The Bull Rider's Baby

by Brenda Minton

  “You going to be okay?”

  His dad turned from the window. “Yeah, I’m fine. I banged up my ankle.”

  “Good, glad you weren’t hurt bad. What about the police?”

  “Second strike. I’m not out yet.”

  “Is that what you’re going for, Dad? Do you want to be out?” Anger had again sneaked back into his voice. “I’m sorry.”

  He had other things, harsher things to say, but it wasn’t the time or the place. He removed his hand from Sophie’s and leaned to look at his dad.

  “I want you to come home with me. To Dawson.”

  “What are we going to do in Dawson, remember the good ol’ days?”

  “No, we’re going to rebuild a farm and a legacy.”

  His dad turned to look out the window again. His chest rose and fell, his hand came up to wipe at his eyes. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  “Farm, or be sober?”

  “Both, I guess.” His dad sat up in the bed, repositioning his injured foot. “I’d sure like to be the man I was twenty years ago.”

  “I’ll help you find him, Dad.” Keeton felt the heat of emotion slice through his chest. He ducked his head and drew in a deep breath. “We’ll do this together.”

  “Do what together?” The voice, clearly angry, came from the doorway.

  Keeton turned, smiling at his mother. She’d obviously just gotten off work. She was a loan officer at a bank, had been for years. She and his dad had taken different turns after Kade died. His dad had found comfort in the bottle. Keeton’s mom had buried herself in work and had ignored her pain and her family.

  “We’re moving back to Dawson.” Keeton’s dad said it with a smug smile. “I guess you made me sell the place, but you couldn’t stop Keeton from buying it back.”

  “I know what he did.” His mom walked into the room, her eyes going soft as she looked at Keeton’s dad. Her lips pursed. “Are you okay?”

  “Broken ankle. It’s nothing. Remember when I fell off that rank colt, Doris?”

  She didn’t smile. “Yeah, you broke your fool back. I can’t stay, but I wanted to check on you.”

  Keeton watched as his mom walked up to the bed. She rested a hand on his dad’s shoulder and then she leaned and kissed his cheek.

  “Thanks, Dor. I sure have missed you.”

  “Take care of yourself.” She turned to Keeton and Sophie, as if she’d just remembered the two of them were sitting there. “Sophie, you look beautiful. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  There were words unspoken. Keeton guessed she wanted to add something like, “With Keeton.”

  “Thank you, Doris.” Sophie stood to hug his mom. “Keeton got the phone call while he was at our place. I offered to come with him.”

  “That was sweet of you. You take care, okay?” His mom used a light, breezy tone. Avoidance had become a real art in the West family.

  “I will. Hopefully we’ll get to see you soon.” Sophie dropped her hand from his mom’s arm and took a step back.

  His mom nodded and walked to the door. She stopped and turned to look at his dad in the bed. “I’ll drive down to Dawson and check on you.”

  “Thanks, Dor. I appreciate that.”

  And then she left. Keeton sat there for a long time, thinking about his mom’s change of heart until his dad drifted off. He stood then, easing himself up because his knee had gotten stiff sitting so long.

  “Dad, we’re going to take off. I’ll be back tomorrow to take you home.”

  His dad opened his eyes a crack. “You got a home for us down there.”

  Keeton didn’t know how to answer that. He’d had a home. Now he didn’t. He hadn’t really thought through what to do with his dad.

  “He’s staying in my guesthouse,” Sophie answered for him. “There’s plenty of room for you to stay with him, if you can handle the stairs.”

  He smiled at them. “Sophie, I’m an old pro at crutches and broken bones. I used to ride saddle broncs back in the day.”

  An old cowboy, that was Keeton’s dad. And when you took a cowboy off the farm and handed him a sedan instead of a horse, something changed inside him. And it changed more when he saw a son put to rest long before his time.

  “We should go.” He touched his dad’s arm. “Tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Keeton.”

  They walked down the hall in silence. At the waiting room, empty at that late hour, Sophie stopped. He gave her a questioning look and she didn’t respond with words. She pushed the door open and led him inside. The tiny room had a TV and two vinyl sofas. It was dark outside and the room was stuffy.

  “You okay?” She stood close, still holding his hand.

  He’d asked her the same thing years ago. She’d held his hand. He’d held her. He let go of that memory. They were no longer those two kids, adrift, lost. They were adults who had lived a lot and learned things about themselves.

  They were learning more about each other. What could have been? Or maybe those thoughts were his alone.

  “I’m good,” he finally answered.

  When she didn’t move away, he stepped close and cupped her cheeks in his hands. She didn’t protest, instead she closed her eyes and nodded once, giving him permission. Keeton kissed her because he needed to feel grounded. He needed to know that someone understood his heart. His fear. All of the things a man didn’t want to admit to, he wanted to know someone got it without the words being said.

  And the person who got him, who had always gotten him, was in his arms. He sighed into the kiss and she kissed him back. Her hands moved from her sides to his waist.

  The door opened and he pulled back, laughing a shaky laugh as a nurse apologized and let the door close.

  He touched his forehead to hers and whispered, “Thank you. I feel wrung out.”

  “I know.” She was still holding him. “But maybe this is the beginning of healing for your parents.”

  “Maybe it is. It would be a long time coming.”

  “I know.”

  He wanted to ask her when healing started for her. Instead he held her again. Just held her.

  “We should go.” She whispered the words into his shoulder.

  He didn’t want to go. He wanted to hold her, to feel this connection for a long time. Instead he let go and stepped away.

  “Yeah, it’s a long drive.” He opened the door. “And we haven’t had dinner.”

  “We can hit a drive-through.”

  Right, time to bring this day to an end. He got it. He could always tell when she was backing away, ducking back into her shell. What she didn’t know was that he had the faith to bring down walls.

  Chapter Nine

  James West sat in a lawn chair next to Sophie’s garage. That mangy cat of Keeton’s was curled up in his lap. Sophie parked her car in the driveway because the old farm truck she used for the housing development was in the garage. As she got out of the car she caught a glimpse of Lucky’s mule. She smiled as the animal jumped the fence and ran off into the field.

  “Hey, James.” She pulled up a lawn chair and sat down next to Keeton’s dad. “Do you need anything?”

  He straightened his leg and shrugged. “Nah, I’m doing just fine. Keeton helped me down here when he left to go meet with someone about bulldozing the remains of my folks’ old house. I can’t believe someone burned that place.”

  “I know. It’s a huge loss to Keeton, too.”

  “Yeah, I know. He had some dreams about living here and things being the way they used to be.” James shook his head. “It would be nice, but things can’t ever be what they used to be. A person can go home, but life and time changes us all.”

  “I think he knows it won’t be th
e same. He just wants to come home.”

  “Right.” James leaned back in his chair and he didn’t look her way. “I should have put my foot down and we should have stayed here. But that’s how life is. You make choices and you can’t take them back.”

  “Very true.”

  “I’m sorry you lost him, Sophie.” James patted her hand, finally smiling a bittersweet smile and looking at her. “I’m sorry things couldn’t have been different for you.”

  “Life is what it is, James. I’ve had a good life. I’ve done what I wanted.”

  “You haven’t married and had kids. Seems to me those would have been things you wanted.”

  “I haven’t met anyone.” She looked away, because his eyes had filled with tears. “I haven’t stayed single because of Kade. I missed him for a long time. Sometimes I still do. But I haven’t married because I haven’t met anyone to marry.”

  “And you still have that rule about not dating bull riders.” He laughed a little.

  Sophie smiled at him. “Yes, I have that rule.”

  “Shame, because I think you and Keeton—”

  She had to stop him there. “James, Keeton and I are friends.”

  “Yeah, I know.” He drifted back to other thoughts, she could see it in his eyes, the way they clouded with other emotions. “I shouldn’t have taught those boys to ride bulls. If I hadn’t…”

  She touched his arm and tried to find the right words. She thought about lectures she’d given herself over the years, and words of wisdom shared with her by her parents. She didn’t have her own advice for him, but she had recycled advice that had worked for her.

  “We can’t always second-guess the decisions we made, or blame ourselves for the way life happens. We have to trust that God has a plan and that whatever happens, if we stand on faith, He’ll get us through.”

  “That ride changed everything.”

  “One moment usually does have a way of changing everything. That’s how life works.”

  “But you and Kade would have been married. We’d still be here on this land, married and with grandkids.”

  “We don’t know that for sure.” She touched his arm and he smiled at her. “Kade and I might not have gotten married. We were young. There are things we learn as we get older. One of those things is that sometimes what we think is love is really puppy love. But when we’re young, we don’t want to believe that.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s the truth.” He nodded toward the end of the drive. “Here comes Keeton.”

  Keeton parked and had barely gotten out of his truck when Jackson pulled up the drive, going a little too fast. Sophie stood, her heart sinking a little. Keeton was taking Lucy from her car seat and he turned to look at her as she walked across the lawn to her brother.

  “Soph, we just got a call for first responders at your building site. Gabe saw smoke and called the fire department.”

  “No.” Her breath left her and she shook her head. Moments that change everything. “Why is this happening?”

  Jackson shook his head. “I don’t have a clue. But one way or the other, we’ll figure it out and stop them. If you want, I’ll drive you down there.”

  She looked at Keeton, who had left the sleeping baby in her car seat and moved forward. Why?

  “Go. I’m going to help Dad get back upstairs. I’ll meet you in a few.” He touched her back, and then he moved away.

  Sophie followed Jackson to his truck. She could drive herself but his truck was still running and it would be easier, better to have fewer cars taking up space when the fire trucks were trying to get to the house.

  They were at the building site in less than two minutes. Sophie jumped out of the truck as it rolled to a stop. The fire truck was there. She watched Jackson hurry toward the truck where Travis and others were already in their protective gear. She watched from a distance as her brothers and the other volunteers from the Dawson Rural Fire Department went to work. Not that they could save the Tillers’ house.

  She knew that their intentions were to keep the fire from spreading to the house frame that had been started a week ago.

  Keeton rolled up the drive in his truck. He had his dad and Lucy with him. Sophie stood her ground but her feet weren’t planted as solidly as she’d once thought. Her feet wanted to walk her in the direction of Keeton. She remained steady, flicking her gaze from Keeton, Lucy and James on his crutches, back to the fire. A minute later Keeton stood next to her.

  “I’m sorry.” His voice, husky and soft, resonated deep inside her.

  “It’s okay. I mean, we’ll start over.”

  “Yeah, of course.” He had Lucy in one arm and he slid the other around her waist and pulled her to his side in a quick hug. Too quick.

  “Why is this happening?” She looked up at him, into dark eyes. He shook his head.

  “I don’t have a clue, Sophie. I wish I did. I’d go after them myself if I knew who did this.”

  A truck pulled up the drive. A few of her workers. Jason, Gabe, Tucker. They got out of the truck and hurried toward her. Jason’s face turned red and he shoved clenched fists deep in his pockets.

  “What is going on with this town?” Jason looked from Keeton to her.

  “I wish I knew.” Sophie held her arms out and took Lucy, because it made it easier to bear, holding the baby girl who just loved and wanted to be loved.

  Her heart melted a little more each time she held a baby that wasn’t hers. Lucy cooed and smiled. In that smile Sophie saw Keeton, his smile, his eyes.

  “Sweet baby.” She kissed Lucy’s cheek. And then she saw another truck, familiar, and one she hadn’t wanted to see pulling up at that moment.

  “Uh-oh.” Keeton took Lucy from her. “Looks like your dad caught on.”

  Sophie nodded and walked away from the group of men. She stood next to her dad’s truck when he got out. He didn’t smile. He looked past her, at the fire. Then he looked at her. She was a grown woman. He had gray hair now. And she was still his kid.

  “Why did you keep this a secret? We could have been helping you.”

  Sophie smiled and linked her arm through his. “That’s why I kept it a secret, Dad.”

  “Because you don’t want our help?”

  They started walking, but not fast. “Dad, I needed to do something on my own. This is my project. I came up with the idea. I developed the plan. I got the funding and put it all together.”

  “On your own.” He grinned and shook his head. “I’m proud of you. A little worried, but proud. How’d you come up with this land?”

  “Clarence and Mary Gordon had to sell out after he got hurt. They sold their old home but then they couldn’t sell this. They had remortgaged to pay bills, then couldn’t make payments. I happened to be in town the day that it sold on the courthouse steps.”

  “I didn’t realize things had gotten that bad for them.”

  “I didn’t want to buy it out from under them.” Sophie stared at the remaining embers that were once a house frame. “I called them before I bought it and they were done. They were tired of fighting to keep everything. After I bought this land I offered to let them have part of it back.”

  “They didn’t want it?”

  “No. They said they had already decided to move to town when their house sold. I put them in as managers of Golden Oaks.” Golden Oaks was one of several apartment complexes owned by Cooper Holdings.

  “I wondered about that.” Her dad hugged her. “You make me proud. And I see their nephew is even here helping with the houses.”

  “Gabe. Yes. He needed something to do while he draws unemployment. Dad, you understand, don’t you. Why I had to do this on my own?”

  In a family with twelve kids, and revolving extras, having something of her
own meant having her own identity. Her dad nodded, because of course he got it. He had to get it.

  “I understand. But you can have help and still maintain control.”

  “Right.” She laughed at his statement. “It always works out that way in this family. There’s Jackson, fighting the fire. Lucky will be here in ten minutes. You’re here.”

  “Is it that bad, having a family that is always here for you?”

  “Not bad. Just sometimes a person needs their own thing and a little space.”

  He sighed and nodded. “I know. I get that. But you have to cut me a little slack. It’s hard to be a dad and to know that all of your kids are grown and can walk without holding your hand.”

  “I still need you to hold my hand.”

  “Good thing, because I hadn’t planned on letting go.” He laughed, out of the blue, unexpectedly. “Why did I see Lucky’s mule in your corral?”

  Oops. She bit down on her bottom lip and tried to look innocent, clueless. It didn’t work. Her dad knew how to read his kids. She’d never been the one playing the cute and innocent card.

  “I’m not sure?” She smiled a little and they both laughed. “Okay, the truth is, Lucky’s mule doesn’t like Lucky. But he loves me. He’s in the corral because I saddled him up this morning. And because he hangs out in there, hoping for grain.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding. How long has this been going on?”

  “Since a week after the mule got loose. I kind of have a plan and I hope you won’t tell.”

  “What’s the plan?” One thing she could count on with her dad—he was always up for a good prank.

  “I’m going to ride him in the opening parade of the rodeo this month.”

  “Until then you’re going to let Lucky think his mule can’t be caught.”

  “That’s my plan.”

  “I won’t tell.” He kissed the top of her head. “I never would have thought you’d be my girl out here building houses and breaking mules.”

  “Well, with Mia away, someone had to keep this family guessing.”

  “I miss her.”

  Sophie smiled at that. Mia had given their parents a hard time as a teenager. And they missed her. She had to admit, they weren’t the only ones. “Yeah, me, too.”