The Bull Rider's Baby

by Brenda Minton

  “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know.” She’d always wondered what caused a person to go over the edge. What pushed a person to do something crazy? Now she thought she knew—it was a combination. Greed. Anger. Desperation.

  He had all three and then some.

  “I’m going to ask you to get your stuff and get off this property, Gabe.”

  “I think I’m not going to do that because as soon as I do, you’ll call the cops and tell them what you saw. I need those plants. If I’m ever going to have anything of my own, I need a good harvest.”

  “Did you burn my barn and the houses here?”

  “Yeah, but not Keeton’s old house. Kids did that.” He was about fifty feet from her. She had a limited opportunity to run because she could see in his eyes that he wasn’t going to calm down and let her walk away.

  She kept backing away from him. As she walked she kicked off the high heels she’d put on for her job at the head office for Cooper Investments. She kept babbling stupid stuff about being able to help him, maybe get him a loan.

  Every survival show she’d ever seen played through her mind as she finally turned and ran. Always run, the experts said. Don’t stay to be a victim. Run. Even if they have a gun, running is safer than being taken somewhere.

  As she ran she could hear his feet pounding behind her, getting closer. She reached into her pocket for her phone to dial 911. The operator answered, asked her what her emergency was. Sophie gave the address first and then told them she was being attacked by Gabe Gordon. She needed help.

  Her brothers would hear. They would have their scanner on. Someone would get to her. But Gabe got to her first. As she reached for her car door, he pulled her back and slammed his fist across her face.

  Fight.

  She spun, hitting him with her elbow, and then she brought her knee up and connected. As he fell to the ground she got in her car and locked the doors. She started the car and he got to his feet and reached for her door. She shifted into reverse and hit the gas. She still had her phone and 911 was locked in. She heard the operator asking if she was still there.

  “I’m here. I’m heading to town. I can’t stay here alone.”

  In her rearview mirror she saw his truck coming after her. Sophie hit the gas and gravel flew. One thing about being a country girl, she knew how to handle a car on back roads. She peeled out of the gravel drive and onto the paved road. A half mile and she turned toward Dawson.

  The truck behind her zoomed. Ahead of her she could see town. Behind her, Gabe’s face twisted in anger. She took her eyes off the rearview mirror and felt a hard bump as he rammed her car. She held tight to the steering wheel trying to keep the car on the road.

  In the distance she heard sirens. She said a quiet thank-you. The truck hit her again. The car spun and then tilted and slid. Glass shattered and metal crunched as her car hit the ditch and landed with a heavy thud against a tree. Sophie leaned into the steering wheel and breathed deep, past pain in her arm, past fear.

  The door jerked open. She screamed and then she saw her half brother Jeremy and a police officer. She sobbed into her brother’s shoulder. His hand rubbed the back of her head. He told her everything would be okay, they were taking Gabe into custody.

  “He’s growing marijuana,” she whispered as the world tilted uncertainly and went black.

  * * *

  Things didn’t work out the way Keeton wanted. He got stuck with Becka, working out her next visit with their daughter, which meant he didn’t leave Tulsa until early Monday. But leaving was all he wanted to do. He had things he needed to tell Sophie.

  Over the weekend he’d done a lot of thinking. He’d thought about walking away, about giving up the land in Dawson and staying in his house in Broken Arrow. He had enough land to raise a few head of cattle and some good horses. He could stop traveling and be a full-time dad to Lucy.

  It had all felt like a pretty good plan, but every time he thought about giving up, he thought about Sophie and walking away years ago. He hadn’t wanted to be Kade’s replacement. As he packed the suitcase he’d dropped onto his bed, he thought about that decision all of those years ago.

  He’d known back then that Sophie meant more to him than that moment they’d shared. She’d been at the back of his mind all of these years while he’d been chasing dreams and getting older. And all of that time he’d been telling himself that Sophie loved Kade and he didn’t intend on being the replacement West who took her to the altar.

  He’d decided last night that he wasn’t a replacement. And whatever it took, he would convince her to give him a chance to be a better man than he’d ever been in his life.

  Lucy. He looked at his little girl squirming around on his bed, trying like everything to grab hold of a stuffed horse rattle he’d bought. It was just out of her reach and she was scooting, trying to get it. As he watched she flipped her left leg over her right, reached with her left hand—and over she went.

  “Hey, kiddo, you rolled over.” He reached to pick her up and she grinned as if she had a real idea of what she’d done.

  “We need to go home and show Sophie.” Because lately when he thought of himself and Lucy, Sophie was always in the picture. She completed their family.

  And after all of these years, he thought a bigger family might be exactly what he wanted.

  The phone rang. He reached for it, distracted by Lucy pushing fingers in his mouth. “Hello.”

  “Hey, it’s Jackson. We need to head back to Dawson.”

  “Do what? Why we? Don’t you have a load of bulls to take home?”

  “Keet, Sophie’s been in an accident. They’ve arrested Gabe, and she’s in the hospital.”

  Keeton eased his baby girl’s fingers out of his mouth and sat down on the edge of the bed. “What happened?”

  “She caught Gabe in the middle of tending some plants he had in barrels on the edge of that land.”

  “That’s why he wanted her gone. She should have let me call the police.”

  Silence hung between them for a few seconds. Jackson finally spoke. “What do you mean? You knew?”

  “No, but his aunt and uncle stopped by to warn her that they thought it might be Gabe.”

  “And she didn’t tell. It’s about time she stopped keeping everything to herself, like telling the family will take away her freedom.”

  “Yeah, she does have an issue with that.” Keeton stood and reached for his suitcase. “Do you want a ride or do you have a truck there?”

  “Travis is going to bring the livestock home. I’ll ride with you.”

  “Gotcha.” He walked out the back door into his garage and flung the suitcase into the bed of the truck. “Jackson, is she okay?”

  “She’s stable. Light concussion and a broken arm.”

  Keeton exhaled and kissed his daughter on the cheek. He stuck her in the car seat before responding. “I’ll be at the arena as quick as I can get there from my place.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  As Keeton drove down his driveway he saw that the realtor had already put up a sign. He guessed he should have sold this place first, then he wouldn’t have been tempted to come back. But he’d wanted a place to go if things in Dawson didn’t work out.

  He hadn’t planned on Sophie when he went home. He’d thought about seeing her. He’d smiled over the past. He’d never thought about what he’d felt and wondered if those feelings had changed. Back then he’d been a kid, really. Now he knew what he wanted.

  It didn’t take long to get to the arena. When Jackson climbed in the passenger side, Keeton ignored the look the other man gave him. He shifted gears and headed for home. For Dawson.

  “You okay to drive?” Jackson finally asked as they were heading down the highway.

  �
�Yeah, I’m good.”

  “Are you planning to marry my sister?” Jackson reclined his seat a little. He glanced in the back seat of the crew cab truck and made goofy noises at Lucy. She started to cry.

  Keeton smiled and laughed a little at his daughter’s very discerning taste. “Smart girl, my daughter.”

  “I’ll bring her around. Babies love me.”

  “Right.”

  “About my sister?”

  “I’m not talking to you about my plans until I talk to Sophie.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Keeton kept driving. They were nearly to Grove. Jackson had somehow managed to fall asleep. Keeton relaxed a little. And he prayed a lot. He had a box in the glove compartment of his truck. He had memorized all of the right words, even though he couldn’t think of them now. Yeah, he planned on marrying Sophie Cooper.

  If she’d say yes. And he had to admit to a few doubts. Worse than doubts, he had a bad case of nerves. By the time he pulled into the hospital parking lot he felt as though he might have a bad stomach virus.

  He reached for the antacid he kept in the console between the seats. Jackson woke up. He grinned at Keeton as Keeton popped two tablets in his mouth.

  “Got a case of nerves?”

  Keeton swigged from a bottle of water. “No, I’m fine.”

  Jackson laughed and reached for the door handle. “I’ve seen you calmer than a summer day getting on some of the meanest, baddest bulls in the business. I’ve never seen you look this green.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He pulled a thin, paper bag out of the console as he put the antacids back in.

  “What’s that?”

  Keeton ignored him and reached in for the box.

  “Wow, you’ve got this all planned out. No spur-of-the-moment for you.”

  “A guy has to do what a guy has to do.”

  “What’s in the envelope?” Jackson reached but Keeton pulled back.

  “Cards.”

  “Cards? Plural?”

  “Could you stop asking questions? We need to check on Sophie.”

  Jackson got out of the truck and reached in the back for Lucy. “Tell you what, Romeo, why don’t you head on in there and I’ll find the family and ask them how she’s doing.”

  “They’re probably in her room.”

  Jackson shrugged and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “They’re about to vacate her room. Go make my sister a happy woman.”

  Keeton tipped his hat and headed for the hospital. He glanced back once. Jackson was holding Lucy, talking in the phone and grinning.

  As Keeton walked through the doors of the hospital he prayed that God would make things right and that Sophie would give him a chance to be the man who would stay in her life.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sophie woke up in the shadowy room where they’d taken her after the initial exam in the E.R. They had promised she could go home later, maybe early evening. She hoped so. A hospital bed and hospital food weren’t in her plans.

  But then, getting run off the road by Gabe hadn’t been in her plans, either. She’d been awake and watched as the police shoved him into the back of a patrol car back at the scene of the accident. She never would have guessed Gabe, not in a million years.

  “You okay, Soph?”

  She turned, smiled at her mom and nodded. “I’m good. How about you?”

  Angie smiled. “Better now that I know you’re okay.”

  “It’s a broken arm.”

  “It could have been worse.”

  Sophie nodded and tears burned behind her eyelids. She moved and the cast on her left arm felt heavy and hot. “Great way to spend the summer.”

  “Why didn’t you call someone?” Her mom’s worried voice took Sophie’s attention off the cast, the headache, the regrets.

  “I thought I could handle it.”

  “Without getting everyone involved.”

  Ouch. Sophie reached to push the button that would raise her head so she could see her mom a little better. “I think I’ve learned my lesson. There are definitely times to let my family be involved.”

  “That’s good to know.” Her dad stood in the doorway, his blond hair touched with gray but he still stood straight and tall. She smiled at him.

  “Yeah, we learn from our mistakes.” She sighed and looked up at the ceiling, wondering if God had heard all of her apologies, her regrets, her pleading just hours earlier.

  “Mom and I need to step out for a few minutes. Is there anything we can get you while we’re gone?” Her dad shot a smile at her mom that Sophie didn’t miss. And then he winked.

  Sophie’s mom stood and joined him at the door, looking a little narrow-eyed and perplexed by her husband’s sudden appearance and insistence that they needed to leave.

  “I’m good. If you wanted to, you could shoot me back in time and help me make some better decisions.”

  “I think you’ve made good decisions, just sometimes a little late in the game.”

  “Right, but at my age, that isn’t really a home run.”

  He laughed and hooked an arm through her mom’s. “You’ll make it. We’ll be back.”

  Sophie nodded and closed her eyes. She leaned back on the pillow that crinkled a little with the pressure of her head. She reached with her right arm to fluff, but it was unfluffable. She groaned and reached for the television remote.

  A light rap on the door pulled her attention from a program that had originally aired in the seventies. She flicked the volume and looked at the door. “Come in.”

  Boot footsteps. She held her breath, hopeful, afraid, not wanting to be let down. At her age, getting rejected really wasn’t a horse she could get back on.

  Keeton walked in the room, carrying a brown bag, and a bouquet of slightly wilted carnations. “Surprise.”

  He put the flowers on the table next to the bed.

  “Beautiful.” She smiled at the colorful, if wilted, bouquet.

  “The gift shop is low on flowers.” He reached for the light but she stopped him.

  “No light. I have bruises on my face, no makeup, my hair is a mess.”

  “You look beautiful to me.” He pulled a chair close.

  “Yes, because the light is off.”

  He didn’t talk for a minute. He looked up and took a deep breath and then he shook his head. She wanted to touch his cheek. She wanted to reach for his hand. She didn’t let herself do either. Not yet. Not even to wipe the worry from his expression.

  “I was worried.” He reached for her hand and pulled it to his lips. He held it there, and then brushed his cheek across her knuckles.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Yes, you’re fine.” He held up a bag and handed it to her. “I bought you a card.”

  She laughed and pulled out a dozen cards. “A card?”

  “Okay, more than one. I didn’t know if I should pick out a get-well card, a funny card, a serious card with a big foldout picture, a poem, or a card to tell you how much I love you.”

  “I see.” She flipped through the cards and came to a particularly cheesy one with a big flower on the front. When she opened it a butterfly popped out. “Not this one.”

  She opened another and it played an old love song. “Cute.”

  He grinned and shrugged shoulders she’d really have liked to lean into. “I liked it.”

  “I’d much rather just talk than read what other people have to say.” She reached for his hand again. “I don’t ever want you to leave again.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded, and looked down at the hand in hers. His was much darker than her own from working outside in the sun. She sat in an office
most of the time.

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I don’t want to lose you, either.” He held her hand a little tighter. “As a matter of fact, I’m here to talk about a dream of mine. You remember, you told me to get my own dream?”

  “I remember. In retrospect, that might have been kind of harsh.”

  “A little, but well deserved.”

  “What is your new dream?” She wanted to shout, me, me, me, but she remained quiet.

  “My dream is about Lucy, who happens to be with Jackson right now. It also includes some land, most of which belongs to you. There’s a house with a porch swing. Umm, also owned by you. Maybe a few mules. And more kids.”

  “Very sweet. Is there a wife in your dream world?”

  He nodded and his eyes crinkled at the corners as his smile widened. “Oh, very much so.”

  “I think it’s a great dream.”

  “I’d rather it be reality.” She noticed his hands trembling as he reached into his pocket. When she saw the box in his hand, her throat tightened and she blinked fast to clear her vision.

  “Keeton…”

  He looked up. “Please, let me finish before you say no.”

  “I’m not going to say no.”

  He grinned again. “Well then, let me finish because I’ve practiced for two days and I’d hate to ruin a perfectly good proposal.”

  She clamped her lips tight and he reached for her hand again. “I know this is the wrong finger, we’ll fix that as soon as you’re able to wear a ring on your other hand. But, Sophie Cooper, I’d very much love for you to be my wife. Because I love you. If you’ll have a retired bull rider who wants to take care of you and make some dreams of his own come true.”

  She nodded and tears ran down her cheeks. He used the corner of the sheet to brush them away and then he held her, his lips firm, his arms strong. She leaned close and wrapped her arm around his waist because she didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want to wake up and find that none of this had been real.