Chasing McCree (19 page)

“
She’s what?”

“
Have a baby.”

I gripped the radio and held back a
squeal of excitement so I didn’t startle the horse.
“Really?”

“
Yeah, let’s get settled.”
He led me over to a ladder and grabbed a felt blanket that had been
thrown over the side of an empty stall. I followed him up to a
platform covered in hay overlooking Sissy. “We could be here for a
while.”

“
Did you know we’d be doing
this?” I helped him lay out the blanket and we sat side by said,
dangling our legs over the edge.

“
Not tonight. Grant said
she had a few days to go.” He smiled, nodding at the horse. “But
nature is on its own schedule.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and
texted Grandma, sending her a couple pictures. She was so excited
that I got to see a horse being born. I asked her how my parents
were. She replied, fine, and oblivious. My parents couldn’t stop
for a few minutes to see them, or even ask about me.

Super.

A few hours passed. We curled up on the
blanket, on our sides, so we could see down into the stall. The
radio crackled a few times and I turned it off. Chase fell asleep
first. I tried to keep my eyes open, but I eventually drifted
off.

A funny sound woke me up after a while
though. I had to pry Chase’s arms from around me to sit up. When I
looked down into the stall I saw the most amazing sight in the
world.

“
Chase, get up.” I
whispered. “Hurry!”

He sat up and glanced over the side.
“Going to be gray like his or her daddy.”

“
Who’s the father?” I
asked.

“
Ash,”

I tore my eyes away for a second to
kiss him. “Thanks for letting me come home with you. This has
changed everything. My whole life.”

He nodded, holding my gaze. “You
changed my life too Briar.”

“
It’s a horse,” I clapped a
few minutes later, watching the little gray baby sitting in the
hay. “She…he…it is so sweet! What is it, a boy or a
girl?”

“
Let’s find out,” Chase
grinned, dropping over the side of the platform. He landed in a
pile of hay below. “Come on,”

I tossed him the radio and hesitated.
“Are you sure?”

He nodded, “I’m right here. I’ll grab
you if I have to.”

I slid to the very edge, closed my
eyes, and let go. I hit the hay, and bounced, grinning. He gave me
a hand up and we went to the stall, watching as the white horse
patiently helped her baby try to stand.

Chase slipped into the stall for a
second and came out grinning. “A colt.”

“
A what?”

“
It’s a boy. Filly is a
girl, colt is a boy.”

“
He’s going to walk.” The
little gray baby’s legs wobbled. He fell over a few times, tumbled
and rolled.

Then he was standing. His hooves
planted to keep from toppling again.

I leaned into Chase’s side, watching
the mommy and her baby, so incredibly happy. “Chase… I think I love
you.”

He smiled and leaned in to kiss me. “I
was thinking I love you too, Briar.”

I’d never been so happy.

Chapter 18

Briar

Life at the ranch was nothing like I’d
imagined. It was even more amazing. I’d seen and done things that I
never would have if I’d I kept on the path I’d been headed down.
There was so much more to happiness than designer clothes and the
fancy parties my parents hosted. I wish my mom and dad could see
and feel what I felt. But I wanted to change. I was open to
becoming a different person. I’d never felt comfortable in my old
life.

It had been a few days since we saw the
baby horse born. I loved him so much. He was so sweet and cute, and
a ball of energy. I visited him every day, thinking I’d have to
come up with a good name for him, but so far, nothing seemed to
fit.

Millie and I went shopping in Great
Falls. The mall was almost an hour away from the house. We left
Chase and Jerry. She wanted to leave the boys behind, and I was in
the mood to do a little exploring. We had dinner, window shopped,
and saw a movie. All in all, I had a fun time. We even bumped into
a few of Millie’s friends, who had daughters my age.

I texted Chase to tell him we were
heading home, and he told me to wake him up if he was asleep when
we got in. I wasn’t sure why, but I agreed and sank into the cushy
seat of Millie’s SUV for the trip back. She was the only one that
didn’t drive a truck.

When we got back to the ranch, Chase
had gone up to bed, and Jerry was asleep in his armchair with a
fishing magazine. I got the shopping bags into the house, and she
managed to get Jerry up to their room without him seeing how much
damage she’d done.

The house was quickly shut down and the
lights out. I went up to bed, plum tuckered out, as Millie liked to
put it. But I made a slight detour and went to the room across from
mine.

I tapped softly on the door, “Can I
come in?”

“
Yeah,” Chase flipped on
the bedside lamp and sat up against the headboard. Stinker was
curled up at his feet.

“
Interesting company,” I
said, patting the collie on his head. “He smells…good.”

“
Gave him a bath while you
were gone,” he chuckled, yawning. “We’ll see how long the new dog
smell lasts… Did you and Millie have fun?”

“
We did,” I held up my
hands. “See, no shopping bags.”

His lips quirked. He pulled me closer,
and looked behind my back like I’d hidden them somewhere. “Where’d
you put them?”

I sat next to Stinker, scratching him
behind the ears. “Nowhere…”

“
Briar, are you telling me
you went shopping and didn’t buy anything?” Chase waved his hand in
front of my face. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“
Three,” I swatted his hand
away.

“
What’s your middle
name?”

I rolled my eyes,
“Elizabeth.”

It’s not that I was a serial shopper. I
just hadn’t felt the need, or wanted to buy anything. It was a
first.

“
Must be all the fresh
air,” Chase gave me a kiss goodnight. “It’s messing with your
head.”

I stood, giving Stinker a pat. I liked
the new dog smell. It smelled of cedar and fresh outdoors.
“Whatever it is, I hope it lasts.”

“
Yup,” Chase yawned
again.

“
Why did you want me to
wake you up?” I smiled when his eyes slid shut, thinking he’d be
asleep before I left the room.

Chase wasn’t one of those sheepish guys
who became shy. I’d gotten pretty good at reading him, figuring out
what his expressions meant. He wasn’t sly and didn’t try to hide
anything from me. So I wanted to melt into a puddle when he
nervously smiled. “Want to come to work with me
tomorrow?”

“
Yeah.”

“
It’s not easy, I don’t
want to scare you or anything. It can be dangerous too.”

“
If I haven’t run screaming
from the ranch by now, I don’t think I ever will.” I laughed,
verging on giddy. I really wanted to be right beside him, seeing
what he did, how he did it.

“
Grant and I’ll be moving
the herd to another pasture. I’ll come to the house for you around
noon. We’ll be passing by and you can join us.”

I’d never seen him move the cows
before, so I was all for it. We’d fallen into a routine of sorts.
Chase would be up and out of the house taking care of chores and
seeing that the hands had their orders for the day. I’d be up a
little later with Millie to make breakfast.

It was hard work keeping fifteen hands
and cowboys fed during haying season. Millie prepared at lot of
easy foods that wouldn’t spoil and could be eaten on the go. Like
sandwiches. Though yesterday she’d made breakfast burritos because
she was running low on bread.

Twice I’ve gone with her to collect
eggs from the hen house, which had been the strangest experience of
my life, maybe. The smell was something else too. “What should I
wear?”

He rattled off jeans, and a cotton
shirt, and hiking boots.

“
Okay, I’ll be on the porch
at noon.”

“
No running back to the
house, even if it rains. We’ll probably be gone till nightfall,
promise you’ll bring a light jacket too.”

“
I promise.” I shook my
head, grinning as I shut the door behind me.

Chase was gone by the time I went down
to help Millie with breakfast. No one came to the house to eat, so
she loaded it in a truck and drove it down to the fields. I stayed
back to clean up and feed the dogs.

It was quiet in the house. Everyone was
either cutting hay or moving the herd. So once I was finished in
the kitchen, I went up to the office to see if Jerry needed any
help. He put me to work looking over orders for supplies, and then
he decided I could answer the phone too.

My first phone call wasn’t anything too
hard. No biggie. Just someone who was interested in buying beef. I
gave them the information supplied by Jerry, and hung up. The next
few calls were just as easy. I was really getting the hang of
it.

“
McCree Ranch, Briar
speaking.” I answered.

“
This is Don. I need to
speak to Chase McCree.”

“
He’s out of the office.” I
grabbed the memo book and a pen. “Can I take a message?”

“
Wait, are you that little
blonde that came in my bar?” he sounded very friendly, like he
called the office a lot. “I remember you. Smart of you to take up
with him. If I’d had a daughter, he’d be high on my list for a
son-in-law.”

“
Mr…Don, uh, what can we do
for you?”

“
I need some help. See,
that loan is coming due soon. I don’t think I can pay Chase back,
not fully. It’s going to take time.”

“
Oh, really?” I put my hand
over the phone and whispered to Jerry that it was Don.

Jerry snorted under his breath and told
me to put him on speaker. “What do you want, Don?”

“
I’ve decided to remodel,
and I need all the extra money I can get. I was even wondering if I
could borrow some more.”

“
No.”

“
Excuse me?” Don
asked.

I huffed, “He said no. Do I need to
spell it out for you? N. O.”

Don said a nasty curse word. “It’s not
like you need the money.”

Of all the, I smacked my forehead with
my hand.

Jerry merely rolled his eyes. “No,
you’re right. It’s the principle of the matter. You borrow and you
pay back. Simple. We will not be extending or adding to your
loan.”

Jerry motioned for me to hang up.
Before I slammed the phone down I added, “and your mother would be
ashamed of you.”

When I finally got the nerve to look at
Jerry, I was surprised to see him laughing so hard tears had filled
his eyes. “What?”

He shook his head, gasping and beating
his fist on the desktop. “It was perfect.”

I frowned. “Then why are you
laughing?”

“
I was just imagining the
look on Don’s face. And I wish I’d been there to see it. His
mother…” Jerry shook his head, wiping his eyes. “I do think you’re
the best thing that’s happened to us in a long time.”

I grinned. “So you don’t mind having me
around?”

“
Honey, you’re going to be
my new right hand man…woman.”

“
Person,” I supplied. “Do
you have any more outstanding loans due?”

He shook his head, but then stopped and
nodded slowly. “A few. Though none of them as large as
Don’s.”

“
Did you charge him
interest?” I asked. “What about a contract?”

He sat forward in his seat. “Well,
well. Tough and smart. There was an agreement drawn up, but it’s
been so long since I’ve read it…and its nothing like the contracts
you’re thinking of.”

“
Were there any
stipulations, consequences? A set date for him to have paid you
back by?” I asked.

“
How do you know so much?”
he truly looked stumped.

“
Uncle Jerry, my parents
love their money. I hear them talking all the time. They just don’t
think I’m listening.”

He pointed at a small filing cabinet
under the window, “Have at it.”

Two hours later I was elbow deep in
paperwork and various large worded contracts. I didn’t understand
half of the stuff I was reading. I figured out most of them had
been fulfilled. What I found was that Chase’s grandfather, in his
older age, liked to be generous with money. And the actual
contracts themselves were shocking.

Because most of them were written on
paper napkins.

I was on the floor, lying on my stomach
with Whiskers napping in the sun next to me, trying to read the
scrawled writing, always in blue ink, when a pair of brown boots
stopped in front of me.

I tilted my head back,
“Chase!”