Free The Rancher's Blessed Event by Stella Bagwell Page B

resignation. Dropping her head, she asked, “Are you trying to make me feel guiltier than I already do?”
    Rose took the mug from Emily’s hand. After placing it on the bar, she pressed her daughter’s hands between her own. “Now we have finally reached the real issue I wanted to speak to you about.”
    Emily stared at her blankly.
    â€œFor years now I’ve seen you carrying around a heavy blanket of guilt. It’s time you threw it away.”
    â€œGuilt? I don’t—”
    Shaking her head, Rose smiled and cupped her daughter’s face in her hands. “Emily, do you remember when your father and I first met? You were thirteen and a little bit wary of me. Until you found out that, like you, I had lost my mother, too.”
    Emily nodded. “That was twenty-three years ago, but I remember it like yesterday.” She and her father had moved here from east Texas when Emily had been seven and her birth mother had died. Up until Rose had come into their life, she’d had little female companionship.
    â€œYou said we were kindred spirits then,” Rose said. “And I think we still are. That’s why I know how you’ve been feeling. You’ve always believed you let Kenneth down. That you didn’t love him enough. That it was your fault you couldn’t get pregnant. And now I think you even feel guilty about his accident. As though you caused it in some way.”
    Emily felt a giant rubber band inside her snap with relief. Still, she murmured, “Like Cooper said, I shouldn’t have let him get on that horse. But I’ve—”
    â€œEmily—”
    Emily held up a hand to ward off her mother’s protest. “I’ve decided that whatever I was to Kenneth, I wasn’t his keeper. I couldn’t watch him every moment as though he were an irresponsible child.”
    Rose patted her daughter’s hand, then resumed her seat on the bar stool. “Now you’re talking like a sensible woman.”
    â€œI don’t know if I’m sensible or not. But I damn well don’t intend to let Cooper take me down. Not over Kenneth’s death. Not over anything.”
    Her expression thoughtful again, Rose said, “You know, when I was around Cooper I always liked him. I just didn’t approve of the way he handled things with you. Is he anything like he used to be?”
    Her face grim, Emily said, “Exactly. And I wish he was gone. I wish I never had to see his face again.”
    â€œWell, I’m beginning to think the man ought to hang around. This is the most spunk I’ve seen in you in years.”
    Emily let out a harsh laugh. “This isn’t spunk you’re seeing, Mother. It’s fury.”
    â€œWhatever it is, it’s better than the sight of your chin drooping down to your knees.”
    â€œMom, I really think I should start coming over here and checking on you more often. You’re not acting like yourself.”
    With a little knowing smile, Rose left her seat and went to check on the baking pumpkin bread. “Maybe you’re just starting to see things you haven’t seen in a long time, honey.”
    â€œI don’t know why your dad bought you a horse,” Cooper said later that same day as he watched Emily stroke the Appaloosa’s nose. “There’s probably a hundred other things around here you needed more.”
    Emily turned to look at him as he walked up to the outside of the wooden corral. “Maybe Daddy gave me the horse because he wanted to give me something I’d like. Rather than something I necessarily needed.”
    Cooper pushed his gray hat to the back of his head and propped his forearms over the top rail of the pen. “I guess things haven’t changed as much as I thought around here.”
    She walked away from the horse, whose registered name was Native Moon, and over to where Cooper was resting casually against the fence. It was a