Love & Rodeo (18 page)

“
I’ll be right here,” he started. “Or I’m coming with you,” Luke said as Kallie took his hand and pulled him behind her.

They followed the nurse to a scale where she weighed Kallie. The next stop was a small room with an ultrasound machine.

“
Have a seat on the table.”

Kallie watched as Luke sat down in a chair while she climbed up onto the table. The nurse took her blood pressure and then asked some information about her last period. After Kallie finished answering all the questions, the nurse handed her a gown and told her to strip. She did as she was told and waited patiently.

“
So this is weird,” Luke said to her and they laughed.

“
Thank you for coming with me.”

He grabbed her hand. “I’ll always be there when you need me, Kal. You know that.”

She smiled at him as a knock came from the door. They both looked as it pried open and an older man with a huge smile on his face walked into the room.

“
Kallie Davis?”

“
Hello.”

“
And this is your husband?”

“
Oh no. This is my friend, Luke.”

Dr. Christian looked at them a little confused.

“
It’s a long story.”

“
All right. Well, Kallie, you’re definitely pregnant. I want to get an ultrasound to find out how far along you are.”

“
Okay,” Kallie said, but she already knew.

Kallie lay back on the table while the doctor prepared the machine. When he was ready, he used a probe to find the baby inside of her. After a few adjustments a small blob appeared on the screen.

“
That’s it,” Dr. Christian said as he pointed at the screen.

“
That’s my baby?”

“
Yeah, let’s see if we can pick up a heartbeat.”

A few minutes later, the thump of a fast little heart filled the room. In that moment, Kallie’s world stood still and all her focus was on the small blob in the middle of the screen. Her wants and needs were no longer a priority. She looked up at Luke who was watching her. She smiled as she felt her chin quiver and Luke’s hand tighten around hers. Looking back at the screen she closed her eyes and listened while the
lub dub
of her baby’s heartbeat filled the room. A tear fell down her face as the doctor went over the baby’s measurements with her before he powered down the machine. All too soon the baby disappeared from the screen.

“
All right. It seems you are about seven weeks along and everything looks fine. Congratulations, and here are some pictures of your baby.”

He handed her the black and white pictures. Kallie lay there looking at the pictures and taking it all in. It was then she decided she wanted the little blob in the picture. She wanted to watch the blob grow into a perfect little baby. She could run a ranch and have a baby. How hard could it be? Her parents had her while on the circuit. She could do this. She looked at Luke and she smiled as a tear ran out the corner of her eye.

“
All right, well, you can get dressed. My nurse will be in shortly to go over some general rules for you, and we’ll see you back in a month. Congratulations again.”

He disappeared out the door and Kallie got dressed.

After an hour going over rules and what medicines she could and couldn’t take, Luke and Kallie walked out of the office.

“
It’s hard to believe that I’m making this thing.” Kallie pointed to her picture.

“
So, I take it your feelings have changed toward all of this?”

“
I was sitting in that waiting room looking at those women and thinking to myself, I don’t want this. Any person who does is crazy, but as soon as I saw my blob on the screen in there, everything changed. I want it, Luke. I want this baby.”

“
Good. So maybe you should call Levi?”

She didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to think about it. Not yet. This was the first thing she’d been truly happy about in weeks. She needed to soak this in and get used to the idea herself.

“
You have to tell him, Kallie.”

“
I know, Luke, and I will. I just need a little time to think about how I’m going to tell him.”

Chapter Nineteen

Three Years Later

“
Nora!” Kallie yelled to her sister as she went back to the counter to add the sauce to the noodles.

Kallie glanced out the window over the sink that overlooked her property. She and Luke had been very fortunate. The ranch and rodeo clinic had been a success. They were booked almost every session until next summer. The sessions were two weeks at a time, with a weekend between sessions to give them a break. Their ranch had grown as well. The few bulls they started with had grown to over thirty head of cattle, and the five horses they started with were now over twenty, including Blaze. The ranch wasn’t just a clinic program to teach people to barrel race and bull ride, it was a bed and breakfast that people from all over the states came to visit.

It was Saturday night and their cook had gone home for the weekend to visit with family, leaving Kallie to cook all their meals. The ranch also employed six men to help with chores and clinics. They were making plenty of money, and all the repairs were finished well over a year ago. Things were really looking up for them.

There was a knock at the door.

“
Nora
!” Kallie yelled to her sister to get the door while she finished tossing the salad and then pulled out the garlic bread.

A few minutes later, Luke and his very pregnant wife, Sophie walked into her kitchen.

“
Kallie, it smells so good!”

“
You’re pregnant! Anything smells good to you right now,” Kallie said pulling Sophie into a hug and then rubbing her stomach.

About that time her fifteen-year-old little sister came walking into the kitchen.

“
Hey, stranger!” Luke said grabbing Nora.

“
Luke!” Nora said jumping to hug him.

“
How was camp?” Luke asked.

“
It was fun. We went canoeing and Wisconsin is beautiful. I want to go back next year.”

“
Sounds like you had a really good time,” Sophie told her as she hugged Nora.

Kallie went back to getting everything on the table. She had missed her sister. The last two weeks had been boring without her, but Kallie knew that life on the ranch could get boring for a fifteen-year-old. So camp in Wisconsin was where she went.

“
I really did have a good time. How is the baby?” she asked.

“
Good. We’ve got four more weeks.”

“
Whoa! You look like you could pop right now,” Nora exclaimed.

“
Nora! Don’t be rude!” Kallie corrected her and bolted an eye at a laughing Luke.

“
No, it’s okay. I feel like I could pop right now.”

“
Are you guys ready to eat?” Kallie asked.

Everyone agreed and sat down at the table.

“
Kallie, we have to talk to you about something.”

“
What is it?” Kallie asked as she worked on her salad.

“
Sophie had her appointment today and they want to induce her in a week.”

“
So soon?”

“
Yeah. The baby is getting pretty big.”

“
But everything’s okay?”

“
Yeah. The baby is fine, but we need to finish getting the nursery together.”

“
What about the session coming in?”

“
I talked to a couple guys from the circuit. One of them might come and fill in for me.”

“
Like who?”

“
Well,” he exhaled. “I talked to Travis, and Deuce, and Levi.”

“
Levi?”

“
Yeah. If I don’t find someone to help, Kallie, we have to refund money to all these people. Ten people. That’s almost ten thousand dollars.”

“
I know the money, Luke. I just don’t know why you asked Levi.”

“
He probably won’t even agree to it. Word is, he’s home helping on the ranch, so he’s probably out anyway.”

“
Maybe Deuce will agree.”

“
Yeah. I’m sorry to do this. We thought we had more time.”

“
Luke, you know these things never go as planned. Let me know if you need any help getting the nursery together,” Kallie offered, knowing that without Luke here, she was going to have her hands full.

When dinner was finished, Sophie helped Kallie clean up and help with the dishes, while Nora and Luke went out to take care of the horses.

“
Thank you for being so understanding about this, Kallie,” Sophie said.

“
We’ll figure it out. We’re all family here.”

“
I know. Luke was so worried when we found out that I was pregnant. He thought it’d be too hard on you.”

Kallie didn’t say anything for a minute.

“
It’s been almost three years. Yeah, it still hurts a little, but I think all things happen for a reason, and God knew that I wasn’t ready to be a mommy yet. I have Nora though, and I’ll have little Caleb.” Kallie smiled.

“
Luke and I are so lucky to have you and Nora.”

Kallie offered a warm smile.

They finished the dishes and met Luke and Nora on the front porch. The sun was setting and the wind whipped, signaling a late summer storm in the area.

“
Well, I’d better get her home and in bed. Don’t want that little guy to come any earlier.”

Luke hugged Kallie and then Nora, while Sophie followed. They all said their goodbyes, and Nora and Kallie waved from the front porch as their headlights bounced down their gravel driveway. They went inside and Kallie went back to work.

“
Bring your laundry down so we can get it started. I need to go into town tomorrow and laundry is the last thing I want to worry about.”

“
Can I drive tomorrow? I only have three weeks until I take my driving test.”

“
I was hoping that camp had made you forget that.”

“
Are you kidding? I’ll finally get to drive to school instead of riding with Benny.”

Benny was their neighbor and one year Nora’s senior. He’d been smitten with Nora since they moved in, but she wanted nothing to do with him. When he offered to help get Nora to school, Kallie jumped on it. Her mornings were full enough.

“
We’ll see. Go get your laundry.”

Kallie went into the master bedroom downstairs and got her clothes and started to sort them when Nora came down with her huge duffle bag with two weeks of dirty clothes. They started to sort them and before long had three huge industrial-size washing machines spinning. Nora went to the large family room and turned on the TV, while Kallie retreated to the office. She worked for an hour but didn’t get much done. She couldn’t take her mind off the fact that Levi might be the one filling in for Luke. Finally her curiosity got the best of her. She clicked on the Internet button and googled Levi Cavanaugh.

“
Levi Cavanaugh, 2012/2013 World Champion Bull Rider” was the first headline that popped up and there was a picture with the caption. Immediately her heart raced in her chest. The picture was a close up of him after he won his first world title and he looked happy. While her chest ached at losing him, seeing this picture and this headline let her know that it was worth it. She looked at the picture long and hard, studying the contours of his face and realizing that he was a little thinner and his face didn’t have the softness it held when he used to look at her. In it’s place was a rugged and weathered face that made him look older. Much older than he really was. Reluctantly, she closed the window and pushed away the idea that maybe he wasn’t as happy as she’d originally thought.

The following headline read: “Levi Cavanaugh proposes to Danielle Lancaster.”

Her heart stopped and she felt like someone had just sucked all the air from her body. Kallie closed the window and shut her laptop. For a moment, she focused on getting her breath back. She hadn’t really expected him to not move on. Wasn’t that the whole point of ending it with him? So that he could move on with his life? So that he could continue bull riding? So why did her chest ache at the thought of him with someone else? Why did she wince when she heard his name? She shook her head. As if only to torture herself more, she opened the laptop again and looked at the picture of him with the petite brunette. They were holding one another and were smiling, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. She stared into his eyes and recognized the same sadness in his that she’d seen in hers all these years. This time she slammed the laptop closed. She needed to take her mind off him. She didn’t need to let him inside of her again. The hurt was too bad, and opening an old wound would only bring her pain she’d fought so hard to lock away. She needed to get out of that office and away from the laptop, so she joined Nora in the family room.