“I want to know. Don’t you?”
He did. But he still didn’t know if it was safe for her to be pregnant. He hated to get his hopes up, and hers, if something happened. “I think we should wait until after we talk to the doctor.”
Dottie’s eyes filled with tears, but she nodded her head. “I understand.”
Bill’s heart was breaking into a million pieces. She looked so full of joy just a few minutes ago, and now she looked crestfallen. Once again, he’d been the one to cause her hurt.
The technician got out another instrument. “This will let us hear the baby’s heartbeat,” she told them. She ran it back and forth over Dottie’s belly and a minute later they heard a swishing sound.
“Is that it?” Dottie asked.
“Yes, it is,” smiled the woman.
“Oh, Bill, that’s our baby.”
Tears spilled down Dottie’s cheeks. Bill squeezed her hand and prayed. He made a deal with God that day. If he’d watch over Dottie and their baby, Bill would give up rodeo for good.
21
“I’ll be in Cheyenne in two weeks, and then Nashville mid-August,” Tristan told him.
“I’ll take it. And then come January, I want to fly someplace warm and have non-stop, sun-drenched sex with you for two weeks straight.”
Tristan raised her eyebrow. “Straight?”
“Eatin’ and sleepin’ will be the only allowable interruptions.”
“You’re on, Bullet. But don’t forget there’s a couple of other important rodeo weeks in between.”
“That’s if I qualify.”
There were the Professional Bull Riders World Finals, in Las Vegas, in October, and then the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association National Finals, also in Las Vegas, in December. Tristan would be at both, with Lost Cowboy and the new McCullough lines. Bullet would be at both too. Even if he didn’t qualify as a rider, he’d be there with Flying R Rough Stock.
It was unlikely Tristan would be able to see him in September. She’d be showing at least two of the McCullough lines at the fall shows. Every minute between now and then, when she wasn’t at one of the bigger rodeos, she’d be working twenty-hour days to have the collections ready.
“I’m gonna miss you so damn much,” he said for the hundredth time.
“I’m going to miss you too, but we’ll both be so busy, the time will pass quickly.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Nope.”
“That makes me feel a little better.”
Tristan checked the time on her phone. Her father and grandfather would be getting anxious soon. They were at the gate, waiting to board the flight that would take them back to New York. It was due to take off in twenty minutes, and she wasn’t through security yet.
“Bullet, I have to go.”
“Just one more kiss.”
One more turned into ten, until Tristan finally pulled away and ran in the direction of security. As it was, she was the last person to board the flight, and they’d held the door open because her father insisted she was on her way. He wasn’t very happy with her the rest of the way home. Gramps just smiled and winked.
“Quite a series of shindigs you invited us to, Tristan,” he said once she was in her seat.
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
He smiled and nodded. “I sure did.”