The Bull Rider's Baby

Even with the glimmer of tears, her voice remained strong.

He stopped her with a slight shake of his head. “Don’t. Nothing is going to happen to me.”

“This doesn’t count toward the finals. You don’t have to ride here.”

“I want to ride here.”

He used to want to ride here. He wanted to be seventeen again, living his dream, waking up each morning to a family that was whole. For some crazy reason he kept thinking he could get that back. His parents, his brother, his life.

Buying the land had been the plan. The way to get his life back.

Sophie stared at him, as if she knew exactly what thoughts were going through his mind. And she looked sorry, for her and for him.

“Sophie, this is what I do. I ride bulls.”

“I know.”

He wanted to hold her but he knew she wouldn’t want that. She had her stronger-than-steel look on her face. She wouldn’t melt. She wouldn’t fall apart.

“So wish me luck?”

“Of course, luck. And some prayers.” She swayed with Lucy in her arms. “I thought it would be easier to watch instead of being at home worrying, not knowing.”

“I understand.” He let out a sigh as they announced bull riding directly after barrel racing. “I’ve got to go.”

“I’ll find a place to sit.”

“Soph—” he stepped close because he couldn’t just walk away “—she looks good in your arms.”

Before she could protest or call him a choice name, he walked away. But he couldn’t stop smiling. Not even when they told him which bull he’d be riding. He’d drawn one of the meanest bulls the Coopers owned.

* * *

Jackson Cooper grinned, and then laughed. “You sure you don’t want to take a sick day, Keet?”

“I can ride this bull with my eyes closed.”

“I think you’ll want your eyes closed and some serious prayers before you ride him.” Jackson walked away from the fence he’d been leaning against. His smile disappeared. Great.

“I can handle him, Jackson.”

“I know you can. But tell me this. What are you doing with Sophie?”

“She’s watching Lucy for me. That’s all.”

“Mind a little advice?”

Keeton shrugged and pretended this conversation meant nothing. But Jackson had a pretty serious look on his face that warned him to tread easy. “Sure.”

“Don’t hurt her.”

“I’m not planning on it. She’s always been a friend.”

“I think we both know that isn’t true.”

“Jackson, there’s been a lot of years lived since Kade passed. There’s been a lot of time and distance.”

“I know. And here you both are, still stuck in the past.”

“I’m not stuck in the past.”

“You’re here because you can’t let go.”

“I’m here to get back what I lost.”

Jackson’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Sophie’s on the list of things you lost?”

“No, Sophie was never on the list of things I had to lose.”

At thirty-six, he was too stinking old for this conversation. He pushed his hat back and looked Jackson Cooper straight in the eye. “Jackson, with all due respect, back off.”

“She’s my sister.”

“We’re not teenagers. She’s not a kid you have to watch over. I don’t have to declare my intentions like this is some Old West drama.”

Jackson laughed. “You have intentions?”

“I have to ride a bull. And then I plan on ignoring you.”

He walked past Jackson and climbed the steps to the platform where he would wait to get on his bull. The old Holstein bull the Coopers owned bellowed in his chute, raising off his front legs in an attempt to climb out of the metal enclosure.

It kind of made a guy wonder why he did this for a living. It also kept him praying. But his attention strayed to the stands, looking for Sophie with his little girl. He spotted them. Sophie sat near the bottom of the bleachers, next to a woman he didn’t know. She had a cola in one hand and his baby in her arms.

Things had definitely changed. For the better? Yeah, he thought so.

* * *

Sophie hadn’t attended a rodeo in years. She never watched bull riding. Tonight she had to. She’d tried cuddling up with Lucy, pretending she didn’t care. But after thirty minutes at home, thinking about Keeton on a bull, she couldn’t take it. She had to be here, to watch. As if being here would stop something bad from happening.

She knew whatever would happen would happen with or without her presence. She knew that God really could take care of things without her help.

But logic had obviously flown out the window, along with common sense and a few other personal strengths. At this point, emotion seemed to be in control. And when had that ever happened to her?

Okay, not a question she wanted to answer.

She resituated herself on the wooden bench and pretended she really didn’t care what happened in the arena. She didn’t care that Dylan, her little brother, had just settled onto the back of a bull.

Travis, older than Dylan by a couple of years, stood in the arena, ready to rescue their little brother if need be. Jackson had the role of pick-up guy, sitting on his big chestnut gelding, reins loose in his hands, but the horse in control.