Page 57 of His First Baby Rodeo

“Hey, that’s great.” Bradley was one of the newest students of the riding school the two of them had opened together after Mac had retired from his rodeo career and El had moved onto the ranch with him. The school had done well — there were plenty of students of all ages who wanted to be trained by a well-known rodeo star. Mac had purchased a few more horses to make sure he would have some that were suitable for beginning riders, and he’d committed to keeping all of his horses throughout their lives — even when they slowed down, they would be useful in training students to groom horses properly.

El couldn’t wait to join him in teaching. For the first few months of her time on the ranch, she’d been able to be a part of things — working with the horses, even if she wasn’t able to ride while pregnant. But toward the end of her pregnancy, she had been forced to stay away from lessons. Now that she was fully recovered from the delivery of her baby, she was ready to start riding again, and to be a part of things, but she and Mac had agreed that she would wait until Caleb’s first birthday before she would take her first student. They would have to coordinate their schedules so that someone could always be available for Caleb — another thing they’d agreed on when they’d started this journey together was that, because their business was operated out of their home, they wouldn’t need to depend on finding childcare for their son. They would take care of him themselves, without hiring anyone. It was something El valued and was grateful for. If she’d had a baby in other circumstances, she knew, she might not have been free to be at home with him as much as she could with Caleb.

“Bradley wants to have a birthday party here,” Mac said, balancing Caleb on his hip so that he could pull a beer out of the fridge. “His mother asked me whether that was something we could do, but I told her I’d have to talk to you about it first. What do you think?”

“Bradley’s how old?”

“Turning nine.”

El thought about it. “I think that might be okay,” she said. “We’d have to set some kind of limit for how many people would be allowed to come, though. We can’t manage too many guests.”

“Sure. Well, we’d have to do that anyway, because we don’t want to have more party guests than horses,” Mac said. “I think four or five might be all right.”

“Do you think the standard waiver we use to cover riding lessons would work for party guests too?”

“I don’t know, but I can call the lawyer and check on that.”

“If that all checks out then a party is fine with me,” El said. “It could even open up a new revenue stream, if Bradley’s friends tell their friends about it and we start booking more of them.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Mac agreed. “We’ve got to put this kid through college somehow, right?”

El laughed. “That’s still a long way off.”

They were interrupted by a knock at the door, and El frowned. “Who’s here? You don’t have any more lessons tonight, do you?”

“No, I’m done for the day,” Mac said.

El went to the door and opened it. “It’s Jeff,” she said, surprised. “What’s he doing here?”

Jeff mounted the porch steps with a grin on his face. “Where’s my favorite nephew?”

Mac handed Caleb over. “You’re right on time.”

“Right on time?” El repeated. “What are you two up to?”

“It’s been a while since you and I went riding up the ridge,” Mac explained. “We’ve been so busy doing the parenting thing that we haven’t had a chance. But I thought it might be fun to get out today, so I brought in a babysitter. What do you think? Are you up for it?”

“You came all the way to Texas to babysit?” El asked her brother.

He laughed. “Don’t give me too much credit. The whole family is here. They’re at a hotel. The kids wanted to swim. And we all wanted to spend some time with Caleb here, of course.”

“You’ve got to stop coming for visits without telling me,” El laughed. “Of course we always want you here, but I’d have cleaned the house if I’d known we were expecting company.”

“Which is part of why we didn’t tell you,” Mac said. “I know how you get, going on a cleaning frenzy every time someone is going to see the house. Jeff doesn’t mind a little mess, do you, Jeff?”

“I live with three kids under the age of eight,” Jeff chuckled. “I’m right at home in a little mess, believe me.”

“So how about it?” Mac asked El. “Are you up for a ride?”

“A ride sounds great,” she agreed. “Honestly, it’s been ages since I got out and did something just for me.” She loved being a mother, but it was a time-consuming responsibility. “Let me go get changed into my jeans and we’ll go.”

When she got back down to the kitchen, Mac was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s outside getting the horses ready,” Jeff explained.

El nodded. “Caleb’s going to want to eat a little more at some point, and then he’s going to have to burn off some energy before bedtime,” she told her brother. “You can skip bath time tonight.”

“I don’t mind popping him in a bath. Remember, Ihavedone this three times myself,” Jeff reminded her. “I can handle a baby.”

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