Ryelee's Cowboy (15 page)

Ryelee was impressed. She had thought
opening gifts would be orderly, but Rheenie was ripping the paper
and throwing it everywhere. Ryelee loved it. She smiled a real
smile and genuinely laughed. Exchanging loving glances with Clint,
she really had hope of a new beginning.

Ryelee found Rheenie’s excitement
contagious as the little girl showed her each present. Rheenie was
most excited by Ryelee’s gift, baby doll she could feed and then
change its diaper. Ryelee had wanted to prepare Rheenie for the
changes that would take place once the baby was born.

“Look, Mama,” she said, with her dark
eyes aglow. “I’m a mama too.”

Clint lifted Rheenie up and put her on
his lap. “That’s some doll.”

Rheenie rolled her eyes at him. “She’s
not a doll, Daddy, she’s my baby.”

“Oh well, of course she is,” Clint
agreed with laughter in his eyes.

“I’m gonna call her
Trampy!”

Both Clint and Ryelee’s eyes grew wide
as they looked at each other.

“Where’d you hear a name like that?”
Clint asked.

“Oh, I heard that it’s Mama’s
nickname, and I want to name the baby after Mama,” she said,
kissing her baby on the cheek.

Ryelee felt stricken. She could hardly
breathe as the blood left her face, and she became dizzy. This
couldn’t be happening, she reasoned. She must have heard wrong. The
look on Clint’s face was confirmation that she’d heard correctly.
He looked horrified.

“Rheenie, where did you hear that
nickname?” Clint asked calmly.

“Dottie told me. She said that every
one called mama that and that I could too if I wanted, but I like
calling you Mama.”

“Dottie tricked you, Rheenie. Trampy
is not your mama’s nickname. Trampy is a bad word. Your mama is
filled with goodness.”

Rheenie looked at Ryelee’s sad face.
She jumped down from Clint’s lap, crawled onto Ryelee’s and kissed
her all over her face. “Don’t be sad. I’m going to name my baby
Sunshine, just like you, Mama.”

Ryelee hugged and kissed Rheenie..
“You are so precious, Rheenie o’ mine,” she said, her heart filling
with joy.

“Why don’t we give your mama her
presents,” Clint suggested.

“You betcha! Let’s find them” Rheenie
searched under the piles of brightly colored wrapping
paper.

“Here’s one!” she yelled, holding it
up. She ran over to Ryelee and handed it to her. “It’s from
me.”

Ryelee gave her a shining smile of
joy. “This is the very first Christmas present I’ve ever had.” So
humbled, she just stared at the brightly wrapped gift.

“Open it!” Rheenie jumped up and
down.

Carefully, so not to rip the shiny red
paper, Ryelee opened her gift. It was a gold necklace with a
pendant with the word Mama engraved on it. Hanging from it was a
charm holder with a little girl on it. Tears of happiness filled
her eyes as she looked at it in wonder.

“See, the girl has a purple stone in
it. Daddy said it’s my birthday color. When the other baby is born,
we can get another to put on it!”

Ryelee gathered up her daughter and
hugged her long and hard. “This is the best present I’ve ever
gotten in my whole life. Thank you!” She looked over Rheenie’s head
and mouthed a thank you to Clint too. She wanted to believe in the
love and tenderness he held in his eyes for her.

“Clint, your present is in the closet.
I couldn’t lift it, so I had Nash put it in there for
me.”

Ryelee held her breath. She hoped that
she’d gotten him the perfect gift. Burke had helped her,
guaranteeing that Clint would love it.

Clint smiled then stepped to the
closet door and opened it. He gaped at the new handcrafted saddle
with a latigo wrapped horn, padded suede leather seat and heavy
laced stirrups. The leather was the finest quality, and his
initials C M were hand tooled on it. He ran his hands over it
repeatedly

“Daddy, I kept the secret all
week!”

“You did?” he asked, smiling at her.
“I think that’s a world record.”

“Rheenie helped me pick it out. It’s
from the two of us.”

Clint kissed Rheenie, thanking her for
the gift. He walked over to the fireplace where Ryelee stood. He
reached and grabbed a handful of the granny nightgown, pulling her
toward him, and smiled down at her. Leaning down, he gave her a
quick kiss. He groaned as he cupped the back of her head pulling
her in for a deeper, more intimate kiss. She opened her mouth for
him and their tongues danced as he tried to deepen the kiss even
further. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers
through his hair

They both felt the baby moving at the
same time and drew apart. They only had eyes for each other, but
Rheenie stepped between them wanting to know if they had finished
with the mushy stuff.

“Mama, you have more presents,”
Rheenie informed her, handing her a big box.

Ryelee opened her present. It was a
beautiful sea foam green bathrobe with matching slippers. She
smiled as she ran her hand over the soft chenille, a gift from
Annie and Burke.

“Put it on, Mama.”

Ryelee stood up and put on the
bathrobe. It felt so luxurious. She allowed Rheenie to help her
into the slippers.

“One more left,” Clint announced,
smiling at Ryelee. He took her hand and led her toward the back of
the tree. He reached down and pulled out a big object covered in
his grandmother’s quilt.

Ryelee looked at him trying to figure
out what it could be.

“Take the quilt off,” Clint told
her.

Ryelee reached down, pulled the quilt
off, and saw a wooden cradle. It was wonderful, beyond anything
she’d ever seen before. Although it looked new, Ryelee didn't think
it was.

“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like
it. Thank you.”

Clint smiled. “It’s been in the
Maloney family for generations. I had to scrape a lot of paint off
it and re-stain it. I think it turned out nice.”

“But,” Ryelee began to
protest.

“No buts. Your baby will be a Maloney
same as Rheenie. In fact, the last color I had to scrape off was
pink. Jill had wanted a pink cradle for Rheenie.”

Ryelee’s heart swelled as she looked
from Clint to Rheenie. “I love you both very much,” she whispered,
afraid that she was going to start weeping.

“Good. I’m hungry.” Rheenie ran
upstairs to get dressed.

Ryelee turned to Clint. “I didn't
expect anything after last night. How can you be so kind to
me?”

“It’s Christmas. We’ll make the best
of things for the holidays, and then we’ll talk.”

“Sounds fair,” Ryelee said. “Let me
get dressed and I’ll start breakfast.”

* * * *

That evening after all was silent,
Clint and Ryelee sat in front of the fire. He had his arm around
her shoulder, and she wrapped her arms around his waist as she laid
her head on his shoulder. She didn't want them to say anything to
fracture the loving way they’d been acting towards each other all
day. Ryelee had so many questions. Did he forgive her, or did he
plan to turn her over to the authorities?

She looked up at his masculine face
wondering what he was thinking. She smiled as he absently kissed
her on the forehead. What did he mean by holiday? He said they
would keep a truce until after the holidays. Was tomorrow the day,
or was it after the New Year?

“Boy, you’re fidgety tonight,” he
said. “Just relax. Let’s just enjoy now.”

For Ryelee, that was the
problem. How long was
now
going to last?

She must have fallen asleep because
the next thing she knew, Clint was putting her in bed. Her own bed
she realized. Her heart felt as though it had sliced open. She gave
him a weak smile as he kissed her cheek and murmured
goodnight.

Broken-hearted, Ryelee watched the
door close. Well, she finally got her answer. The truce was over,
and Ryelee was frightened of what would happen next. Her perfect
day was now over.

She laid her hands over her stomach
thinking about her baby. Clint had said the baby would be a
Maloney. She felt the baby move and smiled. Her husband was a very
confusing man. He loved—her she knew that— but he was furious with
her. She just didn't know what to expect.

She had always gotten along just fine
alone. She just didn't want to be alone again. She loved her new
family. She might as well sleep. It wouldn’t help to ponder and
worry all night, she decided as she yawned.

* * * *

The next morning Clint had deep
circles under his eyes, as though he hadn’t slept, and he was
cranky. Ryelee wasn’t surprised when he didn't kiss her good
morning. It hurt, but it hadn’t surprised her. She tried her best
to smile and make a bit of conversation, but all Clint did was
grunt.

When he slammed out the door like a
wounded bear, Ryelee was actually relieved. He made her feel
ragged. She smiled at Rheenie who smiled back. Rheenie was worth
putting up with Clint. Ryelee just wished that things were
different.

“Look, Ryelee! Sunshine likes
milk!”

Ryelee groaned internally. By the time
Sunshine’s diaper needed changing, there was going to be a smell of
sour milk in the air. The thought made Ryelee’s stomach lurch.
“Rheenie, love, Sunshine is only supposed to have water,” she
started to explain. She saw the telltale scrunching of Rheenie’s
face and decided to pick a different battle, a different
day.

* * * *

Clint walked toward his house with a
strange feeling of dread. Tired, sweaty, covered in trail dust, all
he could think about all day was Ryelee’s role in the latest
rustling. Didn’t she realize what a dangerous game she played with
all their lives? The burden on his shoulders was almost unbearable.
He still loved her. Hell, he wanted her in his bed, but he couldn’t
trust her.

He opened the door and Rheenie greeted
him.

“Smell Sunshine, Daddy!” She shoved
her doll toward his face.

Clint’s nose twitched at the sour
smell. He grimaced as he looked at Rheenie. “Good God! What have
you been feeding that doll?”

Rheenie lifted her chin higher. “She’s
not a doll. She’s my baby!” she insisted, waving the doll at
Clint.

Clint looked up and saw humor in
Ryelee’s eyes. She was biting her lip trying not to laugh. “A
little help, please?”

Ryelee shook her head at him. “Sorry,
buddy, this one is all yours.”

“What’s that supposed to
mean?”

Ryelee put her hands on her hips. All
of her humor vanished. “It means that she won’t let me clean out
her baby, and the smell is making me sick to my
stomach!”

Clint examined Ryelee’s angry face.
She did look a bit green. “Has this been going on all
day?”

“Yes. When I tried to take it from her
at naptime, she woke up and threw a fit.”

“Rheenie, it’s making your mama sick.
You have to let me clean it out.”

“Sunshine is a baby not an ‘it’!”
Rheenie announced defiantly.

“Ryelee, why don’t you go and take a
nice hot bath and relax? I’ll see to things here,” Clint
suggested.

Ryelee briefly closed her eyes.
Opening them, she smiled at Clint. “Thank you,” she said, softly.
“You’ll have to make dinner too. The smell…”

Clint gave her a gentle smile. “Go.
I’ll take care of everything.”

* * * *

Ryelee didn't need to be told again.
She quickly turned and went up the stairs without a backwards
glance. She wasn’t sure what was up with Rheenie, but something
bothered her.

After her bath, Ryelee put on her
white nightgown and new green bathrobe with its matching slippers.
She had rarely had anything new, so she treasured the gift even
more. She didn't hear any screaming and hoped Clint had been able
to convince Rheenie of the need to wash Sunshine.

She padded down the stairs and smiled
at both Clint and Rheenie eating tomato soup and grilled cheese
sandwiches.

Rheenie jumped up and ran to Ryelee.
She put her little arms around her legs and apologized.

Ryelee leaned down and hugged her. “I
love you.”

Rheenie looked up at her with
adoration. “I love you too, Mama.” She glanced around and grabbed
her baby. “Sunshine loves you too. Give her a kiss.”

Ryelee eyed the doll warily. She
really wanted to have a grilled cheese sandwich since she hadn’t
eaten all day due to her queasy stomach.

Clint laughed. “Don’t worry. Sunshine
had a bath in the sink,” he said, winking at her.

His wink warmed her heart. It had been
a hard day, between Rheenie’s stubbornness and waiting for Clint to
come home. Ryelee felt worn out. She tore her gaze from Clint’s and
held Sunshine. “Why she smells like, like…”

“She smells like you, Mama,” Rheenie
said proudly.