The New Cowboy

“Say thank-you to your uncle,” he heard Sadie say in the background.

“Thank you. When are you coming?”

“Pretty soon. I still have work to do.”

“But I want you to come home!”

Zane could tell his brother’s son was getting ready to cry.

He got a huge lump in his throat. “There’s nothing I want more, too. Guess what?”

“What?”

“I’ll be there for my vacation on the Fourth of July.” Three weeks away. He was living for it. “We’re going to have a big party with fireworks at my house!”

“Goody!” Ryan turned to Sadie. “What’s fireworks?”

“She’ll show you, sport. Has Jarod taken you riding?”

The boy nodded his blond head. “The horse scared me. He’s huge.”

Laughter poured out of Zane. “They are kind of big.”

“I’m getting a pony.”

“When?”

“Pretty soon,” Sadie volunteered.

“You’ll be a very lucky boy.”

Zane heard her whispering to Ryan. “She says I have to go to bed. I don’t want to!” He started crying.

“But you need your sleep.”

“No— I want you—”

“Say good-night, Ryan.”

“No-o—”

Zane heard talking in the background. Ryan was becoming more unmanageable. Someone else had come into the room. He could hear Sadie saying they had to go.

“Don’t go, Unca Zen—” Ryan wailed, sounding like his heart would break.

Sadie poked her head into view. “Sorry. This little guy is tired.”

“I can tell. Who’s there with you?”

“Avery just dropped by.”

His adrenaline kicked in. “Put her on.”

“Just a minute.” He heard more talking. “Come on over here, Avery. Zane wants to say hello. Tell him what’s going on at the Bannock ranch while I put Ryan down.”

The boy was in complete meltdown mode as they left the room. His nephew’s cries grew fainter and Zane’s heart started pounding harder as he waited to see the woman who kept him awake nights.

His breath caught when she sat down in front of the camera. “Hi, Zane. I guess you can’t tell your nephew adores you.”

“The feeling’s mutual. How are you?”

“Good. Busy. I’m surprised you’ve come out from undercover long enough to manage this Skype session.”

“I’ll always make time for my family.”

“Now that you’ve been working there for a while, do you like the Glasgow area?”

“It’s all right, but I’d rather be back on my ranch. Matt has the whole burden on his shoulders when I’m away like this.”

“He carried most of it all the years he worked for Daniel Corkin. I don’t hear any complaints.”

“Matt isn’t the type to complain. I’m lucky he was willing to be my foreman after Daniel died. But let’s not talk about that. I want to know what’s happening in your world.”

“Since Jarod’s not home yet, and it’ll be a while before Ryan goes to sleep, I’ll tell you a secret. Jarod is driving us all crazy waiting for his offspring to arrive. He’s due in five weeks. I swear Jarod’s going to wear a hole in the floor of their new house.”

“He’s still worried about Sadie?”

“More than ever. I’ve never seen him this bad. I know she’s had a lot of morning sickness, but the doctor says she’s fine. Jarod doesn’t believe him.”

“I guess that’s not so hard to understand. Sadie’s mom died soon after childbirth.”

“But Sadie’s not her mom. That heart operation was successful and she’s fine now. But you can’t tell Jarod that. He bites your head off. We have to walk on eggshells around him. He used to work all hours of the day on the ranch. Now he comes home every few hours, and the rest of the time he’s on the phone with her.”

“The man’s in love.” Zane could relate in the most profound of ways.

“Between you and me, he’s driving her crazy.”

“But never too crazy. Trust me on that. When she was in San Francisco, he was never off her mind for a single second. Those two should have been together years ago.”

You and I should be together now.

“I know. I try not to think about that. But this countdown to the baby is getting hard on everyone. The other day Grandpa got so fed up he told him to take a ride in the mountains and commune with nature. It’s gotten so serious even Uncle Charlo has no wisdom to impart. When I was out on the reservation the other day and talked to him about Jarod, he actually shook his head, indicating he had nothing. I’ve never seen him do that before.”

“Well, it won’t be long before the baby comes.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not here to watch Jarod implode on a daily basis.”

Zane burst into laughter, causing her to chuckle. “I’ll give him a call and try to reassure him that Sadie’s tough.”