The Bull Rider's Baby. Brenda Minton

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       “I’m buying.” He grinned. “I always told you I’d take you to dinner someday. Looks like I’m buying your breakfast today.”

       “You really don’t have to.”

       “I owe you.” He nodded at the front of her jacket, now soaked and with a trail of spit-up down the front.

       The baby turned into her shoulder and started crying. She rubbed her face back and forth on Sophie’s collar. Baby slime. And goo. And she didn’t have time to go home and change.

       “Keeton West, you never answered.” Trish grinned at the infant. “Where’d you get that pretty baby?”

       He grinned, and Sophie applauded his silence. If he said anything it would be all over town by the end of the day. Or by lunch.

       Trish came around the counter, maternal and an obvious choice to hold the squalling infant clinging to Sophie’s collar.

       “It’s a long story.” Keeton dug his wallet out of his pocket and tossed a couple of bills on the counter.

       “Well, we’ve got time for long stories, don’t we, Jimmy?” Trish touched the baby’s back. “My goodness, she stinks.”

       “Yeah, I ran out of diapers.”

       Warmth spread down Sophie’s front before Trish could take the baby. Now it wasn’t just the back of the baby’s sleeper that was soaked.

       “Uh-oh.” Keeton grabbed the bags Jimmy had set on the counter. “Guess she’s wetter than I thought.”

       “Is she yours?” Trish wouldn’t let go.

       Sophie handed the baby over to Trish, who obviously didn’t care if the infant soaked her clothes. Now that her hands were free, she reached into Keeton’s groceries and pulled out her toaster pastries and the can of soda.

       “These are mine.” Sophie pointed to the baby. “That’s yours.”

       “Is she yours?” Trish pushed on, leaning to kiss the baby’s cheek. “My goodness, she’s warm. Do you have anything to give her for this fever?”

       “Sick and wet, my lucky day.” Sophie headed for the door. “Have fun, Keeton.”

       Keeton, carrying the baby girl and his bag of groceries, caught up with her as she got into her car.

       “Wait.”

       She sighed and stuck the key in the ignition. “What?”

       “I want to talk to you about our land.”

       “Our land?” She knew exactly what he meant, but she didn’t have time for this. Besides that, she had plans for that land.

       “You know what I mean, Sophie. You bought the one hundred that joins up with the twenty I bought. A corporation bought the land on the other side of the road.”

       “So you’re here to buy back West land?”

       “That’s why I’m here. That farm meant everything to my granddad, even to my dad, before…”

       Yeah, before. She looked away, thought about hollow expressions, loss, giving up. The Wests had sold out to the Parkers, and then the Parkers had split the land up, sold it and moved to Kansas last year.

       “Soph, I want to buy it back.”

       “Keeton, I don’t have time to talk.”

       He leaned in, holding the baby that still hadn’t been changed. She cuddled against his shoulder, crying as he tried to continue the conversation. “We need to talk.”

       The stench of the messy, wet baby proved to be more than Sophie could take. She shook her head and moved to get out of the car. Keeton backed up, his words drifting off as she reached for the baby. “We have to change her before we continue this conversation.”

       “I can manage.”

       She took the baby from him and placed her on the backseat of the car. “Give me a diaper. And you’d better have plenty of wipes. And hand sanitizer.” She gagged a little just thinking about what was waiting for her.

       Keeton handed her a diaper and wipes. And then he had the nerve to step back. She tossed him a meaningful look over her shoulder. “Get back here. I’m not doing this alone. You never send a man, or woman, in alone.”

       “Right.” She heard him take a deep breath and he stepped close.

       The diaper was every bit as bad as she imagined. Worse even. After taking it off and cleaning the baby with wipes, she handed Keeton the offending item. He gasped as she shoved it into his hand.

       “Don’t think you get out of this completely.” She smiled over her shoulder at him before turning her attention back to the task at hand.

       Keeton took another deep breath and hurried toward the trash. Sophie smiled at the baby. Lucy, blue-eyed and beautiful, smiled back. Sophie lost her heart. And it had been a long time since she’d done that. So long, in fact, she almost expected it to hurt. The heart was, after all, a muscle. She figured hers might be close to atrophy from lack of use.

       But she wasn’t about to admit that to anyone. She also wouldn’t admit that she’d been telling God about her loneliness, thinking maybe He could show her a glimpse of His plan.

       “Thanks.” Keeton grabbed a few wipes as she taped a new diaper in place. “For your hands. It’s the best I can do.”

       She took the wipes and handed him the clean baby. Clean wasn’t really the best word. She needed a bath. Badly.

       “I’d take her home and bathe her if I were you.”

       Keeton looked down at his little girl. “Bathe her?”

       “Yes, with water and soap. It’s a funny little custom most people enjoy daily.”

       “Not funny. I don’t know how to bathe a baby.”

       “You’ll figure it out. And you should run into Grove and get medicine for her fever. Maybe take her to urgent care. She does feel warm.”

       “Great, a sick baby.”

       “Probably just a virus. She’ll be fine. So will you.” She smiled at the sight of him holding the baby. “Daddy.”

       “Daddy.” He looked down at his daughter, his expression downright wistful and a little confused. “I have a kid.”

       “Looks that way.”

       And then wistful disappeared, replaced by a look of total shock. “What am I going to do with her?”

       “I’d say the same thing parents have done with babies for hundreds of years. Take her home and raise her.”

       “I’m a bull rider. I’m on the road almost half my life. I’m living in a crash pad, not a home.”

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