Cowboy, Stay with Me

Chapter Thirty-Five: "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts"

The only thing the town of Canyon Creek loved more than football, was baseball. The only holiday they loved more than Christmas, was the 4th of July.

When people weren't watching baseball, they were at the rodeo. The festivities from the local fairgrounds spilled out onto the main streets of the town.

Uncle Sam hats and little American flags stretched as far as the eye could see, or at least for the immediate six block radius.

Big barrels of petunias had been strategically placed every so often along the sidewalk. Baskets of the flowers had been hung from every light post; all red, white, and blue, of course.

The thick, smoky aroma of roasting meets and sugary fried food lingered over the entire county.

People were milling about contentedly; enjoying snow cones, grilled corn on the cob, watermelon, cold cans of soda for the kids and beer for the adults.

Well, except for Lucy.

She was five months along now and felt as if she grew bigger every day. There was no hiding the truth from anyone anymore. She had been touched by how warm and supportive the entire community, as well as her own family, was being. They all knew exactly how much having a family meant to Lucy after what had happened to her mother and baby sister. Aside from wanting to heal this tragedy in her own heart, however, Lucy had always been a remarkably nurturing person who was gifted with children.

No one harbored a single doubt that she would make a wonderful mother.

Both Lucy and Sean were more than a little overwhelmed to find out that they were expecting double what either of them had signed up for.

Lucy had always had a special fondness for twins; had often daydreamed about having a pair of blue eyed, black haired twin sons or daughters.

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Cassie and Carson were back from their honeymoon in the Caribbean all tan and glowing. Cassie was huge with her own pregnancy; about ready to go into labor any day now, in fact.

Cassie and Amanda were both beside themselves with excitement that Lucy was finally joining them in the wonderful world of motherhood. She could also tell that they were tying to tread lightly with her, however, which was starting to get a little tiresome.

Not that she wasn't doing the exact same thing with Sean; she watched him closely, kept waiting for the moment that he realized he still actually had huge commitment issues and bolted again. She knew it wasn't fair, but she also couldn't help it. She could always blame it on her pregnancy hormones.

"So..." Paula said, as the womenfolk all settled down together on the blanket while the men mingled around in the crowd; drinking beer, eating burgers, and laughing with their buddies. "Can I just mention the elephant in the field? Are the two of you thinking of getting married?"

Lucy blushed again and dropped her eyes as she opened the tray container with the deviled eggs. "No, I mean, we hadn't talked about it yet or anything."

"But you want to?" Cassie pressed.

Paula laid her hand discretely on Cassandra's arm and they exchanged glances.

Lucy sighed, opening the potato salad container now and passing it to Martha. "I just want my babies to have their father in their life. That's all I can ask of Sean."

Another exchanging of glances that Lucy pretended not to notice, sipping her ginger ale as she watched the crowd.

Sean was back a few minutes later with the chairs.