by Mary Leo
“Too old.”
“Apparently you’re not too old to wear a snout.”
Colt could feel himself blush as he adjusted his snout. “Apparently.”
The crowd roared with laughter as Colt decided to roll with it.
“And seeing as how you’re the tallest, we’ll give you first pick.”
“My boys told me to pick Bob Beboar.”
His section clapped and cheered as the Swinemaster’s male helper secured a large number one on either side of the baby swine.
Then the other kids were asked the same questions while Colt watched as Helen was offered a seat in the first row. Soon his three boys had made their way down to where Helen sat and squeezed in around her, with Joey sitting on her lap. His boys seemed to enjoy being around Helen, and he felt the feeling was mutual on her part. She could always get them to laugh and they loved hearing her stories from being on the circuit. If it wasn’t for her gypsy soul, he probably would’ve considered seriously dating her a long time ago.
Lana now sat alone up in the stands, straining to get his attention. He caught her waving out of the corner of his eye. When he finally glanced her way, she threw him a kiss, keeping her cherry-colored lips puckered while she pretended to blow the kiss his way. Colt didn’t exactly know what to do with that, so he grinned and nodded, not wanting to seem rude. She instantly feigned a demure pose and blinked her eyes several times.
To Colt’s complete dismay he realized she thought he was flirting with her. And to compound matters, it was at that exact moment when Helen glanced back at Lana, then back at Colt. He caught the snide look on her face just before she said something to his boys, stood and scooted Joey into her seat, then headed for the exit.
Colt didn’t want her to go, not without talking to her about her baby. Plus, he really didn’t want her to think there was anything between him and Lana but air.
“No! Helen, wait!” he shouted, and that was all it took for his boys to go tearing after her at the exact moment the piglets took off on the track.
What happened next was something the townsfolk would talk about for years to come.
In Joey’s enthusiasm to catch up with Helen, he jumped the barrier to try to stop her. His foot must have gotten tangled up on the piglet-size metal fence, and just as Bob Beboar, who happened to be in the lead, along with Stephanie Porkman on his tail, rounded the turn, the barrier flopped down and all four piglets ran off in different directions into the stunned crowd.
Soon piglet mayhem erupted while Colt tried to catch his boys. The entire throng of people went completely hog wild, with adults, kids, pigs and the Swinemaster trying their darnedest to catch the little critters before they disrupted the entire festival.
Within minutes, Colt managed to grab a hold of Bob Beboar in one arm and catch Joey around the waist in his other arm. He couldn’t tell which squirmed more, the piggy or his son, both equally angry for the sudden loss of freedom. Gavin and Buddy were too slippery for him, and disappeared chasing down the piglets with Helen in hot pursuit.
“I’ll catch the boys,” she yelled back at Colt.
Lana, on the other hand, managed to remain unruffled, that is until Colt walked up to her as she stood chatting with one of the pig wranglers who’d stayed behind, undoubtedly, to collect the returned piglets and to protect the other sixteen swine from escaping in the confusion.
“Thanks,” the wrangler said, tipping his black hat in Colt’s direction then grabbing hold of the wiggling piglet with both hands.
Soon Olive Oinkly was returned, along with Josephine Hoglarson, and the pandemonium seemed to be dying down in their immediate area. But Colt could hear screams and roars coming from the booths where the crafts and various vintners displayed their finest.
With judicious hesitation, Colt put Joey down, but held on to the back of his cotton tee.
“Let me go, Papa. I want to help catch the last piggy.”
“You’ll stay right here with me, son. You’ve done more than your share of hell-raising for one day. Besides, don’t you think you owe this man an apology for letting his pigs get away?”
Joey looked up at Colt, sincerity shining on his cherub face. “I didn’t mean to let them get away, Papa. Honest, I didn’t. My foot got caught.”
The wrangler, a big guy in his early twenties, his blond curly hair popping out in various angles from under his hat, stooped down to Joey’s level. “You’re more of a handful than these baby pigs. Don’t you know better than to jump on the track when the piglets are running? They could get hurt.”
“Yes, sir,” Joey said, not looking at the wrangler, who had already carefully placed Bob Beboar back in his cage.
Colt gave Joey a little nudge.
“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t hurt those little piggies for anything.” Big tears streamed down Joey’s cheeks. He wiped them away with the backs of his hands. It near about broke Colt’s heart, but he knew his son had to learn these lessons the hard way.
“Tell you what,” the wrangler said. “I so appreciate you telling me that you’re sorry that you can help me make sure all the cages are locked tight. That is, if your dad says it’s okay.”
Joey looked up at Colt, the last of his tears still glistening on his rosy cheeks. “Go on, son, but you mind him.”
“I will, Papa. I promise.”
They didn’t go far, only a few feet in front of Colt, when Lana stepped into his view.
“Colt, honey, as much as I’d like to get to know you better—” she stepped in closer “—and I’d really like to get to know you—” she slid her hands up his chest and leaned in even closer “—it couldn’t possibly work between us, sweetheart. I don’t do children well, and I especially couldn’t do your children. Unless, of course, you agree to send them off to school somewhere. I’d be good with that, especially if you wore that nose to bed. It could be kind of kinky.”
She moaned sensually, and Colt coughed loudly. He gently removed her hands from his chest. “As much as your offer intrigues me, I’m a package deal.”
“Shame, we could’ve had so much fun!”
She stepped away as Helen walked up with Buddy and Gavin in tow. Buddy carried a complaining, wiggly Stephanie Porkman, as Lana’s eyes lit up on Helen’s round stomach.
AS IF HELEN hadn’t juggled enough of her emotions dealing with Jenny Pickens, now she had to accept Lana Thomson, of all people. Not only was Lana the biggest flirt in the county, and possibly the entire state, it was a well-known fact that Lana had a zero tolerance for children. But there she was stroking Colt’s chest while she laid it on as thick as molasses.
The boys went off with the wrangler, leaving Helen alone with Colt and Lana. Not a good situation. Helen wanted out of there.
Now.
“So the rumors were true,” Lana told her as she took a step away from Colt. “That’s why you didn’t stay on the circuit. Shame. From what I hear you were close this time. But I understand.” She tried her best to feign a mask of compassion, but Helen knew it was all a show for Colt’s sake. “Heaven knows it’s a tough and lonely road. It takes stamina and grit to be a champion like me. Two attributes not many women share.”
She stuck her thumb behind her gold championship buckle, in case Helen missed the large trophy holding up her designer jeans. Lana had won it for women’s barrel racing a few years ago, and ever since then she took great joy in rubbing Helen’s nose in it every time they met.
She and Helen had both started out as barrel racers when they were kids. They even attended the M & M Riding School together, but once Helen saw her first female mounted shooter she was smitten and left barrel racing to pursue her real passion, cowboy mounted shooting. Lana had tried to convince her to stay, telling her cowboy mounted shooting was too tough to ever master, but once Helen made up her mind on something, there was no turning back. Even the Milton
s, the couple who owned the riding school, had tried to convince her not to do it, but as time went on, they both came around and gave her the training she needed to succeed.
Problem was, now that she was having a baby, that cowboy mounted shooting trophy buckle seemed next to impossible to ever win, which played right into Lana’s nasty little one-upmanship.
“The only thing you share with other women is their men. Now if you two will excuse me, I’ve got to get back to my cousin’s ranch.”
Helen made a move to leave but Colt stopped her. “Wait. Please don’t go. Lana was just leaving. Weren’t you, Lana?”
Lana shrugged. “I guess so, but Colt, honey, if you ever change your mind, my offer still stands.”
And she sashayed off to talk to the Swinemaster, who had since returned.
“Can we try this again?” Colt said to Helen.
Helen knew better than to tell him she was carrying baby number four in a public place. “I don’t think this is the right time.”
“How about we meet for dinner sometime? Just you and me? Someplace quiet and refined. I’ll get Dodge to watch my boys.”
He looked so sexy Helen wanted to melt into his arms, until Gavin came running up to him. “Daddy! Daddy! You gotta come quick. Joey climbed into one of the cages with a piggy and got stuck. They’re gonna call the fire department to come get him out, but I said you could do it. Daddy, you have to hurry. He’s crying.”
“Of all the...” Colt turned to Helen. “I’m sorry. Friday night at seven?”
“Sure,” she said.
“Daddy, come on. Joey’s real scared.” Gavin yanked on his father’s hand.
“You better go,” Helen told him.
“I’ll pick you up at Milo’s.”
“But how did you know...”
Unfortunately, before she could ask him her silly question, he was sprinting toward the piglet cages with Gavin leading the way.
Of course Colt knew she was staying with Milo, just like he probably had already known she was pregnant. The one question still to be answered could only be: Who was the father?
She could imagine the rampant speculation on that one.
The good thing in all of this was she and Colt now had an actual date, a date without his boys, set in a more sedate environment. Somewhere where she would have plenty of opportunity to slowly spill the truth in such a way that Colt could accept it, perhaps maybe even embrace it.
The reality of the undeniable facts hit her hard as she looked on to see a fire engine arrive to free Joey from the piglet cage. Undoubtedly, her baby was another boy, even though she held on to the unlikely notion that it might be a girl. She hadn’t wanted to officially know the sex of her baby when the doctor had offered to tell her during an ultrasound. Instead, reason told her it was a boy. That Colt only made boys, but wishful thinking conjured up a sweet baby girl.
Now watching Colt and his boys caught up in another tangle of male orneriness only increased her longing for a temperate little girl.
She saw Colt offer to help the two firemen release Joey. One of the firemen spoke to Colt and he took a few steps back while keeping his other two sons away from the piglet cage. A small crowd had gathered to watch as Colt shifted his weight from one foot to the other waiting for Joey to be cut free. Red lights twirled, kids whistled, swine oinked as Buddy and Gavin strained to get at their brother.
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to regain some shred of composure, trying to hold back her growing fear, but most of all trying once again to come to terms with the reality: she was going to be mother to Colt’s child.
The crowd cheered as Joey was released from the cage. Colt picked up his boy, who hugged his dad. Then Colt, pig snout still dangling around his neck, and his sons walked off in the opposite direction.
It was in that instant she wondered if telling Colt about his fourth baby was actually necessary.
Chapter Three
Colt pulled his red ranch truck alongside the for sale sign two miles off Highway 33, turned off the ignition and stepped out onto the packed dirt road that led onto the property. He and his brother Travis were scoping out yet another spread for the potato storage facility his family and two other local growers were planning on building before next year’s crops came in. This was the third property he’d seen so far and he still had one more to go. It had been a huge decision for the Grangers and for the two other farmers, but a necessary one. The facility they now used was outdated, and last year each family had lost a substantial part of their crops due to mold and rot from temperature fluctuation inside the facility. They expected the same would happen this year, and each family was prepared to take the hit, but they couldn’t sustain the loss much after that. They had to break ground on the new building by early spring or it wouldn’t be ready in time for next year’s crops.
On top of raising his high-spirited boys, running the Granger ranch and managing the yearly potato crop, Colt had also taken up the challenge of finding the appropriate piece of land for the new facility.
“This looks good,” Travis declared as he slammed the passenger door shut and walked over to Colt. Travis was the wild one in the family who cared more about partying with his many girlfriends rather than working the ranch. Getting him to join Colt on these property excursions was about as easy as pinning down smoke and Colt didn’t want to do or say anything that might make him drift away.
Colt needed to really look at the property close-up. He’d already scoped it out from the air in his Cessna Skyhawk and now he was looking to make sure he still liked what he saw. He had to be sure there was a good road in, easy access from the highway and several acres of flat land for the buildings.
“We can’t jump to that conclusion just yet, little brother. There are a lot of factors to consider.” This was Colt’s first real chance to take over the business from his dad, and he didn’t want to mess it up. Dodge had given over all his other duties to Colt, but the business end of the ranch still rested on Dodge’s shoulders. Colt knew it was only a matter of time before Dodge would relinquish that duty as well, and he wanted to be prepared for it.
Travis had taken over the care of the livestock and the upkeep of the buildings. He was a crackerjack carpenter who could build or rebuild almost anything. Blake would help out with the yearly potato crop, and sometimes help with wrangling up the livestock, but for the most part, the day-to-day challenge of the massive ranch and farm had fallen on Colt’s shoulders.
Not that he minded. It was the life he’d chosen. He merely needed his brothers and Dodge to trust him with his decisions, and to have his back whenever he needed them to.
Plus, he needed a good woman by his side, a woman like Helen, when she wasn’t trying to chase after that darn championship. Now that she was going to have a baby with some other dude, he had to rethink his feelings for her. He didn’t know why she agreed to dinner with him or why she wanted to talk to him, but he was sure as heck going to find out.
Helen was the kind of woman who did things on her own terms in her own time, so this baby was sure causing him a mountain of wonder.
“You’ve been struggling over this decision for two months now,” Travis countered. “Time is coming up short if we’re going to have this thing up and running for next year’s crops.”
They walked side by side across the open land. It was good and flat for a nice long stretch before it banked upward. The ground was covered in short wild grass, some rocks and stones. Nothing that couldn’t be cleared for a sizable building.
But Colt still wasn’t sure.
“It’s got to be right. I won’t spend everybody’s hard-earned money on something less than perfect. This new place has to last us a lot of years.”
They strolled along on the wild grass, Colt thinking he needed to wait and see what the surveyor he’d h
ired had to say about it.
Travis shook his head. “You think too much. Always have. It’s like you need to walk a mile to find a place to spit.”
“I’m cautious, is all.”
“You can’t see through a ladder.” Travis picked up a stone and flung it over the land, as if he was skipping it over water. The stone bounced a couple times before it landed. Colt never could do that, even on water.
“I’m getting the feeling you’re not talking about this piece of land.”
“Glad you caught up.”
Colt turned to his brother. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m trying to tell you that Blake and me have been trying to find you a woman now for going on near six months. There’s been some mighty fine ladies willing to take on you and your rowdy boys, but none of them seem to pass the first date.”
“Lana Thomson wanted to send my boys to a boarding school.”
“Might do ’em some good.”
Colt picked up his speed. “Not sending my sons away. Our dad stuck by us when our mom passed, and I’m doing the same.”
Travis skipped another stone. This time it only served to aggravate Colt, making him wonder why he’d brought Travis on this land run in the first place.
“What about Helen? She’d be good with them boys of yours.”
“She’s out of the picture.”
“She won’t be once she wins that buckle. I imagine it’ll settle her right down.”
Colt was thinking Travis hadn’t heard the news about Helen’s condition. “There’s something else that’s going on with Helen.”
“I know all about her being in a family way. What I heard, she’s planning on raising that baby on her own. The baby’s daddy don’t want no part of it. Might be a good time for you to step in and make your case.”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“Lana Thompson.”
Colt laughed. “I’m surprised you’d even listen to her kind of talk.”
“I’m not saying I do and I’m not saying I don’t, but there’s gotta be something to it or why else would Helen be living with her folks over in Jackson instead of married to her man?”
