The Rancher's Blessed Event

Muttering a curse under his breath, he braked the old truck to a halt. A short distance away were a group of wooden feed troughs sheltered from the north wind by a stand of juniper and piñon pine.

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “I keep wondering why you’ve hung around here for so long.”

Emily quickly looked away from him and out the window. The cattle were several rises over from them, but the animals had heard the truck and were now making their way in a hungry trot toward the feed grounds.

“Like I told you this morning, I’ve hung around because this is my home. And Kenneth was my husband.”

He studied the back of her old black hat and the blond braid lying against her ranch coat. The garment had once been dark brown but it had obviously been washed and worn until the color now resembled dead grass. Her hair was still beautiful, but it looked as though she’d trimmed it herself. Cooper wondered how long it had been since she’d spent time just for herself, doing those feminine things women do with their skin and hair and nails.

A faint scowl on his face, Cooper said, “It appears to me as if he wasn’t being all that good of one. Or is that simply what you want me to believe?”

His question caused tears to collect in Emily’s throat. More than anything she didn’t want to belittle Kenneth to him. At one time the man had seemed to love her. And up until the past couple of years, he’d been a decent husband to her. It hadn’t been his fault that she’d failed him somewhere along the way.

“Your brother was a good man,” she said quietly. “He did...the best he could.”

Before Cooper was able to respond, Emily climbed out of the truck and hurried around to the tailgate. She was reaching for a sack of feed when his hands came down on her shoulders.

“Move out of the way. I’ll do this.”

Digging in her boot heels, she twisted her head around enough to see his face. “You’re supposed to be helping. Not giving orders.”

“When did you get so damn stubborn?”

Her lips parted to answer, but suddenly his grip on her shoulders eased. The expression on his face softened and she forgot all about his question. For the first time in years, Cooper was touching her as though he really meant it and all Emily wanted to do was turn and bury her face in his chest, beg him to hold her and never let her go.

“Cooper, I—”

Troubled by the sudden charge of awareness between them, Cooper quickly thrust her aside and slung the fifty-pound sack of feed over his shoulder.

“If you want to do something, follow me and start spreading the cake while I get the other sacks,” he said gruffly.

Relieved that he’d snapped her back to reality, Emily started after him. He set the sack of feed at one end of the nearest trough, then started to rip the string to open it.

“I’ll do that,” Emily quickly offered. “You go get the rest of the sacks before all the cattle get here. With this bit of snow on the ground they’re going to be hungry and rowdy.”

“Are any of them mean?”

“No,” she assured him. “I promise you won’t have to make a mad dash for the truck.”

To Emily’s surprise he grinned. “I’ll keep an eye out anyway,” he told her.

In a matter of moments the bawling steers reached the feed grounds and swarmed Emily. Working her way through the hungry cattle, she poured a long string of hard green pellets down the center of the wooden trough.

Once the sack was empty, she began walking to the next trough where Cooper had already placed another sack.

In their eagerness to be fed, the steers trotted ahead and around her. Emily pushed several animals out of her path, but before she was aware of the danger behind her she was sent sprawling to the ground.

The instant Cooper saw Emily fall, he tossed the sack from his shoulder and ran to her. She was lying facedown. A few feet away her hat had been stomped into the dirt and snow.

His heart pounding with fear, Cooper knelt over her and gently touched the back of her head. “Emily! My God, are you all right?”

Groaning, she tried to lever herself off the frozen ground. Her lungs were on fire and her head whirled like a kaleidoscope.

“I think... I...”

Carefully Cooper eased her onto her back, then cradled her head in the crook of his arm. “Try to breathe a little,” he instructed. “It’ll come back to you.”

Her shocked lungs finally managed to draw in more oxygen. As they did, her scrambled senses began to settle back into place. She glanced at the motley herd of cattle milling around them, then up at Cooper’s face.

“What happened?”

Gently he brushed the tangled blond hair away from her face. “A steer hit you from behind and knocked you down. How do you feel now? Do you think you’re okay? Does anything feel broken?”

Broken? Oh dear Lord, the baby! What had the fall done to it?

What little bit of color that had been returning to Emily’s face instantly vanished. “I don’t know!” she said in a panicked rush.

He frowned “What do you mean, you don’t know? Can’t you tell me whether you’re hurting or not?”

“I’m not hurting.”

He looked relieved. “Then do you want to try to stand up now?”

She shook her head and tears suddenly collected in her eyes. The baby was everything to her. She couldn’t lose it now! “I’m afraid,” she whispered.