The Cowboy's Surprise Baby

“I know. I can see you. You better hurry or I’ll need to loop around again,” answered her brother from the other end.

She looked along the line of cars, trying to peer through the windows for a familiar face. “I don’t see you. A little help?”

“I’m in the black truck,” he told her.

She rolled her eyes. “This is Texas, Brock. I’m looking at about six black trucks.”

“You know, maybe I’ll just leave you to find your own way home, if you’re going to be like that,” he said, but she could hear the smile in his voice and knew she wasn’t actually in any danger of being left at the curb.

“Look right. I’m waving out the window,” he said.

She spotted him, fifty feet farther along. “I see you! Wait there and I’ll be over in a second,” she told him.

Amy dropped her phone back into her purse and strode quickly through the crowd of people waiting with their luggage along the curb. When she got to her brother’s car, a man in an orange vest was telling him he needed to keep moving, that he wasn’t allowed to wait there. “I’m here!” she said breathlessly, slinging her backpack off and into the truck bed, then hopping into the passenger seat.

With a little wave to the airport employee, she settled into her seat and Brock steered them out and away from the airport. “You know we get in trouble here if we sit idling at the curb, right?”

Amy shook her head. “I always forget about how many rules there are in America.”

Brock raised an eyebrow and glanced at his sister from the corner of his eye. “If you came home more often, you know, you might remember them.”

Amy crossed her arms and turned toward Brock. “You’ve been back in Spring Valley for two months and already you’re starting to sound like Ma,” she commented.

“She misses you,” he told her, sending a small stab of guilt through her. “It’s good to have you back.”

Amy gave her brother a smile. “It’s good to see you, Brock.”

“You’re back for the whole month, huh?”

Amy nodded. “I had to be here for my big brother’s wedding.”

There was a moment of silence, and she knew Brock was waiting for her to say what had happened that made her decide to change her plans and come home so early, rather than just for the weekend of the ceremony. Up until the day before, that had been the plan. But she wasn’t ready to explain the events of the last couple weeks, so she stayed silent.

After waiting a few more moments for her to add anything else, Brock said, “Well, I’m glad you’ll be around. Be careful, though. You might find yourself deciding to settle down in Spring Valley, regardless of your plans.”

Amy snorted. There were at least two very good reasons she would be leaving Spring Valley again. One was her lucrative career as a travel writer, and the other was a handsome cowboy with cornflower-blue eyes. She had some loose ends to tie up with said cowboy, but that didn’t mean she’d be sticking around afterward. She was here to set things straight, not make herself miserable. Or him, for that matter.

“Hey, it happens,” Brock said defensively.

“Speaking of settling down, how’s your fiancée doing?” Amy asked, both because she was interested and because she wanted to change the subject.

Brock looked for a second like he might not accept the topic shift, then gave her a wide grin she didn’t remember ever seeing on his face before Cassie came into his life. “She’s great, Zach and Carter are great, the ranch is—”

“Great?” Amy said for him.

“Really, really great,” he said, nodding, his smile even wider, if that was possible.

“So you don’t miss bull riding at all?” she asked, wondering if he’d really given up the rodeo circuit without a qualm.

Brock shook his head decisively. “Not one bit. Giving that up was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and it gives me more time around the people I love. With the wedding, the ranch and twin boys, time is one thing that always seems to be in short supply.”

Amy wasn’t sure if she believed that Brock didn’t miss the rodeo circuit at least a little, but he seemed sincere, so she just had to assume that when he lost his heart, he lost his mind a little, too.

She could remember the rush of riding a horse in the ring, hearing the shouts of the fans, like it was yesterday instead of a decade ago. She had only made it to junior rodeo before dropping out, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still a part of her life.

Even after all this time, she still sometimes watched videos of rodeos on her computer when she felt particularly homesick.

But Brock had given it up without a backward glance. Because of love.

Amy had already warned her brother once about the danger of falling in love, so she didn’t say anything now. Still, it worried her. What if it didn’t work out for him? She didn’t want him to go through that pain. She knew what it felt like to have her whole imagined future with someone come crumbling down around her, and she worried about her brother experiencing the same thing.

Sure, Cassie was wonderful—and they were committing to marriage, after all—but sometimes people who might be perfect for each other still didn’t end up together.

“You okay?” Brock asked, breaking into her thoughts.

Amy swallowed the old hurt that was threatening to break the surface and put on a smile. “I’m fine.”

For now, at least. After she talked to Jack, though, who knew?

* * *

JACK STUART RAN a brush through the chestnut mare’s coat, enjoying the feeling of calm it created in him. No matter what else was going on, he could always find some peace around horses. Right this minute, he needed it.

“Any idea how long she’ll be around?” he asked his brother.

Tom shrugged his shoulders, not seeming to notice his brother’s sudden edginess. “I’m guessing the whole month, up until the wedding. Brock said it was the longest she’d been home since she left for college.”

Jack didn’t want to tip off his brother about how interested he was, but he couldn’t help it. He needed to know everything his brother knew. “Did he say anything else?”

How is she?

Is she seeing anyone?

Does she still think about me after all these years?

“Nope, just that she was coming to town for a bit all of a sudden. The boys tackled him right after, and you know how they are. Had to tell him everything that had happened at their lessons.”

Jack didn’t say anything, trying to bite off his disappointment that he couldn’t learn any more.

“I’m surprised the twins are still coming here at all, to be honest. What with Brock’s parents owning a riding school and Brock himself able enough to teach them. Not that I’m complaining of course—we can sure use the business,” Tom said, his mind drifting off to other topics besides Amy. “I really think it’s only to give those two lovebirds some time alone. Have you seen them together? Don’t know if I’ve ever known two people to be more infatuated with one another.”

Oh, Jack did. His older brother had been too busy at college to remember how Jack and Amy had been senior year of high school. Tom knew they’d dated, but not that they’d been in love. Jack and Amy had been planning a life together. Family, careers, everything.

Then, the summer after they graduated, she went off to a university thousands of miles away despite all their plans together, without a word of explanation. He didn’t know what had changed or why she decided not to talk to him again. He just knew it still hurt.

And here was his chance to talk to her, hear her side of it, and finally put it all behind him.

As he and Tom left the barn and walked through the twilight toward his childhood home, he felt the itch to get in his truck and drive straight over to see Amy. He would be there in less than five minutes.