The Rodeo Star's Return (Sapphire Springs Book 1)

by Angie Campbell

  “Mary Jo, stop calling me Mr. Henry,” the man sighed, rubbing his temples. “That’s part of the reason I left New York,” he added under his breath.

  “It’s your name, Mr. Henry,” she stressed. “What else would I call you?”

  “Jeb,” he replied, throwing his hands out to his sides. “Call me Jeb. You know I hate the formality.”

  “For someone who hates formality, you sure can be a stiff shirt,” she said, turning back to her computer to hide a grin.

  Tyler watched the man turn red in the face, and nod to a door to the left of Mary Jo’s desk. “Follow me. We’ll talk in here,” Jeb said, proceeding him. Once in the room, which turned out to be a small conference room, he turned and stuck his head back out the door. “Spit that gum out,” he snapped before closing it behind him.

  He pulled out a chair, sitting down with a sigh. “That woman is driving me crazy.”

  “Well, I’ve known Mary Jo since we were in diapers. The more you let it get to you, the more she’ll do it. Of course, that’s only till you crack.”

  “Until I crack?”

  “Yep,” he nodded, grinning. “And no, I will not explain. It’ll be more fun if you figure out what I mean on your own.”

  “Fun for who?” Tyler just chuckled in answer. “You know, you don’t play fair,” Jeb said with a grin.

  “Oh, you’re a smart fellow. You’ll figure it out.”

  “Sure, I will. The question is, will I have any hair left when I finally do.”

  Tyler just laughed harder, taking a seat across from him. “This could be fun to watch.”

  “I’m guessing you’re not going to be willing to explain that either.”

  “You would be right about that.”

  “You know, you’re not much help.”

  “I really wasn’t trying to be.”

  “That’s what I figured,” he nodded with a grim look, just before a huge smile broke out across his face. “I like you. You and I could turn out to be pretty good friends.”

  “Yep, I agree with you,” Tyler chuckled. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “As am I,” Jeb smirked and shook his head. “So, you want the child’s mother to sign over her rights?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Please, don’t call me sir. It makes me feel old,” he said with a shiver. “I’m only thirty-two.”

  “Okay. Yes, Jeb.”

  “See, you caught on really quick. Now, if only Mary Jo could,” he grumbled, gesturing toward the door to the outer office.

  “Don’t hold your breath.”

  “Ha, ha,” he snorted. “Explain why you think this is for the best.”

  “To start with, the woman showed up at Harris Grocery as I was leaving, and dumped the baby in my arms and her belongings at my feet.”

  “At the grocery store?”

  “Yeah. I’m probably lucky she found me when she did. She might have left her with the first person she came across that claimed to know where to find me.”

  Jeb whistled. “That bad, huh?”

  “Yeah, Montana…”

  “Wait. Where in Montana?”

  “No. Montana is my daughter’s name.”

  “Oh, okay. Continue.”

  “Montana is six months old. Joann, her mother, started looking for me eight months ago. She never wanted her. I’m grateful she gave birth to her, instead of having the pregnancy terminated.”

  “Why did she have to look for you? Why didn’t she know where you were?”

  “I used to ride in the rodeo.”

  “I know. I’ve heard of you. Just in the last two years since I moved here. You’re a local celebrity.”

  “Well, that’s less I have to explain,” he said, taking a deep breath, and sitting back in his chair.

  “It would be almost impossible not to know who you are. I’ve seen your statue in Way Side Park.”

  Tyler shook his head, and giving the man a disbelieving look asked, “What statue?”

  “I take it you haven’t seen it.”

  “No.”

  “And no one’s mentioned it?”

  “No, but I’m guessing that’s because they knew I wouldn’t be happy about it,” he grumbled under his breath. “They could have at least waited till I was dead.”

  “You’re young and healthy. They would most likely have had a long wait.”

  “I know,” Tyler said with a frown.

  “Yeah, you and I are going to get along just fine,” he chuckled. “So, you were explaining why the child’s mother had to look for you.”

  Tyler sighed, sitting forward to prop his elbows on the table. “I didn’t know she was pregnant. I was in Montana, in a bar. It was a one-night stand. Something I only do when I’m drunk.”

  “Maybe you should stop drinking,” he suggested like he was stating he should wear a jacket in fifty-degree weather.

  “That won’t be a problem, now that I’m back home.”

  “Are you sure the baby’s yours? Do you need to get a DNA test first?”

  “No test needed. She’s mine.”

  “How sure of that are you?”

  “She looks just like my baby sister, but mostly there’s a little birthmark on her behind that’s just like the one I have. My brothers and my sister have it. My grandfather had it.”

  “I’m starting to pick up the pattern. Continue on.”

  “I hadn’t seen the woman since. Until seven days ago when she dumped the most beautiful baby girl, I’ve ever seen in my arms, and high-tailed it back out of town.”

  “Well, it sounds like she’d be willing to sign her rights over. Is there any chance she could change her mind?”

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t seem likely. When she gave her to me, she told me, she didn’t want money. She just didn’t want the baby either.”

  “You know, there are ways to prevent such things these days,” he grinned. “Five bucks at the drug store.”

  “Ha, ha,” Tyler snorted. “We took precautions. It broke.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that happens sometimes,” he chuckled. “Since you don’t seem to know the woman very well, we might ought to proceed as if there’s a chance she will try something. You mentioned she told you she didn’t want money.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I take that to mean, you have money. More than the usual amount.”

  Tyler chuckled. “What’s the usual amount?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah. Most of my winnings are in a savings account, drawing interest. I’m sure she doesn’t realize that. She probably doesn’t know anything about my trust fund either. Most people don’t.”

  “Well, there’s always a chance she could get wind of it, and decide she wants some of that money. It’s better to dot all our I’s and cross all our T’s.”

  “That’s what I thought. I don’t what her to be able to try to take her back later.”

  “Are you by any chance married? It would make things easier.”

  “No, I’m not,” Tyler shook his head. “Why would it make things easier?”

  “Well, the more settled you are, the less likely a judge is going to be to ‘unsettle’ the little gal to give her back to her mother if she decides not to sign.”

  “Well, maybe I could get married. Would that help?”

  “Sure, but it’s not necessary to marry just to get full custody. I’m sure we can manage without that.”

  “No, it’s okay. I want to marry Lucy. I always have.”

  “Well, that’s different. If you were married, it would help. But with the story you told me, there’s a good chance it won’t be much of a fight.”

  “I’m hoping not.”

  “Mary Jo said something about tracking down her mother.”

  “Yeah. All I have to go on is the birth certificate.”

  “Well, that will do,” he said, rising to his feet and heading to the door. “Do you have it with you?”

  Tyler got up and followed him out
to the reception area. “Yeah, I thought you might need to see it.”

  “Good. Mary Jo, take the birth certificate from him and get a copy of it.”

  “Yes, Mr. Henry.”

  “Call me Jeb,” he huffed, continuing past her desk to his office. “And get rid of that gum.”

  Tyler shook his head and chuckled, drawing a dirty look from Mary Jo. “You may give him an aneurism before you’re done.”

  “Stuff it, Wentworth,” she replied, snapping her gum.

  Chapter 8 – Saturday, May 11

  “Ready to bowl?” Zane asked Tyler, slapping him on the back.

  “I don’t know. I’m probably a little rusty,” Tyler answered with a shrug. “The last time I went bowling was before I left for the rodeo.”

  The other man gave him a surprised look. “Over eight years ago?”

  “Yep. Remember? It was after my classes graduation. We had a party right here. Old Alvie Jones was sitting over there,” he added, pointing to one of the tables in a corner of the snack bar area. “He kept trying to flirt with your sister and Lucy.”

  “Oh, yeah. They giggled about it all night,” Zane nodded. “They finally put him in a nursing home, two years after you left. He passed away about a year ago.”

  “Yeah, Mom told me. I almost came home then,” he grimaced. “You know, if I had, I would have avoided all that mess with that girl. It was two nights after mom told me, she asked me to marry her.”

  “Well, it’s not like you could have predicted what happened,” Zane said, giving him a sympathetic smile. “And it all worked out. Don’t sweat it.”

  “I remember Judge Jones not wanting to put Old Alvie in the nursing home. He must have got pretty bad.”

  “He had a really bad episode out on main street,” Zane said, taking a chair beside Tyler at his table where he had been eating nachos. “It was pouring rain, and he had gotten away from the lady the judge had hired to sit with him during the day. She had called the judge to let him know what was going on. My mom and dad, and a couple of off duty cops looked for him for an hour before they found him out in the middle of the street. He was stark naked. He thought he was taking a shower.”

  “Wow,” Tyler exclaimed. “He could have gotten ran over.”

  “He almost did. Mr. Slatter almost ran him down. He couldn’t see through the rain. Thankfully, the man always just putters even on a sunny day. He probably wasn’t going more than five miles an hour. He saw him just in time to stop.”

  “Mom just told me he went in the nursing home. She never told me why.”

  “When he passed, the judge asked a bunch of us to be pallbearers. The judge didn’t have any uncles or brothers to help him do it.”

  He sighed, shaking his head. “If I had known, I would have come home. I would have been there to help.”

  “That’s probably why your mom didn’t tell you. As much as she missed you, she wanted you to come home when you were ready,” Zane replied. “Look who’s here. I think it’s time for a change of topic. I don’t know about Lucy, but my sister still cries when the subject of Old Alvie comes up.”

  “Well, he kind of was the whole town’s grandpa. We all loved that old man,” Tyler said with a sad smile. “How old was he when he passed?”

  “A hundred and one. It always made me wonder if it was really Alzheimer’s, or if he just got so old he figured he could do whatever he wanted,” Zane chuckled.

  “Hey boys, what are you two talking about?” Jenny asked, pulling out one of the two remaining seats at the table. She made sure to leave the one beside Tyler open for Lucy.

  “Just talking about the old days,” Zane answered.

  “The old days?” Jenny snorted. “None of us are that old, yet.”

  “We’re talking about before he left for the rodeo,” Zane grinned.

  “That, and Old Alvie Jones,” Tyler said, staring at the corner table the old man always used.

  “Yeah, we all miss him,” Jenny answered. “A lot can change in eight years.”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” he answered, sounding sad. “I just wish I had been here.”

  *******

  Tyler turned around after picking up a spare, intending to take his seat. He noticed Lucy sitting over at the snack bar, and decided he just had to have a soda. And maybe a candy bar.

  “Hey, Lucy,” Tyler said with a grin, leaning against the bar.

  “Tyler Wentworth,” she said, dripping disdain. “What? Do? You? Want?”

  “Can I get a cola, George?” he asked the man behind the counter, before turning to her.

  “Sure thing, Ty,” the man nodded with a big grin, his shaved head shining in the hot lights overhead. “And I’m glad to see you are back home.”

  “Thanks,” Tyler grinned, and turned back to face Lucy. “I just wanted to talk.”

  “Talk?” she snorted. “What could you and I possibly have to talk about?”

  “Well, we could start with something like, how are you,” he grinned.

  “Oh, you are so funny,” she huffed. “Seriously, Tyler, what do you want?”

  “Would you mind sitting down with me for a few minutes?” he asked, motioning towards a nearby table. “Please.”

  “Fine,” she sighed, turning to sit down. “If I say no, you’ll just pester me until I do, to get you to leave me alone.” He took the chair across from her, and just grinned at her until she finally snapped. “What do you want”

  “Well,” he started hesitantly. “See, I have a child I didn’t know about.”

  “Yeah, I heard,” she snarled. “What does that have to do with me?”

  “Somehow the baby’s mother, luckily, found me at the grocery store.”

  She gave him an incredulous glare. “Really? That’s amazing. You actually went to the grocery store twice in less than a month,” she snarled sarcastically.

  “I’m going to ignore the sarcasm, for now.”

  “Hey, Ty, you’re up,” Zane hollered from across the bowling alley.

  “Rotate around me. I’ll catch up in a little bit,” he answered back.

  “Tyler, why don’t you just go back to your game and leave me alone?” she grouched, sitting back in her chair to cross her arms in front of her and glare at him.

  “Please, just hear me out,” he pleaded, giving her sad, puppy dog eyes.

  “Fine,” she sighed. “Continue.”

  “Anyway, she dropped the baby in my arms and high-tailed it right out of town.”

  “What, you want me to babysit?”

  “No, that’s not what I had in mind,” he chuckled nervously.

  She huffed impatiently. “Come on. Get on with it. Make your point already.”

  “Well,” he cringed. “She just gave her to me. She doesn’t want anything to do with her.”

  Lucy gave him a very pained look. “What kind of women do you hang around with, anyway?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked with a grin.

  “What kind of mother would just leave her baby with you, and then run off?”

  He shrugged, shaking his head. “She said she never wanted children.”

  “Well, it still isn’t right,” she huffed.

  “Look, I’ll be honest. It was a one-night stand,” he swallowed, wishing he could hide right about now. Anybody else, it wouldn’t bother him, but Lucy was the one person he truly cared about what she thought of him. “I was so drunk, I didn’t even remember her until she showed up with Montana in her arms.”

  “You know, if you’re going to mess around, you should at least use protection,” she snapped, rising to her feet.

  He jumped up, grabbing both of her hands in his. “Please, don’t leave.”

  “Let go of me, Tyler,” she whimpered, tugging on her hands.

  “I did use protection. It broke.”

  “I don’t care. Let go of me.”

  “I didn’t mess around a lot. Just every once in a while, the loneliness would get to me, and I would get drunk. I didn’t always end u
p going home with someone, but it did happen a few times.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” she asked, giving him a wary look.

  “I guess, I just want you to understand.”

  “Fine, I understand,” she snapped. “Now, will you leave me alone?”

  He rubbed his temples with the tips of his fingers, and sighed. “I don’t think I’ve gotten around to my point yet.”

  “You mean, you don’t know?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

  “I get nervous when I try to talk to you,” he blurted without thought, then turned red in the face.

  She gave him a suspicious look. “I have a hard time believing that one.”

  “Look, what I’m trying to get at is, I now have a child to take care of, and I don’t want her to go back to her mother.”

  “Yeah, that poor little girl,” she said dolefully.

  “Hey, I love kids,” he stated, slapping his hands to his chest. “I’ll make a good father.”

  “That’s not what I was referring to,” she said with a shake of her head. “I’m sure you’ll make a great father. I’m talking about the mother. I would never be able to leave my child like that. Even if the pregnancy was unexpected.”

  “Want to test that theory?” he asked, stepping around the table.

  “Tyler, knock it off,” she snapped, slapping the hand that had reached out to grab her hip.

  “Man, you are one gorgeous woman when you’re all riled up,” he said with a crooked grin. “Of course, you’re gorgeous when you’re not riled up.”

  “Stop it,” she said, blushing to her roots. “Your charming banter is not going to get you in my good graces.”

  “You have good graces?” he chuckled. “I never noticed.”

  She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s because you’re always on my bad side.”

  “Baby, you don’t have a bad side,” he said, looking her up and down.

  “I’m leaving, Tyler,” she said, turning toward the doors to the parking lot.

  She made it two steps before he grabbed her arm. “Wait. I’m not done yet,” he gulped, nervously.