by Mary Leo
But then Helen never did walk on somebody else’s road.
Dodge continued, “Besides, her interest in opening up that school settles her wanderin’ nature, givin’ it some permanence. A man with three boys and one more on the way can’t be asking for much more than that.”
“She said yes when I gave her Ma’s ring. We’re getting married. And it’s a girl. Helen’s pregnant with a girl.”
Dodge smiled and looked over at him. “Well, I’ll be. Good news on both counts, son. Evens things out. Didn’t know you had it in ya to make a girl baby.” And he rode off, heading for the black heifer standing in the drift with her lost calf beside her. The dogs were already rounding up the other heifer and calf.
One thing about Dodge, he always seemed to know the truth of things, and right now the truth was causing Colt to second-guess one of the biggest business decisions of his life.
* * *
FOUR DAYS HAD gone by and the Miltons still hadn’t made a decision on the sale of their land, which had caused some tension between Colt and Helen. And as if that wasn’t enough, the newly engaged couple had decided to wait to be married until after the baby was born. Dodge had other ideas. He figured it was best to have both weddings before little Loran was born. Colt had tried to argue him out of it during dinner on Sunday night, with the notion that they should each have their own weddings, to make each one unique, but in the end, Dodge had a way of making you feel as though his logic was right, so Colt and Helen had agreed.
They were getting married inside the Granger barn, which had been in need of an overhaul for the past couple of years, and the wedding was the perfect reason to give it one. The new floor was getting installed in the next couple of days, and the walls would be primed and painted barn-red as soon as the weather improved. The hayloft was also getting a face-lift as was the outside of the barn, but that couldn’t be painted until spring.
Truth be told, Helen thought the double wedding and the party afterward sounded perfect. There were just under two hundred people invited; some relatives, some friends, her riding team, but mostly neighbors. Exactly what she always had envisioned as the perfect wedding, sans the pregnant bride, of course, and by then, she’d be “ready to pop,” as Edith had said.
Now, as she stood next to Tater after their secret early morning ride, methodically grooming his winter coat, first with a currycomb, then with a dandy and now with a soft brush, her thoughts drifted to her teammates, who were undoubtedly gearing up for the next season. She really missed them and missed the freedom they represented. She’d mentioned it to Colt a couple times, and each time he took it to mean that she was unhappy, which she wasn’t. She merely felt the loss of something that had occupied most of her time for the past ten years.
“I’m sure you miss the road, don’t you, boy?” Helen said as her hands brushed and stroked her horse. “I miss the training the most. Don’t you? You and I are so out of shape. I bet we couldn’t beat out the lowest scoring rider on the board.”
Tater whinnied.
“Okay, maybe we’re not that bad, but we’re close.”
The ride had been slowgoing. Helen’s belly was big enough that she had to be extra careful when she rode to make sure she centered herself on the saddle. Plus, she really had to keep her rides from Colt or she’d never hear the end of it.
Tater’s winter coat was thick and soft, and she’d let his golden mane go without a clipping for months and it too was long and soft from her extended bouts of brushing it with emu oil. It felt therapeutic to her and she knew Tater enjoyed the attention. Dodge knew she was riding, but he never seemed to tell Colt.
“That’s something you two gotta work out. Ain’t none of my business to get in the middle of that argument. Colt’s got his worries that weigh heavy on his shoulders, but you have to do what you think is best,” he’d say and go on with his chores as if nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.
Although, lately, with everything she had to plan for, she was lucky if she was able to ride and groom Tater at all.
When she’d started training Tater it had taken months to get him ready for their first mounted shooting exercise. The initial hurdle was getting him used to wearing earplugs. Tater hated anyone touching his ears, let alone shoving something into them. Then she had to get him used to gunshots. She’d started with a pop gun out in a pasture, then eventually she’d shot off her .45 caliber. When he was used to that their next hurdle was the balloons. They spooked him at first and he didn’t want them anywhere near him, but when she was finally able to walk him through an entire course of multicolored balloons without him wanting to run, she knew he was ready.
After that, he took to the course and the audience as if he was born to it.
She heard someone call her name from outside the stable, at least she thought someone had, but when she didn’t hear another shout, she decided it must be the wind and she’d imagined it. After all, the more she thought about the voice the more she thought it sounded like Sarah Hunter, one of her teammates. But that was impossible. Sarah was down in Arizona practicing for the next season.
“Helen Shaw, are you in here or is that fella of yours lyin’ to me?” Sarah yelled from somewhere near the front of the stable.
Helen dropped the brush into the bucket, and moved as fast as she could out of the stall. There, standing in a ray of sunlight, was a vision she didn’t think she would ever see in Briggs, Idaho, much less on the Granger ranch. “Sarah? Is that really you?”
“It hasn’t been that long, has it?”
“As I live and breathe.”
The two women ran to each other and hugged.
Emotion overtook Helen and her eyes watered. “I was just thinking about you. Are you real? Did you step out of a dream? What are you doing in Briggs?”
“Yes, I’m real. At least I think I am, the last time I checked. No, this is no dream. I’m crazy, that’s why I came to visit you here. I could be in Arizona right now, where it dipped down to fifty last night, instead of thirty. It’s so cold here.”
“It warms up later in the day.”
“It sure doesn’t feel like it. If I didn’t know how much you loved your man, I’d say you were silly for living here. But let me take a look at you.”
They pulled apart. Helen encircled her big belly as Sarah ran her hand over it.
“It’s a girl.” Helen beamed.
“A girl? That’s wonderful. You can teach her how to ride and shoot just like her mama. I bet you can’t wait.”
“I can’t.”
“Have a name yet?”
“Loran, after my dad, but spelled with an A.”
“Cute. I bet Colt is thrilled. He seems like such a great guy.”
“He is. But why are you here?”
“Your cowboy contacted me a few days ago and invited me out. But can we go inside? I’m freezing out here.”
Sarah’s normally smooth features were scrunched up as if making faces would somehow guard her from the frigid weather. She wore a thick knit hat over her long auburn hair, and a red down jacket over jeans, and black cowgirl boots. Sarah didn’t go anywhere without her boots. She wore them with everything, even under her wedding dress when she married Kyle, another member of the team. Sarah couldn’t weigh more than a wet puppy, and towered over Helen by four solid inches. They were as close as thieves, and as different as cornflakes and doughnuts.
“Sure,” Helen told her. “Just let me settle Tater and we can go.”
“Tater’s here?” Sarah asked, a look of elation on her face.
“Don’t know how you could’ve missed him. He’s standing right in front of his stall, waiting for you to give him some attention, I’m sure.”
Sarah found Tater and did exactly that, to which Tater nudged and loved her right back, then Helen secured him inside his stall, and the
two women walked to the main house. A light dusting of snow had fallen and the two women held on to each other as they carefully made their way across the white glistening landscape.
Up the front porch stairs together, they then pounded their feet on the wooden floorboards to knock off all the snow from their boots. As Helen wiped her feet on the coarse rug just outside the door, Sarah stepped inside with Helen right behind her.
It was at that exact moment when the rest of Helen’s riding team seemed to appear out of nowhere, shouting, “Surprise!”
* * *
COLT WATCHED AS Helen entered his dad’s house, looking completely shocked over seeing all her teammates once again. It warmed Colt’s heart to see the wide smile on her sweet lips and the tears that rolled down her cheeks.
He told himself that he’d done good. She needed this now more than ever.
Helen had told him more than once how much she missed her team, and each time, he knew he needed to do something about it. He’d started by contacting her friend Sarah, who instantly helped devise a surprise plan. The few days had been tough for Colt to keep everything a secret, especially from his boys, who would have told her in a heartbeat. And every time Sarah would text or call him he was sure he’d slip up and say something in front of Helen, but somehow nothing like that happened and now there she was, all teary-eyed and excited over seeing her teammates.
“I can’t believe it,” Helen said once she regained some composure. Colt gave her a little wave from the back of the room, and she threw him a look that told him she was at once happy and angry that he’d been able to pull it off without letting her know anything about it.
He winked back.
“But how did you guys... I had absolutely no idea,” Helen told the group as she and Sarah pulled off their coats, gloves and hats, then hung them on the hooks near the front door.
Colt stood by Helen and took her hand while the group of mostly cowboys encircled her, everyone talking at once, telling her how great she looked. Colt knew it was exactly what she needed to hear.
“Colt called me. Said you needed cheering up so I gathered up all these polecats and here we are,” Sarah told her. “Brought you a couple gifts from your registry.”
She pointed to the mountain of wrapped boxes and gift bags stacked on the coffee table and sofa in the living room.
“Gosh, you guys. That’s more than a couple! Wow! I can’t believe y’all made the trek out here when you could be basking in the Arizona sunshine,” Helen said and her eyes watered once again. This time Colt handed her his handkerchief, then gave her a tight hug.
There were five men and two other women who belonged to Helen’s team, all riders who trained, critiqued and encouraged each other. Colt had to admit, he was always a little jealous of Helen’s lifestyle and, now, meeting everybody only solidified that jealousy. He completely understood why she missed them so much. They were like a bunch of jaybirds flying together across the sky, all aiming for the same cornfield.
“We couldn’t leave our best competitor out in the cold,” Sarah said. “No pun intended.”
Helen smiled. “I heard you racked up enough points to give me a run for that buckle.”
Colt figured Helen must have kept up with everyone’s points online.
“You’re still way out ahead of me. And you haven’t been competing for months. By the time you come back, though, I might be giving you some heavy competition.”
“Keep those guns loaded, girlfriend, ’cause once I can compete again, nothing’s going to stop me!”
Colt held her hand tighter, almost as if she was leaving now and he didn’t want her to go. He didn’t understand what she could be thinking. With four children to raise, a house to run, when would she ever find time to compete? Dodge had been right, about the riding school. What on earth had he done by putting an offer on that land for a storage facility? He should have been putting in a bid to buy it for Helen.
Well, there was nothing he could do about it now, but wait for the Miltons to decide.
He didn’t want to dwell on what he should have done so instead he decided to get in on the fun. Besides, Helen was better than any of these guys, even Sarah, her biggest competition.
“She can outshoot and outride anybody in this room with one hand tied behind her back,” Colt told them.
“You have a lot of confidence in your woman,” Sarah said.
“And then some.”
The room erupted in hoots and whistles.
Helen was beaming as she leaned into him and squeezed his hand tighter.
He was trying to show support even though on the inside he knew there was no way he wanted her to go back out on the road.
“Food’s on the table if anybody cares,” Dodge announced.
Seemingly everyone cared because there was no hesitation about getting to the table to eat. As her friends headed for the dining room, Helen and Colt lagged behind.
“Thanks for this,” she whispered to him as they took their time before joining everyone else.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. I figured you could use some cheering up.”
“I’m fine. Really,” she said, but Colt knew better. “Did you meet everybody?”
He nodded. “Now don’t worry about me. Just enjoy the afternoon. The boys and Scout don’t get home from school for another three hours, and Joey’s busy at an indoor park with Maggie. So this house is all yours at least until those kids come charging in here looking for warm cookies and milk from Dodge. That should be plenty of time for you to get reacquainted.”
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Did I happen to tell you today how much I love you?”
“Always nice to hear, darlin’. Always.”
She took a seat at the table between Sarah and her husband, Kyle, a tall guy who seemed to like black. Not only were his clothes, boots, belt and hat black, but his hair was black, as well.
Colt sat at the far end of the table, next to Dodge. Mush and Suzie didn’t budge from their warm spots in the living room, on their beds looking out of the windows, waiting for the kids to come home. Usually whenever Dodge sat at the table, the dogs sat at his feet. Apparently they didn’t like all the strangers, so they stayed put.
“We’ve been thinking of taking on a new member for our team,” one girl said. If Colt remembered correctly, her name was Dale Brown, a slim girl with a sharp-edged face who looked a bit too intense for this group of good ol’ boys. “Her name is Vida and she rides a black quarter horse named Rosie, who’s almost as fast as Tater.”
Colt thought about what a team meant to a mounted shooter, and he remembered that the team was both the rider and the horse. They each racked up points, so they both had to be good at what they did.
“Why? Are you thinking I won’t be coming back?” Helen sounded defensive.
Everyone assured her they never thought that for a minute, but Colt could tell from the look on Helen’s face that she wasn’t buying it.
“We thought it was time to expand our group, is all. Besides, she’s one hell of a shooter. She’s from Cody, Wyoming,” Sarah said. “Her daddy used to rodeo with Kyle’s daddy, and he asked if we would consider taking her on.”
“Is everybody okay with that?”
Her teammates nodded and said yes in between putting their sandwiches together on their plates or spooning on potato salad, and grabbing handfuls of homemade potato chips. Dodge’s specialty.
“And we were thinking that if you had the time...” Sarah said, hesitating for a moment.
“What? I could train them?”
“She’s in Jackson, and we thought you might be able to take a peek. Give her some pointers,” Kyle said. His voice deep, sounding like a country singer. “But only if you feel up to it, Helen.”
Without even blinking, Helen replied,
“I’d be happy to.”
“Would tomorrow be too soon?” Kyle asked.
“Tomorrow’s fine,” Helen said, but Colt knew she and Maggie had made plans to look for her wedding dress, and he’d made an appointment for them to fill out all the paperwork at the hospital early in the afternoon. Not to mention the next evening was their introductory Lamaze class.
He didn’t know exactly what she was thinking by agreeing to help train the new team member when she was already aware of how he felt about her being around Tater, much less a horse she wasn’t familiar with. But whatever it was, he knew there was nothing he could do to stop her.
Chapter Ten
Helen awoke the next morning in the Granger guest room with a start. Her cell phone pinged telling her she had a text. The phone sat on the nightstand next to her bed and she could barely remember where she was let alone how to retrieve the text. She had fallen asleep at seven-thirty the previous night after everyone had left and awakened five times to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, a record of some sort, she was sure.
When she looked at the small screen on her phone, the time registered at eleven-sixteen. She’d never slept this many hours in her entire life. How was that even possible?
She had missed two messages from Maggie, and one from Vida, the new team member. Plus, she had several text messages from Colt reminding her that they had to sign paperwork at the hospital at noon.
She started to answer Colt’s text when there was a light rap on the door.
“Come in,” she said, not moving.
The door slowly opened and she saw two small feet wearing scuffed tan cowboy boots walk into her room. She instantly sat up and saw Buddy coming toward her carrying a tray of food, looking all serious as he cautiously took each step, trying his hardest not to spill anything.
“Grandpa made you breakfast and asked me to bring it in to you,” he said as polite as she’d ever heard him.
