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By the time she was done, she had a solid article about a true cowboy, the kind of thing that showed the Western heart, beating true.
It read differently than her previous stories. More depth. More emotion. Was that because of the circumstance or the cowboys? Both…and maybe her, too.
The patter of footsteps came her way just before seven o’clock. “Miss Lizzie?” Zeke slid to a stop at the end of the short hall linking the front of the big house to the back wing. “Is my dad out here?”
“He’s not,” she replied as she set the computer aside. “He’s with Rosie and Harve because they think the baby’s about to be born. So Daddy asked me to keep an eye on you. Okay?”
“The baby might be born today?” His eyes went wide when he lifted two dark, little brows. His teeth flashed white in a bright grin, revealing a tiny new gap. “This might be the best day ever! First, there’s this.” He opened his mouth extra wide and grinned, showing off the empty front space. “I wanted to show you last night, but Dad said you needed to get some sleep.”
She smiled at the boy. “He was right, so thank you both. Did you put it under your pillow?”
He shook his head, surprising her. “I wanted you to see it, and if the fairy tooked it away, you would never ever get to see it. But you can see it today and then we can put it under my pillow tonight. Okay?”
“More than okay,” she assured him. “And thank you so much for thinking of me. That was really nice of you to do, Zeke-man.”
“Well, Daddy and I both kinda did it.”
His innocent words made her heart leap. She tamped it down quickly. “You hungry?”
He shook his head.
“Thirsty?”
“Can I have chocolate milk?”
She had no idea if Cookie kept chocolate milk on hand, but she’d seen chocolate syrup in the fridge. “Sure can.”
“And maybe toast,” he added. He followed her into the kitchen and pulled himself up onto one of the tall stools. She had to stop herself from cautioning him to not to fall. He handled the climb and the balance with the ease of an expert.
“Cinnamon sugar toast?”
“Yes!” He giggled. “My favorites!”
“Glad to oblige, my friend.” She made the toast and used the handheld frother to mix his chocolate milk, filling the glass with creamy bubbles. When she handed it to him, his eyes went round.
“It’s like a milk shake.” He whispered the words as he sipped the milk. “You should tell my dad how to make it this good, I bet he doesn’t even know! You can help him!”
She wasn’t sure his dad would welcome her advice, but she agreed. “I’ll tell him. So what are you and I going to do today? After we check the new mama sheep, of course.”
“I think we’re supposed to go on a horseback ride.” He peered up at the calendar with a scrunched brow. “Do I get to stay here all day?”
“You do. Rosie won’t be watching you for a while because she’ll be busy with the baby.”
“You can’t leave babies alone,” he assured her. “When I’m with Rosie-Posie, I can’t do too much because she has to watch ’Lencia’s babies now. They’re so little and they just crawl around and mess up my toys. Even if I put the toys on the couch, they can reach them now.”
“Two babies?”
He made a grumpy face and nodded.
“I bet they’re cute,” she went on as she brewed fresh coffee.
“They kinda smell bad sometimes, but they smile at me when I make stuff for them. Then they wreck it,” he added. “But on this day it’s just you and me doin’ stuff.” He looked up, expectant. “Like riding a horse together. That’s something we could do!” Anticipation brightened his eyes.
“Do you have a helmet?”
He nodded.
“Then we’re on, my friend. After breakfast. And after we check the mama sheep. Honey’s Money is a good mount and they didn’t take her into the hills.” Honey was a placid but bright-moving ranch horse. Old enough to be trustworthy and young enough to work the milling sheep as needed.
He drew those little brows tight, as if concerned. “It’s a ewe, Miss Lizzie. A mama sheep is always a ewe.” His tone wasn’t impertinent, but he sure sounded like he might be doubting her intelligence, so she leaned in and met him eye-to-eye.
“A ewe can still be a mama sheep. The terms can be synonymous if the sheep has had a baby. So she’s a ewe…” She lifted a brow and held his gaze to make her point. “But she’s also a mother or mama sheep. And where I come from, little boys don’t correct their elders.”
