Because of a Cowboy

Summer Fun Night

I crossed off the date on my calendar: June 21st. I was twenty-eight weeks pregnant today. Currently, my carvings were all over the place, I was always exhausted, and Little Toby was kicking up a storm.

"Only eleven more weeks," I said to myself.

I took a breather to try not to panic, then rushed to Toby's nursery. Every time something new came in, I took stock. I was hardcore nesting at this point. I opened the drawer again and counted the newborn-sized onsies again.

"Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three," I said.

In the corner, there were boxes and shopping bags from Holden. He'd been buying a few things here and there for me. He was still being a total flirt, but besides that he was doing everything he was supposed to at the ranch. Even Wesley was impressed, and trust me, nothing impresses that guy.

But most importantly, I had a lot to do before tonight. It was the Harvest Hill Ranch annual Summer Fun Night. It was full of nighttime wagon-rides, live music, food, and dancing in the barn until the sun came up and we had to kick everyone out.

For Whisper, this would be the first event she coordinated all by herself, without the help of my parents or Winter on video chat to guide her. I was crossing my fingers. She'd been having some issues with work lately and I really wanted her to succeed.

I spent my morning cooking so I could do meal prep the rest of the week. In the afternoon, I caught up on schoolwork. Only two more weeks to go before the summer break. I wanted to keep doing summer classes to stay on track for early graduation, but my family advised me to just focus on getting ready for the baby.

After a dinner on the couch while watching cooking shows, I got myself ready. I put on a cute red maternity dress that matched my sparkly cowgirl hot, along with my favorite boots.

I went downstairs and looked out the window. I literally could not believe what I was seeing, but instead of watching from afar, I had to get over there. Summer Fun Night usually had a few vendors with popcorn and cotton candy, but Whisper had set up an entire village of vendors.

There was popcorn, caramel corn, kettle corn, cotton candy, corn dogs, pizza, and of course, the postable stand Toby's family had every year. But on top of all that, there were carnival rides! We'd never had those before.

Right as I looked up, the big ferris wheel started going, with Winnie as it's tester, apparently.

"Hey, baby sis!" she said as she waved, going higher and higher.

I heard footsteps and laughing. Two little kids holding balloons ran past me and over to the line of kids who were waiting for Waldo the Rodeo Clown to paint their faces. I kept looking around and was in so much awe that I didn't even realize Whisper came right up next to me.

"Hey, glad you could make it!" she said, holding a walkie talkie and clipboard.

"Whisper, this is nuts! How did you pull this off?"

"A lot of late nights," she said proudly. "Do you think it's too much?"

"No way. I think it's just right."

Before I could say anything else, she ran off, talking and coordinating something on that walkie talkie. I quickly made my way over to the Cowboy Cones Stand, where I crouched down and opened one of the side flaps enough so I could stick my head in.

"Hey! Toby!" I said.

He was busy twirling vanilla soft serve onto a waffle cone.

"I guess we're continuing this tradition, huh?" he asked. He rushed to the window to hand off the cone and rushed right back. "We're kinda swamped but I can still talk for a while."

I watched as he made the next cone, which was chocolate.

"I think Whisper really outdid herself," I said.

"Yeah. This is the biggest it's been," he said, topping the cone with rainbow sprinkles.

"Hot fudge sundae, no whip!" Toby's mom called out.

"On it!" Toby said. He went to the counter and started prepping everything. "She looks a little frazzled though. I don't mean to be that guy but...maybe you should check on her."

He drizzled the hot fudge on top of the vanilla ice cream and my mouth watered. I peeked my head out of the flap to see a frantic Whisper, jogging around and flipping through papers on her clipboard as she talked.

I popped my head back in and said, "I'll be back in a bit."

"Cool. I'll be here all night!" Toby said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

I ran after Whisper and said, "hey," as I took her by the arm. She finally slowed down.

"Oh Willa, this is awful! You won't believe what just happened!" she said.

"What, did we lose one of the bands like last year? We could just use a speaker again."

"No, it's the balloon animal guy! He got a flat tire and says he may not be able to get here for another two hours!"

I laughed. "That's all? There's music and face-painting and all kinds of other things for the kids! They'll be fine!" I took her clipboard and walkie talkie. "Come on. You need a break. Go ride the ferris wheel with me."

A small grin was creeping its way across her face. "Let's do it. I need a break."

We waited in line until it was our turn, but right as I was about to get in the seat I stopped myself.

"Wait, I don't know if I should..."

"Don't worry, I checked to make sure I got rides that were safe for people who are pregnant! I didn't want you to not be able to enjoy them!" Whisper said.

"You're seriously the best," I said.

"I try!"

We got into the seat and started slowly going backwards. The ferris wheel took us high enough where I could see the entire ranch, from the stables, to our house, to the pond and even Wrylie's prized tiny house. I'd never been able to see the entire expanse of our property at once.

I looked over at my older sister, laughing and smiling, marveling at her accomplishment down below. This time last year, she was gone for days at a time, going all over town looking for either drugs or the money she could steal to buy those drugs with. Here she was, happy and whole. In this moment, right here, she had her life back. I wouldn't have it any other way.