A Valentine For The Cowboy. Rebecca Winters

kitchen table of the ranch house, enjoying coffee with their pancakes. Wymon had already left to meet up with Luis and the stockmen.

      With Toly on the rodeo circuit and Roce in Missoula, Wymon needed Eli’s help, but he’d taken this Wednesday morning off to conduct the nanny interviews. Life was about to change around here.

      His mother eyed him with concern. “What’s wrong?”

      “Maybe none of them will be right and Libby won’t like any of them.”

      “If things don’t work out today, we can always interview more applicants.” She eyed him over the rim of her coffee cup. “I didn’t realize you’d removed your wedding ring. When did that happen?”

      “Last week, after you advised me to get my act together. I phoned Tessa’s family and had a talk with Diane. Nothing’s changed with Tessa. The psychiatrist believes she might have chronic depression. I’d hoped in vain that she’d get better and want to come home.” He shook his head. “It isn’t going to happen, so I took the ring off and started looking for a nanny.”

      “You’re very courageous. I’m proud of you, son.”

      “And I’m more grateful to you than you’ll ever know for helping Libby and me through this last year.”

      He didn’t hear his mother’s response because Solana came into the kitchen. “Your first appointment has arrived. I showed her into the living room.”

      “Thanks, Solana.” Eli got up from the chair. “Be right back.” He tousled Libby’s hair and headed for the other part of the house with little expectation that this could actually work.

      By noon he’d found Sarah Giles, a cute young woman with an appealing personality whom everyone agreed would be great. Most important of all, Libby didn’t cry when she picked her up and played with her.

      She was twenty-eight and was living in Missoula with her grandparents while her husband was deployed with the army for the next fifteen months. They were saving their money and hoped to buy a house after his tour of duty was over.

      Sarah had been trained as a cook and had worked as a sous-chef until recently. Cooking was her passion, but the restaurant had closed and she needed a job.

      Eli decided that fifteen months with a nanny who could cook and keep his daughter happy sounded perfect. Sarah was ready to move in and would start work the next morning.

      He was so relieved that he no longer had to rely on his mother for everything that he raced his horse Domino to the pasture. After telling Wymon his news, he did the job of three stockmen. They looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.

      In a way, he had. Freed from a great source of worry for the first time in a year, he could concentrate on a plan to approach Brianna Frost again.

      He’d never been shown the door before and was still smarting from the experience. In order to break through the barrier he’d caused her to erect, he needed backup. If anyone knew the way to Brianna’s heart, Libby did.

      When Saturday came around, he’d load his daughter in the truck just before closing time at the saddlery. On the pretext of wanting to buy her a child’s cowboy hat, he’d ask Brianna for help. If he knew his little girl, she’d love the attention and wouldn’t want to leave the shop. She might even start to cry, which would be a plus.

      Eli would take it from there and suggest the three of them go for a bite to eat at a place where he could take Libby. A new sense of excitement filled him on his way back to the barn at dark. Tomorrow would be a new day and he had a good feeling about Sarah.

      The last time Eli could remember looking forward to the future had been the night of Libby’s birth. He’d felt such wonder as he held her in his arms. They’d started their family. At the time he couldn’t have comprehended that they wouldn’t live out a rich, full life together with more children.

      The onset of Tessa’s depression followed a week later and never went away. Eli had never suffered from chemical depression. But to watch it take hold of his wife and change her into someone he didn’t know had devastated him. He’d been helpless to alleviate it or bring her comfort. She didn’t want to hold Libby, let alone take care of her.

      His whole family had pitched in to help and had been doing it ever since. Though Tessa’s parents tried to do it long-distance, it was difficult.

      On the night Tessa begged to go home, she didn’t say, “I need to go back to my parents in Thompson Falls for a while.” She’d made it clear she wanted to go home. That deliberate choice of words cut him to the quick and spelled the end of his dreams.

      At the lowest point of his life, Eli packed up her things. After asking his mother to watch the baby, he drove Tessa back to her parents’ house. The phone call asking for a divorce soon followed. What he’d feared most had come to pass, but the fact that it came as another shock proved to him he’d been living in denial.

      He’d still been in denial until the day he’d seen Libby so happy in Brianna Frost’s arms and realized he couldn’t go on as he had been any longer. His mother’s warning had acted as the catalyst for things to change, and he couldn’t be more glad of the fact.

      * * *

      BRIANNA MET LINDSAY at the entrance to the Italian restaurant. “I’m glad you could meet me here for dinner. Ken works the night shift in the ER on Saturdays and I didn’t want to go home to an empty house after work.”

      “I hear you. My aunt and uncle have gone to their monthly Cattlemen’s Association dinner. This was a great idea.”

      They went inside. Naturally the restaurant was crowded, being as it was a weekend night. The hostess showed them a table and handed them menus. Brianna opened hers. “So what do you think you’re in the mood for?”

      Her friend looked over her own menu. “I think I’ll order the alfredo with mushrooms.”

      “Mmm, that sounds good, but so does the chicken Tuscany.”

      “Let’s get both and share. Now that I’m over my morning sickness, I eat like a horse.”

      Brianna chuckled. “Perfect.”

      They gave the waitress their order. “That book on Elon Musk you were asking about came in. I’ll save you a copy if you want.”

      “I’ll come by Monday on my lunch hour to buy it.”

      “Why don’t you just buy a Kindle?”

      “I could, but I like a book in my hands, you know?”

      “I do, too.”

      They were still talking books when the waitress brought their meal. Lindsay’s eyes lit up. “Wow, this looks good.”

      “It does. I’m starving.”

      Halfway through their meal Lindsay leaned forward. “Don’t make it too obvious, but you’ve got to get a look at this cowboy who just walked in carrying an adorable little girl wearing a cowgirl hat,” she whispered. “If I weren’t married...”

      Brianna tried to turn her head inconspicuously and almost slid off her chair. Catching her breath, she faced her friend once more. “Even if you were single, you wouldn’t want to get involved with him.”

      Lindsay blinked. “You know him?”

      “I’ve met him several times. His name is Eli. He’s one of the Clayton brothers.”

      Her friend sat back in surprise. “You’re talking Toly Clayton’s brother?”

      “That’s right.”

      “Wow.”

      “My uncle told me Eli’s wife divorced him. But he still wears his wedding ring.”

      “He probably does that to keep all the women away. Otherwise there’d be a line a mile long.”

      A