Her Convenient Cowboy

by Lacy Williams

  He juggled three forks and made both women laugh, though Breanna rolled her eyes at his antics.

  “I planned on sleeping out in the lean-to. I brought my bedroll,” his sister said.

  He saw his wife’s horrified expression and stifled a smile.

  “You can’t sleep out there. It’s too cold,” Rose said.

  Breanna shrugged. “I’ve slept in the barn before waiting on a horse to be born. And anyway, Davy slept out there, didn’t he?”

  “Yes, b-but,” Rose sputtered. “You’re a...”

  He shook his head, widening his eyes at Rose. Don’t say it, he mouthed to her.

  Breanna saw him, though, and gave him a good whack on his shoulder.

  “Ow,” he complained, though it hadn’t hurt at all.

  “I’m a what?” Breanna asked Rose. “A girl?”

  He knew his sister was mostly joshing, but Rose’s eyes widened as she realized she might have stumbled into a familiar family argument. “Well, I just...I meant...”

  Breanna stood with arms akimbo, waiting with eyebrows raised. And then his sister dissolved into giggles, proving just how much a girl she was.

  “I’m just teasing,” she chortled to Rose. “I’d rather not spend the night out in the cold, if it’s all the same to you. Although I could if I wanted to.”

  He knew better than to argue with his sister about her capabilities.

  Rose wrinkled her nose and huffed, but he saw a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.

  “I’ll let you girls share the bed,” he said. “And I’ll take the floor in here.”

  And no one argued with him.

  It was awfully nice clasping hands with two women he loved—in very different ways—as they prayed over the meal.

  Rose blushed sweetly when he asked Breanna, “You know if Ma has any more canned peaches down in the larder?”

  The fried fish melted in his mouth almost as much as the peach tarts had. It had been a satisfying day, teaching Rose about the cattle and how to shoot. Maybe he was on his way to earning her love.

  They readied for bed and Rose had already lay down when Breanna took him aside on the far side of the room and whispered, “I know you’re newlyweds and all, but you’re gonna need help with your herd once the baby comes. I can stay in the lean-to so y’all will have privacy—”

  He shook his head. “We’ll be all right. The valley is close and anyway—”

  “How much of your savings did you spend on those cattle and enough hay to feed them through the winter?” she interrupted him, her words hissing with the intensity with which she spoke.

  “Almost all of it,” he admitted freely. “And I intend to get them through until spring and make a tidy profit for my trouble.”

  “You don’t think having a baby, and just the two of you up here, will make things difficult?”

  He shrugged. He knew that the baby would change everything, but he imagined they would do what Jonas and Penny had done—accept the change and work through it.

  Breanna snorted a little, rolled her eyes at him. “When you’re cross-eyed from lack of sleep and you want help, you know where to find me.”

  His sister wanted to be needed. And in a family of mostly boys who had helped their pa build the family homestead into a thriving ranch, maybe she felt misplaced. But this was his family and those were his cattle, and he’d take care of all of it.

  He stayed awake long into the night, not worrying about Breanna’s concerns, but remembering how Rose’s eyes still shadowed when he’d mentioned her Jamie.

  What would it take to make her fall in love with him? She was no longer the skittish, fearful woman he’d stumbled upon that first day. But with her building confidence, he worried that she didn’t need him as much—and then why would she fall in love with him if she didn’t need him?

  * * *

  Rose registered the unfamiliar presence in bed and woke all at once.

  Or maybe she’d startled from hearing the cough from the man on the floor.

  She remembered Breanna’s arrival, and Davy spreading his bedroll on the plank floor.

  It was early, still full dark outside the window as she sat up in bed and brushed her hair out of her face.

  He’d opened the stove door and the soft glow from the coals illuminated him kneeling on the floor, rolling up the bedroll.

  “Morning,” he whispered.

  She brushed fallen curls out of her face and tried to come fully awake; she still felt sluggish.

  “I’m heading out soon,” he said, voice still low in deference to his slumbering sister.

  He coughed again and she felt a prick of concern. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine. Just a tickle in my throat. Maybe I slept too near the fire. You’ll be okay today? Ask Breanna to stay as long as she likes. Then I don’t have to worry about you being alone up here.”

  She snorted softly. “It’s you I’m worried about. You’ll come home if a storm blows in, won’t you?”

  “If I can.” He came close and reached for her hand, and she clasped his warm one. He leaned down and brushed her forehead with a kiss. “Why don’t you go back to sleep for a bit? This little one needs it.” He let his hand rest ever so briefly on the bulge of her stomach, and the tender gesture sent warmth streaking through her like a sunrise.

  But after he’d donned his coat and hat and gone out with a blast of cold wind behind him from opening the door, she couldn’t go back to sleep.

  She’d overheard his whispered conversation with Breanna last night. Yesterday, she’d been hopeful about her relationship with Davy. Teasing with him, discovering how beautiful the land was, even the shooting lesson. All of those things had lightened her heart.

  But the gifts Penny and Sarah had sent with Breanna brought reality to the forefront. And Breanna’s concern that Davy wouldn’t be able to see to the cattle because of the baby had stirred Rose’s fears.

  This was the start of their marriage. She’d already had one disastrous marriage. If Davy’s cattle didn’t make it through the winter, if he lost his investment, surely it would affect their marriage.

  She would have to do everything she could to ensure that the baby didn’t ruin his plans.

  She didn’t want things to change between them. But having the baby was inevitable and she’d left her heart unguarded these last days. It wasn’t smart.

  “I can hear you thinking all the way over here.” Breanna rolled over from where she’d burrowed beneath the covers close to the wall. “What’s the matter?”

  “Why would anything be the matter?” Rose avoided the question and threw off the covers, giving up on the idea of more rest.

  “Something could be the matter if you’ve got an unwelcome houseguest or if you’re upset with your husband.”

  “You’re not unwelcome,” Rose said quickly. “And I’m not upset with Davy. It’s just...a lot of things are changing. The baby will be here soon.”

  She kept her back to the other young woman as she put up her hair and pinned it in place.

  “Are you scared?” Breanna asked bluntly.

  Rose shrugged. She was, but she didn’t want to admit it to Davy’s sister.

  “I would be,” Breanna said.

  Rose didn’t know if she meant to be so impertinent or if she was just naturally nosy.

  “You’re only a few years older than me, and you’re going to be a ma.”

  “Do you want to have a family someday?” Rose asked, desperately hoping Breanna would be distracted by the line of questioning.

  “Someday,” Breanna said. “Not anytime soon.”

  Who else could she ask what she needed to know? Davy. But her face was on fire just imagining bringing up such a sensitive subject with her husband.

&n
bsp; “What do you know about having a baby?” Rose asked. She busied herself settling the pan to warm on the stovetop.

  “You mean like how often they have to eat and be changed and patted to sleep and all that? Or about birthing a baby?”

  “The latter.”

  Breanna grabbed three eggs from the cold box and brought them to the pan and cracked them on the edge. “I’ve helped a horse foal before.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s probably different, isn’t it?”

  Breanna grinned a bit, baring her teeth in a not quite smile. “From what my ma says, which isn’t much, there’s some pain and a lot of effort. So maybe not so different after all.”

  “Maybe I am a bit frightened,” she whispered.

  But Breanna didn’t laugh at her. “You should come back to the homestead. Ma will help you through it.”

  “I don’t know.”

  Her sister-in-law’s narrowed eyes probably saw too much. But all she said was, “You should talk to Davy.”

  “I suppose I’ll have to.”

  They ate breakfast, Breanna regaling Rose with stories of Davy as a child. Apparently he’d loved schooling.

  After breakfast, Breanna helped her haul buckets of water and scrub the laundry. Then they mixed up a large batch of bread dough and kneaded it into several loaves before leaving it to rest.

  Afterward Breanna insisted they go through the baby things. “Sarah will throttle me if I don’t, since you and Davy escaped back up here so quickly.”

  There were two soft woven blankets and an assortment of small gowns. Some pink, some blue, some white, some a pale yellow.

  And, at the bottom, a good number of white squares. The diapers.

  “This is too much,” Rose said through a throat hot with emotion.

  She couldn’t believe Penny and Sarah had gathered so many things. Maybe she’d been wrong about her new mother-in-law. She was so confused about the reception she’d received.

  She fingered one of the gowns, touching its tiny sleeve. Who would she meet that would wear the small garment? Her son or daughter?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Late in the afternoon, Davy met Breanna as she rode out to him. He’d circled back around from the farthest side of the valley, using the time to check for wolf tracks. If the wolf had been there before or lived nearby with a pack, there would be signs.

  The wind was coming in cold from the north and the sky was slate gray, but there was no snow or sleet. And he wanted to find out if that wolf was hanging around before any weather could obliterate what tracks there were.

  “Everything okay at the cabin?” he asked his sister as she rode up. She was bundled up like he was in her warmest coat and a scarf, a Stetson pulled down low over her head. As if she was ready to ride back home.

  The horses blew a greeting to each other, their breath puffing out in white clouds.

  “Yes, everything’s fine. I convinced her to lie down and take a little rest, but I don’t know how long she’ll do that. She reminds me of a nervous, green broke horse.”

  He knew that better than anyone else. “She’s just lost one husband and has a baby on the way. She’ll soon learn there’s nothing to worry about here.”

  Breanna’s eyes narrowed on him shrewdly. “Are you happy with the way things turned out?”

  He couldn’t cross his arms over his chest the way he wanted, not on horseback while holding the reins. But he couldn’t help his shoulders stiffening.

  “Is that your question or did someone—” such as Ma “—send you out here to ask it?”

  “Don’t get your long johns in a bunch,” she said. “I might’ve overheard Mama expressing some concern about your marriage to Pa, but she would never say anything to anyone else.”

  Thinking back to the discussion he’d had with her and Jonas before the wedding, he wasn’t so sure about that.

  “Everything’s fine—or it will be when Rose settles in here.” He let his eyes slip to the treetops as he remembered how frightened she’d been those first days. “She’s been through a lot. She worries that I’m going to get caught out in the weather or get hurt...” Or that he would lose his temper with her.

  He had to clear his throat when it itched viciously. Cough was getting worse, but nothing to worry about yet.

  “Have you thought that maybe you should teach her about being a rancher’s wife? How not to be such a city girl?”

  “Of course I have,” he responded. “We went ice fishing, and she’s learned to tack a horse. She’s learned a bit of the land.”

  Breanna’s expression had softened. “You love her.”

  “Yes. I’m trying to woo her. Not to rush her. She’s just lost the man she loved first.”

  “Have you talked to her about Ricky?”

  He went still. His horse registered his sudden stillness and sidestepped. He settled it with a tug on the reins. “A bit. Why?”

  Breanna’s eyes got the same little crinkles on the outside edges that he imagined his did when he thought about the brother who had abandoned their family. Where was Ricky? Was he safe? Lonely? Questions remained without answer.

  “Because if you’re trying to make her fall in love with you, you have to share your whole heart.”

  He’d told her the basics about his relationship with Ricky. But he wasn’t ready to talk about Ricky’s desertion. It was too painful. But hadn’t he asked Rose to talk to him about her dead husband? How could he ask her to share when he couldn’t?

  He spoke before he could go any further down that painful trail. “Are you heading back? You’d better get going before you lose the daylight.”

  She drew her horse close and gave him a one-armed embrace before she kicked her mount into a gallop. That was Breanna, never still, always moving through life at a gallop.

  He shook his head but couldn’t keep a fond smile from his face. He loved her just the way she was.

  He wheeled his horse around and went for another pass against the base of the mountains, looking for wolf tracks.

  But he couldn’t get Breanna’s words out of his mind. Had he been relating to Rose at a shallow level, showing her ways to be safe and survive on their ranch but not really showing her his heart?

  Sharing his hurt about Ricky felt so much harder than wooing her with gifts or showing her how to ride a horse.

  He wasn’t sure he could do it. Wasn’t sure he wanted to. Wasn’t there another way to win her heart?

  * * *

  Davy woke coughing again the next morning, his chest tight like a cold might be coming on. It was later than usual. The sun was already up.

  He hadn’t found sign of the wolf yesterday, but he wasn’t sure that meant it was gone or that his tracking skills were lacking. By the time he’d returned it had been dusk. Rose had been quiet and thoughtful, though she’d read aloud for awhile. He’d snuck out to the lean-to and worked at carving the cradle until his eyes had gotten too tired. When he’d come back inside, she’d already been asleep.

  Now she turned over in the bed beside him, sitting up.

  “You’re still coughing,” she said, her voice husky with sleep. Her hair was tousled and down over her shoulders in a way that made him want to thread his fingers into the soft mane. He knew from the kisses they’d shared before exactly how soft it was.

  But another cough erupted from him, shaking his body until he shuddered with it, and he lost his chance to do so.

  “Are you sick?” she asked, and her hand came to rest naturally at his forehead. “You’ve been coughing for two days, and it seems worse today.”

  “I’ll be all right. I’m used to working through a little cough.”

  “You’re warm. You might be fevering.”

  “I’m warm because I’ve been sleeping under these covers
.”

  But when he threw off the covers and his feet hit the cool plank floor, he felt a moment of dizziness. He quickly shook it off. “I’ve got to spread hay for the cattle today. I’ll try to come home early—won’t stay out looking for wolf tracks.”

  “You went hunting for the wolf?” He hadn’t expected the sharpness in her tone. “That’s dangerous.”

  He shrugged and went ahead pulling on his clothes over his long underwear. “I can’t let it pick off our cattle all winter. I’ve got to make sure and drive it away, if I can.”

  “But—”

  “Those cattle might not look like much, but they’re worth quite a bit of money.”

  “I know that.” She threw back the covers as he donned his coat. He didn’t want to waste time getting out there, even if it meant foregoing coffee. That was what he got for sleeping so late.

  A cough shook him, and he grabbed on to the chair back as it ravaged his body.

  “I don’t think you should go out today,” she said timidly.

  He felt hot all over, but... “I have to go. Maybe you don’t understand what all is riding on this, but I’ve got no choice.”

  He snapped the door closed behind him before he could feel the brunt of her obvious disappointment. When he clucked to his horse, calling it over so he could bridle it, the animal looked at him with accusing eyes. He muttered excuses at the animal as he harnessed it, knowing it was Rose he needed to apologize to.

  He would as soon as he got the hay spread out for the cattle. If a storm came up in the next couple of days, they needed to be provided for. And with the way slate-gray clouds hung low in the sky, it was possible a storm was on the horizon.

  By the time he’d hitched up the horse and pitched the cart full of hay, he was sweating. And not in a good way. In a sick way.

  But he couldn’t turn back now. He had to finish this task.

  When he arrived in the valley, his throat was on fire. His eyes watered in the cold, brisk wind. And he kept coughing. Deep, racking coughs that shook his entire body.

  Maybe Rose had been right about him staying in, but there was little he could do about it now.