CHAPTER SIX

The next week that passes is bliss. She’s off her birth control and all I can think about is the possibility of her being pregnant soon. The possibility of another child with the woman I love. The next stage in building the legacy of Sovereign Mountain Ranch.

I wake early Monday morning, as I always do. The curtains are drawn back and pale, summer sun filters in.

My wife is naked, one knee on the windowsill. Her nose is pressed to the glass. Sunlight dapples her skin and makes her hair glow deep red. My eyes rove over the curve of her spine. Down her tapered waist and the swell of her full hips, dotted with freckles.

“Come here,” I say, pushing myself up to sit against the headboard.

She turns, tucking her hands behind her back. A little smile ghosts her lips.

“Why?” she says.

I cock my head. She shakes hers and those brilliant eyes glitter.

“I see you didn’t learn anything last night,” I say.

She relents, climbing into bed. I bring my hand down on her ass as a reminder not to be a brat. I don’t like it, I never have. She gets a window to buck me here and there, but not often. And it always comes with a correction to remind her where we stand.

I pull her into my lap. There’s nothing between my hard cock and her bare pussy but the thin sheet.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” she says, lifting her hands and stretching like a cat. Pushing her breasts a little closer.

I put my hand between her thighs and part her with my fingers. She’s wet, more than usual. Deep inside me, something purrs at the thought she could be ovulating.

“Just you,” I say.

She laughs and turns to climb down, but I hold her in place.

“When is your period due?” I ask.

Even after all this time, she still blushes at the question. “A few weeks, maybe more. I can check.”

I shake my head. “Judging by how you’ve been acting, I’d say we should start trying.”

“How am I acting?” Her brows arch.

I flip her around and crack my hand across her ass. “Rubbing your pussy on me. Walking around our room naked. You know what you’re fucking doing.”

Instead of getting shy like she usually does, she hops off the bed and shakes her hair back. Giving me a full view of her breathtaking body as she pads into the bathroom. I hear the shower run and I get up to dress for chores.

For a second, after I’ve got my clothes, hat, and boots on, I linger on the other side of the door.

Tempted by the faint pomegranate scent of my wife.

But I’m going to be late, so I leave and move down the hall. Cash’s door is open and his boots are gone from beneath his bed. I head downstairs and find him on the front porch. Squatted down with his little cowboy hat pushed low over his eyes. He’s looking at something on the ground.

I lean over.

“What’s that, son?” I ask.

He glances up, shrugging. “It’s a bug,” he says, leaning back to reveal a black beetle crawling through the dirt. He jumps to his feet and I see him subtly trying to imitate the way I’m standing.

For some reason, I hadn’t anticipated he’d idolize me so much. At first, he was his mother’s boy, following at her heels. Hiding behind her skirts. But when he hit about four, he decided it was time to grow up. That was when he demanded a hat, boots, and a horse.

“He’s your problem now,” Keira said sweetly.

Deep down, I always felt I wasn’t father material. But that was before Keira, before she’d made me a better man. A braver one. Never in my life have I done something so terrifying as having a child. And she made me strong enough to do that.

I tear myself from my thoughts and kneel down to adjust his shirt. He missed a few buttons getting himself dressed.

“Do you want to ride your own horse today?” I ask.

His eyes light up. “Yeah, I want to ride Silver.”

Technically, Silver is an undersized pony, not a horse. I wanted to give Cash a real horse, but Keira was adamant he only have a few feet to fall if he got bucked off. So I went to the auction and found a sturdy, chestnut pony and gave him to Cash for his last birthday.

“You sure?” I ask, rising and heading to the barn.

He trots behind me. “Yeah, I’m not a little kid.”

He’s so confident. My mind flicks back to my own childhood, remembering how little time I had to just be young. Tragedy aged me before I was a teenager. I don’t want that for my son, I want him to grow under my protection until he’s strong enough to stand on his own.

Come hell, I’ll stop my pain from being passed down.

We enter the barn. Cash stands on his toes to turn the light on. Shadow is already awake, used to being taken out early. I lead him from the stall and let him stand by the mounting block while I retrieve Silver from the back pasture. He’s older and has a quiet personality. I don’t worry much about him hurting Cash.

I tie the pony and pass my son a brush.

“Get him good and clean,” I say. “I don’t want to see saddle sores tonight.”

He nods, biting his lip to concentrate as he moves the curry comb over Silver’s coat. He was in the paddock last night and the dust clings to his hair. It rises in little puffs as Cash works it out.

I brush down and saddle Shadow. He wears a bitless bridle, has for years. At this point, I think he’d take it as an insult if I tried to put a bit in his mouth. I only have him wear a bridle in case I need to secure him, he moves on weight signals alone.

I run my hand down his neck. He’s looking a little gray and I know retirement is less than five years off. It’ll be hard finding a horse that can replace him.

“Alright,” says Cash, setting aside the hoof pick. “Ready.”

I nod. “Go get his things.”

He drags the saddle, blanket, and bridle out. I hang back, letting him work through it on his own. It takes a while, but he gets it in the end. He’s proud of himself, circling Silver with a satisfied expression.

“Go put the brushes away,” I tell him.

He gathers them up and ducks into the tack room. While he’s gone, I check over his work and tighten his cinch. I don’t want to undermine his confidence so I like to wait until he’s looking away before I check. He did well this morning. Silver is clean and his saddle is polished.

He saunters back out and I hold my hand out for him to step into and mount up. I pass him the reins and he gives me a bright smile that stops me in my tracks.

Fuck, sometimes I have to shake myself to believe this is real.

I have a family. I have a wife, a son, and maybe another baby on the way soon.

How did I get so lucky?

“What’re you looking at, dad?” Cash asks.

I shake my head. “Not much. Let’s go, we’ll do a loop and check on things before breakfast.”

He rides alongside me as we leave the barn. We’re heading up the western pasture, right where the Garrison land used to border mine. Before it all became Sovereign Mountain Ranch.

Last night, we ran some young cattle into a separate pasture up the valley. I have some concerns about leaving them that far out, but we don’t have another pasture to house them in for another month when we rotate. It’s the first time we’ve used this pasture because it needed to be built back up after years of neglect.

Cash and I are silent as we ride. He’s got his hat pulled low, the way I do. He’s hard to read, being at an age where all he wants to do is imitate me. Before we had him, I thought it would be easier to see his personality form. But he’s so young he’s like a mirror. I have to look at the edges to see who he’ll be when he becomes a man.

I can tell he’s strong-willed, but smart about it. He pushes me, but never too far. And I appreciate that he respects me.

He’s soft and loving with his mother. I’m grateful for that too. She’s sensitive and it would break her heart to be at odds with anyone in her family.

I glance back at him and see my reflection in his face. Dark hair. Blue eyes. As pale as the early morning sky. I’m no longer the only son of the Sovereign line.

I’m still in disbelief.

My mind drifts back to when I asked Keira to marry me. Well, asked is a strong word. Demanded, is more accurate. And she, in her boundless grace, forgave me for my selfishness. I acknowledged then that every good thing I had flowed from my woman.

That still holds true.

She loved me back to life.

My son and I pause at the crest of the hill. The herd is on the far end, a black smear in the distance. The far western side of the pasture is wooded. I know some of them are hiding there in anticipation of the afternoon sun.

“What are we here for?” Cash asks.

Before I can answer, I hear hoofbeats. Jensen Childress moves over the hill on his dappled gray gelding. He stays a few hours” ride from the border of Sovereign Mountain and comes to help on days when my employees can’t handle the workload. Mostly in the spring and fall, when the calves come, and when we need to tag and brand.

We wait in silence until he draws near.

Cash waves his hat in greeting. “Hi,” he shouts.

Jensen looks down at the stubby pony. “You’re working hard this morning, little Sovereign.”

“Checking the pasture,” says Cash, shrugging.

Jensen glances up at me. “I already rode the western border of that pasture. Everything looks good.”

“No casualties?”

He shakes his head. “You need to do spot repairs on the fence though.”

I glance down at Cash. “You want to do that this morning, son?”

He nods. “I can do it.”

I shift and Shadow turns back towards the house. “Keira will be up and Maddie will have breakfast ready soon. We’ll go eat and head out in the truck.”

We move back down the hill. Jensen and I keep a slow, posting trot so Cash can bring up the rear at a canter. The horses love to run and the ground is smooth and even here. They eat it up quickly.

Keira is on the porch when we pull into the yard. Cash jumps down and fastens Silver to the hitching post. He runs up the path to the house, pausing to say something to his mother before bursting inside. Jensen dismounts and I follow suit, letting our horses loose to graze in the yard while we eat.

“Breakfast is ready,” Keira says, shading her eyes.

Jensen tips his hat at her and follows Cash into the house. I take my own hat off so I can bend in and kiss my wife.

She’s in a plain cotton sundress. Not dissimilar to the one she wore the first day she came to Sovereign Mountain. I rake my eyes over her soft curves and slide my hand into the dip of her waist. Her head falls back for a second. I bury my face in her neck.

“You smell so fucking good,” I murmur.

She shivers. I run my hand lower and grip her ass hard enough I know it stings. I bare my teeth, grazing them down her throat.

A little moan escapes her lips.

“I think you were right about it being a good time to start trying,” she whispers.

I kiss her neck and pull back. “Sounds like I have my work cut out for me later.”

She blushes, tucking her hair back. I spank her lightly, taking her hand, and head into the house.