Mary Leo - Aiming for the Cowboy

Still, now was not the time. It was his son’s birthday and said son had pitched himself off the barn roof. The boy needed scolding in the worst way.

Nonetheless, as Helen walked in closer, he knew reprimanding Joey would have to take a backseat for the moment. Dodge was right, as he always was. Joey’s descent off the roof had been inevitable. Colt was just happy Dodge had prepared for it.

“Now, there’s a mighty fine woman.” Dodge patted Colt on the shoulder, and walked away. Colt stood.

Jenny stopped talking and also stood, moving next to Colt.

When Helen finally came within earshot, Colt said, “You left the tour just for Joey’s birthday party? We’re honored.”

He stepped away from Jenny, wanting to take Helen in his arms and never let go, but instead he felt awkward with Jenny once again at his elbow.

Helen stopped a couple feet in front of him. Her deep green eyes sparkled as she gazed over at encroaching Jenny, who had her hand out before Helen could respond to Colt.

“Hi, I’m Jenny Pickens.” She rested her other hand on Colt’s arm, familiar, as if they were a couple. His instinct was to flick it off like an annoying bug, but he didn’t want to be rude. She continued, “I don’t think we’ve ever officially met. You served me drinks a couple times at Belly Up. Don’t you still work there? What tour? Are you in a band? I always wanted to be in a band.”

Helen worked at Belly Up Saloon as a waitress and part-time bartender whenever she wasn’t on the road. At one point or another she’d probably served half the town a drink of some sort. Everyone seemed to end up at Belly Up for one occasion or another. It was the only real tavern for miles.

She gave Jenny a quick handshake, then let go. No smile. Her reaction to Jenny was as cold as ice on a frozen lake. “Nice to meet you.” She turned to Colt with a concerned look on her face. “Can we talk?”

But Jenny answered. “Sure. Why don’t we sit down on one of the benches on the front porch. It’s nice and shady there.”

Colt moved away from Jenny’s grip on his arm. “If you’ll excuse me, Jenny. This is between Helen and me.”

Jenny tilted her head, smiled sweetly and said, “Sure. Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be fine. Just fine. I’ll wait for you on the porch.”

She walked away, leaving an awkward silence between Colt and Helen. They both started talking at once. Colt trying to tell her that he just met Jenny today, but his words seemed garbled as he attempted to speak over Helen, who was asking if Jenny was his new girlfriend, a concept that stunned Colt.

Finally they both stopped.

“You first,” Colt said.

Helen hesitated for a moment, then said, “That’s one brave little boy you have there.”

“More like ornery and pigheaded if you ask me.”

“Like his father.”

“And his father before him. What brings you back to Briggs? Shouldn’t you be in Vegas, competing?”

“Actually, Tater’s still there. I’m having him transported in a couple days. Something’s happened and I’m on my way to Jackson to stay with my parents for a while, but I wanted to stop here first and...”

His stomach pitched as he took a step closer and reached out for her. She stepped back, away from his touch. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? Something wrong with your parents?”

She completely befuddled him. His mind raced with scenarios. None of them good.

“Nothing like that.” She glanced over at Jenny, now seated on the front porch. “Is there someplace private?”

He chuckled. “Sure, we can try, but at the moment—” he nodded toward Joey and his boys charging straight for them “—that doesn’t look too promising.”

Joey ran right for him at full speed, calling his name, looking all proud of himself. “Papa! Papa! Did you see me?” He ran smack into Colt as he swooped up his boy in his arms, giving him a tight squeeze, thankful there were no broken bones.

“You had me scared as a jackrabbit with a fox on its trail. Never do that again. You hear me, son? Never.”

Joey’s face went all serious. His blue eyes instantly lost their sparkle. “But, Papa, it’s my fourth birthday and Gramps said you jumped off the roof when you were four. Isn’t that what I was supposed to do?”

“Sounds about right to me,” Helen said as Colt’s other two boys grabbed hold of her with tight hugs. Colt knew how much his boys liked Helen, but he also knew they were a handful when they tackled her like they were doing now.

“Boys, give her some breathing room.”

They let go and tackled Colt instead, knocking him to the ground, where they wrestled and tickled him. “Wait!” Colt yelled over their laughter and squeals. “You boys almost gave me a heart attack. What the heck were you thinking?”

They stopped attacking Colt and Joey got all serious. “Did you have a heart attack, Papa? Should I call nine-one-one?”

“No, I’m fine, but that’s beside the point.”

“You didn’t have a heart attack and I jumped off the roof. That makes me happy. Are you happy?”

Colt sat up and looked Joey in the eyes. “Promise me you’ll never, ever do that again.”

“Why would I do it again? I could hurt myself.”

Helen let out a little laugh. Colt shot her a look. “This is serious.” He turned back to his boy. “That’s right, son. You could break some bones or worse.”

“Of course he could, that’s why we moved the trampoline over,” Buddy, his oldest, said.

“We’re not stupid, Daddy,” Gavin chimed in.

“Yeah, Daddy,” Helen added.

Colt tried to keep a straight face, but was having a difficult time of it.

“I didn’t want to jump into the manure pile like you did,” Joey said. “That stinks and I might have missed and landed on the ground. I could crack my head open and die on my birthday. I don’t want to die on my birthday. That’s no fun. I’d miss out on all the presents and cake. Can we cut my cake now?”

Colt grinned at Joey, unable to stay angry at his youngest for more than five seconds. “Yes. Cake sounds like a good idea.” He stood, and his boys stood, as well. “You run and tell your aunt Maggie it’s time. She made the cake especially for you.”

“It’s a real cake, right? She didn’t let Aunt Kitty make it out of broccoli or anything healthy, did she? I won’t have to pretend I like it, will I?”

Kitty, Maggie’s sister, was an honorary aunt who tended to overdo “green.”

“Nope, your aunt Maggie told me it’s pure sugar and flour.”

“Yay!” Joey yelled and the three boys took off to look for their aunt Maggie, while Colt shook off any lingering tension that had encompassed his body.

“How the heck do parents do it with a whole houseful of kids? Three boys are enough to keep me up all night worrying about what crazy shenanigans they might come up with next. I never even considered a planned jump off the barn roof. If I had any more kids, I’d probably go insane.”

He felt thankful he’d had the wherewithal to take care of that possibility years ago.

Besides, when his beautiful wife died in childbirth with Joey, he’d decided then and there he never, ever wanted to be responsible for another pregnancy as long as he lived.

He turned to Helen. “Now, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Chapter Two

It had taken Helen three days to drive to Briggs, Idaho, from Vegas, and on the way she’d taken four home pregnancy tests, gone through three boxes of tissue and arrived on the Granger ranch puffy-eyed, solidly pregnant and homeless. She had leased out her little house for six months to a family of four, who had happily settled in.

The drive had been grueling due to all the stops she’d made not only to pee a million times, but because she could barely see the road through her tears. She had cried almost the entire drive back, not so much over the pregnancy itself but more about the stifling fear she felt over being someone’s mom. Heck, even though she had recently turned twenty-eight years old, she could barely take care of herself, let alone a whole other person.