The Musical Cowgirl (Bear Creek Rodeo)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  “How would you feel if Aunt Stephanie came to spend the weekend with you while your Uncle Matt and I go on a honeymoon?” Even though Stephanie and Emily weren’t technically Olivia’s aunts, they’d decided to have her use the title as a courtesy.

  Olivia seemed to consider it. “I like Aunt Stephanie a lot. I think that would be okay. When would you be home?”

  “Aunt Stephanie would put you to bed for two nights, and when you woke up on the second morning, we’d be home.”

  “Oh. That doesn’t sound bad.” Olivia nodded. “Yes, I want Aunt Stephanie to come play with me. Does she like Barbies?”

  “She loves Barbies. We played together all the time when we were little girls.” Though her mother had been against Barbie, the three of them had been able to overpower her.

  She and Olivia had packed together, while they waited for Stephanie to arrive. “You need to be extra nice to Aunt Stephanie. She’ll help with anything you need, but she’s not used to little girls like I am.”

  “I’ll teach her how to be a good auntie like you are.” Olivia helped her zip up the suitcase. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you, too, but I know you’re going to have fun with Aunt Stephanie. You couldn’t do much if you went with us because of your cast.”

  “I’ll go with you next time, and I won’t have a cast, and we’ll be able to play, play, play!”

  “I love to play, play, play with you!”

  Brittany carried her bag downstairs, realizing she still hadn’t completely moved out of the apartment. She and Olivia would have to work on that during the week. The drives would be more fun with the little girl talking to her and the music playing low in the background instead of blasting out her ears.

  They had only been waiting a couple of minutes when Stephanie got there. “I don’t even know where Matt is,” Brittany said as she opened the door. “He must be letting the men know what he needs them to do while we’re gone. Call me if there’s any kind of problem. You know we can get back quickly.”

  “There won’t be a problem, will there, Olivia? We’re going to play Barbies until our eyes fall out of our heads, won’t we?”

  Olivia giggled. “I want to keep my eyes in my head!”

  “That’s probably for the best.” Stephanie grinned, ruffling Olivia’s hair. “I brought stuff to fix your hair, too, so we can play beauty shop.”

  “Oh, that would be fun!”

  As the two of them talked, Brittany felt better and better about the weekend. They really would do fine together.

  Matt walked in from outside. “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “I am. Stephanie is here, and she knows to call if there’s a problem. Olivia will tell her where to sleep.”

  “Sounds good to me. Let’s get out of here so we can get there early in the day.”

  “Do we have reservations?” Brittany asked.

  “Yeah, I called. We’re staying on the beach.”

  “Wonderful.” Brittany hugged Olivia close. “Remember to be good for Aunt Stephanie.”

  “I will. I’ll be the best little girl ever.”

  “Good girl.” Brittany turned to Stephanie and hugged her as well. “Thank you so much for being willing to do this at the last minute.”

  “It’s not like I have a life or anything,” Stephanie said with a laugh. It was a hard laugh, though, and it worried Brittany.

  “Have you made any decisions about that company you were thinking of contacting?”

  “Yeah, I’m going to call Monday. I need to get matched at the altar. There’s no other way I’ll ever be able to talk enough to marry.”

  “Well, that’ll be good, then.” With a last wave at two of her favorite people, Brittany headed for the door. “See you Monday morning!”

  “We’ll still be here.”

  Matt took the suitcase from her and stowed it in the backseat of his truck. “Alone at last,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at her.

  “I thought it would never happen.”

  Ten

  Brittany had been going to Galveston all her life. It was an easy vacation destination, just an hour from Houston. When they had crossed the bridge onto the island, she started to get excited. She’d always loved playing on Galveston.

  He looked over at her, seeing her excitement. “It’s like this is your first time in Galveston.”

  “I’ve been here more times than I can count, and I get this excited every time!” She realized then she hadn’t even told him about playing at the rodeo nationals. “Guess who is playing at Cowboy Christmas?”

  Matt blinked a couple of times. “Are you serious? Those are the big leagues!”

  “I know! You’ll go, too, won’t you?”

  “What about Olivia?”

  “We’ll take her. There are lots of fun things to do in Vegas for kids. I want to take her.”

  “All right. Works for me.” He grinned. “I’ve never been to the finals as a spectator. Should be different. James Nixon won the bull riding at a rodeo in Idaho, and we’ll get to see him. He’s an old friend of mine. I can’t wait to introduce you. He was on the circuit at the same time Chris and I were, and we always competed against one another.”

  “But now that you and Chris are gone, is he always going to win?”

  “Nah. This is his last year. His dad is retiring in December, and he’s taking over the family ranch.”

  “Oh, really? Where is his family ranch?” She had no idea there were so many Houston area ranchers who also did rodeo. She shouldn’t be surprised, but she was a little.

  “This area. I think it’s about thirty minutes from mine.”

  “He’s not single, is he? Maybe we should set him up with Stephanie.”

  Matt frowned. “He is single, but he’s too outgoing for Stephanie, I think. He’s pretty boisterous.”

  “Probably not a good idea, then. I do want Stephanie to be happy, and she’s planning to call this matchmaker who introduces people at the altar tomorrow. I just wish she could avoid having to do that. I want her to marry for love.” With her words, Brittany realized she wanted something for her sister that she herself didn’t have. She had married, and there had been lots of attraction on his part, but the love seemed to only go one way. She should have married for love as well.

  She said nothing about it, though, because she didn’t want him to realize she was sad. Not on their honeymoon.

  Matt glanced over at her for a second, hoping she’d say that she loved him and that’s why she’d married him, but she didn’t. Instead, he drove straight to the hotel, where he’d arranged an early check in. He was paying for two nights, even though they’d have to leave in the middle of the night the next night. At least they would have time alone together. Maybe being alone with him would help her to realize that she did love him. He hoped so anyway.

  Once they were checked in, they changed to head to the beach. “I prefer the prettier beaches of South Padre, but Galveston is the one I know best. I need to spend some time in the sun!”

  He grinned. “Time in the sun is good. Do you have your sunscreen?”

  “Yes, I do. I know better than to spend twenty minutes outside in the Texas sun without it. I burn like a lobster.”

  “I just tan,” he said smugly.

  She stuck her tongue out at him. “I think milky white is a great color.”

  “It sure looks good on you!”

  “Trying to stay out of the doghouse?” she asked, one eyebrow arched.

  “I’m not in it yet? Oh, good! I worried for a minute there!”

  She shook her head as she headed to a less-crowded part of the beach. She wished she could go somewhere secluded, but there were no such places on a Galveston beach in the middle of June.

  She sat on the towel she’d brought, and he put sunscreen all over her. When he was done, she turned to him. “It might have been better if we’d done that in the room. Then we could have let it go to its natural conclusion.”

  He laugh
ed. “I do like the way you think, Brittany!”

  They spent the entire afternoon at the beach, and he made reservations for a nice steak place there in Galveston for supper.

  Back in the room, they showered off the sand, dressing immediately after for the supper out. She threw on the only dress she’d taken with her and put her hair up in a messy bun.

  She added a touch of lipstick, and she was ready. She slipped her glasses on but realized she really didn’t need to wear them if she wasn’t around her sisters. “Are you attached to the glasses?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Not at all. Wear them if you want, but I sure don’t need them.”

  “I’m not going to wear them when I’m not with my sisters. I think I’m done.”

  “I think that makes a lot of sense,” he told her. “I’m not going to confuse you with your sisters, even if they’re with us.”

  “It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s everyone else. I hate looking exactly like the two people I spend most of my time with. But now I won’t be spending most of my time with them. There will be shows and practices but nothing else. It feels freeing.” She put her glasses on the counter in the bathroom, and they headed out to supper.

  They ordered their food, and while they waited, Matt looked at her, desperately wanting her to declare her undying love for him. When he realized that he hadn’t said the words to her yet, it made sense, though. She thought he’d asked her to marry him for Olivia’s sake, and the first time he had. After that, it had been all about his love for her.

  “While we were driving, you told me you wanted Stephanie to be able to marry for love, and I want you to know that I did.”

  “You did what?” Brittany wasn’t sure what was wrong with the man, but he was making no sense to her.

  “I married for love. I married you because I can’t imagine being with anyone else for the rest of my life. The way you are with Olivia is just a bonus. I love you, and I just need you to know that.”

  She smiled. “I was hoping that was the case, because I love you with everything inside of me. I had no idea how I was going to be able to make it through a marriage with love only on one side. I so desperately wanted to be Olivia’s aunt, but if her uncle had been anyone else in the world, I wouldn’t have felt that way.” She covered his hand with hers. “I love you, Matt.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”

  “Well, you could have said it! I was waiting for you!”

  “I wondered if that was the case, so that’s why I told you. I figured if I got everything out in the open, then maybe you would, too.”

  Brittany nodded. “Good choice.”

  Her phone rang at that moment, and she glanced down at it. Stephanie. “It’s Steph. I have to take it. Something might be wrong with Olivia!”

  She answered. “Hello?”

  “Hey. Olivia wanted me to call you and tell you that she’s having a great time with me, and you can stop worrying that I’m not as good with kids as you are, because she says I’m amazing.”

  Brittany laughed. “I’m glad to hear it. Tell her I miss her.”

  “Will do. Enjoy yourself!” Stephanie hung up after that, and Brittany shook her head.

  “Olivia needed me to know that Stephanie is a good babysitter, and they’re having a good time.”

  Matt smiled. “I’m glad to hear it. Maybe we can talk her into doing this again sometime.”

  “Oh, I’m sure we can. Just not this week.” Brittany frowned for a moment as she realized they hadn’t used any kind of birth control. “Do you want more kids?”

  Matt nodded. “I’d like to give Olivia a few cousins. Are you wanting kids right off?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m really not, and I just realized I’ve done nothing about that.”

  “Well, I can use something for the weekend. Maybe you could see a doctor this week though? And we’ll both pray it hasn’t happened yet.”

  “I do want kids, but I don’t want to have them just when my career is taking off. I want to be able to put everything I have into my music and working with my sisters. Does that make me a selfish wife?”

  He laughed. “Not at all. I think that makes you very realistic. I want you to be ready when our kids are born. I don’t want you resenting them.”

  “Good. I know Emily is planning to wait a few years as well. She actually had a big fight with Chris’s mother about that, and he told his mother off from what I understand.”

  Matt smiled. “I think every new mother-in-law needs to be told off at least once.”

  “Not a really nice mother-in-law. I’ve heard they exist!”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  They got ice cream after they finished eating and walked slowly back to the hotel together, hand-in-hand. Galveston was set up more for walking than for driving anyway.

  “I’m glad we took a couple of days just the two of us. As much as I love Olivia, I think we needed to get to know one another without her here,” she said.

  “I agree. Everything I learn about you only makes me love you more.”

  Brittany smiled. She had truly met and married the only man in the world she needed. Someday they would have children and give Olivia cousins. Someday. But she had a feeling that day wouldn’t be coming any time soon.

  And that was just fine with her.

  What’s Next in Bear Creek

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