by Kat Brookes
He liked being the one she turned to when she was afraid. Giving her hand a squeeze, he said, “You okay?”
“A little shaken,” she admitted. “Are those horses always so...rough? Yours always seem so calm.”
“That’s because they don’t have riders on them,” he told her. “But these horses are bred to buck hard. That’s how those cowboys want it. The rougher the ride, the better the score, as long as the rider holds on for the mandatory eight seconds. Getting bucked is a part of this sport.”
“Do riders get disqualified when they’re thrown?”
“Not if they’re still on their bronc when the buzzer sounds,” Garrett explained. “That last rider made it the eight seconds before he was thrown, and it was a hard ride. All in all, it was a pretty good one.”
“Good that he didn’t break his neck when he fell,” Hannah muttered. “I can’t believe you used to do this.”
“It looks worse than it actually is,” he said, wanting to set her mind at ease. “Most riders are experienced enough to know how to fall to prevent any real serious injury. Not that accidents don’t happen on occasion.” He and Jackson were living proof of that. “And most riders opt to wear protective vests and chaps, which help to cushion falls as well as offer an extra layer of protection between the skin and the flailing hooves of a bucking horse. Helmets and face guards have also become more commonplace with riders.”
She appeared to relax with his explanation. “That’s reassuring.” Her gaze returned to the arena as the next rider shot out of the chute. The bronc bucked hard, with a sidestepping hop into the fence. Pain registered on the cowboy’s face as he struggled to regain his balance. The second the pickup men knew the rider was in trouble, they moved in to help get him safely off the horse.
Hannah gave a quick prayer of thanks that the man had come away with little more than a limp. She turned to Garrett. “I can’t believe you used to do this.”
“I did,” he acknowledged.
“Weren’t you terrified when you climbed onto whatever horse you had to ride?”
He shrugged. “It was more of an adrenaline rush, combined with the determination to make each ride better than my last. But then I grew up around the rodeo, not to mention having two very competitive brothers who were both happy to give me a push whenever I needed it.”
She bit at her bottom lip as the next rider came out of the gate.
“If this is too much for you, we can go,” he told Hannah worriedly.
“We can’t leave yet,” she said, looking up at him. “This is the most exciting thing I’ve ever done, and all I’m doing is sitting here.”
Her response made him smile.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
“I am,” she said happily. “More than you could ever know.”
If it was anywhere close to the way he felt about the time they had spent together that evening, then he did know.
Still holding hands, they watched the rodeo, Hannah never hesitating in asking questions whenever one came to mind. Her interest was genuine, and Garrett was touched that she truly wanted to learn about the world he’d grown up in. A world his life was now built around. The women he’d come across during his years on the circuit, the ones seeking to strike up something with a rodeo cowboy, the ones he hadn’t been inclined to take interest in, hadn’t really cared about who he was. It was all about what he was—a fairly successful rodeo cowboy. With Hannah, the connection was more genuine.
The ride back to his parents’ place was filled with Hannah’s excited chatter.
Garrett pulled up in front of his childhood home and shut off the engine. “I’ll walk you to the door.”
“You don’t have to,” she told him. “I know it’s late and you have to get up at the crack of dawn.”
“I want to.” He made his way around to the passenger side where he helped Hannah down and then walked her to the porch.
Stopping at the door, she turned to look up at him. “I had so much fun this evening.”
He smiled down at her. “I’m glad.”
“I just wish I could’ve gone to a rodeo with you back when you were competing.”
He found himself wishing she had been a part of his life back then, too. He liked having Hannah around. Their conversations. Her laughter. Her smiles. “You would have seen pretty much what you saw there today.”
“Only it would have been you out there, making my heart pound,” she replied.
“And here I thought it was just being with me that made women’s hearts pound,” he said with a teasing grin. “Looks like I’m going to have to work on my cowboy charm.”
Hannah laughed softly and reached up to give the brim of his hat a playful tug. “I think between this cowboy hat, this adorable dimple,” she said, her finger jabbing lightly at the divot in his cheek, “and your big heart, you have more than perfected the charm.”
“Enough to convince you to go on a date with me again?” he teased.
“I thought this wasn’t a real date,” she said, her eyes searching his.
Garrett took a mental step back, his grin flattening. “I’m sorry, Hannah. I’m not real sure what this is.” He hadn’t dated since high school.
Her smile sagged, and she immediately averted her gaze elsewhere. “Don’t apologize. Your inability to call it that is answer enough.”
He hated that he’d hurt her feelings with his thoughtless words. “If I could be the man you deserve, which we both know I will never be, then this would have been a real date, as far as I’m concerned. The best I’ve ever been on,” he admitted.
“It was for me, too,” she said softly. “My ex-husband and I didn’t go out much. He was more of a homebody. Tonight showed me what I’ve been missing all these years.”
He reached out, cupped her chin and turned her head until she was looking up at him once more. “I’m sorry your marriage didn’t work out the way you’d hoped it would.”
“It wasn’t meant to be,” she told him. “And the Lord blessed me with the chance to carry a child. Not my own, but I was able to experience the feeling of a life growing inside of me, something I had longed for. It was wondrous. And then it was scary, having nearly lost Austin. I’m not sure I want to ever go through that again.”
He let his hand fall away, his brows drawing together in surprise. “I thought you wanted a big family.” They’d talked about her desire to have several children more than once during those long days spent at the hospital.
“I would very much like to have a big family someday. But there are other ways. Other children are in need of someone willing to raise and love them like they were their own. Of course, that would depend on whoever the Lord has in mind for me, and if adoption is something my husband would consider.”
It was hard for Garrett to process that. But he supposed Austin’s early arrival and the complications that followed had been traumatic enough to have Hannah considering adoption for her future family. Then it struck him, his sterility wouldn’t come into play if Hannah preferred adoption instead of giving birth to her own children. Hope flared to life inside him.
“Hannah...” he said, trying to get a grip on all the emotions that had suddenly stirred up inside him. Happiness. Excitement. A little fear. Because this moment could change everything he had always envisioned for his future.
“Yes?”
“I think we should call this a date.”
She gave a regretful shake of her head. “If things were different,” she said, “and I’m not referring to having children, I would love to. But it would be too hard to start something, fall for you even more than I already have, and then have to say goodbye in a week or so, maybe less.”
More than I already have. His heart began thudding against his chest with her admission. “Then don’t say goodbye. Move here to Bent Creek. Give this connection betwee
n us a chance to grow.” Let me love you. “There are plenty of hospitals and rehab facilities, even nursing homes, where you could seek employment if you decide you want to go back to work.”
Her smile slid away. “If only it were that simple.”
“It is,” he said, despite knowing better than most that nothing in life was simple.
Hannah shook her head. “If it were only me, I’d give it some serious consideration. It’s hard to live in a place where I am constantly surrounded by memories. Of Mom. Of Heather and Brian. Of the happy, loving family I once had.”
He nodded in understanding, having gone through that himself after losing Grace. So many memories. Memories he suddenly realized had grown hazy since Hannah’s unexpected arrival in his life.
Before he had a chance to respond, she went on, “But I have my father to think about. He needs me right now. And he needs his grandson. We’re all he has left in this world. I can’t take that from him, no matter how tempting the thought of building a new life in a place like Bent Creek might be.” Hannah rose up on her toes and then leaned in to place a sweet kiss on his cheek. “If things were different, I would choose to stay here with you.” Stepping back, she opened the door, her suddenly teary gaze meeting his. “Thank you for tonight, Garrett. It’s a memory I will hold dear forever.” Then she was gone, the door easing shut behind her.
Chapter Nine
“Thank you again for the omelet,” Hannah said as she stood from the table to carry her plate and fork over to the sink. “It was delicious.”
“I’d like to say they’re my specialty,” Garrett replied as he followed her with his own breakfast dishes, “but I only make omelets because I can’t flip an egg without breaking its yoke.”
She laughed. “Good for me you’re a poor egg-flipper. I much prefer an omelet over a no-frills egg.”
Garrett chuckled, despite the growing sense of panic in his gut. They had been informed the afternoon before, while visiting her son in the hospital, that they expected to release Austin that coming Tuesday. That meant he had two, maybe three days left to spend with Hannah before she walked out of his life forever.
“You wash, I’ll dry,” Garrett said, pulling a tea towel from the kitchen drawer.
“Sounds like a plan,” Hannah said, setting their dirty dishes down into the still-sudsy water his mother had left in the sink before rushing off to church that morning.
His parents had told Hannah they had to leave early that morning to meet with a few of their church parishioners. It wasn’t a lie, because they were joining his brothers, Autumn and a few of his mother’s friends, all members of their church, at Garrett’s place where they were setting up for the surprise baby shower Autumn and his mother were throwing for Hannah.
Garrett was in charge of taking her to church and then coming up with a reason to delay his taking her home to give everyone time to get to his place before her. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she realized the party was for her. But he was even more anxious to see her response when she saw the surprise he had for her.
He watched as she rinsed off a plate, handing it to him to dry with a cheery smile. Neither of them had brought up the talk they’d had the night they’d come home from the rodeo. What more was there to say? She wasn’t at a point where she felt comfortable moving to Bent Creek with her son and leaving her father in Steamboat Springs all alone. And Garrett couldn’t just pick up and leave his brothers to run the business without him. He’d prayed about it, but no amount of praying was going to change those facts. Nor would her leaving change the feelings he’d come to have for her. Just as he’d had to do with Grace, he would lock those feelings away, and go on with his life as he’d been living it before Hannah had come into it. Emotionally alone.
Clearing his throat, before emotion got the better of him, Garrett cast a quick glance at the LED clock display on the stove’s panel. “We’d best get a move on.”
“Almost done,” Hannah said as she rinsed the remaining suds off the two forks she held in her hand. Then she turned, handing them over to him. “Here you go. While you dry those and put them away, I’ll go grab my purse.”
Nodding, Garrett placed the forks in a dish towel and began to dry them.
Hannah paused, looking up at him with a tender smile, the sight of which had the beat of his heart kicking up a notch or two. Clearly the uncooperative organ forgot that it was Sunday, a day for relaxation, not for skittering about wildly just because Hannah had blessed him with one of her sweet smiles. “I really am going to miss being here,” she said, her green eyes misting over. “Thank you for being my friend.”
He wanted to be so much more. “Always,” he said, determined to make her last few days there ones she would always remember, starting with the surprise he had for her that afternoon.
* * *
“Surprise!” The word rose up around Hannah in multitude, and from all around her, the second she and Garrett stepped into his house.
Hannah looked past the opening that led into the living room to see Garrett’s family standing in front of the fireplace, smiles on their faces. Blue and white crepe paper was draped across the thick wood mantel, while a dozen or so matching balloons swayed to and fro on each side of the fireplace.
She looked to Garrett. “It’s your birthday?” Why hadn’t he said something? Thankfully, he’d needed to drop off the bread and milk he’d picked up after church before leaving for the hospital, or he would have been a no-show for this wonderful surprise birthday party his family had planned for him.
“This party isn’t for me,” Garrett replied, his green eyes twinkling. “It’s for you.”
“What?” It wasn’t her birthday.
“Mom and Autumn wanted to throw you a surprise baby shower before you went back to Colorado,” he explained.
“And me!” Blue exclaimed from where she stood holding Tucker’s hand.
“And Blue,” Garrett said with a chuckle.
Hannah’s gaze shifted back to the gathering of grinning Wades in the adjoining room. The blue streamers and balloons that surrounded them had been meant for her. Tears filled her eyes as Emma and Autumn stepped forward to greet her.
“Well, I’m certainly surprised,” Autumn said, the words catching on the emotion building in her throat as Garrett’s mother leaned in to give her a hug. “But you shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. You’ve done more than enough for me already.”
“It was no trouble,” Autumn assured her as she stepped in for her turn to give Hannah a hug.
“Not at all,” Emma said in agreement. “We had so much fun planning this baby shower.”
“They weren’t about to send you home without one,” Garrett told her.
“Not a chance,” Autumn acknowledged with a bright smile. “You’re gonna have your hands full with a newborn once you get home. We didn’t want you to have to worry about running out to pick up the essentials you’re gonna be needing.”
“We got you lots of presents!” Blue piped in, her tiny voice carrying across the room.
Hannah felt the sting of tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”
Emma Wade smiled warmly. “No tears. This is a happy occasion. Now come on in and greet your guests.”
She followed Garrett’s mother into the living room, intending to thank Garrett’s father and brothers for joining in on that afternoon’s festivities, but stopped short as her gaze was drawn to the occupied folding chairs that had been placed along the wall to her left on each side of the sofa table that sat below the front window. Her guests, women Hannah had met through Emma at Sunday services, smiled back at her, uttering words of greeting and congratulations.
“Thank you all for being part of this,” Hannah said. “I feel so blessed.”
“You are,” a familiar voice said. “With a very special little boy.”
She turned to find Jes
sica grinning up at her from the sofa on the opposite side of the room.
“Agreed,” Autumn said as she moved to take a seat at the other end of the sofa.
“Jessica?” Hannah muttered, pleasantly surprised, yet shocked to see her there.
Her friend gave a small wave. “Surprise!”
“I thought you might like having her be a part of your special day,” Garrett said behind her.
Like Autumn and Emma, Jessica had become a good friend. “Yes,” Hannah replied. “Thank you so much for including her.” Her gaze traveled about the room and her vision blurred with tears. “I’ll never forget all the kindness I’ve been shown during my stay here in Bent Creek.”
“We should get started,” Emma said, stepping back into the living room.
Jackson pushed away from where he’d been leaning back against the fireplace. “Guess that means it’s time for us men to go do ‘man’ things while you ladies do whatever it is you all do at baby showers.”
Tucker and Grady were right on Jackson’s heels, clearly anxious to take their leave from the room filled with women.
“You coming?” Tucker asked Garrett on his way past his brother.
“Not until Hannah opens his gift,” their mother said.
“You got me something?” she said, looking up at him, not having expected that. But then she hadn’t expected any of this, the party, the kindhearted women who had come to celebrate her son’s birth.
“Just a little something I thought Austin might like.” His gaze shifted toward the window and then back to her. “I had something else I had hoped to surprise you with, but it’s going to have to wait.”
“Garrett,” she chided, “you didn’t have to get me anything.”
He smiled. “I wanted to.”
“Hannah, honey,” Garrett’s mother said, “why don’t you go ahead and have a seat on the sofa to open your gifts? Afterward, we’ll have finger sandwiches and cake.”
“Your homemade cranberry-walnut-chicken salad sandwiches?” Garrett asked his mother.
