The Rodeo Star's Return (Sapphire Springs Book 1)

by Angie Campbell

  “I don’t always remember everything from when I’m drunk,” he said, taking a step back when the little girl burped, spewing vomit in his direction. “I think your daughter might have gotten car sick.”

  “She’s not car sick, you idiot,” she snapped, shifting the baby in her arms. “She does that all the time, after she eats.”

  “Well, do you burp her after she eats?” he asked, giving her a skeptical look, wondering if she had a clue at all what she was doing.

  “Burp her? How’s that done?” she asked, giving him a confounded look, her obvious anger, momentarily forgotten.

  He gave her an almost dazed look, wondering if he had stepped into an alternate dimension. He thought everyone over the age of twelve knew how to burp a baby. “Put her up on your shoulder and pat her on the back till she burps. Release built up gas. With that kind of vomiting, you should probably burp her at the half way point.”

  “Whatever,” she snapped, her anger coming back with a vengeance. “I no longer have to worry about that. She’s your responsibility now.” She dropped the car seat beside him on the ground and handed him the diaper bag.

  “My responsibility? What are you talking about?” he asked, so shocked he took the bag without realizing it and put it on his shoulder.

  “I may have given birth to her, but she’s not my baby. She’s your baby. I’ve been looking for you for about eight months now. Who knew you’d move off to some po’ dunked town. I guess you’re hiding out after that scandal over that teenage girl.”

  “That scandal was all in her head,” he growled. “I was cleared of all that when they discovered she made it all up.”

  “Oh, cool your jets. I read the papers,” she snapped back. “Besides, I don’t care one way or the other. If you want to hide for a little while, that’s your business. Not mine.”

  “I grew up here. I’m not hiding out,” he growled again.

  “I know that, as well. I just wouldn’t have wanted to come back to a place like this after escaping, no matter the reason.”

  He gave her a dirty look and crossed his arms. “Why have you been looking for me for eight months?” he grunted.

  “Like I said, she’s your baby,” she snapped glaring at him.

  “Are you trying to tell me that baby is more than eight months old?” he growled. “Because I’m not buying it.”

  “I started looking for you before she was born. She’s barely six months old,” she hissed through her teeth. “It’s obvious you know more about babies than I do.”

  “I’ve been around my share.” He glared at her, wondering if this was some kind of scheme to get money out of him. “Look, Lady, I’m not taking responsibility for someone else’s child.”

  “Oh, she’s yours, alright,” she snarled.

  “Well, how are you so certain? I may not always remember everything, but I was always religious about using a condom.”

  “So am I, and we did use one. It broke.”

  “It broke? Are you sure?” he asked, feeling like he was going to vomit at any moment.

  “Yeah. When we noticed, you laughed, and then rolled over and went to sleep.”

  “Okay,” he said, taking a deep breath. “The baby could possibly be mine.” He was mumbling to himself, not really paying her any attention. When he looked back up, it was to find her coming back from her car with a big, green duffel bag. The baby was still squalling her head off, and the woman looked like she could start yelling again, in an instant.

  “How do I know I should believe you?” he asked, grasping at straws. “How did we even meet?”

  “We met in a crowded bar, a little over a year ago.”

  “Do you always go home with strange men in bars?”

  “You were hardly strange. The whole country knows who you are,” she snorted.

  “I wouldn’t say the whole country,” he stated, looking a little embarrassed.

  “Whatever. Those who follow rodeo, then,” she snarled.

  “Oh, you’re a buckle bunny,” he snorted, giving her a disgusted look.

  “You’re one to talk. You slept with me,” she sniped back.

  “I was lonely. You buckle bunnies follow the riders around, and sleep with them for no other reason than they ride in the rodeo.”

  “Who cares? It was one night, and I don’t want any money, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she snarled. “I’m giving you the baby.”

  “Giving me the baby?” he screeched, taking a step back. “Are you crazy?”

  “Yes, I’m giving you the baby. She’s yours, and I don’t want her. And no, I’m not crazy.”

  “Why don’t you want her?” he asked, sounding truly perplexed. “I thought all women wanted babies.”

  She gave him a disgusted look and tried to shove the little girl into his arms. “I’ve never wanted babies. My mother never wanted me either. I was raised by my grandmother. She passed away two years ago.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “My point is, I have no one to leave her with. That is, except for you.”

  “This is crazy. There’s got to be a better solution.”

  “She’s better off with you than me. I don’t know a thing about babies, except for they’re very messy.”

  He couldn’t say he really disagreed with her. She’d already proved she didn’t know what she was doing. “Even if I believed she was mine, I have no business trying to raise a baby, right now.” What will Lucy say when she finds out? This is likely to make things a lot harder than they already are.

  The woman continued like he hadn’t even spoken. “Her birth certificate is in her diaper bag,” she said, dropping the green duffel bag beside the care seat. “She’s all yours,” she said, finally managing to shove the baby into his arms, along with a blanket and a couple more random items.

  As soon as the little girl landed in his arms, she stopped crying and looked up at him with wide, curious eyes, the tears still staining her little, chubby cheeks. She waved her little hand, and grabbed hold of his bottom lip. He grinned down at her for a second before he realized her mother was getting away. “Wait,” he hollered as the woman scurried off to her car. He just barely managed to hang onto the squirming bundle as everything else slid to the ground with a thump.

  The woman turned back with a glare. “What?”

  “You can’t just dump her on me,” he said, nearly pleading with her.

  “Really? That’s the first time she’s been quiet all day. You’re already doing better with her than I ever did.”

  “How do I know she’s mine? I don’t even know who you are.”

  “I’m not surprised, really. We only had the one night. You were always so in demand, I doubt you remember much at all of what happened, before your fall from grace.”

  “Yeah, whatever. My fall from grace doesn’t answer my question. How do I know she’s really mine?”

  “Check her butt. She has your birthmark.” This time when she turned to leave, he let her. If the little girl had his birthmark, there wasn’t much of a chance she wasn’t his.

  He looked down at the little girl once more and sighed. “Well, Little Angel, I guess you’re stuck with me. You think you can handle that?” She waved her little arms, trying to grab his lip again. He grinned at her and kissed the top of her head, breathing in her clean, baby smell.

  His attention had been so focused on the baby in his arms, he never noticed when someone walked up beside him. “Did she seriously just give you that baby?”

  He cringed, wishing the earth would just open-up and swallow him whole. Of all the people that could have witnessed this whole crazy incident, it would have to be the worst one in all Sapphire Springs. He took a deep breath and finally looked over to see Brandy Drake standing there with her nose crinkled up in disgust.

  “Great,” he mumbled to himself, wondering what he could have possibly done to have his luck turn so sour. “Where did you come from?”

  She smirked, flipping her hair behind her
shoulder. “I would have guessed you knew the answer to that question. That woman did say the baby was yours, didn’t she?’

  He rolled his eyes at her, trying not to lose his patience. “I meant, where did you come from, just now.”

  “You’re standing in a grocery store parking lot. Where do you think I came from? Surely you’re smart enough to figure that out.”

  “I’m just surprised to find you here. Grocery shopping doesn’t seem like your style. If asked I would have guessed, you don’t even know how to cook.”

  “Oh, come on. We all have to eat.”

  “Yeah, I guess so, but you don’t look like you eat much.”

  “Why, thank you. Nice of you to notice.”

  “It wasn’t a compliment.”

  She gave him a disgusted look and crossed her arms in front of her. “Whatever. Won’t having a baby cramp your style?” she asked, snootily.

  “What do you mean?” he frowned.

  “Well, it’ll be hard to go on a date if you have to bring a baby along.”

  “Oh, just get out of here, already,” he huffed, trying to move away from her.

  It did him very little good. She just followed him, giving him a dirty look. “You don’t own the place, you know? You can’t tell me when to leave.”

  “Whatever,” he said, turning his back on her. He picked up the duffel bag and took a couple of steps, so he could toss it in the bed of his truck. Thankfully, he had already loaded his groceries before everything went down. He had been coming back from returning the cart to the store when the woman had showed up with the baby. All he had to worry about was getting the little gal, and all her belongings loaded up, and then he could get out of here himself.

  When he turned back around to grab the car seat, Brandy was still standing there. She tsked, shaking her head at him. “Can’t you get your life straight, Tyler?”

  “You’re hardly one that should be talking. How many times have you been engaged? Four? Five?”

  “That’s hardly any of your business,” she scoffed.

  “Just like this is none of yours.”

  “Whatever,” she snapped. She gave him a nasty glare before turning to storm off.

  “That, Little Angel, is not a nice woman,” he sighed. “There’s no telling what kind of rumors she’ll have spread before the nights even over. She’s always been one to try to cause as much trouble as possible.” He shook his head and watched as the woman drove off the parking lot.

  “Well, I guess we better get going. Your grandma is going to be wondering where I’m at. I’m surprised she hasn’t called Zane to come looking for me already.”

  He opened his truck door, so he could sit her car seat up in the truck to make it easier to put her in it. She looked up at him, gurgling happily. “Speaking of your grandma, she’s going to love you. I’m not sure what she’s going to do to me, but she’ll definitely love you.”

  She waved her arms, and grinned up at him, drawing a grin from him, as well. “You know, that crazy woman said you were crying all day. What was she doing to you? Pinching you? You’ve been perfectly content since she handed you to me.”

  *******

  Tyler opened the backdoor to the kitchen and sit the green duffel bag in the floor before turning to close it. He then sat the car seat down on the table and looked down at the gurgling baby. “Well, Little Angel, I probably ought to find your grandma before I go back to get the groceries. She’d probably like to know we’ve finally made it home,” he said, automatically including her, like she had been with him since she was born.

  She kicked her feet, finally losing the tiny shoe that had been threatening to come off the whole ride home, and grinned up at him with a nearly toothless smile. He noticed then, she had one of her top two front teeth. He grinned back at her and rubbed his hand over her head. “How could anyone possibly want to give you up?”

  On the way home, he had done a lot of hard thinking. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but he was going to do whatever he had to, to keep her. That included blackmailing Brandy Drake into witnessing in front of a judge about what she saw, if it come down to it. Hopefully that wouldn’t become necessary, but you never could tell. Money wouldn’t be a problem. He had more than enough of that. Being a single father wouldn’t be easy, but he knew he’d never be short of help with his mother around.

  The little angel had been content the whole drive home. Tyler was starting to suspect the little gal had been able to sense her mother’s anger and unhappiness. The first six months of her life had probably been pretty rough. Certainly, rougher than the life of one so young should ever be.

  Tyler turned at the sound of someone coming in from the living room to watch his mother step into the kitchen and come to a dead stop. She gave him a quizzical look, then looked over at the baby. “Tyler, I realize I asked you for grandchildren, but I never expected you to come back from the grocery store with an infant.”

  He stood there for a few seconds, wondering how he was supposed to respond to that. He snorted, then gave a short chuckle. Then another. Before he knew it, he was nearly bent over at the waist, and was laughing out right.

  “Tyler, are you alright?” his mom asked, sounding genuinely concerned. “You haven’t fallen and hit your head, have you?” This only caused him to laugh harder. “Tyler?” she asked, sounding even more concerned than before. “Maybe I should call your father,” she said, reaching for the phone on the wall.

  “Mom, you don’t need to call Dad.”

  “You ride the rodeo for eight years without sustaining any serious injury. You come home for eight months, and wham, you hit your head.”

  “Mom, I didn’t hit my head,” he chuckled.

  “Then what’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked, looking at him like she wasn’t sure she should believe him.

  “Yes, Mom. I’m fine,” he said, his laughter finally tapering off. “I’m sorry. Just give me a minute, please.”

  She huffed, ramming her fists on her hips. “I’ll give you a minute. Just as soon as you explain where this baby come from.”

  “Well, Mom, apparently she’s mine.”

  Her jaw dropped open for a few seconds before she managed to ask, “She’s yours?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And why am I just now hearing about this?”

  “Because, until today, I didn’t know about her.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, boy,” she said, moving to sit down in the chair in front of the car seat.

  “I ran into her mother at the grocery store. She just gave her to me and left. She doesn’t want anything to do with her.”

  She gasped and gently started rocking the care seat. “How is it possible for a mother to not want anything to do with her own child?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. She dropped her in my arms and high-tailed it out of town.”

  She looked over at the baby, then back at Tyler. “Are you sure she’s yours?”

  He shook his head. “No, not yet.”

  “What do you mean not yet?”

  “Well, her mother claimed she has my birthmark on her butt.”

  “That’s something we can check,” she said, rising back to her feet. “If she is yours, what do you plan on doing?”

  “I don’t know if I care if she’s mine or not,” he said, rubbing his hand over his face.

  She gave him an alarmed look, pressing her had to her chest. “What do you mean?” she gasped.

  “I plan on tracking her mother down, and having her sign all of her rights over. Whether she’s biologically mine or not, it’s obvious that woman wouldn’t make a suitable parent,” he sighed. “I just hope I can find her without too much struggle.”

  His mother sighed in relief. “Good answer. You had me concerned there for a second.”

  “I wouldn’t wish that woman on anyone,” he said, giving a not entirely contrived shiver at t
he thought of the woman who had given birth to the little angel. I had to have been more drunk than usual. “I hope she is my daughter. It’ll probably make all this easier, legally speaking.”

  “Yeah, I would imagine so,” she said with a grin. “Now, let’s get this little darlin’ out of this car seat.”

  Lena Wentworth stepped closer to the table and looked down into big blue eyes, and lost her heart to the little girl in a heartbeat. “Hi there, Darlin’,” she said with tears in her eyes. “You’re definitely my granddaughter. You look just like your aunt Taylor did when she was your age.”

  She unfastened the straps of the car seat to lift her out of it just in time for George Wentworth, Tyler’s father, to walk in the backdoor. He had much the same reaction that Lena had, had just a few minutes before. “Where did that baby come from? Lena, I know you want grandchildren, but you can’t just go and take one.”

  Tyler chuckled. “Wow. At least that wasn’t her first thought when she walked in here and saw me with the little angel.”

  She gave him an incredulous look. “Do you really think I would just take someone’s baby?”

  He shook his head. “Of course not. I was just shocked when I saw you standing there with a baby in your arms.”

  “Well, this little gal is your granddaughter.”

  “Now, Mom, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We need to make sure first.”

  “You said you were going to keep her no matter what,” she stated stubbornly.

  “I know, but if she isn’t mine, I feel like I need to at least make the effort to find her real father. I know I would want to know if I had a child out there somewhere.”

  “She looks just like your sister at this age. She’s your daughter.”

  “Your daughter?” George glanced over at Tyler, nearly choking on the words.

  “Apparently,” he answered, not feeling sure he wanted to get into this right now.

  His father gave him a stern look, and answered gruffly. “I need more to go on than, apparently.”

  Tyler took a deep breath and let it out slowly. At least this way he could tell them both at the same time, and he wouldn’t have to repeat himself. “This woman showed up at the grocery store as I was leaving. I have no idea how she tracked me down there. Maybe she just got lucky,” he said as he started pacing. “At first, I didn’t remember her. I still don’t remember much more than meeting her in a bar. It was one night, too much alcohol, and a broken condom.”