Rodeo Father

“Hang on to your hat, mister. You’re going for the ride of your life.”

On this old thing? Not likely.

He liked her sense of humor. Together, they could have a lot of fu-u-u-u-u-n-n—

The carousel picked up more speed than a machine this large and heavy should. Travis gripped the horns. A breeze rushed past his ears, filling them with whispered sighs and longings he’d thought he’d given up on years ago.

“You want music?” she called.

“Yeah!”

The toots and whistles of a calliope filled the air with the old Beatles song “All You Need Is Love.”

Stress, responsibility and apprehension fell away, lifting his spirits. When had he ever been free?

Unadulterated joy filled him, the kind kids never question, but that had never had a place in Travis’s childhood.

There’d been tangled bits of hope hidden in miserly corners of his world, but there had never been joy.

He let go of the horns and spread his arms wide. The cool wind worked its way through his jacket and shirt, filling him with vitality and refreshing his tired mind. The sun, having finally burned off the morning fog, melted the permafrost of his heart.

His cowboy hat, part of his head for nearly twenty years, flew off.

A huge laugh startled out of him, snatched immediately by the wind and caught by Rachel. He heard her laugh in response.

After a time, the ride slowed and he wiped rivers of tears from his cheeks. He wasn’t crying. No. It was just the wind.

He smiled harder than he had in a long, long time.

“That’s more like it,” Rachel said as she waddled over, satisfaction tinting her tone. “That’s the kind of smile I like to see on a man’s face.”

Whoa. Back up. Waddled?

Her pregnant belly stuck out a mile. His dreams of warm winter nights, a fire in the hearth and a willing partner deflated like a weather balloon in a snowstorm.

The woman was about to pop. What was she having? Triplets?

When other people saw pregnant women, they got warm fuzzies. Not Travis.

Pregnant women made him think about being trapped, about expectations and responsibilities. He’d had his fill of those. Still did. Big time.

He had one big responsibility to handle in this town before hitching a ride on the next good breeze and heading back out.

Reluctantly, he dismounted, his dreams slow to die. But die they did. As always.

Oh, Lord, mischief lurked in Rachel’s hazel eyes. Damn the woman. She’d known exactly how attracted he’d been to her and how shocked he was now.

“Nice meeting you, Travis. I’m sure we’ll see each other around town.” She handed him his hat.

He settled it onto his head slowly, tamping it down with a hard tug, the grown man firmly back in place.

“Thank you, ma’am.” He might be disappointed in her pregnancy, but she’d given him a gift. His gratitude was sincere. He adjusted his expectations and left the carousel, his stride long and fierce.

He couldn’t get away fast enough, driving without a backward glance.

He didn’t believe in new beginnings. No matter where he went, he always ended up in the same old place.

Not so for his nephews. Travis wouldn’t let that happen to Jason and Colt. Damned if he would let them down. They deserved a good home, and he would create one for them here in Rodeo. They would get more out of childhood than he ever had.

Screw your head on right, Travis. Disappointment never killed a man. Get on with it.

With purpose compelling him forward, he put Rachel out of his mind and drove straight to the Double U, where he pulled up in front of a sprawling ranch house with cedar siding and red shutters framing wide windows.

No one answered the front door when he knocked.

He’d been here once before, the day he’d been hired, put in touch with the Webers by an acquaintance, a cowboy he respected and trusted.

That day, he’d taken a tour of the town and had known immediately it would work for Samantha and the boys.

He’d chosen a house for them, one that had been put on the market just a half hour before he stepped into the real estate office. The down payment had been a result of years of having nothing to spend his paycheck on but himself...and he didn’t need much.

A good, solid house. Needed some work, but it had been built well. A safe town. Meant to be.

Travis might not believe in good omens for himself, but he did for his only remaining family.

He ran his new boss, Udall Weber, to ground in the stable.

Udall shook hands with a firm grip. “Good to see you again. You get settled in all right?” A big man with a ruddy complexion, his skin had been ruined by years of hard work in the unforgiving elements.

“Not yet. Got an appointment in an hour to pick up the keys. Meantime, where can I put Dusty?”

“Last stall on the right. First, let’s saddle up for a quick tour of the ranch.”

“Glad to have one.”

“Take the weekend to get yourself organized. Monday will be soon enough to start work. We got fences that need mending before winter.”

Travis backed his horse out of the trailer. Dusty, a solid gray gelding he’d owned for a dozen years, had covered a lot of miles with him. His brief visits to get Sammy and the boys out of Vegas and settled in San Francisco seemed like a bad dream here on the stunning Montana prairie.

“Park your trailer behind the barn beside mine.” Udall pointed to a spot. “Don’t mind if you store it there for the winter till you get your place set up.”

“Thanks. Appreciate it.” His place never would be set up, not for permanently holding cattle.

His clothes were in a bag on the backseat of his pickup truck. His motorcycle rested in the bed. What else did he need?

Sammy’s voice rang in his head. You need a home, Travis. Put roots down somewhere and stay for longer than a year.

Nope.