Cowboy, Stay with Me

Chapter Thirty-Six: Traditional Man

It was a few days later and Kendra was still in the hospital.

Travis was doing surprisingly well, all things considered. He enjoyed staying over at Sunrose Creek Ranch; it was like a fun vacation to him. Lucy doubted that he fully grasped what his mom was going through or what he had in store in his future.

Life continued on as normal, for the most part. Lucy was still running the daycare and Travis attended with the other children as usual, only he was there when they arrived and he stayed after they left. Even Amanda's kids and Cassandra's son, Charlie, left eventually.

Travis liked being the only kid left on the farm.

Sean still worked crazy hours, of course, and Lucy never knew when exactly she might expect to get to enjoy dinner with her boyfriend, when he might be in bed with her, when he might have to leave suddenly in the middle of the night, when he might have to work weekends or have several days off in a row.

And then he had a million and one duties around the community; from appearing at local schools, to giving speeches to firemen and other government workers who he was supposed to inspire and instruct in a myriad of different functions.

Lucy was just now beginning to see the full extent of his career demands and it was intimidating. She also saw now how he had been pushing hard for free time to spend with her in the beginning.

Now she found herself looking at a lifetime of lonely nights, canceled plans, missed trips and holidays, along with bushels and bushels of stress.

Lucy knew that none of this was ideal, none of it was planned or easy, and she knew she had every reason to simply decide to raise their twins without him as her lover. It's not like he couldn't still be in their children's lives.

She had a big loving family who could help her take care of them, after all.

Sometimes she seriously considered if she should just leave Sean now, before they got any more entangled; wrapped up so tight in expectations that they choked each other to death.

And yet...

And yet, every time he came back to her, every time he walked through the front door and gave her that you're-my-everything smile, then swept her into his arms for a kiss...suddenly all the stress seemed worth it.

Being in his arms made all her doubts and fears seem to magically melt away for a while.

The problem was, each time she had to watch him walk away then got all the harder. Every time he walked out that front door again, she knew it might be the last time she saw him; he could get shot and killed in the field even during a routine raid.

Every time he left her, it got harder and harder not to simply beg him to stay.

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Lucy and Travis were out in the paddock together, one beautiful summer day. She was walking him around while he sat on Hopalong Cassidy's back, clinging tightly to the saddle horn.

Sean pulled up at the far side of the house and so they didn't see him, but he saw them when he gained the front porch.

He smiled to himself at the sight. Lucy was positively glowing; even from a distance he could see how happy they all were together, even the lazy old horse seemed happy.

Lucy was so in her element when she was with animals and children.

He didn't go to them, however, as much as he wanted to; he missed his hugs and kisses from them.