The Rancher's Blessed Event

“You’re borrowing trouble, Mom. Cooper doesn’t have any intentions toward the Diamond D. Why would he? He’s a big rodeo star now. He has all the money he needs. And anybody with one good eye can see this place is falling down around my ears. No. You can rest assured Cooper couldn’t be bothered.”

“I hope you’re right, darling. You have enough on your mind without something like that. You haven’t told him anything, have you?”

Emily switched off the burner beneath the skillet and took a peep in the oven at the baking biscuits. “What do you mean? About the accident?”

“No. About you.”

Emily quickly glanced over her shoulder again. A few minutes before her mother had called, she’d heard Cooper head down the hall to the bathroom. Any second now she expected him to walk into the kitchen.

“I have no intentions of telling him anything about my condition. It’s none of his business. And I’d appreciate it if you’d tell Daddy and the rest of the family not to say anything if they happen to run into Cooper.”

“Is there a reason you don’t want him to know?”

She bit down on her lip as several reasons came to mind. “He...doesn’t need to know, that’s all. Now I’ve got to finish breakfast. I’ll call you later, Mom.”

“All right, honey, if that’s the way you feel. You know your daddy and I are here if you need us.”

Knowing she had her parents’ support was one of the things that had kept her going. “And I love you for it. We’ll talk later.”

She placed the phone out of the way then gathered a couple of pot holders and pulled the pan of hot bread from the oven.

“Something smells good. Is it biscuits?”

Emily glanced around just as Cooper walked into the room. Even though she knew he’d slept across the hall from her last night, it was still a shock to the senses to see him this morning.

He hadn’t shaved but she could see he must have taken a quick shower because his dark hair was wet and slicked back from his face. A red plaid shirt hung half buttoned on the outside of his jeans. His feet were bare except for a pair of white socks.

“Yes, it’s biscuits. And you shouldn’t be walking around without your boots. The floor is gritty. You’ll ruin your socks.”

He gave her a twisted smile. “I’ve been known to get grit in my boots before.”

No doubt, she thought. He’d made his living in thousands of dusty rodeo arenas. It shouldn’t matter to her if he ruined ten pair of socks on her dirty floors. And it shouldn’t feel so good to look at him, either. But it did.

Carrying the pan of biscuits over to the table, she motioned for him to take a seat at one of the empty plates. “How do you want your eggs? Scrambled or fried?”

“Fried, if it isn’t too much trouble.”

She went to the stove, broke four eggs into a skillet of warm grease, then carried a coffeepot back to the table and filled his cup.

“Are you always up and going this early?” he asked.

She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Normally I’m up and about much earlier. But I’ve tried to get a little more rest these past few days.” Not that laying in bed an hour and a half more did any good, she thought. She still felt drained and groggy, but she was determined to get better, to be able to smile and laugh again.

“You look tired.”

As she tended the cooking eggs, her free hand unconsciously fluttered to her bare cheek. With no makeup and her hair pulled back in a messy French braid she knew she must look awful. Her work jeans and old blue sweater didn’t help matters, either. But for the past couple of years, she’d ceased to think of her appearance as important. How irritating for Cooper to notice and point out such a thing to her.

“Ten years can do a lot to a person’s looks.”

He picked up the steaming cup of coffee and savored the smell as he brought it to his lips. After a careful sip, he said, “I didn’t say you looked older. I said you looked tired.”

The eggs done, she carried the skillet over to the table, ladled three onto his plate and one on her own.

As she took a seat opposite him, her eyes briefly met his and she wondered, if like her, he was remembering back to the breakfasts they shared ten years ago.

Emily hoped not. She hoped that once he’d left the Diamond D, he’d totally forgotten the unabashed way she’d loved him, the nights she’d spent cradled in his strong arms. Just thinking of the pleasure he’d given her sent a shaft of guilty heat rushing through her.

“I’m really okay,” she told him.

Emily didn’t look okay. She looked like hell, but Cooper kept the opinion to himself. He could see her nerves were raw and he hadn’t come here to the Diamond D to cause her more pain. In all honesty, Cooper wasn’t exactly sure why he’d come back.

The funeral had already taken place. He couldn’t help his brother now and he didn’t necessarily want to assert himself into Emily’s life just because she was his sister-in-law and newly widowed. Nor did he figure she would appreciate him sticking his nose into any unfinished legal business she might have to deal with over the accident. So had he really come here just to see her one more time? He didn’t want to answer that.

Shaking tabasco over his eggs, he asked, “How is everyone else around here? Do your parents still live on the Flying H?”

Relieved that he wasn’t going to bring up Kenneth’s accident right off, she relaxed a little. “Yes. My brother Ethan has graduated college and is living back home now.”

His brows lifted and for the first time since she’d found him in the barn last night there was a genuine smile on his face. “Little Ethan is out of college? Why, he was just a little ornery horned toad that last time I saw him.”

A vague tilt to her lips, she passed him a biscuit then took one for herself. “Well, he’s all grown up now.”

“What about your aunts?”

“Justine and Chloe are fine. So are their children. Uncle Roy is still the sheriff. He thought about retiring last year, but the people in this county love him too much to let him go. And my cousin Charlie loves being a Texas Ranger. Uncle Wyatt is still in the oil business and of course Daddy will always be a rancher.”

And what about you, he wanted to ask her. Had she been happy as Kenneth’s wife? Really happy? Cooper knew he had no right to put those questions to her. But for the past ten years he’d thought of little else.

“What about your other cousins? Are they still living around here?”

“The twins are all grown up now. Anna is touring as a concert pianist and Adam is working in the gas business with his dad. Their younger sister, Ivy, is at NMU studying to be a doctor. And you remember Charlie’s younger sister, Caroline. She lives in Santa Fe and works as a jewelry designer. None of them have married yet. I guess they’ve all been too busy building their careers.”

Wishing he could think about anything but her, he turned his attention to the food on his plate. It tasted good and he was hungry. But the eggs and bacon did little to fill up the empty hole in him.

“Emily,” he began after a few minutes of silence. “Last night...about Kenneth...if I sounded—”

When it appeared he couldn’t find the words to go on, Emily did it for him. “Out of line?”

He didn’t necessarily think his question had been out of line. Still, he did feel a little badly about being so rough on her. But hell, she’d met him with the barrel of a .30.30 pointed straight at his gut. The greeting hadn’t exactly put him in a warm mood.

“I don’t think wanting to know how my brother died was asking too much. Even if you didn’t want to talk about it.”

She reached for her coffee, but suddenly the smell of it sickened her. She put the cup down and reached for the orange juice she’d poured earlier.

“You think I’m to blame because Kenneth is dead,” she said flatly. “You think I should have stopped him somehow.”

He grimaced. “I didn’t—”

“You said it. You know you did. So don’t be bashful. Tell me what you’re really thinking now. God knows I can take it.”