Page 21 of Cowboy Bear's Hope

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine. Just gonna be a dad. Shit. What if I fuck it up?” he asked, and his eyes were so wide, I wondered if they might fall out of his head.

“You won’t,” I replied, clapping him on the shoulder. “And if you do, the Crew will be here to help you make it right.”

“Right? Yeah. Okay.”

“Max! Get in here,” Mrs. O’Hare yelled from inside.

“Okay. Bye. Thanks, um, bye.”

Max ran inside and closed the door on us. The snow was falling heavily, and I watched Rosie playing out of the corner of my eye while I tried to figure out my next move.

“A baby? Penny’s gonna have a baby,” Avery murmured.

Her eyes were overflowing now, and shit, what was I supposed to do? I took her hand and pulled her closer. She allowed it, which was a good sign, so I kept going, tugging her gently until I had her cradled in the warmth of my arms.

Avery hugged me back, and I held her while she cried, reveling in the fact that this strong, beautiful woman was leaning on me, even if just for a moment.

“Snow is coming down hard. Should I call an Uber?” she asked, sniffing and moving back.

“Fuck no, I mean, sorry,” I blurted. “Look, the roads are icy now, and it’s late. Why don’t you and Rosie come back to my place?”

“Your place?”

“Yeah. We all have cabins on the property, and I’ve been remodeling mine. I’ve got a pizza in the truck, we can heat it up, have dinner, and you can both stay over so you can check on Penny in the morning. And I have a guest bedroom with furniture in it, just in case you think I’m being fresh,” I said, and grinned when she did at my use of that old timey expression.

“Oh, I mean, are you sure? That’s a really nice offer. Rosie, you’re too far away,” she called out.

“I’m positive. Go on and get inside the truck. I’ll get Rosie,” I said, and nudged her gently.

Rosie had wandered close to the woods, and I jogged to catch up with her. She was staring into the copse of trees, like she could see something I couldn’t, so I used my Bear’s senses to sniff.

“Whatcha doing over here, Rosie Posie?”

“Just playing,” she said, and scrunched her nose up adorably.

“Well, come on now. Your mama is waiting.”

I picked her up with one last sniff to see if I could determine what she’d been looking at.

It was hard to discern scents in the dead of winter, but fur was pretty unmistakable and that was what I smelled.

I just didn’t know whose fur, and that worried me.

“Rosie, I want you to promise me you won’t go off in the woods alone ever, okay?”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because it’s not safe and your mama would worry. You promise?”

“But what if someone needs my help?”

“If that happens you come tell me and I’ll help too, okay?”

“Okay, Danny. I promise,” she said and laid her head down on my shoulder.

I got her inside the truck and buckled in no time. About seven minutes later, we arrived at my cabin, and I waited with bated breath to see what Avery and Rosie would think of my modest home.

It wasn’t a sprawling house like Max’s. But then again, I wasn’t a multi-millionaire like him, either.

---