Aiming for the Cowboy

by Mary Leo

  Colt came up to her and took her hand in his. “Sorry. We’ll have to plan for a talk later,” he whispered.

  “I’ve learned there are no set plans with this family,” she told him with a chuckle as they took their seats at the end of the table, across from Dodge and Mrs. Abernathy. Colt’s boys sat at the far end with Scout.

  Colt leaned in and said, “Sorry about that.”

  She threw him a smile as two male waiters poured red wine in everyone’s glass. The kids already had apple cider sitting in short, round glasses in front of each of them and Helen asked for her own apple cider. The taller of the two waiters was quick to fill Helen’s order then disappeared through the kitchen door.

  Once everyone had a drink in front of them, Dodge stood as Mrs. Abernathy clinked her glass with a spoon for everyone’s attention.

  “I s’pose some of you know this already, but I’m thinkin’ some of you don’t. Either way, I thought this here pumpkin pickin’ night was a good time to announce that Edith and me’s come to a place in our lives when we don’t want to be sleepin’ in two different houses no more. I’ve asked her to marry me, and to my doggone bewilderment, she said yes.”

  The group erupted with hoots and whistles as Dodge held up his glass. “Now if ya’ll join me in a toast to this fine woman, I’d be mighty pleased.”

  Everyone held up their glasses. “To Edith, who’s made this ol’ cowpoke happier than he’s been in a very long time.”

  “To Edith,” everyone repeated as they chuckled at Dodge’s folksiness and clinked glasses.

  Blake stood up, glass in hand. “To Dodge and Edith. May they have a truly happy life together. May the road always be easy, and may your problems be few. Welcome to the family, Edith.”

  Again, everyone toasted.

  Then Dodge held up his glass again. “And I want Helen to know, that no matter what she and Colt decide to do about makin’ their own marryin’ announcement, or not, she and my new grandbaby will always have a place in this family.”

  Glasses clinked, and cheers went up. Gavin twitched and scratched his arms, but didn’t say a word. Helen winked over at him, smiling. He winked back, beaming, just as his meal was served. Once all the plates were on the table, everyone held hands and Dodge said a prayer of thanks for this night and his family.

  Colt laced his fingers through Helen’s under the table and for the first time since she’d learned she was pregnant, a rush of pure joy washed over her. She was filled with love, not only for her sweet baby, but for everyone at the table, including Colt. If he asked her to marry him at that very moment, she was sure the answer would be yes.

  But instead, he let her hand go, picked up his fork and the moment was gone, leaving Helen to wonder if she truly loved him or were her hormones playing tricks on her again.

  Either way, she knew for a fact, her life would never be the same.

  Chapter Eight

  “I don’t really want to know,” Helen said to Doctor Guru as they watched her tiny baby suck its thumb on the monitor.

  Everyone wanted an answer to the question: Is it a boy or a girl? Presumably so they could buy gifts for the baby in the appropriate colors. She had assumed it to be a boy and was good with that assumption, but her family kept hinting that they’d love to know for sure. Even Edith had said she thought it was a boy because she seemed to be carrying him so low. Whatever that meant.

  “That’s fine. We can keep it that way if you’d like.”

  Problem was, the more Helen watched her sweet baby move around, the more she suddenly wanted to know, needed to know if this munchkin was indeed a boy.

  “Wait.” She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I want to know. Boy or girl?”

  The good doctor grinned. “You and Colt are parents of a perfect baby girl.”

  Doctor Guru practiced both in Jackson and in Briggs. She’d been Kendra’s doctor and Maggie’s sister, Kitty’s, doctor and therefore Helen had always had the utmost faith in her. Now she wasn’t so sure. Obviously, the woman couldn’t see what had to be right in front of her on the monitor.

  “No offense, but aren’t you missing something on him? Maybe it’s just too small to detect.” Helen squinted at the monitor and could make out a head and fingers but little else.

  “Trust me. I’ve been looking at this baby for months now and there is no something. You’re carrying a girl.”

  “But all Colt’s children are boys. Colt is one of three brothers. Blake can make girls, not Colt.”

  Doctor Guru shrugged. “Then consider this a blessing.”

  “But I don’t want a blessing. I want a boy. I don’t know the first thing about girls.”

  “Sorry. Maybe next time.”

  “There won’t be a next time. Colt had a vasectomy.”

  “And how’s that working out for you two?”

  “Now’s not the time for levity. I’m in a crisis.”

  Helen’s breathing suddenly increased and her fingers were beginning to tingle.

  “You’re a girl. I think you understand yourself quite well. I’ve seen you ride and compete. You’re incredible. Your daughter will probably develop a love of horses and riding just like her mom.”

  “My daughter? I don’t even have a girl’s name picked out. I was thinking of naming him Loren, after my father. Now what do I do?”

  “Change the spelling.”

  What bothered Helen most was that she had to hear this startling news without Colt. He was busy with some real estate deal and couldn’t change his meeting. Doctor Guru’s staff had tried to move things around so they could be together for her last ultrasound, but it wouldn’t work out in their favor. Ironically, she and Milo had been working on their own bid for the old M & M Riding School—something she hadn’t told Colt about yet and hadn’t wanted to until they were actually ready to put in the offer.

  “Colt’s been thinking all along this is another boy.”

  Doctor Guru printed out the pictures of Helen’s baby girl, placed them on the counter, then wiped the gel off Helen’s stomach she’d lathered on for the ultrasound. The good doctor was a petite Indian woman, with shoulder-length hair, creamy dark skin, and in her early forties, Helen guessed. She exuded confidence behind a friendly smile. Her long last name had defied pronunciation for anyone who hadn’t grown up in her culture, so everyone else referred to her as Doctor Guru.

  “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled with the news. Those boys of his are a handful. I was in the audience at the piglet races this year. A girl in the mix might soften them up a bit.”

  Helen knew that Colt always had a soft spot for Scout and would probably take to his own little girl like any happy papa and would end up worrying like crazy every time she went out on a date.

  It was Helen who was petrified of raising a girl. All this time she’d just assumed it would be another boy. A boy just like Gavin or Joey or even Buddy—whose antics were even known to her doctor.

  Scout was definitely more of a challenge, especially now that she’d embraced her feminine side ever since Maggie and Blake had gotten married.

  Doctor Guru turned off the monitor. “You can sit up now, Helen.”

  Helen mindlessly sat up, and rubbed her belly. “A little girl. I don’t know where to begin.”

  “Buy something pink.”

  “I don’t like pink. It’s too feminine.”

  Doctor Guru looked at her. “Have you taken a look in the mirror lately?”

  Helen instantly reached up and touched the hair band she’d stuck in her hair right before she’d left the house. The hair band she’d seen in the window of Femme Fatale’s and had to own. The pink hair band that she absolutely loved.

  “See you in two weeks,” Doctor Guru said, a warm smile creasing her lips, as she left the room.

 
Helen slipped off the examination table and grabbed the pictures of her baby daughter.

  This time she could make out her head, and a hand with all its fingers.

  “Look at you.” Helen ran her finger over her baby’s tiny shape. “All curled up and tiny. So, you’re a girl. And what a girl you’ll be with three brothers to contend with. It’s you and me, kiddo. We’ll just have to learn how to stick together. You’re special, you know that? Now I won’t be alone in a family of boys. And, don’t tell anybody, but I’m beginning to really like pink.”

  * * *

  “A GIRL?”

  “That’s what the doctor said.”

  “Well, I’ll be.” Colt leaned back in his chair looking particularly sexy with his messy hair sweeping across his forehead, and those incredibly blue eyes of his heavy with amusement.

  “Who woulda thought I’d be father to a daughter. I figured for sure I could only produce boys.”

  They were sitting across from each other finishing up dinner, takeout from Wok n Roll, a Chinese restaurant in downtown Briggs. Colt’s tiny dining room barely held the round wooden table that his brother Travis had made as a wedding present almost ten years ago. Colt still kept it in good condition, only now there was always a cream-colored tablecloth draped over the top.

  For the most part, the house was decorated in masculine contemporary, with very little frill, if any. Most of his deceased wife’s things had been stored in the attic, and Helen appreciated that. Colt wanted to keep her memory alive for his boys, but Helen also understood the importance of how she was going to fit into all of this.

  Sitting at the table with Colt was awkward enough, she would never want to try to take his wife’s place with Colt’s boys. The precise reason why she thought starting over at the M & M Riding School would be the perfect solution for them.

  If she and Colt ever had the chance of being together, she could never move into this house; he’d have to move into the house at the riding school. Somehow, looking around his house, the family photos hanging on the walls, a fire roaring in the rustic hearth, and seeing Colt sitting at his table, surrounded by everything familiar, that notion seemed next to impossible.

  “Are you happy?” she asked, feeling somewhat concerned.

  He stood and walked over to her. He took her hand as she stood, then pulled her in close. “Am I happy? Sweetheart, I thought I never wanted another child, thought I was saving a woman from going through a pregnancy, saving myself from the worry. Then I find out that’s not true. I’m going to be a daddy. Again. Yeah, it took this bullheaded cowboy a while to come to terms, but once I did, I was very happy. Still am. Now you tell me you’re carrying a baby girl. Am I happy?” He wrapped his arms around her. “Darlin’, I don’t know if I can take any more happiness. It’s as if my heart’s going to explode from it being filled to the brim.”

  He gazed into her eyes. “But what about you? Are you happy?”

  She let out a sigh of relief that seemed to originate from her toes. “I can’t say I’m unhappy. Another girl in the family is exactly what you Grangers need. So yes, I’m over the moon happy about our little girl. I may not know how to relate to her, but I’ll learn.”

  Then he kissed her and it was filled with passion and desire.

  Before she could catch her breath they were tugging at each other’s clothes and heading for the leather sofa in the living room, which would have been perfect, except that she was way too pregnant to make love on a sofa. Her lower back was already giving her problems. That lumpy sofa would only make it worse.

  She angled him toward the bedroom, and once again he moved her toward the sofa.

  She had no choice but to come out and tell him. “Can we do this on the bed? My body needs a little more comfort than what your sofa can give me.”

  “The bed’s not made,” he whispered as he gently pulled off her top and continued to guide her toward the living room, her round belly now more prominent than her breasts.

  “Don’t be silly. I don’t care about the sheets,” she told him as she undid his belt buckle.

  “The room’s a mess. Clothes all over. Joey and Gavin slept in there with me last night.” He sat on the sofa and pulled off his boots.

  She sat on the chair across from him and pulled hers off, as well. “Why would I care about their clothes? It’s the bed I want.”

  He walked over to her, his chest looking positively ripped from all the work on the ranch, his pants now unzipped and hanging open from the heavy belt buckle and revealing a trail of fine hair. He looked so inviting she could barely stay away from him for even the time it took her to undress.

  “We’re here now,” he whispered before he kissed her again, his tongue pressing against hers, sending chills over her body. She was ready to make love on the floor, but the whole avoidance of the bedroom was now bugging her.

  She pulled away from his grasp and hustled into his bedroom, laughing at the absurdity of his worry over a messy bedroom. As if that mattered.

  When she arrived at the open doorway, she saw that the bed was perfectly made and everything was in meticulous order. No clothes on the floor or anywhere else for that matter. No toys. No books. No cars or balls or games.

  Nothing was out of place, including the eight-by-ten glossy of a smiling Colt and his deceased wife on the nightstand.

  * * *

  HELEN HAD TRIED to leave, had put her stretchy shirt back on, slipped into her boots and pulled her coat over her arms and buttoned it up tight, but fortunately Colt had sweet-talked her into staying. He’d convinced her he had a reason why the picture was on his nightstand, and a darn good one, so she reluctantly made her way back into the living room. She plopped down on his sofa, looking as if this was a temporary condition and she could leave at any moment. Her coat stayed on, buttoned up tight, along with a dark blue scarf she wrapped around her neck for extra protection.

  “It’s been four years, Colt.”

  He attempted to hold her, but she would have none of it and shrugged him away.

  “I’ve tried several times to take that picture down, but every time I do Buddy makes such a fuss that I have no choice but to put it back up.”

  “Can’t you just give him the picture? Wouldn’t he like it next to his bed? I mean I certainly understand his grief over the loss of his mom. I miss my mom every day, but—”

  “That’s the problem.” Colt sat on the floor in front of her, crossed his legs and looked up at her. She had that glow pregnant women had, as if they were lit from within. She never looked more beautiful. “I won’t lie to you. Buddy’s not handling all of this very well. He won’t talk about it, and he won’t let me take down that picture.”

  “Maybe he needs counseling.”

  “I took him for grief counseling right after his mom passed, but it didn’t seem to help so after a year I stopped taking him. He seemed to come out of his depression after that and had been fine up until I told him about this baby. Ever since that night, he’s been moody and I can’t seem to bring him out of it. The picture appeared on my nightstand the next morning and I’ve been apprehensive about talking to him about it. I’d hoped the more he gets used to having you here and us talking about the baby, that he’d come around.” He leaned forward, trying to get closer to her, and this time she didn’t move away.

  “You could’ve told me about Buddy’s difficulties in dealing with this. I’m sure he loved his mother very much and he’s scared I might be taking her place. Obviously, he doesn’t want me to or that picture wouldn’t have shown up on your nightstand.”

  “I’m sorry. Really, I am. And if I was in possession of even half a brain, I would have hidden it. But I honestly didn’t think about that darn picture until we were heading for the bedroom. Then all I could think of was how to keep you out here. Just know that no matter what my boys want, no matter wh
at pictures are on my nightstand, I’m crazy about you, and nothing’s going to stop those feelings.”

  She sat there, not saying anything. He had wanted to tell her he was in love with her, pin his heart to his sleeve, propose marriage, but from her nonreaction he was glad he’d held back. Blake had been right to caution him about moving too fast. He needed to take a step back and wait until the timing was perfect.

  She unwound her scarf and unbuttoned her coat, sliding it off her shoulders.

  “Does this mean you’re staying?” he asked, hopeful.

  “Yes, but I’ve got something to say.”

  He stretched out his legs and body then leaned his head on his hand. The fire felt warm on his back. She moved off the sofa and sat in front of him on the floor.

  “Shoot,” he said, ready for whatever she wanted to throw at him.

  “Everything you said is wonderful. I’m crazy about you as well, and I love your boys and I hope I’ll be a good mom to our little girl.” She rubbed her belly, smiling. “There’s just one issue, and it’s a big one. I didn’t really focus on it until tonight, sitting in this house, having dinner with you at the table Travis built, talking about the picture on your nightstand. If you and I have any chance of taking this relationship to the next level, I think you should know, I could never be a good mom to your boys in this house. I’d feel as though I was always being compared to their late mom. As a family, we would need to start fresh, where everything’s new.”

  Colt sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, trying to dismiss the knot that was forming in his stomach. He didn’t want to believe she was telling him that in order for the two of them to make a go of it he would have to move out of his house. He figured she must have something else in mind, some room additions, perhaps, or a complete revamp of the interior. He would do either one of those in a heartbeat. The house needed some improvements, needed some upgrades, but he was not about to consider moving out of it. She had to know how much this house meant to him. He loved his house. His land. The ranch. He and his brothers had built this house on the fork of the river in order to make use of all the sunshine he could get. He and Dodge had planned for this house since he was a teen.