned over and kissed April, a quick union of their mouths.
“You know this means we’re taking them to the church chili dinner.”
Ted’s eyebrows cocked. “We are?”
“Pets are specifically invited.” April heaved her very pregnant form from the couch and went to find Stormy. She trapped the dog in the corner of the kitchen and picked her up. “There’s a costume contest and everything.”
“Do we have to dress up?”
“I’m going as a pregnant woman,” she said. “You can be a cowboy.” She handed him the wiggling dog, who quieted in Ted’s arms. She sank onto the couch again, an exhausted sigh escaping her lips.
“You doin’ okay?” he asked as he put the second costume on. Stormy growled and hunkered down on the couch, one paw furiously trying to get the ears off. She finally succeeded, and Ted didn’t move to redress her. “You seem tired.”
She gave him a sleepy smile. “Just what every girl wants to hear.” She laid her head on the back of the couch and watched him with a look in her eye he’d started to see more and more often over the past few weeks.
If he wasn’t careful, he’d find himself in love with April Nox. He’d resisted the idea, mostly because everything about her was literally up in the air, and he only had two hands. He wanted to make sure he caught the most important things when it started to rain.
Because he sensed a storm coming.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, reaching out and tucking a lock of her grown-out hair behind her ear.
“And you’re handsome.” The smile she gave him was filled with soft emotions, and Ted had the urge to ask her dozens of questions until their future together was worked out.
Instead, he inched as close as her belly would allow, and kissed her.
“Oh, my—wow.” Ted couldn’t take in the chaos at the church fast enough. People, kids, pets, the variety and bright colors of costumes assaulted him on all sides. One dog barked, and a whole pack would join in. Lolly and Stormy quivered in his arms, and he turned to April.
“I don’t think my dogs are going to fit in here.”
She rolled her eyes. “You baby them. Here.” She took them both and set them on the floor. A dog the size of a red wagon shot toward them, sniffing for all it was worth.
Ted scooped his dogs back up and cradled them in his arms. “I don’t feel good about this. They’re not very social.”
“That’s because you never let them play with other dogs.”
“They play with Walker’s dogs all the time.”
She scoffed. “I haven’t seen that happen once.”
“Walker’s been busy lately.” Ted glanced around the gymnasium where long serving tables had been set up. Dozens more filled the space, and several baby gates cordoned off a section of the area where people had put their pets. Ted couldn’t fathom putting Lolly and Stormy in that pen with the other dogs, the cats, even a couple of guinea pigs. And was that a…ferret?
Ted clutched his poms closer. “I’ll hold them while we eat.”
April laughed. “How are you going to eat chili while holding two dogs?”
He lifted his chin. “Will you get me some food?”
“So now I have to serve you?”
“I’ll just take the dogs out to the truck.” The weather had cooled considerably; they would be fine for an hour in the cab with the windows down. When he returned to the party, he found April engaged in conversation with Tess Thompson and Renee Jackman, the other cowboy’s wives who lived out at Brush Creek. Ted wasn’t sure if he should be glad she’d been fraternizing with the other women at the ranch, or worried what they’d tell her about him.
He joined her, slipping his fingers into hers to let her know he’d returned. She looked at him. “Did you get your babies secured?”
“Yes.” He smiled at Tess and Renee. “Hello, ladies. Where are the guys?”
“Walker’s going through the line with the boys.” Tess nodded her blonde head toward the long line that wound past the pots of chili, platters of cornbread, and one giant bowl of green salad.
“Justin’s a judge for the pet costume contest.” Renee’s thumbs flashed across her phone and she tucked it into the back pocket of her overalls. Ted couldn’t decide what she was supposed to be: a hillbilly or a scarecrow.
April elbowed him, and Ted groaned as he bent over. “What?”
“We totally could’ve won the pet costume contest with Justin as a judge.”
“I think we’ll survive without the year’s supply of dog food.” Ted rolled his eyes. “You know, you can’t just change a dog’s diet like that. The hardware store doesn’t even carry the brand I feed my poms.”
April swung her attention to him, and he squirmed under the scrutiny. “What?”
“What brand do you feed your dogs?”
“This special lamb and chicken blend,” he said. “I don’t apologize for it. I buy it online at a specialty dog store.”
April cracked up, her laugh high and sweet and making Ted smile too. “Specialty online dog store.” She turned to Renee. “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”
“Actually, yes,” Renee said. “My whole job is online, and I probably know the store. I follow a lot of businesses on twitter.” She glanced at Ted, whose chest swelled with pride. “Is it Barkalicious or The Dog Spot?”
“The Dog Spot.” Ted chuckled and squeezed April’s hand. “Renee is a social media coordinator for the National Parks Department.”
April looked at Renee like she’d personally wronged her, then smiled. “I think I remember you saying that. I just forgot.”
Ted let himself believe for a few brief moments that this was his life. His wife that was pregnant. His ranch family—whi
ch at least was true. He noticed the line to get food had shortened considerably, and he stood. “Should we get something to eat?”
April batted her eyelashes at him. “Will you get me some of the non-spicy stuff?” She rubbed her belly. “I’m tired.”
“Sure.” Ted didn’t mind at all. Him going through the line for April only added to his fantasy that this temporary situation could become permanent.
A week later, Ted ducked into the homestead, almost losing the door to the howling wind. Hail the size of green peas had started pummeling the ranch about thirty seconds ago, prompting Ted to run the last hundred yards to the house.
No one else seemed to be there, and Ted remembered that Landon and Megan had gone to Vernal for the day to get their major winter shopping done. Landon went every year and bought bottled water, enough food to see the whole ranch through a month of bad weather, feed and farm supplies that filled a whole barn, and now that they had a new baby, diapers.
He crossed through the house to the front door and checked out the windows flanking it only to find the hail had intensified. April’s voice came closer and then moved farther away, and Ted turned to locate her.
“It’s not that, Mom. It’s just that….” She appeared at the top of the stairs but didn’t turn toward him. She continued into the kitchen, stopping at the sliding glass door and watching the hail as it pounded everything outside.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she continued, one hip cocking to the right. “Ranch life isn’t for me. I won’t stay here, I know that.”
Ted couldn’t hear her mother’s half of the conversation, and he didn’t need to. What April had said was damaging enough. Ranch life isn’t for me.
I won’t stay here.
“No, Mom. No more small towns. I’m going to find a really big city with a really small apartment, and disappear into the crowd.” Her hand slid down her back and she arched as if she was in pain. She’d complained to him that the bigger she got, the more uncomfortable everything became. She’d said she could hardly sleep, and Ted noticed that she still wore a pair of exercise pants and a sweatshirt though it was mid-afternoon.
Her words landed like bombs in his head. She didn’t like small towns. Or ranches. Or cowboys.
She didn’t like him.
He turned toward the front door, determined to leave before she saw him, before he heard anything else that would confuse and infuriate him. He had his hand on the knob when she said, “I’m not going to take the baby to the big city, Mom. I don’t think I’m going to keep the baby.”
Ted wrenched open the door and stomped out of the homestead. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this angry, this hurt, this betrayed.
He didn’t even feel the hail as it pelted his shoulders and back. Physical pain was certainly easier than this emotional turmoil.
Chapter Twelve
April stared at the hail bouncing into the homestead. The front door swung in the wind. Her phone slipped from her fingers as she moved as fast as her eight-months-pregnant body would allow. She thought she’d seen a flash of Ted’s black cowboy hat, and horror filled her as she thought about what she’d said last.
She burst out of the house and onto the front porch. Ted had already crossed the lane, his head bent against the weather as he practically ran from the homestead. She called after him, but the driving hail swallowed her voice before it even left her throat. She watched him until he disappeared into his cabin.
How much had he heard?
A chill made her blood like ice, and she stepped back into the house and closed the door. The furnace blew warm air now that the front entrance had been open for a few minutes, and she retrieved her phone from the kitchen floor where she’d dropped it. The call had been disconnected, and her screen bore a hairline crack right across the middle of it. April stared at it, feeling very much like her life had just been split wide open.
She paced in the living room, the baby kicking her and her back aching along with her head. And her heart. Sleep would help a lot of her physical problems, but that had eluded her more and more often as the baby continued to grow.
Five weeks. She had five weeks until the baby came, and she still had nothing on the horizon as a for-sure future. With every passing day, she’d fallen a little further in love with Ted, but even her relationship with him hung by a thread.
A sour taste worked its way up her throat and she filled a glass with water and gulped it. The hail petered out, and April felt trapped by the walls of the homestead. She stepped out onto the porch, the smell of wet cement greeting her. She gazed toward the red rock butte in the distance, remembering when she’d stood on the top of it, looking back this way.
She hadn’t spoken the whole truth when she’d told her mother ranch life didn’t suit her. She didn’t particularly enjoy the ranching aspect of living on a ranch, but she did enjoy the solitude, the privacy, the stillness in the very air. She liked that there was no gossipy neighbors discussing how large she’d gotten, that she could still get her girly fix with Megan, Tess, and Renee. They apparently got together every month without their husbands, and April had attended the last get-together at Tess’s place.
There had been more chocolate than April thought four women could consume. But consume it they did. Her favorite had been the chocolate dipped dill pickle potato chips—a pregnant woman’s dream come true.
The sky threatened to open again, and April pressed her eyes closed. What should I do? she prayed. She’d put off asking God for the guidance she desperately needed, choosing instead to focus on getting back into His good graces.
Stay at the ranch? Get a job in town? Find an apartment to rent?
Tell Ted I love him?
Her eyes popped open.
Did she love Ted? Her fingers migrated to her lips as she thought about how safe she felt inside his arms. How much she liked the way he gazed at her with that edge of love and adoration in his eyes. She appreciated his humor, his faith, his work ethic. He only had two strikes against him—his endless questions and the fact that he was her opposite in almost every way. Oh, and he was a cowboy and she’d never been interested in them. Double oh, his dogs.
She swallowed, her throat dry with the thought of being in love with a man who wasn’t the father of her baby. How could that even happen?
She smoothed her hair back, exhaustion making her brain slow. A better question was: how he could want her? But every time he touched her, her doubts evaporated. Every time he looked at her, she felt cherished.
She sucked in a breath. She was in love with Ted Caldwell, and not only that. He loved her too.
April snatched a jacket from the front closet and entered the angry weather. His cabin sat way down on the end, and she waddled toward it, hoping to beat the precipitation threatening to burst from the heavy-looking storm clouds.
That particular prayer didn’t get answered the way she’d like, and the sky opened when she still had half the distance to go. The ground was already muddy and slick, and she slowed her steps so she wouldn’t fall. She couldn’t even imagine the pain and humiliation that would cause.
She finally reached the relative safety of Ted’s porch. Her breath hitched in her chest, and her side ached. She knocked on the door and waited when she normally would’ve just gone in.
Ted took his sweet time answering the door, and when he did, he leaned against the frame and stared at her.
“Hey,” she said. “Can I come in?” She reached up with both hands and slicked the water from her hair. “I’m freezing.”
“I suppose.” He stepped back and allowed her to enter his toasty cabin. He had a fire roaring in the hearth and she moved to stand in front of it. The welcome heat thawed her fingers and bolstered her bravery. “I was just telling my mom what she wanted to hear,” she said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She turned and found him still standing near the front door, his arms folded. Both of his pups sat as his
feet, the three of them a wall of judgment.
April swallowed. “She wants me to come back to Jackson, and I know I don’t want to do that.”
“What do you want, April?”
She mourned the loss of the tacked-on May, and her insides softened. “I want you to call me April-May.” She tried on a smile, but it didn’t quite fit on her face. She erased it. “I want to know how you feel about me. I want to figure out how to do what’s right.” She swallowed, her entire abdomen stretched so tight, she felt like a balloon that had been blown up too much.
“I heard you say you weren’t going to stay in town.”
“I did say that. To my mother.”
“You aren’t going to keep the baby?” He glanced to her belly and back to her eyes.
Tears pooled in her eyes. She’d done such a good job over the past few months at keeping them dormant. Getting to know Ted, spending time with him, falling in love with him had definitely helped her emotional state. If she was being honest, she’d say she’d been happy since arriving at Brush Creek Horse Ranch.
“I think I’m going to keep her,” she said, acknowledging her true feelings for the first time. She felt raw, naked, utterly alone standing before him.
He flinched but maintained his position by the door. “You know it’s a girl?”
“Maybe your overuse of the female pronoun has rubbed off on me.”
His lips twitched toward a smile. “Maybe.”
“Can you come hug me now?” Her chin wobbled, and she let the tears fall as Ted closed the distance between them and wrapped her in those strong arms of his. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into his shoulder. “I’m trying to do what’s right for me, for the baby, for you. It’s all a big mess.”
“There’s no mess here,” he whispered, his lips catching on her ear. He skated them down to her neck. “You wanted to know how I feel about you.” He gazed down at her, covering her with that warm feeling of love and acceptance.
“Yeah.” She half-chuckled, half-sobbed. “It would help if I knew so I could make some decisions.”