The Last American Cowboy

by Vanessa Devereaux

  “We used condoms.”

  “You should have gone on the Pill if you knew sleeping with this cowboy was going to be a regular thing.” My mother handed me a cup of coffee, which I didn’t think I should be drinking anymore.

  “I know, I know.”

  “So how does he feel about it?”

  “I haven’t told him yet.”

  “You think he’ll want to marry you?”

  “Mom, I’m not a teenager and, these days, people don’t get married just because they’re having a baby.”

  “You want to marry him?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You love him?”

  I nodded. I’d fallen in love with him big time when he’d spent the weekend with us, and I’d seen what a great guy he’d been with my daughter.

  “And then there’s Lily to think about,” I said, deciding to take my chances and drink the coffee.

  My mother patted my hand. “There are other options these days. Adoption… You could even consider an abortion, Fiona.”

  I shook my head. “No, I’ve already decided I want to keep this baby.”

  My father chose that particular moment to walk into the kitchen after his early-morning stroll. “What baby?” he asked.

  “The cowboy you thought was very charming has gotten your daughter in the family way,” said my mother.

  “Does that mean I have to get out my shotgun?” asked my father.

  I hugged him, loving my dad for his sense of humor and making fun of the whole awful situation.

  * * * * *

  I couldn’t spare the time to fly to Montana to break the news to Blake in person, but I hated the thought of telling him about his impending fatherhood over the phone, and e-mail was definitely not the way to do it either.

  I picked up the phone and pressed the area code for Montana but then put it down again. How did you even begin to tell a guy you’d only known for three months that you were having his baby? Shit, the two of us weren’t even really dating.

  I bit my nails and thought I’d just get it over and done with. I stabbed at the numbers, my heart beating faster as I heard the ringtone.

  “Hello, this is Blake.”

  I closed my eyes, hoping the words would come out. “Hi, Blake, it’s Fiona.”

  “Hey, city girl. What’s happening in Boston?”

  “Not much. It’s raining today—windy, too.”

  “So how are you and Lily doing?”

  “We’re great. Blake, there’s something really important I need to tell you. I know I should do it in person but…”

  “Hey, this sounds like something I need to sit down to hear.”

  “I think you should. Are you ready?”

  “Sure, I am.”

  “I’m pregnant.” Had I heard him fall to the ground? There was just silence at the other end of the phone now. “Blake, are you still there?”

  “Sure, I am. I hope it’s my baby.”

  “Yep, definitely yours.”

  “You’re right. I do need to sit down.” I heard what sounded like a chair being dragged over the floor. “Guess we shouldn’t have relied on just condoms.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “Baby, it’s not your fault. We both took part in making this little one. You know when you’re due?”

  “Yes, I went to see the doctor this morning, and he said some day around February 24.” There was silence again. “Blake.”

  “Yeah, I’m still here. You want me to be there with you…I mean, when you deliver?”

  “That would be great. I’ve opted to have the baby in the same hospital I had Lily.”

  I heard some men’s voices in the background and someone calling Blake’s name.

  “Fiona, I’ve got to go sort out a problem here, but I’m going to call you right back, and we can talk some more, okay?”

  “Sure. I’ll be waiting.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Blake never called me back, and here I was at work, sitting at my desk in tears. I’d be facing having this baby all by myself. I rubbed my belly, wondering if it was a boy or a girl and how I was going to tell Lily she’d be sharing her mommy with another sibling.

  I leaned back in my chair, suddenly regretting giving in to my sexual urges. If I hadn’t slept with the cowboy, none of this would have happened. I’d been so adamant about protecting Lily from any hurt, and because I couldn’t keep my carnal passions under control, I’d affected her life, too.

  I wanted to leave work early. I’d had my first round of morning sickness that day and was starting to feel sick again.

  * * * * *

  Later that evening, I looked at Lily, lying on her stomach in front of the TV and scribbling on an art pad my mother had given her. I’d have to tell her soon, and how was she going to react?

  I took a deep breath, thinking now might be a good time to ease into the subject. The doorbell rang just as I was heading in to sit with her. When I opened it, a man in his mid-fifties with a beer gut stood there, holding a cell phone in his hand.

  “Fiona Spencer?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “This is for you,” he said, handing me the cell phone.

  I was puzzled until I heard Blake’s voice calling my name through the phone. I lifted it to my ear.

  “Guess you’re wondering what this is all about?”

  “Yeah, I have a guy I’ve never seen before standing on my doorstep, and now you’re talking to me on his cell phone.”

  “I tried to get a flight to Boston after we spoke.” My heart beat double time. So he hadn’t just abandoned me. “But I’ve got so much going on here, and I can’t leave right now. So I’ve spent all afternoon trying to arrange for you to come to me tonight.”

  “Tonight…Blake, I can’t. I mean, I have work. I have to take Lily to my parents and—”

  “It’s all arranged. I spoke with your boss, and don’t worry. Lily’s coming, too. She can spare some time away from school.”

  “But…”

  “But nothing. Go pack some stuff for the both of you, and this man is going to drive you to the airport. My dad, who, I should tell you, is over the moon that his only son has finally knocked up a woman, has arranged for you to fly here in his friend’s private plane.”

  “Blake…”

  “Go on, city girl. Don’t you argue with me. I’ll see you later tonight.”

  He was gone before I could plead my case with him. I handed the man back his phone. “I guess you’re driving us to the airport. You want to come in and wait while I pack a few things?”

  Chapter Twenty

  If anything good came out of this mistake Blake and I had made, it was watching Lily’s face as we flew over the mountains in western Montana. She held onto her teddy bear, which she’d insisted come along for the journey, and looked out the window. Her mouth was wide open as she took in the sun, setting over a mountain peak.

  “What do you think of Montana?” I asked her.

  “It’s big.”

  It was dark by the time the plane landed on a private runway close to Blake’s ranch. He was standing by his truck and waiting for us, his hat pushed back on his head, smiling as the man helped us down from the plane. Another man took our bags to Blake’s vehicle.

  “Hello, Lily,” he said.

  She was shy once again and hid behind me until I coaxed her out from behind my legs. “Can you say hello to Blake?”

  “Hi.”

  Blake pulled me into his arms and kissed me. “You ready to go to the ranch?”

  I nodded. “It’s almost midnight where we’ve come from, and I’d really like to get Lily to bed.”

  * * * * *

  Lily was already asleep by the time we arrived at Blake’s house. He carried her into the house and up the stairs and put her gently down on the bed.

  “Would you mind if I slept with her just in case she wakes up and wonders where she is?”

  “Sure, and do you want to go to bed rig
ht now, too?”

  “Would you be upset if I did?”

  Blake shook his head. “Having a baby probably makes you tired, right?”

  I put my hand over his mouth and signaled for him not to say anything about the baby in case Lily wasn’t quite all the way asleep yet.

  He put his hand on my tummy, and I held it there.

  “I’m excited about the news. I really am,” he mouthed to me.

  * * * * *

  When I woke up the next morning, I threw up straightaway. Poor Lily looked like she was worried something was wrong with her mommy. I smiled when she searched through our bags to find a Band-Aid and put it on my arm.

  I needed to make another mad dash to the bathroom and heaved over the toilet for the next fifteen minutes. It’d been the same with Lily, and it had lasted well into my second trimester. Fun times ahead for me.

  I sat myself down and rested against the bath, welcoming its coolness on my back.

  “Hey, Fiona, you okay in there?” Blake called through the door.

  “Yep, and the door’s open if you want to come in.”

  He stepped inside and rushed over to me. “You want me to call the doctor? You look pale.”

  I took hold of his hand. “Morning sickness, that’s all. I’ll be fine by 10 a.m. Well, at least I was when I was pregnant with Lily.”

  He ran a washcloth under the water, sat beside me, and pressed it over my mouth and head.

  “My dad and Jenine are cooking breakfast, which I’m sure doesn’t interest you right now, but Lily is probably hungry. After that, if it’s okay with you, they want to show her the horses, maybe let her feed and brush one.”

  “I don’t know if she’s ever seen one other than in her storybooks.”

  * * * * *

  Blake senior made a big fuss of Lily as soon as he set eyes upon her. She seemed to take to him immediately and, when they and Jenine headed out to the stables, she was already holding his hand.

  “He’s always had a way with the ladies,” said Blake, watching them walk away.

  “You do, too. Well, at least one lady,” I said, tugging on his shirt.

  He turned around and held me. “Okay, we’re all alone, and it’s time for us to talk about our future. I’ve been practicing all night, but I’m so nervous I’ll just have to come out with it. I know you might not be in love with me but, if I’m honest, I guess I fell for you the moment I set eyes on you. Yeah, I wanted to get into your panties on day one, but now it’s all about getting into your heart.”

  “Blake, I fell in love with you when you came to spend the weekend with us.”

  “Baby, it makes me so happy to hear you say that. So I guess all I have to say is, city girl, will you be this country boy’s wife?”

  That took me by surprise.

  “You haven’t thought this through. Where will we live?”

  “Here, of course. What did you think, we’d be husband and wife miles apart?”

  “But Lily?”

  He put his hand over my mouth. “I know you love that little girl with all your heart, and that’s one of the things I love about you but, one day, she’ll be all grown up. She’ll fall in love, too, and be gone with a family of her own, and where will that leave you? A lonely, old lady, that’s what.”

  He was right. He was so damn right. I closed my eyes.

  “The school here is great and, if she needs extra help, I’ll get her a private tutor. She’ll live like a princess, and I’ll be the best dad a man can be. My dad’s introducing her to her very own pony right this minute.”

  I put my hand over my mouth. Not only had I struck gold, but my little girl had, too.

  “He shouldn’t have,” I said.

  “He wants you and her to be happy. And it’s also his way of thanking you for giving him what he’s always wanted.”

  “It wasn’t just me,” I said.

  “Yeah, but you’re carrying this baby for nine months, and that makes you the special one in this team. So what about it, city girl?”

  “How can I say no?”

  Epilogue

  I gripped Blake’s hand as I gave another push. The baby was two weeks overdue, and the midwife had told me it was probably a lazy male and for Blake and I to have sex to get things moving. We had and, four hours later, I’d had my first contraction. An hour later, my water had broken. The labor had progressed quickly, which was great for me, because I’d opted for a home birth. Blake hadn’t left my side, rubbing my back and giving me a foot massage when the pain became too much for me. His father and Jenine were keeping Lily entertained downstairs. At first, she hadn’t been thrilled about having a sibling but now couldn’t wait to be a big sister.

  I gave another push as Blake held my hand. I had a feeling it was going to be a son for me this time around. I put my head back and rested, hoping it would be over soon as I was getting tired, and my hair clung to my head like I’d been caught in a sudden downpour.

  “One more push should do it,” said the midwife.

  “You ready to be a dad?” I asked Blake.

  “Ready and waiting, so make this one a good push.”

  I lifted my legs, pushed with every bit of energy I had left, and felt the baby slip from my body.

  It was over. I rested my back on the pillow, taking a deep breath as the midwife placed the baby on my belly. I glanced down, seeing I’d been right. Blake and I were now the parents of a little boy.

  I reached down and wiped away some blood from his scalp. He was beautiful, just like my Lily. I glanced up to see tears falling down Blake’s face as he held his son’s tiny hand.

  “Well, Mr. Whelan, what do you think?”

  “I’m lost for words, Mrs. Whelan.”

  I said a silent thank you to Bob for handing me the assignment that had changed my life.

  The End

  Author Bio

  Vanessa Devereaux writes both erotica and erotic romances. She’s the author of The Brazen Ladies Trilogy, The Man Next Door, Mistaken Identity, and One Night With You as well as the Fictionwise bestseller Who’s The Boss? Her upcoming titles include another trilogy called Just for Your Pleasure. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching workshops, cooking, or gardening. Check out her Web site at:

  www.vanessadevereaux.com