The Bull Rider's Baby

by Brenda Minton

  “Becka had a baby girl three months ago.” Surprise! “I found out a few days ago when she brought Lucy and left her with me.”

  “She left her?”

  “Yeah, seems a baby wasn’t in her plans and she thought it would upset me to be saddled with my little girl.” He smiled at the sleeping infant. “She couldn’t have been more wrong.”

  “I’m a grandmother.” His mom’s voice softened by degrees and the land argument seemed to be forgotten. “I need to see her. When will you be back in Tulsa?”

  “Not for a while. I guess if you want to see her anytime soon, you’ll have to come to Dawson.”

  “That isn’t fair.”

  “It’s a town, Mom, nothing more.”

  “There are so many memories.”

  Hard things had to be said. He had to say it. “Mom, it’s really time to move on.”

  “I have moved on. You’re the one there buying land. You’re the one still riding bulls.”

  “This land is about me moving on. And if you want to see Lucy, you have to come to Dawson.”

  “I’ll see.”

  “I’d love for you to meet her.” He walked out of the room, aware that his knee was still swollen and his back felt kinked in a few new places. Maybe he was getting old.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Good. I need to get off here and get ready for church.”

  “Okay.” She didn’t hang up, and he waited. “Check on your father. I usually talk to him a few times a week. I haven’t been able to get hold of him this week.”

  They both knew what that meant. His mom asking him to check on his dad, though, that meant something, too. He’d have to think about that one.

  “I will.”

  He dropped the phone onto the kitchen counter and wiped up water on the floor. It had rained last night and now he knew of another spot in the roof that needed fixed. He looked up at the old ceiling, spotted with brown. Some new leaks, and some old.

  He put on the coffee and went to get ready for church.

  When he walked out of the bathroom the mangy tomcat was sitting in the hall looking at him. “How’d you get in here?”

  The cat mewed at him.

  “I’m not feeding you more tuna.”

  He heard Lucy whimper and fuss. He walked down the hall to the bedroom. The old tabby followed. As he picked Lucy up he looked back at the cat, now sitting on his dresser. “Really, cat?”

  The cat licked its paws, hopped down and followed him to the kitchen where Lucy’s baby seat was on the table. Obviously the cat didn’t get that Keeton had never been a cat person. As soon as he settled down he planned on getting a dog. A smart dog, like a border collie. Not a cat.

  He opened another can of tuna and set it on the floor. Next he fixed a bottle and he poured himself a cup of coffee. With Lucy in one arm, the bottle cradled next to her body, he walked out the front door, holding his coffee in the opposite hand.

  Yeah, not a bad life. A front porch of an old house, good coffee and a pretty sweet baby. He kicked back in a lawn chair he’d pulled out of the back of his truck and settled down to feed Lucy.

  “Baby girl, I sure do love you.”

  She smiled up at him, cooing with the bottle in her mouth.

  “And you aren’t always going to love me. You’ll have plenty of time to be mad at me and to think my rules are the worst. But I’m always going to love you.” He kissed her forehead, and she was still warm.

  “Tomorrow we’re going to the doctor. I think three days of this virus is enough.” To top it off, she’d started coughing during the night. It was a bad cough, sounded kind of like a horse that had just eaten dusty hay. He stood and carried her back inside. He needed a diaper bag, an extra bottle and his Bible.

  As he walked out the front door a short time later, the mule of Lucky Cooper’s ran across the road and through the ditch. Keeton grinned and shook his head. He’d made a plan yesterday for catching that mule.

  But then he’d seen it next to Sophie’s barn. And she’d been petting it while it ate from a bucket of grain. Lucky had been one-upped by his sister.

  * * *

  Sophie hadn’t gone to church that morning. She’d woken up several times during the night feeling kind of creeped out. She didn’t normally do things like that. She’d lived on her own a long time and usually didn’t get scared. Especially in her house.

  She’d bought the old stone house of the Browns several years ago. She had loved the front porch with the arched, stone columns. She loved the cool, shadowy interior of the rooms on the front of the house and the bright openness of the kitchen and family room. As a kid she used to ride by and dream about someday living in the stone house.

  And last night, for the first time, she’d been afraid. She’d actually considered calling Dylan to come down and stay the night. If she did that, though, she’d never get past it. She’d be teased. And she would also fall in to the habit of calling her family every time she heard a noise.

  She’d made it through the night, pepper spray on her bedside table. As she got up, she slipped the pepper spray into her purse. In case. She didn’t know in case of what, but just in case.

  At noon she walked out her front door dressed in a loose skirt and a tank top. She’d head right to her parents’ for lunch. She’d even made a fruit salad to take along. She set it on the seat next to her and backed out of the garage. As she eased down the drive she saw a truck pull away. It had been parked on the shoulder of the road.

  She sped up, trying to see who it might be. They hit the gas and left her behind. And she had no intentions of trying to catch the truck. Instead she watched it pull out of view as she turned onto the road to the Cooper ranch.

  As she eased up the driveway, crossing Cooper Creek, she started to relax. Her calm was short-lived. The old blue truck parked next to Lucky’s mammoth-size SUV meant that someone had deemed it necessary to invite Keeton West to Sunday lunch.

  The cowboy Cupid was on the loose.

  The front door of the house opened and Travis walked down the steps. He must have been waiting for her. The grin spreading across his face said it all. She would have to remind him that he didn’t have seniority and as the older sister she could still do something about his smugness.

  “Carry this.” She handed him the fruit salad and pretended she hadn’t noticed Keeton’s truck.

  “We have company.”

  “I know.” She grabbed her purse and pushed the door closed. “Mom couldn’t help herself.”

  Travis grinned. “Sorry, this time it wasn’t Mom.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Nope.”

  Not Mom. She glared at Travis and he didn’t even look ashamed of himself. When had he ever? “Not you.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Traitor.” She took back her fruit salad. “I have nothing more to say to you.”

  “‘Thank you’ would be nice.”

  “No, thanks.” She marched ahead of him, knowing her behavior bordered on ridiculous but unsure of how to change it. She turned before going up the steps. “Trav, you know how I feel.”

  “I know what you’ve always said. And after last night…”

  “No.”

  He shrugged and his big grin turned sheepish. “Sorry, but there aren’t many people who didn’t see.”

  The kiss.

  She wanted to hide. She could leave right now and head back to her place. The fruit salad she’d made would feed her for a week.

  “You might as well face the music,” he offered as he stepped next to her. He wore one of his very rare serious expressions.

  She ignored him and walked up the steps and through the front door. She didn’t hide. She wouldn’t
hide. Instead she would do what her brother recommended and face her family. With her head held high she walked into the kitchen. Of course Keeton smiled as she walked through the door. Of course her family all turned and stared.

  From the way they were acting, a person would think she never dated, never kissed a man. She did date. She paused to think because she really couldn’t remember the last time. Well, she had reasons. She worked a lot of hours. Most of the men her age were already married.

  She set the salad on the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee. She was a Cooper. She knew how to deal with this bunch and their interference. She’d been dealing with it her entire life. Which was why she kept some things to herself.

  With so many Coopers, secrets seemed almost impossible.

  For several years when she had dated, she tended to meet her dates in town. It gave less opportunity for a family inquisition. So why in the world would she step into Keeton West’s arms in a very public place?

  “What can I do, Mom?” She walked up to her mother. Angie Cooper stirred a boiling pot of pasta and pointed to bread on a baking sheet.

  “Get that in the oven for me. And then see if you can round someone up to fill glasses with ice.”

  “No problem.” She hugged her mom before carrying out the orders. “Sorry I missed church. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

  “I wonder why.” Her mom smiled and went back to stirring.

  Sophie would let her mom think she knew the reason, even if it was embarrassing to allow that conclusion to be the one everyone came to. No way would she tell them the real reason and have them all worrying. If she told, she’d end up with guards on all corners of her house.

  “Can I help?” A quiet voice behind her.

  She turned and smiled at Keeton. He had Lucy in a pouch strapped over his shoulders and around his waist. She wanted to kiss the baby, but she didn’t want to be that close to Keeton, so close she could almost feel him. His scent, clean soap and cologne, filled the air around them.

  She stepped back.

  “I’m good. Thank you.”

  “I can fill the glasses with ice.” He held up his hands. “Two free hands thanks to your mom. She found this pouch in the closet.”

  “We do have a lot of baby stuff around here.”

  “So, ice?”

  She pointed to the cabinet. “Glasses up there. You’ll have to do a head count to see how many of us showed up today.”

  “Not a problem.” He leaned in close. “You smell good.”

  “Go.”

  He laughed and walked away with an easy swagger and a definite limp. She shook her head and grabbed the baking sheet with the bread.

  When he returned, she did reach in to touch Lucy’s cheek. Burning up. She used her wrist, thinking it might be her imagination. Or maybe the baby felt warmer because she was in the pouch and close to his body.

  “Keeton, she’s really warm.”

  “I just gave her a dose of fever reducer an hour ago.”

  That got Angie Cooper’s attention. “If you gave it to her an hour ago, she shouldn’t be burning up now.”

  “Where’s Jesse?” Sophie looked around for her brother the doctor who sometimes managed a Sunday with the family.

  “On duty.” Lucky walked up, his attention on the tiny baby held close to Keeton’s chest. “She looks kind of warm in there.”

  “No, that’s heat from a fever.” Angie pulled the baby from the pouch and held her close. “I think you need to take her to the E.R.”

  “I took her to the doctor the other day. They said she had a virus.” Keeton looked from Sophie to her mom. “But I’m ready to take her if you think that’s the best thing.”

  “I do.” She held the baby close and fussed over her. “She’s too quiet. Has she had a cough or any other symptoms?”

  “She coughed a lot last night.”

  “You should definitely take her to the E.R.” Angie snuggled Lucy close.

  “Sophie can drive you.” Trav tossed her the purse she’d hung over a chair at the table. She caught it but not because she planned on driving Keeton, but because if she didn’t, it would hit her.

  “I can drive myself. Sophie can stay and have lunch with her family.” Keeton took the baby back from Sophie’s mom.

  Sophie watched and she knew what it might feel like to be a sinking ship. Her mom glanced from Keeton to her. Heather had moved close to examine the baby—and then to examine Sophie.

  Sinking fast.

  “I’ll drive you.” Sophie pulled her keys out of her pocket and held them up. “You can have that knee checked while we’re there.”

  “My knee is fine.” His voice was low, husky and a little tense. “I really can drive myself.”

  Yes, but he’d be dealing with a sick baby fussing, wanting attention. She didn’t doubt him, she just knew it would take more than one person and she wouldn’t want to do this alone.

  “I’m going with you.” Sophie hugged her mom. She blew a kiss to her dad who stood at the end of the counter watching, his hazel eyes taking everything in.

  “You’re sure?” Keeton had picked up the backpack he used as a diaper bag and he pulled out a bottle that he reached to hold under the faucet.

  “I’m sure.”

  Keeton put a top on the bottle of water and shoved it in the backpack. He walked next to her as they went out the front door to her car.

  For May it was really warm. The sky was summer blue, no haze. Sophie considered backing out. But how could she? She told herself he’d do the same for her.

  Friends helped friends.

  “I need to get her car seat.” Keeton started for his truck, still cradling Lucy in his arms. “Do you want to hold her while I get it?”

  “Of course.” She took the baby and held her close. “She’s really warm.”

  “Yeah. You know, I’m starting to think I’m not good at this dad business. I really thought the virus would run its course.”

  “How were you supposed to know it would linger?”

  “And get worse.” He had the car seat and followed her to the sedan. “I can drive.”

  “Not my car.” She opened the back door for him to put the car seat in. “I’ll drive.”

  “You don’t give an inch, do you?” He straightened and she leaned in to buckle Lucy into the seat.

  “Nope.” She whispered to the baby girl, smiling at the tiny little face. “You’ll be fine, sweetie.”

  “What if it’s more than a virus?”

  Sophie kissed Lucy on the cheek, and then she closed the car door and turned to face him. “She’s fine.”

  Sophie tossed him her car keys, a concession because she knew he was nervous and driving the car happened to be something he could control at the moment. He looked like a man who needed to be in control.

  * * *

  “You think I’m obsessing, right?” He felt out of control. One tiny little girl had managed to undo his world, his calm, his life.

  And then he’d been blindsided by Sophie Cooper and leftover feelings from years ago.

  He moved the driver’s side seat back and adjusted the steering wheel of her car. She had climbed in on the passenger side but she looked back at Lucy, glancing over her shoulder from time to time to make sure his daughter was okay.

  For a brief moment he wondered where Becka might be and if she’d want to know that their daughter was sick. He doubted it since she hadn’t left a way to get in touch with her. He’d talked to a lawyer and that seemed to be a point in his favor.

  “I don’t think you’re obsessing,” Sophie finally answered. “I think you’re being a dad who cares about his daughter.”

  “Right.” He turned on the left
blinker and pulled onto the main road that would take them to Grove.

  “I saw a truck parked in front of my house this morning.” Her voice fell quiet in the car and she didn’t look at him as she made the statement.

  Keeton nearly stopped but he couldn’t, not on a main road. Not with traffic traveling in both directions. “What do you mean, there was someone in front of your house?”

  She shrugged and turned to look at him, her eyes shadowed. “I guess they’re watching me.”

  “And you didn’t tell your family. You waltzed in with a fruit salad like everything was a-okay.”

  “It is okay. I know how to shoot a gun. I have pepper spray.”

  “There’s more to this than protecting yourself. You’re being harassed and now you’re being stalked. Soph, you can’t ignore this.”

  “I’m not ignoring it. I’m telling you. Telling my family is…”

  “Please don’t say it’s complicated.”

  She laughed a little but then her smile faded. “I wasn’t going to say that. Okay, maybe I was. But you know my family. They’ll take over. This is my project. This is my life.”

  “Right, so you don’t want to be a Cooper?”

  “I am a Cooper, but even a Cooper needs a life of her own.”

  “Gotcha.”

  He pulled up to the hospital and parked in the lot designated for the E.R. When they walked through the doors of the emergency room, cool air greeted them and a young woman smiled from behind her desk. The waiting room looked pretty empty. Maybe that meant there wouldn’t be a long wait.

  “Can I help you?” The receptionist smiled at Lucy, and then made eye contact with Sophie.

  And Sophie looked at him, because she wasn’t his little girl’s mother. But she held her as if she could be.

  They looked like a family. And he suddenly wanted that. More than he wanted land. More than he wanted a world title in bull riding.

  “My daughter’s had a virus and her fever isn’t responding to the medicine the doctor told me to use.”

  They spent five minutes answering questions, filling out forms and then were escorted to a triage room where a nurse took Lucy’s vitals and announced that her fever had shot up to 103.6.