The Texan and the Cowgirl

by Victoria Chancellor

  “That was really dumb and insensitive of him, but in his defense, he was probably in shock and not thinking straight.”

  “He wasn’t thinking at all!”

  “Maybe, but Charlie has always been impulsive. He’s got that kind of fun personality that people like.”

  “Unless they’re pregnant and moody.”

  “I know it’s hard, but don’t judge everything by what he said in Fort Worth.”

  “I’m trying not to.” Cassie leaned her head back and took deep, steady breaths to keep from getting agitated again. She needed a good night’s sleep since she’d been awake most of last night worrying about what she would say, tossing and turning and overthinking. The one outcome she hadn’t anticipated was her coming home and throwing up while Darla and Charlie stood outside the apartment.

  Tomorrow morning, she’d be back at work. She had no idea what Charlie would be doing or where he’d be doing it. She didn’t know how long he was staying or where he’d be next week, not to mention next month or six and a half months from now.

  “I’ve got to tell people soon,” Cassie said. “Toni needs to know so she’ll be able to make arrangements about work.” Toni had found out she was pregnant herself right before Amanda and Leo’s wedding, but had waited for almost a month to tell anyone. “I’m not sure how long she’s planning to take off after her baby is born around Christmas.”

  “Don’t worry about Toni. You’ve got to think of yourself and what you want to do.”

  “That’s just the thing—it’s not about me anymore. It’s about this baby that I can’t even imagine having.” Cassie sighed. “I’ve got to tell my aunt and uncle soon. As much as I’d like to avoid confessing my lapse in judgment, I can’t spring it on them at the last minute.”

  “How do you think they’re going to take it?”

  “Not well.” They would be supremely disappointed in her. Not only had she moved to Texas from California, but she’d ignored the values they’d tried to instill in her.

  They’d scrimped and saved. They’d gone without so she could have money for books and incidentals while in college. They weren’t her parents, but they were darn close, and they’d continued to help her when they could have said their responsibilities ended once Cassie turned eighteen.

  They would see this out-of-wedlock pregnancy as payback for all they’d given her.

  “They’re going to freak out and I can’t imagine any good way to tell them. I’d planned to go to California around Christmastime. I’ll be almost eight months by then.”

  “Maybe you could get some advice. Talk to my mom or Mrs. Brody or someone else who might have a more objective perspective.”

  “Maybe.” But she also might have to face more pitying looks and maybe even suspicion that she had tried to “trap” Charlie Yates when she saw him at the wedding.

  She closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “You have a while to think about it. You’re not showing yet.”

  “No, but I will soon. And I don’t know what to do about Rooster. Can I keep on riding him or will I have to give him up? We’ve just gotten into a smooth relationship with each other. He’s been patient with me and I really like taking care of him and being around the barn.”

  “I’m sure you can keep on riding. Lots of women do. What does your book say?”

  One of her first purchases was What to Expect When You’re Expecting, but all the possible problems had alarmed her so much that Darla had bought her another book, The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy. It had been a lot more humorous about the changes in her body. “That it depends on the circumstances. I need to ask the doctor next month. He said I could continue all my regular activities for now. I just have to make sure I eat right, get plenty of sleep and take my vitamins.”

  “You’ve been taking good care of yourself. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m worried about what Charlie will do. You grew up with him. What do you think?”

  “Charlie needs time to think about things. He gets something in his head, like his movie ambitions, and that’s all he sees. Now he’s got something else to think about.”

  “I don’t want to force him to give up his dreams. I would never ask him to do that.”

  “No, but the reality is that he’s going to be a father. He’s got responsibilities to you and the baby.”

  Cassie moaned. She didn’t want to be anyone’s responsibility. She didn’t want Charlie to think of their child as a burden any more than she wanted the baby to be considered an unwelcome accident.

  Any more than she’d ever wanted to feel like a burden to Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

  Darla reached over and patted her hand. “Things will work out. You’ll see.”

  “I hope so,” Cassie said, taking her roommate’s hand in hers. “Thanks for hanging in there with me. I know this is not what you expected when we moved in together.”

  “Hey, that’s what friends are for.”

  “WHAT ARE YOU GOING to do?” Colby asked as he and Charlie sat on their parents’ ancient sofa, beers in hand, ESPN turned down low on the TV.

  “Hell, I don’t have a clue. I mean, I want to do what’s right, but I’ve already acted like an ass. She was mad enough to tell me she was glad I wasn’t going to be around to help raise the baby.”

  Colby stared at his bottle for so long that Charlie wondered if he was thinking or reading the label. “She must have been pretty angry,” Colby finally said.

  “I guess I deserved it. But hell, I don’t have any experience with something like this. Never even came close.”

  “It is kind of strange that you weren’t careful this time.”

  “Yeah.” Charlie took a drink of beer and wondered why he hadn’t given a thought to protection when they first went inside the camper. He hadn’t been sure Cassie really wanted to make love. He’d thought maybe she’d just wanted to make out, although he’d hoped that wasn’t the case.

  But she had said yes to him and he didn’t know why she’d done that, either. This whole thing was a mess, like a crazy dream that still didn’t make sense even after you woke up.

  “She gets sick at night. Like morning sickness, only reversed.”

  “That’s weird.”

  Charlie shrugged. “I guess. I would have asked her what she wants to do next, but she ran into the apartment and Darla sent me home.”

  Colby leaned forward and dangled his longneck, looking as if he was thinking some pretty deep thoughts. “Probably for the best. You never want her dictating the terms. I know she’s the one carrying the baby, but if it’s yours, you have a say about what should happen.”

  “That’s true, but this doesn’t seem real to me yet.”

  Colby looked up at Charlie. “Are you sure it’s yours?”

  Charlie shrugged. “My gut says yes. Besides, you’re the one who told me she was a nice girl.”

  “Always seemed that way to me.” Colby took a drink, then wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “But you need to know. You don’t want to wonder years later.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Nothing. Just speculating. So, are you getting a paternity test done?”

  “She said she would, but she wasn’t going to do anything to risk the baby.”

  “I don’t know about that, but you ought to research how it’s done.”

  Charlie nodded. “I’m going to do a lot of research in just a little while.”

  “Good. Don’t automatically accept everything she tells you as fact if you know there might be a different explanation, because if it’s your baby, you’ve got some rights, too.”

  “Hell, it’s just that Cassie and I don’t really know each other. We danced, we ate some food at the buffet, and we went to my truck.” He knew when she must have gotten pregnant, but wasn’t going into detail with his brother. “We spent Sunday together at her apartment. We were both thinking this was one weekend,
and we’d see each other when I came back to town. Now there’s a baby.”

  “Is she getting one of those ultrasound things?”

  Charlie shrugged again. “I don’t know—maybe she’s already had one.”

  “I saw Wyatt at the hardware store the other day and he was showing everybody a video on his high-tech phone.”

  “Sounds like Wyatt.” Charlie couldn’t imagine doing that. Why would anyone want to see a tiny image of something that didn’t even look like a baby? Now, if it were a new quarter horse…

  “So, if it is your baby, when are you going to tell Mom and Dad?”

  Charlie closed his eyes. “I don’t know. I’m just glad they don’t know already. I was afraid it would be all over town.”

  “No, not yet, but don’t wait too long or they might find out from someone else.”

  “You know they’ll expect me to marry her.”

  “That’s a given. How do you feel about that?”

  “About the same as I feel about the baby. Weird. Unreal. I didn’t expect to get married for a long time.” He rolled his head. “Hell, I don’t even have a career!” His rodeo days were behind him and his acting career hadn’t taken off…yet.

  “About that career,” Colby said, finishing off his beer. “What are you going to do since you haven’t landed a role in a movie or television show? Is that route over?”

  Charlie shrugged. “I guess, at least for now. I don’t have anything else planned.”

  “What about that idea we talked about a while back—starting a rodeo school here on the ranch? We’ve already got a good stock of Corriente cattle. Your name is well-known. All you need are some trained horses, plus we’d have to fix up the old bunkhouse for the cowboys.”

  “Yeah, I’ve thought about it some. I could advertise at the nationals in Vegas. I know a lot more people out there now.”

  “Right, and it would be something you could do long term.”

  “Since my rodeo career is over, you mean.” Charlie still felt bitterness that he’d been injured and couldn’t perform at the highest level. He could rope and tie a calf, but would never be fast or accurate enough to win enough points to be champion again.

  “If you decided to settle down here, a rodeo school might be a good thing. Might give you some stability in case you do decide to get married.”

  “Cassie’s not interested in getting married.”

  Colby pushed himself up from the couch. “What about her parents? What will they expect her to do?”

  “They passed away a long time ago. She was raised by a very strict aunt and uncle out in California.”

  Colby shook his head. “Good thing they don’t live close by.”

  “Yeah, good thing.” He didn’t want an irate uncle coming after him with a shotgun or a Bible. He needed time, not pressure, to decide what was best.

  “So, you want another beer?”

  Charlie upended the longneck. “Yeah. I could use a fresh one.” Or two or three.

  CASSIE DECIDED SHE REALLY needed to go to church on Sunday morning. Not only had she done something her late parents, plus her aunt and uncle, would view as sinful, but her argument with Charlie had produced some very unworthy thoughts about him.

  Darla was sleeping in this morning. Her door was still closed when Cassie left the apartment for the short drive to the church across town.

  If she was going to remain open-minded about Charlie’s role in the future of her baby, she had to stop assuming the worst and try to understand that he was shocked to suddenly discover she was pregnant.

  After the scripture reading and the first hymn, she began to relax and concentrate on the service, not her problem. Or problems—baby and baby-daddy. She did her best to let the familiar order of the service, the smell of the hymnals and the shuffling of people in the pews calm her spirit. The minister had just begun his sermon when her cell phone rang.

  Heart racing, she jerked open her purse as “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” blasted from the phone. Charlie. Her neck and cheeks heated as she felt every eye in the church turn toward her. She finally managed to silence the darn thing by disconnecting the call.

  She knew he would call her back immediately, thinking she didn’t want to talk to him, and if she didn’t answer, he’d show up at her apartment to confront her about the apparent slight. Or maybe he’d think she was ill again.

  She grabbed her purse, wrapped her hand around the phone and scooted out of the pew, making excuses along the way. At the pulpit, the minister resumed his sermon. Hopefully everyone would forget or forgive that she’d disrupted the service.

  Could be worse, she thought. I could have a ringing cell phone and a screaming baby.

  She walked through the foyer just as the phone began to ring again. She answered it as she stood on the front steps, heat rising from the concrete even this early in the day.

  “Charlie,” she said breathlessly.

  “Are you sick again?” He sounded concerned, not irritated as she’d expected.

  “No, I was at church.”

  “Church?”

  “Yes, you know, the place with the steeple where people go on Sunday mornings?”

  “I know what a church is. I was just wondering if…oh, never mind. I’m calling because we need to talk if you’re up to it.”

  “We do need to talk. How about this afternoon?”

  “What are you doing for lunch?”

  “I’m not sure. Darla was asleep when I left.”

  “How about barbecue? Come on out to the ranch. I’ll get the barbecue.”

  Suddenly the flavors of Texas barbecue brisket exploded in her mouth. Smokey and savory and sweet. She must have barbecue. “Brisket. That sounds great.”

  “Do you need directions?”

  “Yes. I’ve never been to your ranch.” She looked in her purse for the little notebook she kept there. She knew so little about her baby’s daddy that she needed instructions on how to find the family ranch. She didn’t know his favorite color or movie. She barely knew his brother and had never met his parents.

  He gave her details on how to get to the Lazy Y and she promised to be there in an hour.

  She ended the call, then placed her phone on vibrate instead of ring. Going back into the sanctuary might make more heads turn, but she needed to calm herself. Listening to the rest of the sermon, singing another hymn, and reciting the doxology would go a long way toward getting her ready to face Charlie again.

  This time, she wasn’t going to overreact to anything—his good looks, charm or irritating comments. This time, she’d remain centered and focused on what was important. The baby they’d made together.

  Chapter Five

  Colby volunteered to go get barbecue since he didn’t want to clean up the kitchen or pick up the living room. Charlie unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, then brushed the breakfast crumbs off the kitchen table. It seemed strange tidying up the house—his childhood home—for a woman. A date, so to speak. He and Cassie had never actually gone out together. They’d never taken in a movie or dinner in a restaurant, except for the buffet at Dewey’s during the reception. He’d never asked her to go anywhere with him except to his camper.

  And look how that had turned out…

  Colby returned with brisket, ribs and some smoked turkey breast, just in case Cassie didn’t want beef or pork. Who knew what pregnant women liked? He set containers of fried okra, beans and potato salad on the table. A brown sack, greasy from dinner rolls, sat in the middle of the wood-grained table.

  Charlie wondered if he should “pretty up” the food or leave it like that. If he put it in serving dishes, she might get the idea he was trying to impress her. Was it too late for that? Was he interested in impressing her? He didn’t know how he felt about her except he’d missed her while he was gone, even though he’d been busy, and he was still reeling from what she’d told him yesterday.

  A man could only process so much information in one day.

  “So, what�
�s the plan?” Colby asked.

  “Other than getting you out of the house after we eat, I don’t really have one.”

  “Have you made a decision on how much you want to be involved if the baby is yours?”

  The doorbell rang before Charlie had to reply to his big brother’s probing. “Yeah, I have,” was all he said before he went to open the door.

  “Hi,” Cassie said, her voice a little nervous and breathless, like she’d sounded that first morning when they’d woken up together.

  “Hi yourself.” She’d fixed her hair so loose curls just brushed her shoulders, and she wore a soft, peach-colored summer dress that was sexy as hell despite the modest neckline and length. She looked good. Real good. And not at all pregnant.

  Colby walked toward them, his boots clicking on the tile floor. “Hi, Cassie. Please come in.”

  “Thank you.”

  Charlie stepped out of the way, mentally cursing for not asking her himself. “Yeah, come on in.”

  “We have barbecue,” Charlie said. “In the kitchen.”

  “I’m looking forward to it. Did you make it?” she asked as she walked past him.

  Colby laughed. “I went to that new place in town near the farmers’ market.”

  “They have great brisket,” she said. “That was very thoughtful of you.”

  Hey, I’m the one who thought of it, Charlie felt like saying. What was it about this situation that made him so shook up that he couldn’t respond like an adult? Was it the way Cassie looked or the way she was looking at Colby? He hadn’t been jealous of his older brother in years, but he felt that way today.

  Time to regroup, Charlie told himself as they walked up to the table. “Please, have a seat,” he said with his best manners, pulling out a chair for her on the side of the table facing the windows. That way, she could see the yard and the barn, not the countertop littered with the rest of the take-out containers and paper bags.

  “So, this is the family home?” she asked as she rearranged her knife, fork and napkin.

  “We grew up here,” Colby answered before Charlie could figure out what Cassie might mean by that remark.