Carry On Dreaming (The Cowboy's Promise sequel) (SLOW UPDATES)

Chapter 8

When I head out to do chores the next morning, Blaze is already awake. It's barely dawn, and he's on the front porch with his headphones on. I recognize the smell of coffee coming from a mug beside him. When I shut the screen door, he turns around, sliding the headphones around his neck.

"Morning, Red," he greets me.

"Morning. Wanna help with morning chores?"

He nods, and I tell him to pull on some shoes. He comes out with Elliot's tennis shoes on, the ones normally reserved for the barn. I mix a bucket of chicken feed and hand it to Blaze. He tosses it in the pen and returns to me. I get him to help me feed the dogs, the horses, and Flora, Elliot's doe he found years ago.

When we return to the house, Elliot and Dani are already cooking breakfast. Faith sits at the bar with a cup of coffee, looking through the paper. Andrew comes downstairs with plaid pajama pants and ruffled hair. He stands behind El and wraps his arm around his waist, kissing his neck and cheek. I smile watching Elliot laugh and roll his neck.

Faith sighs over the top of her paper. "You guys are like relationship goals."

Andrew and Elliot both turn to look at Faith. Andrew still has his arms wrapped around my baby bro. El is blushing. "Faith. Really?"

"What?" she asks innocently. "It's true."

Elliot and I roll our eyes, and Elliot turns back to cooking. I see Dani smirk behind her mug. She's abandoned breakfast, leaving it to Andrew and El. Within ten minutes they serve a breakfast of eggs, toast, waffles, and bacon. Between Andrew and Blaze moving in, our breakfast table is short two seats. August and Seneca eat in the living room watching cartoons. Blaze offers his seat to Dani and eats with the kids. Elliot, who was the last to sit down, is pulled into Andrew's lap.

"Dude, in front of everyone?"

"You don't want my love?" Andrew asks, offended.

"Babe, I love you, but not right now. Just let me eat breakfast."

We all laugh. Andrew reaches up to play with El's hair before settling his left arm around my brother's waist. He leans his head against Elliot's arm and sighs. Elliot looks at him and places his hand on his forehead.

"What's up? You're being more loving than usual," he says.

"Can I not love on my boyfriend, who I love with all my heart?"

"I didn't say that."

"El, at least you're getting some love from your man. I don't get hardly any," Dani pouts. Laughing, I jump up and wrap my arms around her neck, kissing her cheek and lips. She giggles like a little girl as I sit back down. Stephen, not to be outdone, picks Fae up and kisses her fully on the lips, hugging her to his chest. He sets her back in her chair and returns to his breakfast.

When breakfast is over, Faith and Dani agree to watch the kids, leaving the men to work outside. There's mainly the usual chores. Stephen and Elliot tune up the various vehicles, and Blaze and I head out to see what calves we have and what we're waiting on. Andrew is basically hanging around the house and doing what he's told.

Blaze and I saddle up (he does pretty good by himself) and ride out. Out of our eight pastures, five house our cows and calves. We're checking three of them today. One contains our two or three bulls. The last two fences in the horses. Two in the foothills of the Rockies have a mountain stream running through them. That was our entertainment as kids. We either swam in the river running through the bluff, or we rode horses or atvs to the river where it first entered our land and swam.

I open the last gate and close it as Blaze rides through. Instead of cutting through the thick brush to find the herd, I urge Soldier to climb a large hill. Persephone, a red Arabian, and my son are right behind us. From our high vantage point, Blaze spots the herd almost right below us. We pick our way down and closer to the herd. Almost immediately, a young black heifer runs up to us. I scratch her crown and study the rest of the herd, trying to match calf to cow.